A Perfectionists dilemna

(Note, 53 Pontiac Chieftain) Got the staight 8 back from the rebuilder about a week ago and wanted to tidy up the engine bay before dropping in the perty motor. The original plan was to tidy the engine bay, drop the motor and ****** back in and then drive it for a bit before I paint it and "finish" it.

So, as part of the "tidying" of the engine bay, I started cleaning and knocking off the surface rust of the core support. Simple enough. But...oh, the pain of the "but" to the perfectionist I am..., there was still rust and ugliness in the nooks and crannies that would show through new paint.



Well, after six hours of pulling 100 3/8" bolts and fighting spiders (did I mention, I hate, no really really hate spiders),

I

ended

up with the entire front end torn off the car.



So, I guess the point and the question is, do any of you other perfectionists out there have this same issue with your projects/work and how do you cope with it? For me, what was going to be on the road for the first time in two years, now has a month or more added while the engine bay gets the "new" treatment.

 

I used to be the same way. Projects on parts of cars would turn into bigger projects involving more time and money. I'm a perfectionist too. I had to teach myself that I can make time in the future to get back to what I come across while working on the project at hand. You can probably get to most or all of the engine bay area when the engine is back in. It just won't be as easy. Get that engine back in and have fun! Working on these old cars is half the fun for me, so having the engine back in and running nicely and having more projects on that same car to work on in the future is a good place to be. I've come to appreciate the character of rust and dirt too.

Deluxe

 

You gotta find a stopping place.

 

I did the same thing the other night: I got all of the front sheetmetal,inner fenderwells all of that stuff off. Of course its cold here so I have to wait to blast and paint for the next warm day. It ****s

 

The only way to find the stopping place is to step out of your work and look at the big picture.

Option A: clean another 1/4 of rust out and paint it, leading to countless others.
Option B: Tackle the fact that the car doesn't have any exhaust mocked up and won't run without it.

 

you can't ***** about being a perfectionist until you are wet sanding the paint on the topside of the gas tank where nobody will ever see and clocking fastener heads on the ****** pan.

 

I bought a 69' Chevy 1 ton stepside as a tow vehicle. Towed my Nova to the track and used 2 quarts of oil. Got a used 350 and rebuilt it. Painted it nice and purty, then decided the engine compartment needed cleaning. Sanded and painted, then installed motor. Looks so good, needed new radiator to match. Now I needed new hoses and clamps. Wow, engine looked so good it was a shame the truck looked so bad.

Took truck down to bare metal, fixed all the dents and holes, then painted it. Truck looked new, but ****py wheels. Got new wheels and tires, then redid the interior and installed a stereo. DONE............

Truck was stolen a month later...........

 

thanks, it's good to have perspective from others. G***er, I'm in the middle of doing basically the same thing on a 72 Cutl*** also...I just hate it.

On the other side of the perspective, I guess it's gonna have my name on it (all of the cars) and I don't want folks to think corners were cut or less than my best work was performed. My dual personalities are constantly ****ering with one another.

 

Thats how frame offs start, one thing leads to another...

They call it the whileyoura*** disease.

 

I do the exact same thing..

I realized it when my grandad and I were both building '54 chevys. He found his after I had gone through 3 of them and was building the best one. Granted he is retired and has a lot more money then me, but...

I was sitting there, with everything pulled apart and started blasting every single piece. I had all of the front sheetmetal cleaned up an painted with no rust in sight etc. etc.

meanwhile he tears though his, gets it running, paints the engine, send it off to get some cheap P&B work done and long before I even had a prayer of driving mine he was on the road.

His was not perfect, had quite a few dings left unfixed, dash was not fully redone, etc. etc. but he was cruising around in his enjoying it while I was still cleaning crossmembers.

I'm trying hard not to do the same thing with my panel truck.. I just want to drive it, but I have to stop myself sometimes.. I spent an entire day making a sheet metal glovebox

 

Definately,
Go for the complete frame off job

 

I've got two words for ya...pressure washer!

I'd suggest pressure washing the entire engine bay/front end area, followed by a little angle grinding on the surface rust, followed by some powder coating/high-temp. paint (I happen to know that "black"/"flat black" is an industry staple).

This process will pacify both the perfectionist side of you and insure that you'll have no worries from any of the front-end components/engine bay down the road, plus, it'll readily eliminate you're having to deal with those pesky spiders.

 

two words: Mission Creep

 

Could be worse I'm kinda leaning tward chroming everything on my t roadster... i gotta stop eating and start robbing banks or somethin

 

Are those fresh air vents for the p***enger compartment?!

Thanks,
Kurt

 

yes