Salvage to Rebuilt: 2010 Mercury Milan

Suggestion: get the factory manuals for this car Fusion/Milan - 2 volumes.

Headlights not operating:

Check Battery fuse box #19 (40A) = low beams, #26 (15A) LH hi beam , # 27 (15 A) RH hi beam

Smart Junction Box fuse #11 (15 A hi beams)

Ballast

Bulbs

Wiring, terminals, connectors

--from Pg 417-01-4 volume 1

Also, this picture should be on the cover of the next GRM.  Just amazing!  (She prb should work on looking where she wants to go, not where she's going, but there's time...)

Suggestion: get the factory manuals for this car Fusion/Milan - 2 volumes. From one year earlier manual Fusion 2009:

Headlights not operating:

Check Battery fuse box #19 (40A) = low beams, #26 (15A) LH hi beam , # 27 (15 A) RH hi beam

Smart Junction Box fuse #11 (15 A hi beams)

Ballast

Bulbs

Wiring, terminals, connectors

--from Pg 417-01-4 volume 1 - are they the exact same as 2010? not 100% sure

In reply to Agent98 :

Would you believe that the non working headlights were just operator error of not pushing the wiring connectors hard enough to actually make them "click". All lights work fine! 

Done! 

All those pieces came together pretty good. 

In reply to dculberson :

I bought that Amazon box of fasteners. Good stuff and I really like the bonus tools it came with. I used the red handle tool all the way through. 

However,  for the Ford, the connectors were somewhat typical Chinese "close but not right". I figured for the better, tighter, righter fit I would be better off with genuine Ford parts. Therefore, I headed off to Pull-a-part early Saturday morning.

Here I am disassembling as similar Fusion and learning "how" 

To keep myself straight and unconfussed, I brought baggies to the bone yard and labeled them (after pic) 

This worked great because I needed 9 bolts that hold on the headlights, 4 bolts across the top of the grill holding grill to crossmember, about 20 of those plastic 2 part push fasterners for the fender liners and about 10 metal 2 part fasterners for the underbody plastics.

Whopping total:  $9.00

Yeah, I'm out a whole $9 to put this back together. 

As I'm sitting here relaxing, I have to agree with your little Cutie.   It's P'Jammers approved.  Nice quick fix.

In reply to John Welsh :

So your budget is 2 lines:

 - purchase all-in:  $1048.00

 - JY hardware:  $9.00

for a grand total of $1057.00 as she sits, ready to go to DMV for the salvage-to-rebuilt title proce$$.  You, sir, are winning.

Yes, I sure feel like I'm winning! 

I was willing to go to $1,650, all in, with my bid and then further willing to go $1k more in repairs if something reared its ugly head like trans or drivetrain, etc.   State Farm valued this car at $6,500 pre accident! Sure, I know with a now, R-title, it's not worth $6,500 but is it worth $5,000?  Doesn't really matter, I'm keeping it. I'll add another 100k miles and someday sell it for more than I bought it for. 

Still to come:

• $53.50 for state inspection 
• $70.74 for sales tax (6.75% of $1048)
• title and plates ($60-ish)

I have only driven it in the parking lot since no plates but up to 40mph all seem good. 

Great work John!

Awesome! Good job 

That came out real nice. 

Wow great job! Sorry the plastic clips didn't work out better - I had good luck with them with my MR2 spyder bumper and frunk, but there's only so many sizes they included as you found out.

This is going to lead to driving for free for a 100k miles. Awesome.

$76.74 in State Tax and fee have been paid today

$53.50 for Inspection has been paid

One week from today the Mercury has a 1:30 appt with the State to be inspected.  In Ohio, these inspections care about receipts  with VIN of the other car if used parts to act as proof of non-stolen parts.  This will be a no-receipt type inspection since I have nothing to claim.  I think I'll bring my receipt of $9 from Pull-a-part for fasteners.  This in not a needed receipt but I think I'll bring it as documentation to the real need for no parts.  

Most all of the cars I have taken through this process have needed no receipts.  On one of the vehicles I replaced a headlight and they told me that was not "major enough" to need a receipt.  The replaced rear bumper on the F250 did require a receipt.  

I'll point out the remaining cracks in the grill and bumper scratch as proof these are in fact the original parts.  

