General - disassembling 2005 for parts (what to keep/sell/junk for replacement Aveo?)

[mattre_pgh]

My 2005 hatchback was stolen/recovered, but totaled for suspension and body panels, plus a big dent in the oil pan a few others. I bought another one from the same year with the settlement (11k more miles, though), and bought the old one back for less than I paid for new tires in July (that seemed like a no brainer).

I'm going to strip everything that seems worthwhile to keep as spares or to sell on ebay/craigslist/forums, and recycle/scrap/dispose the rest. Whatever remains on 3/31 is getting hauled away to the junk man unless someone else wants it.

I've never taken a car apart before, and I haven't worked on the Aveo much besides changing the oil. I've got tools, time, and patience, though, and I've worked on cars plenty and I know how to find stuff on the internet. I would appreciate any advice, insight, warnings, whatever anyone could offer.

Also any suggestions on what to keep/sell/junk would be awesome. The stolen one had 62k miles, and the new one has 73k.

Obvious (to me) things to keep would be everything on the accessory belt (I know the A/C compressor was new at 39k), the motor and transmission if I can figure out where to store them, tires/wheels, and others. Obvious things to sell would be basically everything I can take apart without breaking on the interior. Lots of other parts I have no idea about or haven't even thought about.

I'm not exactly sure what the best way to get started is. One thought was to strip the interior first, just for a starting point and so I can sell the parts during the worst of the winter. Another was to pull the highest priority spares, and save the interior for when it's too cold to work w/o gloves in the wind. Whatever I do, I want to be deliberate enough that I can keep track of what I'm doing.

My initial plan is to get it parked and off the ground this weekend so I can take the wheels off with minimal effort if I need them. Next I'm going to remove everything that is in the way of easily changing the timing belt, so that I'll have done it once when I do the other one before the warranty expires (3mo/4.5k). Then I'll take the seats out so the kids have a place to play while I work on it. I have no plan yet after that, so I'm completely open to suggestions.

Anyway, any wisdom you can offer will be hugely appreciated.

[DarrylYoder]

You should be able to strip the whole interior except for the dash board in around 3 hours, it doesn't take too long to take the aveo hatch apart, i had to do so when I was replacing my fuel door release hardware, and also to install my back-up camera.

[xintersecty]

Goto harbor freight and buy the electric impact wrench and set and impact nut drivers. well worth it. Good luck on selling your love down river....

[MetroMPG]

Welcome to the forum.

If you've got storage space, why not even save normal wear items that are going to need replacing eventually on the new Aveo? Like brake discs/pads/calipers. Exhaust, if it's still intact. Axles (CV joints). Wheel bearings.

How did the car get stolen? Keys?