Totally fed up

I feel your pain. I was a truck mechanic for 30 yrs, now run my own motorcycle business. I’m a decade younger than you, but literally lost my mojo about 10 yrs ago.
Other than little half hour jobs I just cannot be arsed with any of it.
I still like ‘the scene’ but hate the ‘in depth’ work.
I just pay a good mate (who I used to work with & owns a garage) to do all my stuff now & just enjoy driving & owning the car(s)

Doesn't help it being the time of year it is either, that just makes stuff like this feel so much worse. Hopefully the knock ends up being one of those daft things we all do like a spanner has fallen down between something unseen and is banging about when the engine is running. Fingers crossed for you at any rate.

Thanks for the replies guys.

I shall be checking those stealthstylz but it did sound very bottom end like.
I can hope though.

I've found that taking a break for a couple of weeks, watching some car shows on YouTube, and reading other peoples' projects on here generally gives me a bit of mojo back.

It may not work for everyone, but it does for me. If it's any consolation crockpot I love reading your rebuild threads, even if I don't comment on them much.

Take a step back for a bit, and do something else. The need to tinker should return.

Also, if you broke in the cam, you'll have new lifters.

I hear people are having a lot of problems with those lately ( Aftermarket V8 Hydraulic. Quality has become a problem).

I'd pull the valvecovers and turn it over by hand to check everything.

Thanks for all the good advice guys, appreciated.

quasimoto very true, my body will not take the abuse it used to. Some arthritis doesn't help but most days I can ignore it. We both had COVID five weeks ago and I haven't really got over it. An hours work sees me needing a rest as I'm exhausted. Takes time for some.

mrbounce thank you for the kind words of appreciation for my meanderings on here. I don't update as often as I should.

metalshapes the oil looks good (no glitter) and was changed after break in. The lifters were Johnsons, apparently the last of ones you can rely on. I have had the valve covers off and turned the engine over to check, all looks good at thetop end

@akku  I try not to outsource. I'm (we) am retired and as such on a fixed (ish) income(s). We are not hard up but spending large amounts on such things can give rise to questions from senior management! I also (generally) enjoy doing stuff myself, at my age I figure that if I stop...

I'm sure I will get past this although it may hurt a bit one way or another.

I'm 57. Got covid last year. Wasn't really sick with it (wfh right through) but did take a long time to recover from the lingering lethargy.
I also have far too many projects, automotive and otherwise, that I haven't really looked at in years. If anyone has a magic solution to the lost mojo problem please share it with the group.

Without making this a thread about something, I'll chip in with my 2p.

I've had Covid a few times now. The first time, I:

-Couldn't remember everything I did, or rather, how I remembered things previously (i.e an almost picture like/recording of a memory)
-Was just shattered

From having a clear memory, which remembered everything, anything to remember became a real struggle. A few folks even noticed I spoke different, mainly as I used contexts to try and remember things. It was scary not remembering conversations from literally an hour go, that I'd spent 30 mins having. I suppose me needing to take breaths like Jeremy Clarkson did, with his smoking habit, due to a lack of breath, also helped in this not being too obvious to most, as I didn't really speak about this until months after; I also knew my mum if she found out via friends or family would be very concerned, as would my sister, who is a doctor) . Considering I chair a number of meetings at work, this became a nightmare.

To make matters worse, I was simply shattered after work. Doing any sort of work on the car, bikes or house was a real struggle. Work would basically shatter me, and have me in bed for a couple of hours most days straight after work. I would basically only do bits of work on the cars if I had to (i.e pass an MOT, service it etc.). I frankly hated working on cars for a bit.

Paying something for me isn't an option either, like yourself. The expenditure simply isn't there. I earn a decent wage, but the house bills etc. will wipe out over almost half of my income (FWIW, my house isn't massive or pricey or anything either), meaning the costs of outsourcing will soon build up. I do feel for others at the moment, who aren't so lucky with rates etc. as that must be a little hand-to-mouth I imagine!

That said, while work over the last month has gone into overdrive, the mojo etc. has come back. I'm reasonable now. Memory is back to a reasonable state, and the lethargy has almost gone, even when it is cold. But I do have an age advantage which I admit is possibly an unfair advantage. A few friends of mine are about a decade behind you, and it's interesting hearing them struggle, but also how they manage to do it as well.

There's no magic means of getting your mojo back but there are things that can be done to make it less of a chore.



This is some great advice. It can seem like a lifetime of waiting at times, but even a week away from the car can help, if you don't need to drive it.

The mojo for my M3 was low for a couple of years TBH. It's now back. A few things helped:

-Chatting to mates about their projects as well as mine. It still fascinates me, how conversing with something about an issue can help you to fix a problem, whether it's you talking about it or them, even if the other party never suggested anything obvious on how you fix the car. I suppose this is where forums can be semi-valuable as well. Yes, it's not quite the same as bouncing off ideas as someone in person, but it's still pretty damn good at assisting.

-Doing the smallest of jobs on it. Even something small is one less thing to do later. A bit of trim to do? Do it? Clean the engine bay, so it's not the same grubby, slippy mess to work on? Clean it. Inflate the tyres, so when you have to move it, it can be easier to move? Inflate them. Just chiselling away at jobs can make the world of difference when it matters. As an old boss said, many crumbs make a cake.

-Having decent kit to do the job. Not everyone has the chance to get decent gear over the years, albeit I do save a bit of a 'slush' funds, so as to rigorously to improve the parts inventory. Since I work on the cars myself, I justify it that way, especially now that rates have really climbed up for folks paying to have work done on their cars. Things like my impact ratchet and rattle gun have helped massively, and made routine tasks far less of a struggle ; I can name about 3 jobs I did on my E91 over the last two years which made the rattle gun pay for itself. The Snow-Foam lance I have for my pressure washer recently, has massively helped in keeping the arches etc. cleaner, so it's not just a dirty mess to work on a car when I have to. It's odd having cars with clean engine bays now, but it does help signficantly.

-Having good help at hand. I've had friends help out and have picked up things from them. It's helped me improve my techniques, and become a better 'mechanic'. Am I some sort of master? No chance, but I'm alot better than what I was, which helps with speeding things up.

-The YouTube content out there really helps. Whether it's a how-to video from a known person, or just seeing someone run through a car, to get it back to its former glory.

It's curse word when you get into a rut, and there does not seem to be a way out of it. But keep the faith, and hopefully one day, the mojo will re-appear, and then flourish.