I Made One Of The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make With A Car Project

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“For sale: 1965 Ford Mustang project car. All parts are here!” read the listing for what I hoped would be the deal of the century. “A whole V8 vintage Mustang for only $4000? With a rebuilt engine? That’s a smoking hot deal!” I thought. I hopped into my 1965 Plymouth Valiant daily-driver, and drove over to the neighboring city of Sterling Heights. I arrived to meet a disheartened Army veteran who had gotten himself into a deep hole with a Mustang he’d dreamed of someday fully restoring. He’d torn the whole car down, and was now in way over his head — parts were stacked everywhere in his garage, and getting the vehicle back together was a daunting task that just wasn’t going to happen, he’d recently realized. The car had to go. This was one of many similar stories that taught me a lesson — a lesson that I’ve foolishly ignored with my Jeep Grand Cherokee Overlanding build.

That lesson is: “Never let repairs stack up.”

I cannot emphasize enough how important this rule is.

It could be argued that I am among the world’s foremost experts on car hoarderdom, having covered many, many car hoarders during my time as a journalist (I broke the Ron Dauzet story above), and having practiced car hoarderdom myself to better understand the minds of my subjects. Yes, that’s definitely why I did it. For science. Yep. Look at the “research” I’m doing in this clip:

I have seen and experienced what it takes to get completely overwhelmed by a car project or nine, so I know that the single most common driver of hoarderdom is allowing issues to stack up. Oftentimes folks will buy up a bunch of parts. They’ll purchase a whole suspension, new steering parts, new wheels and tires, maybe some new seat covers, maybe a new winch bumper, and on and on. They’ll stockpile a bunch of parts, and then they’ll try to install them, only to realize: Holy crap, this is daunting. That’s what the Army vet felt about his Mustang project, and it’s what I’m starting to feel about my Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ overlanding build (I consider the five-speed ZJ to be the best budget overlanding Jeep in the world):

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I received notice last week that I need to move my Jeep from its current location, as it’s taking up prized employee parking lot spots. Unfortunately, the brake pedal isn’t installed, the shifter tower isn’t in place, the steering intermediate shaft isn’t bolted up, there are no driveshafts, and on and on.

I spent a few hours trying to work on the Jeep the other day (I’m pleased to say there were no cats in the cabin — see above), and I just couldn’t decide where to start. There’s just soooo much work to do. And I’ve amassed such a humongous pile of parts. Off the top of my head, here’s what I need to install:

  • New coil springs
  • New shocks
  • New axles with 3.73 gears
  • New control arms
  • A new front track bar
  • A new rear track bar
  • Sway bar links (quick disconnects)
  • A new grille
  • New front and rear bumpers
  • A new header panel
  • Mudflaps
  • New seats
  • New door trim
  • A new exhaust manifold
  • A new water pump
  • A new serpentine belt
  • A new rear hatch
  • A hyper-rare rear spare tire carrier
  • A fuel tank skidplate
  • A transfer case skidplate
  • New headlights
  • A front winch (I need to buy a skidplate)
  • New tires
  • New driveshafts
  • A new radiator
  • A new fan clutch
  • A new brake pedal
  • A used shifter
  • A new center console
  • A bunch of new interior trim
  • New wheel center caps
  • A headliner

This is all a bit overwhelming. Look at all the interior trim here:

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Under that pile of trim is actually an entire rear axle that I snagged from a Michigan junkyard.

Incidentally, here I am with my friend Adam, wrenching that axle out of a Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 in 15-degree weather:

 

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That axle, by the way, underwent an electrolysis derustification process that I’m eventually going to write more about:

 

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That’s not the only rear axle I have, either. I also snagged a Dana 44 out of a purpose-build off-road Jeep Grand Cherokee I found at my favorite junkyard in Michigan:

While at that junkyard, I also grabbed some sway bar disconnects:

At a different junkyard I grabbed some rare factory mudflaps and a silver grille:

I imported some euro-style turn signals from Germany:

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And I bought this gas tank skidplate for $100 off a website called deadjeep.com:

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And of course, there’s that hyper-rare rear spare tire carrier:

 

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It’s all just incredibly daunting, and I should have known better. I’ve seen this play out a million times — people buy up a bunch of parts, and try fixing 100 things all at once. That’s not the way to do it. What I should have done is what I’m going to call The Number One Rule Of Project Car Wrenching:

  1. Get The Car On The Road

That’s it. Get the car running and driving.

