Distractions...Distractions...

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AMWeaver47

Active member
Joined
Nov 29, 2013
Messages
44
Reaction score
2
Location
Granger, Indiana
My Car
1971 Ford Mustang Convertible
This thread is for those of you, myself included, that have had limited time for their Mustangs at some point in time. I have (embarrassingly) let both of my 71 verts sit in a pair of storage bays for about a year now due to other projects and opportunities.

Late last year I had what is probably my proudest life-achievement to date. At the young age of 19 I became a homeowner. I can thank a good job for the income and my parents for instilling the knowledge of budget management and credit building into me. I was able to purchase my home 100% on my own. It's just a small ranch on a cul-de-sac in a clean neighborhood in Elkhart, IN. It was a foreclosure and needed tons of work, in fact I have yet to move in as I'm still remodeling. Working 50 hours a week I have had limited time to work on it but it's come so far in the last several months. The upgrades were all done by me with just a little guidance from my dad who was a contractor for over a decade.

Now for pics

This is shortly after purchase. We removed some huge gaudy bushes from the front.



The place has a pool and a pretty decent fenced in yard so that was cool to me

IStcl5yk13uk4j0000000000.jpg


The bathroom was down to studs, previous owner started remodeling and stopped paying I guess. This was after I installed fresh plumbing, new shower, and drywall started



The (almost) finished product



Ignore my tools please



Kitchen was an outdated nightmare. The opposite wall had purple sponge paint lol

ISt8mziojr77cj0000000000.jpg


White cabinets, faux wood porcelain tile, new counters, travertine backsplash, updated appliances, and fresh beige paint did it some justice. Ignore my mess of tools again



I actually got pretty decent at tile work by the end. This is at the front door



The rest of the rooms just got paint and carpet, painted the trim, etc. so not much to show but you get the idea. New furnace, new water heater, new water softener. Furnace and carpet were the only things I hired out so the rest is my own handiwork.

But just when I thought I had this project about wrapped.......



I buy a freakin Jeep. Little 2 door XJ, pretty cool truck. It'll make a great 4 wheeler with 5 inches of lift and 33s. Oh well, the Mustang will get done eventually.

So I can't be the only one that has distractions. What has held you up from working on your cars?

 
Nice job. I appreciate someone who knows the value of hard work. I deal with people everyday who think they don't have to pay their bills because someone else will. Good for you and keep it up. I have busted my rear since I was 18 and now am able to afford to have some fun even with two little girls. There is no substitute for hard work and motivation. Nice job on the home improvements by the way.

 
Wow,

good work on this! Respect for being an owner of a own house at such a age. You are a hardworking man! I like your result very much, remains me of the little farm of my parents in France...

What helds me up from working on my car?!? Well, first my daily job with an average of 50 hours a week, then my wife, who is not as easy to handle with her disease. And then there is here and some a few things like family, friends, home-working, daily cars to work on and so on...

Finally there is not so much time for that car as it perhaps deserves.

Good luck on your time-schedule ::thumb::

Take care of you!

 
Hey Man, don't sweat it!

There are two things that hold us down in life - time and money. When you're out there and you're going for it, and building your life for a good future, time and money or lack of, are your enemies. Your home is coming along very nicely Sir. Keep up the good, hard work. No man can be in all places, and do all things at once.

What you're doing is basically what i did in my life. I am 60 years old now, but when i look back on what i did and what i achieved, i'm a very happy and proud man. I'm sure you will be too, if not now.::thumb::

All the very best,

Greg.:)

 
Good to see someone not afraid to step in and do something.

As for what took me away from my cars. I had to commute over 100 miles each day, up at 5:30 and home as late as 9:00 and sometimes not at all. I moved to get a better job so was away from family and had to drive 3.5 hr. each way to visit them. I then came home to help take car of my father that had Parkinson's. He passed then my mom suffered from Alzheimer's so I had to do my share there also.

I flipped a house for my daughter during that time, remolded a home for me, did major work on my mother's home. My son actually built his first home when he was still in high school at 17. His shop teacher was also a builder and gave my son and his son a summer job to build a home on their own. It came out great and was sold. Later I helped my son flip a home for him that sold for a great profit and now he has another great place of his own.

So now that I am retired and life has slowed down some I am back to working on my cars after a very long time not doing much but buying parts and hoarding them, lol. I put in 9 hours yesterday trying to get one of the convertibles ready for summer.

Keep up the hard work you will always come out on top if you do.

David

 
Thanks for the support guys. It seems the common theme around this place is a lot of guys that bust ass so they can live life to the fullest. Obviously our cars bring us together but I think most of us probably share more common ground than we even know.

Recently I have come to a realization that helped me along. Some are born with a silver spoon, and many spend their lives in envy of those people. Choose the other path and strive to improve your situation, and that's where the success comes. You've gotta want it.

And to those of you that have been distracted from your cars by things like family or obligations to help someone, I have much respect for you.

 
Congrats on being a home owner, and at age 19 you are so far ahead of the curve. It looks like your parents did a great job of helping you learn priorities. Have patience and everything will come into its own time.

Scott

 
Congrats on the new house! Everything will come in time, once the house is completed you can start work on that Mustang.

