...I don't know if I should get mad, or celebrate the fact that I'm only half-way through finishing my car.

I have spent $8,311.29 on my car since August 2005. $5,937.49 of it since July 2008.
I have calculated a savings of almost $3,200 on cautious purchases, and my list of things to purchase is still approx $2,600 away.

As I look around the garage, I see all kinds of boxes, "...little boxes made of ticky-tacky all in a row. There's a green one, and a blue one." hiding all kinds of goodies for my build. I have found that I have purchased things more than once, because I forgot I purchased them earlier (a year or two earlier).

It was slow going the first year, with cleaning all the crap from underneath the car, replacing the rear section of the trunk, or boot for you English guys, then redoing each sub-system assembly, headlights, brakes, steering components, rear suspension (this year, thanks to Eric), front suspension, seat rails, engine bay, preping the body for sway bars, seam welding, replacing a few sections of hell hole and converting to a 911 cooling system, (that was two years ago). I've been wiping down the transaxle housing with 3 and 1 oil, and working on the wiring harness, when I don't want to get dirtly.
My wife is getting tired of me living in the garage every evening, and on the weekends, either doing this on my laptop, or working the small stuff on the bench when I'm not in the mood to wrestle with the big stuff.

I recently made an Excel file of fasteners that I need and so far, (it's a living document) growing beyond $283.00. WTF! ...for fasteners...oh I forgot, Eric is shipping me the 70mm lugs for my front hubs with the new R4-Ss....yeah!...after I pay for them...

My most recent purchase was a stock front valance for flares. It hasn't arrived yet.
Oh, yeah, just purchased clear tubing for the fuel overflow, only $2.19 fits perfect!

Next on my list is a Patrick Motorsport set of side rocker covers for flares.

Now I am preparing to complete the welding and soon I will be sanding my fingers to the bone. I have already purchased the filters, plastic sheeting and 1 x 1s for the paint box. Even the staples for the staple gun!

I'm waiting for more Metal Ready. I just had my shield gas (Argon/CO2) regulator rebuilt, and put a new sticker of a bikini-clad hotty wrapped in the red, white and blue on my shield gas tank and I'm ready to go! I went to finish the welding portion of my tasks and the regulator messed up. My fault, I think...

I'm trying to finish sometime in June this year. (So far, I'm about a year and a half off my original schedule). To shorten the time frame, I've moved a lot of stuff from the "finish it now" list to "replace that later" list...before I run out of $$$ and energy.

I will add pictures later, once there's progress with the welding...I've got some grinding to do to remove the primer and seam sealer I put on the car last year...one step forward, two sets back...

oh yeah, my daughter was laughing at me when I purchased a watch repair hammer and drifts...to remove the little but unsightly dents in the aluminum trim...and a new torque wrench the size of a mammoth trunk. Girls, they don't get the tool thing.

I'm rambling again, I must be tired...Dave

Let me be the first to say...

LOL, sounds like you're just coming up for air. The way I see it, these are some factors working against you (in your particular situation):
1. You're doing it on your spare time - takes time away from loved ones.
2. You're doing it for yourself - there are no short cuts.
3. You're doing it on-and-off - you don't know what you've already got.
4. You've only been at it a short amount of time - you're intense about it.
5. You keep freekin' close track of your spendings WTF it's a love, not a buss.
6. You've set your golds very high - you're a dreamer - possibly.
7. Have you been into other "expensive" hobbies - there are many of them.

Here's my take on my '73 914: I've owned mine since 1996, drove it with a 1.7 I think, put a Chevy 350SB in it with high compression, developing mucho heat, but I was to tight to spend the $300.00 on the right starter etc. etc. Parked it, got into Hang gliding, then radio control planes, then large scale (120" - 150" wingspan) planes with 150cc to 300cc two and four cylinder engines, swinging 32" - 36" props. Now I'm back getting exited about my 914, bought some AIR GT flares, have just mounted them and realized how much bondo (I like to call it history) my 914 has, so it has lowered my expectations of the final result. My car will never be a "10" like the beauties you see on this site, maybe a "7" or so, but I'm not bovvered. I have setled to make it a fun street car for now, with a 283 Chevy, stock tranny, flat black primer/paint, 8/10x15 Ronald Racing Wheels, 911SC brakes, 180 degree cross over header, just get it out for the spring/summer/fall here, then maybe up the HP and tranny.

