Does your project have a plan?

yupididit said:

I used to plan all my projects on Trello. But I lost control of my life and stopped doing it...

I'm a huge Trello fan.  All of my projects have Trello pages.  My daily drivers have cards on my Running Lists Trello page. 

The critical part of my planing  is to know  from the onset what I want when I am done. A defined destination if you will. So it is more of a vision than an actual plan.

Since I tent to launch project as an exercise in problem solving and skill development, its more about launching without any definite path to the goal. Creativity and re-dos are expected and welcome.

Budget wise, I treat the project as a round of Golf: It is all sunk cost so as long as I stay in my financial comfort zone, no recoup is needed at the back end.

Plan, yes. Smart plan, debatable.

L5wolvesf said:

I have a built motor in it but it has the PBS head so its not eligible for vintage. There is a lot of other work to do too.

The original Fiat head was a good part of why the 850s had problems. Short version is: when I discussed it with SCCA they were afraid of the PBS head. By the time they agreed to it most, if not all, of the 850s had left H-Prod.

Au contraire my friend. VARA has a class for cars modified beyond the traditional rules.

It would be in HP-GT. You'd run in the same group as if it were in HP. There are a couple of Sprites with larger engines and or fiberglass noses that get thrown in this class.

You should bring it out.

j_tso said:

There's an end goal, but getting there hasn't been a straight path.

Usually it's modifications that didn't work as intended or other areas that end up needing attention.

This is something I deal with too; quite a bit I might add.  Repairing and modifying and restoring an old 240Z is sometimes rife with little issues, especially when dealing with parts that are older than my children.  Shoot, when I look around, everything is older than my adult children!  The little modifications to make everything work, to fit together, and to look pretty take more time than I care to think about.  Patience is key for me and I have not given up on an "old" project that is coming along...slowly, yes...but coming along nevertheless. 

Tom1200 said:

L5wolvesf said:

I have a built motor in it but it has the PBS head so its not eligible for vintage. There is a lot of other work to do too.

The original Fiat head was a good part of why the 850s had problems. Short version is: when I discussed it with SCCA they were afraid of the PBS head. By the time they agreed to it most, if not all, of the 850s had left H-Prod.

Au contraire my friend. VARA has a class for cars modified beyond the traditional rules.

It would be in HP-GT. You'd run in the same group as if it were in HP. There are a couple of Sprites with larger engines and or fiberglass noses that get thrown in this class.

You should bring it out.

VRAIMENT ! ! mon ami. How about cage rules? Back in the early 90s mine was, and still is, a grandfathered in low front hoop type.

But there is still the issue of La Moulah ($$$). To put the car together, revised cooling system, new cell, helmet, and the money to do events.

I messed with Trello a very small amount for work, back in like 2016.  I guess I should look at it again.  I did more with Confluence, only because collaboration and knowledgebase software works best when you are the only person using it.

What about organizing digital notes and pix and files, like when trying to mine info from a forum or a scanned PDF for future reference?

Yeah there are a million YT vids about OneNote vs. EverNote vs. Obsidian vs. whatever... and I keep getting distracted before I watch any of 'em.

Zooming out one notch, I recently decided to try to do a sort of "master plan" for the cars/trucks/boats. Currently all of those categories have multiple examples of projects or things that are compromises on what I really want/wanted based on budget at the time, time to complete a given project that just hasn't materialized, and isn't going to, etc.

My goal is to establish where I want to end up and how much it will cost me, and what I can/should sell to get there, and how much it might net me. Starting to feel buried in mechanical related projects, most of which I don't find "fun" anymore, and until I clear the deck, I can't really see working on the "fun" ones. 

I only mention in context of this article because I can fairly well plan a given project, and occasionally see one through to completion, but I personally lack a bigger plan. Losing the forest for the trees kind of thing. Trying to correct that. 

plan may also include budget, which cannot be disclosed, so no...no plan.  

Before I start a project/Challenge car I always determine what will become of it when I'm done first.

My '91 Firebird was meant as a long term keeper to autocross and do some track days. The S10 I ran in 2017 was meant to be a one-Challenge-and -sell-it project.

Both went as planned.

Well I haven't bought any new vehicular projects yet this year....

So win?

Vision?  Yes.  Plan?  Maybe?  I have a Google Sheets with various pages of 'stages' that I want to accomplish with what specific parts, prices and where I'd like the work to be done if I'm not doing it myself.

Basically I want to revive my '07 E91 into a fun, powerful daily driver that I can track.  Goal is 300 awd hp at the wheels.  We'll see!

In reply to David S. Wallens :

This implies that a project car is finished. I am not sure that I have ever done that.  :-)

I have a T shirt that reminds us that 16 ounces equals a pound. My goal is to have the lightest Chevrolet Cruze ever with an 1800lb target weight. Weight loss is free. So I'm going to nuts on this one. 

I've been using Milanote whiteboard to keep track of my ideas, tasks and parts for my builds.

I like it. It is more organized than most dumping grounds I have used. Plus I don't have to go look back through my build threads to remember what I used for a motor mount or other things I tend to forget

Finally a chance to put my pmp to work with gantt charts and a change management board!

I have a plan, but it's all in my head!

Seriously tho, I do a lot of engineering in my head before I ever pick up the saw or torch. Then I decide where to start and "just do it". Once one thing is done, move on to the next.....usually suggested while finishing the last part.

I find the most important part of any project is to NOT STOP. Don't get sidetracked into 10,000 other things - stay focused and do something, even if a small thing, every day.

For the 128i, I had to really sit down and think about this not too long ago. It took me at least a couple of months to come up with something even remotely coherent. It's actually why I started the blog. 

-Fix the 128i and make it a nice street car. 
-Build it to endure track abuse. 
-Blog about the process. 
-Baseline it at HPR. 
-Take it on road trips, to tracks around the country. Take photos and make memories along the way. 
-Blog about the journey. 
-Further modification. 
-Back to the track to see if I can beat my previous lap times. 
-Blog about it some more. 

-Repeat. 

 

The Audi has a plan.

1.) Get finished

2.) Race

But seriously, the plan is quite detailed and the list keeps getting shorter. Fire suppression, data logger, a proper tune, master kill switch, paint the rest of the cage, and that's it for phase 1: get onto the track. 

Plan? We don't need no stinking plan.

I just need to put a new fuel pump in (which I have) and then get a few more exhibition driving charges on my driver's record before I die.

It's more like a general idea more than a plan.  This keeps you flexible in case a better idea comes up.

As stated at the beginning of Colin's build thread, no plan survives contact with the enemy.