$1,187.24 Grand Total (so far)

dculberson said:

John Welsh said:How to?  And, how does it all go back together?  I'll admit, I'm not really sure and I don't have a lot of experience with this stuff.  However, it looks like a lot of plastic.  I am sure I can look at it, study it, and figure it out.    However, what I do seem to be missing is all those darn little plastic connectors and small screws.  So, I think my answer will be...  I have checked Pull-a-Part and they have no Milan but they do have the same age Fusion.  I think I will head off to Pull-a-Part and there I will get an education on taking it all apart.  Taking it apart will also get me all the connectors and any part I might need.   

Looks like a great buy! But don't do this - those plastic connectors are cheap and are really ideally single use. Or at least after 8 years they're brittle enough that you'll have looser fitting connectors after they're removed and reinstalled. When I was putting the MR2 Spyder back together all the bumper connectors were messed up and I had a ton of plastic push connectors that were worn under the frunk. I found this assortment on Amazon and it has been awesome:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072KXQXL7

and for $25 you have everything you need to put the car back together and have a ton of spares for the next project. I find it to be super handy to have around and have used a number of them since the MR2 project.

Amazing. I just ordered that box of clips.

   The biggest issue I ran into in PA, all receipts needed to show PA sales tax, if not, then a sales tax had to be paid.   Since the parts I bought were thru E-bay and out of state, nothing had a sales tax, so that had to be taken care of.

     In PA we have to go thru a enhanced inspection, which has nothing to do with the normal state inspection, had to find a place that was qualified to do that.

         But it wasn't really to difficult, looking to do it again, cheap interesting way to get a car.

I assume these are being insured "liability only"... which I understand is the only way most companies will insure former salvage cars?

In reply to sleepyhead :

I bought Prius #2 through a body shop that specializes in fixing and rebuilding salvage Priuses.    I bought it "finished" and already rebuilt by them.  

I have that Rebuilt Titled car fully insured.  I suspect though should it get into an accident the insurance company will give the car a very low value sighting the R-title as the reason for the low value.  

I currently have 3 other cars that I took from Salvage to Rebuilt and since they all  cost me under $2k to acquire and make road ready, all-in, I have them only insured for "liability only".  

Also, much of this varies by state and maybe even by insurance company.  

     Well the market value drops some, with the rebuilt title, but who cares.....   My beetle I have only liability on, I have less than $4,000 in it, including all the fees and stuff.  If it gets damaged, I can just get another one.  the place I got it from has a few right now.

Nice work on this one John. Same engine that's in my Mazda 3 but I have one less cog in the gearbox as mine is a 5 speed auto.

So, today the Milan went to its State Inspection and passed just fine.  I now have a Rebuilt Salvage Title which means "roadworthy" and good to go.  

Repeat budget:

• $1048 Purchase all-in with fees ($700 winning bid)
• $9 for fasteners
• $76.74 state tax and 1st registration (salvage title in my name)
• $53.50 State Inspection fee
• $17 title fee (now a Rebuilt Title in my name)
• 1,204.24 ready to go.  

On this project, aside from just keeping track of dollars I kept track of time.  If time is money I wanted to answer the question of how much time does it really take to make this all happen.  If it was a flip, would I just find myself working for peanuts?

• 2 hrs to shop and inspect
  • The IAA location is about 20 minutes from my house.  Just 5 highway exits down the main route. Roughly 40 minutes of travel and 1hr onsite reviewing the 10 cars I might be interested in that week.  No time given to searching the website the days before.  I'll call it 2 hours total.
• 2 hrs to pick up the car
  • Borrow a dolly from a buddy, pick that up and return that (15 min x2 = 30 min)
  • 20 min each way = 40 min
  • better than 30 minutes for paperwork and waiting for workers to pull the car out of the yard.  This time was quick.  Could be longer. 
• 4 hrs at for the Junkyard
  • I live in a small town and do not have a good self-serve JY close by.  For this car, self serve was going to be better for getting what I want.  The Cleveland Pull-a-Part is 1hr away.  The Akron is 1.5 hr.  Based on their online inventory the Akron seemed a better choice for this project.  1.5 each way = 3 hr and that seems like a big time investment but for this eample that assured me what I needed would be there.  I was also buying the education of taking it apart as a way to learn how to put it together.  Also made for a fun Saturday morning but I am trying to look at this all as a time cost.
• 3 hrs to repair/reassemble
  • This is a reasonable assumption of the time needed.  I tried to back out some "toddler interuptions" and factor off some of the time that was just "tinkering" and looking but not really working on the car. 
• 1 hr registration/title/pre-inspection
  • In Ohio, I bought a car and recieved a title from IAA that still said State Farm Insurance on it.  I have to visit one office to get that title changed over to my name (now I rightfully own a car I can not drive.) Then, I have to visit another office to pay the fee for the State Inspection (53.50) that then gets me a reciept and a reservation code number.  I then sit at home, at the computer and choose an inspection date/time from the State website after entering that reservation code number.
  • 2 offices and some computer time.  Even thought the offices are local, lets still attach an hour to that process.
• 3 hr Inspection 
  • The inspection office is 1 hour away.  They will not hold your spot if you are late so I try to get there 30 minutes early.  The appts are in 15 minute incriments but today they were running late.  
• 15 hours total

Now place a value to my time.  

