Projects Discouraging Project

The best thing you can do is take pictures or videos of what you're doing to it, post them here and you will get encouragement to keep going. It takes time and effort to get what you want. Start on it and have fun knowing that your dream will come true as long as you keep working on it.

 

One step at a time. You just need to repair and replace what 'time' has taken away. It will be a learning process. Not the end of the world if you stuff things up some. A grinder will quickly get you back to square one............
Lots of help available here. Just ask (one thing at a time), and give us lots of pics. First question should probably be "where do I start". Don't let it overwhelm you, it's supposed to be fun...........

It's just 'lack of metal'.......................

 

Try not to get overwhelmed by the whole job. Like others have said break it down into smaller jobs. Each thing you get completed will give you a feeling of accomplishment and take you a step closer to your goal. I've got a 30 coupe Im working on that I wish was half as nice as yours at the start. Check out what some of the other guys have started with and I think you'll be encouraged.

 

Hell the bottom 6 inches? My truck was rusted up to the beltline on the cowl on one side, and to the middle on the
other side. Floors were gone from the seat forward to the middle of the firewall. I had to jack up the door jamb just to get it level enough to start fitting metal to it. I had no experience welding when I started. You can do it, there is a lot of knowledge and experience here. You have a big advantage, patch panels are available for your car as they were for my truck, some fit better than others, but with care and work you can overcome most issues.

 

I'll feel more confident once the sub rails are replaced

 

Not having any help IMO makes it harder. Not really so much that you can't do it but it's more fun with people to do it with. I have been 6.5 years on my car. We are at the finish line. Just need to button a few things up. The car will never actually be "finished".

But I've been building with two good friends. We get sidetracked doing other things all the time but it's being with friends that made it seem not so long. I'm retired now but I worked until last year. There were times I couldn't be there and my friends might work on it some.

 

Here is what I am currently starting on. '28 Hudson. A little bit of work to do...........
Was told it would buff out.............

 

Just don't do what a lot on here, me included, have done. Work on cleaning up small items such as tailights or gauges and then bag them up, put them on a shelf and buy some more at a swap meet because you can't find them later.

 

Ditto to all everyone already said. Baby steps. Ive found that what i do, if it keeps me up at nite, or i dont like it tomorrow, i do it over. Easy peasy. Then when i walk away feeling good about what i did, i move on to something else tomorrow. When you get to something that you have doubts or questions about, take pics, and look up stuff for ideas or techniques to get it done today. Then have at again tomorrow. When you stop looking forward to tomorrow, its time to sell it. Good luck.

 

Might sound silly, but start a build thread here. It pushes you to accomplish something so you can post pictures of what you've done, and get helpful information as you go. I feel guilty if i don't make progress on my stuff, so that gives me inspiration to keep going.

 

Over 5 decades of experience as a mechanic on everything from bicycles to heavy equipment and I still don't know everything I'd like to know. Look at my avatar model A. Built from the ground up with used, junk and hand made parts. There is not a bolt or nut that is original and a body that was wrecked and badly distorted and all other sheet metal was full of dents, old crappy welds, bullet holes, rust etc. Parts range in years from '29 to a '99 bucket seat from the dump. An 8BA engine that had sat in a barn for 30 years, ad infinitum. I'm not a body man but I got things beat back into shape good enough to fit together. It took me 3 years to get this thing on the road and it still needs some things done better. I could go on and on but the fact is I do this to keep my ancient brain working and I love it. They are never truly finished but the object should be to learn and have fun. You can do a lot with little if you try. My cars are old and I like them to look that way. Fancy and expensive are not in my budget.
I get glowing positive comments on that old A, even at local car shows full of very high dollar hot rods.
My projects :
'42 Ford 2 door. (done)
'29 Model A. ( Sorta done)
'29 Model A parade jalopy. (always changing)
'26 Model T roadster PU. ( stock, awaiting repair)

 

Ok. Let's get started. Looks like there is a frame under it. This is your starting point.
Sure up the body with temporary weld-in tube braces (diagonals and triangle shapes are the strongest). Remove the body and set it aside for now. Search or ask about this if you need to.
Check your frame for square and level. If possible, repair as required. If not repairable, find a good one or buy an aftermarket one. This is step one. Get the frame sorted. It is the foundation for the whole shebang.
Now is the time for pics and questions from you....................

 

Not as easy as it looks on TV.
I’ll go against the popular answer here...
It seems you don’t have the tools, or the friends with the tools you need to do this job. Encouraging you to plow forward on a big project like this without the tools and resources is, in my opinion misguided.
As stated by a previous poster, it’s the journey not the destination.
If you don’t want to be on that journey, bail now before wasting time and money you won’t get back. Buy a car that is finished or close to finished . It seems you are more interested in the destination than the trip there.
My apologies if offended. Truly trying to help.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/model-a-frame-dimensions-and-photos.298248/

 

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
I think he should at least have a go. It will work or it won't..........no big deal either way. You just don't know if you never even try. If it stalls, it will be sold and passed to the next person, who may or may not be up to it either.
If he has the drive to start and learn as he goes, I say go for it..........

