My life keeps trying to interfere with my hobby and that is just not right. For some reason my 14 hour work days are conspiring to keep the SAAB 900 Turbo Convert project from completion. What I don't want to do is to become the wanker whose Wife makes him put the remains of a car on Craigslist. "restoration started" "most pieces come with car" "Father and Son project"
ls1fiero wrote: My life keeps trying to interfere with my hobby and that is just not right. For some reason my 14 hour work days are conspiring to keep the SAAB 900 Turbo Convert project from completion. What I don't want to do is to become the wanker whose Wife makes him put the remains of a car on Craigslist. "restoration started" "most pieces come with car" "Father and Son project"
I am sitting on one that's in process. Two years without turning a single wrench or making a single arc. Kids will do that. Good luck.
Life happens. I think a lot of us can empathize with you. I bought my "project" Geo Tracker in October of 2011. I had to change a wheel cylinder, swap out the fuel pump and filter, drain/clean the tank, and give it new plugs/wires. I just finished it last month. Part of it was my lack of mechanical experience, but a lot of it was just lack of time. I'd go 4 or 5 weeks without even getting to touch it. When I did get to work on it, it was for no more than 30 minutes. Sucks, but it's all I can do. I just added another Tracker to the collection to do an engine swap. Hoping to have it done before 2014... 
Thankfully my wife is understanding and allows me to keep these things hanging around.
5 minutes a day. Make it a ritual.
Just keep working on it, convince yourself you are stuck with the thing till it's street legal again.
the biggest thing i have found is that people take on more of a project than they can handle and then find excuses to get out from under it.
there are guys out there that just dont have the time with work and family but have the skill and know how to do it. these guys dont let the car become a "catch all" like it being pushed to the back of the garage and covered up with things. i have a friend who has been rebuilding a 55 chevy for 30 years he keeps in a state that he can work on it at any time. i got a email from him he was so happy he finished the disc brake conversion it only took 2 years.
as you said in your opening post "its your hobby" treat it like that and have fun. it helps me on my long term projects to sit behind the wheel and go "vroom" a couple of times and do a little daydreaming
Started my project in 2000 with a realistic timeline of 2 years. Its now 12 years later and it almost looks like a car again. Of course moving 3 times and trying to keep the family happy have conspired to slow me down a bit. Recently I have adopted the 30 minutes every couple of days approach and that has made some of the smaller items on the list get checked off.
I was in a similar state with my Neon. We had three kids in four years, I had a serious knowledge gap, and the car was almost literally buried under stuff in the garage. While I was able to find the time and motivation to dig it out, I still just didn't have the motivation to try to "finish" it. What gave me the kick in the seat of the pants was when I had the opportunity to take a rally-prepped Neon for a short drive which convinced me that the car could actually be fun to drive, if it ran right. Then, I took a trip to the $2011 Challenge to help out with a friend's car, and realized that I had only myself to blame for my ignorance. By the time I went to bed after the awards banquet, I was not only still wearing pants, but I also was mentally committed to bringing the car to $2012, which meant I had to get it running. (I probably should be mentally committed, but that's another story).
All that motivation, though, wouldn't have done me any good if my wife wasn't supportive of my hobby, so you have to get the family involved in some way. For the most part, I stayed out of the garage when the kids were awake, and then two or three nights a week after the kids went to bed were spent with the wife or doing household things, but the other evenings she would kick me out into the garage. And on garage nights, even if I wasn't feeling motivated to work, I would at least go out there for 15 minutes and piddle around: put some tools away, move parts around, shop for parts on my tablet, or even just sit in the car and make "vroom vroom" noises.
The best parts, though, and what motivated me the most were the handful of times when my oldest daughter would ask me if she could help me fix the racecar. Even if it just turned into the kids drawing on the driveway with chalk while I piddled in the garage, that kept the project moving forward and the family happy at the same time.
ls1fiero wrote: What I don't want to do is to become the wanker whose Wife makes him put the remains of a car on Craigslist. "restoration started" "most pieces come with car" "Father and Son project"
Those are some of the key words that I type into the search box.
