S4 Rebuild Apathy !!

[peterexpart]

Having spent close to 18 months rebuilding my S4DHC from the ground up, and having nearly got to the end of the project, investing at least twice what I believed it was going to cost I find myself approaching the car, for each rebuild session, full of hate and loathing just knowing that whatever job I am about to try and conclude the car is going to fight me every inch of the way.
As I have never actually driven the car yet I really need some assurance that all of this is really worthwhile because there are times when I could quite happily set fire to it !!!
Is this a stage that everyone reaches during a rebuild or have I just managed to purchase a rogue ??

[terryp]

Peter, don't dispear, I could have cried before Christmas when my water pump / front cover leaked but now Gusto is back and I'm looking forward to driving the car once more.
AHM on the forum gave me some very worth while advice ........ Break it down into smaller jobs
Also I left it for a few weeks until I wanted to go up to the garage rather than felt I should go to the garage because of all the money I have spent.
Set yourself small achivable targets and enjoy the journey!

Bon Courage
Terry

[jimj]

Peter, when I read, on here, of people who have spent much longer than 18 months rebuilding their cars I often marvel at their enthusiasm. I just can`t imagine how I could possibly maintain motivation through all the trials while tribulation seems far off. If you`ve done most of it already, well done for goodness sake, congratulate yourself. This time next year you may not be a millionaire but.................
Surely someone local to you will offer you a drive in their Elan which will surely rekindle your momentum.
Good luck,
Jim

[robertverhey]

Absolutely know that feeling, I'm at the spray putty/ primer stage and it's just plain hard work.....sanding, finding blemishes, filling, sanding, finding more blemishes. Dirty, dusty work. Easy to find lots of other things to do, like mow the lawn, go shopping, vacuum the house etc. I've found it a good tonic to have a look at some finished elans (as I had a chance to do recently).....that helps. Couldn't do it without this forum, it's always reassuring to know others are facing challenges, some much more daunting than mine....What do you mean "fights you every inch of the way"? Electrics? Trim?

[peterexpart]

Robert
Just about everything from fitting the Dashboard, doing all the wiring screwing it in, fitting the steering column only to find as I pulled the Choke Cable through the Pipe pulled off the washer nozzle, the one above the Glove Box !!! through fitting the Clutch Slave Cyl only to find that the Pipe Thread was stripped all the way through to buying and fitting the Aluminium Fuel Tank only to find, as many others have, that the Filler Neck is at the wrong angle !!!!
If you add to the above the total pain of trying to fit CV Drive Shafts, remove and refit the Diff, fit the Windscreen with a New Rubber only to find after three days that the Glass has decided to de-laminate on its own accord, and I have left the joy of re fitting the Side Windows until last.
I have rebuilt many classic cars, for my own pleasure over the past 15 years, this may be the one that finally cures me, much to my wife's delight !!!

[pharriso]

Someone needs to take you for a ride in their restored Elan for added motivation.

Glad I bought a restored car!

[peterexpart]

Someone needs to take you for a ride in their restored Elan for added motivation.

Glad I bought a restored car!

But its needs to be someone that has rebuilt their own, I need someone to prove it can be done to the correct standard in a domestic garage, no disrespect but buying one already completed would be far to easy, especially for a committed masochist !!!

[collins_dan]

Mine has been a rolling restoration as I would have fallen into the same state of despair as you. My suggestion would be to post pictures of your progress, you may just impress and inspire yourself. Sometimes noting the progress is enough. It's like looking down the hill on a long hike. Good Luck, Dan

[elanner]

Oh yes, it's worthwhile - don't waste any cycles wondering about that.

I purchased what I considered from the outset to be a semi-restored car, and paid accordingly. It was all there, and was a proper, solid runner. It certainly wasn't perfect, but it hadn't been botched.

I knew that I didn't have the skills, time or facilities (just a tiny borrowed garage) to do a full ground up restoration. And I feared the years slipping by while I stared at a pile of pieces on the garage floor.

So I've been able to use it as a regular driver while steadily improving it. It's been, and continues to be, a lot of fun, and I don't regret the decision at all.

However, on seeing the restorations that people in the forum are doing, with their lovely clean chassis; fresh, gleaming suspensions; brightly painted diffs; oil tight, 150hp engines; 5 speed gearboxes; and mirror quality paintwork, it's impossible not to feel a pang of jealousy! Mine will never be there.

So, take heart, you aimed higher, so it will take a little longer, but the view at the end will be better!

That said, I fitted a new dashboard last year and can agree with you that it fought me every step of the way. I've been fighting the handbrake on and off for the past three years and it's still winning the battles (but it doesn't realise that I plan to win the war). Heck, and you haven't got to the electric windows yet?

Nick

[Type28]

I have yet to get my hands on a suitable Elan, but when I do it will be to do what you are doing now.

I have restored three vehicles from the ground up and can sympathise with what you are going through. For me I never set time frames- you should never feel pressured doing a hobby. Do little bits at a time you always get a sense of achievement. Try and think through each process. Ask for help if you?re not sure- there are always people who have been through what you?ve been through-learn from their mistakes! Do a restoration tread, people?s words of encouragement keep you motivated?

And finally words of wisdom I once got when I was complaining about a job being difficult/frustrating- ?It was only built by a man? and ?if it was easy everyone would be doing it?

Now get you finger out and get it done

George

[AHM]

Peter,

18 months is only a short time. Double the expected cost is cheap! You didn't even do the bodywork yourself. The elan is often referred to as fragile. It isn't. But it is very high maintenance. So just about any restoration project is completely shot and a big undertaking - They are all rogues!

