RANT!!! Motherf****ing Malibu

[patmckinneyracing]

I've hit a brick wall with the malibu right now. I'm getting to the point where I'm tired of f***ing with it. I even told my buddy, itsnotanova, about just parting the car out and sending the rest to the crusher.

I pulled both quarter glasses on the bu, and there is the typical cancer rust in the corner of the glass where the roof meets the middle body line on the quarter panel. Both sides have it in the same spots and I have no choice but to use fiberglass to fix the wholes, of course after I wire wheel the spots, spray acid, and prime the areas. It's just driving me nuts how its one step forward and a hundred back. Its a complete pain in the a** just to swap out the window felts for god sake.

I already spent 850$ to get the 700r4 completely overhauled that is supposed to be going in, but that's not gonna happen till the summer cause my old man keeps telling me "Wait till the garage is done before you pull the drivetrain".

After the whole "driveshaft snap" and it screwing up my floors, totalling the th350 trans, and the motor starting to wear out, I'm ready to smash the windshield.

Idk what to do, I'm just in a bad spot right now with this. I just want to get the damn thing running again so I can focus on getting my roadrunner built. Its not like my malibu is a 60 footer or anything, I've got 5 years resto work into it and at least 10k in parts. Thank god I do my own body work and engine work or I would have given up a long time ago. Anyone ever been in a spot like this?

 

[mybigwarwagon]

Take a step away from it. Go play golf, or beat up baby squirrels or whatever helps you relax. Then in a few days come back and look at it again and see the potential the car has. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Anyone ever been in a spot like this?

I am in year seven of a project build that crested $30K probably two years ago. Just last weekend I had 3 days off from work and was excited to finally work on tuning the EFI again.

Had it running just a few days before and felt like I was moving forward. Went to start it again and couldn't get it to fire. Kept trying but nothing.
Started to sound like my battery was getting weak so I checked it with my multimeter. 14.5v. Tried turning the engine over again and then it stopped turning.
Pulled the #3 spark plug and I had fuel come flying out of the cylinder. I had hydrolocked the dumb thing somehow and had fuel dripping from just about every exhaust connection as well.

I pulled all the plugs and turned the engine over by hand to get any excess fuel out of the cylinders. Then just let it sit.

The following day I bought a new oil filter and oil. Put the oil drain pan under the car removed the oil plug and while waiting on it to drain I decied to just wipe down my core support a bit. Next thing I notice is a huge puddle of oil coming out from under the car! :evil:
Turns out I forgot to remove the plug in the oil drain pan so it never made it into the pan and just went everywhere. Spent the rest of the day cleaning that mess up.

So yes, you have days like that. The key is not to get burnt out on it and just walk away and take a break. There's a lot of builds where guys start them and then end up just scrapping the project or selling it off because they take it too seriously. Your in this hobby, I presume, because you like cars and like to fiddle with them. It should be fun. When it stops being fun, you need to step back and just take a break. Your almost always better off afterwards when you do.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

I think its just more of there are so many things that need to get done, and not knowing where to start. I just recently finished welding in the donor floor boards and pulling the quarter glasses. Now I need to touch up and respray paint where the felts were because the repops I got were not like the original ones.

Then I'm moving all my electrical switches to the gauge pod. I had put them on the dash panel below the steering column that has the air vent. Luckily I was able to find one out in the junk yard so I will have a replacement with no holes in it.

At some point, I have a set of A body springs to try out to see how much that lowers the back of the car. I have to get the ss spoiler painted to match the rest of the car and get that mounted, along with painting the new/old set of chevy rally's I bought.

Also have to take out my exhaust that is completely dinged to hell. Later on the engine and busted trans need to come out and I have a feeling that one of my main bearings is scorced and the crank may have some damage after the car overheated once to 280* degrees (clutch fan failed).

Its just there is so much left to do. Then I'm really excited about the roadrunner project since its going to be a factory restoration. But I refuse to let the malibu sit and go to waste since it is all basically new parts. Just sucks I guess.

 

[79loserbluebu]

It just seems like you are trying to get this thing done by a deadline. Just relax and walk away for a weekend and go back to it and chip a little off of the sculpture. Make a list and tape it to the windshield. That's what I did and I'm at the point where the car runs and drives pretty well around town while I still have a couple things left to take care of. It's not fun going to car shows without a car but that should only motivate you more to get it back together.

 

[Blake442]

With that attitude, you might as well just junk the Malibu.
Junk the RoadRunner while you're at it, since you don't appear to be up to the challenge.

If two little rust spots have you ready to bail on an entire car you already have invested so much in, it's time for you to find a new hobby. You southern guys are too spoiled when it comes to sheet metal.
Sell it all and be another lemming with a new Mustang.

Be realistic, they're called "project" cars for a reason. If you don't want to work on them, go buy one that's already done.

But don't worry, you wouldn't be the first person to just give up and send another decent car to the junkyard merely because you don't have the patience, knowledge, or commitment to finish the project.

Oh, and be prepared for 10 times the complications and headaches re-doing that RoadRunner, if you keep it.
Factory restoration or custom build, it doesn't matter. They all take tons of work that you don't seem to want to do.

All the stuff you listed that you need to do is easy, and you already have all the stuff to do it. Wuss.

 

[HurstOlds]

I think that was supposed to be a motivational speech or something. I dunno....

I know about 5 guys that have project cars. They've been working on these things for years and some of the cars I've never seen run in the 10+ years I've known the guys. That was the main reason why I bought my Cutlass already finished, ready to run out of the box.

Then again, I don't really know much in terms of working on cars, so that was a big decision point too.

Having said that, I still know the feeling. I've been working for years trying to finish my basement. Unfortunately that comes down to money issues, where I can't afford to buy everything I need all at once. Maybe me buying the Cutlass last year has something to do with lack of money? Hmmm...but I digress.

Anyway, I know the feeling of frustration when you really want something done but it's just not going according to your own time schedule. I used to get completely stressed the F out and lose it over getting the fkn basement done. It still bothers me, but at this point I just have to do what I can afford and be happy with it.

I think what made me realize and step back was my wife. She told me there's no rush, there's no reason to get stressed out. I was the causing all the problem, not the basement being done, and not the lack of money.

Sounds like you're just like me....a perfectionist. Sometimes when working on a project it eats me due to OCD with details and making it perfect. If you really have that much money and time into this, you don't want to walk away. That's like giving up on yourself.

Hang in there

 

[racing8up]

look what happend to me put blood sweat and tears in one and some lowlife muther fu--er tryed to steel it and then burned it but im doin it all over again ... :evil: 😢 😀 😀

 

[JBreu]

Pat,
Sounds like you need a mancation..............GO drink some beers with your buddies and maybe get laid.....But keep the 'Bu and take a walk from it for a while......These cars are our projects and will never really be done.Who care how much $$ you have in it, at least you have something to show for your jack and time...Could be worse, YOu could be blowing your jack on crack....... One day at a time brutha🙂

 

[CamaroAdam73]

I've deff been in the same EXACT spot you are, but i had NO garage and people up my *ss about getting the car running, or getting rid of it.

Just take a step back, cool off and go at it with a cool attitude and it'll work out. Trust me.

At one point, i couldn't stop or even find out where my trans was leaking from, the motor was throwing rocker arms + studs out of the head, and just sucking all around. The headlights kept cutting in and out, and to top sh*t off, i lost ignition for two weeks and couldn't figure out why, after replacing a starter, steering columb because i raped the old one getting the ignition switch off ( because i didn't know you could just drop it down and get to the switch). After i just cooled off and saved up two paychecks i fixed everything and it all worked out.