Seems everything takes so much longer.Always a new issue to throw money at.I'm driving with no bumpers till next week.

If it isn't fun, it's not worth doing... Sometimes a deadline helps. It might not get finished, but the project will for sure get pushed forward. Without a deadline, it's easy to say "I'll get to it later". One of the biggest things is you have to have the finished project pictured in your head. Having the vision helps you get there.

KINDA??? We do not call you Captain Distracto for nothing.

in 1974 or so, i started my 33 dodge humpback project by dragging a lump out of a south carolina swamp. i had a vision that would later become termed "pro street". many, many years later, life and MS took over, and time marched on. i managed to go 42 1/2yrs as a machinist, which allowed me to acquire the skills necessary to fulfill my vision, but the effects of my health took a toll, and not much progress was made. also, the medical costs i incur each month leave not much disposable income to play with. i have many, many fabricated parts on the shelf [sub assemblies] awaiting to be installed for this build, but it is closely coming to the point of big money needing to be invested to finish this. luckily, my fab skills have saved a ton of bucks by being able to make most items needed myself instead of paying someone else to do so, including fabricating fixtures, tooling and equipment to get the results i am after. i am only able to work a few hours on any given day, health permitting, but i'm determined to see this through ! first pic is what i started with after being retrieved from the swamp. second one in 2006 gives some idea what it will look like. i don't have any recent ones, but many, many more parts have been fabbed and installed, but i'm slowly gaining......

I am facing this as I reply...had this not so smart idea of building a hemi dart clone. Gathered all sorts of cool and expensive parts and now they are sitting in my garage while the body languishes in the car trailer. My issue, being of limited skills is not finding anyone willing to do some of the things I can't. Forget the money issue, folks are just not interested or have the time to take on work. So 90% sure the project will be never completed. Sad, but realistic.

Absolutely, especially when I have 3 projects going on at the same time & need to get one done sold before winter hits. Biggest pain in the azz is vendors who can't keep their word & keep the project hanging. I usually fall asleep at nite planning some part of the build..
Keep visualizing the end result & don't give up & sell your project for pennies on the dollar.. something you'll always regret.

Like I said, there is a long list of tricks. Not all of them work for everybody but some are fairly universal. If you step back from the question a bit the issue is similar to other difficult things like losing weight or stopping drinking or whatever. People have come up with tools or tricks for these things over time.

1. Peer group, support group, etc. is very helpful. If you don't have anyone local to share your build with then post a progress report on here once a week. Do it for yourself, not for anyone else. You don't even need to read the replies if you don't want to, just make the post to show yourself what you accomplished that week.
2. If you are really stuck then set an easy goal and do it. Something as simple as washing the car can be a simple goal, or sweeping out the garage. Hitting an easy goal then gets you in the mood to tackle the harder goal.
3. Order just a few parts at a time so you don't get overwhelmed with things to do when the UPS shows up. I usually order $100 worth of stuff from Summit a couple of times of week. That way I always have some new stuff showing up. Sometimes if I'm stuck then getting a box of new stuff gets me going again.
4. Find some people in your local area who can get you unstuck. I have local resources who I can toss projects to if I can't get it done. Some stuff I just can't do like installing glass or covering seats. Other things like TIG welding I can do but I'm not good at it so I take it to a shop.
5. Crank up some music, sometimes that helps.
6. Invite a friend over in a week to show them what you finished up. That will give you a little bit of a deadline to hit.
7. Take pictures on a regular basis and then flip back thru them to see what you have accomplished. Post the pictures so you have a record that you can refer back to.
8. Ask for help. A little bit of help even from someone who is unskilled can be a big deal. I had a college kid come over and help me during the summer a few times. Even if they are just sweeping the floor while you are working on the car it helps.
9. Hire some help for the non-car stuff. Have a kid mow the lawn so you don't have to do it and stuff like that.
10. Turn off the TV
11. If you are really stuck then go get some exercise
12. If you are really stuck then go do something unpleasant that needs to be done like scrub the toilets, clean the oven, etc. Sometimes that will clear your head and get you motivated to go do some car work.
13. Go to a car show and wander around looking at other projects.

I could go on but I think you get the drift by now......

I'll add some more thoughts.

One thing I've learned over time is that a lot of this is personality dependent. Some people get stuck easier than other people. Like Clint said, a man has to know his limitations. If you are a really picky person who wants everything to be perfect then don't try to build a show winning car in a one car garage with no tools. Ain't going to happen.

If you are a super picky person then learn to hack your way thru problems. If you want to get the project done then get it done. If you want it to be perfect then buy all the tools and do it perfect. If you can't afford the tools and the time to make it perfect but won't work on it if it isn't perfect then go find a different hobby.

I'm the type of person who wants everything perfect but I learned a long time ago that I do not have the time or the money to get perfect results. I have more time and money than some people so I can get pretty good results, but I can't get perfect. So I do what I can with the tools I have and the time I have. I hack what I need to hack just to keep the ball rolling. Sometimes I come back later and fix it and sometimes I don't. I build enough cool stuff to keep myself motivated but I don't allow the perfect to become the enemy of good enough.

Having said all of that, I do try to push myself in a few areas on each project. The Duster project is a push for me in some areas. I'm fabbing up some stuff that in the past I would not have taken on. It isn't a hand built tube chassis car or anything like that but I'm trying to take on some stuff where previously I would've just used bolt on parts. Only note of caution I'd make is that you have to remember what Clint said. Don't take on more than a stretch goal. If you decide you are going to build your own billet block using a chunk of iron and a butter knife then you won't get there. You have to at least give yourself a fighting chance.

