When a project only gets bigger and bigger

-
trebor75

trebor75

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
980
Reaction score
447
Location
Sweden
I did not know how to title this thread. But, have you also been in a situation when your car project only seems to grow? I'm at the point where a lot of things need to get done, but I dont know what I should be focusing on first. So I work a little on this and a little on that, feeling I'm not making any real progress. I should probably make a plan and a list and stick to it. Any good ideas?

Things that need to get done:
- Installing new carpet and the seats. Paint the floor before doing so and also painting some interior parts
- Finish refurbishing the dash and instruments
- Finish refurbishing the grille
- Finish my spot repairs and paint and clear them. Colorsand and polish etc
- Paint and install hood scoop
- Finish porting the heads, have them milled and lap the valves etc
- Putting new cam in the 360, put it back together and paint the engine
- Take the 273 out of the car, clean the bay and paint it
- Install 360 in the car
- Installing 3.73 gears in the 8 3/4

It might not look as much, but it takes time and sometimes it's hard to even find the time to work on the car. I'm still enthusiastic though, so that's not a problem.

How would you go about getting these things done, what order?
 
I went and made checklists in Excell :) One for the engine, one for the exterior of the car, one for the interior and lastly a miscellaneous.
 
Best way I get things done is not in any particular order but focus on what needs to be done in order if Possible s a senif dreaded break downs or short comings while driving the car.

As a mechanic, I address engine (drivetrain) running quality first followed by suspension and brakes. Then electrical. Interior is normally last.
Body after interior unless there is a rot issue under the feet. Tht will be addressed before I hit the road as a driver.
 
For you, I'd start on the body and get it right (For you)
Remove the 273 and finish the engine bay. Work on the 360 when the body work needs a brake.
When engine bay paint is done, install the 360.
Get to the grill after engine.
Install gears after grill.
 
That is wise of course. This car wont see the road again until all of the above is done. Breaks and suspension is in good condition. I went over all of that this summer.
 
rumblefish360 said:
For you, and d start on the body and get it right (For you)
Remove the 273 and finish the engine bay. Work on the 360 when the body work needs a brake.
When engine bay paint is done, install the 360.
Get to the grill after engine.
Install gears after grill.
Click to expand...
Good advice, thanks!
 
No problem. Hope the course works for you. Having done a few projects like this, installing the grill before the engine only has me taking the grill back out.

Like playing a chess game, sometimes you just can see it all. You know that s when someone walks up and congratulates you on your impending victory in 2 moves and your just completely baffled on what to do next in the sea of chaos on the board! LMAO

(Yea, been there and been victim to that with cars and chess games)
 
When i started on my duster, i had a plan already. This is not my first car, so i have my own system. I knew going in that i was going to replace absolutely everything in the car. To be honest with you, all those teenage years of build plastic model cars has prepared me for building real ones. lol
 
I can relate totally. I recently decided i would change the engine out to a stroker, oh and while I have the engine out I will clean up the engine bay and make it shiny like the rest of the car like you see on this forum time and time again. That turned into taking waaaay more stuff off the car than I was planning. Like the master cylinder; the wiring harness of course, lets get the steering column out of the way, and we need to clutch assembly out of there, the fan motor the K frame and steering components. One thing leads to another and the whole front end is off the car. Might as well get the grills and the bumper re chromed while they are off. I guess I am learning that what seems like a quick turn around ends up being a lot more involved when you want things right. It's a heck of a lot of fun though, wish I could spend all my time doing it!!
 
Thanks for the input guys! Good luck with your projects! I took the time today and made some lists and I feel I have a better grasp how to make the most of my time in the garage now.
 
Yes Sir, same here. Had, still have, a Loooong list. But my daughters and I focused on getting it driveable 1st. Planned on a project we could drive in between fixes and repairs. So far that's been working out OK for us.

And we also plugged everything into a spreadsheet. Not only helps priortize, but also shows us that we're actually making progress.

Be well,
Pat
 
The biggest thing is to keep your working area clean and tidy. Every now and then i have to stop. Pick up and put away all the tools sweep the floor and then start again.
 
