What do you do when struggling with enthusiasm?

[lo-fi]

Motor vehicles being a thing of passion is a phase that's behind me entirely now. They were good machines for learning a great many engineering skills, but now a vehicle is a tool as far as I'm concerned. There's now sadly no space for joy in driving on the roads either and I've done the racing thing too. 

 

I have to admit that it's working on Land Rovers thats led to me loathing them. The deeper I've delved, them more disillusioned I've become. I recall being in a truly foul mood doing the 88 bulkhead. What kept me going was pure hatred for whichever feckless muppet put it together and the desire to have it done and not be doing it anymore. That's not right in a hobby! 

 

I'll maybe keep and mothball the 88 and possibly the 109 if I can do so without costing a fortune. Twenty years time they'll be worth a good few pennies, I should imagine.

[Happyoldgit]

When I think back to the countless days, nights, weeks, months I spent fettling, fixing and generally messing about with daily driver and hobby Land Rovers from the 70's onwards I realise what a waste of time it was. I would have been far better off getting rid of the worry, the interminable time on the phone ordering bits only to find when they turned up the stores bloke had two glass eyes when it came to part numbers, for ever dealing with the dire build quality, bolts made of boiled pasta and the general physical effort and instead when young keeping my hands scrubbed and callous free and getting laid far more than I did.

Nowadays I would never DIY on a single vehicle that I relied on as daily transport. I just can't be bothered with the hassle - too many late Sunday nights decades ago desperately trying to get a job done on a vehicle I needed the next day.

I've restored loads of stuff, old pre war stuff but I'm fortunately in a position now that if I want a toy I'll buy the best I can and drive it as and when the fancy takes me. My days of buying boxes of bits and dreaming of the day when I have something shiny and drivable at the end of a lot of blood, sweat and tears are long gone ...and that feels good.

[ThreePointFive]

20 hours ago, Happyoldgit said:

When I think back to the countless days, nights, weeks, months I spent fettling, fixing and generally messing about with daily driver and hobby Land Rovers from the 70's onwards I realise what a waste of time it was.

While I know that Xbox and TOWIE weren't around in 1912, I am certain there wasn't much else to do?

I find the idea of sitting in front of a screen at work, coming home to sit in front of another, bigger screen until it's time to read your phone screen in bed just too much, yet so many people do.

At least wrenching on things taught me how stuff works that I've been able to use on other vehicles/around the house and save garage bills etc. I'm sure it's the same for you, even if you look on it differently now!

[Happyoldgit]

33 minutes ago, ThreePointFive said:

While I know that Xbox and TOWIE weren't around in 1912, I am certain there wasn't much else to do?

I find the idea of sitting in front of a screen at work, coming home to sit in front of another, bigger screen until it's time to read your phone screen in bed just too much, yet so many people do.

At least wrenching of things taught me how stuff works that I've been able to use on other vehicles/around the house and save garage bills etc. I'm sure it's the same for you, even if you look on it differently now!

Yep, been there, done it and all that. Don't need to prove I can still do it. That said the synchros on the T-84 in the Jeep are well worn so I had intended tp pull the box and rebuild it over winter. Fate messed that one up so I'll pay someone else to do it instead.

[Daan]

3 hours ago, Happyoldgit said:

When I think back to the countless days, nights, weeks, months I spent fettling, fixing and generally messing about with daily driver and hobby Land Rovers from the 70's onwards I realise what a waste of time it was. I would have been far better off getting rid of the worry, the interminable time on the phone ordering bits only to find when they turned up the stores bloke had two glass eyes when it came to part numbers, for ever dealing with the dire build quality, bolts made of boiled pasta and the general physical effort and instead when young keeping my hands scrubbed and callous free and getting laid far more than I did.

I have to say, I had 30 years on my landy, rebuild it twice, The first time took me 2 years, the second time took me 4 years.

It has stood collecting dust for much longer than it was being used. Add to this the bottomless pit that is competition and you can see that it is now a very very expensive landy that looks like it has been to hell and back.

But I don't regret anything of it, as it gave me insights and experience in engineering that I would never have got in any other way.

This helps me in my job every day, and for this reason alone it was worth every penny and hour I spend on it.

I might rebuild a third time if and when I retire...