I've owned this car for so long it's now free to me. I've been (and still is) in a hobby where one could easily spend $3,000.00 on just an airframe, then add $2,000.00 for engine and $2,000.00 or above for electronics, and one often would have 2, 3, 4 or 5 of these, and they could be lost on any given weekend. My transmitter retails for $2,200.00, I've got two four cylinder engines retailing for EU3,000.00 each.

Either you love your sport/hobby/toy/child and don't care/count what you spend on it, just as long as the important bills are payed and the wife "kept at bay he he" or you count every penny, maybe hope to make money on it, and the fun is lost and it feels more like another job.

Sorry for the ranting, but you are just having a bad moment. Forget about your spendings (if you love your car) and just move on with it.

Let's see now;

1. You spend all your spare time on your 914
2. All your money is sitting around your garage in car parts boxes
3. You're waiting for additional parts in order to move forward with your build
4. You have no friends
5. You now officially have no life
6. You're beginning to question your own sanity

So what's the problem?

Didn't anybody tell you when you joined this board that owning and restoring a 914 was a sickness? So now your half way into this? It sounds about right.

Keep posting here. Using this board to vent will help to keep most of your marbles intact. And remember, when you do get to drive it, you will be so self-satisfied that all you'll want to do is to tell people about the trials and tribulations of your work.

Which will bring back to: You have no friends

BTDT



Just wait till you get to Rubber

I suggest you make an excel spreadsheet of the little projects you CAN do with all the parts you have on hand.
Start picking away at those projects to get the pile on the floor integrated into the car...

Rich

Dave Dave Dave...the first rule of project cars, and one NEVER to be violated is "NEVER add up your receipts!". See, that's why you're going nuts. The rest of us simply through them in an old parts box (or in the garbage) and go back to our "happy place" (the state of denial).

And that ludicrous dream of being finished in June??? Hah! these things are never finished. I, myself am convinced that I'm well under budget and ahead of schedule - probably gonna make a bunch of money when I sell it. Pop me another one of those beers, will ya?

Anyway, if it's any comfort to you, you're among a select group of idiots that are struggling with the same issues and don't know enough to get out. Welcome to our "happy place". Good luck and hang in there.

Tom

Tom;

Please share the name(s) of the medication you are currently using? I obviously need some of these, STAT!

Can't remember the name but it's an over the counter product and comes in 12 ounce cans. Use as needed.

Sounds like your restoration is proceeding rather smoothly to me. . . This is what I tell my clients when I get asked the question "how much do you think this restoration will cost?" Estimate your best case scenario, then DOUBLE it. That will get you in the general ballpark 4 out of 5 times. I usually follow that up with the fact that the ONLY folks who consistently make money restoring a car to sell are the guys on the Discovery Channel and even those guys I wonder about. . . Unless you have a rare or otherwise a historically significant car, you will almost always lose $$$ or at best, break even on your parts cost.

If you go about a restoration because you love the car and plan to keep it in the end, the cost really won't matter. But like others have said, DO NOT ADD UP THE RECEIPTS!!!

...well of course, I started with a budget in mind, developed the base structure of preparation, assembly and cost estimation and wrote it all down on paper; itemized and categorized everything before I started.
I. Body; a. disassembly; b. restoration and replacement; c. preparation and paint; II. Electrical; III. Suspension; IV. Engine; V. Interior; VI. Services / purchases...
you see, because I come from a world of engineer/designer-program manager, I need to know these things....like costs...

Anyway I equated strict configuration to....ooohhhh, I want that, no...that, oohh GOD, I've got to have that !!!!! ...put it back, I can get it later...

Seeing the money helps slam me to the ground and think...get it operational, upgrade later...so....

I am trying to get the body prep'd for primer and paint so I can start assembly, which means it's off the jack stands and standing on its' own four feet, as it were.
Engine and electrical can be last...(very little to do there).

If there is anything I've learned from being part of this community, it's never over...
ooohhh yeah, just recently someone was recovering their steering wheel, who was that and what is the contact.. I want it !!!!
Dave

Just read this out loud....


"Hi, My name is Dave, and I have Dirk Wright's Disease"

Chorus from 914World - "Hi Dave".



"I don't care how much it costs to restore my 914, and I don't care how long it takes."


"I believe the restoration of a 914 is a ongoing journey, not a destination. And the journey is fun!"


"I will NOT keep receipts, spreadsheets or any other form of accounting of the money I spend on my 914. After all, a 914 is not a car, it is an obsession."


"I AM going to drive my 914 someday."

"I am comforted in the knowledge that there is a whole (914)World of people out there who feel exactly the way I do, and they do NOT think I am crazy."