The crossroads of a project

Hello, I'm a new member and I apologize if this post is in the wrong section.
I have a bit of an undertaking on my hands, and I don't know if I should continue with it. It's an old extended Ford Aerostar.
I decided to rebuild the motor, swap it to a manual, convert it to true 4x4 and to slide in solid axles. When I started this project,
I didn't realize how much of an undertaking this turned out to be. I know this van inside and out, what I need to do to pull this off and make it reliable. I have most of everything I need, currently Im building a budget to get the ball rolling and took up fabrication classes to properly convert this thing into an offroader. This is my 5th project, each one has been something I wanted to either restore or turn into drag car and each one has failed. Ive learned a lot throughout each misguided attempt. I have the image of what I want to do, a plan on how to do it, but I dread looking at it as I fear it'll just turn into another failed project and the kicker is that I have another car that I fell head over heels for when my van crapped out. It is a 96, manual Jeep Cherokee. It's an absolute joy to drive, to maintain, everything about it is just perfect. I very much want to move on and start restoring this Jeep. However, I dont want to give up on the Ford. I feel as if Ive put in way too much time, work and money to just call it quits. What should I do?    

SuperDaleJRHotDogUSA4Ever said:

 It is a 96, manual Jeep Cherokee.

I saw this and said why the berkeley is Dale berkeleying around with an Aerostar?  My 2 cents.

XJs are cool ..... nuff said

If you're not familiar with the sunk cost fallacy, now would be a good time to read about it.

Could you please post a picture of the project?

If you REALLY want to keep going on the project, get a buddy and some beer.  Just go poke around and work on something, anything for 30 mins.

Where are you located?  There is probably a grmer near you that can help either motivate or help you to pull the plug.

If you do the Aerostar I have a bunch of manual swap parts I would sell. Clutch pedal, mod trans  mission top with he shifter in the right place and clutch line and master cylinder new. Just letting you know. I hope you do the van I always wanted to do one.

Is it just me, or does the original post not read a lot like the one where the poster wanted to become a notable persona in the racing world after one year and 100k budget?

In reply to NOHOME :

I see what you are saying though, an extended Aerostar converted to manual is a rather obscure reference.  

Im guessing the intended is more like...

In reply to NOHOME :

Not just you

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

Im going to start doing that just to see if I really do want to give this up, thanks for that. Im located in Virginia.

In reply to John Welsh :

yeah that's pretty much the build I'm after.

jovibuilt said:

If you do the Aerostar I have a bunch of manual swap parts I would sell. Clutch pedal, mod trans  mission top with he shifter in the right place and clutch line and master cylinder new. Just letting you know. I hope you do the van I always wanted to do one.

Thanks man, I might be interested in that M5OD, I'm not sure if just one will last behind something like this. I already have the clutch pedal and lines.