One thing you may have noticed about the Hooniverse is that your humble servants bringing your daily fill (some days more filling than others) of automotive hoonery don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk. We are ALL dyed in the wool car nuts who take as much pleasure in wrenching as we do in driving. Well, everybody except Jeff, he’s better behind the wheel than under the hood.
Alas, I digress. This week we’ve offered you an amazing compendium of our project cars, bikes, and computer algorithms approximating real world automotive dreams. The thing of it is, while we vacillate between working on the cars and the site, we sometimes forget that we’re just like many of you. Sorry about that.
What we’d like to do today, to close out our project car week, is to find out about your projects and where you are on the road to their ultimate goal. Do you have a project car or bike? If so, let us know in the comments below and maybe we can do another week just focused on rider rides.
Image: YouTube
Hooniverse Asks: Do YOU Have a Project Car That You Would Like Us to Feature?
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I have cars that started as someone else’s projects, but since I got them I’ve been doing mostly reliability and maintenance fixes. Does that count?
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I murdered a project car this year.
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Sometimes it’s best to shoot Old Lucky in the head.
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I have many projects, but sadly none of them are in a state worthy of a write-up. I have some repairs (paint, rear diff, exhaust) and upgrades (bushings) planned for the GTO, but I don’t really consider that a project. I have some reassembly to do on the Husqvarna, but again, not a “project”. The CB750 has been sitting for a while and needs an oil tank, solid-state ignition swap and carbs rebuilt. That one is a project and has been for over a decade. The plans for the Checker might be changing. It was going to become the “Checkguar” with a Jag v12 engine and suspension swap. The potential new plan involves shortening a GMT400 frame, since I have a running Silverado that isn’t worth enough to motivate me to sell it. I also have the LeMons XJ-S in desperate need of some repairs before the signup deadline for the Gingerman race in October.
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To some extent all of my cars are projects. With luck, running projects. Right now I’m four for six – enough to throw me into code red since I now have to provide for four drivers. The one that hurts is the girl’s Cabrio. Due for a safety inspection, one strut tower has succumbed to rust. I will be welding in a patch taken from a donor. At the same time giving it new front springs, struts and convertible top. I doubt I’ll have time before she leaves for college in a couple of weeks so I’m in the market for another beater. That will no doubt become project car #7.
The other casualty at the moment is the Alfa Spider. For the second time in a few years it has roached the #1 exhaust valve. I haven’t removed the head, there may be more damage. The Alfa’s fussy nature and seasonal usability mean that repairs always go to the back of the line. Could make for an interesting post, especially if it ends up being an in situ race rebuild with pistons and sleeves being replaced while the engine remains in the car.
Don’t know when I’m getting to any of this. Frankly, I’m tired. In the last few months I’ve redone the front end, brakes and shocks on the pickup, t-belt, exhaust and turbo plumbing on the Subaru and the transmission on the ’54 Ford that need has pressed into daily service as my commuter.-
You need to dump that fragile Twin Cam and throw a Mitsubishi Astron 2.6 EFI in there.
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Depending how things go, I may have a functional VW 2.slow that needs a home.
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ahem
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I wonder if the VW’s automatic transaxle could be made to fit.
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Come to the conclusion after 10 months that the Passat wagon isn’t going to live again.
I’ve come across a few other VWs (mk1 Jetta) that would be better projects but I refuse to pull another car home until I rid myself of the Passat. -
@Salgoud has been good with updates on his 3 series and there’s also a Saab in the twilight zone between life and death I like to read about…maybe that could be put into digestible content?
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Thanks for the shout out.
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I have a 1969 AMC Javelin on which I’m doing a full, down to the shell, restoration. While the weather is warm I have been rebuilding and refinishing all of the various parts and components – power steering pump and box, steering column, pedals, and on and on. Once fall hits I will get back to welding in sheet metal patches, cutting out and replacing one of the quarter panels, and whatnot. Then when the car is in the body shop for paint work and finish bodywork, I’ll be rebuilding the rear end and motor, as well as sourcing a rebuilt 4-speed. I work on it about 2-4 hours most nights after the kids go to bed, and a bit on weekends, but all that adds up to decent progress month after month.
Note: This project started as a running, but rusty, car. I pulled it into my garage to swap the heater core and here I am 2 years later. -
I think all of my cars, except the wife’s Prius, are project cars. Most happen to be daily drivers too.
The oldest’s Mazda3 needs plugs, a thermostat, an exhaust hanger and likely an O2 sensor.
The middle daughter’s Escort has a broken strut mount and clogged cowl drains.
The 318ti has an inoperative radiator fan(only a problem in stopped traffic), crumbling door cards, a droopy headliner and a broken stabilizer frame mount.
The Tbird, well, needs a lot.
The sale of the old house, however, has just jumped to the front of the project line. -
My Rebel 250 is approaching project bike status – I basically haven’t ridden it all this season (and only a couple times last year). I think it’s running hot, one of the turn signals isn’t working, it could use a cleaning, bits are rusty. Basically, it’s a cheap old neglected bike.
It’s not worthy of featuring, and frankly, I’ll probably just eventually suck it up and take it into a shop when I’m okay with dropping a few hundred bucks. -
I’d be interested in the epic struggles of other novices. The impressive/bragging descriptions of veteran wrenchers are entertaining at best without edgy details.
For every bigger task I have to buy new tools, and consult the interweb to clear contradictions and errors in available material and my car. I don’t have proper space, and welding is something I don’t intend to learn. Am I alone?-
I have found that it can be a financial savings to simply work at the job I am good at, and outsource a lot of the working-on-the-car to the mechanic and let him do what he is good at. It also means my car is in driveable condition, instead of a partially disassembled hulk in the garage.
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