Project Car Hell: How do you guys deal with it?

Let's chat a bit about something many of you may be familiar with: Project Car Hell.

Lately, I've been frustrated with my project cars. Both my CSX and my Trans Am seem so far away from being to the point where I can drive them, and I'm getting sick of wrenching on them.

I've thought about selling one of my projects, which is the obvious answer. I can't bring myself to ever sell the Trans Am, as I've had it for a long time and I have spent way too much time and money on it over the years. The CSX... I saved it from certain destruction, and it's come a long way from where it was when I brought it home, but it's still a ways off from being road worthy. Even complete, running cars don't go for much, so selling my incomplete project will not help me out too much in parlaying it into something new.

Earlier this week, I had a proverbial carrot dangled in front of me in the form of a shady local guy with a tattoo on his skull selling a $600 1994 T-Top equipped Z28 automatic with a running LT1 that made "motor noises", whatever that is. I have always wanted one, and it was even the right color (red) but I couldn't get it because of my current Project Car Hell. I had no room for another mess of a car, and I already have two other cars that "I've always wanted". I found myself legitimately sad and depressed about it.

How else do you guys fight back the Automotive A.D.D. and the urges to buy cheap performance cars against all better judgement?

I've learned not to fight it. There are worse things to be addicted to!

see the is it that time already thread

SilverFleet wrote: How else do you guys fight back the Automotive A.D.D. and the urges to buy cheap performance cars against all better judgement?

Wife and kids.

SilverFleet wrote: How else do you guys fight back the Automotive A.D.D. and the urges to buy cheap performance cars against all better judgement?

There is something that all project cars need: money. I don't have a lot of it, so I stick with what I have.

Sorry can't help you, I have superhuman persistence abilities.

My wife and I made a deal that every time I got a new vehicle, she got a new pet. So far I've bought 3 cars and a motorcycle, and she's only gotten a (second) pet rabbit, so she's got a lot of credit built up. I can see this ending very badly for me in the near future (a giant dog that I have to take care of, something completely insane like 4 kittens) so for now, that's keeping me in check. That and not having time/money to finish the projects that I have.

I do one thing to the project car at least three times a week. Even if it is only researching the next step.

So in your shoes, I would make a realistic list for each car, broken down to a step by step sheet. This does two things: gets it on paper before I forget, and gets it out of my head.

Then, pick the shortest of the lists to getting the cars drivable. Or the one that I have funds available to complete. Order the parts for the first dozen steps. Start step one Friday night. If not completed, make a note of where to pick back up. Leave enough time to put tools away so you start in a clean shop sunday after church. Repeat as necessary every other day until you run out of parts.

Keep doing this, and it keeps motivation up and forward momentum.

My list for tonight is alignment and ac bulkhead.

I've been through enough projects, and in each case the thing that brought them to a screeching halt was the money-skill-time factor. I figure the right combination of those 3-things is what gets projects completed...I never had enough of the first-2 and I lost patience for the last one.

After being through multiple cycles of that I've learned to be a realist. So while I still get excited when something cool pops up, I know that in reality I'm not prepared to see it through.

Overbearing debt? You can't buy anything if you don't have any money.

That's why my project car is still 1500 miles away

I don't go out to the garage. That way I can forget that there is yet another project that will never get finished.

stanger_missle wrote: Overbearing debt? You can't buy anything if you don't have any money.

Yep this is what keeps me from buying more cars to put into project hell!

I start another project Not the best way to deal with it but the new project is usually something small and kind of restores my mojo. Helps abit.

I have been whittling away at the CSX the past few weeks. This winter was too damn cold and snowy to get out to the garage, and all wrenching time was spent on my snowblowers.

I like lists. I have a mental and physical list for each car. Issue is that most of the stuff that needs to get done is big stuff or things beyond my skill level.

BTW, that "carrot" is now $500. Guy still has a skull tat.

petegossett wrote: I've been through enough projects, and in each case the thing that brought them to a screeching halt was the money-skill-time factor. I figure the right combination of those 3-things is what gets projects completed...I never had enough of the first-2 and I lost patience for the last one. After being through multiple cycles of that I've learned to be a realist. So while I still get excited when something cool pops up, I know that in reality I'm not prepared to see it through.