 

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That means, after I’d bolted up the transmission from that donor Jeep (see above), I should have figured out how to get this red ZJ running, then I should have installed some driveshafts, checked on the brakes, installed the brake pedal and shifter, bolted up the steering column, and gotten the vehicle working. Sure, it’d have been very difficult for me to resist buying some of the parts I spotted at the junkyard, but the reality is that ZJs are still a dime a dozen; I could have nabbed the parts later.

Once the Jeep was running and driving, I’d have felt so much less stress, and I’d have been able to whittle away at the interior, then installed a lift kit, the thrown on skid plates, and on and on. I should have paced myself, but instead I made a critical mistake that’s making this build absurdly difficult to even begin.

And it’s not just a mental thing, it’s also just physically impractical to have all these parts clogging up the Jeep. That header panel you see sitting on the spare tire covers below — I could have just bought one of those later from a junkyard. Instead, it takes up space and reminds me of the humongous mountain of labor I have ahead of me.

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So learn from my mistakes, fellow wrenchers. Get your car running and driving; resist buying up a bunch of parts until you’ve done that. Because working on a running, driving car feels a lot less hopeless than working on one that’s been sitting for years. Minimize hopeless wrenching — get your car on the road.

101 thoughts on “I Made One Of The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make With A Car Project

  1. Wrong.

    The first rule of this madness is to forswear the blue tarp. Do not start a car project unless you have a building to put it in. This will accomplish two things at a minimum: a) force you to limit yourself to that which you have space for, and b) spare all the passersby the pain of your project’s ugliness.

    Junkyards are behind tall fences for a reason!

  2. That axle, by the way, underwent an electrolysis derustification process that I’m eventually going to write more about:

    Looking forward to seeing your results. I tried that with… a “Homer” bucket, a couple pieces of rebar, some wire, baking soda and salt and a 12V battery charger on some parts much smaller than an axle. Had mixed results… but a lot of fun.

  3. I did this with a CJ2A only to find out the engine block was cracked and would have cost me more than the vehicle was worth to repair it. I ended up with a cheap BMW Z3 that at lease runs and fixed up the vacuum system and suspension and now runs 75% better, but I can still enjoy it in between fixes.

    1. My wife has forbade me from getting a spitfire project car, (again,) so I’ve been thinking about getting a z3 to go with my r1200c and expand my james bond themed collection, and scratch my itch for tiny, pain in the ass convertibles.

      1. Resist the siren call of the cheap spitfire project car! With what ive put into mine i could have been driving a decent miata this entire time

      2. I strongly considered a Z3 or an Alfa Spider, but ended up with a Miata. Now, I just go for long drives with the top down instead of wrenching.

  4. Not having somewhere to consistently work on things will make it harder but you are 100% correct in the rule of just getting it running/driving before anything else. I’ve just gone through that revelation with my Dodge, I had the same lofty goals and had to re-evaluate my approach.

    It has countless small problems, many things I will enjoy fixing, but I will enjoy fixing them WHILE I use the truck, I don’t need it all fixed right this minute. That one window that doesn’t roll down properly? I’ll leave it up for now. The choke wiring that’s shorting out? I’ll just live without a choke for now. I can enjoy fixing those kinds of things much more knowing if I actually need to drive the truck, it’s going to fire up and work for me.

    The phrase I came up with that I’ve been holding myself to is that the truck is to always be ‘useable but improveable’.

  5. I have always been excellent about prioritizing and breaking large projects into small things I can hyper focus on.

    By the way, that electrolysis derusting project is exactly what I want from The Autopian.

      1. It’s tempting. I already have a plan for a science project hidden in the back corner of my shop. I believe it’s called a “still.”

  6. I run into the same problem with lists. They get too long, and then look so daunting. Here’s what you need to do:

    1) break it down into “have to do” vs. “want to do.”
    2) break the “have to do” items down by urgency
    3) leave the “want to do” items to be done at your leisure.

    Obviously getting this thing movable (under it’s own power or towed) is job 1.

  7. To quote the OTHER David (Freiburger) famous for a never ending train of project vehicle, “Don’t get it right. Just get it running.”

    1. See so many project cars just completely disassembled down to the bolts like they’re gonna build up a concours level car. Probably the biggest mistake you can make unless you’re a professional.

    1. Exactly what I was thinking. Surely he could ask Beau nicely if he could tuck it away in the corner of a workshop? Just slowly pick away at it whenever he has a moment, and it’s not causing a nuisance in the car park.

