Have you ever had a project stall out because of a minor scheduling conflict or because one little part didn’t come in on time? Let’s say you built up momentum on your project car and everything’s tooling along just fine, then a little snag comes up and life happens and you stall. Then the project sits for days, weeks, maybe even months or years before you make any REAL progress. My Falcon is probably the best example of this I could have ever dreamed of. I’ve been working on a V8 engine swap on the Falcon for over 10 years now. Why has a simple straight six to Windsor V8 swap taken so long? Because I kept losing steam when something went wrong and I didn’t keep my momentum going. These swaps can practically be done in a weekend or two and I’ve got a decade invested without really getting to drive and enjoy the car. When cars sit, they decay. Fuel goes stale, things start rusting, rubber gets crusty and brittle, as do most plastic parts. Seals begin to leak, water pools if the car is stored outside, mold grows inside, batteries go dead and never come back to life in some cases.

How can we avoid this momentum degradation? Do something every day that moves your project forward. Every day? Yes. Every. Single. Day.

My buddy Jeff shared this on Instagram a few weeks ago, and it inspired me to keep track of the little things I do with/to my cars daily. YouTubers do daily vlogs, and I go to work every day, so surely I can do SOMETHING on one of my cars every day. I know that every day you can’t spend hours in the shop; I can’t either. But I challenge you (and me!) to do SOMETHING. Look up a part online; save a forum/blog page for reference later; buy a small part or tool to give yourself a little encouragement; polish a piece of trim, rubber, stainless, or chrome; wash the car; clean up the garage. Of course, you could spend a few hours doing some actual work on the project if you have the time and parts. The point of the daily progress is to keep it fresh in your mind. When money and time is tight, do some cleaning and research for future upgrades! 

I’ll be recording my progress with this new weekly feature: Week In Review.  I’ll post my progress every week on Saturday evening to keep myself accountable and hopefully keep you guys motivated.

Week In Review 11/18-11/24

• Sat. 11/18
  • Amanda: installed wipers on both C10s, installed new air cleaner, and removed stickers on ’76 C10 (Funny story: our Sunday School class was having a pie contest the next morning. When we got to church, a guy gave Amanda a hard time about not having a pie. She quickly replied, “I was busy working on a truck last night, thankyouverymuch!” He really didn’t have a comeback for that one!)
  • Garan: “Roadkilled” the gauges, removed dash and dashpad, wired in electric choke.

• Sun. 11/19
  • Found “dog leg” replacement panels from BJs Offroad.
• Mon. 11/20
  • Roadtrip to Morristown in the ’76 C10 for a free ’77 short bed camper top
  • Awesome evening spent with some new friends from the C10 Club.
• Tue. 11/21
  • Bought engine dress-up parts and miscellaneous hardware for ’76 C10.
• Wed. 11/22
  • Got parts in for Mom’s ’76 C10 from Classic Industries. Checked for fit, prepped for install at a later date.
• Thu. 11/23 (Thanksgiving)
  • Checked the oil in Henry, drove him down to Oliver Springs (50 mile round trip).
  • Took Christmas card pictures in Henry.
• Fri. 1/24
  • Researched 2/4″ drop kits for ’76 C10.
  • Installed license plate on ’76 C10 (finally!)