Projects I Wish I'd Finished

[MikeInOr]

With the decades of experience, I could easily be a professional project starter

Cool! How much does that job pay?

 

[Boswell]

Cool! How much does that job pay?

I'm sure I have a business plan I was working on around here somewhere ...

 

[C-Bag]

I had 66’ VW Sundial camper and i had the best independent painter in Merced do the bodywork and paint. It was metalflake root beer brown on the bottom and Mercedes silver on the top. The engine was out of a‘73 super beetle that only had 500mi factory miles on it and I put a set of 40mm Kadron’s on it with aux oil cooler through a Porshe oil thermostat and all aircraft oil lines, hi volume oil pump. new chrome Porshe style wheels and Michelin tires. New trans and rebuilt the reduction housings along with all new rubber throughout. But I was transferring to college and didn’t have time to put all together so sold it to a friend of my brothers for basically what I had into it. 15yrs ago was in our old neighborhood and saw it. He was still driving it.

 

[Brento]

This going to work 5 out of every 7 days really puts a kink in my plans.....

-brino

Totally the truth. Also makes it hard to get off the couch right after you get home from a long hot taxing day. I know i have that trouble lately

 

[mmcmdl]

I miss my Vette and Chevelle SSs . Maraige , kids and mortgages took over . The 03 6 liter diesel has been draining the bank account lately . I'm sorting things out these days and will figure all this out .

 

[Superburban]

Started this suburban over 20 years ago (Damm, how time flies). Had most of the metal work done, working on the interior when my father in law passed away, and I lost a place to work on it. Had it in storage for a few years, when some kids broke all the windows out, and messed up a bunch of the body panels. Then Pa changed their laws on getting rebuilt vehicles inspected, so I ended up taking it to the scrap yard. If I had known I would be moving to Co in a few years, I would have found a way to keep it.

Thats where I got my user name.

 

[graham-xrf]

I started out messing with a South Bend 9, then another before the first got finished. To be able to do the jobs, I needed a welder - and a mill drill. So now with other domestic house-related issues pressing, and along the way getting gifted a granite surface on a stand, I no longer had the space for anything, and these projects got shelved, along with the chemistry and electronics stuff. Life became all about woodwork and building construction projects and hiding out from COVID.

So in the end, in what might be a relatively extreme example of project mission creep, I set about making some space.. (as much as the laws allowed)..





The interior has now been painted out.
OMG - What have I done??
Link Part 1
Link Part 2
So now, I am backed up in a series of sub-projects.
"You gotta fit the vertical blinds"
"The electrics need connecting up".
" The outside render has to go on next week, and then there's the flagstones".
" What about all that LED lighting"??
Etc. etc.

 

[C-Bag]

I will finish them, I just need more time!
This going to work 5 out of every 7 days really puts a kink in my plans.....

When I was punching a time clock it was never about starting a project, it was finishing. And the longer it took the lower it usually sunk on the project list and that meant less and less energy for it. I’ve always suffered project overwhelm. And often the only thing that got me started when I was young was not understanding how big the project was.

Now I have a much better idea what I’m getting into and can work through it without being overwhelmed. Having my day job here at home and moving to projects when there’s slack is also a bonus. It also makes me ok with doing things in stages. For over 20yrs I had to work out of my in laws shop and that was a pain as it was neither convenient or as close as my garage.

 

[Tmate]

About 25 years ago I started to build a 3/4" to the foot model Heisler geared locomotive. I bought a book by Kozo Hiraoka, a Japanese engineer who builds these things in a kitchen-sized shop in Tokyo. His stuff is amazing, as his patience must be. I got as far as the crankshaft and called it quits.

 

[Janderso]

A buddy and I thought we would earn some extra money and rebuild a VW bug engine.
This was in 1977. I was 20 working in the parts dept. and my buddy was a mechanic at the Ford dealership.
Neither one of us knew anything about a VW. Couldn't be too hard.
We dropped the motor, piece of cake. Then we started taking off all the sheet metal shrouds.
Somewhere along the line we put the engine on a pallet and took it over to a local engine rebuilder.
Never again.
The first car I drove was a VW bug. In the 60's they were everywhere. I think I was 14. I got in, started the motor and off I went.