    1. That might be David’s blind spot. I don’t think he has more than an intellectual understanding that project cars are HIDEOUS and nobody ever wants to see them. Visually they’re like homeless encampments under an overpass. People recoil at their sight. Rule 0 should be Get that pile out of everybody’s sight. Then work on it.

  8. Also: Have SPACE to work on it. Idk how the heck you’d work on something jammed full of parts, you need a single car garage/storage unit to get everything out of it, and then be able to wrench on it. A few months ago I tried to insulate and finish the interior of my off grid shed in the mountains, but it was winter, and the shed was about half full of crap. I swear it made the job 5x slower/more annoying, I was constantly tripping and moving things around like a 3d game of tetris to keep working on the different walls. Super obnoxious.

    You’ll get it, but I suggest renting a storage unit, even a small motorcycle sized one, and stashing all the parts in it. THEN working on the jeep, get it running, and hit up that storage unit like a “free/already paid for parts” shop.

  9. Making projects moveable under their own power is critical. Beyond the usual reasons (moveable driveway ornaments that can move under their own power help keep neighbors/zoning inspectors slightly happier), it’s also a lot less stressful than having the parts collection of Damocles hanging over your head on the regular. Create the triage list to get it going, then get it knocked out; checking stuff off the list is pretty satisfying and keeps your momentum going.

  10. Working on a 1962 Corvair for a friend. Ran when I started working on it. Pulled all the leaking pushrod tubes, replaced seals and set the valves. Installed all belly pans. Converting to Pertronix to eliminate the breaker points. Now the damn thing will not start. I want to repaint the “turkey roaster” and tidy up the engine compartment. but want it running first.

  11. This all sage advice.

    If I may add to it slightly… Making the list of tasks to perform is critical, and you’ve achieved that. It can be helpful to put those items into groups:

    • Tasks that can be done together, e.g. the water pump and the serpentine belt
    • Major tasks – e.g. “get it running” – with subtasks: check compression, check spark, etc.
    • Tasks that have dependencies, i.e. task sets where A must be performed before B
    • Standalone tasks that can be done individually, like the headlights

    Having a pile of tasks can be quite daunting, but doing work and then needing to undo some of that work to do some other work is frustrating AF.

    On the flip side, having small standalone jobs will allow you to cross things off the list and get that feeling of success. 🙂

    tl;dr – clear and detailed project plans are really handy

    1. I like to use Google sheets to do exactly this! Plan it all out in sheets, then the list is available wherever you are via smartphone app… Might just be my engineer showing, but at least I’ve never made a Gantt chart for a personal project.

      1. He should just follow the Dirk Pitt example and buy an abandoned aircraft hanger. Plenty of room to stash all his and Mercedes fleet. Then build an apartment along the back.

            1. Yup. Back before the admins of /r/cars banned me for posting links to my 911 build, which were highly upvoted by the community. They accused me of spamming because like half my submissions were youtube links….. but like…. most of the submissions were NOT my videos, they were other videos on youtube. Then they claimed I needed a certain ratio of my own content to others, and if I just downloaded and installed Reddit Enhancement Suite Plugin, I could monitor the percentage, and know if I was breaking the rules. Except you can’t. I worked with the admins and showed them what I was seeing. There is no way to abide by their rules because all it does it break it down to text vs youtube link submissions, and again, most of the links weren’t my videos. Then they banned me. lol wtf.

          1. LOOOVE the Dirt Pitt books. So many times I have read one and chuckled out the phrase “Cussler, you’re so full of shit….” Grand fun.

            And the hangar sounds cool, but…actually, I can’t think of.may downsides except utilities. WatchJRGo was headed in that direction until the cost of utilities et al got to him.

        1. He’d build an apartment out of materials from home depot dumpsters, mismatched extras from habitat for humanity, and paint from the returns rack at Sherwin Williams.

    1. DT should look at moving to somewhere where he could rent a house with a garage, maybe somewhere that has good car infrastructure…hmmm…Detroit would be perfect!

  12. David I think you can breathe 1% easier on your to-do list above, since you listed installing a new grille twice in the list, you can already cross something off!

  13. This is wisdom of experience. Especially for newer folks to the car hobby. Its amazing the difference that having a running project makes in maintaining motivation for a project. I have a friend who simply refuses to believe this, and so nothing ever happens on his projects because of intimidation. The ideal of perfection stands always in his way of “screw that, mine runs. I’ll rebuild XXX later.”

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