Project fatigue

[JOEPRO]

Lists definitely help a feeling of progress when being ticked off that is for sure.

For me I'll give another example. On my S320 w140 I have spent over a year welding and stripping below the car. Its ready now for brake lines etc and putting the restored parts back on. But I have lost the gusto to get back at it.

However thinking of how I can get enthused I think I am going to double back to its engine next. It had a bad external oil leak from the HG. That is all rebuilt but I need to get it running again, intake manifold, wiring etc. I think I will return to that in Jan and make it a mission to get the engine fired up. I think that will enthuse me to get the old girl completed and back on the road.

 

[Red'n'Black]

Projects slow to a crawl for me at this time of year. We haven't had the extreme cold this year but every project, vehicles, tools, whatever, seems to have a stage where it needs painting. Which is a waste of time until the spring, at least with the facilities I have.

I did get two big jobs off the list this year though, box trailer rebuilt and back on the road so I finally have some shed space, and daughter's DT50 MoT'd and sold just before the weather turned nasty and the market dried up.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

An 18 month house renovation totally stalled all my garage projects too ....I've been through several stages of selling everything and just giving it all up!

As others have said...make a list and tackle one job at a time...and try to enjoy it rather than think of it as a chore. I find cleaning the garage is always a good place to get restarted.

 

[Morrisman]

It’s the collective of small jobs at the end of a project which just seem to take ages, small jobs that just were not considered when you started.
At least with them it’s easier to cross them off one at a time.

People advertise unfinished projects as "all the hard work done"....

No, the easy stuff has been done, the last 10% is the hardest part of major any automotive project.

 

[Morrisman]

My trike project has stalled. I've got the bigger half of it in the unheated front garage, the 'assembly room', and most of my tools and equipment in the back shed.

I'm a bit short of funds currently, annual tax bill and all my insurances are due next month, and I need some money spending to move the trike onwards. Well, I don't really, there's probably dozens of minor jobs I could be getting into, but I tend to have brainlock about the order I do things.

If I bought a torque converter and flex plate I could put the engine and box together, and into the frame, then exhausts, cooling pipes, and everything else could start going together. It's all been made, pretty much ready to go on.

 

[angellonewolf]

I do make lists of stuff to do but I think you guys are right when you say to break each job down into smaller tasks rather than being outfaced. I need to get past the idea that I have to do the whole job at once or it's not worth starting. It's particularly frustrating at the moment as we're at the diagnostic stage with a couple of things and I find that bit quite tedious.

I'm going to cheer myself up by ordering some Bilt Hamber stuff and look through my parts stash for 'easy' jobs.

Don't just do all the easy jobs or you will be at the same stage again yes cross quite a few off the list to get you going but you don't want all the s**t at the end

 

[Onoff]

The 1m2 of floor space was just inside the garage door. That is not an exaggeration. I then recently acquired 17 I think 3P motors. Mainly because of the lack of light in there I opened the door and deposited them on the floor leaving just enough room to open the door. Now, to venture deeper into the garage I'm having to tread on them.

Maybe tonight after an errand I can't get out of, I'll don my head torch and shift them to the far corner where there's a bfo sturdy shelf. Even that means negotiating a maze.

I'll report back purely for therapeutic reasons.

I'm coming around to the one thing a night idea.

 

[Gareth J]

Thanks, guys. We have kept chipping away at it. It's on the drive so doing stuff over the winter months is hard. I think it's just being on the final straight that's made it so frustrating.

What's left to do?

If it's mundane stuff that will be so much easier on a ramp, like ball joints or exhaust fitting, maybe let some else do it.

 

[8ob]

Had my classic car for nearly 10 years now. Drove it for a bit then realised it was far rustler than we realised. Thanks to life in general and project creep here it is still unfinished. All the welding is done, lots of bits replaced, but every time we are nearly there with it being mot ready something else crops up.

I've saved a lot by not paying others and buying spares on deals but I'm wondering whether to pack it off to a local specialist to finish the stuff it needs for the mot.

What do you guys do when you've lost your mojo and started falling out of love with a project?

Weather not helping. Might feel different in the spring.

As per @Pete. and @Parm. Has to start with a major dung out and reorganising of the workspace so you can store/box up sub assemblies ready for the attack. You can run several projects at a time as long as you aren't tripping over them, I have boxed up/labelled all the ongoing projects that are waiting for bits/time to complete. Our local Costo have got some massive black hd storage boxes for about £15 a pop and they have the sort of lid that allows stacking, they would even be ok outside as is.

Bob

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

B&Q do some nice grey boxes...they're the right size ...if I load them up with a bunch of heavy bits I can still carry them.

 

[addjunkie]

B&Q do some nice grey boxes...they're the right size ...if I load them up with a bunch of heavy bits I can still carry them.

Tesco, asda etc boxes are free and also work treat…..

I had a project bike, with moving house, loads of building Work, having a job etc, it stood for over 10 years in the way. Every time I Iooked at it, it just irritated me.
Then one day I needed to move it, best way was loose assemble, so I did. Took a picture and advertised it forsale. A guy drove 7 hours, paid me cash. When it went in his van I felt no emotion, but about 3 months later, I got sent a picture of it finished. Hes happy…and its no longer irritating me.

Not saying you should get rid, but sometimes no project is better than an irritating one!

