Reminds me of the 70s oil crisis with long lineups at the pumps. People waiting for gas with engines running and air conditioners on!
I used to do that too, when the company that hauled it away was doing it for free. After they started charging a fee to haul away the oil, I had to stop.
If your employer is selling the scrap metal, I see no problem with it, but my former employer had to pay to get those scrap metal dumpsters emptied, and paid by the weight.
A former coworker of mine used to wash his cars at work. I always considered that stealing because I knew how high our water bills were, and I knew the taxpayers were footing the bill.
You can get an app for that.
I have actually used gas price apps, especially when on long trips or in my not so fuel efficient truck. I usually donāt let it get right to empty so pick the cheapest station along my route. I never deviate from my route but often the ones right at the exit are more than the ones along the route heading out of town into the countryside.
I am surprised that waste oil is not worth something. I believe it used to be worth about $1/gallon for heating oil or recycling purposes. I knew certain things have dropped in value so maybe that is why.
As for scrap metal, some things are worth money but steel is pretty low in price so it may cost more to haul it than it is worth. There is also work in separating the valuable stuff like aluminum and copper from the junk. It does seem like scrap prices are down right now.
Google Maps will show you gas station locations and prices if you ask it to. Works for me.
Our waste collection system takes drain oil if you put it in gallon plastic jugs. All the car parts stores collect it, too.
We can arrange a bulky waste pickup twice a year, no extra charge beyond the mandatory big fees we pay for collection. They will take almost everything. Thereās a haz-mat site to collect that stuff Monday through Friday. So far Iāve been able to dispose of everything without a problem - even old smoke alarms and rotten gasoline I drained from neglected motorcycles.
My town heats their DPW building with Waste Oil. We love it.
Most waste lube oils are re-refined and after putting in the required additive packages to meet API specs, are sold at a discount to virgin oils. Many automotive supply houses sell them.
Many industries and railroads use re-refined oils and I used them for years in the used cars I had. Never a problem.
They are also used as fuel in some industrial furnaces and our" Heritage Park" burns them in their steam locomotive train ride which was converted from the traditional coal fired boiler.
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My brotherās first car was a '54 Ford, that he bought ināI thinkā1960.
It burned so much oil that he resorted to buying re-refined 40-weight oil by the gallon from Pep Boys. The oil never led to any new problems, and the engine continued to consume oil at the same prodigious rate, albeit at a much lower cost.
Yes, I kept a case of that oil in the trunk of my 1948 Chevrolet when I was a student. Had trouble convincing the border guards at the Canada-US border that I was not āimporting oilā, but needed it just like gasoline. They bought it and felt sorry for me.
Pride at that time was about 30 cents a quart.
Similarly, one of my customers when I was a gas jockey in the late '60s was driving a Corvair.
He pulled in and said, āFill the oil and check the gasā.
With a smile I said, āDonāt you mean fill the gas and check the oil?ā.
His response wasā¦ No, this is a Corvair!
I had a riding mower once that decided to burn so much oil it ran like a diesel once it was warmed up. I had to leave the deck engaged and run it into tall grass to shut it off as it would run on all the oil it was burning. I had been running a quality synthetic but it started drinking oil once this problem started. This wasnāt the first issue I had with it so just decided to keep it going as cheaply as possible. I simply dumped drain oil from my cars and trucks straight out of the waste oil jug right into the oil fill tube.
There is no way the engine would have been able to burn through a tank of gas without using up all the oil first.
I had a 53 Buick once that consumed oil in bulk. I ended up buying Blue Eagle re-refined oil (it looked like maybe they ran it through old sweat socks - maybe) in 5 gallon cans. It finally had an explosive event while at a traffic light, and I found out it was running on 6 of its eight cylinders. Replaced 2 pistons and it ran well, Ohio to Colorado on a couple of quarts.
I am always amazed at hearing people repairing old engines when a rod or whatever broke. The tolerances and such must have been so loose compared to modern engines. I know a guy who repaired a mower engine like this. I told him it was going to cost more than just buying a new mower or finding a repairable junker at the curb but he wanted to do it for the experience. He bought all factory new parts and had the cylinder honed, etc.
I got the two pistons in a junkyard, rooting through an old milk truck full of pistons, I used the rings that were on the replacements, the end caps from the burnt old ones and all the gaskets from my old engine. Torqued the head with a breaker bar, pulled them really tight from the middle to the ends of the head. It started and I drove it. 53 Buick engines were not too fussy.
I urge anyone who thinks you canāt build an engine without a full machine shop or very exotic tools to watch the movie āThe Worlds Fastest Indianā.
I have seen guys building good running engines in their driveway, in car using a power drill with a boring bar. Another friend who rebuilt a Marmon Roosevelt coupe and scraped the Babbitt bearings to spec with a jack knife.
Another friend campaigned a very successful 280 hydroplane. He built both the boat and motors at home. First a 265 Chevy and second a 273 Plymouth. His wife helped him build the motors and she continued to build them after he got killed in a racing accident.
I saw that movie in the theaters . . . several years ago, I think
I have no idea how accurate the movie was, but Anthony Hopkins did a good job, in my opinion
The part I actually liked best was when he was fixing the car(s) at the used car lot, because the owner didnāt know what he was doing
The movie was pretty close to the truth for Hollywood. There was an excellent many page spread in Hot Rod magazine years before the movie about Bert Munro and his Indian at Bonneville and it recounted him melting Ford tractor axles and casting pistons by digging holes in the sand in Australia and getting them round with a file.
That sounds like an interesting movie. I sure bet that oil consumption was an issue with that engine but for racing I guess that isnāt really a concern. I once had a serious oil burner that I attribute to overall neglect by the previous owner. The air filter was bypassing as well and there was all sorts of rocks and grit inside the intake so am sure that worked wonders on the insides of that engine. Besides massive oil burning, the car ran great and got better than the EPA rated gas mileage. Oil mileage was about a quart per 100 miles on a good day. If you really pushed it, you could burn a quart in a matter of a few miles while leaving a cloud behind.
I found a wrecked car with a good donor engine and solved that problem but I have to say that I was amazed that oil burner ran as well as it did.
My biggest regret was pulling the engine out of my 68 cougar xr7 and putting it in a ranchero. Put the ranchero engine in the trunk of the cougar and called the junkyard that paid $125 to take it away. Cougar was a little old in the tooth, leather seats splitting, rear fenders rusting, brake lines shot, I can get another I thought. Wrecked the ranchero on a trip to CA, some Dr. from LA was letting his son drive, he did a panic stop as he thought some driver was too close to his lane, rounded a downhill curve on a dew covered road and realized too late he was stopped dead in the highway. Flattened out the point in the bumper was about it, but that was enough to push the radiator into the fan and leave me dead on the road. Got towed to Carmel and I sold it to a mechanic at the shop it got towed to and bought a bus pass allowing 10 stops. Great places and times on the return trip. Oh did I mention while girlfriend and I were getting towed to Carmel I had to piss so bad, no way to talk to the tow truck driver as we were in the Ranchero, well lets just say if you see a coca cola bottle that looks like it is filled with mountain dew do not drink it. aybe it is getting old like @Triedaq but my stories seem to be getting longer. Hey T Retired this year, thinking of following your lead and retiring to mexico, or beliz or costa rica, pm me with any hints! Thanks in advance!