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6 Ways to Make Progress on Your Project Without Leaving the Living Room
Deep in the throes of winter, just about every car person wishes for days of clear roads and warm weather that enable driving and comfortable wrenching. Even those lucky enough to have a garage or shop workspace are often still feeling just enough of a chill to prefer in the house instead of spending an evening working on a car or project in the garage. While you can’t get everything done on your project without going into the shop (or writing a huge check), you can get more done from the couch or kitchen table than you might think. Here are six examples.
Clean assembly
One of my personal favorite winter projects is building motorcycle wheels on the kitchen table. It’s a process and procedure that requires only quiet hand tools and patience. Even my lovely wife is fine with the process, so long as I don’t take over the dining table until after dinner. A fair compromise.
This highlights that some projects and tasks can be done in places other than on your workbench. It can be annoying to make an extra trip or two from inside to outside for a tool or piece, but that small amount of extra effort is far better than saving a few steps and freezing in the shop. Take a look at your to-do list, and find something small and clean that might be able to be crossed off—once the dishes are done.
Wiring
Similar to building wheels, diagnosing or repairing wiring is a favorite to-do at the dining table this time of year. A lot of projects that enter my shop have questionable wiring patches, fixes, or problems. Sitting with a multimeter and checking all the electrical parts of a motorcycle can get tedious, so it makes it a little easier to be extra comfortable. This is often a very clean task as well, though having a little Scotchbrite or fine sandpaper can be handy for cleaning up contacts. It’s easy enough to do that over a towel or baking sheet.
Parts ordering or finding
Does it feel obvious? Of course, but it’s worth bringing up because using the extra time we have now is great for running down parts we know will require extra effort—even if we don’t need them right away. Creating a stockpile of parts can be a blessing and curse, so be careful to keep yourself from needing a liquid-cooled credit card. I’m guilty of putting off projects and focusing effort elsewhere when parts finding takes too much time, so the days when I just don’t want to go out and pick up the tools are the ones where I instead pick up the laptop to bring those stalled projects back around.
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Research
In the same vein as parts shopping, reading up from your shop manual or favorite online forum is often best done under a blanket on the couch. Doing a little research to check the next process and procedure in a restoration takes up time—why not knock that work out now? Personally, I like to study the shop manuals for what I expect to drive most this year, focusing on the ignition, fuel, and oiling systems. This primes one’s brain for potential roadside repairs. Understanding how the system is designed to work is the easiest way to figure out what can commonly go wrong and how one might be able to rectify the problem—in ideal and less-than-ideal conditions.
Documenting the process
Jokes about keeping receipts aside, do you document your projects at all? For a lot of years I didn’t, but since then I’ve found that even an un-labeled photo album has proved helpful in solving odd issues and internal process questions. Cataloging these things takes time and definitely doesn’t need to happen in the garage. Start with a simple three-ring binder to easily compile a reference point for what work you’ve done, are doing, and have planned. A separate folder inside is great for catching any unique manuals or reference documents you might need. I enjoy still having the user manual for the electronic ignition I put in my Corvair seven years ago just in case. It’s even better that I know exactly where it is.
Not working on your project
Let’s be real, if you feel like being inside and not working on your project, then do that. Cars should be enjoyable, and sometimes it takes stepping away a little to make sure your pride and joy doesn’t become a chore. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, even if it’s a shell perched on jack stands. Let a break from the shop recharge your mental batteries so that when the conditions are more in your favor, you are itching to get out and get your work done.
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Rebuilt a carb on a card table in the computer room, a little shaky.
Isn’t this why houses have basements? Warm in winter, cool in summer! Keeps all the equipment from going through freeze thaw cycles. Milling machine, lathes, drill press, English wheel, welders, all ready to go. I’ve restore a bunch of motorcycles as was as have built a few VW engines down there.
Down where they don’t have freeze/thaw cycle, they also don’t have basements. Hard to do much work in a crawl space.
“Not working on your project”… is where I am at right now. Not economical to heat my space if it is below freezing and it has been in the single digits. It’s a good time to plan, search for tools and parts, and contemplate the next project, but pulling frozen wrenches is non-fun. Watch some videos and maybe get some ideas for the next project.
Like my kids say “That Netflix isn’t going to watch itself!!”
I did rebuild and repair a 71 Corvette radio on the dining table. Hard to believe that they could put sound to a speaker with 8 transistors.
I made the top for our kitchen table. It’s Greene&Greene style oak and black walnut. If I tried to do anything mechanical on that table, I’d spend the rest of the winter in traction. Of course, I do research and parts ordering on my office computer.
My real estate agent had told me that if I moved my K block outta the house, she would be able to sell the property.
I did, and then she did. Lesson learned: keep the parts with/close to the project if you can.
BTW, I later sold the K fastback and bought a better house. I wisely installed a mini-split in my (new) garage from the proceeds of that sale so that I’d have no excuses about creature comfort.
I prefer to work in one place, lay out my parts and tools, and stay organized.
I once degreased a set of used alloy wheels in our apartment bathtub. I would not have dared to try that in the living room. While I did scour out the tub afterward, my wife was not amused, and I heard about it for years afterward.
Interesting comments. From my side; when I first met my future wife I was already involved in the MGB world. I have since expanded my domain to include 4 MGs of various vintages and motorbikes. My wife and I have an agreement, I will not put my stuff in her kitchen and she will not put her stuff in my garage.
I’ll do certain small tasks in the living area of my house or my business. I’ve rebuilt a mechanical fuel pump and carburetors, plus polished things, diagnosed, surfed for parts/procedures, taken pictures for posting online, and laid things out so I could measure different things with calipers and mics over a long(ish) period of time. There are probably other things I’m forgetting, but for the most part I keep things in the shop.
When I was younger, there was a TV show called Vega$ and the Robert Urich parked his Thunderbird in the house! I thought that if I ever made a few bucks, I would buy a house like that. Of course, I was single then and now I’m married…
Every fall I used to take off my 30 spoke Weld Star Wires from my black 78 Caprice Classic, put on the stock tires, wheels, and hub caps, bring the wires in the house and clean and wax them one at a time. It was just my Dad and I living there, so no problem lol. Back on in the spring. The wife is very forgiving, but no car parts in the house. Oh, and if you have a drop of gas, carb cleaner, or anything smelly on you, disrobe in the garage
Mrs. Tinkerah (a living doll in every respect) is fine with me commandeering the kitchen table for anything I want, for as long as I want, with the stipulation that I will return it to it’s unmolested condition when I’m done, and the understanding that supper will not be forthcoming until I have done so.
I had a friend in high school who had Camaro Z28. Every winter for several years he would take the motor apart. He did most of the inspection, measuring, assembly, etc., in the living room. It was just him and his dad (who didn’t seem to mind). He went on to be a mechanic for a major airline.
Christmas 1968, Me, my brothers and our dad rebuilt two airplane wings in our living room. We still have a picture of one of the wings with the Christmas tree in the background. Mom was very understanding!
i remember tom cruise’s character in the remake of ‘war of the worlds’ had an engine stand with engine in the kitchen. i might not be the cleanest person, but i will not have ANY used car parts in the house that come in contact with petroleum products. period. and this former mechanic didn’t even need to be told! to each their own…