Project aftermath

[sicklyscott]

I thought I'd share this with you all, I just finished turbo'ing my '91 Miata, towards the end of the project all I wanted to do was drive it! The pile on the workbench kept growing and the boxes from all the ordered parts and hardware kept showing up. The last two nights were exceptionally frustrating as I was oh so close! She finally fired up Sunday morning and saw the light of day for the first time in 6 months.

This is what the garage looked like afterwards:

A bit of a mess, don't you think? I'm planning on organizing it all over the next week or two (again) and will be building some new workbenches this summer along with doing something with the floor (haven't decided yet, between RaceDeck or Wolverine).

And pictures of the project:

 

[babzog]

Trim yer tie-wraps!



Looks good man, always had a thing for the Miata... nice little car. And nice mess too! LOL

 

[porschedude996TT]

I couldn't work in my own mess like this. I would loose tools and my frustration level would have been through the roof.

In my worst mess I was rebuilding a manual 4-speed transmission and engine fresh up (Chevy V-8). Couldn't find a wrench and decided to cleanup until I found it...

I started on the work bench where I rebuilt the trans and was throwing old synchronizers in a bucket and I knew something was wrong when I got to the fifth old?? Syncro-Ring. ****, it was a four-speed and reverse doesn't have a Syncro-Ring. I tore the trans out and partially apart to find I neglected to install the 4 gear syncro-ring. Since that point on, I have adapted a surgeon like environment to my projects.

Having the room to be organized is the real problem...and the key to a happy garage experience.

Nice job on the car by the way.

 

[eldirector]

Wow, what a mess! I'm real bad about putting away tools in the middle of the job. They end up scattered all over my bench. However, I can't STAND trash in my way. Boxes and wrappers get pitched as soon as the contents are out.

Digging the turbo Miata! Looks fun.....

 

[DanD1]

What's the problem?

 

[jam022316]

What kind of horsepower gains will that turbo bring? Is it a daily driver?

 

[sicklyscott]

Thanks all for the compliments on the Miata. It's not a daily driver, it will hopefully one day end up a track car but right now money and time are limited. After I can get the tune knocked out it should be in the 220 whp range, up from 90 whp. It should also weigh in at about 2200 lbs with fluids.

With small projects I usually have no problem putting the tools away. In fact this project started pretty neat. At the end I was just getting so frustrated and impatient that everything got thrown about. The older I get the more disciplined I become. This will be a lessson learned and the next iteration of organization will help me out.

 

[nathank]

I've been there, and I do not miss those days. Car projects can be so frustrating if there is a deadline. For that reason I hate working on daily drivers. I want something I can walk away from when the frustration sets in.

 

[HotRodKush]

I know exactly what you mean about frustration. As soon as you start becoming over-focused on getting the job done you forget about (or can't bother with) keeping things organized. I've been there for sure, it always happens on larger projects. Even at my shop (for my business) I start leaving cans of cleaner, scrap materials and whatnot all over my work area because I'm so focused on getting the job finished properly. Part of the fun of the accomplishment though, is cleaning up after the job and getting the space ready for the next one.

 

[hetkind]

I clean as I go...We hosted a motorcycle tech day at the shop over the weekend, got about 15 different jobs done from oil changes, tire mount and balanace, brake line replacements, major services, carb synchs, brake bleeding, accessory installation...

The workbench started out clean and empty, and finished up clean and empty. Trash cans got filled and emptied, last thing to clean up was the kegs of homebrew and the 30lbs of meat we smoked...

Howard