Source for individual ARP bolts

[chevynut]

do it as well as you can and can afford, but GET IT FINISHED..

Then what?

I guess I'm having a hard time understanding how buying ARP bolts prevents one from getting it finished.

I've been working on my car WAY too long, much longer than I expected. But I've done ten times as much on it as I expected to do too. On the way, I learned a lot of things. I had never TIG welded anything until I started working on my frame and bought a TIG welder, so I learned as I went. The frame was essentially done years ago. I had done some bodywork before using an acetylene torch and brass rod but hardly anyone owned a MIG welder back then. During replacement of my floors, quarters and rockers I taught myself to use a MIG welder. I had never welded aluminum or stainless steel before, so I had to teach myself how to do that too. I had done very little metal forming before but still built my cargo floor, tubs, firewall, and all the under-hood sheetmetal. When it came to the interior, I had never built anything with foam and fiberglass....so I learned how to do that too. There were tons of things I had to design and figure out. Nobody taught me how to do any of this stuff, except what I could pick up from forums or other online sources. The learning part has been a lot of the fun in building this car.

I didn't expect to have to rebuild my BRAND NEW crate engine, but I did it. It was sitting way too long, and I knew of some issues with it that I heard about over the years. It took me a few months to get all the parts and get it torn down and back together. But it's done. The chassis is almost done. The body is close to ready for paint. All my chrome work has been done (except the rear bumper). Pretty much every part has been fabricated and assembled at least once.

I can't say how many thousands of hours I have in my car, but when you look at all the modifications and repairs I think it would have taken a rod shop several thousand man-hours to do the same work. Sure, an experienced guy could have done it faster, but I had to learn a lot of stuff as I went.

On top of all this I had a full-time job and a part-time "job" until about 4 years ago when I retired. I still do the part-time job. I have another hobby (hunting) that takes weeks at a time out of my schedule. I love to fish and camp in the summer. I go on vacations. The other day I looked at how many weeks I was gone in the past year and I counted 8 full weeks, not counting when I took off for a weekend or a few days at a time. I own a home on 2 1/2 acres that I built almost 29 years ago so there's always work to do and we've been re-modeling...with me doing all the work. I built two shops since I started my car too. My life doesn't revolve around my car, but sometimes it feels like it does.

For me this has been the fun part of the project. I still have a lot of assembly ahead of me once the body is painted, and I know that's going to get tedious. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm trying to get there doing the job as good as I can do it. I can't see slapping it together now, after all the work I've put into it over the years.

Anyone can buy a finished car and wash and drive it. I could have done that too.