Ok, here's my experience with gas pumps. I have one from the 70's (Union 76) on my farm tank. It is old enough that it's got a separate motor and pump so that there is a belt running from the motor to the pump to power it. That's the type that farmers (or pilots) can use.
The ones from the 80's and 90's that I've scrapped (my stepdad had a station then) were mechanical with the motor integrated into a kind of pump like housing. You can't even get electric motor price for this because it has so much extra cast iron. These won't work for farms either because the actual pump is down in the tank attached to the sump pipe. The register head where the numbers are will most likely be cast aluminum with some aluminum gears in it. Dirty aluminum. You have a tiny bit of wiring going to the lights and motor. Nothing else has power to it because it's all mechanical. The nozzle and place to hang it will be aluminum, but there again, dirty. Anything looking stainless is probably magnetic. It's only there for show so they didn't need to use nonmagnetic stainless. The hose connectors can be aluminum or brass, still dirty unless you can get all the hose out of them. They are probably right about the weight. Those things are heavy, but I wouldn't pay more than I'd pay on straight steel.
I haven't scrapped a digital one but I'm sure there a few boards in them. I doubt there are any high grade because the computer systems for the pumps are inside the store. On second thought, if it has a credit card acceptor, it probably has some higher grade boards.
There are several different makes of pumps, all a little different so your results may vary.
Bookmarks