 

[Smallfry]

My Citroen DS Safari is entering its seventh year. i try to do two hours a day. In this weather usually simple stuff like cleaning nuts and bolts. But, if I make a balls of the first thing I do, I down tools and go back into the warm.
Sometimes I spend an hour or two working out the sequence of events that I have to follow. I can't do A until I've done B and C. I can't do C until I've done D,E and F etc. For example, before the engine can go in, the grommet has to be fitted to the throttle pedal spindle first. Forget to fit that and you are in a world of pain needing a four year old child with a vice like grip.

Having exactly this problem right now with the ARB drop links on my Renault master van. I had the engine and box out and could have accessed them so easily then. Now its all back in, I can't even see them properly, let alone get any tools on them.
If I could kick my own ar5e ............

 

[ajlelectronics]

B&Q do some nice grey boxes...they're the right size ...if I load them up with a bunch of heavy bits I can still carry them.

I have been buying their plastic storage bins (no lids) at £3 each for the smaller sizes.

 

[plewlandsbob]

How about rechargeable flood light, hang it up inside door, so you can see what your doing. Less hassle than running extension cables. Then you could work away in garage. A bit at a time.

 

[Red'n'Black]

How about rechargeable flood light, hang it up inside door, so you can see what your doing. Less hassle than running extension cables. Then you could work away in garage. A bit at a time.

I have four sheds full of cra unfinished projects, I've gradually run mains out to each one when I got round to it, but before that a bunch of MR16 LED lights run off a car battery worked fine.

 

[jmp49]

Oh gosh. I was at the point this year where a lot of projects were stalled and I lost a lot of passion and a few points could have just weighed it all in and drowned in my misery. I have a job that recently has started to demand 50-60 hours a week from me to stay up to date with workload and new developments in the field I'm in (IT) plus there's some people in our company that have been making things difficult because promotion is dead mans shoes (and I'm wearing the shoes).
So since around june I have been working most evenings (salaried so no OT) and the odd weekend day, but also trying to keep up with family, house stuff etc, and all that was happening was I was becoming more and more burnt out. The more I tried to apply myself, the worse my work got and the longer tasks took me. I was at the point where I was awake staring at the celing thinking about work issues till 3-4am most days and back in the office by 8.30am.
Then at the start of Dec my wife forced me to the doc's because I'd got in such a state and they signed me off and I realized, the reason I stopped progressing on all my stuff I was interested in was because my job is a meat grinder. So I've spent Dec in the shed and garage, getting a mental reset the doc ordered me to do. Probably they'll sack me in jan for not hitting performance metrics, but I'll take a couple of months out and find a better one, at somewhere that lets me sustain my interests and passions outside of working hours.
Sometimes its not whiteboard lists, or organizing things into little tasks, sometimes lack of progress is something else making you miserable that manifests as lack of passion in the things your interested in.

 

[RonMig]

I got about halfway through restoring my DT175 Yamaha in 1981... it's still in the shed, rolling chassis/engine, rest in plastic crates...

BMW K100 (13k miles) has been undercover since 2010, needs 2 tyres, battery, fuel-pump rebuild/injectors clean and a service...

BMW F650ST (also 13k miles) has been undercover since 2018, needs right-crankcase strip/TIG/rebuild after the chain broke, wrapped-round the
front sprocket & cracked it...bought a spare engine in 2020 (19k miles) for swap or parts; still on the trolley/undercover...

I suppose it's cos they're "toys" now, rather than main transport...

Life does get in the way a bit... but took me nearly 2 months to fix my backup "daily" -the Disco (10x weld patches on sills and inner wings) between months of showers.

When rain stopped play outside, I had 3 bedrooms to redecorate
(plus stairs/landing) - still in progress... am really struggling to motivate on that...

 

[Memmeddu]

Had my classic car for nearly 10 years now. Drove it for a bit then realised it was far rustler than we realised. Thanks to life in general and project creep here it is still unfinished. All the welding is done, lots of bits replaced, but every time we are nearly there with it being mot ready something else crops up.

I've saved a lot by not paying others and buying spares on deals but I'm wondering whether to pack it off to a local specialist to finish the stuff it needs for the mot.

What do you guys do when you've lost your mojo and started falling out of love with a project?

Weather not helping. Might feel different in the spring.

My 126P was going to receive forged pistons and cylinder machining , crankshaft grind , and new main bearings....
My daily driver decided to get a core plug to fail ...
So almost 400 euro gone in materials including new clutch etc
Doing it myself I've kept the costs low but .
It's Christmas I have to buy presents,to pay car insurance and taxes .
So my plans got ruined.
And it would be great if I can get the main bearings... 140 euros...

 

[Keithmac]

My children were a great motivator for me, either or both asking if we were working on the car which got me off the sofa (helped a lot with my frame of mind as well).

Took a year but we reserected a basically scrap car!.

Welding in winter is not fun, especially outside. I planned a sill a weekend.

Someone mentioned the other day, just to an hour a night and it soon adds up!.

Took it to my lad's garage for it's MOT and first drive in 17 years, he was proud as punch seeing it "in the wild".

We all went for a drive that weekend and daughter said she couldn't believe it was back on the road.

That made it all worth while really.

 

[marlinspike]

Thanks for all the replies, guys. I do feel inclined to crack on with it now knowing so many of you have felt the same but pushed through. My apathy is very much related to the weather, dark nights, and having to work outside. It's mild today so I've done a few bits.

For ages I had a policy of trying to do something every week, if only derusting or cleaning nuts and bolts, it's just the last few months really where I've felt a bit like it's totally ground to a halt. By nature I'm a finisher though so I'll probably see it through to the bitter end (ie the mot test) however long it takes.

It's the shortest day on Friday so lighter nights after that too.