I hate working on cars, but I love building cars. Paradox?

I hate to work on cars. Today the van I've been driving threw the belt. Probabaly needs a tensioner. It's a pain in the ass.

I have to do intake gaskets on my Century before it can take over DD duties. Need to do a new PS pump/lines while I'm at it too. I'm dreading this one more than the van.

My previous DD, a 96 Neon, puked the motor back in January. It's been fun tearing the motor down, blueprinting everything, re-working oil passages, etc.

My 79 Corvette is a blast. The engine is almost completely torn down. The interior is almost completed. Needs some new trim pieces and it can go to paint.

I hate working on a car when it is something I HAVE to do. I'd rather do yardwork, which is honestly pretty bad. I'll find ways to procrastinate this to no end. I'll even go as far as to offer help to a friend with their car.

When it is something I am doing for fun. A project, something along those lines, I can't wait to go to the garage and turn wrenches.

There's gotta be more like me out there, or am I just a sick person?

I don't even like building them. I just kinda hate wrenching in general.

Swank Force One wrote: I don't even like building them. I just kinda hate wrenching in general.

I like buying fancy parts........but not a big fan of wrenching either.

Mazda787b wrote: I hate working on a car when it is something I HAVE to do. [...] When it is something I am doing for fun. A project, something along those lines, I can't wait to go to the garage and turn wrenches. There's gotta be more like me out there, or am I just a sick person?

definitely not alone. Being rather slow and incompetent, I know that if something MUST happen, and there's a time table, I'll pay someone to do it.

I only work on toy cars....ones that I can leave up on blocks until next weekend if I don't finish the job. If a car has to get me to work, someone else will be fixing it.

z31maniac wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: I don't even like building them. I just kinda hate wrenching in general.

I like buying fancy parts........but not a big fan of wrenching either.

Yeah.... i'm drooling over all this E36 M3 for the 93 F2iata project right now. Once i get it all, it'll probably sit in a pile in my dining room on display for a few months while i work up the ambition to actually deal with installing it. BLARGH.

http://www.radiumauto.com/index.aspx

I go back and forth. Sometimes it's satsifying, but that doesn't stop me from dreading it.

I bought this van a year and a half ago, and promptly found out it needed ball joints and tie rod ends. I bought the bits, never found time to install them, then the weather turned, and I more or less gave myself a pass 'til this summer.

It's now October. I just got a couple of quotes to farm it out, and the one thing I dread more than doing the job is paying that much to have it done when I have the parts and skill...

If it rains when I get to it, I'm going to try to turn it into some kind of meditation on the evils of procrastination...

Of course, the main reason I've been procrastinating a lot of things for the last couple of years is to build a garage to work in. But the goal is more "fun" projects/builds, and the van won't fit inside

Swank Force One wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: I don't even like building them. I just kinda hate wrenching in general.

I like buying fancy parts........but not a big fan of wrenching either.

Yeah.... i'm drooling over all this E36 M3 for the 93 F2iata project right now. Once i get it all, it'll probably sit in a pile in my dining room on display for a few months while i work up the ambition to actually deal with installing it. BLARGH. http://www.radiumauto.com/index.aspx

Hehe, My XIDAs and front Wilwoods sat in the spare bedroom for 6-8 weeks before I finally started installing everything last week.

I don't mind wrenching when I'm not under a time constraint.

If I only have a single car and that car is broke, I'll get very stressed, very irritated, lots of swearing and kicking tires.

With an extra car (like my Miata), it's no big deal.

Mazda787b wrote: I hate to work on cars. Today the van I've been driving threw the belt. Probabaly needs a tensioner. It's a pain in the ass. I have to do intake gaskets on my Century before it can take over DD duties. Need to do a new PS pump/lines while I'm at it too. I'm dreading this one more than the van. My previous DD, a 96 Neon, puked the motor back in January. It's been fun tearing the motor down, blueprinting everything, re-working oil passages, etc. My 79 Corvette is a blast. The engine is almost completely torn down. The interior is almost completed. Needs some new trim pieces and it can go to paint. I hate working on a car when it is something I HAVE to do. I'd rather do yardwork, which is honestly pretty bad. I'll find ways to procrastinate this to no end. I'll even go as far as to offer help to a friend with their car. When it is something I am doing for fun. A project, something along those lines, I can't wait to go to the garage and turn wrenches. There's gotta be more like me out there, or am I just a sick person?

Tim, stop posting under that alias. And when did we get a Corvette??

Margie

PHeller wrote: I don't mind wrenching when I'm not under a time constraint. If I only have a single car and that car is broke, I'll get very stressed, very irritated, lots of swearing and kicking tires. With an extra car (like my Miata), it's no big deal.

Ha, that sounds like me to a T. I spend more time looking on CL for a "new" beater than I do working on my cars.

What's worse is I ended up sub-leasing part of a friend's warehouse to keep the Neon in so I don't have to look at it. Some days, I feel very motivated to put the engine together. Others, I don't want to touch the car at all. Working + class 60 hours/week will do that to you. I haven't done much on the car since I moved it out of my driveway.

Eventually, the Corvette will end up there when I pick up something new in the spring. It will be nice to have a "toy" that I can pick up and drive, rather than sink hours into so I can stay within a 100-mile radius from home (Thanks AAA Gold!).

