1989 Chevrolet Corvette and Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z - A Tale of Two Chevy's

 

On the clear coat surface, that the 1989 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z on the left has an asking price some twenty-two-thousand dollars more than the 1989 Chevrolet Corvette on the right is a mind-bender. More like a fender-bender, actually. Both are in similarly stellar condition although, honestly, the IROC is in better shape overall. Lower mileage too, just twenty-four thousand or so on its thirty-four-year-old analog ticker compared to some forty-three thousand on the Corvette. That enough to warrant the  $33,000 asking price for the IROC compared to the relatively scant $12,000 for the Corvette? Oh, hell no. Well, not in my book anyway. 

I'd be hard pressed to find anyone, an automobile enthusiast or not, who'd find the IROC superior to the Corvette. The Corvette is more comfortable, has a better ride, handles better, accelerates faster and has a higher top speed. In general, it's tons more fun to drive. I didn't mention anything about appearances either. 

Subjectively, through my foggy goggles, any fourth-generation Corvette in convertible guise is vastly more handsome than any Camaro too, even a top-dog IROC-Z. If the Corvette wasn't a convertible, I'd say they were dead-even in styling; both double battered and deep-fried in 1980's day-glow, fastback\hatchback cheese. If the Corvette was a coupe, tip of the chin spoiler would go to the IROC-Z but not enough to out weigh the superior driving dynamics of the plastic-fantastic. 

But the proof is in the actual numbers - third generation Camaro Z28's and IROC's are worth more and, in many cases significantly more than C4 Corvettes. This IROC here doesn't even have an L98 engine; it's has the 5.0-liter, LB9, Tuned-Port-Injection engine. Again, my opinion, this is akin to sacrilege. How in the name of Madonna, Wham! and Michael Jackson is this remotely possible?  

Well, it's not unusual for cars that were less expensive when new to appreciate more than more expensive ones. For example, a 1970 Cadillac Coupe deVille convertible in good condition has an average retail value of $16,500 and a Chevelle SS in just "fair" shape is worth around $55,000. Chevelles in "concours" or pristine condition, especially if they're original and unrestored, can go for well north of a hundred-grand, you'd be hard pressed to fine a museum quality Cadillac worth $50,000. Meanwhile, the typical Chevelle SS probably went out the door when new for under five-thousand and the Cadillac for more than sixty-five-hundred. 

Meanwhile, our '89 IROC here stickered for a tad under $25,000 and the Corvette for around $40,000; that's roughly the same cost differential between the 1970 Cadillac and Chevelle. In any event, again, what in the name of leg warmers is going on here? 

Much in the same way the '70 Chevelle shreds the '70 at the 2023 box office, it's the market that drives these values regardless of what your opinion of the vehicles is. The bottom line is "Gen-X", or those born between 1965 and 1981, value third-generation Camaros more than they do fourth-gen or "C4" Corvettes. Don't take my word for it, either. According to Haggerty Insurance, Gen-X'ers make up thirty-two percent of Haggerty's customers, and they have more than half of the third generation Camaros they insure. Meanwhile, more than half of the C4's they insure belong to "Boomers" or those born between 1946 and 1964.  

Makes sense, on paper, especially if we look at this technically if not clinically. The Camaro IROC-Z was the aspirational car of Gen X they could, at least in theory, afford. And back-in-the-day. many a "kid" drove one plowing every penny they made into paying for them, the gas they inhaled and insuring them. Unless they were lucky enough to have parents who footed the bill. Never discount how powerful a part nostalgia plays in this as well. Meanwhile fourth-gen Corvettes were not only way more expensive, they were driven by older folks as well. 

In the end, while I find third-generation Camaros, especially IROC-Z', flinty, crude and cheap, not that C4's are by any means bastions of refinement, I'm fixing to get me the performance buy of a lifetime, one of these days when I trade up to a C4 convertible. For my money, it's a whole lot more car than an IROC for not much money. 

1986 Chevrolet Corvette - Don't Meet Your Idols

How many times do I need to be reminded not to meet my heroes and idols? 

I was quite enamored of the "new-Corvette" when it first came out for no other reason than it was finally a Corvette that looked to be really all-new. For years prior Chevrolet touted the subtle and not so subtle changes made to the old Corvette, the star-crossed third-generation or "C3", as being substantial, world-changing and world-beating, Oh, how we longed for something all-new. Careful what you wish for.  

