What's your longest running project?

[BigE]

I'm not talking about a ground up restoration of a rust bucket. I'm talking about the fence you started to put up one weekend 8 months ago. In other words, something that normally wouldn't take very long, but, for some reason, has.
Since I asked the question, I guess I have to go first. I think my longest running project that meets the above criteria is my back deck. When I bought my house 3.5 years ago, I got it at a discount because there was some water damage on the back side. It was due to neglect of the gutters and lack of proper drainage of the back yard. I had to pull the deck off the house to fix the structural damage, replace a French door and reside that section. All of that has been done for 3 years now. However, the deck remains on the ground (actually up on blocking). I'm really getting tired of having to go out to the garage and out the back door to grill. I've held off putting it up because I need to solve the drainage problem back there. If my assumptions are correct, a French drain running parallel to the house will do that. But I have to run under the deck which is why I haven't put it back up. Of course, it's always one thing or another. Hopefully, I can get the roof done, gutters replaced, drain in and deck up by the end of the summer.
So what's yours?

 

[cyamaha2007]

Mines a 95 trans am pulled it in to do headers broke off 3 header bolts, got smashed by a forklift, gave up. Pulled motor... sat now doing a ls1 swap. Got laid off now sitting mid swap. Its been 3 years almost.

 

[viper86]

my whole house

but honestly... I painted my house in the summer of 2007 - except for the chimney. Now two summers have past and a 3rd is approaching, and it's still not the same color as the rest of the house. It needed some repairs, which I did in 2008, but the painting still did not get done. Maybe this summer, I hope. I suspect I'll do far more piddling in the garage, though.

 

[crewchief888]

we did a kitchen renovation last winter, disassembled, sanded , stained and poly'd all the cabinets, replaced all the hinges and handles, dropped in some can lights, new range hood/ backsplash, removed,sanded, stain & poly'd all the door and window trim, repainted, and laid down a new floor..
started day after x-mas, and finished mid march

all thats left is 60-70ft of baseboard trim, still aint got around to it.

 

[Sterff]

Easily its my corn planter. I have restored many things but It took me almost 2 years to complete it. Eventually I got sick of looking at it and would work on it for a bit. I believe it was made between 1909-1917. I am going to try and plant some sweet corn this spring. Here it is...

 

[nolatoolguy]

Finding my sanity

 

[USMCBay]

My 1974 Coca Cola Machine conversion to a Harley Davidson themed Machine complete with an Oooga Horn and LED lights in each Bottle Rack. I've taken it down to bright metal and getting the weather to paint it has thrown me off my schedule to have it done this week... But it's been a fun ride!

 

[Bob Heine]

I'm not talking about a ground up restoration of a rust bucket.
So what's yours?

OK, my 72 Corvette that I stripped the paint from in 1983 and am almost finished with doesn't count (hey, it isn't frame off or ground up but the tires have never been on the highway and had to be replaced)...

It would have to be my workshop roof. In 2000 I discovered a stain in the garage ceiling. That led to the discovery that termites had eaten the roof. Removing the sheetrock uncovered a garage wall held up by plywood and stucco. Had to rebuild four walls -- two in the garage and two in a bedroom -- before the roof could be replaced. Replaced the cedar shake roof with concrete tile and had almost 500 tiles left over. That's when I decided to put the extra tiles over the asphalt shingles on the 12x18 workshop. Finished the side facing the house in less than a year.

Mother's health began to fail and taking care of her put a hold on the back side of the roof. Got some full-time help in 2005 so I started back on the tiling. Little storm named Wilma came through in October 2005 and damaged a bunch of tile on the house. Used some of the tile intended for the workshop to do the repairs so now I need more tile. More of the tile that's been discontinued. Looks like it's time to make some forms -- right after I finish the 72....

 

[oleblu]

You guys really roll on your projects.
When my daughter was about 10 years old she asked me to make her a cedar chest. (How many 10 yr olds ask for furnature???) I finally completed it this past July. She will celebrate her 29th birthday in September.
Anyone top that?