[smallfry]

I am so glad its not just me ! I have a one owner Rover P5B Coupe in the garage that I took a spark plug out of in September 2010, and have not touched it since. It is now almost buried in assorted vehicle related stuff. My V8 90 SW has sat on the drive outside since I took the engine out in 2013. I was/am ? going to do an engine conversion, but due to there always being something else to do, have not got round to it. Will I ever do it ? Who knows, but I suspect probably not.

I have got 2 vans and a car, plus SWMBOs Jimny, which I do all necessary (and unnecessary )work on, chiefly because I dont trust any garage to do things properly, as I have been in the Motor trade, and also because I cant afford to pay for it either.

As I am getting older, I am getting less and less inclined, especially when its cold (and too hot) and then there is the failing eyesight, and the fact that I just cant do physically what I used to do.

Time is the main problem though, got a house to build, stables to build, blah blah.

Still, seriously, a guys got to have something to do. Whether you actually do it or not is irrelevant. Can you actually imagine having NOTHING to do ? That would be even worse than lacking enthusiasm. 

A life of wandering around the shops , spa weekends, and watching football ................ NOOOOOOOOOO

[Ozzy50]

This is my 110 , MUD , it originally came into the workshop for a clutch change after it packed in on the way home from work so to keep me mobile  I borrowed my old 200 disco back from a mate who I’d sold it to a year  previous  , ended up buying it back , then nicked the engine out of MUD when the 200 in the disco suffered terminal oil pressure loss (rod out ) , that disco died of terminal rot , bought a 300 auto disco , that went the same way , bought a Renault Clio diesel van , the rat van ,for £125 ( still got it and will never get rid of it )and used  the wife’s Kia Sorento or the tractor for towing duties , all the while promising myself I would get MUD  back on the road , wife got a new car (Ford Kuga , lovely ) so I had the Sorento , I fitted a new timing chain as it had gone noisy hence the new car for her , two weeks after fitting the chain , which is a horrible horrible job , it died on the way home due to the immobiliser ecu packing in , never to run again 😖. Bought a Renault Kangoo Trekka to keep me mobile and vowed to get MUD running , even started a thread on here about it , still using the tractor for towing duties (pita when moving just a few pigs in the livestock trailer ) THEN in March of this year a bolt came loose in the timing case on the tractor and locked the engine up solid ,breaking the end off the camshaft in the process , luckily it was only ticking over at the time 😬, now down to borrowing tow motors when needed as I refuse to use the Kuga ( mucky boots and pig muck covered clothes in her car !no way ), 6 months ago the Kangoo was running out of MOT and needs two front driveshafts and an ABS pump , my mate offers me his low mileage Skoda Octavia 4x4 tdi estate at trade in price , a car I had found for him 18 months previous and always had a soft spot for so bought that , got a tow motor again 🤗. 
All this whilst struggling with depression of varying levels , something I’ve struggled with for most of my life , the last 12 months have been very bad BUT I’m out of the other side of it now thanks to my doctor and some new meds 👍🏻
I have two bad knees from years of working on cars without a hoist , kneeling on concrete without knee pads , my right knee is pretty much shot , my left wrist is wrecked with arthritis, I put it down to nearly 30 years of driving machinery with the steering knob on the wheel (not the knob doing the steering!) 

ive spent (wasted ?) countless days /weeks /months / years racing or helping others racing stockcars , or building and off roading landrovers but I’ve enjoyed it so maybe it wasn’t wasted time and money 

So ......
I realised not that long ago that it’s ten years since the clutch went on MUD , ten flipping years ! 
I recently put MUD up for sale on this very forum at the wife’s behest but my heart was very much not in it and within a few days I’d managed to convince her to let me keep it so today I dug it out of the corner of the workshop, fixed the workshop roof above it to stop it falling in on me and here  we are , I have a plan and a rotten 300 auto disco donor for engine and box , just got the camshaft to replace in the tractor which I’m going to remove tomorrow then order the parts next week and once that’s running I can finally , finally start on MUD , and it’s about chuffing time ! I can feel a thread resurrection coming on .
 

My point is , motivation? I’ve got mine back , if you’ve lost yours then don’t worry , just do what makes you happy 

James 

[reb78]

3 hours ago, smallfry said:

I have a one owner Rover P5B Coupe in the garage that I took a spark plug out of in September 2010, and have not touched it since. It is now almost buried in assorted vehicle related stuff.

