There is. My 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ — a five-speed “Holy Grail” that I saved from the dastardly clutches of the great junkyard in the sky. I’m thrilled it’s no longer doomed, but on the other hand, it’s also the car project that I never seem to be able to finish.
I’m on a lot of Facebook pages, and what I see — especially on pages dedicated to models that tend have an older following — is a lot of people giving up on their projects.
This post right here is something I saw all the time on the Nash Metropolitan Owners page:
I myself am only 33, and I have a never-ending Nash project, so maybe this has less to do with the owners’ age and something to do with the car itself, but in any case, today on Autopian Asks, we’d like to hear from you about the car project you’ve been procrastinating most.
Maybe it’s a leaky seal you’ve been planning to replace for months, or maybe it’s something bigger like a full restoration that you’re halfway through. What’s your never-ending project, and what is it that made the project lose steam?
For those of you who have no lingering projects and only complete ones, how did you keep the momentum going?
My own never-ending project is the five-speed ZJ that I plan to turn into an overlanding vehicle. It’s been three years, and it still sits there, unfinished. What’s it going to take for me to make it happen? I think the answer is simple: a deadline. Moab, 2025.
The Monte Carlo probably needs a coolant flush. Planned to do that last year.
The Delta 88 needs new side tension cables for the convertible top. Again. Procrastinating on that for a few years.
The Fiero needs… a lot. Gave up when it blew the head gasket. Haven’t touched it since ’08.
Replaced right front speaker in Scion a year ago.
Speaker for left side still sitting in garage on work table.
Speakers also lived the prior 15 years in the spare bedroom.
My winter project this year. Long on the overdue list. Full suspension refresh on 2003 Porsche 911. 20+ years have aged out the rubber bushings. It’ll be a less than fun job, but hopefully bring back that famously superb handling these cars are known for.
The parts are in the garage, waiting for a snowy day.
My Saab 900 needs new rear shocks. I have them sitting in the garage ready to go on, but the damn lower bolts are not budging. I’ve soaked them in PB and hit them with an 18″ breaker with not a budge. My neighbor gave me his “breaker extension” (aka a pipe) and I’m afraid to use it. I’m afraid I’m going to twist the bolts or worse, and they’re not the easiest to find the specs on. So I just deal with the less-than-ideal ride.
I also need to find the drip from the brake master cylinder because my front driver-side floor mat is getting a little saturated. But I just keep that one topped up.
And there’s the cracked dash and the lack of front speakers…but that’s more of a winter project. Maybe when I’m in the dash I’ll get that weeping master cylinder.
At least it still drives!
Heat is your friend. A propane plumbing torch can get enough heat into those bolts to free them. The rubber bushings, well, those are getting replaced anyhow.
Have you tried and impact gun? Harbor Freight has a corded one for $25. I have one of these and it’s pretty powerful. I’ve been able zip off axle nuts with no problem.
https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive/impact-wrenches.html?current=1&brand=CHICAGO+ELECTRIC+POWER+TOOLS
I have had new headers and 4in exhaust for my Firebird sitting in my barn for 2 years now. I’ll get to it hopefully this winter.
Convertible top on my 71 Alfa spider. Watched the video. Just don’t have time. Already threw out the old top 5 or 6 years ago. Transmission cooler lines on my Range Rover classic. Have the lines. The rattle from who knows where in my D4 S8. Makes me insane when I drive it. My top end rebuild in my 1985 Alpina B7 turbo coupe. I just need to finish all the hoses and electrical but I keep finding things to replace to make it perfect. Now I’m considering dropping the motor to clean and repaint the block. I need a shoe box of cocaine and to be 35 years younger.
Restoration of my grandfather’s Model T Depot Hack that I bought from him (and which he restored in the 60s). The project has really picked up speed now that I’m finally done with the seemingly interminable sanding and varnishing that went into restoring the body. I mounted new tires this weekend and, with only a few more minor things to do, I should finally have it registered and inspected this fall.
