Technical What would you have done different?

Yeah, a car is never done!! Sometimes "good enough", but i always look at my junk and think, man i wish i had..... what's the one thing you wish you would have done differently or plan to redo on your mosheen

 

Not a lot but sitting behind the wagon this past weekend I was looking a the tail lights and thinking that there could be something that would look better than the original tail lights. HRP

 

I hooked an sbc to an early ford transmission and driveline in a 40 Ford, while it was cool, it was completely impractical. I wish I would have done a modern trans and rear end. I like to put lots of miles on my cars.

 

"Man i wish i had" Is about three pages long

 

Man, I wish I hadn't opened this thread!
Just kidding, most of the things I wish I had done, weren't in the budget.
With me, it's "I wish I coulda kept that".

 

Couldn't do it different when I bought my first one (avatar pic). But now I buy complete whole cars. Much easier.

 

The current project at my place is getting 50 years or so of what I would have done differently. Some things that would make it perfect would require different material to start with. there are things that can be done with one style of car that cannot be done with a different type of car.

 

Sometimes "good enough", but i always look at my junk and think, man i wish i had.....
Sounds like a regret a certain Olympic star had.

 

One more thing: On the same 40 as posted above, I bought a used 350, it was a good engine, ran fantastic, but it had been sitting and I thought to myself "Self, you should replace the pan and timing cover gaskets while it's out of the car." I didn't listen, painted and polished the motor real pretty, and it was leaking oil from both places immediately.

 

I would have started on my chassis rebuild a long time ago. The longer I wait, the more things I have to do around the house, etc before I can dive into it. Should have it half finished by now at least but I still haven't started.
In Polish, my name is Putteroffski.

 

I wish i had started any of my projects with a plan and funds in place.

 

Married a rich girl!

 

I would have tabled building my 34 ford and bought bitcoin at 11 dollars a coin.

 

Would have chose a different color to paint my truck.. or chose not to paint it at all... either one


Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.

 

I put a Cleveland Hamster in my '46 Ford coupe once. I decided within the first few miles that the Caddy was the best motor that old hooptie ever had and set to collecting parts and doing machine work right away. It went back in and is in that same car to this day.

The 351 was a good mill, it was plenty hot for sure. But the Caddy was just the right motor for the car.

 

Coulda, shoulda, woulda, I think it is best not to dwell on that subject, just brings sadness and madness.

 

I love my little roadster, it handles great, but everytime i look at the frame i want to puke. I started the build 30 years ago with not much of an idea for the exact details of how it should be. Mainly the front of the chassis is about 4" too wide and 4" too wide at the firewall. I built lakes headers for it to kinda cammo the wide frame at the firewall which kinda worked. But the 'spring in front' set up, squared off 4x2tubing and too wide front frame bug the hell outta me. I'm currently building a fresh sbc and having an old Frankland quickchange assembled for the car. I'm so close to just building a new frame for it too but this one has worked fine for me for many years.

 

I used to have more of those moments, usually after I hurried what ever it was I was working on...buying or putting
on a part or doing a project and talking myself into, "it's okay, don't need that original part or it looks pretty good."

Finally learned to be patient, come back tomorrow and start where I left off or save and pay more for the part
I really want rather than an "it'll be o.k. part" In the end it saves me money not buying my second choice, then spending
more money for my first choice and having to sell my first pick usually at a loss to get rid of it.

 

Definitely gone to medical school, so I could better afford this "hobby". I've said this a lot over the years; you know what they call that guy who graduates dead last in his medical school class? DOCTOR; and there are a lot of them out there. Too late now. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Taken advantage of all the free knowledge from those that passed on, while it was still available.

 

!

 

Wished I’d never taken my 49 apart.
Should have just kept cruising

 

The "what could I have done differently?" question fades from my mind pretty quickly. Most of the time, I chose to do what I thought was the best option available to me at the time. To second guess things I've done in the past based on the experiences I've gained since I made those choices long ago, are often not the least bit constructive.

I refuse to live a life of "What if?" I learned long ago I can not change the past, it makes a lot more sense to give more thought about things, so I can make better plans in the future.

Hopefully I'll remember errors from the past before I fully make the same errors again. I always tell younger people, the more it costs, or the harder it is, to fix past mistakes, the better you remember them, and the less likely you are to repeat them. Gene

 

Yep...another what if....looked to see if there was something new.

 

I have second guessing down to an art form.

 

I'd have to say not wasting so much time constantly making changes and never getting it really finished. Far too many bright ass ideas that did or didn't work but took up a lot of time that could have been used making a nicer but less "different" truck that would have far better fit and finish.

I hit total burn out around 2000 and didn't even to to a local one day show as a spectator for a few years. I did go out and put a few check marks on my bucket list but If I hadn't found the HAMB I probably wouldn't be into old cars now at all. Here I found guys who didn't give a rip if I didn't have the latest rims, the latest fad in upholstery or the latest trick paint. They liked the cars the same way they were when I fell in love with hot rods and customs in the late 50's and early 60's.

I've said it a number of times here and elsewhere: come up with a total build plan where everything works together as one unit and then stick to that plan and don't start changing in mid build. That is the voice of experience speaking because changing horses in the middle of the stream usually only gets your feet wet and you may not end up on a better horse.

 

l thought the same a few years back, so put these on...........
( no apologies for the hi-jack of the thread - )

 

My life is full of what I would have done deferant, in the nineties I was thinking of selling the business and house and buying a 30' cruiser. Putting it in the Mississippi river in Minnesota and exploring it to the gulf of Mexico. I changed my plans and got remarried, the single biggest mistake of my life. Changing the direction of a build seams minuscule in comparison.
I've built cars for others in ten months but my own cars take years and I think that's the problem. I've gone back and forth on putting in a new manual 5 speed or staying with my C4, both have there merit but as I have a new C4 built I'm thinking harder about the manual transmission.
Maybe I'll get rid of it all and head for the Mississippi river.

 

"I've got a long list of real good reasons
For all the things I've done
I've got a picture in the back of my mind
Of what I've lost and what I've won"

"And I could cry for the time I've wasted
But that's a waste of time and tears,
And I know just what I'd change
If went back in time somehow
But there's nothing I can do about it now"

"I'm forgiving everything that forgiveness will allow
And there's nothing I can do about it now"

 

What would I have done differently? Paid a bit more attention at school maybe? Stuck with the machining traineeship at a local engine rebuilders after leaving school at 15 instead of going to work for my Dad as a panelbeater? Who knows?