Welcome to Sports Car Salvage. We are a niche hobbyist sports car dismantler located in Northeast Ohio, selling parts for C4 & C5 Corvettes, Mazda Miatas, and other sports and performance cars. We also restore diamonds in the rough. Let us help you with your restoration project.
How to Remove your Headliner
November 14, 2011 | Posted in Helpful Tips, Mazda | By fastwrecks
A Mazda RX-7 GTU headliner, which can be found for sale in our eBay store.
After dealing with a handful of Corvettes and a convertible Miata, I had almost forgotten the joys of removing a headliner panel. Let’s face it, removing and replacing a large rectangular piece of pressed cardboard-type stuff covered with cloth is not exactly most people’s idea of fun. But here are some general tips:
First off, if you can find a video on YouTube depicting somebody working on the same car you are, all the better. I find online video guides very helpful when working on cars….that, and there isn’t always a Haynes manual at my disposal.
Make sure that any trim pieces holding the headliner in place have been removed first. Depending on the car, some have trim panels along the sides of the headliner that mount to the car and conceal a row of clips underneath. Others have corners underneath the A pillar trim pieces, which are often held in place by a combination of (often artfully concealed) screws and clips. Take off your sun visors and (if needed) the rear view mirror and interior light assembly.
Get a good idea of what is holding the headliner in place before jumping in with both feet….hands…whatever. I can’t tell you how many interior trim pieces I’ve seen utterly destroyed by the “When In Doubt, Just Yank Harder” approach. You may be dealing with hidden plastic clips a few inches apart, like on the backside of a door panel, plastic screws, or the like. A door panel removal tool and/or a flat-blade screwdriver will be helpful here. The key is to work with care and not get in a rush. We’re talking about a piece of pressed board here that (in some cases) is as big and awkward as your 6th grade science fair tri-fold poster.
Treat your headliner like one of these. Save the yanking and tugging for rusty undercarriage bolts!
You can give the headliner a gentle tug to get an idea of where it is still attached, but yanking with all of your might is a big no-no.
If you have a sunroof, you may have to remove a piece of trim, weather stripping, or something like it around the perimeter of the sunroof to complete the process. Then, go around the edges with a flat-blade screwdriver just to test the waters. If there aren’t any clips or screws, you may find that all you need to do is gently pry around the edges. Try this in a relatively inconspicuous place.
That’s it…the trick is to go slow, be careful, and NO YANKING!
**Science fair image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/oakleyoriginals/3229259616/
Those aren’t car parts (Other items for sale)
November 10, 2011 | Posted in Uncategorized | By fastwrecks
If you have visited our eBay store recently, you may notice that we have some items for sale that are decidedly NOT car parts. With the holidays coming up, and with many people spending less time working on their cars during the colder months, we figured we’d offer something different and new.
We at SportsCarSalvage.us recently acquired a diverse array of Star Wars collectibles as part of a trade. These items range from action figures to books and more. Many are vintage collectibles from the 1970s and 1980s, with several of these being new-in-the-box items. We are also featuring a number of new and previously-viewed DVDs on eBay as well from a wide spectrum of genres. We always have an “Oddities” store category to cover anything that doesn’t fit anywhere else.
As with our car-related items, a number of these items are available with free shipping. We can also combine shipping on purchases of multiple items. Unless otherwise specified, we can ship our products overseas. Sign up for our eBay mailing list to get updates on promotions, sales, and new items, and feel free to search our eBay store for other items of interest!
Anakin Skywalker Star Wars collectible item
Yellow Ribbon Fund: Why We Donate
October 30, 2011 | Posted in Family | By fastwrecks
For those of you that follow our Sports Car Salvage eBay store, you may have noticed that a select number of our eBay listings donate a portion of the proceeds to the Yellow Ribbon Fund through eBay’s Giving Works.
Yellow Ribbon Fund, founded in 2005, assists injured service members and their families. The mission began when the organization’s volunteers learned of needs not met by other donors. Yellow Ribbon Fund provides transportation, lodging, job mentoring, and assistance for families and caregivers. We at Sports Car Salvage chose this organization because we have friends and family who have served in the military, some of whom have been badly injured in the line of duty. We believe there should be no such thing as a “Homeless Veteran” in the United States. Unfortunately, have seen too many service members who bravely served but are marginalized by society after being injured.
