Quick steps

This week has been a busy one away from the mini, so grabbing a half hour or an hour here and there was as good as I could offer Marmite.
But I have managed to repair and paint 2 scratches.  Hoover and wash down the inside. Cleaned up the front door seals and fitted them glued on carpet on the inner sill by the door opening. The fresh air vents have been cleaned and there is a big pile of underlay inside the mini.

You could say it's not much but this is where I (and the patient family) get to see progress.

For quite a while I had been struggling with how much the project had run up. We are comfortable with what we have but treats and luxury is not often for us. So there is often the feeling "should I buy the parts, do we need the money for something else". Roughly, to date we are at £1900. Thats the shell, repaired and prepped, engine (that needs re building), lights, wiring, seats and door cards, roof liner, carb and refurb kit, hoses, brake pipes and a couple of fittings for that, complete new rear brakes, s /steel exhaust, all new subframe mounts, seatbelts, 2 sets of carpets and one underlay set, dizzy, alternator, heater and prob some other bits.
With all of that in mind, tonight I watched the last video from simpson classics on a budget crashed clubman resto to a painted shell. A great series by a proclaimed keen diyer at home. He is having a go and stretching his skills to get it all done while avoiding out sourcing any of the work. Obviously I have found this very interesting, he had to cut a lot out and replace where I did panel beating. But I could see similarities in our projects. The main goal was to end up with a restored and painted shell for £1500..... well that got me thinking about mine.
It is still early days and a pile of parts and the overall look and feel of the car is yet to be seen. But if it is just about the project budget, I'll reluctantly have to say I'm actually doing alright ... potentially. Like most petrol heads I have a reasonable eye for the quality and details but it's one thing to critic the project but another to be able to do it to a faultless level.
I suppose I'm saying on reluctant reflection I'm doing alright on the budget and should ease up on my self, but I'm not going to celebrate until all the parts come together.