History the cruel judge it can be, we fast-forward the better part of four-decades and we find there's less respect for early fourth-generation or "C4" Corvette's like our burnt-orange '86 "drop-top" here than there is for "C3's". In particular the later ones like my 1977. Styling being the main culprit for certain no one would argue that a C3 of any year belongs on the same track as any C4. 

Most of the sins of the C4's styling, through my foggy goggles, were forgiven when Chevrolet came out with a convertible model in 1986. Built in partnership with the same talented folks who gave us the convertible 1982-1985 Buick Riviera and 1983-1985 Cadillac Eldorado, all the half-baked awkwardness of the fast-back was gone, replaced by a silhouette, top up or down, that's pure Hollywood. 

I found this one not far from my office. With only 43,000 on it's thirty-five year old ticker and a semi-digestible asking price of $10,500, the wife and I kicked its tires on a Saturday afternoon about a month ago. 

It's been years since I've driven a C4 and I've forgotten how hard they are to get in and out of. My '77 is certainly not as easy to get into as most SUV's or even a sedan but this thing is ridiculous. The "sill" so wide I had to take a giant stride to get over it then grab the steering wheel as I swung myself into a ball and plopped myself down into a seat that was somehow simultaneously rock hard and softly enveloping. 

My tiny wife had to do the same only her immediate reaction was different than mine. "Smells like (cigarette) smoke", she said. Sure as hell did. It was also filthy inside then again the salesman said it hadn't gone through service yet. Hmm, ok. 

The seat was too low and too far back and it wouldn't move. Then I noticed the manual was a 4+3; GM's goofy transmission that skips 2nd and 3rd gear when you're going slow to save gas. The engine has enough torque that you don't really need 2nd and 3rd when just cruising casually; when you're getting on it 2nd and 3rd are magically available to you. I've driven these before and thought nothing of them but sitting as low as I was, I felt as though I had to reach up to shift the comically long shifter. Awkward. 

Sitting as far back as I was, pushing the clutch in was a real joy. And it's heavy and long play didn't help matters. Finally I got the engine turned over and the big old L-98 didn't disappoint. It's growling manliness reminding me of the way engines used to sound. Actually, it sounded a lot like the L-48 in my '77 but...I digress. 

Then I couldn't find first gear. Or was that reverse? No, wait...isn't that fourth? I hoped and prayed I was in some forward gear when I let out the clutch and...I stalled it. Subsequent tries weren't much better until finally after maybe the sixth try, I got the thing to move.  

I tried in vain to shift out of first with about as much success as getting it in there; the sales guy must have thought I'd never driven a manual before as I herked and jerked it. It's been a long time since I'd driven a manual with as clumsy a gear box and with a clutch that might be failing too. 

I never left the dealer lot. 

I put it right back where I found it pulling through a parking space so I didn't have to attempt to find reverse. I popped open the clam-shell hood to peak at the engine and the passenger side hinge was collapsed; it took both me and the sales guy to prop it open. The wife had long given up and was sitting in our car playing Words with Friends. 

He called me nearly three weeks later after it "went through service". I thanked him for the call and told him I wasn't interested in getting another "project car" like the one I had already. Interesting how a dealership would sell such a rough car "as-is" especially with an asking price of $10,500. Did they service the transmission, fix the power seats and replace the hood-hinge? I didn't ask lest I give the impression I was still interested in it. 

Amazingly, as put-off by this car as I was, I wasn't dismayed. Well, maybe just a little as I think if I was to get one of these I'd opt for an automatic. I'm still casually looking for an L-98 powered, C4 convertible and I know if I put my mind to it I will find one. Only, again, not this one. 

 

1974 Chevrolet Corvette - Charting the (C3) Changes

I found this 1974 Corvette recently while searching for parts for my '77. The Craigslist ad didn't have any information about what's going on here save for the owner saying he or she was parting this out. All in asking price is $5,000 which is absurd considering five-grand could get you a roller if not a running car. On the other hand it's actually quite reasonable considering what an NOS frame and birdcage would run you. Shut-up and take my money! 

What in the name of Zora Arkus-Duntov is going on here? Reminds me of the "hillbillies" I grew across the street from back on Long Island who did auto repairs and custom fabrication in their driveway. Sorry - "hillbilly" was my mother's derogatory term for them and it was a point of extreme consternation between the two of us that she would find me "over-there" all the time. Their custom fabricating often had dubious results, not unlike like whomever started to "update" this '74 into a later-model fastback. Surprise-surprise, they gave up.  

