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.
I’ve got a set of leaky window seals on a project Mustang that I keep procrastinating on, along with a brake fluid change, new pads and rotors and a few other things.
I’ve been planning to replace the serpentine belt on my truck for a few years now. Luckily, I procrastinated long enough that I will now be selling it before I have to do that! 🙂
Ugh, Jesus…DD 2002 TJ with about 205k miles.
This biggest job is the frame caps because I’ve been quoted about $4k for full front to backs on both sides, but it’s still drivable right now.
Aside from that it could use new brake lines, rear drum rebuilds, probably timing chain and water pump just from age, bushings all around, new intake manifold and/or gasket, and I still get that intermittent engine noise at startup I spoke with you about a while back that we thought might be the flex plate – it’s not, it’s definitely in the engine and appears to be related to oil pressure building but only happens once in a blue moon.
Suspension rebuild on my 1983 300D. Mostly because I’m terrified of the front coil springs.
Deadlines are key. When i moved my family across country (twice in 4 years), the following (amongst so much more i have forgotten that missed the highlight reel) had to happen:
-two project v70r’s had to be finished and sold,
-had to pickle grandpas truck and my aunts pre-unit triumph t110 in prep for long term storage,
-major timing belt and other maint on the v70t5 that we’d keep and tow with,
-sell a merc milan 5 speed we bought new and drove to the moon,
-fix and sell a bunch of bicycles and parts,
-fix and sell a buell m2,
-get a ’73 cj6 (w/ steel hardtop) running and sold
-buy a small diesel gmc bus and prep for x-country towing duty and family camping trips.
Plus fix all problems with the respective homes prior to sale. And pack up an active family of 4’s stuff. Woof. Do this only while you happen to be at home, as work will take you away from the family and your stuff/obligations. yeeha.
David, you got this. We’ve all been there, and we’ve seen you tackle great challenges in the past, and we look forward to seeing what you create between 11pm and 4am.
Actually GETTING a project car. My 11-year-old is on board, but between a lack of space in my garage, being too busy with the kids and work, and a wrist injury (can’t spin wrenches you can’t grip), I have not found the beast that will consume me.
I am probably being unrealistic about expectations and wanting to REALLY get into something mechanical. Better to find a car that needs a couple of things and enjoy it. Yet there I am, looking at Mustangs with blown engines.
Does putting-off fixing a coolant leak (bad gasket seal, stops leaking when engine is hot, non-daily driver) until I do a timing service on my 1st Gen Tacoma count? I just keep an eye on the coolant level and top-off accordingly, it will probably be due for the service in about a year.
My wife’s OM642 GL350 is going to need a timing chain and tensioners. and EGR cooler. and fix an exhaust leak. and all four air struts. None of these things have failed yet, but it’s a matter of time. If i preemptively disassemble the engine for the sake of the timing chain, it makes sense that i do the rest since i’ll have it in service mode. Maybe this will finally be the big enough job to warrant purchasing a lift for my lil home diy set up (probably not, but i can dream)
My e70 X5 has a check engine light for the glow plug module. i replaced the glow plugs and module about 80k miles ago, and i got the kit from FCP euro, but I’ve just been putting it off because I’m scared that any of the glow plugs might break or strip (but why change the glowplugs if just the module is bad?) because if im going through the trouble of pulling the intake manifold and draining the coolant, i might as well, right? thermostat is new(ish) so maybe i’ll take the opportunity to change the waterpump (i wont)
Oh, late 90s, had a 78 T-bird with a 460 I built, needed to move on so pulled the motor and scrapped the car. That project was mostly for the engine, first car at the time was the T-bird, engine actually went into a second 78 T-bird I picked up cheap just because I knew the engine would fit, and having a complete car to compare to one that was apart came in very handy!
Anyway, life carried on, had the engine on a stand to use again “someday”. After moving and buying a house, kids, life, etc I realized someday wouldn’t happen anytime soon, so ended up selling it for $5k. Put the money at the time towards house bills, kid stuff, and that was that.
I really need to fix all the front end issues on my daily CTS V-Sport. The lower control arms need replaced, which I can do easy enough,but then it will need an alignment and I don’t want to have to deal with finding a shop and taking it there. I also need to figure out what is happening with the brakes, it shudders under moderate braking. I thought it was warped rotors, and new pads and rotors did fix it for a little but the pads/rotors are still very new and I am having the issue return. Maybe new control arms will fix it or perhaps I need to do more digging. The car is difficult to work on due to the lack of accessible jack points. It would be easy to do on a lift, much harder with a jack and jackstands.
