Matt Drayer's Journal
Home Page: Matt Drayer
Marblehead, MA, USA
| Total Posts: 42 | Latest Post: 2023-08-29 |
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What a push.
I've already put so many hours into this project, and it's just been prep, prep, prep. There's more prep to do. There's always more. Prep never ends. Even when you think you've done enough, you look at that bubbling paint and that dripping oil and realize that yep, you should have done more. I read a response to someone's MG Experience post saying "Congrats on your new project -- expect to spend 40-50 hours prepping." Pretty sure I'm over 50 hours at this point. Probably 75-80. And that's only counting the actual hours I've put in on the car -- there's also the research, the reading, the YouTubes, the tools, the parts sites, the writing. I've seen articles stating that restorations take anywhere from 500 to 1000 hours. 500 hours seems high to me -- after all, this isn't a concours-level effort. I'm sure some day I'll look back on what I just wrote and LOL ROTFL LOLOLOLOL.
I could keep better track of hours, but hours are not the focus. The focus is progress. Progress must be made every day. No matter how small, there must be progress. Our Phase 1 goal was to reach a "clean state" by the end of 2022 so we could make our parts orders and begin putting the car back together. Sandblasters and acid washes aren't in the budget, and so our signifying event would consist of a thorough spray-and-scrub with a jug of Purple Power and a hot water rinse from our hockey rink hose (it's Massachusetts). I'm happy to say that after gallon of kerosene, a 1000-count package of napkins, a box of nitrile gloves, many swear words, and many more late nights, our first milestone was achieved on the afternoon of New Year's Eve 2022.
Sure, the rear end still needs to be dropped, cleaned, inspected, and renovated. Same goes for the gas tank. And the exhaust. The peeling undercoating needs to be scraped away. Body panels need to be fixed/filled. We'll get to all that stuff in due time. But we're in a good place now -- we're able to repair, and paint, and install. YouTube makes it look soooo easy -- 1000 hours of blood, sweat, and tears condensed into 30 smiling minutes. ROTFL, indeed.
Speaking of YouTube, we're going to try starting our own channel -- "Marblehead MG". I think it would be good for my daughter to learn how to do -- and it could end up being a substantial component of her journalism project. I feel like we should have documented more of the early part of the process with video, but that's water under the bridge at this point. This is where we're at, so we'll go forward from here -- best time to plant a tree and all.
It's 2023 and we're on track with this project. Onward and upward. Shifting gears.
Progress.
I've already put so many hours into this project, and it's just been prep, prep, prep. There's more prep to do. There's always more. Prep never ends. Even when you think you've done enough, you look at that bubbling paint and that dripping oil and realize that yep, you should have done more. I read a response to someone's MG Experience post saying "Congrats on your new project -- expect to spend 40-50 hours prepping." Pretty sure I'm over 50 hours at this point. Probably 75-80. And that's only counting the actual hours I've put in on the car -- there's also the research, the reading, the YouTubes, the tools, the parts sites, the writing. I've seen articles stating that restorations take anywhere from 500 to 1000 hours. 500 hours seems high to me -- after all, this isn't a concours-level effort. I'm sure some day I'll look back on what I just wrote and LOL ROTFL LOLOLOLOL.
I could keep better track of hours, but hours are not the focus. The focus is progress. Progress must be made every day. No matter how small, there must be progress. Our Phase 1 goal was to reach a "clean state" by the end of 2022 so we could make our parts orders and begin putting the car back together. Sandblasters and acid washes aren't in the budget, and so our signifying event would consist of a thorough spray-and-scrub with a jug of Purple Power and a hot water rinse from our hockey rink hose (it's Massachusetts). I'm happy to say that after gallon of kerosene, a 1000-count package of napkins, a box of nitrile gloves, many swear words, and many more late nights, our first milestone was achieved on the afternoon of New Year's Eve 2022.
Sure, the rear end still needs to be dropped, cleaned, inspected, and renovated. Same goes for the gas tank. And the exhaust. The peeling undercoating needs to be scraped away. Body panels need to be fixed/filled. We'll get to all that stuff in due time. But we're in a good place now -- we're able to repair, and paint, and install. YouTube makes it look soooo easy -- 1000 hours of blood, sweat, and tears condensed into 30 smiling minutes. ROTFL, indeed.
Speaking of YouTube, we're going to try starting our own channel -- "Marblehead MG". I think it would be good for my daughter to learn how to do -- and it could end up being a substantial component of her journalism project. I feel like we should have documented more of the early part of the process with video, but that's water under the bridge at this point. This is where we're at, so we'll go forward from here -- best time to plant a tree and all.
It's 2023 and we're on track with this project. Onward and upward. Shifting gears.
Progress.
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