Time

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EightyFive
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Time

Post by EightyFive »

Hi,

How do you guys deal with having barely any free time to work on your capri? Am I the only one demotivated by how little time I get to work on mine? Especially coming into winter.

I work 5 days a week 9-5, and if I do any sort of socialising on the weekend then that’s another week written off. Have some big jobs coming up: welding, axle needs to come off. Feels like I have no time to do it! It’s so frustrating. I also need to work on it outside so I am light and weather dependent!

I’m very amateur with a lot of things and it’s all a learning process still. Meaning a 1hr job will take me 3 etc. Just feel like things are moving at a snails pace atm. Especially when you are stuck on something.

Anyway just a little vent. All of you with large, lit garages I hope realise how lucky you all are!
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Jasonmarie
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Re: Time

Post by Jasonmarie »

There’s so much to do …..
I find doing a list with small jobs mixed with big jobs then if feels your getting somewhere …. :beer:
Ford Capri 2.0 Laser 1987 Mercury Grey ....... :beer:
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pbar
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Re: Time

Post by pbar »

Jason is spot on, you have to keep making progress with the little jobs, it gives for a good mindset. To sit there at night with your last cup of Horlicks before bed knowing that you have finally cleaned those wheels or topped up that coolant, will give that all important satisfying and fulfilled feeling. It ticks something off that list in your mind. Otherwise they will always be on your mind, much like the axle is I expect, I must get the axle done, I must get the axle done, is what you'll be thinking, meanwhile yet another week goes by to add to the other weeks. Best way to tackle the bigger jobs then, is to break them down into stages. You can have a hundred stages it doesn't matter, as long as you are doing something then it is progress and the feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment will remain, you will remain motivated, very important for frame of mind I think. So, one night after work, even if you can only grab a quick twenty minutes or so, do something, even if it's taking off a couple of bolts. Then next time take another one off. Then do a brake line, and so on, just keep going whenever you can. It may take three months or more to do the axle but who cares, as long as you do it that's all that counts. Three months is no time at all anyway really, just look at how quickly the years fly by.

Time is difficult with working yes, and even when you get home at night you may still be thinking about work or preparing for it the next day. And at weekends you have to cram everything in before that all too soon Monday morning appears again. But if you can do the above to keep at it you will win.

You can't do much about the weather but there are plenty of dry days/nights to get out there. You can do something about the light, lots of options, but you could just buy a cheap LED 10W floodlight from Aldi or Screwfix and wire a mains plug on it. One or two of these on the ground directed at your workspace will give all the light you need, just as good as working on a bright summers day.

Always hard to be motivated but just remember you are choosing to do this, you want to, as you like it and it's your hobby. Good luck! And stay happy :)
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Peter-S
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Re: Time

Post by Peter-S »

Time is a weird thing. I restored a complete car 10 years ago. It took nearly 3 years but when I look back I wonder how I did it. But like others have said its just steps at a time. Some will be small but even something like polishing a headlight relay gave me satisfaction of a bit more done. Its obviously more difficult if you are using the car but if you can plan a bigger job for when the sun does shine at the weekend and do the less important stuff when time is at a premium you will get there.
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: Time

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

As the others have said, it seems there's never enough time to do the jobs that need to be done. When I've got time available I never seem to have the motivation !
Still, I'm luckier than most as I generally work Monday to Thursday so I usually have a long weekend available.

Keep up the good work, keep plugging away and you'll get all those jobs done.

Andrew.
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D366Y
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Re: Time

Post by D366Y »

I can definitely relate - since I bought the 3.0 in 2019 I've barely touched it and it needs a full resto basically.

I stripped the interior as it was quick and easy, dropped the steering rack and front suspension all by the summer of 19 and it's been sat on bricks ever since and I haven't touched it.

Like you said, working 9-5 makes it difficult to get out after a long day to do it, and any socialising writes off more time, but I have found that breaking things down into smaller, more manageable jobs makes it much less daunting.
When I stripped the 3.0 it was quick and easy, but then when covid came I was still working (even longer hours) but took each suspension strut and said to myself - today I will quit when I get all the parts separated for paint - if I do it quickly and achieve anything above and beyond the target that's a bonus.

I know with the whole front end of mine that will need cutting off and sorting, I am planning to break down each bit separately as well - one day will be a cutting/grinding day, the next will be a 'lets fix this or hole' day and so on.
I think it's easy to become disillusioned with it all I'd you go out and say - today I will strip the engine, refurbish every component and rebuild it - if you don't have the time/skill to do it in that timescale. If you set yourself a realistic timescale for each job and know before you go out there when you leave it for the day I think it's much better for you in terms of morale.

I had to change the exhaust on the GL the other day as it had rusted apart, even though it was pissing down with rain as I needed the mot sorting. I went out and said, today I will only do the last two sections, and I'll fit the middle pipe tomorrow - I still felt like I'd achieved something because I hadn't set an unrealistic timescale to do it in, as opposed to - I will paint the exhaust, give it three coats,and fit it and sort any issues all in the next two hours, all without any jack stands and in the pouring rain :lol:
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Re: Time

Post by mgentry90 »

I used to spend more time worrying about not having enough time to do a job than it would take accumulated to do the actual job. Even if you get 15mins at a time on the car, it will be done long before you get "the time" to do it. Trust me, I wasted many months worrying about not having enough time and not doing any jobs..
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stubacca
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Re: Time

Post by stubacca »

Advice has been given a couple of times, break to down in to small chunks. In my case I would literally break it down into 100s of tiny tasks.

I used Microsoft ToDo app to list them all, then allocated Monday night as the one night to get out and get at least one job done. Any time on a weekend was just bonus time.

It always gave satisfaction hearing the ping (or several pings) when you complete a item(s) in the app.

Truth is, in most cases I might have completed 5 but would have added a further 10 to the list at the end of a Monday night, keeping the backlog topped up, but you see the progress and I was happy with this approach.

My car is heading for paint in January and I've nothing left on my to-do list....taken 15 years to get to this point :tongue:

Keep at it and good luck, main thing is to enjoy it
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Noel
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Re: Time

Post by Noel »

Winter is a problem time for car work unless you have a big enough garage to work in - which I don't.
I have this Autumn erected a car port in front of the garage so in theory I can leave the car out during jobs, up on stands etc, and it won't get rained on, and neither will I if it rains mid-job.
As I say, its a theory. I think if you have a place where you can leave the car mid job so you can dip in and out of the work you will be able to find more time, even if its just little snatches here and there.
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