I think I'm done with wrenching. First world problems and lack of time and motivation these days.

Something to think on.  I no longer wrench or service daily drivers, I let others do that and I check their work.

Two, I hated wrenching in my old garage mainly because it was a mess and my setup was suboptimal.

In my new house, I did lots of things better and wrenching is far easier.  When you can find things easily, get them and put them away easily and have the right tools, things are way better.  Speaking of the right tools, it can be faster to go buy or rent the right tool than trying to make do with a different tool.  Knowing where are those tools are and putting them back needs to be a priority.

I'm going to get quick jacks or max jax soon and ditch the iron 3 ton hydraulic jack.  I need to spring for an aluminum race jack too.  But quick jacks will be far better than jack us jack stands.  

As my cars got newer, my desire to wrench on them decreased. It was incremental, and I didn't really notice it was happening until I had my E36 M3. That car created nothing but dread in me.

Then I bought a 2007 Royal Enfield motorcycle with the head off of it. A 1955 design. Stone age simple. And I found my joy again.

I'm progressively ditching my 'modern' machinery and going back to older stuff. I have to be careful though; no rusty piles of misery demanding a full restoration. Just stuff with good 'bones', running and driving, with good parts availability.

In reply to ddavidv :

Outstanding observation, you may have hit the nail on the head.  Suddenly loning for the days when I could pull the engine from one of my many Hillman Imps with nothing but a floor jack, small hand toolbox and a couple of blocks of wood.  Honestly what's really stummped me on the freaking Boxster is the damn electrons at this point.  

But the truth is on top of that, life is just flat out on every front. Even once we're over this hump of time sucks in our life, I feel my interest and desire to work is going to focus more on house projects.  

I still have desire to play with something small and fun in retirement, but honestly for the next decade, I'm pretty much done.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

No shame in that. 
 

I'm in a similar position. I'm facing retirement and grandkids and a list of house projects, and I'm thinking now is simply not the time for wrenching.

You are not alone. 

Yep.  Two little kids, 2 different jobs, other hobbies like fishing biking kayaking... Sold the Nissan track/project car and feeling great about it.  I moved this year and have a much smaller garage so suddenly having a garage ornament was a big problem.  But free time, spending money, priorities all shift over time.  I'm hoping to build a bigger garage and get a more turnkey track/fun car in the future like an ND or GT3/4.  No urgency though.  Just enjoying the simplicity for now.

When I first got into the Nissans 15+ years ago I was a broke college kid trying to go faster on the cheap.  A lot of my DIY habits stayed with me and made for a lot of frustrating garage time that would have been better spent differently.  It's crucial to be honest with yourself about your resources (time, money, energy/interest) and goals (fun, speed, bonding w fam/friends, mental escape).  

There is a big phsycolological difference to me between working on projects and daily drivers. Beyond that I still really enjoy my shop time but my lack of eyesight is really getting to me. My welding has gone to crap and I will probably need to stop that.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

Based on your cars I'd say you'd free up a ton of free time by exchanging them for something made by honda or toyota :)

 I get it,I'm also pretty much done with cars,building a custom motorcycle now....takes up less space at least.

In reply to kevlarcorolla :

Ouch.  LOL

Counterpoint.  All three Volvo's have been amazingly reliable over the years.  And one of the worst vehicles we ever had the misfortune to buy was a Toyota Highlander, bought new in 04, sold in 08 with 100K touble filled miles.  Really, it was a stunning POS.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :

Lemons suck no matter who made it thats for sure,my rav4 wasn't great either to be honest.

My 850 wagon and e30 were both loved AND hated.

Our GX470 was ok until 115k miles.  Then *everything* wore out on it in the next 10k miles.  I was sorely disappointed in it

Same here, no more desire to work on daily drivers, unless it's something easy like brakes, oil changes, etc... If there's a risk to break things and have the car inoperable for the next day, it stresses me out and I don't have fun. Right now I need to do the trailing arm bushings in my C30. I was in my old broke kid mentality so I took an afternoon with friends to harvest some trailing arms in the junkyard. OK that was fun. Then I painted them and pressed the new bushings at my local shop. That was fun too. But now I get to swap out the arms by wrestling old rusty bolts that will probably be seized in the bushings for hours. I realize I don't need to do it myself to save money and I don't feel like doing it. I will gladly pay the 1000$+ to get work done at the local shop from now on I think.

On the other hand, I love wrenching on my old Peugeot bicycle or my project 190E, toys that I can just leave in the garage and come back later if something goes south. Plus I like inviting a friend or two over while doing the job and drinking a few cold beers.

Lockdown was a great time to wrench. It was 62 degrees out and you weren't expected to do much else. Now, more than a year later that we can actually do stuff, everything is backed up so we're all busy as hell and its 9000 degrees out. If a car breaks and it's not a 10 minute job you do from the top it is infuriating! Fall is coming and events are going to stop! It has to be fixed now and I don't want to/can't!

Most likely, next year will not be like this.

I've been enjoying bringing my V70R back from the just-set-it-on-fire abyss.  Rear wheel bearing fixed the howl.  Finally figured out that the clutch switch was screwing up the cruise control.  A used diff module brought the AWD back on-line.  Been fighting with a reverse light switch for a week now, but only a few minutes at a time.

I've been where Adrian is though, when EVERYTHING seems broken.  At once.  I have one car under warranty and another with a voided warranty but still new (it was worth it).  If something takes a while it doesn't bother me.

I'm not sure I have a point.  Wrenching is fun when you don' t have to, I guess. 

GCrites80s said:

Lockdown was a great time to wrench. It was 62 degrees out and you weren't expected to do much else. Now, more than a year later that we can actually do stuff, everything is backed up so we're all busy as hell and its 9000 degrees out. If a car breaks and it's not a 10 minute job you do from the top it is infuriating! Fall is coming and events are going to stop! It has to be fixed now and I don't want to/can't!

Most likely, next year will not be like this.

Well it took damn near all day but I got the fusible link fixed and another issue addressed as well. It was only 78 today. Now I feel better. Still had to throw my shirt straight in the laundry bin from sweating so much.

In reply to GCrites80s :

I'm back to working on my daily driver. I couldn't get an appointment at my dealership And without an appointment I would have had to sit there until they had a no show. 
   So I stopped and bought the Mobile 1  and filter.  It took me about 45 minutes without having to Jack up the truck.  ( the only advantage to having a stupid high 4x4 ) although even the 2 wheel drive pick ups have tailgates stupid high. 
     But even with an appointment it would have taken at least an hour longer. 
    OK I did spend well over 5 minutes looking for where Ford put the filter. ( not where Chevy does )  8&1/2 quarts? 

Awaken zombie thread...  The Volvo C30's compressor clutch needs a shim adjustment.  All the P1s share this issue.  Pretty easy fix:

https://www.swedespeed.com/threads/ac-clutch-shimming-adjustment.577985/