 
Congrats on the house. At your age, you are accomplishing more than many people ever manage. Your work on the house looks damn fine and you should be proud.

Working on cars isn't always about fixing them, sometimes it's just about working on cars. Sometimes it is an escape from doing things everyone else's way and an opportunity to be the "boss" on the project. Have fun with what you do and don't worry about the time line. My cars will never be done and that's just fine by me. I can drive them and they look good, but there is always something more to do-because that is what I like doing with some of my spare time.

 
Happy New House, TO YOU!! ::thumb::

Seriously - that's awesome! :bravo:

Nice work... looks like you're probably having some fun with it, as well - it certainly shows in the end result.

Converting the Jeep to 4x4 - on an XJ, it's not too horrible, but there will be some work involved. Fortunately, if you can find the tranny/T-case combination from a 4x4 XJ donor, it should all bolt right in. You'll want to pick-up the entire car if you could... because you'll undoubtedly forget to harvest something you'll need later if you don't.

What's been keeping me from working on mine? Laziness... simple laziness. I am waiting on the title information to come back from the regional DMV office so I can go get my plates. After that, I should be able to get a few things done at the Auto Hobby Shop (using their lift) that I've been needing to do underneath the car (speedometer cable, extended shackles, weld-in a bung for the F.I.'s O2 sensor, etc.).

 
Converting the Jeep to 4x4 - on an XJ' date=' it's not too horrible, but there will be some work involved. Fortunately, if you can find the tranny/T-case combination from a 4x4 XJ donor, it should all bolt right in.[/quote']
Nope, it is a 4WD 2 DOOR, not 2WD. But you are correct, they are simple enough to convert if you had to. :D It'll be an easy one since it doesn't have to be super nice. Fix a little rust, throw a valve cover gasket at it, and it'll be ready to lift. A XJ is the last thing to intimidate me. Any simpler and it would be a boulder with wheels.

Thanks for the kind words on the house though. Its been a fun project. And truth be told, the sweat equity has kept me rolling through it. I practically stole that house when I bought it. The plan is to celebrate Easter sunday at my place, couple more things to finish.
 
Nope, it is a 4WD 2 DOOR, not 2WD. But you are correct, they are simple enough to convert if you had to. :D It'll be an easy one since it doesn't have to be super nice. Fix a little rust, throw a valve cover gasket at it, and it'll be ready to lift. A XJ is the last thing to intimidate me. Any simpler and it would be a boulder with wheels.
Thanks for the kind words on the house though. Its been a fun project. And truth be told, the sweat equity has kept me rolling through it. I practically stole that house when I bought it. The plan is to celebrate Easter sunday at my place, couple more things to finish.
Aw man - I'm sorry. I totally glossed through that, and ran the 2 Door together with the 4WD... probably because of the lack of ground clearance. ;)

I don't know what your skills and/or knowledge are, but if you need some similar support, advice, and cheerleading found on this site, check out Jeeps Unlimited.com. Also, 4-Wheel Drive Hardware is my favorite vendor as well - they have tons of Cherokee stuff, in addition to straight-up Jeep items. I learned a LOT from those sites, and scored some great deals as well when I was getting my CJ-7 set-up the way I wanted it. Keep us posted.

Jeep_carshow_2011-1.jpg

 
Aw man - I'm sorry. I totally glossed through that, and ran the 2 Door together with the 4WD... probably because of the lack of ground clearance. ;)
I don't know what your skills and/or knowledge are, but if you need some similar support, advice, and cheerleading found on this site, check out Jeeps Unlimited.com. Also, 4-Wheel Drive Hardware is my favorite vendor as well - they have tons of Cherokee stuff, in addition to straight-up Jeep items. I learned a LOT from those sites, and scored some great deals as well when I was getting my CJ-7 set-up the way I wanted it. Keep us posted.
You probably see more 2wd Jeeps where you are. Its pretty rare up here in the snow belt to see a non-4wd model unless its a newer FWD based model. The rear leaf spring mounts are broke so thats contributing to the ride height as well.

Cool to see another Jeep guy on here too. Not sure how many people would care but I might throw a build thread together for it for kicks.

This was the last Jeep. Old 88 XJ with the Renix 4.0. Glad the new one has the HO motor.

12068963_10203353668562723_7479103901110416872_o.jpg


 
You probably see more 2wd Jeeps where you are. Its pretty rare up here in the snow belt to see a non-4wd model unless its a newer FWD based model. The rear leaf spring mounts are broke so thats contributing to the ride height as well.

Cool to see another Jeep guy on here too. Not sure how many people would care but I might throw a build thread together for it for kicks.

This was the last Jeep. Old 88 XJ with the Renix 4.0. Glad the new one has the HO motor.

12068963_10203353668562723_7479103901110416872_o.jpg
Actually, most of everything Jeep is 4x4 around here. I'm originally from SLC, UT, so I know what you're talking about, snow belt-wise. We also have a bunch of hardcore 'wheelers here - semi-famous, too. Matt Hodges, who owns West Texas Off Road (Home of the Redneck Ram) is a good friend, and I'm also friends with Toby Harrell, winner of the 2003 Four Wheeler Top Truck Challenge.

In seeing your old Jeep, it looks like you're all over it. Cool rig! ::thumb::

 
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