I need to get organized. Again.

i'm with Patrick, garage floor space is most valuable space.  to start, i'd put the most effort into clearing garage floor, even if it's only a few square feet per day.

regarding throwing E36 M3 away that i know is worth a couple bucks:  berkeley it. at our ages (i'll be 55 next month), i need my floor space a lot more than i need $50 for a set of rims for a car i no longer own.

regarding projects:  like someone pointed out above, you've identified somewhere bewteen 4-10 years worth of projects.  in my life, one project, after staying on top of maintenance on 4 daily drivers (me, wife, AK1, AK2), is all i can handle.  hell, i paid a friend to do timing belt and water pump on odyssey, and that was when the weather was still nice.

be ruthless in throwing stuff away.  it only hurts until it's out of sight.

I've been cleaning out my shop this month and I've been ruthless about it. Pretty much any part that I didn't have an immediate plan for was scrapped. If you have parts that are worth the trouble of selling get them going out the door. Ultimately I decided any value the parts had wasn't worth the shop space or head space and I feel massively better for it. 

I have tried giving stuff away. It has turned out to be more work than selling. I'm about an hour drive from major urban areas. People who want stuff for free, generally are not capable of driving an hour to pick it up. Having a price helps winnow the responses. The guy who bought the Dung Beetle came from about 4 hours away and got two cars for $300. I pushed as many extra parts on him as he would take. There's just a single box of Beetle parts left from three that I've had and it's pretty much all stuff that's common to the Audi TT. I'll probably throw that box away except for new-in-box maintenance parts such as brake pads, a hose, and filter. They may go away later when I sort the TT.

Dump trip planned for Monday. The Beetle bumper complete with fog lights will go unless it gets picked up. Planning for a full 5x8 trailer full: Old car radios, speakers, interior parts, 'things that I might fix some day'. Anything "Jetta" will be pulled out for scrap or trash. I'm going to try the ABA engines on FB Market for a few days, but doubt there's interest in my local area. The D15Z1 should sell if I price it low enough and help someone load it into their trunk or back seat.

I want to do some eBay auctions starting at $1 plus shipping for stuff that has use and value. I used to do a lot of eBay, but quit a few years ago. Keeping it simple with easy to pack and ship stuff this time.

Tried to give a lot of stuff away here on the forum a while back for "just pay shipping". I shipped a big lot of Honda stuff and never got paid a dime. That was my fault for shipping it before payment. I don't try to get rid of stuff here anymore except during the New Years Game.

Early New Year's Game: If you PM me your shipping address and have been an ACTIVE forum member here for a while, I'll load up a Flat Rate Box of random junk and mail it to you Free with Free shipping. Make sure you include your Forum Name in  the message, because I don't always figure out who sent messages. Post here if you are hoping for anything specific. Maybe get some off-budget stuff to add to your Challenge car..?   "Free while Supplies Last".   No low ballers, I know what I've got.   *Nothing for Patrick, he's got too much junk already.

I don't have nearly as much space as you, so I can't accumulate stuff like that.  I'm also a bit of a neat freak with my work bench and garage.  The basement storage racks are full of corrado parts but once I sell the car I can't see myself keeping the parts, I'll get rid of them.

I just couldn't have so many projects and parts laying around, it'd drive me crazy.  So I'd be selling off bikes, parts cars and parts at a furious rate, only keeping what was working, what I really wanted to work on and the parts needed to keep everything going.

I was about to say I'd happily take one of your nice boxsters off your hands but you're keeping the ones I'd want.

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

i do and i am actively trying to purge also.  I have a core of cars that I will never get rid of and have one to dump on ebay/BAT and one new future challenge project.  The dump car(sunbeam alpine) is getting pushed out to the sunshine today for pictures to list.  
 

we're in a similar boat, especially from before i made my garage bigger, but there's still a need for floor space so time to purge anything that is not specific to anything I currently own and wish to finish.  Yeah I've made money on parts and cars, but if you calculate the time spent i don't know if it's all worth it.  Something car sized taking up room for over a year now(poorly bought) that i may be lucky to break even on sucks.  Also car sized things that take up space for that long to make $100-200 sucks. 
 

my motorcycle is hanging out doing nothing and has been for 8 years.  It's eating space.  I am ready to punt it down the road 

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

Do you have any blue interior parts and/or a blue top for a Boxster? Also a front bumper, preferably post face-lift or aerokit and preferably silver. Also looking for the screens in the roll hoops, and a driver's side catalytic converter. 