My project escalated into a major project once I had broken the car down into pieces. I found myself jumping around alot. If you are not going to put the car back together until everything is done, there is no real order you have to follow. I would pick something and work on it until an obvious stopping point and then focus on something else. I worked on my motor till it was mostly reassembled on the stand. Then I focused on the dash (disassembly, repair, wiring, reassembly). Then I worked on seats, and so on. In between each of these things, I would focus on some body work. Maybe strip and prep a fender, or something like that. I would say installing the carpet and seats is one of the last things you should do.
 
trebor, lists are good, as everybody else is saying, but I am reminded of the time that I restored my Porsche 356 and kept finding more and more rust, until I had removed every component from the body in order to do rust repairs. At that point I got really discouraged at the enormity of the task at hand, and let it sit for quite awhile. Of course I felt bad about not working on it, but I just couldn't summon up the mental energy to do it. Finally I talked to a fellow 356 owner, who advised me to resolve to work on the car a little bit every day, even if for only half an hour or so. By doing that, I got the car completed. So in addition to making a list, I would advise resolving to work on it a little every day, one small task a day, and you will find that it gets done.
 
Bill Crowell said:
trebor, lists are good, as everybody else is saying, but I am reminded of the time that I restored my Porsche 356 and kept finding more and more rust, until I had removed every component from the body in order to do rust repairs. At that point I got really discouraged at the enormity of the task at hand, and let it sit for quite awhile. Of course I felt bad about not working on it, but I just couldn't summon up the mental energy to do it. Finally I talked to a fellow 356 owner, who advised me to resolve to work on the car a little bit every day, even if for only half an hour or so. By doing that, I got the car completed. So in addition to making a list, I would advise resolving to work on it a little every day, one small task a day, and you will find that it gets done.
Click to expand...


Same here on mine, all the way to a stripped shell, lost interest, medical mishap put me down, etc.

I set short term goals, do this, this week, even if it's only 2 or 3 hours. At least getting some where.
 
I was at a car show a couple of weeks ago and I heard someone say that 80% of car restoration projects don't get finished. Lots of reasons I'm sure. That could be good for those of us who like to keep at it!
 
Do things first that are holding up other jobs!! Need to paint the floor before putting in the carpet, paint the floor!! Need to paint items to put on the motor before putting it in, paint those! Put the cam in, then dress the motor! Take the 273 out, and clean the engine bay, then put the 360 in! I typically do everything I can that's free until I need to buy something, then purchase the item! In the meantime, I move to something else that's free!!!
 
trebor75...

i'd like to offer a few thoughts a little different from what you might normally hear.

when i was in college, i had a double major of government and psychology. i thought that i was going to go into psychology as a profession. i ended up going to law school, but my psychology studies ended up being much more helpful in life than what i thought as a young college student.

so here's the deal...

i've worked on cars since i was 15. when i was very young, i used to tear things apart and end up with a lot of parts sitting in front of me and either not knowing how to put the thing back together or was just overwhelmed with all the parts.

i often see collector cars for sale being listed as "will never get done" or "lost interest" or "more work than i thought" - stuff like that. unless a person has a regular shop with several employees or has several "friends" that are willing to spend their weekends in your garage helping you work on your car, there is a real DANGER in a car buff starting on rebuilding their car by "tearing it completely apart." i know there are many FABO readers that will argue with me but i firmly believe a single car nut should NEVER take their car completely apart resulting in a mass pile of parts in their garage and a stripped body shell sitting on casters or blocks. why? why is this "a danger?"

the human mind can get "overwhelmed" fairly easily. not only does it take a lot of work to fully disassemble a car, the NEXT DAY when you walk into your garage, you are going to be faced with SCORES of things that "need to be done." at that moment, it can be VERY difficult to determine even "where to start."

i restored one of my barracudas completely by myself. when i started, the car needed body work; repainted; interior replaced; engine work and lots of other "small things" to make it the car i wanted. i knew that i DID NOT want to take this car apart. i KNEW that if i did that - I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE THE STRESS of having SO MANY things to do at once.

when i started on my car, i set very small goals. since i was going to repaint the car, i started with taking the two doors off and working on refinishing the door jams. and for that small goal, i allowed myself a full week to do each side. that way i didn't feel a lot of pressure in time or the extent of work needing to be done. after the door jams were in primer, i went to the trunk area; after the trunk, i started on the engine bay. when the engine bay was done, i started on the body itself doing each quarter panel at a time, then the doors, then the front fenders and hood. after a couple of months working a little bit at a time on each of these body areas, i had the car ready to paint. now i used "old fashioned" laquer paint and was able to paint all of the body in separate sprays - except the top and quarter panels which i sprayed all at once. when i was done with the outside of the car, i started on the interior doing a little at a time.

