Love/Hate relationship

[burnin oil]

As others have said keep the chunks small so you can always drive the truck. I pulled the front clip several times to repair my floor on the weekends as my truck is a daily driver. The hard part is dealing with setbacks. When I was almost done with sheetmetal repair the 46k mile original motor blew up. Not long after I got the truck repainted I noticed that the rear leaf springs bent. That one sucked because I replaced those right after I bought the truck. They made it a whole 10 months. When I make that repair some sort of traction device will need to be added. Probably Caltracs. Unfortunatly these trucks are 40 years old so little things will always pop up. Having an other half that supports your craziness is the biggest hurdle. Especially when you take a three week vacation and spend it sandblasting, painting, and rewiring a truck For a final that sucks, after all that work I broke a rocker arm on the new motor on the 300 mile trip home from the rebuild. I put a push rod straight through a rocker arm due to a manufacturing problem. Even tore up a valve! Enjoy your hobby and keep a picture of what you started with handy

[chvtrkman]

I've been working on my truck off and on for the better part of 16 yrs. When I first bought it I just drove it the way it was for a year or two. Then did some rust repair (floorboards) and gave it a cheapo rattle can paint job just to go for a different look. I knew when I did it that I would want to change it down the road sometime. Drove it like that another year...just enjoying the heck out of having an old truck.Then it developed some mechanical issues that I didn't have the funds to repair,so...I parked it on the side of the house.
Five years later.... I get the itch to get her running again. Replaced the bad flywheel, decided since I had the tranny out to put an OD tranny in it.I also did some minor dent pulling and rust patching, rebuilt front brakes, and ditched the monojet carb for a 4bbl. Hmmm, seems I got a little bit carried away with my plan to just "get her running again". also, did another rattle can paint job just to change things up a bit. Drove it another 2 years.
Now it is need of MORE rust repair, so I'm ready to do a full restoration as funds permit. I consider the time I invest in fixing the truck up as cheap emotional therapy. It's never been a matter of being a Love/Hate relationship for me. I just enjoy working on it. Will the truck ever be finished? I don't know, but the satisfaction I get from tinkering around is worth it.

[69moneypit]

I did a full frame off on my truck . Truck has about 3k miles now . Some days I love it but when it gives me a problem ; I get so mad that I want to sell it . I usually park it in garage , put cover on it and let it sit couple weeks . My dad stops by and always says " Son , you gotta drive it some to get the kinks n bugs out not just the day of a show or cruise ." So I do know about frustration and anger also.