Project fatigue

[Onoff]

Imagine the project fatigue levels of someone who starts multiple projects...

 

[OJCar]

Imagine the project fatigue levels of someone who starts multiple projects...

How long have you had the Capris?

 

[Onoff]

How long have you had the Capris?

Think I got the first one in 1986, the second maybe 1998 and the latest circa 2010.

 

[OJCar]

Think I got the first one in 1986, the second maybe 1998 and the latest circa 2010.

When was the last one on the road?

 

[bricol]

Thought I'd update this. Mojo came and went. Sometimes felt like we got a fair bit done, usually in the summer, other times it just stalled. Reached a bit of an impasse last year when the mig gas ran out and it was the renewal date on the bottle from BOC. We all know how much that costs. Plus we just couldn't get the car running right, despite working through every suggested line of inquiry.

Long story short, I bit the bullet and sent it to a specialist to finish the welding and get it up to mot standard. The bill was rather eye watering considering I had used bargain parts previously but I now have a car we can use and enjoy, and finish off the smaller bits ourselves.

So much better to realise and get it done so you can enjoy it - unless of course, like a mate of mine, the driving of it is the least enjoyable part of it - he really likes the strip down and rebuild, working out cost effective solutions, making it better than new, more useable - the last bit a little ironic for him.

 

[marlinspike]

I'll be honest, I don't think I'm going to get the enjoyment out of driving it that I would have if I'd finished it within a couple of years of getting it. I think I probably enjoyed the restoring more than the driving even then but eventually the resto became more of a burden than a pleasure so it really was time to acknowledge it wasn't going to be finished any time soon. I had fears I was going to end up on Car SOS.

 

[harveyp6]

Often it's more about the journey than the destination.

 

[Memmeddu]

Started a restoration 1 Year ago
Everything went wrong since day one
Still going wrong today
Just destroyed the workbench, thrown hammers through the windows/door and almost went outside to put fire in the neighbor car
I just have to give up

 

[Mick Annick]

Started a restoration 1 Year ago
Everything went wrong since day one
Still going wrong today
Just destroyed the workbench, thrown hammers through the windows/door and almost went outside to put fire in the neighbor car
I just have to give up

Stay with it, it will get better

 

[Olderisbetter]

My mate uses winter to do all the smaller bits indoors, he always has nice looking brake calipers and painted up suspension

 

[Memmeddu]

Stay with it, it will get better

No it will not.
Completely gone can't be recovered anymore.
It's a 1960's angle grinder, messed up with the bearings and the pinion, armature shaft is bent and it doesn't spin once assembled.
I've put a bunch of effort in it looking for parts, filming, restoring etc etc.
I've been lucky to find a suitable pinion and bevel gear cause I've had to destroy the pinion to replace a bearing.
It's not going to finish well.
I have to quit it.

 

[bricol]

I've seen people take years, decades even, to perfectly restore a car. Will often speak of how wonderful their chosen paint/underbody protection/cavity wax/engine oil etc are . . . And they are, as it's never actually made it outside!

Meanwhile I've done 100,000 miles of grinning inanely behind the wheel of my not quite so numbers matching restoration/reworking, with real life proof of paint etc.

In my mind I got it right

 

[addjunkie]

I've seen people take years, decades even, to perfectly restore a car. Will often speak of how wonderful their chosen paint/underbody protection/cavity wax/engine oil etc are . . . And they are, as it's never actually made it outside!

Meanwhile I've done 100,000 miles of grinning inanely behind the wheel of my not quite so numbers matching restoration/reworking, with real life proof of paint etc.

In my mind I got it right

I dont think it matters how you do it, until it stops giving you pleasure….at that point its time to change tack

 

[marlinspike]

Yes, that's where I was at with mine. I didn't mind that progress was slow because I enjoyed doing it but I was gradually falling out of love with it and with house projects and family stuff taking over I couldn't see us getting it done. I didn't want to pay for another year of BOC gas rental and a cylinder refill either but I'm a finisher so I couldn't bring myself to sell it as a project.

I would do another project but something with less bodywork required.

The work I see from you guys on here did make me want to see it through though.

 

[MattF]

I enjoyed doing it but I was gradually falling out of love with it

That's the problem with projects. They can take too long, & become a burden rather than a pleasure. That's why I'll rarely take on projects, nowadays. Been there, done it, as I'm sure quite a few of us on here have.

 

[roofman]

A lot start by being soul building and end up being soul destroying and the intial reason for starting a project gets lost. I much prefer to take on an unfinnished project that someone has turned there back on, the high initial costs have been spent on it and 9 times out of 10 comes with boxes of parts and spares..

 

[MattF]

A lot start by being soul building and end up being soul destroying and the intial reason for starting a project gets lost. I much prefer to take on an unfinnished project that someone has turned there back on, the high initial costs have been spent on it and 9 times out of 10 comes with boxes of parts and spares..

Plus most of the awkward, time consuming work has already been done.

 

[Stueeee]

A lot start by being soul building and end up being soul destroying and the intial reason for starting a project gets lost. I much prefer to take on an unfinnished project that someone has turned there back on, the high initial costs have been spent on it and 9 times out of 10 comes with boxes of parts and spares..

Ah yes, the dreaded 'unfinished restoration'. Where the car has been reduced to x thousand components, these bits will be randomly distributed between dozens of boxes, always with some important parts missing, and usually including a load of irrelevant parts from some other vehicle/project.

 

[roofman]

Ah yes, the dreaded 'unfinished restoration'. Where the car has been reduced to x thousand components, these bits will be randomly distributed between dozens of boxes, always with some important parts missing, and usually including a load of irrelevant parts from some other vehicle/project.

An hour spent before purchase finding out whats what is critical....but i do get what you mean an unobtainable circlip can make or break an otherwise good day.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Where the car has been reduced to x thousand components, these bits will be randomly distributed between dozens of boxes, always with some important parts missing

If you know the particular car we'll it can works.

I've got a mate who can identify any component or fastener from a MK2 escort for example. From a box of bits it would be no problem for him to rebuild the car.