One of the best looking cars ever made IMO. They are just lovely from every angle.

[Happyoldgit]

53 minutes ago, reb78 said:

One of the best looking cars ever made IMO. They are just lovely from every angle.

Agreed. In a fit of lust in the late 70s I chopped a Lightweight that I had lavished much money, care and attention on for one. Loved it, except I did the deal in midwinter with several inches of snow on the ground. Snowchains on the rears hardly did much for the loss of face when I found it couldn't manage the tiny incline to park in front of the house lol. 

[Anderzander]

Great tale James @Ozzy50

Glad both you and Muddy are heading towards better futures 😊

[Ozzy50]

2 hours ago, Anderzander said:

Great tale James @Ozzy50

Glad both you and Muddy are heading towards better futures 😊

Thank you 

[geoffbeaumont]

Well, my efforts this year have been limited to building a Lego New Defender with the kids in the last few days (birthday and Christmas present - when asked what they should get Dad for Christmas my daughter said "A Land Rover". Sadly she didn't manage a real one, but definitely got her on the Christmas list...). Still too busy fixing up the house, and the garage will need replacing before I think about saving up for anything to put in it. Maybe 2022...

Personally, I can't see me ever running any hobby vehicle as my daily drive again - I enjoy the spannering at least as much as the driving (in fact, if I had a vehicle that didn't need anything more done to it I'd probably get bored of it), but I really don't miss lying under a Land Rover at 10pm in the rain struggling to get it back together so I could get to work the next day.

[FridgeFreezer]

17 minutes ago, geoffbeaumont said:

 I enjoy the spannering at least as much as the driving (in fact, if I had a vehicle that didn't need anything more done to it I'd probably get bored of it), but I really don't miss lying under a Land Rover at 10pm in the rain struggling to get it back together so I could get to work the next day.

Same here - being able to throw a filthy damp Land Rover in the garage in disgrace on a cold Sunday evening and know you've got a comfy warm ride to work on Monday morning is definitely the way to be - otherwise it really does become a morale-sapping chore.

The 109 got thrown in the garage in disgrace just before 1st lockdown this year and I still haven't sorted it out properly

[Ozzy50]

Fingers crossed I can convince SWMBO to let me keep the Octavia as my daily ,DEFINITELY won’t sell it as it only cost me a grand  and is worth keeping MOT’d for emergencies, an hour in the computer and you can be taxed and insured , she likes driving it and it laughs at icy roads . failing that I’ll happily run round in the rat van or at the worse I’ll daily MUD if i have to . I guess I’ve been lucky in that I’ve usually had a vehicle I could fall back on when the land rovers were inevitably broken , more than once I’ve collected Land Rover parts in the tractor ! A farm I used to work at they always joked that I had the most expensive car in the car park (25 grand worth of tractor !) 

[elbekko]

My main problem seems to always be that it's much easier in my head

Start working on something with a lot of motivation. Then things don't work as I thought, I walk away from it for a while (I think), end up walking away for ages until I realise I started something that really would've been useful now, start on it again, repeat ad infinitum. Usually with a lot of cursing and wanting to set stuff on fire.

Paying other people to do things only goes so far. Doing it yourself sucks, paying someone a lot of money and getting a bad result sucks even more. So I tend to at least give it a go myself, luckily often with the help of good friends. And that seems to be the main motivating factor for me sometimes, having someone there telling me I'm not doing so badly, or picking up where I've almost set fire to my tools/car/house/...

[Daan]

1 common returning problem I see in this thread is people (including the original poster) having more than 1 project. This I reckon is bad for progress, as you end up with loads of cars, with none of them running. 

Not that I listen to my own advice...

[reb78]

Haha^^^ I have 3 'projects' on the go and two daily drivers to maintain. I dont know where to start!

1. A RRC off roader, engine is fitted but need to get the wiring done
2. A 1974 Vauxhall Magnum - full strip down and restoration needed (it does run though!)