The first big project or two is often one big learning curve. A lot of people won't finish these. I've had my share of them - mostly when I didn't have any skills, few tools, crappy space, lack of determination... You just have to dedicate some time - consistent little chunks seems to work for a lot of folks. I tend to need bigger chunks of time - like a week of pretty dedicated car time every so often.
sachilles wrote: 5 minutes a day. Make it a ritual.
This.
Sky_Render wrote:sachilles wrote: 5 minutes a day. Make it a ritual.This.
I was doing this, but it only works for some projects. For instance, I have to pull the cab off my truck to do the cab corners. There isn't a way to do this five minutes at a time when you have nowhere that the cab can live in the meantime. This is literally where I stopped.
Those are good search terms!
There's a whole topic there. I sometimes search by a popular accessory or component. Search "Koni" and you'll get a very different result than "coilover"
Back to the original topic: After I sold my Stalker I found my family eating up most all available time and got used to not doing what I wanted carwise. The other day I blew up the engine on my e30 and while my first reaction was "I'll never have time to fix this", I subsequently realized "wait, I've got a teenager now. Not only doesn't he need my attention constantly, he can help me yank this thing!"
Woody wrote:ls1fiero wrote: What I don't want to do is to become the wanker whose Wife makes him put the remains of a car on Craigslist. "restoration started" "most pieces come with car" "Father and Son project"Those are some of the key words that I type into the search box.
Do i need to tell you guys about the Escort? 
Or the Celica that hasn't moved in 3 years?
Set achievable goals. Don't say "I'm going to build the engine!" if that's too much to bite off. Instead say "I'm going to instal the pistons on the rods." Then say " I'm going to install the crank." Then say "I'm going to put the piston and rod assemblies in the block and on the crank." Etc. The first method may be more than you life / schedule / motivation can deal with. The smaller incremental goals are achievable with less time, less motivation, etc. And it builds momentum. Momentum is what keeps projects from stalling.
Don't be afraid to admit when you've lost interest and need to punt. I've been held hostage by uninteresting projects before, that not only didn't get worked on, but also kept me from working on the stuff I really wanted to. I'm now way better about punting.
Email me back about the lease deals on the 2012 Volts.
The suggestion of just working a set amount of time every night works for other things as well.
My wife has been frustrated and overwhelmed with work. This is leading to motivational issues around the house. The lawn doesn't get mowed, the dishes don't get done, the bathroom doesn't get clean. (Before any body says anything, we share the responsibilities. It is 50/50.)
I suggested to her that we take 30 minutes each day and attack something together. We recently painted one of the bedroom floors (in 30 minutes). We moved furniture to the "new" bedroom (in 30 minutes), etc.... She is now happy to work on this stuff and feels less overwhelmed.
I suggested this method to her after getting overwhelmed with working on the cars in the garage. I started to use this approach myself about 2 years ago. It definetly helped me get done waht I needed to get done.
Rob R.
My S13 has been sitting with an RB20DET lightly mounted to it for a few years. She ant goin nowhere.
Both my projects are sitting and completely stalled.
It comes down to two things: Time and Money.
The Trans Am won't pass inspection due to some rust right now, and the motor that I dumped lots of $$$ into back in 2008 now needs a set of lifters and maybe more (thanks to Comp Cams and faulty cam/lifter kits! 
) I need about a week's time with a welder and about $150 to make it pass and drive again in it's current ugly state. Everything that's left to do is major stuff, and then it's just enough to make it work.
The CSX needs a lot of work than the T/A. It needs more metal welded back in to replace the rust and I need to get the motor/drivetrain sorted. There's no small tinkering jobs to do. Everything needs a full day or more to complete. I have most of what I need for the big stuff, but I will need $$$ to get it running and on the road when it comes time.
It's not that I have a lack of motivation, but by the time I get out of work, make myself dinner (wife works at night) and get around to doing something, it's past 8pm. My neighbor gets pissy when I work after 9PM, so that leaves me with no time. Weekends? Rarely do I have the chance to do anything, as I'm running around doing house related stuff or having to go somewhere for some event.
