When LIFE gets in the way, the car projects are stillborn.

[Kern Dog]

I hate this part of life.
I love having the freedom to wrench on the Chargers, tear up and down the local roads peeling out and shifting gears but all too often, the obligations of life get in the way.
It could be the long hours of the job, family needs, health issues, a lack of money or obligations to other projects.
I've read some here that have cars that are still not roadworthy even after 5 years of ongoing work 30 minutes at a time.
I'm fortunate to not have kids to take up my time and being retired should have resulted in more free time.
Yeah...I do have what WAS free time but now I'm under the gun to complete several repairs on this house so we can put it up for sale.
I miss tinkering with the cars though.....I bought a new electronic distributor for the red car to replace the circa 2000 Mopar Performance unit that produces ignition timing as stable as a tweeker that has been up for three days stripping copper wires for scrap $$$.
I want to get the heater/def working right in Jigsaw before winter comes. I need to do stuff to a few other cars out back but obligations at the house are eating all of my time.
Who else feels the pain of delayed projects?

[Mopar Nut]

I do, it's been a while since I worked on my 69 Charger. I have almost every part needed for the interior, rebuild the engine and install the TKX 5 speed.

Greg how are you feeling?

[Kern Dog]

Improving each day. I am not the type that likes to sit around waiting to heal!
I do take time to rest but I can't be satisfied just sitting on the couch waiting to be 100% again. I'm not that kind of dude...

[Mopar Nut]

Improving each day. I am not the type that likes to sit around waiting to heal!
I do take time to rest but I can't be satisfied just sitting on the couch waiting to be 100% again. I'm not that kind of dude...

Same here, it just kills not to be able to lay on that cardboard mat under my car.

[Kern Dog]

I know that for some, their age and health are an issue.
Lucky for me, that isn't the case generally. I know that we all have a variety of things to take care of....Yard maintenance, house maintenance, family duties and all of that. Being sick or frail would only make all of that so much worse. I hope God takes pity on those and helps them get better so they can really enjoy what they have.

[Nacho-RT74]

10 years with my car on the body shop... sure is about irresponsibility of the guys on charge, but the Venezuelan economy falling down constantly, my final move to Spain still with my car on jackstands makes everything harder.

I had all the parts needed of my car to get a better rebuilt job made and still the situation in Venezuela has been constant excuse of the shop. I know is maybe just 20% truth but never 100%

The COVID situation didn't help, eating the family life savings which could help on take decisions moving the car to another shop. But moving a car in pieces from shop to shop is always a risky situation on loose or damage parts and nobody would take the responsibility of those, always blaming to the other shop or guy

[Kern Dog]

Ten years in a body shop? Holeeee CRAP !

[Back N Black]

I retired 3 years ago and I'm busier than before retirement. My wife is still working so I do everything WRT house  upkeep and outside chores, also take care of the horse and cat. But I would not change a thing. I do have two running and driving muscle cars (Charger and Dart). Winter time in Canada I spend more time working on the cars.

[b5blue]

Making lists for home/car kept me on target. Focus on one aspect and don't let up till finished. Car truck and KZ440 all run fine and home is as good as it's gonna be. 20years of growing my 3 kids to adults solo now that's tricky. My ex just finished repaying back child support this Dec. (32000!) LOL.

[Dino]

I took my car apart summer of 2015 for some quick fixes before starting university May 2016. I quickly realized the car needed more work than I thought so I bit the bullet and went all out. I restarted work mid 2017 but life happened. I got depressed, divorced, moved, drank, smoked pot, and later lost my gf who turned out to be the love of my life. I bought a house a little over 2 years ago, got sober, and started rebuilding my life. I started work on the car again a few months ago and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Life was rough, but the sun is shining again.

[Old Moparz]

I haven't touched my cars in years other than covering them with building materials while fixing the house. It started with finding a water stain on my ceiling that made me tear off the roof & replace it. Took me about 4 weeks to do it with 2 of them in the fall & 2 more in the spring, all on my vacation time because the estimates were insanely expensive.