I'll bet that when you started this you set high expectations of what you wanted to achieve, and based on previous experience with other cars, and your capabilities, perfection was achievable.

Well, welcome to the world of low production volume, niche market, hand built, light weight, high performance, sports cars!

The Elan was designed and engineered by some brilliant people, at the top of their game.... You've seen the little word champions and Indianapolis winners badges - were the other cars that you restored able to make such claims?

And add to that the fact that it has always been an expensive car.

So you have an iconic design with legendary handling...... who mentioned cheap or easy?

Now to address your predicament.
Stop thinking about perfection - It takes a heck of a lot more to achieve, and only lasts 10 minutes before it covers itself in oil and or water. Who cares what colour your sump, gearbox, bumpers are? besides you can change colour the next time you rebuild it.
Get it on the road and perfect it once it is running - it is a hobby - You are supposed to enjoy it.
Take a week-off
Write a list of the jobs that need to be done to pass the MOT - Nothing more - You don't need carpets, a hood, or the shiny trim and it might not matter if the windscreen is a little delaminated.
Once you have your list of jobs work out what parts you need.
Now do them one at a time.

there are times when I could quite happily set fire to it !!!

Get it on the road, then you will be hoping it doesn't set fire to itself!

[prezoom]

Been there done that, got the tee shirt. When restoring the Sabra GT, I started by keeping a log of the hours spent on each portion of the project. After having the body soda blasted, and seeing what was instore for me, I nearly threw up my hands and surrendered. But, I forged ahead, still counting the hours. At something well over one thousand hours of working on the body, I tore up the list, took a vacation, did some other projects around the house, one of which lasted over six months, read some books, and finally forced myself back into the garage. The break worked wonders. All the hours previously spent seemed like nothing. With most of the hard work done, the rest was much easier to face. Take a deep breath, take a break. Unless you have some sort of "Have to be finished by" deadline set in your mind, a more relaxed approach does wonders for the mind. I now try to mix things up, moving from project to project.

Rob Walker
26-4889

[TroonSprint]

I sympathise. I bought my Elan Sprint FHC two and a half years ago completely dismantled and have been working on it regularly ever since. It took me most of last summer preparing the body for painting. The building up of the new Spyder chassis, and construction of the engine has been pretty straightforward and mostly enjoyable, but I am reaching the stage of having to put the body on the chassis and start the wiring and trimming and glazing, which I know will be hard.

I too have never driven an Elan, and never ridden in one. I have lusted after one since I was a teenager in the sixties when I used to go to the Earls Court motor shows, but have never been able to afford one. I can only afford this one because I bought it all in bits. I certainly hope its worth it in the end. Its a whole different ball game to the MGBs and Midgets I have built before.

Mike

[peterexpart]

Peter,

18 months is only a short time. Double the expected cost is cheap! You didn't even do the bodywork yourself. The elan is often referred to as fragile. It isn't. But it is very high maintenance. So just about any restoration project is completely shot and a big undertaking - They are all rogues!

The Elan was designed and engineered by some brilliant people, at the top of their game.... You've seen the little word champions and Indianapolis winners badges - were the other cars that you restored able to make such claims?

Now to address your predicament.
Stop thinking about perfection - It takes a heck of a lot more to achieve, and only lasts 10 minutes before it covers itself in oil and or water. Who cares what colour your sump, gearbox, bumpers are? besides you can change colour the next time you rebuild it.
Get it on the road and perfect it once it is running - it is a hobby - You are supposed to enjoy it.
Take a week-off
Write a list of the jobs that need to be done to pass the MOT - Nothing more - You don't need carpets, a hood, or the shiny trim and it might not matter if the windscreen is a little delaminated.
Once you have your list of jobs work out what parts you need.
Now do them one at a time.

there are times when I could quite happily set fire to it !!!

Get it on the road, then you will be hoping it doesn't set fire to itself!

AHM
You are quite correct although I did not do the Paintwork I did do 99% of the preparation, the biggest problem I have is accepting that it will never be as good as I hoped.
I have previously rebuilt 2 Porsche 924 Turbo's (I know they were actually meant to be the replacement for the VW Scirrocco) and one 911 Carrera plus a couple of 1940's BMW Motorcycles one of which is in a Private Collection and the other in a BMW Museum in Spain, my last project was a 1958 Frogeye Sprite which I sold to fund this rebuild, so although the Frogeye may have no particular racing heritage I do believe that Porsche have won a couple of races !!
I must admit that your final comment has a ring of truth though, I will indeed be praying for a total absence of spontaneous combustion when I eventually get it back on the road I would not appreciate so much effort going up in smoke.

[peterexpart]

I sympathise. I bought my Elan Sprint FHC two and a half years ago completely dismantled and have been working on it regularly ever since. It took me most of last summer preparing the body for painting. The building up of the new Spyder chassis, and construction of the engine has been pretty straightforward and mostly enjoyable, but I am reaching the stage of having to put the body on the chassis and start the wiring and trimming and glazing, which I know will be hard.

I too have never driven an Elan, and never ridden in one. I have lusted after one since I was a teenager in the sixties when I used to go to the Earls Court motor shows, but have never been able to afford one. I can only afford this one because I bought it all in bits. I certainly hope its worth it in the end. Its a whole different ball game to the MGBs and Midgets I have built before.

Mike

Mike
2 1/2 Years is a long time, I thought when the Body came back from being painted that the assembly process would be the easy part, little did I know !!!
Like you I have played with a few MGB's and Sprite's my last project, a very early Frogeye is in fact in Stonehaven, I sold that to fund this sometimes I wish I had it back, at least I could drive that one.
Anyway good luck with yours you never know they may both be finished about the same time !!