I've had my Charger for 12 years. I got tired of the old rotten interior, leaks and so forth and decided to completely restore it. I'm trying desperately to get it finished. Was hoping by this fall but ain't going to happen. I'm completely restoring and replacing everything new or rebuilt. I've done lot of the work myself but do to my work schedule im paying a couple of guys to try and get it finished for me. They've been really fair with me but the cost of all of the new parts have been really staggering. Seems like they are no end to any of it. I'm about to give it a break as soon as I get my motor, trans., wiring and gauges in it. Sometimes I wished I never tore it apart and made it my Ratty muscle car lol

I'm very analytical and some of these posts tie into my situation. I have a running, driving cruiser that is nice but, I'd like to restore the car some day.

I always struggle with the thought of the car being down for years while the restoration is occurring. I often wonder if I'm willing to accept that. I’ve also thought about addressing certain areas of the car but, in some situations, it would be like putting lipstick on a pig or a waste of money given I’d have to undo things I’ve already done if I did ever fully restore it.

There is some heavier metal work that I'm not willing to tackle so; it will go somewhere to have at least some of the metal work done. Then I think about the inefficiency of having a shop doing a portion of the metal work, just to bring it home to finish the remaining items. It almost makes sense just to have a shop deliver me a rolling painted car for me to reassemble. Then I struggle with the fact that I’ll look at the car for years and not have the satisfaction of having done the body work myself; especially since I did it for a living for several years and can do it. Maybe the shop doing the work won’t do it to my liking either.

I just finished all the metal and body work for my Father in Law’s 55 Ford f100. I worked on it for the past 3 Winters. My car will need more than his truck so; how long would all of this take if I did it myself? Knowing me, I’ll work on my own stuff for longer hours as I just want things done; doing this may result in not having a father in law any longer too.

Money, locating parts and all the other things also come into play.

Man, I’m getting overwhelmed just thinking about it.

I find I have to force myself to only look at, think about and work on smaller goals and not the big picture. There's just too much to try to take it all in at once. When I start to get burned out I shift gears to another project/different hobby (bad idea) that only takes more time and money away from the car I really wanted to get done. I sold off one of the projects I was never going to get to, now down to 3.

Or better yet the money you have already spent on it

I threw my junk together a couple of years ago and enjoy it after it languished in various storage since 1993.

The plan was to have a nicely restored and detailed car but I wanted to drive it NOW!

I keep picking at it and improving things and when something breaks or needs upgrades, I fix it quickly. It is amazing when you focus what you can accomplish.

I toasted a couple of rod bearings recently and knew I HAD to get it back on the road. I started with a bare block on Tuesday morning and by Thurday morning it was rebuilt and back in the car!

X2
Got my current Challenger in 1981 right after I sold my SS Hemi Challenger.
My current car is an early production car and I was of the mind set that it had to be back perfect. Well 30 years later I finally go t mart enough to just throw it back together and drive the heck out of it. Took a long time to get the parts back on where they went as I had torn this car down to nothing but the unibody right after I got it in 1981.
Hang in there Brad it will come together. Take lots of pictures during the process.

Seems to me you have enough data to make a decision! You've done similar projects so now you know how much time it takes and whether or not you can do it.

I don't think very many people have the resources (time, money, space, tools, etc.) to tackle a full resto project. It is probably smarter for people to just do one part of the car at a time. Rebuild the brakes as one project then upgrade the suspension, then fix the heater box, then rebuild the transmission, etc. Projects like that can be handled in a few weeks each by most folks. Taking the whole thing apart tends to set off a mushroom cloud in the garage!

My car sat for 30 years before I finally got at it a few years back. I have no problem tackling anything mechanical but the metalwork was intimidating. As I took the car apart I rebuilt each piece, wrapped it and stored it safely. People would be shocked at how much space a disassembled car takes !! It finally came down to the crunch of metalwork but I watched a build over on For B-bodies only and I figured with the proper tools and patience I can do it. I already have excellent welding skills so that isn't an issue. So far things are going well. 18 gauge is easy to work with !!

I hear you on that one. Paint/body is most time consuming and costly part of the build for most. It would be nice to have someone complete that part as it would help the build make a huge leap forward. But with high cost (most shops around here charging $7K -12K for a quality paint job, plus any metal replacement) and all the horror stories of projects permanently screwed up by "professional" shops, parts stolen, delays, etc., its a tough hurdle to get past.

I just realized the Convertible has been sitting for two years now waiting for me to finish the wiring, and a bunch of other finishing details from the 4 wheel disc conversion and radiator/cooling fan changes.
Just ordered a Cooper Bussman fuse/relay box to help clean up some of the wiring.

Yep - all the time. But I find this forum a great source of information and inspiration. Back in 2011, I walked off the job due to stress. I told my boss I was leaving and didn't know when or if I'd be back. I went home, told my wife it's me time, and decided I'd finally restore the Duster engine bay. It was my first time doing paint and body work. I worked 12 - 14hrs a day for a month straight, and it was the most rewarding month of my life.

The message here is sometimes you need to say the heck with all else and take time for yourself. After all, you only live once! Here's a before and after shot of the engine bay: