Anyone else "suffering" from the goodenufs?

[DarkBuddha]

I had a bit of a epiphany the other day... I'm suffering from the goodenufs. Anyone here find themselves saying "goodenuf" just so you can get back to enjoying driving the car rather than spending another painstaking hour (or four) getting the it just so? You know what I mean... you kill yourself over these details (and love it), but then find the sun has set on another day and you still didn't get it out of the garage. It sucks. But I seem to have caught the goodenufs one evening when I looked at the intercooler piping I'd been working on for 3 hours and said "goodenuf" and went for a drive rather than stressing over the alignment of the t-bolt clamps. And you know, I didn't mind the "suffering" of the goodenufs. Bright, crisp, cool afternoon drive with my son in the back seat just to get a soda at the 7-11. And I realized that when I was driving the car, I couldn't tell that the clamps weren't perfectly aligned, or that my hackjob of painting the spoiler looks like hell, or that the front and rear calipers don't match, or the wiring isn't as neat as I'd like. The car was just fun to drive.

So, is this a point of pride or something more like reconciling the fact that I'm spread too thin to do stuff right?

[tymbom]

It's your car right?? If some nit picking retard doesn't like the way your clamps are aligned, then kick their a$$ outta the garage... A car doens't have to be perfect to enjoy or drive. A friend started a 69 Firebird the same time I started my last Nova. He tore his car down to rebuild it, I simply swapped a 350/4speed and started driving. Yeah my car didn't look the best, but my car didn't sit in the garage for 7 years before he drove it. You can't enjoy it unless you drive it.

[mc84_zz4]

For me it's a balancing act. I am 'time-poor', as I heard the definition the other day.
Wife, kids in college and middle school, full time job that also blends into weekends, etc, etc.
So I take a vote on how important is it to have some suspension part powder coated, or scuff & paint, or just put the damn thing back together, and drive it.
Who is going to see you did not paint the rear axle? or other stuff like that.
Yeah, when you get time to do it, great, but the reason you have the car is to enjoy it.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

oh... my.. god... glad im not alone!

its like..
i want to hit it with my wife so bad but shes not interested for the next couple years... so bad i got a hooker.


ahahha

glad i got Storm.. to tide me over.. man i know what you mean.

[Scott Parkhurst]

I've convinced myself that it's more important to get it all together and running than to make it 'show pretty'. It's not a show car, it's a driver. I didn't build it to win shows, I built it to drive hard.

Maybe, once it's all together and dialed in, I'll blow it all apart and make it pretty. THEN I'll worry about 'clamp alignment' and other such things. Right now, I want them to hold tight and not leak. I don't care how they're aligned.

[Twentyover]

"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien"
Voltaire

The perfect is the enemy of the good. Where I work, it's "Sometimes you need to shoot the engineer and advance the project." Patton is claimed to have said "A good plan implemented today is better than a perfect plan implemented tomorrow."

Some people spend years on or never complete a project because it needs to be perfect. My brothers neighbor won't finish a project because the the anticipation of satisfaction of a perfect project is never met by the reality. He's afraid of disappointment.

My take: It will only be perfect until the first time it turns a wheel. The usually high incremental money, time, and effort of 'perfection' is only rewarded if you never intend to turn a wheel in anger.

[lvrpool32]

I think thats one of the biggest issues with the "pro-touring" theme right now.
That its gone away from making the car handle, upgraded power, better brakes and be fun to drive, into these giant rolling billet aluminum billboards.

I used to worry about every spec of dirt, dull aluminum or unpolished chrome...but after I had started taking my son out in the Viper and the Rivi..its more fun cruising around the backroads with him giggling and laughing, telling me "more" everytime I blip the thottle than sitting in the garage for days redoing everything 3 times.

[DarkBuddha]

You know... now that I think about it, I actually had goodenuf in my head when I was planning my Mach 1 because when it was done, I knew I planned on driving it hard and often. Kinda wish I could afford tubular a-arms and AirRide right off the bat, but getting it done sooner and under budget is more important.