^this

I learned this very quickly on my first failed project. I had started my new job out of college and jumped on the chance for a project. But between work and the family and lack of extra money i got very little done in the time i had it. Traded it for a motorcycle that mostly ran but still needed work so atleast i had something that wasnt all just work, i could actually get on it and enjoy it.

now that the bike is basically done it is worth enough to get a running/driving car that i can work on when i get time but doesnt need hours and hours of labor to get it road ready.

being realistic with your money/skill/time like petgossett said is the biggest factor, atleast for me.

Related.

Dusterbd13 has the right idea. It's all about small projects and getting some small result. Currently I'm traveling so much for work that I don't have time between the family, fixer upper house (why did I think that was a good idea?), and various other small projects to tackle a car.

I break down the big projects into little to do lists. Cut out a bush here, case a door there, have a piece of base cut while baby is sleeping so I can nail it in after she wakes up, fix part of the constantly broken somewhere new irrigation system. The work gets done very very slowly but the perceptible results keep me going.

It took a week to hang 48 feet of crown molding because I was working around the baby's nap schedule. Every time she took a nap I just went to another small project that would take about 90 minutes and when she awoke went right back to working on the crown in her room. I think I'll be done with renovations by the time I go to sell the house.

I've recently decided to sell everything except the motorcycle and start over. I don't own one cool car I can drive on the street. I'm either on the bike or in a 7000lb diesel truck.

Anyone want a class winning BMW IS race car?

BMW CM E30 with no powertrain?

A big ass diesel cheby?

A 20' enclosed trailer with electric and AC?

It's going to be a big fuggin' yard sale.

I no longer let projects get un-driveable unless absolutely necessary. Even my $100 S-10 is moveable. Any time I get a car torn apart enough it will be laid up for months it gets pushed to the back burner and later gets sold as a basket case. Luckily I've rarely lost money doing that but it still sucks.

My Chevettes are like this. They eat up space and while one is technically driveable it isn't road legal or safe to do so. This is why the $100 S-10 is for sale as-is for mild profit. I need to get back to the real project(s).

If you get at least one driveable it will help your attitude greatly, so I would take the easiest way to that goal. Plus a driver is worth more than a roller. As for the tasks beyond your skill that is what money is for. If you lack the money invest time in learning or joining local organizations with members who can help you. If you lack skills, money, AND time then maybe it's time for another hobby as this one will eat all three at an alarming rate.

You've already made good progress from what I remember, so maybe what you really need is a cheer leader. No, not a quasi exotic dancer with pom poms (thought that would rock) but a friend or two to sit and drink beers with you while you work and won't let you stop until a task is done or the beer is gone.

I'm like Junkyard-dog I keep things drivable but not perfect. For example, the 911 has had the door panels out for me to make new ones for at least 4 months. But it still moves under it's own power. I've moved the door panel pieces off and on the roof at least 10 times just to take the car out for a spin.

I have not done the list yet with steps but I may try that.

Sadly I find I hit one project heavy for a little bit and then let it sit while I do something else. Then come back to the project, etc. i wish I could find a way to push on through sometimes.

i dump stuff. see: v8 wrx and 49 plymouth gasser project. both sold last month. neither should have been procured as neither was what i really wanted. did i lose $? nope. did i make any? maybe, time will tell as i still have things that came with both to sell. did i empty my garage to work on stuff i REALLY enjoy? yup. in a couple weeks there will be a pair of A body gm's in there, doing what i do best. making gm products go faster. i've ALWAYS wanted to build a 70-72 monte. thanks to dmynnti having the car to make that happen and me having stuff that can make something happen for him, that's going to be reality. after i get the chevelle 350 swapped out and do the LS6 heads/cam on the impala.

make a list and stick to it. get stuff running and driving, worry about cosmetics later. i know my stuff needs painted to be an 8/10, but i don't care if i'm driving it. and i need to practice body work on junk first anyway.

I am in the game to improve my skills and learn new ones. As such, the "project" is about the ability to plan and execute something more challenging than the last effort. By accepting the fact that one project car at a time is enough to use all my free time and money, I can resit the many "once in a lifetime" opportunities that seem to crop up in the middle of the project.

The only time I cant pass up the treasures is when I see a no-brain flip or part-out that will put a few hundred in the project car kitty.

get a bigger garage on a bigger lot that's farther away from civilization..

Project car hell I can deal with. House project hell is another story.

• gets out matches + gasoline * ...

Na, you don't want to use an accelerant that's easily identified .

I'm dumping projects and wannabe projects at the moment to get the numbers down to being manageable while I'm also working on the house. Two of my project bikes I'll never sell, but most of the other stuff is fair game. I'd rather have a couple of cars less and better ones at this point.