 

[IONH]

Procrastination 1 - I built my first engine for more boost about 3 years ago in a jap car I have. I then tried to start it up and discovered that copper head gaskets don't work without more machine shop work (O-Ringing specifically) and had coolant leak in to the combustion chambers. Pulled it apart and reassembled it with MLS head gaskets. After installing the engine, I let it sit for about 2 years after that. Finally put about 60 minutes (changed the oil and a few other misc electronic items) in to it including hooking up the jump start kit and it fired right up. Compression tested it and it's great. I've now let it sit another year, only starting it up 2 or 3 more times. It needs a bunch of misc little things done before I test drive it more than on my little street. Then I can get plates and drive it.

Procrastination 2 - Bought a 75 Midget which hadn't been registered since 1980 to play with just over a year ago. Planned on it being my last winter's project (anything to procrastinate #1 above) and never got around to it so its just sitting in my basement garage collecting dust. At least it was inexpensive!

Procrastination 3 - Replaced a paved walkway infront of my house which T'd to the street with a paver stone walk way. Got that all done and brought up the side of my house away from the driveway with some loam. Then never finished the retaining wall to finish levelling the rest of the front yard. Hope to do that this summer.

Procrastination 4 - Replaced the rear wall of my detached garage in late fall (frost on the ground late fall) of 2008 which caused Procrastination #2. Still haven't resided it, just has tyvek.

 

[rinker1]

My marriage, going on 31 years in May, wouldn't change a thing.

 

[willy3486]

My longest project is getting my daughter grown,she is 18 now.She is my pride and joy . Or trying to get my bum of a sister and bil to grow up quit mooching off the family. Seriously my longest project would either be a old 1939 seeburg jukebox or my truck. I got the jukebox before I got married and tore it down. After I got married I came back to it and rebuilt it. I worked on it a few days when I tore it down and afterwards probably a month or so to rebuild it. I had probably had a 6-8 year break in between redoing it. But my truck was probably the longest redo. I worked about 6 years to redo the truck. I worked about 4 years somewhat on it then I got dedicated to redo it. I spent almost any spare time the next two years to get done. I did almost everything myself. I did a frame off rebuild on the body. The engine was still good so I left it like it was. But it was worth it I guess because my family and I get out in it. It has been in true blue trucks twice so far,once with a picture of it and another time for the dash rebuild. You can see it at
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569424874eCPltp?start=12

 

[michael murder]

Sprucing up the utility room. I had big plans: cabinets, coat rack, key rack, shelving running down one wall. Over the last year I made and put up the coat rack and key rack. I'm am just finishing one of the cabinets now. Still the shelving to do.

 

[Kev442]

Deck railing on the rear stairway. Rest of deck, including main stairway, has been done since 1996. Ran short on railing board, it's been waiting ever since!

 

[Vernmotor]

Well outside of a car sitting here that I been working on for 15 years !! I build my garage in 03 and all the walls are dry wall. everything else is done ..but the ceiling.Got suff here to start on it.. but never get to it for some reason ???

 

[ovilla]

My basement remodel. Going on year 5 of a 6 month plan. What can I say - I have kids that are heavily into sports so I only get to work on it during the winter for about a week or two at a time (when I take time off work). I did finish the basement bathroom last winter. Knocked that out in a couple of weeks, even though I had to cut out the concrete floor. I've also got the whole basement basically framed but we've since changed plans about a 100 times. What was going to be a spare room, is now a storage area and the area for a bar is still up in the air. Anyway, we still use it as is and do get quite a lot of enjoyment out of it.

I honestly was somewhat on track there for a bit and then I committed the biggest sin ever. I bought a used pool table, new HD projector, built a 110" screen, and got a free mini beer fridge (all in the same two week span) and shortly after that, ALL work stopped.

 

[hook982]

My marriage, going on 31 years in May, wouldn't change a thing.

Damn....beat me to it.......

 

[bluesman2a]

Longest running? I ain't got nothing BUT long-running projects.
1) shop... as you may have seen from my build thread, it's various stages have spanned over 2 years.

2) I've been working on my truck for about 3-4 years now. I try to keep it running, but various projects take it down sometimes. Rear bed paint/restoration/ frame-off and gas tank are running something on the 6-month mark now.

3) vertical bandsaw restoration - 6-8 months.

4) machine shop setup -- 8-10 months

5) shop bathroom -- about a month so far.

6) furniture finishing for/with the wide -- 2 months now.

A lot of these aren't necesarily even time based, but I'll work on them as I have cash to pay for materials. Many projects I just won't do/move forward on unless I can afford to pay for them out of pocket.

