I feel like I'm terrible at car projects.

Pretty sure I'm not built for projects. I get so nervous having the car apart for a long period while waiting for parts or for side jobs to get done (welding, fabricating etc as I'm not good at either of those). I can do a one day car project no problem, but having the thing sitting in the garage not working for weeks I just keep thinking over and over about all the things that need to get done to get it working again.

Are any of you guys nervous people? How do you handle this sort of thing? I try to break down the various things I need to do and handle them one step at a time, but it's the waiting as the list grows that gets to me.

I also managed to mess something up the other day (cross threaded something) and then got so pissed I couldn't see straight since I'll have to totally redo several prior steps to get back to where I was at.

Yeah i do that. Some of mine drag on long enough that i end up buying multiples of the same part, forgetting i had already ordered that.

THAT'S guaranteed to send me into a rage.

Get a punching bag. You'll be fine. Take your time. I've had cars sitting. Right now, my DD is sitting waiting for an engine. Has been for months.

Ah, I do have the punching bag in the basement and I haven't used it in a while. That's a good suggestion.

Swank, I look and feel like your avatar most of the time when I'm dealing with a car project. I'm an overthinker. I just think about everything too much. Like, what's the point of getting worked up about installing a Megasquirt if I can't even do any of it until the turbo and manifold are back on the car?

I've also started a little ways down the rabbit hole of buying too many new upgrade parts, because well, they are so cheap for a Miata. Like the new 3" stainless exhaust that is on the way. Prrrobably didn't need that, but cheap! Also started considering just swapping the manifold and turbo, but then realized I haven't even gotten the thing running on MS yet and if I'm going to blow anything up it should be the cheapo setup I already have, not some new and better setup.

I am guilty of that, so I just buy more cars, trust me that just makes the stress worse.

aussiesmg wrote: I am guilty of that, so I just buy more cars, trust me that just makes the stress worse.

This is something I also considered, because Miatas are so cheap, but I already have four cars so I'm running out of room in the driveway.

I also considered doing a motor swap to a 1.8.

This is all not helping.

Harvey wrote: Ah, I do have the punching bag in the basement and I haven't used it in a while. That's a good suggestion. Swank, I look and feel like your avatar most of the time when I'm dealing with a car project. I'm an overthinker. I just think about everything too much. Like, what's the point of getting worked up about installing a Megasquirt if I can't even do any of it until the turbo and manifold are back on the car? I've also started a little ways down the rabbit hole of buying too many new upgrade parts, because well, they are so cheap for a Miata. Like the new 3" stainless exhaust that is on the way. Prrrobably didn't need that, but cheap! Also started considering just swapping the manifold and turbo, but then realized I haven't even gotten the thing running on MS yet and if I'm going to blow anything up it should be the cheapo setup I already have, not some new and better setup.

I have a buddy like you. No offense meant to you, but sometimes it's really hard to deal with hanging out with him or working on a car with him.

He can see the forest through the trees. The problem is that he changes what sort of forest he wants a million times after he starts planting trees.

I'm halfway guilty of similar. You wouldn't believe how many parts i swapped out and upgraded on the Escort before it even ran. (Then the motor blew.) And now i'm looking at upgrading the suspension around the same time i put a new motor in it.

I HAVEN'T EVEN DRIVEN THE berkeleyING THING YET.

In reply to Harvey:

HAHA. I have a very nice intercooler and piping sitting in the office. Yes, it was cheap. Two turbo projects.

It appears you are new to posting. I don't know if you've looked at many of our profiles. Look at the cars we have in our garages. You are not alone, Sir!

Swank Force One wrote:

Harvey wrote: Ah, I do have the punching bag in the basement and I haven't used it in a while. That's a good suggestion. Swank, I look and feel like your avatar most of the time when I'm dealing with a car project. I'm an overthinker. I just think about everything too much. Like, what's the point of getting worked up about installing a Megasquirt if I can't even do any of it until the turbo and manifold are back on the car? I've also started a little ways down the rabbit hole of buying too many new upgrade parts, because well, they are so cheap for a Miata. Like the new 3" stainless exhaust that is on the way. Prrrobably didn't need that, but cheap! Also started considering just swapping the manifold and turbo, but then realized I haven't even gotten the thing running on MS yet and if I'm going to blow anything up it should be the cheapo setup I already have, not some new and better setup.

I have a buddy like you. No offense meant to you, but sometimes it's really hard to deal with hanging out with him or working on a car with him. He can see the forest through the trees. The problem is that he changes what sort of forest he wants a million times after he starts planting trees. I'm halfway guilty of similar. You wouldn't believe how many parts i swapped out and upgraded on the Escort before it even ran. (Then the motor blew.) And now i'm looking at upgrading the suspension around the same time i put a new motor in it. I HAVEN'T EVEN DRIVEN THE berkeleyING THING YET.