I really need to replace the rear factory LSD in my Jeep with a trutrac or e-locker but the price has doubled since I did a trutrac lsd in the front a few years ago.
My hot rod. I have a 1920s Dodge Brothers roadster body… and that’s all. I have no frame and no engine.
I don’t have a plan, but just a rusty body shell and “a concept of a plan.”
Rebuilding the transmission in my GMC.
The old 4LSLIPPY-E in my ’96 Sonoma started doing 4LSLIPPY things a year ago. I bought a new converter, a master rebuild kit with Alto red clutches, a Corvette servo, Beast sunshell, new solenoids, new pillow switch, an upgraded pan…
All of which is sitting in boxes while I’ve driven it thousands of miles without a working overdrive and a slipping 2nd gear because the band is smoked.
I bought an e39 BMW to LS swap. Two years later it’s not swapped and I don’t even own an LS.
My ’92 Volvo 240 Wagon that used to be my daily driver. It developed a short that I just couldn’t find, and I got sick of having to pull a fuse every time I parked it, so I bought a newer Volvo wagon. I had every intention of fixing the short, but never got around to it. It’s sat in my driveway for about 5 years now.
Long story short – if anyone in the Wilmington, NC area is looking for a blue 240 wagon with a 5 speed, 250k miles and almost no rust, I have one available. $1000 OBO. Will need tires and the gas tank cleaned out.
*twitch* no nope don’t respond nope *twitch*
… Does it have good old car smell?
The goodest. Smells exactly like you remember an old Volvo should.
Oh, memories of a certain 1972 145E….
Paging SWG!
Valve cover gaskets for my Outback.
I replaced them when I did the head gaskets and it was a pain to do with the engine out of the car because of seized bolts. Installed new bolts with a lot of anti-seize, but they’re still being stubborn and I’ll have to move the engine (if not pull it) to get enough access to change these.
This is where I complain that Subaru’s devotion to horizontal engines adds complexity and cost without any performance benefit in their line of SUVs. Two head gaskets hanging out pretty level with the oil pan, exposed to road salt and slushy mess because these things only sell where it snows for the benefit of less hp/torque than other manufacturers get out of their 2.5 I4s.
In any case, It’s been in the garage with the hood up for weeks now, and the gaskets have probably been here for a couple of months.
You’re not alone : been procrastinating on the passenger side vc gasket on my ‘02 wrx for a couple years now. In 2020 I pulled the intake manifold and replaced leaking fuel lines, the vc gaskets, and the intake hoses. It stopped smoking from oil dumped on the exhaust when run hard, but I can still smell it.
A new OEM gasket has been laid out on a shelf for quite awhile, but we haven’t had snow in a couple years, so I just carry a good fire extinguisher. I’m publicly shaming myself so maybe I’ll get off my arse and do it
I don’t know if this will shame me into doing it, or comfort me into ignoring it like everyone else.
I changed the valve cover gasket on my Miata the first time I had a free afternoon.
It was an easy job, because Mazda did not go full Simple Jack on engine design.
A deadline, as you said, is the key motivator. I had a few this year that pushed me to put more miles this year on my W126 than the previous 2 years combined.
-I swapped the dash for a non-cracked assembly, and while I was in there, tested and fixed all the vacuum pods for the HVAC system, and tore out all the factory stereo wiring to run my own equipment.
It sat there, stalled at the re-assembly stage. Then, the starter died in my daily and a new one was a week away. So I spent a weekend thrashing to re-assemble the car so I could drive it while awaiting parts.
-The A/C has been non-functional the whole time I’ve owned it. But, I had a road trip coming up (Oblivion car show, Hundal was parked down the row from me!). So once again I thrashed to get it done in time for the trip.
Other times it’s been to keep my mind busy. I had a battle with the big C a couple years ago, and while I was off work undergoing treatment, I dove into the car to keep sanity.
It presented another deadline. I needed to swap the trans, but I was about to undergo abdominal surgery to remove the invader, so I thrashed with a buddy to get the new trans physically mounted in the car before I was restricted from lifting for a couple months.
