What has worked for your time management?

[Airc00led]

I once bought a rust bucket and realized I bit off more than I could chew. Then I bought an old car mostly complete and really enjoyed the maintenance on it. I work full time and have 2 kids that do one extra curricular activity at a time.

I've noticed when work is really busy that I have no energy left on nights and weekends to get projects done, but workload ebbs and flow over the course of a year.

I like the idea of saving a car and bringing it back. I've had the idea for a "general contractor" approach where I line up the folks who can do work that I can't get to. (Or don't feel like doing)

What method or rhythm has worked for you and your car?

[gsjohnson]

I do most of my work myself. I always try and perform at least one process a day. Even if it is removing just one bolt. Which usually leads to performing something else on my car...

[wayner]

I did a tag team with the shop where I kept my car.

I worked on it ins spurts, and tapped out at times and allowed them to finish that part.

I documented it in my build thread below.
( You can find an index in the second last page of the thread).

[Eric H]

Yeah, my philosophy is similar - just chip away at it. I've done 2 engine drops and reinstalls and I think/hope I'm done with that for a while. One thing I do is if I am unsure about something is to walk away, have a cold one(s) and think about it overnight. I think I make better decisions that way.

[bgyglfr]

I have kids too. I find most of my time right after work when they are running around the neighborhood. I can get some time in and my wife doesn't give me grief because I'm keeping an eye on them. I keep the car in my garage at home which helps for doing a half hour/hour at a time. I can leave everything out and pick up where I left off. I also have a good friend who puts in more than his fair share on my cars as well. Especially when it comes to fab/body work.

[gogriz91]

Depending on how old your kids are, they may be able to help you. Mine are interested in things I'm interested because I'm interested in them. My father in law once told me if you tell them not to help you eventually they'll stop asking so let them help, even if it means you end up doing it over again.

[Airc00led]

My son is 10 and likes to help with our VW Westy. And we're still maintaining that vehicle. I've been on the hunt for a 911 and go back and forth on how much of a project I want.

After a too rusty BMW that I had to part out I'm a little gun shy. I'm always curious to hear from other car guys on how they manage the whole process and to hear what has worked well for them.

As someone who has always preferred to do everything, it's a mental adjustment to let others do work for you.

[merbesfield]

I found that having one night a week that is called shop night helps. I worked it out w my wife that every Tuesday night is shop night. Works most if the time, but still have to deal with the same issues of being too tired to work after work. The one nice thing is that the wife does not begrudge me on Tuesdays bc she knows ahead of time and it is scheduled. Works pretty well. Some Tuesdays it works others I'm too tired and don't do anything. At least if you know it's one night a week you can try to be mentally prepared for the work. I also have a friend that helps sometimes, but not much lately and that has definitely slowed my Tuesday nights down w less productivity.

[tirwin]

I have wondered about this myself. It's hard to make progress when you've got a job and a family that comes first. And I travel for my job so sometimes I'll go a week at a time when I'm not at home. Sometimes I need a day or two just to recover when I get home. And then the family tends to not react well if I go right off to the garage.

I second the idea of having a garage night. Mine is never a set day because my schedule is so unpredictable but my wife is pretty good about it. I can't complain. Doing a little something every day helps to feel like you're making progress.

One thing I've thought about is having a day where a few locals get together and help each other out. MongooseGA just invited me to one today but I couldn't make it. Part of what slows me down is when I'm doing something for the first time. It would be helpful to pool knowledge and tools to get certain jobs done. The thing that holds something like that back is finding a time when everyone can get together is hard and the people who already have a lot of know-how might not get a lot out of it. Of course, free beer and food never hurts!

[Airc00led]

Tim, I'm in Atlanta and would certainly join in wrench sessions once I have mine. But lining up schedules will be hard. Our family tries to keep ours open as best we can.