 

my 28 A started as a rusty turd, took 10 years to finish it. Wanted to sell it many times and give up.
I enjoyed it finished for a few years, then sold it, decrying that i would never do something like that again!

for my next project, I bought a 33, that needed everything, so....

 

I bought the car to the left in Nov. of 1995 put on the road mid summer (july) of 2017, 22 years later.
Ya gotta love what your doing and picture what it will be. If you can't do that, sell it and let someone who appreciates the car and buy what you what you want. You'll be happier and the guy who gets your A bone will be also.

 

Funny you should say that, mine are usually sold within 6 months of completion.

 

OK get yourself a ledger,file,repair books & keep track of your expenses. Study your books & ask questions here & Ford Barn. Take lots of pictures. Checkout the garage sales in your area for tools & stuff you might need. Go to swapmeets & car shows. Get parts books from suppliers, some have good pictures in them.
Suck it up & get started.

 

I bought my '28AA in '95, thinking "I'll just get started", life got in the way : I didn't actually get started until 2012 (there was a move & work in there), then stripping it to the frame, starting back went well until about 2016, then life got in the way( LONG "dead spot") , minor "tinkering" (off & on for the next 3+ years), been back at it since early 2020. Now is the hard part : all the little things that don't look like much, but have to be done( throttle linkage, redesign shifter position & linkage, "invent" heater/defroster, figure out fuel line system & carb/manifold, figure out tail lights & mounts, etc... So : don't give up : even if it's just blowing the dust off it, DO a little something every week & you will be surprised how much you will have accomplished in the next 6 months!!! HANG IN THERE !!!

 

Jeez Bob, you make it sound like a lifestyle, not just a hobby...................oh, wait..................

 

Hi Grumpy.Get Sleepy and Dopey to help.You will have it on the road in a week.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I am worried that I have 'Multiple Personality Disorder' and that it was Dopey that made the decision to buy it, and Sleepy will be the one doing the work................

 

If you have a vision of what you want it to look like when you get "done" it makes the slow progress and hard work seem easier.
If you don't have that vision, its really hard to keep moving forward. Odds are good it will never reach completion. If you don't have that vision, maybe this is not the car for you.

I was about your age when I got my first HAMB era car, and it was in bad shape. Unlike you, I had a welder and knew how to use it. I'd been building dirt track cars for over 10 tears at that point in my life. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I soon learned I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. It took another 5 years before I possessed enough knowledge and equipment to get started, but I had the vision from the start. Once I started, it progressed very quickly (for the amount of work it needed). The end result was I ended up with the car I had envisioned all those years before. We put 77,000 miles on that car in 7 years.

I've lost track over the years, but it seems I've built around a dozen hot rods since that first one. My current project is the 2nd major project in 3 years, and it was started in July 2020 should be on the road in a couple months. The first one of these last 2 was driven a little and sold, this one I'm keeping. I keep telling everybody that this is the last one, but no one seems to believe me.

Once you get that 1st build in the books, the challenge of this stuff becomes addicting. Gene

 

Keep the car. Use it as a learning project. Learn to weld on it. Take some online courses in welding, machining and fabricating. It will save you thousands of dollars down the road. Don't be in a big rush to finish the car. Be in a rush to learn how to do it.

 

Gene, I wish I had a dollar for every time that I said never.

 

My suggestion would be unless you have some long term plans, or there is a tremendous amount of welding due to issues like rust, pay someone to do the welding. Learning to weld properly can be a big project in itself and you should be concentrating on the car. How about some pictures?

Charlie Stephens

 

Look, none of us started knowing what we know now, none of us started with the tools we have now, nobody started knowing how to patch panels, weld and be generally the know it alls that we are now. We all started where you are, I built a tee bucket in an open carport with a small box of tools, I assembled the welding stuff, called a local mobile welder and got him to melt it together. Then I boxed in the carport so I could work in the cold.
You may find that you aren't a car builder, then.....sell your project, buy a car you can improve and enjoy the hobby, there's room enough for us all. In the meantime, put your big boy pants on, start the learning curve, read what you can, build according to donated experience, ask questions, and don't build crap that'll kill you or someone else.

 

I've built or partially built between 30 and 40 cars and I don't think there was one where I didn't get discouraged at some point. I've also sold a few projects which I got tired of working on. It takes perseverance to see the project thru to the end. Hang in there, you'll get it finished.

 

I think this may be true for me as well. As soon as my 40 was 'done', I got bored and sold it.