5 Exciting Milestones in DIY Projects
There are many points of joy experienced by those who spend their time under the hood, hunched in a wheel well, or practicing that unique kind of yoga that is working under dashboards. Reviving or just keeping project cars running is an art, and like any form of art, it can consume the creator if they are not careful. There are bright spots that come out during those late nights trying to figure out why the cooling fans won’t run and the engine overheats. You just have to know what you are looking for.
Everyone gets reward from different aspects of working on cars, and that’s part of what makes the tasks so great. Regardless of what kind of project car you have, these are a few positive milestones you are likely to experience at least once.
Buying one
The thrill of the hunt is one thing, but if we are being honest, the thrill only comes when shaking the hand of the seller as you transition from buyer to owner. It’s a time of incredible optimism for most of us, with vision clouded by the potential of the project which serves to block out the known darkness that is looming. The struggles of diagnosing problems, fixing what you find, and preparing to do it all again pale in comparison to that beautiful pocket of time when your project car is 100% potential for success.
Getting it running
If you purchased a non-running project, first of all kudos to you for being so brave, and secondly prepare yourself for the excitement that comes with hearing that car run again for the first time. Someone else gave up on that project or generally get it get to the point of no longer functioning and you brought it back. Even when amounts to charging the battery and putting gas in the tank, it’s still decent step forward. A running project serves as concrete and inarguable evidence you have completed something. It might not be mastery, but not all progress is so visible. Have to revel in it when you can.
First drive
Even if you bought a running project, the first drive is one of the key moments that establishes a lot of emotions about the car and what kind of relationship you might have. Is this drive a gleeful stepping stone in an engine swap, or the second monumental step in the resurrection of a decrepit hulk that was previously left for dead? At some point it fails to matter as we all get drawn into the wonder that is the contraption around us function as designed, with the bonus knowledge it was us that made it happen.
Accurately diagnosing a problem
There is always a stunningly long measure of time between diagnosis and rectification of an issue on a project car. While performing the fix, it doesn’t matter how confident you are, there is often at least a tiny kernel of a chance that your effort will not solve the issue. Experience can help stack the deck in your favor, but even with certainty on your side there remains a warm feeling that comes from the confirmation that you not only found the issue, but also solved it.
A hack roadside fix
While a lot of the highs and lows of project cars happen in your driveway, garage, or neighborhood, there are a whole crazy subset that happen while out and about. The first time something goes wrong unexpectedly while on a drive is one thing, but handling the issue with aplomb despite being in the wrong place with the wrong tools. Overcoming the odds is something normal people have to go out of their way to find yet those who choose to occasionally drive questionable vehicles often find the opportunity to rise to the occasion is one that appearw more often than we might wish.
Final step. Not losing your shirt when you do sell the project.
If making MONEY is your big concern then it’s just a bus to you!!!
Sell it??? I didn’t know we did that.
for me, cars are mostly a hobby. and my definition of ‘hobby’: “an action or activity done for some level of enjoyment, where there is little or no need, can be irrational, and at best, a money pit”. selling a car? only if i need the room!
I agree, getting out even or making a little allows you to move into another project. Most of us have multiple cars on our bucket lists, and can’t afford to have all of them at once (and we probably don’t have the room). Take photos of your project cars, it helps minimize the pain when you sell them!
i didn’t buy my car as a project – I’m the original owner (1979 VW Super Beetle convertible). But it did sit for five years (garaged, thankfully) and ofcourse, it wasn’t running when I finally made time to bring it back to life.
The battery was toast, which was fine for doing things like replacing the starter (one reason it sat so long), and I hooked up a 12V power supply and determined that the radio, lights, wipers, etc. were all OK.
The real milestone I experienced was when the engind coughed after I went through that terrible fuel injection system. There was fire in at least one cylinder! It gave me confidence that I could get her on the road, which I did.
Buying the best Jack and Jack Stands you can afford. Losing your shirt is better than having it squashed!
Jack stands are fine, but I prefer solid wood blocks about 18 inches square.
Does your back hurt?
Finishing the first case of beer – usually in frustration, not jubilation.
Working with my grandfather and my dad, I learned the difficulty of a job was measured in cans of beer.
Going to bed. Tired but hopefully with a new car to enjoy.
When you first coax the engine into firing, is there anyone who can resist a Dr. Frankenstein “it’s alive! It’s alive!!!”
Yes! and while you are over the engine looking for anything leaking, there is the obligatory shop jokester at the back of the car simulating an engine knock by tapping the fender with a piece of wood.
Like your style! Not to sound too crazy, but cars definitely host a spirit! Been into old cars since a teen- my dad and his brother (may they RIP). My second, and current “collector”, can’t be described as old. 2013 Shelby GT 500. A young spirit, I guess.
Maybe more with air-cooled motorcycles than with cars, but there’s a moment maybe 30 seconds or so after the first start when you begin to think it actually might not explode, and then the wonderful smells of an old, not so clean engine and exhaust system as the heat starts to cook the spider webs and oil coating and who knows what off… I really like that.
