Car Engine

Do you guys think its worth the time to remove a aluminum engine from a car.

could you give a little more info WMSTR ???

Aluminum block, probably not.

Aluminum heads, probably not.

Aluminum intake manifold & misc. bracketry, only if its easy.

Those answers are assuming that you don't have a garage full of specialty tools designed for working on cars. It can get pretty time consuming and aggravating tearing a block down to nothing. It's even as hard to tear down heads unless you have a valve spring compressor or know some fancy tricks.

What's wrong with the engine? You may be better off reselling it.

It would depnd on what your yard pays you for AL breakage. Mine pays $.10 for steel and $.13 for irony AL breakage. So $.03 isnt really worth the effort. I havnt been able to find a car yet to do but it aint for lack of trying.

A hammer knocks off valve springs pretty quickly. Wear safety glasses when doing this, as some of them pop off with healthy velocity...dont want a spring in the eye, or worse yet, a keeper. The same hammer with a punch can quickly knock out any valves who's ends got mushroomed in the process of removing springs. Have a magnet handy, as half of those valves are bound to be stainless.

its a real pain in the a== unles you have a way to tip the car on its side. then a torch works great .

I just took in two last week. Valve covers and manifolds was all I bothered to keep in the al. department. And remember to get your starters, alternators, and as much of the wiring harness as possible. You might want to keep a trunk or a hood to use as a skid for some unforeseen project down the road too.

Originally Posted by skylinejackjr

You might want to keep a trunk or a hood to use as a skid for some unforeseen project down the road too.

YEAH --- like snow!!! Did anyone else ever do that as a kid? We rarely get enough snow here in Memphis for that kind of fun.

In regards to engine AL parts removal ---- Most hoods are held on by 4 nuts and since the car is going to the junkyard\scrapyard, you don't even have to remove the hood; just bend it all the way back. Cut all the wire --- get that out of the way. An air hose\impact wrench\ratchet and you would be surprised what you can do in under 2 hours. Parked on a smooth surface is nice because of being able to sweep up all the loose bolts\nuts\etc --- or do do like me --- throw them in a bucket as soon as they come out.

Engine disassembly is easier if the engine is not still in the car.

AL transmission cases if intact might be sold to a transmission shop.

Thanks for al the help. The engine is in the car and i got the car off CL for free.

Its worth scrapping the engine. If you do a bunch of them its real worthwhile, looms etc etc too.
Sell the parts on CL, or even list them, most people will pay a good $ just to get the exact part they want

I usually tear all my engines down first. Most yards around me won't take engines or transmissions without the pans removed anyway. Some parts i keep to try to resell, most i scrap out. As for the heads/valves i take a deepwell socket over the top of the spring and hit it a few times with a hammer. The keepers don't go flying around as bad and it doesn't mushroom the valve stem.

If you don't have an air compressor and pneumatic tools then maybe invest in an electric impact and some harbor freight sockets. It makes tearing an engine down a snap OH, and so do cutting torches!

Never thought of the socket thing

Yes it is worth it, if you have the time and tools. Especially a air gun. I just had a 97 Nissan 3.0 dohc engine. I just changed it for a buddy. It was aluminum block, heads, etc. I had every tool needed, except for the aluminum cage over the mains. Used a maul to break that apart.

Anyway I kept the heads and currently trying to sell them. Rest I scrapped. It took me roughly 2 hours to break it down to nothing. Now it helps my yard doesn't seem to care about a teeny tiny bit of metal on the aluminum,. Plus the block still had metal cylinder walls. No way they coming out unless you break it apart.

Anyway they paid clean aluminum cast price for everything. It gave me roughly 70 usd for 2 hours work. Plus I still had the steel bits, that I didnt count for. So I would guess around a 100 for scrap and another 200 if I sell the heads.

Now this isnt the norm, as this was a extremely heavy block. Most aluminum blocks dont weigh a 100 lbs by themselves..lol

T get the liners out, I cut thru the length of it with a 9 inch angle grinder, top & bottom, then use a steel wedge & sledge hammer to break it apart.
The liners then drop out.

Air tools rule when scrapping down engines.