I've hit a ROUGH patch

[jiggityjoe87]

In the past six months I feel like my life has been turned upside down and then puréed in a blender and all the while I am up to my eyeballs in my LT1 swap In my 1970 suburban. This is not meant to be a sob story or a pity party. I am looking for real advice on what everybody else would do in my situation. To give you a brief breakdown I have been maintaining my property all by myself (a lot of work) for the last 7 months because in order to clear up my wife's immigration papers she had to go back to Mexico. Keep in mind it has taken over 7 months and the American agency which shall remain nameless To not even begin processing our papers. With that in mind I have been unemployed for the last 5 months since I am a seasonal firefighter in California so I work 6 months In the summer and then get laid off in the winter. So money is pretty tight, oh and I visited my wife last November in Mexico and got her PREGNANT. Trust me I am really excited to have a baby on the way, I just thought that my wife would be home by now. So with all things considered I still have my Efi swap which is 60% complete. Everyday I have different projects pulling me away from working on the burb. I never want to give up on a project because it just makes me sick to my stomach to "throw in the towel" and whenever I work in the garage I am always working by myself which makes it difficult to do certain things yourself (ex. Installing a hood). So basically the way I see it I have a few options

1 keep the burb and be persistent until I get it running and then Have the ultimate family truckster

2 sell the burb as a project with the lt1 and lose a ton of money that I have invested

3 remove the lt1/tranny and sell the Rolling chassis and save the lt1 for a future project when I have more money

I don't want to sound like a downer but I have no one else that I can bounce my ideas off of, and the best crowd that I can think of is fellow suburban owners
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[71gmcburb]

I would pull the drivetrain and sell them seperatly so you wont lose as much $. Sounds like you need it right now.

I had to sell my 71 burb and 67 econo 8-door supervan when I hit a rough spot and am currently looking at 2 burbs to replace it both Chevys, it's hard to find GMCs but I will find one again someday. In the end you need to remember it's just sheetmetal it can be replaced.

as for the rest hang on the US gov. works at a snails pace, but it does work.
just keep chipping away at the mountain

IDK if you tried this but with her being preg with your child there may be a loophole that will allow her to return on a visa

[jiggityjoe87]

I talked with my wife tonight and told her all about selling the burb. Her response was "don't sell the suburban!" I can't really argue with her. In the end cars are just material possessions and can be replaced but she said that she doesn't want to see me not follow through with the suburban swap. Now I just need to find more hours in the day to try and chip away at the mountain I call the suburban
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[Average Joe]

Hang in there brother. I hate to see projects for sale where an owner is forced to sell. I understand these trucks are a material object and replaceable but it seems like the death of a dream when that happens. I'm not sure how far you've come on your swap but have you considered putting the old drivetrain back in till life settles down a bit? Perhaps getting a traditional carbed intake for the LT1 and run it with a carb till you have more time? You can always throw a tarp on it and come back to it later. I've lost interest in projects and have let them sit. During which time I contemplate selling but never do. I always seem to come back to them when ambition or money become available again. Best of luck to you and congradulations on your future addition. I'll stop rambling now as I hear a donut calling me.

[jjzepplin]

Do anything you can to keep that wife!!! She sounds Awesome! Second-Keep your truck if you can. You can never add up all the time or work that really goes into one of these projects. I realized taking apart my Blazer to put the parts on my p/u all the work I have done over the years. Starting over is ridiculous! I am getting older now and will not have much time in the future to do this sort of thing again and probably would never finish.

As for the wife-I like the baby idea. Look into that for real. Maybe you could get her over here when she has the baby and then the baby would be American? (If your still dealing with it that long)

Good luck sir!

[jiggityjoe87]

Thanks for the words of encouragement guys, it means a lot. I've been making myself go out in the garage almost everyday now. Even if I do only one thing that is one less thing on the to do list. When I get overwhelmed I think about something I heard years ago

"how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time"
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