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Login to post Forums » Grassroots Motorsports » Project Car Post-Tramatic Symptoms .... Share your feelings....

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Aug. 24, 2010 3:28 p.m. Nis14 New Reader

So I’ve been working on a 1990 RX7 GXL and swapping pretty much everything out from the diff to the engine to suspension bushings to rewiring to recoloring the interior. After a long 4 month build and an ungodly amount of money spent. I’m almost done with swap. And I find myself in a medley of different emotions

1, It’s not what I thought it would be… Granted it’s a matter of cleaning, tucking, and re-plumbing somethings, but I still after all that work it makes me feel like it would be grander…

2, Did I do this right? This is my first swap and although I am somewhat mechanically included. I’m constantly worried about whether the thing is going to blow up. I’m guessing this will go away in time.

3, Was this really worth it? I’ve spent tons of money and time on this thing. I live in NYC and I actually rented out a garage in east Long Island to do it, which means a lot of all-nighters and less time for other recreational activities. All that money and time could have gone towards something more enjoyable like hitting on chicks and maybe nabbing a future wife…

/rant

I kind of feel like a resentful mother after labor.

Share your feelings….

And for your viewing pleasure… “The Start Up”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8uQ__tWHCE
Aug. 24, 2010 3:52 p.m. ClemSparks SuperDork

4 months would be LIGHTNING speed for me on a personal project (given your general description). (Time vs. money...)

I think you're suffering from burnout.

Take a break and get some inspiration.

Clem
Aug. 24, 2010 4:20 p.m. grimmelshanks Reader

ClemSparks wrote:

4 months would be LIGHTNING speed for me on a personal project (given your general description). (Time vs. money...)

I think you're suffering from burnout.

Take a break and get some inspiration.

Clem

+1
Aug. 24, 2010 5:13 p.m. JThw8 SuperDork

+2 We spent alot of looooong hours over 6 months to get the Wartburg built for BABE and Lemons (and eventually GRM) and since returning from Lemons I havent wanted to look at the car. You just get burnt out. The car is not what I want it to be but after GRM I will put it in the "storage" side of the garage and take a break from it. It may be a year or more before I start again but then I will. Sometimes its just good to step back.
Aug. 24, 2010 5:26 p.m. oldtin HalfDork

+3! I put in something like 850 hours on the MG working up to the challenge last year - it still wasn't ready. For about 6 months I didn't even want to look at it. There's always something else you wish you had done, something you could've done better and things you would do differently on a different go at it. Take a break, chase some wimmen. In a little while you're car will be cool again.

As far as being worth it - financially, probably not. Emotionally - I need to make things. I go batty if I'm not building something - house stuff, car stuff, computers. whatever. At least when I'm done, I have a relatively liquid asset I can turn into the next buildy thing.
Aug. 24, 2010 5:29 p.m. John Brown SuperDork

I drove my 2011 Challenge car today.

It is close to a running Challenger than anything I have had in 7 years, sad really.
Aug. 24, 2010 6:12 p.m. IWELDIT New Reader

n
John Brown said:

I drove my 2011 Challenge car today.

It is close to a running Challenger than anything I have had in 7 years, sad really.

I drove my 2011 Challenge car today.

It is close to a running Challenger than anything I have had in 7 years, sad really.
Aug. 24, 2010 6:14 p.m. IWELDIT New Reader

You can say that twice. IT about Time you finished one.
Aug. 24, 2010 6:16 p.m. Junkyard_Dog HalfDork

+4. Take a break. Go do something non-car. Before I committed to my huge new project I was already leaning towards getting rid of some other cars just to simplify things.

oh and 4 months is NOT a long build, no matter how many all-nighters you pulled. I've had plenty of cars that were never "done" after several years so if you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor, I say well done sir!

I could never do that. Like oldtin I need to be building. For some the enjoyment is in the finished product. For others its in the doing. The destination isn't as important when getting there is half the fun.
Aug. 24, 2010 6:23 p.m. NOHOME Reader

You ust described my first swap experience. 25 years ago. Put a fiat 124 engine into a MG Midget with no time, no money and no experience.

