car scrap

I just cut up the remnants of a firehouse training. It was a somewhat newer (1990-2010) buick of some sorts. all the wires were easy to get to since the training was pretty much torching the engine bay and then trying to put it out. so all the plastic melted leaving the wires exposed. I got 15lbs. of #2 copper and about 6lbs. of wire harness (auto loom) out of it. and that was pretty much every wire that car had. I also accidentally lit my 98 very basic Tacoma on fire as I was torching the frame in half. That was a more complete burn and I was able to recover 10lbs. of #2 copper. I normally recover 3-7lbs. of wire harness on cars that are not burned. If you think your getting 55lbs of copper out of any car you must be dreaming. And also if your planning on stripping that stuff, based on your previous posts, you probably already know that stuff is a pain to strip. you'd be better off just getting a job at mcdonalds or taco bell or something if you need something to do with your time and turning the wire in as is. Unless you granulate that stuff in high volumes or burn it you won't even make minimum wage trying to get the insulation off of 18-20 gauge stranded wire.

Originally Posted by ScrapmanIndustries

I just cut up the remnants of a firehouse training. It was a somewhat newer (1990-2010) buick of some sorts. all the wires were easy to get to since the training was pretty much torching the engine bay and then trying to put it out. so all the plastic melted leaving the wires exposed. I got 15lbs. of #2 copper and about 6lbs. of wire harness (auto loom) out of it. and that was pretty much every wire that car had. I also accidentally lit my 98 very basic Tacoma on fire as I was torching the frame in half. That was a more complete burn and I was able to recover 10lbs. of #2 copper. I normally recover 3-7lbs. of wire harness on cars that are not burned. If you think your getting 55lbs of copper out of any car you must be dreaming. And also if your planning on stripping that stuff, based on your previous posts, you probably already know that stuff is a pain to strip. you'd be better off just getting a job at mcdonalds or taco bell or something if you need something to do with your time and turning the wire in as is. Unless you granulate that stuff in high volumes or burn it you won't even make minimum wage trying to get the insulation off of 18-20 gauge stranded wire.

lol well i got about three lbs of bare bright from the harness that i stripped and also from 3 small spools and 2 motors to the radiator luckily i dont do cars that was pretty much a one time thing for me. the battery cables were easy to strip and some of the bigger wires from the fuse boc in the engine. i was gona not strip some of the wire and then the yard gave me #3 for it even though the harness was gone and it should have been num#2 insulated do they change? can something be #2 insulated and then not be?