Here's the thing, I calm down a lot if I have someone working with me. It's only when I'm by myself that I get like this. If I have someone to lean on for some work or just to talk with while I'm doing the work it's like therapy and I am fine. It's really my own brain left to its own devices that is the problem. I'll see if I can put a Teddy Ruxpin up in the corner of the garage with a Tony Robbins tape in it and see if that helps.

N Sperlo wrote: In reply to Harvey: HAHA. I have a very nice intercooler and piping sitting in the office. Yes, it was cheap. Two turbo projects. It appears you are new to posting. I don't know if you've looked at many of our profiles. Look at the cars we have in our garages. You are not alone, Sir!

I've seen the various projects, I just don't know how you all go months (years) working on these things without going nutso.

I'm personally working on a baby steps approach. Fix something. Drive the car for a bit. Upgrade something. Drive it some more. The goal is to keep the car operational as much as possible. I have a set of gauges to put in the wagon. I know that eventually I want them to end up where the radio is next to the speedo in the main cluster. In order to put them there I'll have to pull the dash to pull the cluster. Eventually I'll do that, but for now I'm making a temporary panel to house the gauges so I can wire them and drive the car. Once they're wired and all is well then then pulling the dash and moving them is a much smaller project then pulling the dash and installing them and wiring them and trouble shooting them. I'm doing extra work this way, but I'll be driving the car more. It's a fair trade for me.

I learned long ago to keep my projects rolling. There's nothing like the fear of not getting to work to keep you motivated. In my younger days most of my BIG projects ended up being sold as basket cases. Now the longest I want a car to be down is one month, even if I also have a backup/DD. Works much better for me.

Yeah, I have kept the car up and running for the most part, but since I broke a stud connecting the turbo to the manifold I gotta have all that drilled out and then tapped and drilled for 10mm and the guy doing that is taking a while. Granted it's on the cheap, but I probably will find someone else to do this stuff after this as I can't wait this long even if it's going to be cheap.

I realized that I have this problem. You see, it's very easy to buy cars. It's also extremely easy to buy parts for cars. And, if you have the money, I suppose you could buy someone's time to put those parts you bought on those cars you bought.

Unfortunately, while I (and, I feel, most of us here) have both car money and parts money, very few people have "pay someone to put those parts on" money. That, and we probably actually enjoy that part of the process. Unfortunately, there's only so much TIME...

When we moved recently, I sold off half of the project cars that I own. This amounted to somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 or 16 cars. In the process of doing that, I noted that not only was this about 10,000 dollars worth of cars, but for each of these projects I had also bought parts. The stock of fenders, gasket kits, weatherstripping, emblems, engines, transmissions, electrical parts, windshield wipers...etc was probably another $5000 in parts.

And truthfully, I don't miss any of those cars that I sold. In fact, I'd have sold more if I could have found homes for them. I won't crush something unless it's absolutely hopeless (wrecked or rusted out).

It's called Automotive ADD (AADD for short) and I'm slowly trying to cure myself. And like a smoker, occassionally I lapse. I made a set of rules for myself for new car purchases. All new car purchases much meet the following criteria:

1) Must have a title, or be a parts car for a vehicle I already own

2) May be any Volvo Amazon or 1800 under $500

3) May be any car bought for under scrap value, including my time/gas to go pick it up

And I recently found myself dragging home a rusted-out 1952 Nash, because it has a title and was cheap. My wife shakes her head.

Harvey wrote: Are any of you guys nervous people? How do you handle this sort of thing? I try to break down the various things I need to do and handle them one step at a time, but it's the waiting as the list grows that gets to me. I

I'm the other way, I take something apart and say "I'll remember how that goes back together".

Carmonster says:

Bwahahahahahahahahaaaaaa

What helps me is making sure it isn't and doesn't ever intend to be a daily driver. That way if it don't ever run again it doesn't matter. And make a list. For me a time line doesn't work because of funds and time so I don't make one of those although I do know people that do and it helps them.

I picked up a project Midget just to save it from the scrapyard a few years ago. Still haven't really done anything with it except make a list of what it needs and slowly getting the parts as I find them. My Opel GT was still torn apart when I drug home the Midget. The Opel is running and driving now. Also started the process of turning my Miata into a track car which is delaying the Midget more. Still considering restoring my Yamaha XS650 that's tucked away in the corner of the garage. Shouldn't take too much work, simple winter project. What moves it to the top of the list is I just found out about a new vintage motorcycle club in the area.

Part of my nervousness revolves around the fact that it's my autocross car and I want it ready for that. If I had no timeline I'd probably be less nervous, but probably not as I'm just a nervous person in general. I should have Xanax in my toolbox.