 

[BigE]

You guys that said marriage, it doesn't count - unless you only planned on the marriage taking 6 months but you somehow drug it out 30 years.

 

[knucklehead]

i have been building this 1940 harley knucklehead for 19 or 20 years now. i rebuilt the motor 18 + years ago. someday i will finish it. probably about the time i finish my 1937 harley 74" flathead restoration. only been working on it for 17 or 18 years...

 

[JamieK]

My front porch light burned out last Thanksgiving. Everytime I think about it, its either too dark or cold to drag the extension ladder out, or I don't have a bulb, or something. And I can't seem to think about it on weekends!

 

[Moldy Oldy]

A 1956 Chevy Bel Air 2 door hardtop..purchased at a late night card game in 1977 in the USAF at Alamogordo NM..married and had three children and still at it 33 years and counting..wouldn't have it any other way..life is goood..

 

[musgofasta]

I'm one of them OCD people on projects. I better have a realistic timeline in place before I start it, and I almost always hit it. Home renovations go pretty quick for me. I plan out and buy every conceivable aspect before I pick up a tool.

My current C4 trans overhaul is way overschedule, which means it's a month behind. I finally dropped it at a trans shop to finish it. I'm sick of dealing with this thing.

 

[z28snksknr]

My kitchen.

Started last year, 2 weeks after we bought the house. Gutted to studs and subfloor, completely remodeled, top to bottom. I still have window molding and crown molding sitting in the dining room awaiting my attention. I even started on it last week only to realize that a YEAR AGO, they sent me 2 oak and 2 hickory lengths (cabinets are hickory). Good thing they are expensive.....

 

[Fubar]

66 Chevy II SS straight axle car. 31 years and it still doesn't move under it's own power...

 

[swharris]

You guys really roll on your projects.
When my daughter was about 10 years old she asked me to make her a cedar chest. (How many 10 yr olds ask for furnature???) I finally completed it this past July. She will celebrate her 29th birthday in September.
Anyone top that?

Just read that for the boys here in the office. Got a big LOL! You said you'd build it not when you'd finish

Mine are many, but the two that stand out are the small two inch wide transition from our master bedroom to the master bath I built for my wife 3 years ago. There is still a 2" gap down to the sub floor between the bath tile and bedroom hardwood oak. The bath is 100% finished the transition not so much. There is another filler piece from the hard wood to the sliding door that needs to be completed too. Guess I've got a thing with finish jobs.

 

[Hemihead2]

Started a doll house for my daughter when she was 7. Pieces have moved with me twice and still no progress. Daughter is now 31 and hopes I'll finish it for her daughter someday.

 

[CJ7 Maniac]

Besides my wife I would have to say that my jeep is my longest running project. I bought this thing about 3 years ago. I had it towed home then I drove it around the block a couple times and started the rebuild.

This was taken almost a year ago right before I pulled it out to install the custom cage I built for it.

 

[Sammy7]

The wiper linkage on my '85 BMW needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, there is exactly one way to remove it and there's about a millimeter of clearance to do it. That project started in June and I'm still working on it. Once that's done, it's time to start about 500 other things on the list. Funny thing about buying a car that "only needs a few things" to be perfect...

 

[tcianci]

My marriage, going on 31 years in May, wouldn't change a thing.

What he said!!!

 

[930dreamer]

I have so many projects, I really never finish anything. Just got done building a rotary phase converter and it works, just never get around to the finish wiring.

 

[D.J.]

I'll try to add some of mine. 1986 Ford Ranger no ground up restoration, but freeze plug installation, plugs pushed out three years ago when I got sick and thought I'd have to get better to die. Pulled motor to install freeze plugs in rear of block between engine and transmission. I twisted off the studs in the exhaust manifolds then removing the manifolds eleven out of the twelve bolts twisted off in the heads. Motors pulled setting on engine stand at my work place with some bolts removed and some off center drilled out. Still on hold. Hottub installation still not in but leaning up against back deck, for the last three years. Doorbell installation, just had it for a couple of months. Starter installation on a buddies 1979 Ford F150 6 cylinder that some goofball installed headers on and now starter is birdcaged inside. So headers have to be removed just to install starter. Do I need to go on?
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[deathbound]

All of em......they're NEVER finished.