In over my head...regret setting in...any advice?

I can relate. I once dove head first into a car restoration, little tools, time or experience. Did it backwards as well. First had the engine rebuilt, then pulled it apart for paint after I installed the engine. Got all the body done and in rattle can primer. Rented a paint booth, back when you could, and laid down full primer. At this point Im feeling good so I decide to spray Laquer White paint. Never painted before and it came out terrible. Orange peel, wrinkles etc. I was led to believe that laquer was best since you could buff out mistakes, haha

So frustrated, the car was towed back and sat in my car port for 6 months. Just as I get the spark to sand and outsource the paint. Along comes a baby and a new job. Had to move and car remained in storage for 18 years until it was eventually stolen.

Its been 27 years since I started that car. Back then I had the library and Rod & Custom as a guide. Now we have the internet.

Fast forword to 2012. I have a driver that I fix up as I go and I have 2 garage bound projects that get worked on as time allows. Ive found that if I hit the projects with daily goals, then I slowly see progress. When I see progress, I stay motivated.

Drive, fix it as you go and leave the major mods for another time.

 

Great advice Don. I actually neede that talk myself.

 

I say keep the car, piece things together as you go. Having someone there to help you is priceless but it isn't a necessity, anything you can do you can teach yourself one way or another. Pick up books in used stores, look online, ask around here on the HAMB and then put things into practice. I just got my (first) car a few months ago and it didn't run when I got it, still doesn't run (Its in about as rough shape as they come). I'm making mistakes but its nothing that cant be fixed! Just because you have a daughter, in my mind at least, doesn't mean you cant find the time to work on the car! It could take a lot of time but whats the worst that could happen? Ya end up with some experience under your belt and a cool car!

Just my two cents though!

 

Stop whinning and get started a little at a time . You'd be suppised what a couple years can do.

 

Family first.

 

Is this your only mode of transport? As long as you have another reliable daily driver and your not blowing your living budget there's no real reason to sell it.

Like a lot of others have said here, concentrate on one job at a time. Finish the job properly and you will get a great sense of achievement, which will make you want to do more.

Dont be afraid to ask lots of questions, there is no such thing as a silly question, just silly answers. Remember NOBODY knows it all!

Buy a service manual, read it and re-read it, heck read every thing you can from reliable sources to learn. Its a lot easier to fix something when you understand how it works and understand how to repair it properly.

As someone else mentioned hunt around garage sales and swap meets for tools, also look at the books. There are beginner books out there that cover various area's of car repair (mechanical, panel, paint etc.) that should help you get started.

Join a local car club and take the family along to events, it can be a good way to spend time with the family as well as enjoying the hobby. You will probably learn a lot from others in the club as well, most car club guys like to help each other.

 

My last car was an OT '68 Mustang that needed a ton of work, thankfully the body was decent. It was fairly overwhelming.

I got out a sheet of paper and made a list of everything it needed and the approximate cost associated with the task. Then I put the list in the order I was going to work on it.

It really helped me sort it out and I got it to a point where I was driving it in 6 months time. The main thing is to make it as safe as possible, especially when it comes to brakes and the front end.

Bob

 

Excellent advice by and large so far. The old adage that 'Hot rods are never really DONE'. May apply here too. I'd say if the car is not cuasing a financial hardship on the family as it sits (running or not). Keep it.....make time and spend it with your family, then with time, the car can be a focal point for the family to spend time around etc etc etc. It's a hobby and a lifestyle to many.

As for skills development, local carrer college classes are a good idea, joining a car club and getting to know folks in the hobby through that is always a good thing. People ask me sometimes how I learned how to do what I do on my cars I tell 'em, when I wanted to learn how to weld.....I bought a welder....then practice practice practice.

There are more ways to acquire the knowledge, but the first thing to acquire is patience. Dont be in a hurry to get something done on the car, take the time to plan is out and then be sure it is executed precisely (i.e. whoever did your A-arm hitting the brake caliper issue). NEVER leave something done by saying...."that'll be good enough".