In summary, deadlines are what get projects done. Without a “due by” date to aim for, we often like to put the “pro” in procrastinate.
Hey uh, where’d my comment go? I got a notification for comments replying to it but i can’t find it 🙁
Have the parts to redo my ’98 Civic Coupes suspension for a couple of weeks now. Still haven’t even looked at a jack.
I finally got rid of a Honda Spree (50cc 2 stroke scooter) project last week. Bought it 6 or 7 years ago from a guy down the street from work as a project. Fixed some of the issues and it ran buy I simply didn’t have the time and drive to fully sort it out. The guy who bough it was pretty happy with the extra parts it came with and I was happy to have the garage space.
Now on to selling the other 80s Honda scooter that is hiding out in the lean to at work. I now avoid registration for the local auction sales so I’m less tempted to bid on project that would be fun but I also know would drag out forever.
I’m seven years into owning my GT86 and still haven’t fitted a turbo. It’s getting so the cost of putting the turbo on is going to be a significant proportion of the cost of the car, which is making it less likely as time goes on. Plus I don’t actually need it to be faster. The custom alcantara steering wheel only took me 4 years, and replacing the hideous road wheels took less than a month, so clearly there is some sort of prioritisation curve in my head that I don’t understand.
I’ve had my Lotus just over a year and haven’t adjusted the terrible headlights yet because step 1 involves taking the wheels off, and it’s always dark when I’m affected by the issue.
I’ve not swapped in my spare seats yet despite having taken the seats out twice already to fix the headliner. That was just six bolts and four nuts away from being done. Don’t know why.
I just went back through my pictures and checked – my 1966 Valiant ute came into my life in 2006, and it’s still just a rolling shell. In my defense, I brought it home, stripped it down in the shed and started work on it, only to get the opportunity to buy a house, which didn’t have a suitable shed. So it sat under a tarp for years while I gradually converted the carport into a weatherproof work space, and have only just now got it to the stage where I can really work on a car again.
I feel this. My property (a rather grand way to say “acre”) is a mishmash of ugly structures and awnings, none of which is enough to do anything.
I’m currently remediating a table that I picked up in near perfect condition last Monday, stripped Tuesday through Thursday (I had another project going on on literally on top of that), and then got unforecasted-rained on Friday. It went from “hey this could use a touch up” to hours and hours more labor and days/weeks of rework.
Oh, and I couldn’t do it under the shitty awning, because that’s where the Z4 is busy not running with a busted suspension and a dead ass radiator.
My 280Z is a “finished” project.
I started the bare shell resto in 2020, fully aware that this was a colossal endeavor, so right then I found a mantra that I kept repeating to myself: “I will see this through”.
The disassembly took about 6 month, it was scary at first but once I passed the point of no return I stopped worrying and just kept at it.
The body shop took over 2 years to do the metal work, prep and paint. I helped along the way a bit, but they basically worked on my car only when they had no small jobs to do so the wait was a bitch, and temptation to buy another project was high. However, I kept repeating my mantra. I ll see this through.
When I got the shell back I was so excited I basically could not stop myself from working on the car. I started putting her back together mid January this year and in May I had a 5 day wrenchathon go get her started and safe to drive. The last Sunday was a 14h almost non stop session, and I was beat.
That’s not to say the car was completely buttoned up. The interior was only half way done, but I had basically tired myself out and wanted to enjoy the car and stop slaving over it, so I have not worked on it since then, despite all the little things she still needs.
I will finish her, but I just need a little breather, and I want to enjoy the car show season before worrying about what’s left to do.
I batch my projects.
That burned out bulb in the dash? I’ll replace it when I fix the broken odometer, which will happen when I also need to remove the instrument panel to run some new wiring to the head unit?
Put the trunk lining back after doing the audio? I’ll do that after I’ve replaced the rear shocks and removed the bumper to inspect it. I’ll reinstall the power antenna then too.
Experience has made me cranky at wasted time and motion, and old cars have made me understand that aging plastic snaps and corroded metal can be touched only so many times.
So, it’s not procrastination, it’s WORKING SMART. That’s my story anyway.
We had an unfortunate incident with the boat four years ago. Got the mechanicals taken care of fairly easily but the shop left the cabin door open, and one or more cats took up residence for the winter. The new headliners been in for a year. The cushions have been redone for about 8 months now. I just can’t bring myself to put it all back together.