This opened a larger can of worms because I discovered other things that were wrong with the house including water migrating behind the siding. (some of which was installed upside down) This damaged the siding, the walls, the windows, the doors & more. I did the rear wall first & added an overhang to the basement stairwell. Fortunately this wall wasn't too bad, just hard to get to.

When I moved onto the next wall it was much worse. It faced north, had no overhangs & took a beating from the weather. All the windows had to be replaced & I added another overhang at the front door. Unlike the first wall where I was able to salvage 90% of the cedar siding, this was the opposite with 90% needing to be replaced. There was also the deck to contend with that had to be removed & also replaced.

New footings were needed since there were none to begin with. Of course every hole had large rocks that slowed me down. Instead of a few hours to dig a hole it turned into a full weekend. One hole had a giant, diamond plate sheet of steel in it. How big? I have no idea. I used a grinder to cut a section out to pour the concrete. I removed a 2'x 3' section of it but there was much more still in the hole.

The next wall was smaller. Much smaller, but it had glass atrium doors that were shot & my coal stove that had to be moved so I can work on it. Again the deck had to be removed & replaced. The doors & new window I added between them were dirt cheap so I was happy. I found a building supplier right in Carlisle that had the doors brand new for $210 each. The $850 window was one of 2 I found at a garage sale in NJ for $50 each.

One day I will get back to the cars & I'm hoping it'll be this winter. 

[Kern Dog]

Holeeee Crap, man! That really sucks.
I am not one to play the "Poor poor pitiful me" theme. I know that good and bad luck affect all of us. In fact, I'd say that I often have better luck than average with most matters in life.
I fell off my roof 2 months ago while doing some home repairs. I broke a rib, got a mild concussion and broke my left Scapula. That is the structure that the upper arm socket anchors into.
Since then, I've healed well but I get tired easily.
Having stated that, I've been back out there doing stuff and I have noticed something.
After 36 years in construction, I know that the travels we go through during any given workday are fraught with obstacles, mistakes, corrections, small scrapes and injuries and such.
When our abilities are compromised and our movements are not as fast as before, all of those obstacles really slow us down. Lately, my patience is really short because I'm struggling to do stuff that used to be no big deal. Stuff that was within my strength to lift and move is now much more difficult and frustrating.
I know what it is....The rest and recovery has led to muscle atrophy and the road to rebuild is taking some time. I'm already able to do more than I could a month ago but at times I get this feeling like I aged 20 years and cannot be the fast and agile worker that I have always been.

[Old Moparz]

Holeeee Crap, man! That really sucks.
I am not one to play the "Poor poor pitiful me" theme. I know that good and bad luck affect all of us. In fact, I'd say that I often have better luck than average with most matters in life.
I fell off my roof 2 months ago while doing some home repairs. I broke a rib, got a mild concussion and broke my left Scapula. That is the structure that the upper arm socket anchors into.
Since then, I've healed well but I get tired easily.
Having stated that, I've been back out there doing stuff and I have noticed something.
After 36 years in construction, I know that the travels we go through during any given workday are fraught with obstacles, mistakes, corrections, small scrapes and injuries and such.
When our abilities are compromised and our movements are not as fast as before, all of those obstacles really slow us down. Lately, my patience is really short because I'm struggling to do stuff that used to be no big deal. Stuff that was within my strength to lift and move is now much more difficult and frustrating.
I know what it is....The rest and recovery has led to muscle atrophy and the road to rebuild is taking some time. I'm already able to do more than I could a month ago but at times I get this feeling like I aged 20 years and cannot be the fast and agile worker that I have always been.

That happens with age as well. 