I did not so much enjoy that car as I did survive it. It was evil in many ways and in fact may have contributed to my making it to the age of 32 before I got married!

Looking back, life is about the stories you get to tell later. This will be one of yours.

If it is any consolation, you will experience the same range of emotions you are having now, the day you walk back up the aisle after saying "I do?"
Aug. 24, 2010 6:53 p.m. ArthurDent Reader

Isn't the usual thing to do after completing a big project sell it at a loss then immediately buy another money pit?
Aug. 24, 2010 7:04 p.m. John Brown SuperDork

IWELDIT wrote:

You can say that twice. IT about Time you finished one.

Finished? Oh hell no!... RUNNING

If it were finished it would be going to Florida in a few weeks.
Aug. 24, 2010 11:46 p.m. 4eyes HalfDork

"All that money and time could have gone towards something more enjoyable like hitting on chicks and maybe nabbing a future wife… " So....what you're saying is that you have something tangeble and a liquid asset vs. pissing money and time away on nothing.
Aug. 25, 2010 6:50 a.m. JThw8 SuperDork

Junkyard_Dog wrote:

I could never do that. Like oldtin I need to be building. For some the enjoyment is in the finished product. For others its in the doing. The destination isn't as important when getting there is half the fun.

This ^ If I consider a car done, it is for sale. I've built cars that I never even drove. It's all about the building for me. I guess that's why since Im "stuck" with the Wartburg I am going to disassemble the whole thing and start over post-GRM. I want to keep the car but I want to keep building it.
Aug. 25, 2010 7:14 a.m. VanillaSky HalfDork

So far, the only swaps I've done are transmission and suspension. 4 transmissions, and about 2 and a half suspensions. If I finish it up in 4 months, then I've been bustin' arse to get it done by my standards. So far, I have about 6 weeks in the rear freeze plug replacement in the Jeep. Freeze plug is in, block is sealed back up. I still have to get the transmission back in. At least I'm getting to the point where transmissions aren't a daunting task anymore.

The main thing to worry about it burnout. If I go out and beat the piss out of myself trying to get something done quickly, I won't touch it for a while, sometimes months. I'd rather work 20 minutes a day than work for 8 hours and not touch it for months.

One question I have is do you have a group of friends that hang out while working on your car? I get SO much more work done when I've got cold beer and a good friend chilling out with me.

As an example, I had a Honda sitting in my driveway for about 8 months. Simple transmission install. Took me 6 months to get it to the point where it was together enough to support itself. It then sat for another 2 months. Had some friends come over, got a beer or two in, and I had it running in about 30 minutes. That was after installing a "known good" starter that wasn't good, removing it, putting another starter in enough to know it didn't fit, building one good starter out of the two and installing it. Sucker fired right up, had another beer, took it around the block, and pulled another car up to get worked on.

Those were the days.
Aug. 25, 2010 5:55 p.m. Nis14 New Reader

Maybe I am just burnt out...

All I need to do now is find a place to store it at minimal cost... and not look at it for a couple of months.

and suggestions...
Oct. 6, 2010 11:32 a.m. ClemSparks SuperDork

I'm curious how this has worked out for you...

Clem
Oct. 6, 2010 11:43 a.m. demonspeed Reader

Well I'm thousands of dollars deep into my '54 ford project which i started about 3 years ago.... It still pretty far from running, and the car is in my parents garage 600 miles away from where i live because I don't have a garage. The car is in primer, has a god-awful botched interior and crappy bodywork thanks to the previous owner. The engine/trans swap i'm doing is pretty far from finished, and it's a four door so it probably won't ever be worth much even when it's done. I get to work on the car MAYBE 4 days a year when i go visit my parents for holidays. so your project sounds much more rewarding than mine lol. Perhaps I should have planned this project out a bit better......oh well. someday it'll be glorious
Oct. 6, 2010 12:21 p.m. 914Driver SuperDork

Nis14 wrote:

I kind of feel like a resentful mother after labor.

Share your feelings….

When I did the BatVan the Challenge was in April. It went from the garage to the trailer with no testing. It ran, it stopped and I'm out of time, get on the bus.