the point i'm trying to make is that you are faced with a LOT of work that needs to be done on your car and you are feeling overwhelmed. that is where the "psychology" comes in - you have to "reset" your mind and "trick it" into thinking the work on your car is "not that much." now HOW do you do that?

here's the secret to solving your problem: pick ONE thing that needs to be done. make that choice a simple and quick task - something that can be accomplished in a week. when you start on this choice, DO NOT think about ANYTHING ELSE that needs to be done!! keep FOCUSED on that single task. when you finish this task, take a day and admire what you have accomplished! THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT!! you have to allow your mind to believe that you are "making progress" on you car!! in the psych. world, this component is called "immediate gratification." the mind needs to be "reinforced" in the view that "progress is being made." but here's the real "majic" in the process i'm describing: if you concentrate on simple tasks that can be accomplished in a week or less AND continue to move forward each week with "just simple tasks", within a month or two, you will see MAJOR PROGRESS on your car!! and you will not even be able to explain HOW you managed to get so much done!!

the only way humans can accomplish big tasks is to break them down into "small tasks" and then keep "chipping away" at all the "small tasks." the procedure i've described will work on ANY big task that you are faced with in life. as to your car, just try what i'm suggesting for a couple of weeks. concentrate on ONE task per week and then ENJOY what you have accomplished at the end of each week.

you have any number of things you can start with. pick ONE - then spend the next week on JUST THAT ITEM.

good luck!!
 
All my own cars are in some state of work. Cutstomers cars get done first and I've kept busy. Only realy hints are if you have to force yourself to do it, it's probably better left to another time when it's fun and interesting. Do all the bod and paint first. Powertrain parts don't do well sitting around and the bodywork dust can hurt tham, and the oils from them can ruin paint work. I have a one bay garage. So I'm doing oily stuff, or dusty stuff. Never both. Give yourself the time. It's not the getting it done, its the getting that is fun for me.
 
Thanks for all the input! I have fun working on the car, really like it. It's like a stress relieve thing being in the garage for me. I will take the advice to try and work a little as often as I can, even if it's only for an hour or so.
 
You are not alone.
There is alot of good advice in this thread for sure.
Work on the things that are absolutly needed to get done to get the car on the road again first then you can get stuck with the things that are on the list of things that are just nice to have done.
On days with very limited amounts of time,try to just get something done anyway even if its a small thing,it all adds up over time and keep your workarea somewhat tidy it helps alot.
This is from someone that has a duster that has been parked and riped apart for way to long,partialy due to me trying to do things in the right order and therefore not being able to get anything done at all.
I wish you the best of luck,just keep at it,you will get there over time just try to avoid ripping the whole car apart and get stuck.
 
Just be careful to save time for the family; they grow up all-too-fast.My Barracuda waited nearly 20 years for me to get started on it. From the time I blew it apart, until it rolled it's first mile, was over three years.My son went from age 12 to age 16. I did save time for family,only because I had wife that cared a lot about them, and reminded me that I should too,almost every day, for crying out loud.
I got to admit tho, that I farmed all the bodywork out, and the fellow that took the job on, I told him to take his time on account of I had no money. So I brought him a G and work began.He worked until the money ran out. When I had another G saved up, I brought it over to him, and he worked till that was gone. And so on. The car was there for two years. I made a lot of trips.
In the meantime, I was restoring all the 30 year old subassemblies. I had vowed to not build the engine until all the body work had been done. Too many times in the past, I had done the powertrains, and the bodywork never did get done. This time was gonna be different. But I could plan it right?
In the meantime I switched jobs a few times, and I started to make better money.After the bodywork was completed, and the car came home, it was another year before it was fully assembled. Finally in fall of 98, the car paraded around the block,just before snowfall.Then I had another 6 months to tweak it.In summer of 99 I began to abuse it,lol.
Part of the reason it took so long was cuz I was broke. And part was cuz I had three growing children.And part was cuz I was reno'ing my house, my very tiny 800sq ft 1.5 story 105 year old shanty of a house, at the same time. And part was because I really had a tiny workspace just 14 x 22. Energy I had lots of, I was in my mid 40s.
I did find tho that the small workspace was fairly economical to heat to just above freezing with electricity, and a kerosene space-heater could bring the air-temp up to comfortable pdq.Unfortunately the concrete floor was forever cold.
My son took that car to his graduation ceremony.Yeah, it did come home in the same condition that it left in.But I think only by the grace of God,lol.
I think it was a good thing to sublet the bodywork, as it did leave me time to get things done that I was good at, while the bodyman did what he was good at. And it left me TIME for family.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top