3. Chassis, bulkhead and door swap on the 110 - this will be a much bigger job than planned I am sure! This was my daily driver but if it fails the mot in a week or so it is getting fully rebuilt   

4. Disco 2 and Disco 3 to maintain as daily drivers. 

[Bowie69]

OK, I'll list mine to make me really realise what I am up to...

1) Daily driver Audi Coupe Quattro 20V taken off the road about 5 weeks ago, for a gearbox, diff and steering rack swap, already had them, and refurbed ready to go in. Gearbox, diff and rack came out in a day no problem. Then I decided the subframes needed some love, and then I couldn't possibly put the shiny subframes up against the crusty looking struts, so they came off, some went to blasting, others went on a date with angry grinder and a wire cup brush, before a plethora of Bilt Hamber products were sprayed on them. Once some bits arrive, I am ready to put things back together, probably 3 days solid work, so more likely take another month before this '3 week quick swap' will be finished. This will be going for a respray at some point in 2021, and maybe an engine rebuild + power increase. With this all done, it should be pretty much a minter, and I will still daily it. 

2) In the mean time, I have been running around in a 1954 split-screen Morris Minor Traveller, which as it has been out of use, has needed some tinkering along the way, oils and fitlers, plugs, leads, carb tuning, wiper fixes. Did I mention it was pretty bloomin cold and drafty in there? No? Well, it is.... and the rear suspension has begun knocking, been too cold to look at it really.

3) My RRC, needs a load of work to make usable again, will get to it one day.

4) 1971 Morris 1000 Traveller, slowly being built up onto a custom chassis as an LCV, this, believe it or not, is the long termer.

Now I get that down in black and white, I realise it is quite a bit of work(!).

 

 

[Retroanaconda]

I’ve got a 110 that I took apart ten years ago and which has taken me so long to put back together that life has moved on to the extent that I no longer need what I was building it into. The reason for delay in my case is a lack of time, and moving house three times, but whatever the reason for it this is the biggest risk I think with long term projects.

After many years driving pretty much only my 90 I’ve got a modern car as a daily now. There are a few reasons for this, work is one of them and also usage pattern changing (more on road), but mainly it’s because it pains me to see it trashed by the road salt every winter. By putting it into semi-retirement it can live a comfortable life as a second car and give many more years service, though it needs a complete bodywork refurbishment first after nearly 30 years of rot.

I never struggled with maintaining it as my daily driver, okay there have been one or two instances where I’ve been stuck or nearly stuck but overall it’s been incredibly reliable and cheap to run over a large number of miles. One of the main reasons I put off having another car for so long is that sitting out in the weather not being used causes even more problems. This is why the 110 has to go on the back burner - I’ve only space for one car in the garage and frankly the 90 deserves it more!

I’ve effectively repositioned the fleet into daily driver (new 110) and greenlaning/holiday car (90). The old 110 doesn’t have a role yet, but when the time comes to put it back together in a few years time I’ll build it into something that meets my needs then. In the meantime it owes me nothing and the various constituent parts can be stored easily enough. 

[Stellaghost]

And that's just your car projects if any of you are like me ( I pity you ) you will have a backlog of other projects in the shed and let's not forget the DO IT or divorce ones lol regards Stephen

[Bowie69]

Yep, shed.... Car port.... Floors... Garden..... Loft insulation.... Driveway....

[Ozzy50]

I think it’s safe to say we all have a serious problem 🤣

[Ozzy50]

Did I mention that I have two stockcar chassis  that I would dearly love to rebuild/restore ,an F1 and an F2 (big and small!) the bad knee and wrist have most likely put an end to any thoughts of actually racing them ,at least that’s one of my excuses as to why they haven’t been done yet 😉

[Stellaghost]

1 minute ago, Ozzy50 said:

I think it’s safe to say we all have a serious problem 🤣

Totally agree, 100%, nailed it, however it can also mean we are motivated even if that motivation jumps around a fair bit regards Stephen

[smallfry]

 

1 hour ago, reb78 said:

A 1974 Vauxhall Magnum - full strip down and restoration needed (it does run though!)

. 

Is it the coupe, like the Firenza ? Always wanted one. Matt black, big wheels, Chevy V8.

Actually all this confession is quite comforting in a way. I always got the impression that everyone else had a running Land Rover except me !

So its no shame really. Ten years disuse is the norm !

Too many projects certainly dilutes your effort.