I would not do the $1 ebay stuff....  I did it once with a ton of parts and I made probably $20 for H O U R S of work.  Then dealing with late packages, etc....

but I also am sending you a note about some other stuff!!

And a factory rear undertray with hardware.

I need 986 parts and I'll pay!

In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :

What converter? My 987 had 4.

preach (dudeist priest) said:

In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :

What converter? My 987 had 4.

Mine is a 00 986 S. From what I can tell there's a mini pre-convertor built in to the exhaust manifold, then the actual convertor (repeat on the other side). I need the big main cat (I think). My 02's are working correctly and I keep triggering a cat beyond efficiency on bank 1. It has 140K miles on it, so they are probably close to end of life. I want it stay emissions legal and not stinky.

PM sent.

I also recommend against starting eBay auctions at $1. In this "Prime Shipping" world, almost nobody is willing to wait a week for an auction to end to get their stuff. The vast majority of eBay is "Buy It Now" and auctions pretty much get ignored.

Wow...  and I thought I had buried myself with projects.

Yeah... I started the 30 Minutes a Day thread...  although once again I've slacked off keeping it going.  Definitely not easy and gets harder once the weather started getting cold.

Otherwise, I agree with David.... as I stare at piles of clutter surrounding me... 

Obsolete, try messaging again. I didn't receive it.

Ok, yes. eBay starting  at $1 is a bad idea. I forgot that everything good is Buy it Now and bids are a thing of the past.

I'll put together a box for Jfry and reply to the email tomorrow evening after the Turkey Coma.

Javelin: I have cats and full exhaust from a 2000 and 2001 I'll get a look at what's best after Thanksgiving. I have a good pair of hoop windscreens I need to find that box. I'll do less than eBay 'solds', but not cheap on those. Only light gray and black interiors. The blue top has a bad rear window. If I still have it I'm just saving it for the frame. The plastic undertray: 98650411900 is best to purchase new from a dealer. All of the ones I've pulled off were damaged. I don't want to ship a bumper again. For price and quality, I recommend this: https://www.carparts.com/bumper-cover?&vehicle[cylinders]=6&vehicle[liter]=3%2E2&vehicle[submodel]=Roadster_S&vehicle[model]=Boxster&vehicle[make]=Porsche&vehicle[year]=2003 I have bought two of these in the past with a 30% discount and free shipping. They are pretty much identical to stock 986 'facelift', fit well, and are primed. It comes without the duct trim pieces. I can probably help you out with those if needed.

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

Dude you are awesome!

Yes, I am more than willing to pay market rate on the parts. Much rather buy from you than some rando on feebay. I am very interested in a pair of 00 S cats and the windscreens! Yes, I will likely need front ductwork. My car has been hit in the nose in the past and has spent 4 years eating cones since then...

In reply to Javelin (Forum Supporter) :

I have not dug up the windscreens yet, but I went through part of the exhaust pile. If you are getting a code from the O2 sensor, you probably just want to replace the cat that is integrated to the header. On the 2000 and later cars, both O2 sensors are on that one piece. the secondary cat is unmonitored. Start spraying your exhaust studs with penetrating oil now. You don't want to snap one.

Here's the Primary (header) cat:

Here's the secondaries and the rest of the exhaust (what you don't need).

That's all in the storm shelter which is pretty organized since I haven't stripped and scrapped any cars down there.

On Friday I loaded up the 5x8 trailer with non-metal junk. Bulky junk that was completely junky. * I have used scraps of bumpers and ABS plastic for a lot of repairs and projects, but yes, I don't need to keep all of this around. The dump was closed for the 'Day After Thanksgiving' holiday, so it all came back home. Monday the trailer can be more full.

