How Late Have You Worked On Your Car?

[wastintime]

LOL, I've had to leave at 5am to get to a race, and finished putting the car back together at 5:15am... LOL, 15 minutes isn't that hard to make up.

[JeremyD]

4 am a few times, - especially when I had the engine in pieces

[Joe Bob]

Everything but the carbs......




Off to a Birthday party.....

[BertBeagle]

Originally posted by mikez
Everything but the carbs......




Off to a Birthday party.....

Nice looking job.

What muffler is that? Looks like it could be stainless?

Thanks

[Joe Bob]

yeppers....s/s. I bought it from a guy up north....don't know the manufacturer. I'll ask
and get back to you.

I traded a set of "A" air cleaners and some cash......I consider it a
deal......

[azasadny]

I have insomnia and I've spent many nights (the entire night) out in the garage working on the car.

[patkeefe]

I just came in (2145). However, I was out there troubleshooting some wiring at 0630. I'm getting too old for the really late nights anymore.
Pat

[pwd72s]

Does concours prep count? I drove to the 1978 Parade in Aspen. On the way, ran into road construction in Utah. Red clay & dirt surface...they wet it down to keep the dust down. Arriving at the Parade site, everything underneath covered in red clay mud!

Friend Frank Barret kindly provided floor jack & jackstands, a vacuum cleaner. We brought the rest of the concours prep supplies.


Took 26 hours straight just to clean the bottom. After that, the topside was easy. I felt fortunate to have taken 3rd in class. In those days, no special rules. Cars were simply classed by model & year...I competed against cars that were previously prepped, arriving in enclosed trailers. Cindy & I worked our fingers to the bone...that 3rd place trophy meant a lot to us.

[rnln]

not anymore but there were times I wanted to finish the task and worked through the night and continue through the next day...

[Stutzdriver]

A few years ago (like 20+) a friend and I worked on all sorts of "funny foreign cars" (Jags, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, a few Pcars) as a second income here in NE Ohio. There were NO dealers to speak of and they were pretty poor at what they did. Mostly for Doctors, we would pick up the car and preform whatever service/repair was needed.

Well anyway his wife was a night/weekend ICU nurse and we would work all night Friday night, grab an hour or two of sleep (so we were asleep when she came home as she harped about not working all night) and then get up eat breakfast and start working again the same way all day Saturday and ALL night Saturday night, catch a couple of hours sleep early Sunday AM then go to about NOON on Sunday. Completely exhausted we would sleep early Sunday night and be at work Monday. We did this every other weekend for about 4 years and got a tremendous amount of work done.

I remember pulling an engine from an XK-E Jag on Friday evening, having everything ready to go and rebuilding the engine and having it back in and running Sunday. We did the same thing with an XJ-12 sedan once too but that was just an engine swap.

Boy we did knock out some work and made som $$ in the process but I couldn't hack that today!

[Panzer909]

Was tinkering around with a number of things in the garage on a Sat night a few weeks ago. One thing led to another and before I knew it, there was the tell-tale "BLEEEB BLOOB BLEEB BLOOB" songs of the morning birds. Glanced at the clock: 4:45am EST. Opened the garage door and a twilight was just starting to engulf the street. Oh man.


Time to go to bed - yet I felt no shame

[Henry Schmidt]

Back in the day.
Through the night and on the transporter on the way out of state. Trying our best to make a race, we loaded up and continued working right in the trailer. Heads off in California and by Arizona the engine was going in.

[ikarcuaso]

Originally posted by wachuko
I once did the chagne of plug wires and coils in the 964 and then took the car for a test drive... 3 - 3:30 am... sickness indeed...

That is awesome! I've wanted to, but haven't been able to bring myself to do the late night test drive. I basically live in a densely populated forest in the hills. Sounds seem to ricochet off the hills and in the canyons late at night (4th of July is nuts). Loud-ish cars can be heard several blocks away. My P-car clearly and distinctly announces its arrival and departure around here.

[rnln]

The project was to adjust some valves (not all), replace the valve cover, engine oil/filter, replace spark plugs. First night was until 5am. Second night was a little better. The project extended to the third day. Bad part was so exhausted. Best part was enjoying your car through the quiet night, with a hot coffee pot.
Anyone around want to do it together?

[michael lang]

I have done the all nighter a couple of times. Only time I really can have where I don't get interrupted from my wife or the little heads.

[village idiot]

Xmas day a couple of years ago I went into the shop at 11:00am with my 90 Mustang coupe that had one black fender, a primered hood and faded maroon Maaco paint and numerous dents.

When I came out at 12:30a.m. the following day it had a shaved antenna, no more dents and a coat of sealer 3 coats of bright red and almost a gallon of clear on it.

My co-workers thought I was on crack

[village idiot]

oh, and I looked like my av

[Maxx1]

Yeah, I've been caught up working on stuff and before I know it, it's 3 AM .... I usually get a wave of fatigue run through my body, and that is pretty much the sign that the party is over for the night.


Back when I was painting cars, I used to go to bed at the normal time and then get up around 3AM, put a light outside to see if the bugs all went to bed, then I would wet the garage floor down, light the garage up, tack the car down one more time and shoot it. The advantages of the midnight paint job were three fold; The outside wind would die down so there were less particles in the air to possibly get through my inlet filters and most of the bugs would go back to where ever they came from, PLUS the neighbors would be fast asleep and wouldn't smell the nasty paint fumes coming from my exhaust fan pointed at their back yard !

[jpc1818]

3:30 for me.
Dropping an engine

[sand_man]

Because I don't want my P-car wrenching to interfere with my family life, I often have to use late hours and/or early morning times to get'er done!

My car is a daily driver, so if I don't finish I project that I've started, I have the shame of begging for my wife's ride to get where I need to go! Needless to say, I've pulled a few "all-nighters" to wrap it up for the commute into work!