My 02 Grand Cherokee 4.7l. Head gasket has a leak. Its been in and out of my garage for 2 years. Do I fix it myself? Do I pay to get it done? Do I replace the motor?
I’m now debating on just selling it and cutting my losses.
My super duper fast 3d printer. I just can’t get the motivation. I blame simple depression for it. I love it, but I can’t seem to get any steam to work on it.
Cars, on the other hand, need to be maintained. I generally don’t let that go, as we need to drive them. My 3rd car, the Pickup, needs maintenance, but it still drives. I would LOVE to do something fun with it, but I know better.
Something happened after Covid, and now that I’m in my mid-late 40’s. I realize that I have priorities, and less energy. I realize I have to be very careful what I take on. I have a ton of “house projects” that need to be done, but it’s the same there. I’m not sure I can do the “big stuff” anymore myself. I know I can, intellectually, but not physically. At least not on timelines that satisfy me or my family.
As such, one of the best decisions I’ve made is to make no decisions at all. IOW, don’t start any new projects that I KNOW can’t be finished, cause they won’t be. The time/money/energy commitment needs to be VERY strategically addressed prior to making any decisions.
Know your limits. Listen to your body. Trust yourself.
And, most of all, don’t piss off your wife.
All projects take 1. Ability 2. Time 3. Financial resources 4. Drive to do said project. After having a kid it’s rare that all 4 criteria are satisfied. Most of the time I’ve got 1&4 but 2&3 are hard to come by.
The project that I’ve been putting off is the crank position sensor on my jeep. I’ve read it’s a pita due to limited access. I’m having a hard time mustering up #4 in this case.
Truer words were never said. I used to have #2 but not #3. Now I have #3 but not #2.
Totally agreed.
When I was young, I had all the time in the world, but no money. Now, I have all the money in the world (LOL) and no time.
#1 – Always had the ability (EGO!!!)
#4 – Drive, in my world, is all about state-of-mind. This is dependent on many things. Perhaps the biggest and most unreliable variable in this equation (for me).
This was exactly what I wanted to say but I can’t say it any better than you!
You guys make me feel pretty good about my car projects actually.
I have been putting off fixing the exhaust leak on my f150 for like 2 years now, but it’s pretty justified since I have rebuilt a Honda and a Jeep during that time, and revived another Jeep. Oh, and a Nissan too.
’67 VW squareback. Was sitting for well over a decade. Finally got the gumption to get the engine rebuilt. It’s getting hard to find someone VW Type3 literate to rebuild it. While that was happening, I finally coalesced three pairs of carbs into a good pair with the correct jets (different L and R). Drove it for a few months, then started tearing it down for body work. Covid time should have allowed me enough time to do it. Bought all the parts needed. Then several California fires nearby halted all work for a year. Scary to think about grinding metal on an open driveway. Now still sitting with interior torn out, engine and gas tank not prepped for a long sleep. Now waiting for end of year $ from inheritance so a shop can be found to do the work I just can’t get to, and getting too old to actually do and spending too much time trying to get rid of stuff in house so we can eventually move and retire. I just want to drive my squareback.
After about 1 year of owning the parts and needing to do the job, I finally got it done this weekend
https://opposite-lock.com/topic/106879/spent-my-saturday-polishing-and-greasing-my-balls
“What’s your never-ending project, and what is it that made the project lose steam?”
Washing it. I just can’t. Also cleaning out the interior. Who has that kind of time?
I did put air in my tires last week so THAT’S something.
The tail shaft seal on my MG has been leaking since I bought it. I have the seal, but it’s dead-center under the car and requires dropping the driveshaft and removing a flange to replace. I just haven’t felt like the hassle yet.
Oh, super easy answer.
I have the Honda Del Sol which was a complete car with a blown head gasket, that I took a running drive line out of a crashed Integra and dropped into it and somehow the car has wound up sitting for 5 years because I don’t want to deal with it.
I should’ve had it driving in like a week.