I've noticed a complicated interplay between the number of cars, the reliability index of each one, and the joy of wrenching.

Having more cars lowers the stress of having a firm timetable to get any one car back on the road, which lets you take one off the road to 'play' with, but you now have additional vehicles which can wear or fail and 'mandate' work that you need to do.

Example: 3 cars - 1 newer DD, 1 older DD, 1 project

Take project car into garage to install methanol injection:

Now older DD decides to have an exhaust failure:

While getting parts for older DD, realize newer DD needs suspension work:

I hate working on DD's. Something about the pressure of having to have it fixed so I can get to work or SWMBO do what she has to. Now the toys that doesn't matter if they never run again and I can leave it sit when I get tired of working on them I don't mind.

I totaled my '01 Tacoma on the way to Summit Point on Friday.

(Everyone is OK, it made for a great story, and I'm planning an epic post about the whole sordid deal, later)

Not long afterward I actually thought "I'm really glad I put of that timing belt and cooling system service"

I almost prefer wrenching/building to driving.

That said, I am with JoeyM. I loathe working on my appliance DD.

In reply to motomoron:

Jiminy! I'm glad everyone's okay... I...

I want to ask a bunch of questions, but I'll wait for this Epic Post...

Yeah, I hate doing maintenance and fixing things that break on street cars. Wife has to nag me to change the oil in her car (and its stupid easy to do, don't have to jack it up or anything)

However, I loved building my 924, even though it was extremely frustrating (and still is to some extent) and I'm looking forward to getting back into the build to have it ready for Autocross and track day season next year.

The 951 is smoking a bit after Sunday's autocross, its likely either the turbo or the Air/Oil Separator, both require pulling the intake and assorted bits and pieces. I've decided I'll order the parts I think I need and that I'm not going to touch it for at least a week and I'm glad for that. Instead, I have a couple of green houses to build for the wife out of PVC pipe (and I hate yard work, BTW), which takes more creativity and problem solving.

ransom wrote: In reply to motomoron: Jiminy! I'm glad everyone's okay... I... I want to ask a bunch of questions, but I'll wait for this Epic Post...

!!!! Yeah, glad you're OK

I totally agree. The bad part is that I earn my living as a mechanic. Irony of ironies...

z31maniac wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: I don't even like building them. I just kinda hate wrenching in general.

I like buying fancy parts........but not a big fan of wrenching either.

Same here. I wish I could afford to hire some of you guys with talent and drive to build some of my crazy ideas.

Another vote for love to fabricate, OK with wrenching on project and hate to work on the DD's. As soon as you add pressure, it stops being a hobby and becomes a job. A already have a job.

sethmeister4 wrote: I totally agree. The bad part is that I earn my living as a mechanic. Irony of ironies...

Yeah, I work in computers, done everything from repairing PC's and laptops to building a data center and PC software management. With that said, I HATE WORKING ON MY OWN COMPUTERS. My personal PC at home (the one I'm using now) has a flaky motherboard, causing the built-in video display driver to fail and windows recovers it and moves on. Every time I think about going down to the local computer recycler's to pick up a cheap motherboard to replace this one, I just can't be bothered. Nor do I want to build an uber new PC since that would be money better spent on racing parts.

One of the PC's I built to play videos and act as an internet streaming box as well as DVR, the one in my garage specifically, decided to die the other day. So instead of repairing it, I grabbed another PC I originally swapped out of my in-laws place (had a bad power supply, but they're getting a laptop since shipping this thing down isn't worth it) and got back to work. I haven't bothered to look at the original PC yet. I think I had all of $50 in those PC's, but I'd rather do laundry than troubleshoot it and re-load the OS.

Of course being one of the resident computer guys in my wife's family means I have to play Internet Helpdesk for them from time to time and with the language barrier and their lack of understanding, I run out of patience quickly, the wife doesn't even last more than a minute before she's yelling at her Mom on the phone, how am I supposed to do any better?

Yeah, im kinda the same except for its different...

I have a box of toys for my DD...several actually. Each represents a fix that would make the driving experience much better: New front struts, urethane shifter bushings, new OEM trans mount, nylon crossbrace bushings, new throttle cable bracket yaddah yaddah...

I cant bring myself to even get started. I love turning wrenches, I love my car, I (usually) love the quiet time. But this past summer has been more than hectic, and its starting to quiet down, and Im just really enjoying letting life get back to normal. Not taking into the fact that I currently have no garage space, I really just look at those boxes and think "why on earth would I take this free time and waste it by not doing nothing?"

whats wrong with me?

Working on cars you need is the sux. But working on cars that are fun IS fun.

I like working on cars under two conditions:

1) I have ALL OF THE PROPER TOOLS. The proper tools make life so much easier.

2) I am not time constrained. So if I don't get it done on a Saturday, I don't HAVE to give up my Sunday.

wlkelley3 wrote: I hate working on DD's. Something about the pressure of having to have it fixed so I can get to work or SWMBO do what she has to. Now the toys that doesn't matter if they never run again and I can leave it sit when I get tired of working on them I don't mind.

Yes!

Which is precisely why when I go to buy a tow rig next year, I'm likely to end up spending a stupid amount of money on a new F-150 with a LONG warranty.

The thought of buying a $10k 150k mile truck to save money, but then it always needing stuff along with the track car................ugh.