What percent of your Camaro projects go as you think they should?
It seems mine are at about 20%. Most I end up making at least 2 trips to the parts store, end up with a stripped bolt or the wrong parts.

i have only built a few cars..and have found when you don't go "stock" and go modified or high performance...your in for some customizing and costly adventures..

I cant afford to "end up making at least 2 trips to the parts store, end up with a stripped bolt or the wrong parts."

1/the parts cost almost twice that listed because of exchange rate
2/Then it costs almost as much to ship into the country
3/Then on top of all that there is a 12,5% sales tax on parts shiping and custums handling
5/An if I do get the wrong part...well the reverse of the above.

I cant afford to strip a bolt or screw up, that means EVERYTHING is soaked before undoing, nuts bolts cleaned and retapped before reuse....

What makes a guy not screw up?
A store on the other side of the world, and limitted budgets..one is THEN very thruogh, triple and 4x check everything...dumbie up stuff 1st.

Also I am used to restos on old cars where the company hasnt existed for 50yrs, there are no parts, so one just cant brake them....if u do u either have to re manufacture them yourself or spend a fortine geting them remachined.

my 4 major screw ups in 30 odd yrs
1/ messed up the install of the cigette light in the camaro, lucky the sourounding area is steel..when we came out odf the movies the car was full of smoke.
2/minor design in a cam for the camaro, wasnt as economical as intended thu still economic
3/had the front fender 1/2 off, and without thinking opened the door, chiped right down the door edge.
4/Got an outsider to do the last paint/pannel job...didnt pay him stuff all, doubt if he covered material costs.

I'd say 40-60%
First I research the project or modification. Then I plan it, think it through and think it through again do some more research. Ask you guys or some guys locally that have done something similar. Then plan on customizing some things as I go. (I modify almost everything I buy not just car parts or tools):sad: Most of my projects are performance or customizing in nature. I don't do much of any resto work on my car. (it's more of a fun driver);) So I do have to make trips to the store and occasionally send parts back. More so because I changed the plan after I ordered the parts or on a few occasions ordered the wrong parts.:clonk:

I find the most frustrating part of doing a complete "resto" is getting the wrong part. It slows things down and ends up costing more money down the line. The key to that problem is knowing which vendor to go to for the correct parts. A good knowledge of parts and where to go really helps things go smoothly.

I'lll go with the 20-40% ratio for the whole project....But if your talking about Repop interior parts....Then I would go with 1-3 %.....I just completed an entire new Interior (literally almost every part was repop).....And literally almost every part was crap....from the dash carrier to the door panels to all the knobs & handles too...Absolute junk

I learned a hard lesson......And never again.....My next project will at least have most of the original interior parts....that I can refurbish and re-use...

Dan

I'm in the 80-100 % Group.After a while you get De- sensitized to parts not fitting,wrong parts,poor quality ect....You just learn to deal with it.

What i hate the most is the ordering of the parts.What a pain in the a$$.

I have two high end camaro projects going on now.If you only new the grieve involved of building "custom" cars with DSE this,Tubular that,Vintage what,SB-2.2 headed 434 wow !,555 800hp w/air cond??? and power windows ??? It makes your head spin.
RESTORING CARS IS A WALK IN THE PARK !!!!!

bob

<20% here.

It never fails that one project inevitably leads to finding something ELSE wrong or in need of repair/replacement aka the "Snowball effect"

Cars that are almost 40 years old require a keen understanding of the Snowball effect and willingness to go with the flow.

Not gonna touch that with a 10' pole! I think the only thing right so far about my car is the running engine...Everything we have done as led to another project, of course, unexpected, with no parts available. Don't it figure...

My problem is rounding up missing parts. For example I just found out i'm missing the front bumper corner brackets. I had no idea they were supposed to be there, go figure. Plus miscelaneous screws, bolts, etc.

I put 80 to 100 only because I ULTIMATELY accomplish my goal but - of course not - hassle free. In that sense 90% of my projects have their own little or big hassles. ULTIMATELY I fix what I need to get fixed though. Since I've been doing this since the early 80's (restoration) I have learned to EXPECT HASSLES. :)

Well isn't it true that if you already know that almost every time something unexpected happens...it isn't unexpected anymore and you job goes 100% as planned??

Well isn't it true that if you already know that almost every time something unexpected happens...it isn't unexpected anymore and you job goes 100% as planned??

NOTHING ever goes as planned.......Even when you know.


bob