It just takes time.

 

You say the brake caliper is hitting the control arm--- obviously someone has done some swapping there and goodness knows what kind of parts and techniques they used. Was the car clipped? What kind of clip?, etc., etc. Start a new thread and post some pics and you will certainly get helpful advice here.

It's easy to get overwhelmed, mentally, physically, and financially. I try to avoid detailed lists of tasks and lists of parts/prices even though I know it's a good way to get organized. Set out your tasks in broad strokes, and for goodness sake, make sure you spend the time to carefully shop around for your parts. I have a collection of catalogs and web sites and found a HUGE difference in prices.

Take on "mini-projects" that you can accomplish in an evening or two. The feeling of accomplishment will give you courage and satisfaction.

When my kids were infants, my wife would go to sleep with them early in the evening. Instead of watching TV or surfing the 'net, I'd get in a couple of hours of garage time almost every night and the wife never complained. If I took an entire weekend in the garage and ignored my family--- well that was a different story. Always ask the wife if she minds if you spend garage time.

 

Sometimes this board really ticks me off when it comes to the treatment of newbies, but this has been a great thread. Nobody here was born knowing what they know now.

Some really great advice here. I think every person should have a hobby... just don't put it before family. Most of us here got our mechanical abilities at an early age (or at least I did), but you're never too old to learn. I'm in my mid 40's and got my start wrenching and welding on things long before I was old enough to drive, but I'm still fairly new to traditional hot rods compared to most on here. I'm still learning a lot and having fun every day. That's what is important.

As what has been said, everyone has to start somewhere...... and don't try and tackle everything at once!!! Start by working on the things that will make it a safe car to enjoy with your family. Get the "chopped" and "bagged" ideas out of your head right now. Those are the things you don't have the skill set to do yourself and you would need to pay someone else to pay money to do. Forget that, you have more important things to spend money on. Most of the small mechanical issues, with a little time, patience, and a willing to learn you can tackle yourself. Don't be affraid to ask questions here. There's always a few jerks in the crowd but most are great guys here.

More often than not in situations like this, usually the person realizes they are over their head, costs too much money, takes too much time, or just finds something new to do with their time and moves on. I hate seeing that. The person who said a '50 shoebox will be around forever is crazy. These cars are pieces of history that will never be created again and are getting fewer every year. Anything that can be done to preserve them while respecting their tradition puts a smile on my face.

The great thing about this hobby is that it can be something to escape the realities of the world when needed. There has been many days when we've all had a bad day of work and after a few hours in the garage alone wrenching, the world is good again...... but it is something that can be enjoyed with the family as well. My wife really enjoys going to car shows, swap meets, to the drags, or most of all a drive in the country. This reminds me, I need to spend more time in the garage and less on the computer!!!

Best of luck,
Ed

 

I appreciate all the feedback I have received.
Funny thing is my wife actually is the one who agreed I should buy and old car and after months of looking at them, as soon as she saw this one I saw her eyes light up and she shook her head yes.
I will be looking into different car clubs around here as none of my buddies are into older cars, mainly just motocycles, which was the only no I have ever really gotten from my wife.
Will post some pictures shortly, looks like I need to have them hosted somewhere first to put them on here.

 

Definitely post them pics! Listen to your wife on the motorcycle.

Remember this, stay away from the topics of modern drivetrain (small block chevy (SBC), Airbags, Mustang II front end clips, and S-10 frame swaps and you'll find people on here are always more than willing to help out

Have fun and keep us up to date on your progress.