914Driver wrote:

Harvey wrote: Are any of you guys nervous people? How do you handle this sort of thing? I try to break down the various things I need to do and handle them one step at a time, but it's the waiting as the list grows that gets to me. I

I'm the other way, I take something apart and say "I'll remember how that goes back together". Carmonster says: Bwahahahahahahahahaaaaaa

Yea, that really bit me in the ass on my 318ti. I had a head gasket change planned for a weekend, figured disassemble on saturday, install on sunday. I didn't label a darn thing. I ended up with wicked back pain and didn't get to the install portion for 2 months. It was like playing pin the electrical connector on the donkey.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse:

Where are you finding Amazons for sub 500?? I have been looking to get one for a while now.

Harvey wrote: Are any of you guys nervous people? How do you handle this sort of thing?

Easy. I know my limitations; i.e. that I know almost nothing about cars, that I'm learning as I go, and that I will make mistakes that take a lot of time and maybe a lot of money to fix. Because of that, I will NOT work on a car that I need to take me to work. My DD is totally off limits.

I can take an extra week to figure out some issue with the geo, or take six months to figure it out on the datsun (no exaggeration, if you check my thread, some things have taken that long) because I know that the corolla will take me to work in the morning. (....thus paying for my ability to play with the toy cars as time and money allow.)

Harvey wrote: Part of my nervousness revolves around the fact that it's my autocross car and I want it ready for that. If I had no timeline I'd probably be less nervous, but probably not as I'm just a nervous person in general. I should have Xanax in my toolbox.

Yeah, that's different. I'm a little "over" autocross....haven't gone in nearly two years (geo busted, can't figure it out, want to spend time on datsun instead of figuring it out). I still enjoy it, but don't have a burning desire to go.

I get as much or more enjoyment from puttering around making datsun parts as I did from attending autocrosses. That has a lot to do with me not being real competitive in the first place. If I go to autocrosses, I'm there to drive the car and to hang out with friends. I've never put the time/money into getting good enough to be in the hunt for $5 plastic trophies. YMMV.

Cuda wrote: In reply to volvoclearinghouse: Where are you finding Amazons for sub 500?? I have been looking to get one for a while now.

You can pick up 4 door ones for scrap value, complete, and needing a bit of love to make roadworthy. I have bought many of them for ~$500, more or less. Most recently I found a '64 4 door, original owner, 67k miles, minimal rust, for $350. I drove it onto the trailer, too. Then there was the pair of 4 doors for 1k, which had enough good parts for one nice driver (currently painting that car). I picked up a really basket case 2 door for $250 that became our LeMons car a few years back. Wagons tend to be pricier, although 2 winters ago I rescued a fairly complete and salvagable wagon for $550.

Just keep trolling craigslist, and eventually they pop up. I've gone and looked at cars listed for 900 and had the owner jump at 6 bills. I may be weird, but I really like the 4 door versions, too. They share the same wheelbase and roofline as the 2 doors, only weigh about 150 pounds more, and are much nicer to live with on a daily driver basis. 2 adult-sized adults can fit in back, or you can take out the back seat entirely and have an amazing amount of cargo space.

1800's have ticked up in value lately, and basket cases I used to get for 300 and 400 dollars are now 800 and 1000 dollar cars.

I procrastinate starting a project. Once I'm in, I'm in. I ran across a bunch of upgrade the upgrade kind of issues with the MG. Basically made the commitment to myself that unless the change is critical, finish the build close to as planned. If I want a new project later, so be it (like cutting off the front frame rails and rebuilding as a partial tube chassis). If I end up not happy with it, I can always do it over later or sell it off and do something else.

Harvey wrote: Pretty sure I'm not built for projects. I get so nervous having the car apart for a long period while waiting for parts or for side jobs to get done (welding, fabricating etc as I'm not good at either of those). I can do a one day car project no problem, but having the thing sitting in the garage not working for weeks I just keep thinking over and over about all the things that need to get done to get it working again. Are any of you guys nervous people? How do you handle this sort of thing? I try to break down the various things I need to do and handle them one step at a time, but it's the waiting as the list grows that gets to me. I also managed to mess something up the other day (cross threaded something) and then got so pissed I couldn't see straight since I'll have to totally redo several prior steps to get back to where I was at.

You sound pretty normal for this crowd.

Sound normal to me. My friend recognized that I do a LOT better when I plan it out, and he makes me execute it before I can change my mind. I'll buy a part and it'll get the ball rolling, and now all of a sudden, I'm shopping for rods and pistons for a block thats been sitting in my garage's corner for over a year.

You sound like the opposite of me. I'm great at starting looooooooong term projects. I'm quick to take something apart and much slower at getting them back together. I'm in the middle of about a dozen.

Send me half of your personality and I'll send you half of mine. That should give us both a good balance.