Back in college I always wondered how car restoration projects took people so long. I would constantly read in magazines about projects that took 5-10 years, sometimes even longer. Me, well my Camaro saw a complete ground up restoration while I was in college. From start to finish it took about 5-6 months. That entailed removing every bolt, stripping the body to bare metal, rewiring the car, rebuilding the engine, the transmission, and basically every other component on the car. We're talking the whole 9 yards.
Now here I am, some years later, out of college with a full time job, a house, and much different responsibilities. I find both of my cars in non-running condition, both torn apart to the point where finishing either one seems far down the road. Here I am, both cars having sat for about 5 years with only moderate progress. In my defense, my life did take somewhat of a detour when I moved to Detroit. Living in an apartment building, 9 floors up with nothing but a parking garage throws a serious wrench in restoring cars. I found both of my cars now back down at my parents house, mostly just collecting dust...aside from the occasional weekend when I ventured down to work on them, well, I should say the Challenger at that point.
For the first time in my life I was living the true big city life. Well, as close to big city life as is offered in Michigan. For all of its downfalls, I have always seen something magic in Detroit. My feelings for the city and the region could be best explained by driving up I-75 south of Detroit. Passing through the River Rouge complex, giving you a glimpse of what built Detroit, what built Industrial America, then as you crest the overpass, then you see the city of Detroit, Windsor, and "The Bridge," all of which were the result of industrialism. Detroit has a crudeness, a blue collar attitude about it that most gearheads would truly understand and respect.
So anyways, my situation changed when I bought a house in Detroit and built a new garage. With this house came the added expenses, lacking were the funds to get back to work on the car(s), so still they sat. It took me nearly a year before I had anything beyond an extension chord out to my garage for power. Things are rolling along now however, with it completely powered up, a gas line out there awaiting a furnace by winter, an extra pipe to run cable out there, a work bench, air compressor, my tools, and recently purchased welder complete with gas setup. So the shop itself is ready to go. Yet the house still commands priority. Today I worked on painting the trim on the garage, one or two more weekends and it will be complete. Once that is done it will be time to start on my rear deck, as I've gone without one since shortly after I moved in, when I tore down the death trap the previous owner had built. A deck wouldn't be such a priority if it wasn't for the fact that my house is raised about 3 foot above the ground, so currently I have one helluva drop off making the read exits unusable.
I have find time now and then to make small amounts of progress on my Camaro, which is now where my focus will remain. I have removed the steering column, the steering box, and front brake system, complete with master cylinder and lines. I plan on replacing all components, upgrading each one. For the steering, I will be replacing the box with a rack and pinion setup which will be both more precise as well as much lighter. The brakes will be a 4 pistons setup, likely manual, for much better stopping power. Before, my brakes could be downright scarey once the vacuum canister ran out of reserve, as it was time to put some serious muscle into the pedal at that point and start praying. I also began grinding down my welds from many years ago when I installed new floor pans. I want to retouch on them, por-15 the intior, then should be good to go. I'm not sure whether or not next summer would be a realistic goal for it to be back on the road or not, but it is the most realistic game plan I have had in many years. I need to start setting target dates to have certain portions of the project completed by. Those timelines are usually a waste anyways, as the dates will come and pass and the work won't be completed. I'll just play it by ear and hope for the best. In the mean time, don't expect a whole bunch of activity until fall rolls around, when upon this blog should really come to life.
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