Ever get to a point of restoring and think.. "what have I gotten into?"

[Trakrat]

well... what started off as a complete engine rebuild... (which has been 9 weeks and Ollie's Engineering STILL has all my engine parts at their facility)

1.) has then turned into a complete cleaning up of the engine bay
2.) to cleaning and replacing the rear suspension
3.) to replacing the fuel lines
4.) to the removal of the AC,
5.) to the removal of the front bumper,
6.) to a removal of the front fenders
7.) to a complete front end suspension refresh/restore
8.) to a removal of the door panels and doors
9.) to repairing the rust
10.) which will most likely end up with a complete glass-out repaint


oh well.. in about 5 years I hope to have it back on the road HA!

[H-viken]

Yup, you don't know you are on the slippery slope until you are already picking up speed on your way to terminal velocity, thinking "oh, yeah I've read about these guys, never thought I'd be one"

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Ya but when you done, YOUR CAR will be one HAPPY 911 air cooled Porsche ready to go forward and represent the purest form and function sports car ever made.
Please post when family members start to mention your future demise

[JonT]

every. focking. day.

[sc_rufctr]

Just make sure you finish it.

I read a story in a classic car magazine years ago that claimed most car restoration projects stall and then are eventually abandoned.

[jpnovak]

I am 4 years into my 72 and just now finishing metal work. Starting to think about paint. Long way to go from here.

[et cetera]

I made this mistake with an old truck, ended up disassembling the entire thing and realizing I was never going to put it back together.

Periodic enjoyment is a huge benefit of this hobby. I learned to be more diligent when purchasing a project, even if it takes longer, and to breakout the projects into manageable chunks.

I try to keep the car from being out of commission for longer than two months. Anything longer than that an project fatigue sets in and my motivation goes to zero.

[Beetle88]

I'm surprise this thread doesn't have a thousand responses. My restoration (now going on year 8) started with me wanting to replace part of the torsion tube....still going.

Other day; I yanked the motor and tranny out my 964 and came really close to stripping the car down for a repaint....

Slippery slope is an understatement.

[LIRS6]

Reverse order for me -

1) A bare-metal glass-out repaint
2) then became carerra tensioners as well
3) which then became valves as well
4) which then became replacement of head studs
5-6-7) Etc, etc, etc

8 months later, got her back

[tirwin]

If it wasn't for pure unadulterated ignorance of how long many tasks should take (or what "while you're in there" it will lead to next), I would never do them!

[Cory M]

yup

I recently installed a new engine and trans over the holidays, was supposed to be a drop in deal both were 3.0 based engines with CIS. I spent way more time cleaning the engine bay, replacing the oil system, fixing little electrical issues, etc, than I did bolting the drivetrain back in. Then the engine had to come back out again (twice!) because of a worn throw out bearing guide tube that was messing up the clutch operation.

I have a bunch of suspension and brake parts to replace now. I know it will go the same way and I'll be removing and refinishing all of the parts and replacing everything.

[GH85Carrera]

I for sure felt that way looking at my 911 on jack stands with no suspension and the parts were at the powder coater so I did not even have suspension parts to look at.

[KTL]

Totally agree with the other guys' mentions here. Resist the urge to do too many other things "while you're in there." I gutted my racecar and then life got in the way. Now it's still just a rolling shell five years later with a basement full of parts and a daunting task of putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. I think the other cliche' of "my mouth is bigger than my stomach" applies to me because I still have the single guy mentality related to all the work I did on my previous '87 Carrera back in the early 2000s. Here I am today now married 10 yrs with three little kids (9, 7, 5 yrs old) and that does not lend a lot of time for car hobby these days...........

Second example is my '86 Carrera. Took the engine out this past November to deal with valve guides and i'm still in the cleaning-after-disassembly stage. Need to get off my arse and get things pointed in the reassembly direction now that spring is here and the weather is nice for wrenching in the garage pretty much any day, any time when time allows. The point of me mentioning this is that I still find myself thinking of other things to do on this car while it's down for the count. I have to keep telling myself that the only things i'm allowed to do are limited to the engine bay forward to the torsion bar housing. Anything else is off limits until I get the engine back together.

It's just too darn easy to start tearing into all the other things you want to do and then the next thing you know, you've got a massive list of things to do in order to get it back together again. You're better off tackling things a few small projects at a time. That's my approach, even if it costs some time down the road to work around previously tackled projects. Like for instance i've got the transmission from the '86 on the stand (of course because the engine is out) and I took off the tail case and the diff housing to take a look inside. Must absolutely resist the urge to open it up at all costs, because I have some shorter gears waiting for it..........

[antares]

… I think this is it in a nutshell for most diy'ers … unless you are retired with adequate funds and time and have previously planned out, armed yourself and accommodated your working environment properly and have the frame of mind that it is just a hobby just an exercise finished or not … then resist by all means the while your in there mentality … it is very easy to set out to remove parts because it is an adventure and gives you the feeling of accomplishment … but be fore warned …. that is the siren's call and the beaconing to your consumption and possible destruction … the thing about having gotten older for myself is I can now recognize more fully what a project entails and the shear mass of tools & crap one needs in general to make a task go easier and more successfully … less art's n crafts b.s. and more precision end results … Just do one thing at a time including the major stuff … plan ahead on a spread sheet and do a detailed painfully realistic estimate taking into account time, funds and working environment … - uncle dave

[pdtweeks]

yep.....next thing you know, you end up with this;

[Flojo]

time for a sunroof delete ;-)

[brasch]

With over 30 years redoing cars I’ve learned a lot of the same lessons posted here and one big thing... The right tools help... #1 parts washer #2 sandblast cabinet #3 full set of tools (sockets, metric Allen sockets, gear pullers, etc #4 welder with all the right tools jobs take less time when you can tackle them....

The parts washer and sandblast cabinet are the most used tools in my shop to clean up and get back to the car... bead blasting gets everything quickly ready to paint after a trip to the parts washer...

[jamesjedi]

I removed the factory undercoat - never again.

A big part is the expense - it slows everything down.

[Oneredspyder]

I have to say that when I was a lot younger I have had fleeting thoughts of what Have I got into, but not any more, now I just get into it one small piece at a time and get immense satisfaction out of the baby steps and pure perfection. I am retired, so I have to give you that. I bought an Austin Healey 3000 in '79 from a junk yard for no money. Got married, had 3 kids, towed the Healey across 2 states and 3 houses until my youngest was 14. I realized they were basically done with me and my job with them as a father was done. Started working on the Healey, took 14 years to drive it today. Now it is mind boggling. Not totally restored but really drivable and has won 4 trophies. In the mean time found a 86 Carrara that I am now completing the suspension on, total winter project, that morphed into a total brake job and engine bay clean up. Along the way restored a 74 Norton 850 to 100 points and sold it, now restoring a 73 Motto Guzzi basket case.
The Healey stalled, then I created my own "fender a month" club and got it done. It is all about the perfect baby steps. You can do perfect work, and it is really satisfying. Who cares how long it takes.

[Nux]

Thought I would fabricate some custom light-weight leather interior to fit my easygoing, rolling targa project - which now has turned into the full monty backdate, fiberglass everything, glass out, custom polycarbonate windows, complete repaint and engine rebuild with EFI, ITB and Cams upgrade......so how hard could the interior be?

It's a pain! And takes for ever. I've re-done the rear sides and dash 3 times now, because of bad glue (and poor skills apparently).

Never ever doing that again!