[parsonsj]

Wyatt, you did the right thing. There will always be time to make things better. Get the car running, then on the road, then tweak when you can't drive it.

jp

[Martin71RS]

I went from goodenuf to beyond that...and still it is not a real showcar...it looks nice but there are still things that could be better....

my next car (62 nova 4door) will be more of a beater I think....even when I have big money to spend on performance it will look like a turd...no worries when parking it either

[Ron L]

My car's been under a car cover for years now, as I mull over every little imperfection and do some "web research" about it instead of actually working on it. I was actually thinking of posting a similar topic just a few days ago. I just want to drive it, you know? As it sits all my hard work just turns to rust because I'm waiting to "do it right". At this point I'm looking to a Rustoleum satin job. Who knows, at my age I'm getting close to having a chance of something making me very sick or worse. So why wait around? If I want something nice and fast I could buy a decent new-ish car (BMW, well-sorted SN95, etc) with what I can sell this heap for.

[stealth71]

Driving it ended up being much more important. Nothing like an endless project that can never be enjoyed. At some point I made the decision to get the car driving and work out the other minute details later.

[Damn True]

"Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien"
Voltaire

The perfect is the enemy of the good. Where I work, it's "Sometimes you need to shoot the engineer and advance the project." Patton is claimed to have said "A good plan implemented today is better than a perfect plan implemented tomorrow."

Some people spend years on or never complete a project because it needs to be perfect. My brothers neighbor won't finish a project because the the anticipation of satisfaction of a perfect project is never met by the reality. He's afraid of disappointment.

My take: It will only be perfect until the first time it turns a wheel. The usually high incremental money, time, and effort of 'perfection' is only rewarded if you never intend to turn a wheel in anger.

Literary references - check.
Quote from great leader - check.
Plain old wisdom - check.

Best post on PT.com in quite a while.

[Tony_SS]

I think though, a lot of the fun in the this hobby is building, and doing things "right". What constitutes right varies wildly, but when that takes too long, or doesn't become fun anymore we say 'goodenuff' and go cruising.

This is exact reason why I have two eternal projects... one is to satisfy my OCD of facing all the zip ties correctly and the other is for 'thank god I don't care if this is not perfect as long as it works'. But both can be driven and enjoyed while I tinker and upgrade.

[vanzuuk1]

Rule of thumb is that the longer someone takes to tell you about their project the less likely it will ever be finished.

[Vegas69]

Doing it right the first time is the cheapest route. Now that I have a car with 3,000 miles and some races under my belt, I find myself planning upgrades and tweaks for hours. These tweaks don't usually compromise me jumping in the car and turning the key. It's to easy to over complicate a very simple project. However I do feel the small details seperate a decent vs. an excellent build. They can cost a boat load of money building from scratch. I recently spent $70 just on a coolant bypass between my water pump and intake. I had to use stainless fittings and heat shrink clamps. I now say these cars will $100 you to death.

My advice would be if you are building it from scratch, step back and think and plan things out. Do it right once if possible. We all end up doing some things 2 or 3 times, that's just the nature of the beast. If you car isn't built from scratch, pick one project at a time and plan it out and think of all the variables first. Then implement that change with little down time.

Once the car is on the road and you have your first coolant belch that dirties up your engine compartment or you get caught in a sprinkle, you will find yourself spending less time on getting the hose clamps at the perfect angle, I promise. LOL

[NOT A TA]

Lots and lots of great posts in this thread !!!

[dadto2jays]

It's funny we dont have time to do it right the first time but we have time to do it three or four times over....



I do it right the first time and if I see my self half assing stuff I stop and work on it when I have a clear head and not in a hurry..

[DarkBuddha]

It's funny we dont have time to do it right the first time but we have time to do it three or four times over....

I do it right the first time and if I see my self half assing stuff I stop and work on it when I have a clear head and not in a hurry..
See, that's the kind of thinking that gets me stuck, because my life doesn't stop and there isn't any downtime in it. And that's part of the trick isn't it... finding more time to get a clear head and not hurry. If you had time to do it right to begin with, you wouldn't need to hurry. By the time I get that kinda time I'll be out of time.:rolleyes: :hammer:

[shmoov69]

The only problem with it is that some of those details will never get changed.......ask me how I know! My whole car is that way!! The next project will not be that way........or at least not that bad!
Congrats on the drive tho!

[Bow Tie 67]

Being a Virgo, I have to constantly tell myself " you are going to drive this b*stard hard " aesthetics are at the bottom of the list. When it comes to everything else, we have long winters in Chicago to repair, upgrade and modify. I started this project with one goal in mind, get behind the wheel asap, no regrets here.