Not all is lost, though. Me being as easily inspired as I am this hulk has spurred me to take a brief stroll down a third-generation Corvette memory lane of sorts and chart the myriad changes Chevrolet put the "plastic-fantastic" through over it's fifteen year run. Changes that apparently goaded some, actually many, to trade in their old-Corvette for one of the "new-ones". Some of course eschewing the expense of a new car and attempted to plow into updating their old car on their own. How else to explain what's going on here? I mean, seriously, if this isn't a decades old project that had gone south, why would someone do this now? 

1969 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray with chrome bumpers front and back

Along with numerous ancillary changes, not all of them welcome of course, there were two significant and not-subtle changes in the appearance of third-generation or "C3" Chevrolet Corvette's from 1968-1982. Above is a '69 with it's signature chrome bumpers, modest yet quite tasteful rear spoiler and the "gills" from the Mako-Shark concept the car was allegedly based on. There's a lot of Pontiac Banshee in the C3 as well. 

1973 Corvette - note bumper cover up front, chrome bumper out back

The first big change was due to a federal mandate that all automobiles and light trucks sold in this country had to be able to withstand a five-mile per hour impact without damage. That edict required vehicles sold in 1973 had to pass muster up-front meanwhile the back end required some sort of buttressing or reinforcement for model-year 1974. Rather than attach large and heavy chrome bumpers fore and aft like they did on other makes and models, GM cleverly hid the energy-absorbing bumpers on Corvette behind rubberized covers. 

1977 Corvette with bumper covers fore and aft

While it technically got the job done aesthetically the reviews were mixed. Some lauded the update  while others abjectly hated them. Choose your poison. If you're in the market for a "C3" note how much more valuable the 1968-1972 "chrome-bumper" models are these days compared to the later "rubber-bumper" models. Values of "73's are less than '68-'72's although generally they're worth a bit more than the later models. Love how pin-straight that right-rear tire is on this '77 I plucked from a brochure. As if. 

1978 Corvette "fastback"

The second change came for model-year 1978 with Chevrolet adding a large rear window that transformed the rear of the car into a fastback of sorts. As part of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Corvette, this update came with a significant reboot of the interior as well. 

1979 Corvette L-82

Much like the bumper-covers, the look of the car was significantly different from previous model years and you either loved it or hated it. Of the four iterations of the C3, through my eyes, the 1974-1977 front end on the new rear for 1978 and 1979 looked awkward and unbalanced. Side note - Chevrolet offered a bolt-on "Pace-Car" spoiler on '74-'79's C3's. If I can find a picture of one in the flesh I'll update this blog - safe to say they're absolutely hideous. 

1980 Corvette with front end ground effects and integrated spoiler on the rear bumper cover

Come 1980, some ground effects under the front end and an integrated spoiler on the rear bumper cover gave the car an adroit duck tail reminiscent of the one on '68-'73's making the design a cohesive whole in my opinion. For 1982, the last year of the run for "C3's", that rear glass actually opened. As it probably should have going back to 1978.  

I'm the last person to scoff at anyone attempting to do something as ambitious as altering the overall appearance of a car but to do it well and make it appear seamless is an art form. I'm blessed with what I believe is a fair amount of mechanical intuition and what my father referred to as "Yankee Ingenuity" so on some level I'm actually jealous of someone attempting to do whatever it is they started out to do here. There's a reason why body-work in general is so expensive because so few do it well. 

Pride goeth before destruction as they say and no doubt some well-intention-ed person had to bite down hard to give up here. If I find this listed again I promise I'll reach out to whomever is selling to try and get some more intel on this. Cheers. 

 

1977 Little Red Corvette - Reassembly Part 1 - A Man's Got to Know his Limits

I've been most fortunate over the years that the number of catastrophic mistakes I've made either working on my cars or home improvement projects have been minimal. I can't say they've been few and far between since with any project something's bound to go wrong but I'm usually able to work through them. I'm fond of saying that it's not really a "project" until something goes wrong. I say that in gest but there's a lot of truth to that. 

One such incident I could not work my way through was recently when I was reassembling the rear end on our 1977 Corvette. It's not like I was sloppy or rushing things. In fact, the biggest and no doubt most expensive "oops" of my "DIY" career may have been because I was being unnecessarily thorough. Years of research, meticulous attention to detail and anticipation of what could go wrong can only do you so much good; when you make an honest, inexperienced or rookie mistake like breaking off the head of a bolt, like getting knocked down in life, it's how you react that's most important.

