Anyone else complete a project recently?
I've been helping my buddy build a 1986 Buick T-type from the ground up and we finally got it running last night. I'm not really good with describing feelings (as told numerous times by wife, lol), but how I felt on the drive home last night was well..... let me tell story first.
The car started out as... less then perfect. The motor was tuned and went 10.80 @12x in 1/4 mile, but then blew up. 32lbs of boost will do that to a motor.
So the car came off the road and the journey began. Body straightened, painted, 8pt cage went in, complete new interior column shift moved to floor. The motor came out went to machine shop, then boxes and boxes and boxes of new parts started coming in. For those that don't know the motor is a 3.8l turbo 6cyl (roughly 231 ci). We got the bare block back late last week, and have been spending nights putting it together. For me it was the first time starting at the bare block, I mean no crank, no pistons etc.
Engine was completed thurs late at night and went in fri night, last night turbo went on, exhaust hooked up, various odds and ends tightened up.
We hooked the scan tool up, and car started 2nd crank. Woohoo! There was a lil squeaking from water pump, but we fixed that and the car purred. It was alot quieter then I was expecting with a roller rocker cam, but thats ok.
Gotta finish a few odds and ends lil interior stuff, put hood on, buff car out, but all in all the hardest part is over. Car should be on road next weekend and we're hoping for a low 10/high 9 sec pass at track.
I wish I could capture that feeling at the end of the night, its the same feeling I feel on way home from all day herfs, that (tired/satisfied/complete/relaxed/mentally clear) mind set, where all seems right in the world. I got home last nght, smoked a parti chico, ate some Nathans pigs in a blanket and stared into the night sky.
I'm going to name this feeling "happy without prejudice" because there was no anxiety that followed, there was no second guessing it, it felt pure.
I'll post a few pics of car later.
Anyone else ever get this feeling?
(got a bad feeling a gran national is in my future
:-) )
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Very awesome seeing things come together. Mine isn't as awesome as that, but my dad and I took a cinder block basement and completely finished it, made rooms, added vents, water, etc... and we had no experience doing it before. Took a few months to complete, but when we finally got everything done, we sat back for a minute just taking it all in...all the hard work and effort paid off quite well.
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Wonder how far off topic you can get while still being on topic.....
I design roads for a living. Similiar to cars right?? We follow our projects from the prelim to the fully constructed state....and all the bumps in between. We had a two mile stretch of road we designed on for about 4 years. It was recently finished on the construction end. Kinda nice when you can look back on the 80hr weeks, trouble shooting, etc and see the finished product. Nice thing about this road is having the people come upt you while you are inspecting it and tell you how much better it is then the previous road.
So yes it was a project, and it had to do with what cars are driven on.....so I may be good.......
:-)
On topic.....
My dad and I built a 72 Impala. Full restore back to factory specs. A month later the engine lew a rod at the track.......very sad day. We talked about scrapping it and almost did. I got a call from a buddy who said he had something I might like. Went to the yard and he had a 454 pulled from an old tropper car. I was in heaven. Got it running and it bolted right up to the rear end. Boy would that dude scream.
It is amazing the feeling you get when you can step back and see the completed project. Congrats on the car and I look froward to the pics.
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