what do you do...

[theianmonster]

what do you do when your project is everythign you've always wanted, but because of financial reasons you'll never have it as perfect as you'd like to?

i've been thinking about that for the past week or so, just wanted to know if some of you have been in the same sorts of situations.

[=Enigma=]

I usually roll up in a ball in a corner and sob. JK Try breaking it into smaller steps and doing it over a longer period of time than you originally planned. The other thing you can do is find a way to subsidize your mod income. Pick up a side or part-time job long enough to set aside some extra cash. Sell some crap you don't use anymore. Make a deal with a buddy to let him use the car for a day or two a month if he chips in for the mods. I'm sure you'll think of something. Life is often about compromise. Good luck.

[Jackhammer]

Ian.... You have been given some excellent suggestions by Enigma. Also... I noticed that you are young. So my suggestion is to exercise patience...things will come...just give it a little time. When I was your age, I was to busy tearin' em up to be concerned about puttin' them together. You are way ahead of my curve. I commend you for that.

Don't despair...keep your eye on your goal and systematically work toward it. Hang in there man.

[Ed]

Ian, if you have the space...

What I did to help finance my restoration was buy a parts car. I paid $400 for it. The parts I didn't need I sold. The parts that were better than the one's on my car I used. Which saved me some money on buying new. Like glass, taillights and some interior parts. I sold as much as I could and made my money back plus some.

Good luck and take your time.

[onuthin]

Ian You seem to be way ahead of your time.I wish I had the guts to tackle a project this size at your age. I have just started on the same project at my age and it seems like a lot to bite off still.So a little insight into how men tackle projects is to when everything seems to go wrong and you don't know what to do start a bunch of projects at once so you get so deep in stuff that your first project don't look so bad.

[theianmonster]

Thank you all for the advice. Its really hard because I look at all of the cars around that have been completely gutted, sandblasted, and all of this stuff, and how <b>perfect</b> they are. I just came to realization the other night that it doesn't need to be perfect, it just has to reflect me and my hard work.

To Ed: I had a parts car for a while, and it did help quite a bit, but it rests in pieces.

http://www.cardomain.com/id/theianmonster - here's a link to my project so far.

And thank you for the support, I knew I did the right thing when I registered here, you're the best group of guys ever.

- Ian.

[kenz240z]

I like to look for ways to detail various items on my Z as cheaply as I can get away with. Mostly it means spending a lot of time cleaning parts. All it takes is time & elbow grease. A lot of parts can be touched up or refinished with a good cleaning and a can of spray paint.

Take your time and make a plan for tackling the larger, more costly items down the road. If you're a student now, hopefully it won't be long before you're bringing home a fair paycheck with the ability to put a few bux towards your Z. In the mean time, maybe you could think of ways to earn a bit of cash for your Z fund, maybe typing papers or something?

Good luck and hang in there! It took me until my mid 30's before I had the time & money to really devote to a car project.

[v12horse]

Ian, your such a young guy. You will be able to do what you want to your Z, it is just going to take time like everyone has said. I have not done much to my Z, and the very few things that I have done have taken me a long time to get due to money and time. Doing what you want with the car and taking longer to do it is better than getting it done sooner and making large compromises. Give it some time and like you said, build something that reflects you. Not many people do that and the fact that you are trying to do that is a step in the right direction.

-Ben

p.s. Your Birthday is one day after mine. Rock on Virgo.

[sakijo]

It's all been said above, but it doesn't hurt to repeat it. Patience and time is all that you need. Doing a lot of the work yourself will save you money. Don't despair . . . I remember being 17 and fixing up my 65 Mustang. It was hard when my paycheck was $5.00 a day, but I got through it - so will you. I'm a lot older now, and make a lot more than $5.00 a day, but it's still difficult to fix up the Skyline. Some things never change.

[gogriz91]

You're a much more mature 17 year old than I ever was so my hat's off to you for having a vision. It took owning a Z for 10 years for me to really start to appreciate them and want to put time and effort into it. Patience, persistence, and perserverence will usually bear fruit in just about any endeavour. If you're a competitive A-type person, then look at as a race that is a marathon and not a sprint. The reward first and foremost is yours and yours alone.

[theianmonster]

Thank you all again for the advice. I'll definately look at my project differently now.

[ddezso]

I know how you feel. I derive my enjoyment from 2 things - the fun of driving the car, and the knowledge that if it is ever perfect my hobby is half as fun. In other words, for me, if I can't go tinker around and work on stuff much of the fun is gone.

If it is perfect, all that can happen is for it to get worse.