I, for one, am especially pleased that Yellow Ribbon Fund assists family members and caregivers of wounded service members. Family caregivers encounter many obstacles on the road to recovery. Financial costs include dipping into savings, opting for a part-time job or leaving the workforce altogether, and incurring hefty medical bills. The emotional costs are harder to quantify, but still as significant – depression and anxiety, for one. YRF’s Family Caregiver program aims to acknowledge the value of family members and caregivers.
To learn more, check out YellowRibbonFund.org today.
International Transport in Cleveland, Ohio: Winning
October 12, 2011 | Posted in Shipping | By fastwrecks
After my less-than-stellar experience with Lee Ann of FreightQuote.com and problems with that company in general…
I think we found a winner!
We were able to ship our pallet full of C4 Corvette suspension parts to Canada using InternationalTransport.com International Transport specializes in transporting freight overseas. Our customer already had a customs broker in place, so all we had to do was show up to their facility in Cleveland (near Cleveland Hopkins Airport) with our shipment. No hassles. No drama. No jumping through hoops. While there, I also noticed a number of high-performance sports cars that were to be shipped overseas. Depending on the country, importing an American car provides cost and tax advantages. We’ve shipped a number of C4 Corvette parts to the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe. We often sell RX-7 parts to people in Australia who have a hard time finding what they are looking for locally. Our C5 Corvette parts have found their way to satisfied customers in Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and other countries.
SportsCarSalvage.us has always welcomed overseas customers. Most of our items can be shipped overseas, with costs depending on weight and size. Finding a reliable freight carrier will open many avenues for us in dealing with international customers. Each carrier has different weight and size limits, which vary by country. In the past, I have had to decline dealing with customers overseas simply because the product they wanted couldn’t be shipped via UPS or FedEx. I am hoping that is a thing of the past. I also anticipate that, as the American economy grows even more underwhelming, we will have a higher proportion of international customers.
Freight Quote Frightens Me…
October 11, 2011 | Posted in Shipping | By fastwrecks
Pardon me while I don my bushy eyebrow toupee and channel Andy Rooney once again.
Earlier this year, we used FreightQuote.com when a customer purchased a C5 Corvette rear hatch. The rep I spoke with told me to bring the item to Cleveland, where it would be crated and shipped. I show up with this approximately 5’x5′ hatch in the back of my truck, only to be looked at like I had three heads when I described what I wanted. “Sorry, we don’t crate items here…”
So, after a 2-hour round trip, we figured something else out.
About a month ago, we had a customer in Canada purchase the complete front and rear suspension from a C4 Corvette. The suspension is wider than your standard 48×40 pallet, no matter how neatly it is laid out on the pallet. Enter Lee Ann Fadler from FreightQuote.com to save the day this time…
Or not.
She advised us that the “axle” (Axle? Try 4 of them, plus other stuff…) would be shipped if we just put it on a pallet and strapped it down, and said that the overhang was fine. Cue up another trip to Cleveland, where we were quickly told by the UPS terminal manager that he would not accept the package the way it is. Lee Ann’s response? “He’s just being a dick.” Yes, those exact words. Did I mention that we do NOT have a forklift or pallet jack? For anything that can’t be handled with my cherry picker, I have to get outside help for. I herded cats and played Superwoman to get this pallet together. Which is now sitting in the back of the now-parked pickup truck.
But don’t dare tell Ms. Fadler this. It’s doubtful she will even listen.
After my business partner had spoken to her numerous times about this shipment, I called her myself. The conversation went well…for the 2.5 seconds she thought she was going to say “JUMP” and I was going to ask “How high?” I was given a 6-hour window of time during which the shipment company would pick up the item. Her question: Can you push this pallet onto the truck? Well, considering that I’m one person, that wasn’t going to happen. I asked some questions about time-frame in case I could get some help together. She was all sorts of snippy at this point, telling me she did not know exactly when. Further questions to get a better idea of the day’s agenda and to come up with solutions (remember, no forklift or the like on my end) were met with terse answers, teenagerish attitude, and an absolute REFUSAL to accept ANY responsibility for her previous information. After 5 interruptions in short order, I finally let her have it:
“EXCUSE ME FOR TALKING WHILE YOU ARE INTERRUPTING!” *click* What can I say, even Mister Rogers would have been frazzled by now. Obviously their phone calls are NOT monitored for quality assurance and training purposes.
