Documenting your work - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

Untamed · 08-17-2005, 09:21 AM

Has anyone actually slowed down enough to take pictures and document the changes they made to their cars?

I was reflecting on the things I still need to do to get mine up and running, and remembered something I planned to do with my car - slow down, take pictures and document everything I did to the TA. I had grand schemes of organizing the "poor mans resto" into a How-to booklet for anyone bringing a late third gen TA back to life. Of course that came about from knowing little and dreaming big.

Now I'm of the mindset to simply finish the damn thing before I blow it up. I just want to hear the engine come back to life. So consciously or unconsciously I didn't do what I planned, and probably missed my only(?) opportunity to document this kind of work.

Has anyone organized that kind of information? TGO has their tech section, however I havent come across a "Restoring your 1988 Trans Am - for Dummies" yet.

If so, maybe we can put into practice that "Projects" section we talked about in the News part of the forum.

Tru2Chevy · 08-17-2005, 09:25 AM

I said the same thing when I got my car....I have several pics, but nowhere near enough to document all the changes I have made. (even though I have been working on it very slowly.....)

- Justin

HardcoreZ28 · 08-17-2005, 12:33 PM

I have some from when mine was apart completely

Savage_Messiah · 08-17-2005, 12:48 PM

Most things I wanted to do this, but only ended up only snapping a couple of pics

Fasterthanyou · 08-17-2005, 03:08 PM

I've got a lot of pictures but nothing that would be considered fully documented. Usually my hands were full of car parts, not digital camera's

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camaro2you · 08-17-2005, 03:22 PM

i have like 2000 pics of my car, i have everything, the amount, and were from that i bought it documented in spreadsheats for my car i know how much ive spent down to the last penny. yes i have a lot of free time every once and a while lol.

Fasterthanyou · 08-17-2005, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by camaro2you

i have like 2000 pics of my car, i have everything, the amount, and were from that i bought it documented in spreadsheats for my car i know how much ive spent down to the last penny. yes i have a lot of free time every once and a while lol.

I've done the same. Although down to the last penny would be tricky since I don't keep all my gas reciepts :P . Same with the oil reciepts... I just say what brand oil, when, how many miles. I wish I would have taken more pictures along the way but it wasn't a priority.

somss02 · 08-17-2005, 04:34 PM

I have pics from the day I bought here, through the rebuild and of today..

The Fixer · 08-18-2005, 07:33 AM

My site is has some basic pics of the car before, during and after the transformation. From empty engine bay and trans tunnel, to the TPI engine install and T5 conversion, and most of the other goodies too. I had much more documentation of my old '85 SS; we built this one much quicker.

Fastbird · 08-18-2005, 07:41 AM

I don't have a bunch of pics, but I have almost EVERY reciept for everything I've ever spent on the car in a binder in chronological order. That's a rather large sum too.

PA_GregSS · 08-18-2005, 08:30 AM

I keep thinking that I really wished I had taken the time to take pictures of everything I've done since I've installed pretty much every part that has gone on my car. The unfortunate reality is that you really don't have time to stop what you're doing in the middle of an install and take pictures at every step. It helps if you have a friend to take pictures.

Untamed · 08-18-2005, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PA_GregSS

I keep thinking that I really wished I had taken the time to take pictures of everything I've done since I've installed pretty much every part that has gone on my car. Â* The unfortunate reality is that you really don't have time to stop what you're doing in the middle of an install and take pictures at every step. Â*It helps if you have a friend to take pictures.

Yeah I think its a combination of taking the time to take pictures and keep a log of what was done, having a friend with clean hands to snap the pictures, and having the drive to keep doing this for everything that is replaced / fixed. I suppose if I were being paid to put a book together it would be one thing. But when its a thousand degrees outside, and you're covered in grease, the camera gets forgotten.

Since some of us have certain things documented, could Tim or Justin look again at hosting space for pictures and logs from the members? Color photos and first hand accounts of things would be a lot more helpful than some grainy black and white picture in Haynes or Chiltons.

Thanks.

jims69camaro · 08-18-2005, 12:55 PM

heh, i'm like most in that i did not take out the time to snap photos.

except when i replaced the steel hood on the '87 with the 2" cowl fiberglass hood. i even showed how to get the hood off if you're working alone and have a bad back like mine (i literally cannot lift anything weighing more than 5-10 lbs without serious pain, on top of the everyday pain i have). they're around here, somewhere.