How’s your winter project list shaping up? It’s time to make plans for next season, right?
I grew up in New York, where winters were very much a Real Thing: shoveling show, freezing at the bus stop, bundling up in thick sweaters hand-crocheted by my grandma.
For us, winters represented the pause between everything else: bikes away, sleds out.
I'm still in the "piling E36 M3 on it in the garage" stage.
Mndsm said:I'm still in the "piling E36 M3 on it in the garage" stage.
As a wise man once told me (his name might have rhymed with Harl Ceideman), once you turn a car into a shelf, it’s over.
I still haven't figured out what the winter projects are going to be yet.
You guys are clearly Mojave-Desertphobics...............
We are still running; we had an event Sunday and we'll be running every three weeks until May.
With that said I've got a block at the machine shop; this bad boy will be 1220cc of raw power. It should be belting 90hp at the wheels.
The F500 is up for sale so nothing doing there.
We have a line on a Fox Body Mustang but it's full functioning.....that should arrive in January.
There is a Bultaco project in the garage but it won't get touched until next summer.
I'll tell you about it later...
My calendar reminder that i have two months to get the garage structure permit signed off just pinged.
It's just handrails and an awning, and I've been dragging it out. But i need to get this done in time to get the MGB's suspension freshened before '24 AX gets rolling...
Which project?
I have to put a heater core, evaporator, and drier on the suburban in the drive. I need to rearrange the garage for that to happen unless Florida weather happens in Michigan soon.
I still need to make the bracket for the fuse box for the ranger. Then start pulling wire fire and aft for some cutting and splicing.
I really need to pull the headliner out of the Galaxie because it's pretty close to original and split at the seams. It also needs the whole suspension gone through and tightened up. I need to put in the proper kilduff shifter in for the reverse manual valve body.
I need to build an exhaust system for the mustang. Plus the nittos are worn out.
Explorer needs a tune, downpipes, exhaust, wheels/tires, mini spool, and a 10 sec 1/4 mile time slip.
Avalanche needs a complete bushing set, shocks/struts, and an oil pan gasket.
I'm sure I have more I am choosing to ignore at this time.....
My projects sleep in the winter. I won't see my baby until April! I'm sad, send diesel
I would just like to point out that winter doesn't actually start for almost a month. So, there really isn't any need to consider winter projects at this time.
I have a Lemons car that will be done one way or the other in two weeks.
After that, I'm done. I quit. This time around has been less than fun so no more Lemons races for me. Probably no more races period.
From there, I'm not working on anything else beyond cleaning out the shop and getting rid of stuff and projects I'll never finish. It's past time to move some things down the road and get some parking spaces back.
This is how the Mustang looked when I parked it a little over a month ago:
It still looks like that. BUT, I have started ordering parts for the suspension refresh. I ordered the Bilstein B12 kit from Summit on Black Friday, it's supposed to ship some time in December. I just knocked out one major home improvement project, so I might even be able to start on it this weekend.
Been doing the spinning in circles cleaning and organizing the shop thing so far. Then I dive into this.
3&4 might get swapped in order depending on how late in the off season I get.
David S. Wallens said:Mndsm said:I'm still in the "piling E36 M3 on it in the garage" stage.
As a wise man once told me (his name might have rhymed with Harl Ceideman), once you turn a car into a shelf, it’s over.
MonZora can go from car to shelf quicker than any car i've ever owned. it's really remarkable.
I'm still not finished with my 2020-2021 winter project of doing the rust repair on my Miata....
This winter my list is
I'm hoping that I manage to get at least one of those done. ish.
Oh. And also find another new project to work on with the middlest daughter.
I'm making a Christmas tree for my apartment.
Its actually going fairly well.
I have two sets of Recaro seats that I want to refresh, but they were supposed to get done two winters ago.
Maybe this will be the year.
These three need to come together this winter.
Project shed will start on 12/6 when the builder drops it off. Then I can start cleaning out the non essentials from the garage so the cars take center stage.
Project Datsun is waiting on the quote from the bodyshop to arrive. Then I can figure out how to beg, borrow and steal enough to pay for all the rust repairs and new paint work.
That's enough on my plate for one winter.
My S2000 project was set to be done this winter. Those unfortunate circumstances that set my life back resulted in it being stuck into the race car trailer until I can get settled and get all of my parts back from that evil ex.
Until then, I've been stock piling parts for my Grom. In the fog of distress of having to move my life in such a short time frame, the handle bars got bent to hell somehow. That has resulted in me ordering new handle bars, new grips, throttle tube, exhaust, fender deletes, different lights and turn signals, and so on. Then I'll have DMH do his magic to get some extra power out of it.
After that tinkering is done, I've got new door latches, lower ball joints, power steering pump, HVAC fan, gauge cluster lights, and some other miscellaneous parts to throw at my Sequoia. I've strategically left it at my parents house in hopes that my dad will become irritated by the chipping and fading paint/clear coat and he'll find the paint supplies in the passenger foot well, and do his magic with it. The S2000 will follow the same strategy for paint.
Front to back '72 Monte Carlo world domination plan:
On the F600
On the Europa
After typing this all out I've realized I really need to get in gear and start on it
Finish up a Sprite race gearbox.
Tidy up the last electrical bits on the Innocenti, which will probably get pretty involved as I'm going to have to pull the dash again, which is a hateful job, so it can go to its new owner.
Get my 89 Mini back from the paint shop and tidy up all the mess from the paint job.
Get back to work on the hot rod Mini, start welding in the new sheet metal and build a rear subframe.
I might get around to last winter's project this winter. That stupid Saab hasn't put itself back together yet.
I've only got an uninsulated garage that can barely fit a car and a not too chubby standing person at the same time, and is used to keep the beater van from getting buried in snow while the Toyobaru sits parked under a tarp, so winter work is made up of collecting up parts, working on parts/software indoors and maybe simulation testing. The AE92 and Samurai are in a warmer climate but the job situation has severely hobbled any travel & gratuitous vacation car modding plans. Progress so far on the Toyobaru:
- Just scored a killer deal on a full set of fresh brake rotors for next year, the current set that was put on in the spring doesn't have much life left in them. Nice Bosch & Centric coated rotors for about the same cost as a set of el cheapos from from the FLAPS.
- I now have two Grimmspeed/AEM Dryflow air filters (that specific model is now NLA but there may be a generic model of matching dimensions) that I can switch around, so I cleaned one and put it away for next year.
- Fresh front pads were put on as this racing season wrapped up and will hopefully make it to the end of the next
- Ordered new Powerstop PSAs for the rear months ago but they've been delayed multiple times, may have to change plans if they don't ship out by February.
- Been doing work on the car's "digital twin" and have values entered for an aftermarket adjustable rear sway bar I'll test out in combination with the aftermarket front bar being moved to the hardest setting. This could yield a very cheap handling upgrade for next year.
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