When I built my 2 story garage 25 years ago I could go up the extension ladder with a bundle of architectural shingles over my shoulder. When I got to the top I'd lean forward & drop it onto the plank with the roof brackets. When I redid the roof on my house about 5 years ago, I got 1/3 of the way up the same ladder & realized that I had to break the bundle in half if I wanted to make it to the roof.....LOL 

[Kern Dog]

Yeah, I know that is coming for me some day.
For all of my career, I've been the guy that hustles and moves. I outworked just about everyone. I loved it when a fast co-worker challenged me. I liked the competition. I'm sure the boss did too!
Even today, I push myself to stay moving and to get stuff done.
It feels weird to feel so tired after doing so little. I recharge in short order but don't have the stamina like before the fall. Like I stated, I do feel that I'm improving but it sure isn't overnight!

[Old Moparz]

It's coming sooner than you think....LoL

Friends & family tell me to relax & do something else other than work on the house. If I don't do it now, I know damn well it'll never get finished. I'm 60 & can't visualize myself rebuilding most of this in 10 or 15 years. If I had to pay a contractor I'd be bankrupt & wouldn't be happy with the work that was done anyway. 

We've already noticed a drastic improvement with the ability to keep the inside cooler in the summer & warmer in the winter. The previous owner hired a low bidder to build this place & had crackheads for employees. I should have documented & photographed everything I had to fix since 1989 & wrote a comedy book.

Here's what happens when you install siding upside down, don't seal the corner posts, use house wrap selectively on the walls in small sections, put windows in without drip caps, caulking or nailing flanges.....

[Kern Dog]

Oooof. 

I worked new construction for most of my career but have done some remodeling. I've seen some terrible framing that should have never passed an inspection.

[Old Moparz]

You should see some of the framing in my house. 

The house was only 2 years old when we bought it & it looked fine except for a few minor things that looked easy to repair or change. The more serious issues were well hidden & it wouldn't have mattered if Mike Holmes looked at it because sheetrock, siding & trim covered it all. The typical seller won't let you dismantle their house to inspect the structure. 

The biggest red flag was found after we were in the house several months & discovered a leak. I was going down the basement steps & saw water drops. I looked above & saw a small amount of water dripping & running down the main girder. First thing I thought was a water pipe was leaking but there were none in that area of the house. I eventually traced it to a wall near a fixed triangle window near the peak of the house.

What a pain in the ass it was to get up there to inspect it. It's only a 2 story building, but with a daylight basement that isn't very deep into the ground, a full attic & a steep roof makes it extremely tall. It's built into a hill so one side is like a 4 story structure. I had to rent a 40 foot ladder to get to the peak of the house to find the leak.

Turns out that the triangle window was only a large, double pane piece of glass resting into the framing. No frame, no drip cap, no nailing flange & no caulking. On top of that, there was no exterior sheathing on this section of wall & the siding was upside down. I had to set up a few roof brackets, planks & remove all the siding.

The window is HUGE & roughly 6 feet wide & 6 feet tall. There was no way to carry it down the ladder so I had to secure it to the house while I repaired the wall. Once I did I bent up aluminum on my brake & made a waterproof frame for the glass, reset & caulked it. This lead me to start scrutinizing the rest of the house that was a nightmare.

This photo was after I added the front porch overhang & the balcony near the peak. The balcony was originally going to be a temporary work platform & removed when I finished the siding. I decided that if I cut through my attic wall, install an access door, trim around it & make a nice railing it can be permanent & would allow me to easily get back up there if I have to in the future. It also makes a great look out post to sit with a beer & watch for zombies. 

[Kern Dog]

Waterproofing has really gained attention even out here where it doesn't rain as much. The various types of flashing, adhesive paper and sealants have made things a lot better.
I helped a buddy with his early 1900s era house and was appalled at some of the stupid, low dollar hillbilly repairs that have been done over the years. Wall studs rotten at the bottom with short sister studs nailed alongside only lapping about 6". If this house were to be in an earthquake zone, It would have failed at anything over a 3.0. What a piece of crap.