Ed

 

Here are 2 shots of the car

 

Mister Tent..I can't count the times I built or "fixed up" an old car with almost no money....the money went for family first but I was always able to come up with some extra money by doing side jobs, selling parts at swap meets etc.
I had a $500 6 cylinder 49 ford coupe, a small family and little extra money for repairs and modifications. After all the bills were paid I decided I was going to hotrod this thing. Most of the work got done in the driveway but some in the 1 car garage I call my shop.
I'll try to keep this brief: Bought a winter beater 77 camaro [paid $130]with a 350/350 and after driving it through the winter I disassembled it, kept the engine/trans/complete wiring etc.Scrapped the totally rusted body for about 40 bucks and sold off the camaro subframe for a hundred...came out 10 bucks to the good!
I have a torch and had a little mig welder. A 100 volt model. I set the car up in the drive and leveled it. Used old posts from the 1st HAMB board to flip the spindles. A buddy was subframing his shubox and gave me all the brand new shubox steering linkage for helping him with some heavy lifting at his house..
I also cut coils and scored a set of cheapie 14 inch American look-allikes made in Japan..polished them with my brother's help for about 5 bucks in sandpaper and rubbing compound..bought some swap meet tires and cleaned/painted all the parts as I went along. My buddy's "donor" shubox also had new brakes on it so I used them too.
Made 4 inch blocks from 2X4" box tubing and when I was done, the driveshaft hit the floor. This is where I learned to use my little mig welder...made a taller tunnel by cutting the original tunnel down the middle, folding the 2 halves back and splicing in a long chunk of ]left-over]3 inch DOM tubing to get everything to clear. This is when my son learned to weld, on the front-floor sections that we fabb'd and welded in.
Found a maverick 8 inch rear axle and swapped my 77 camaro rear axle for it.
I rebuilt the 350 chevy motor myself....had the machining farmed out and it was prolly my biggest expense..spent 150 bucks to get the tranny rebuilt with a shift-improver kit..all from Swap-meet profits.
Used a $15 comet/fairlane gas tank from the local junk yard and did all my own fabrication work with torch and grinder. Anything that needed pressed, I took to work and used their press. I cut corners everywhere possible and several times the car sat while I scrounged up money...never using any of my work-wages.
The car came out as a fairly nice ex-field car..got it in primer and drove it for a few years until we had some kinda "house emergency" that required money we didn't have.
I drove the car to DesMoines Goodguys with for sale signs and I'll be damned if it didn't sell...made a nice profit and handled the "emergency"[don't even remember what it was now] .
That car cost me very little, my son and I did several things to it as father-son projects and it acted as a little rolling bank acount for emergencies...kind of a rolling emergency fund.
Next car cost me 500 bucks also and my son and I did a similar job on it,[48 Pontiac fastback] teaching my son that it's ok to sell your toys for more important problems..and teaching him about cars. He now has his own projects and knows how to build them.[He's got a 50 ford club coupe]

 

X, car looks nice!! I'm in a somewhat similar sit but I say keep the car!!! Agree with most that baby steps are key. The board is an amazing resource for all kinds of info and advice as is YouTube for many things.
I can tell you that balancing a wife, two kids and a job where I have to travel cuts into my garage time for sure. But having that car in the garage, smelling the oil and gas as I put out the trash puts a smile on my face every time. Imagine when the little one takes an interest in helping daddy work on the hot rod.
Keep it, go slow and enjoy any time you can spen on it. Keep it simple and set manageable goals and youll be fine.
My 2 cents.

 

XTENT ! Awesome Ride. If it's paid for and not a financial burden, that looks like a KEEPER, slow and steady work out the kinks, but above all, for the families sake, be SAFE ! !

 

Ya man take your time! Great project for a beginner!
J

 

Great ride! I say keep it. Follow the advice here. Do the simple stuff to make it safe and enjoy it.

You might be able to get help and experience by offering to help other guys work on their cars. Tell them you will exchange grunt work if they will explain what they are doing. Once you have a little more sweat equity in the friendship, ask them to coach you more on yours. They might see your car and get excited about helping you with it.

My dad had a '37 Olds that sat in our garage while I was growing up. He worked on it as he got time or money, but it didn't cost anything to sit there. If you don't have that car financed, it won't cost you anything to hold onto it until you are in a better situation?

 

I totally dig your car dude, it's already cool! Just enjoy it and like Digger Dave and many of the other guys said, keep it simple and make the car safe to drive.

