Jul 28, 2011 by Ben
I finally started working on my project car again the other day. I get caught up in work or home projects and haven’t been working on the car much lately.
I’m working on building a 1959 Austin Healey Bugeye Sprite, but with A LOT of custom modifications. Pretty much everything will be custom made on this one.
And that freaks me out.
But its OK. Actually its good. I think everyone needs to have at least one big scary project going on at any given time. We need to stretch ourselves beyond our limits. No one should live inside their comfort zone.
This project keeps me on my toes and learning as I go because on many aspects of it, I really don’t know exactly what I’m doing.
My previous project car. So much fun to drive
I can work on cars, and fix most things, and I’ve even built a car before, but that was more of a restoration and not a complete custom build like this one.
yes this engines is WAYYYY too big for this car. but thats the point.
This one I’m going a little crazy and installing an engine that should have no place in a car like this. Because I’m doing that I am then going to have to completely design and fabricate a new front end and rear end suspension system. And I don’t even want to think about the electrical wiring on this thing yet.
And that’s where I lose my motivation. Thinking about all of the things I “don’t know” or all of the things that lay before me in the project.
But then when I stop, and just work on the next thing that needs to be done, it all goes away.
I move forward. I make progress. I get things done.
And then I can look back and see that I’ve already rebuilt and fitted this engine that would not, should not fit inside this car.
I’ve modified it from a transfers to rear wheel drive engine by fitting a different transmission on there.
I created my own motor mounts to make this fit. etc
Big scary projects are big, and scary. Its easy to get bogged down in all of the details and thousands of things you need to do. Sometimes its hard to know what to do next. For me its important to try to break it down into areas or steps and just try to keep moving forward. Forward momentum helps make it seem not so scary. Seeing progress helps. Also looking back at all the work you’ve done is also very helpful. Another trick that helps is getting a friend to come over and work with you. Getting that extra energy and momentum from a friend can help keep you going when you get stuck or just lose motivation to keep going.
I think everyone needs a big scary project in their lives.
What is your big scary project? Let me know in the comments below.
Ben…
P.S. for my 1AW for weeks 28 and 29, since I didn’t post last week, are some misc car parts from this project. When I took on this project I actually bought two cars. One was the shell of the Austin Healey, the other was a Ford Taurus from which I got the engine and everything else that came with it. I’ve parted out the Taurus, but kept some parts I thought I’d use. I’ve since been slowly getting rid of those parts I haven’t needed them. Saving some space in my garage and making some cash on craigslist at the same time.
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