I got married a year ago and bought a house 2 years ago, and we've been going through that phase where everything is breaking. In the past 3 months, we had to call an exterminator for hornets in the walls, replace the back stairs (fell apart under me!), replace our washing machine, replace our microwave, and now we have to buy oil for the winter. Also, we are saving to do major renovations to the house with any spare change we get. That takes priority over the car stuff.
I have chosen to fix up the CSX before the T/A mainly because it will be cheaper. The work is major stuff, but I have a plan in place that I can execute until I get some more funds. Eventually, I'll get there!
I bought said "father and son project" off of CL 2 years ago, and it's still not done, but it's close. I set realistic time-lines and goals with my builds, nothing like some of the folks on here who can rip off a project in a month and go from a rusted out roller to $20XX concourse paint and interior with a fire breathing V8 running off a MegaSquirt with a sequential gearbox built at home.
My Fiat is 2+ years in and I'm down to finishing off interior panels and wood panels, brake rebuild, rear-diff input gasket, and oil-pan gasket, one hole in the floor rust repair, driver's seat bracket rust repair, and seat recovering. To me, that's a couple weekends worth of work if I had the time, but I don't, like you. I expect this remaining effort to take around 1 more year which is realistic for me. I also know that once I'm done with all the repairs, I'm going to sell it, not because I don't like it anymore, but because I enjoy the hobby of repair/restoration/modification.
I've learned from the XR4 that a project race car usually isn't very good at being either. That's why when it comes to racing I want something that's dead-nuts reliable, al-la boring when it comes to project. That's why I've started crewing when my buddies race the XR4 and I've found it as enjoyable as driving since I get to fix it so they can concentrate on racing.
Some people thrive on the repair/modification side of the car hobby, some thrive on the thrill to drive. If you enjoy both, but have limited time, prioritize.
Coke lots of coke. You won't sleep then.
SilverFleet wrote: It's not that I have a lack of motivation, but by the time I get out of work, make myself dinner (wife works at night) and get around to doing something, it's past 8pm. My neighbor gets pissy when I work after 9PM, so that leaves me with no time.
My neighbors have either been unbothered, are extremely tolerant, or are secretly seething in barely-contained anger while plotting my demise. One of the best things I did from a noise perspective was to locate my compressor down in the basement and run the hose up to the garage. With the garage doors closed the air tool noise is very well muffled.
It is tough to drag your tail out into the garage after a full day of work and other bs, though. I've had plenty of nights where I'd just plop onto the couch after getting the kids in bed, too beat to even get a beer. Usually about 11pm or so, I'd finally get the motivation to actually accomplish something, but by then I'd be falling asleep...
In reply to wae:
The first thing my neighbor said to me when he saw the Trans Am pull up is that I better not make noise after 9pm. I guess the people there before me had a Harley and would rev it to the moon in the middle of the night tuning it. He also had a Vette and did the same thing.
Meanwhile, my neighbor on the other side is busy building a hot tub time machine/meth lab/staring for hours at my house at all hours of the night, and no one complains about him. It's probably because they are as scared of him as I am. 
Hell, I have a complete, ran-when-parked, unburied car I haven't even driven in 6 years... 
I bought a project car a year ago. All I've done is vacuum it and take stock of what it came with. And bought a few things. I'm a single father with full custody so my free time during the week is about nil, I haven't turned a single wrench. The car is my son and I's project so I will have help, it getting started soon though, for real. I have a game plan and goals all broken up into manageable bits, built a shelf in the garage to free up room and I think it's time.
I've found that if you can break the project into smaller part - literally - and keep those chunks nearer to where you are(like the kitchen table, sofa, desk at work, or the bathroom) it's much easier to get 5-minutes of work done on it.
Of course, at some point you have to put it all back together, and that would probably be simpler if you aren't in the middle of a divorce, so attempt at your own risk. :D
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