Blew it up right in the parking lot after dragging it and the family 1200 miles. Luckily the wife, kid and dog were in another vehicle because I blew the clutch out of the tow vehicle at a light in Jacksonville.

Resentful? Try pissed. Depressed. Frustrated. Embarassed. And now $1100 broker for the Stealership to fix the truck.

It was a long ride home I'll tell ya.

Most here have jumped on with comments on their current project. I have one. The engine - tranny - axle is in. Body is OK, radiator, intercooler in. I'm against a wall of fabrication that I can't get past. I go out there and stare at it. I took a breather for a month and built the Naked Goldwing. The project is still there and no further ahead with now another month ticked by.

Sometimes I wonder why I do this. GREAT ideas, crappy follow through.

Resentful mother? Yes. I coulda shoulda woulda; I wish I had it back but glad it's gone.

Dan
Oct. 6, 2010 5:50 p.m. Nis14 New Reader

Clams --- Please see below tread

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/snap-on-tool-roll-cab-...
Oct. 6, 2010 7:52 p.m. 924guy Dork

A three month "quick" project has turned into a 2 year plus project for me, but given that im only putting in a day or two a month, that's not to horrible. Frustrating? sometimes. today I almost took a sledge hammer to the car trying to fix a no start problem i though i had beat already. i guess more accurately i now have a new no start problem. But these are the things you deal with when you dig your car out of a mud hole.

On the upside, Ive done a four lug to five lug, 4 wheel disc brake conversion, had it running great (after it not running for almost a decade), have done ALLOT of cleaning, scraping, rust removal, parts refinishing and rebuilding spending almost no money at all on thanks to a $200 parts car GRM found me. I have ALLOT more to go, none of the improvement save the disc conversion is readily noticeable to my eye, but family and friends have made positive comments. Im just looking forward to getting the basic mechanicals dependable so i can start on the fun stuff.

So today was one step forward and two steps back, the brakes actually work(FINALLY!) , the ignition system now doesn't. Ill get it sorted, and am persistent. In the end itll be well worth it and that's what keeps me going. Im just eager to install my secret weapons (insert evil laugh here....) sometimes i get pissed off and tempeted to call the scrapper, but mostly, i just look forward to the end results.

Ive completed a bunch of other projects in the past, but i was always better financed, had more time, and more resources. This one been tough and its not a very complicated build. But now thats its cooling off, i intend to put in a few more hours a week. I need to drive this thing soon, that be the motivation i need to finish it
Oct. 6, 2010 9:24 p.m. Teh E36 M3 HalfDork

I found a lot of the "disappointment" was when I stuck the fuel injected, electronically controlled engine in the car, turned the key and it just..... started.
WTF? Don't I have to dick with it? Nope. It sounds like that's what happened to you. The whole project is a pain in the ass, and then, its wired up, and poof: it runs like new. It's mildly weird to me that I find that disappointing.
Oct. 7, 2010 1:11 a.m. Nitroracer Dork

On the opposite side of things I was finally able to drive my 68' fairlane for a few miles this summer after wrenching on it for three years. Its no where near finished, but put together well enough that I could go for a short drive.

I've had nothing but carb trouble with the car and now I want to challenge myself with megasquirt and finding an intake that will fit without ruining my hood.
Oct. 7, 2010 10:14 a.m. Jay_W HalfDork

We've spent he last year and a half trying to force a toyota GT4 gearbox into my mazda protege rallycar. This was supposed to be the cheap way of getting a reliable awd gearbox in a mazda. If I had know by a factor of 5 how hard and how expensive it was gonna be to get this done, I'da re-done whatall needed doing to the car after its last rally, sold it, and bought or built a simple RWD gp5 car instead. I feel yer pain, and we're not even close to "fire it up" time yet.
Oct. 7, 2010 10:29 a.m. sachilles HalfDork

I tend to get this too. You bust your butt to complete a project to the point where it's usable/serviceable, but not quite neat and tide. I have a tough time going from finished/usable to finished and perfect. I'm the same way with my house. Lot's of major stuff done, but trim work needed just about everywhere.

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