Yes. I broke a bolt - and an important one too. It was one of four bolts that secures the strut carrier to the bottom of the differential. If that sounds ambiguous - it's not. I thought I could get by with three bolts since the carrier itself is very heavy gauge iron but there's four there for a reason and three is not what the engineers called for. There's four to offset the tremendous torsional action on the rear struts that keep the camber and toe in proper alignment on the rear tires. 

What happened was rather than simply tightening the bolts down "snuggly", I felt compelled to "torque-them-down" to eighty foot-pounds. The first bolt clicked at eighty without any fanfare but the next one, the one closest to the driver's left side rear wouldn't "click". So, I kept going and going until I finally did hear a click of sorts but it wasn't the satisfying "snick-snuck" of a torque wrench hitting it's desired spec. It was the snap of the head of the bolt. 

I tried to shake it off at first like being startled awake by a bad dream. I don't remember if I went to torque another bolt down or not but I do recall thinking to my self that I should back that bolt out and put it back in; the head was still attached to the bolt. Y'know, to be "safe". I put my torque wrench in reverse and the head of the bolt came off in the socket. The rest of the bolt, threads and all, torqued deeply into the case of the differential.   

It's only in retrospect that I can say for certain what I should have done next was certainly not what I actually did. What I should have done was pull the differential out and take it back to the shop that rebuilt it for me and have them try and get the bolt out. Nope - rather than do that I really complicated matters by attempting to get the damn thing out myself. 

There are plenty of youtube videos showing you how to get a broken bolt out. A number of them involving broken bolts on the insides of engines too. Yikes. They're pretty interesting, informative and straight forward and of course, nothing ever goes wrong in them. In the videos that are posted at least. I'll cut to the chase - getting a broken bolt out is not for the faint of heart or inexperienced shade-tree, garage mechanics like me. It's something best left to professionals. Or at least someone who's done it before on something that's not as expensive and important as an automobile differential. 

To make a long story short, after failing repeatedly to back the bolt out using a bolt extractor, failures that included the bolt extractor breaking off in what was left of the bolt, I punctured the differential case attempting to drill the bolt out. The gooey, sticky, smelly gear oil spilling out onto my drill like a tapped maple tree. 

I experienced a heady combination of emotions as my freshly rebuilt differential slowly bled to death into a red rubber bucket in my garage. My garage filling up with the obnoxious aroma of 80-90 weight gear oil that smells like sweat socks left to bake in a hamper for a week or more. Crestfallen, humiliated and frustrated, I marched into my house screaming my head off. My wife, bless her heart,  was great about it. Hearing me yell as loudly as I did she thought I had chopped off a finger or worse. When she realized it wasn't that bad she all but shrugged off what had happened. At the time I certainly wished for damage to an appendage of mine rather than face the onerous task of remedying a massive "eff-up". 

At the time of course she had no idea what had happened or what an ordeal it would be to be fix it. At that point I wanted to push the the entire pile-of-junk into Lake Erie but that was impossible since it had no rear wheels. I knew the differential case or carrier was toast and replacing it was going to be expensive and time-consuming.  Online, differentials for our car run from just under a thousand dollars for ones that still need stub axles and a rear cover for just shy of two-grand for a complete assembly. Even an empty case like I busted runs about $700 and that's one that doesn't anything inside it. To say I was "screwed" was an understatement. And, no, my swapping the gears into another case was out of the question; a man's got to know his limits. I resorted to that great online garage sale shit show known as Craigslist. And hit pay dirt. 

I found a complete assembly north of Detroit for next to nothing that the owner, a suspension engineer for Ford of all things, claimed came out of a '73. It seemed ok but honestly I really didn't know. I had my doubts but the case was solid and that's what, at the end of the day, I really needed. I did my best to try and determine if the half shafts or stub axle tolerances were ok and what not but it's hard to tell. Best thing I did was swallow my pride and take both differentials back to the shop that did the initial rebuild and fall on their mercy. Sure enough, they said the "new" differential I bought was "on-it's-way-out", but of course, and for a not unreasonable sum, they swapped the gears from my punctured, ruined diff into the "new" one I bought up in Detroit. 

So, now we're back to square one with a totally dismantled car sitting in my garage. I've been at this since mid-June but I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I'll be damned if I make the same mistakes again.  Let's go. 

1977 Little Red Corvette - The Search for Parts

This is the second in a series of blogs on my rebuilding the rear end on the 1977 "Little Red Corvette" my wife and I bought for ourselves several years ago. Today we'll deal with the search for parts. Click here to read my blog about the epic dismantling of the rear of our car.  