For me the mental game was the hardest part of building a project. The skills came with practice.

 

THAT'S THE CAR ???????????? WOW, I had it in my mind it was some cobbled up mess, and it is just the opposite. You bought a very nice looking ride there, and I know pictures lie, but I sure would like to have that one for myself.

I think what is going on is that you are just not familiar with the idiosyncrasies of older cars. I don't care who builds them, they are never going to feel and be like a brand new car. They drip oil, they ride differently, and they need attention to repair the little things that break.

Make a list of the mechanical issues as you see them, and we will help you get them knocked down one by one. I bet when you sweep away all the cobwebs the problems are really not that bad. Your car REALLY looks great ! It does not need a chop or bag job.

Oh, and the wife was right about the motorcycle. She wants to keep you around to see your kid grow up.

Don

 

Thank you, I bought the car thinking it was road ready, but between the turning and braking issues that have came up it seems it is not the case.
I am actually going to meet with a member from here tomorrow to see what they think and what corrections could be made.

 

Good deal! dont get discouraged thats a hell of a nice car to start with im sure you will get it sorted out.

 

I too have been trough that many, many times, too many of my friends get in way over their heads and can&#8217;t find the cash, time or tools to get a good strong jump on their projects but they dream of having a full custom &#8220;something&#8221; and after watching too many of those TV builds where the first thing they do is strip it down to nothing.. I good friend of mine bought a beater (but driving ) tri-5 chevy. A few weeks later I drive by his house and the car is stripped and on saw horses and the frame is sitting next to the car, oil I spilled all over his driveway and nothing is labeled&#8230;close to 5 years has passed and guess what, the body is still on stands and not much has been done.. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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I guess what I&#8217;m getting at is start small, only take on tasks that you are sure you can complete and try to keep it on the road and driving, at least enough to move it around on its own power, at least this way if you need to get out from quickly it&#8217;s still a car and not a pile of <o></o>
parts. that your time and develop you skills as you go along. But most of all enjoy that little girl, there will be plenty of time to play with cars before you know it.. <o></o>
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I thought is was going to be a beater, then I see the pics. Looks good to me.

Check the steering box, and rods. a new set isnt that much.

The brake system, well it all depends on that your want.

 

Keep the car and love your child. They grow so fast and when she is around six or seven encourage her to come help you with the car. You will really enjoy the time and build a strong bond. My second daughter went off to college in aug and called me a week in and said to just put her car aside until next summer when we can work together on it. I told her I would get it into color then put it up and she told me that she had to be here for the WHOLE project and that's final. God I love that kid.

 

I made the mistake years ago of putting cars first.....it cost me time I can't get back....love on that new daughter of yours, and sell the car. I know its tough to do, but you'll feel better about it soon. Like its been said before here, shoeboxes and other cars will always be around when the times right. Good luck man

 

Like others have said, we've all been there. I was in your shoes what seems like yesterday. My son was 6 and I bought my first car. I was gonna get that thing going and cruise to school with the coolest 2nd grader I knew. Well, things don't always happen the way we plan. After life stuff, a few dozen side jobs, and a move to a new house, my son turns 16 in 2 weeks. My car still isn't done, it gets worked on when I can or when I'm not working on someone else's. Sure I've changed my mind on almost everything I had planned when I first got it, the guys here showed me what I really wanted. Don't sell that car. Do what you can, when you can. If it's what you really want, it'll be worth waiting for.

I like this, thanks Dude!

 

I disagree completely! I'm not saying put the car first but there is no reason at all why you can't spend some time on your car and your daughter too. I have many friends who have adult children now that have fond memories of growing up helping Dad work on the car and then riding around in it.

Xtent: If you care to take a drive up the 15 freeway Wildomar (Temecula area) I'd be happy to take a look at the car for you. If not, I'm sure there has to be some local guys that would help out.

The car looks pretty nice (except for all the aluminum crap on the motor) and probably wouldn't take a lot to straighten it out.

Get the basics under control and spend time with your wife and daughter cruising around in it having fun!