After a snide email from her decrying my treatment of her (really? Because constant interruptions and “being a dick” is just so prim and proper?) we emailed her, copying the customer AND her supervisors. Lee Ann Fadler backed out with her tail between her legs, suggesting we find another carrier who is more familiar with our kind of shipment. So we did!
Sportscarsalvage.com? Not for $4K.
October 4, 2011 | Posted in Humor, Uncategorized | By fastwrecks
We registered SportsCarSalvage.us as our domain earlier this year. So, a week or so ago, we got the idea to check if the similarly-named SportsCarSalvage.com was available. I submitted an inquiry via BuyDomains.com.
I received a phone call this afternoon from Amber at BuyDomains.com, wanting to follow up about my inquiry. Mind you, we had already done some homework through GoDaddy.com and it said it would cost almost $4,000 for the domain. $4,000? We are a small company and could buy multiple project cars for that kind of money.
But don’t dare explain THAT to Miss Amber.
She called and asked if I had received her email about the domain cost. I thought it may be cheaper to go through BuyDomains.com, who actually owns SportsCarSalvage.com, but that was not the case. When I calmly explained that the domain was well out of my price range and expressed what my price range actually was, she switched from professional Ms. Jekyll to huffy Valley Girl Ms. Hyde. Her response? “Like, OOOOO-KAY, [mumble something unintelligible but sounded nasty]…*click.*”
Really? REALLY? If I got THAT worked up every time somebody wanted to buy something for much less than its list price, I would have died of a stroke by now. You’d think she was one of these indignant people on Pawn Stars who end up in a tizzy when they don’t get the offer they want. It happens when you are in the business of buying and selling…in other news, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and we all know what bears do in the woods.
New Projects
September 30, 2011 | Posted in Mazda, Pontiac | By fastwrecks
OK…So we’ve relisted the RX-7 that has been featured in this blog before – it’s on eBay for only a few more hours.
We also have a YouTube video of us driving this car all over the parking lot.
Earlier this week, we picked up a 1985 Pontiac Fiero. Pictures forthcoming after doing a little work on it. I’m currently going over this with rubbing compound to see what I can do with this paint. After installing the fuel pump we bought, and maybe another battery, we’ll try it again. Who knows, it might just start up! It was something that the previous owner had moved away from, plus it was taking up room in his driveway, so we found this match made in heaven on Craigslist.
The 1985 RX-7 had some carburetor issues, so we had it rebuilt (Thanks, Ron!) and are now working with the car now that it actually starts. Here’s hoping that a few small hose clamps will resolve the vacuum leaks and get things on the right track. EDIT: We got all of the vacuum leaks sorted out and it runs much better now.
OOPS, I did it again….
September 11, 2011 | Posted in Mazda | By fastwrecks
I located a great deal on another Mazda RX-7, plus assorted spare parts, thinking, “This will be a great car to part out.”
ZOOM ZOOM (well, almost...)
What we found is that the interior and exterior are in great shape, and it kinda-sorta-almost runs. Who knows, maybe a full tank of gas will do the trick…? So – who knows. It came with an extra engine, engine + transmission, a rear end, and a few boxes of spare parts. We’ve been tossing around the idea of a hot rod project with some of these extra parts.
1982 Mazda RX-7 GSL now featured on eBay
August 22, 2011 | Posted in Mazda | By fastwrecks
Check out our 1982 Mazda RX-7 on eBay. This auction only lasts for 7 days, so don’t miss out!
1982 Mazda RX-7 GSL for sale in Ravenna, OH
We found this car after it had spent 10 years in storage earlier this year. It was in relatively good shape, and we had several improvements made to it. Although we had purchased the car to part out, it was in too nice a shape for that! This car will make an excellent candidate for a full restoration.
Selling a 1994 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 4WD on eBay
August 10, 2011 | Posted in Uncategorized | By fastwrecks
7 day eBay auction selling a 94 Jeep Cherokee
Check out our eBay auction, which will be running for the next 7 days.
The good:
Automatic transmission
Manual windows and locks
In great shape for its age inside and out
Gray cloth interior
Alloy wheels
4WD works
Has A/C but needs charged
CD player
The bad:
Needs catalytic converter and exhaust all the way back
Rusted through spring hangers
Needs tires
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