Today, I sorted a lot of the stuff at the edge of the driveway behind the cars. Most of it is wheels and tires and not really a problem to keep as long as it stays organized. There are a couple piles started of metal for recycle/scrapyard. I hope they take wheels with tires on them because I'm getting rid of at least 8. The best strategy may be to wait until I haul the '01 Blue Boxster away and toss them in that. Lots of other stuff going on for the last couple days, but I have a goal of having everything pulled out then put back in order on the 'left' side of the garage by the time I start a week of day shift on Wednesday. Then I can divide some evening time between working on the Fiero engine swap and progressing with the clean-up.

Outstanding! That's a great start. I know it's not easy throwing stuff away when I know it has some cash value. Then I deal with some mouth-breather over $50 and I get a strong case of the berkeleyits. That has really helped me to throw stuff away. :-) 

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

Sweet! Thanks for the info! Let me know how much for that cat/ header and possibly it's mate if you have it. No rush. 

AAZCD (Forum Supporter) said:..., but I have a goal of having everything pulled out then put back in order on the 'left' side of the garage by the time I start a week of day shift on Wednesday. Then I can divide some evening time between working on the Fiero engine swap and progressing with the clean-up.

Or maybe I can make just enough room for one more bike: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/595826244836121  /sigh. I need to block FB market from my browser.

Assign a dollar value to your specs. Every sf costs between $160 and $260. If 8' tall that's $20 to $40 per cubic foot. Can you buy that part again for less than the cost of storing it for as long as it will take to get around to it? Get rid of it.

Full disclaimer I heard this three years ago and have kept used parts I could have bought three or four times over new by now. But the advice is all the more relevant through my failures!

Sounds like progress is being made. 

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

Looks like my forum message bounced, and the bounce message ended up in my spam folder. I just re-sent it directly via email to the address it said it bounced from, so you should have it now.

In reply to obsolete :

Got it this time. It may not be aligned to your current projects, but your gonna get a box of awesome stuff. Thanks.

The first step in solving a problem is to admit...

As we are soon to move into our new home I have started this process.  While I have amassed far less than you in total, my philosophy has been much as the others have suggested; eliminate the valueless items that are taking up a bunch of space.

I had a set of 17" custom wheels and tires that fit a Subaru I sold 3 years ago.  $75 on fb mp and they were gone same day.  I had a Kicker subwoofer and amplifier that were very expensive 15 years ago when new that I harvested from a parts car.  $100 later a young man was thrilled to "nearly steal" them.  Etc etc.

Fight the good fight!

In reply to Loweguy5 (Forum Supporter) :

Yes. My 'first life' was in the military and I moved at least every year or three years for about 21 years. Moving is a great way to keep your accumulation of stuff manageable. During that time I didn't have more than three cars at once and my projects were minor one car at a time stuff. After settling in here for over 15 years now we got out of the three year purge cycle. *Moving from Ansbach, Germany back to the US, I actually had movers pack up a trash can full of trash and didn't realize it until we were unpacking at Ft Drum, NY almost three months later.

I'm not in a good location to sell stuff locally. I have sold plenty of cars, but car parts sit for weeks with a few inquiries, but no serious buyers. The parts I've made good money from were on Audi, VW, Porsche, and Honda specific forums. I've shipped Porsche stuff as far as Australia and sent a couple pallets of freight across the USA. I just don't have the time (or desire) for freight or international shipping any more. I'm going to hold onto things like Boxster brakes and steering wheels and store them outside my garage work space. Much of my collection of doors, steering racks, seat frames, and  other large low demand items will probably go to scrap tomorrow - IF I can get it organized in time.

I didn't get much accomplished today. I'm finally fading out now and about ready for sleep after a glass of wine. It was coffee all day today. I worked last night starting with a flight when I got to work at 7 pm and ending with a little overtime at 7:30 am. There was almost two hours of nap time somewhere in between calls. I spent the day with my 9 year old grandson and only got about a 30 minute nap. We finished loading more stuff onto the trailer and took it to the dump, stopped at the airport and watched some airplanes, bought some new Pokemon Cards and he taught me how to play (by his rules), then we pushed the Fiero out of the garage and swept up a bit. Tomorrow is a totally free day. Yay.