You raise another factor to consider, help from locals. We're inside the perimeter and the closest shop to me is Franz Blam. I'm hoping that through his shop and my own skills that I could keep one in good running condition without much down time. Help from others for home projects would be great and something I need to keep in mind.

We have inlaws in Marietta btw....

[kidrock]

I would love to add a Westy to my collection. My wife would surely kill me.

[merbesfield]

I live in GA too. I have found that shop nights w a lot of people, guys, are fun, but usually we do more beer drinking and BSing than actual working. I sometimes have my most productive days when left alone, but having another pair of hands is really helpful on some jobs that require mental as well as physical assistance.

[tirwin]

Airc00led,

It seems like there is a growing number of us in this area, which is a good thing! That can be very helpful in saving time when getting advice on where to get certain things done. I was just looking for an alternator shop the other day. I posted here asking for any recommendations and found a fantastic shop that's 10 minutes away.

You can waste a lot of time on people and shops that either don't care about this old cars or don't know squat so having this forum is invaluable from that standpoint.

Another tip is trying to plan downtime around the winter months. Whatever projects I do, I try to do the ones that require the most downtime around the winter months. I can always back out the wife's car while I'm working and run a heater. But trying to do any work in the garage in July/August is just brutal.

[82 SC]

I have too many project cars right now and no garage. Selling off the project cars I just can't get to in the next few years to get a garage with a lift. I figure if I can get in a garage that gets me out of the weather I can at least do a few things a week even if it only for a few mins. I also have 3 little kids and VW busses and my newly acquired 82 911. Right now when I get the time to work on something for a few hours it takes 20min or so getting tools out and 30 mins to put them back plus clean up. I figure if I was in a garage I could use those extra 50 mins of not getting tools out to work on the project at the moment. I also have to prioritize what I will be doing next. I am really trying to only work on one car at a time. Right now it is the ones I need to sell to get the garage. It just goes so slow. Some days i take off work when my wife is at work and the kids are in school so I can get some real work done on a project car

[chrisbruck]

My savior is having a dependable daily driver just in case something goes wrong or I get interrupted by the kids.... then I can just let it be and come back the next free moment.

I also try to avoid major tasks with the kids around... all my tools inevitable end up being used as "hammers" outside in the yard.

[catuck]

I'm in a similar boat - 3 young kids and I run a business. Long hours at work. I bought my 911 in '98 with the plan for a full restoration. I have tinkered with it over the years and installed a bigger engine. I finally decided to tackle the restoration. What has ended up working for me is this: I took the car apart myself then sent it to a bodyshop! I'm fixing up everything I took off which I enjoy and can do at my own pace. The car will be in the shop for 6 months.

I also have an old MG in my garage that needs a full restoration (one of these days)

[OffCamber00]

I read the subject as "What has worked for your TIRE management". You know you are a track junkie when.....

That being said, I just completed a pretty decent build - it took me the better part of 2 years. I have two small kids and a full time job. Small chunks is what got me there....along w/ an extremely patient and understanding wife. I spent one day almost every weekend in the garage and I tried to get in one evening every week. I had a lot of help from a buddy for the bigger items.

Part of the fun in owning this car is working on it. Although this project took way longer than I planned, I really enjoyed the work and now that the car is running, I'm super pleased.

[Michael T]

I keep my 1989 in a storage unit five minutes from the house. I try to work on it every two weeks to keep the battery fresh, but cycle the oil temps to ~180 degrees. I am trying to keep the mileage down, so I schedule what I am going to do well ahead of time, plus read as much as I can. I really need to build a second garage onto our house.

[BK911]

I am a list junkie.
Absolutely LOVE crossing something off the list.
List for each car, house, yard, etc...
When I have an hour or so before bed, look at a list and find something that I can knock out before sleepy time.
Couple of hours on the weekend? Check the list!

[wayner]

This discussion makes me wonder why there is often such derogatory remarks against cheque book builds.

Clearly there are time in life when ink will go further than elbow grease. I like to tinker, but if I ever do another build I plan to stock up on pens first.