$20 per hour x 15 = $300

$50 per hour x 15 = $750

$100 per hour x 15 = $1,500

Since my intention is to keep the car I think I have $ 1,204.24 into the purchase and $750 into the labor = $1,954.24

or

$1,204.24 purchase and $1,500 labor = $2,704.24

Was it worth it?  Could I have just bought the same car for under $2k? Under $3k? I don't think so. But, I bet I could have bought it for $5k. 

Another way to look at it...  If I could manage to sell the car for $5k I would have made $3,795.76 more than I bought the car for.  That profit of $3,795.76 made in 15 hours would be $253.02 per hour.

But... I might need to factor in the time selling the car and more prep to make it sell well.  I washed the car for myself but if I was selling it I would need to factor those cleaning hours too.  Lets also not forget the time to write the ad, answer the questions and stay home to meet buyers (even if they did not show.)  

At a conservative 4 hours I could have $200 or $400 into sale costs.  Maybe double that if it sold slowly.  

$3,795.76 divided by 15 + 4 hrs = 19 hrs = $199.78 per hour.    Better than average I suppose.   

Other sale price examples:  

Sell for $4,000 - $1204.24 = $2,795.76 profit divided by 19 hrs = $147 per hour

Sell for $3,000 - $1204.24 = $1,795.76 profit divided by 19 hours = $94.51 per hour

I’d say you’re doing pretty dang well with this one. Anything close to $100/hr is exceptional for our hobby, I believe.

Minor update and the admission of a rookie mistake.  

After I got the car all together, I took it in for an oil change.  Wouldn't you know it, as they filled the washer fluid, it all drained out onto the floor of the shop.  DAMN.  I just had that all apart.  

$32.62  Replacement tank via Advance complete with pump.

$25.27  Replacement inner fender.  Since I was going to have to take off the fender liner to get to the tank... And, since that side was the worst damaged existing fender liner...  And, since the car has proven to be worth investing into...I bought a replacement.  Keystone brand arrived via Rock Auto as a no-name sale ($15 part and $10 shipping but still a cheaper grand total the all others.)  The replacement fender is noticeable thinner plastic that the factory model.  Fit is only okay.  In hind sight, I may have been better off with the somewhat damaged factory unit.  

$57.89 in new parts added to the old total of $1,204.24 makes a new total of  $1,262.13

Also add in 1 more hour of labor @ $50

$1,262.13 purchases and $1,550 labor = $2,812.13

A small hole at the very bottom of the tank.  In hindsight, I should have noticed the tank was completely empty and wondered why.  At least, I should have tried to put fluid into the tank when the car was apart.  As stated, rookie mistake!  

I have driven the car a total of about 500 miles so far.  It drives really well and all seems great.  I suspect a little too much noise coming from the RF CV-axle.  Today, I super-inspected the boot and I see no breaks in the rubber.  The CV could still be failing, just not failing from the obvious reason of loosing its grease.  The CV looks to be original so at 104k it would not be out of character to need a replacement.  

In other news, yesterday, with paper, envelope and a stamp I wrote a letter to the previous owner on the title.  The center point of the letter was asking them if they still had a key for the car.  I would be willing to buy it off them.  They live about 40 minutes away (Westlake).  When I got the car it came with only one key.  Hopefully, the lure of some cash for their key will get them to reply.  I'm happy to buy the key but what I really hope to get is "the rest of the story."  

John Welsh said:

  In other news, yesterday, with paper, envelope and a stamp I wrote a letter to the previous owner on the title.  The center point of the letter was asking them if they still had a key for the car.  I would be willing to buy it off them.  They live about 40 minutes away (Westlake).  When I got the car it came with only one key.  Hopefully, the lure of some cash for their key will get them to reply.  I'm happy to buy the key but what I really hope to get is "the rest of the story."  

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