First roadside repair while not wearing nice clothes…
Roadside repair while Not wearing Nice clothes?? That Happens?
After 61 years of marriage and about as many project old klunkers, my wife STILL doesn’t understand why.
I Hate these Magazine Shop Pictures, they so Fake! Yeah sure some might show disarray but everything is always Clean! FAKE!
I know it can be hard to believe, but those are not fake pictures. That’s actually how I keep my shop. Why would I spend so much time and money to get my tools and projects just to leave them in a mess that enables those hard earned tools to be lost or damaged? Nope. I take care of the things I own.
Yeah sure your tools, but all the projects, no dusts, all electrical outlet covers, the walls and windowsills. Even the cans of brake cleaner are shiny……..
These pictures are from Richer folks shops– (you know–The ones who will Never Admit they are well off–
I am lucky enough to call the author a friend and have spent many evenings wrenching in his shop. It is the result of years of sacrificing and saving to get it to the state it is in. It’s amazing what simply keeping your shop clean and adding .50 cent outlet covers can do to make the space look good. If he’s rich or staging it all, I would be a bad friend in not noticing that. Some people just appreciate nice things, work hard for them and like to keep them that way.
Who cares? He’s a motor-head! I appreciate that. Same as all of us us who enjoy these sites. Nice shop, by the way.
LOL jane. Did the grounds keeper arrive today to LOOK AFTER the workshop?
Shops can be any condition that works for the person it belongs to. From my friend where you can eat off the floor in the middle of tearing down a barn find. To my other friend where you can’t ever find the floor. (But he knows where everything is). Me, I find the hardest part of a project is putting the tools and parts away after the job is done. Sometimes this takes more time than the project did.
Kinda enjoyed seeing the aersol can rolling behind you in the First Drive video. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Nothing more satisfying to me than walking into a professional shop and seeing the mechanic hunting for a wrench, a screw driver, the nut, bolt, or bracket he took off and put down somewhere- it’s affirmation that I’m not the only one who does this!
I’m supposed to pay a professional to walk around the shop looking for parts or tools they lost? That’s absurd. If someone is charging me professional shop rate the last I want that to be funding is a game of hide and seek. I’m paying them to work on the car. Losing tools and parts is as unprofessional as it gets–second only to being late.
If you can really do that, send your resume.
Years ago it used to be “where did I put my beer”now its “where did I lay my coffee”?
Or “Why did I come out here?”
A clean shop is so much nicer to work in. When the job is first complete, I might sit down and have a sasperilla but later on, or the next day I clean up the shop so it’s ready for the next repair. It eliminates the, where did I leave the tool last drama.
Years ago, I read an essay in Road & Track by Peter Egan. Some of you will remember it. He talked about working as a mechanic as a young man. At the end of each week he and the other mechanics spent the last hour or two of their day, wiping down their tools and putting them back where they were supposed to go. That way when Monday arrived everything was clean and where it was supposed to be. It made starting the next job easier. That essay made an impression on me. I’m only a hobbyist. Not a professional mechanic, but at the end of each day or at least each project done over the past few days, I follow that routine. It helps to make getting onto the next project easier when my tools are clean and easy to find and my garage shop is orderly. I’m with Kyle on this one.
The main advantage to that is knowing were everything is. I’ve got everything on peg board and put tools back after I use them.
This is mainly because elderly folk tend to be forgetful and have a habit of putting things down and losing them. I’ve misplaced the spark plug socket when changing said plugs and requiring a trip to the beverage recycling room.
When drving a diy project for the first few times even with a tool bag in my experianse is best to have AAA on speed dial.
Laying under your car changing the fuel pump at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival with two professional mechanics watching me and busting my chops as I worked and they watched.
You’re going to lose your shirt when selling, may as well be prepared for that! The enjoyment of building and driving a project is worth the “loss”. Or at least it’s supposed to be… or it that just what we tell ourselves?
I never lose money on cars, I always make a lot of money. You make your money when you buy the car not when you sell it.
The golden point of turn around. Pre Roger Welsh. The point where you stop disassembling and start putting it back together.
Followed closely by the point where you decide it is smooth enough and start laying on color.
I’m really looking forward to that point…
The day you sell it
PLEASE hire a proofreader. This article is a mess. I hope the author knows more about cars than he/she knows about fifth grade English.
LOL! Aint none of us going to be English professors! You are in the wrong group, sir! This is about cars, not an English class! Enjoy the content! But hey, thanks for your very important input!
Gon’ hafta pre-zoom nunyall have met McKeel Hagerty?
I heer’d he dun-went to a kollidge, oncet.
Ya all is in the wrong place for this! We be talkin cars here aint no one here for an english class. 🙂 Hope your day gets a heck of a lot better!
What outlet do you write for that puts you in such a unique position as to criticize the author for a perfectly readable and enjoyable article?
Who said I ain’t no good at gramma?