I love those Del Sols. An unjustly forgotten car from a time when motoring could simply be fun. I wish the market were still into that.
I had one for a brief time, and LOVED it. Sold it to my brother, and the lower ball joint snapped on it as he was pulling into his workplace. He abruptly sold it. I had moved oversees, and otherwise would have kept it. I wonder where I would have been when it would have snapped on me??? NOTE, don’t choose the cheapest option on Rock Auto.
A 1976 MGB.
I was given it for free and took it down to an almost entirely bare shell 12 years ago.
Figured out I don’t know how to do rust repair and it’s sat ever since, guilting me.
Bought SEVEN other MGBs, scrapped 4 of them (they were wrecked parts cars), had one that was sold as “restored” but was so rusty I gave up on it (and was featured in an article on another car site that starts with “J”) and still have 3 of them… one being the 1976 that haunts me. I’m currently working on a 1971 that was painted.
I even tried to rope a YouTuber who does body work in to helping fix it… but once he came over and consulted, he doesn’t have a frame rack, and I noticed now, after 12 years, that both frame rails are kinked due to a previous accident. .
So now it’s sitting waiting on me to learn to weld and replace frame rails.
My Pinto wagon, it still lives in my parents’ garage and I haven’t lived there in 8 years and probably haven’t worked on it for over 10. I feel awful about that, thanks David for bringing it up.
You still win. Pinto wagon.
Hell yes.
Saw a very nice stock condition 73 wagon just last week. I had more than my share of Pintos back in the day and still have a few bits and pieces here and there.
My 1977 Moto Guzzi 850 I got in a deal during covid as a barn find got it kind of running and riding. Took it apart ti fix the center stand. Went on vacation lost all interest in it. Now I am working on the motivation to get it to a point to sell.
It’s still the carb and auto choke on my MGB. I’ve been so frustrated that I went out and bought a Miata in early July. Now summer is ending and I’ll probably be stuck keeping it all winter since it’s already late in the season to sell a convertible. I was hoping my local MG club would be of some help, but so far, they’ve just recommended mechanics. I just haven’t been ready to admit defeat yet. If nothing else, the Miata has been super enjoyable.
It is the stupid stupid stupid Aston Martin Lagondae, I now have three of the useless aimless graceless things. I cannot even remember which one was supposed to be the good one anymore and which were the spares ones. Horrible dreadful stupid cars. But one day? ……………………………. Stoopid car, delusional Nic,
Of the issues one could have with a Lagonda, having enough of them to legit call them Lagondae seems like a pretty good one. Props!
What I suspect is a bad crankcase gasket on my Suzuki (motorcycle). Instead of fixing it, I just put a foil tray underneath to catch the slight weep, and top her off as needed.
I keep meaning to put in the time to figure out exactly what/where it is, or at the least take her into the shop. But I always end up just riding instead b/c more fun.
Rear main seal and timing chain guides. One is an engine-out ordeal, so I might as well do both at that point. The rear-main-seal-fix-in-a-can worked well enough that the book-sized spill is now down to a penny-sized drip, so the urgency is gone and procrastination has set in.
Everything with my 48 Lincoln Continental. Just no time or money for such a project right now. Darn kids.
My Mercedes needs the wheels refinished from a few curbings, and the bumpers need refinishing from general bumps and scrapes.
I had a mobile bumper guy in LA who would come to my place and refinish my bumpers and wheels in my driveway – mixing his own paint in the back of his truck and everything – but that doesn’t seem to be a thing here in VA.
I also really need to refinish the leather on my steering wheel and gear selector – it’s become so worn and rough from wear, it’s unpleasant to hold onto. At least I still have the wood portions to hold when parking….
My Thunderbird’s electrics. The instrument panel is half-dead, so I went ahead and got halfway through removing the dashboard… hit a fastener I couldn’t figure out how to remove, went to watch a youtube tutorial, and then forgot about it. 2 months later the dashboard is still half-removed, I’ve just been driving it like that. Oops.