About a week ago I dropped off the differential and drive shafts for the Corvette at a shop near our home here in Cleveland that specializes in such things. They called me yesterday with an estimate to rebuild the differential of around $900. Ouch. That on top of my having them replace the universal joints on the drive shafts will have "the differential" part of this project coming in around $1,200-$1,300. I assured my wife that the whole project would come in under $1,500 - that budget has now been ground to shreds like the stub axles inside my differential.  

I found several differentials on Craigslist between $350 and $500 that were available from folks parting out their 1968-1979 third generation Corvette's; 1980-82 C3's use a different carrier. Quite the savings and even though a couple came with more aggressive gearing than ours has, it's a 3.08:1, what stopped me from getting one was no guarantee they didn't have anything wrong with them either. 

The crux of the entire project, again, was the trailing arms. After determining that they both needed more than just replacement of their bushings and shims, I again tried to find replacements from Corvette's that were parted out. No such luck there at all. Most of the ones I looked at were in the same or worse shape than mine. Rebuild service on my trailing arms started at $699. Each. Brand new ones coming in at around $949. Again, that's for each. Oh, brother. Years ago we should have bought a Chevelle. Would have been cheaper in the long run. 

I think I lucked out finding a Corvette junkyard of sorts about an hour or so east of Pittsburgh that had a pair of freshly rebuilt trailing arms out of an '82 Corvette for $275 each. I say "lucked out" because I won't know how good they are until everything is back together. While the differential on '82's is different than the one on my '77, the trailing arms are the same. They also had a pair of re-manufactured strut rods for $50. It was a solid eight hour round trip but my wife and I were able to stop by the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on the way home. A road trip during a pandemic? Mask up. BTW, if you're ever in that area and see the signs for it, you must take the time and visit. It's magnificent. 

Next up on the parts hit parade was the leaf spring. Brand new, which is recommended, the nine-leaf spring that my car came with costs about $149. Plus shipping and handling. I was seriously thinking about going with a composite or "mono-leaf" spring that 1981-1982 Corvettes' came with but they run  between $350 and $500. What's more, because apparently the spring rate on the composite spring, known officially as the "filament-wound-fiberglass-composite automotive spring" has a different spring rate than the steel spring, I'd have to get high-performance shocks that run around $125. Each. I found  a steel, nine leaf spring on Craigslist for $50 from a guy who had bought it from a parted-out 1969. I scraped what surface rust there was on it and spray-painted it black. I know, I know. What could go wrong going with a fifty-year old leaf spring? Shocks ran me around $100 for a set of four. My differential guy recommended I not go with anything more exotic than what the car came with originally. Thank you, Amazon Prime for the free shipping. 

I did buy some ancillary parts brand new from Corvette America that ran about $125. A shackle bolt kit with polyurethane bushings, shims for the trailing arms and a new Snubber bushing, yes, a "Snubber" bushing, that connects the differential to the frame of the car. I know I have to rework the parking brake cable so there's that expense to come too. I'm sure they'll be more. And it's not like the rear end of the car is the only thing that needs work. I have a sneaky feeling all this work to the rear of the car is going to highlight how much work the front end is going to need. 

Let's get crackin' putting this thing back together. Onward and upward. 

1977 Little Red Corvette Rear End Rebuild - Part I - Disassembly

After I was cut off abruptly on I-480 south west of Cleveland a couple of years ago, save for oh-so-short jaunts around town, I hadn't really driven our lovely 1977 "Little Red Corvette" much. That incident frightened me pretty good because when I slammed the brakes to avoid hitting that yahoo, the whole car rotated on its tires with the passenger side rear end swinging around fixing to change places with the passenger front. I knew there was something up "back there" all along but how wrong things were was a mystery. I figured the thumping and clunking was all part of the C3 experience. Well, the moaning, groaning and creaking from the rear end kept getting worse and worse and it finally got so bad that I stopped driving it completely and even dropped insurance coverage. I know. Risky. But that's what can happen with old cars - you love them and would never think of getting rid of them, well, I mean you would but not at a complete loss, but they become too dangerous and a burden to drive. 

This past spring I finally decided to do something about it. Armed with years of research on third generation or "C3" Corvette rear suspensions, I dove into the abyss of extreme DIY automobile repair. Am I a mechanic? Nope. Do I really know what I'm doing? Technically, no. Do I have the funds to have this done professionally? Well, yeah, but I don't think it financially responsible to spend the amount of money it would take to have it done professionally. That amount, when all said and done, being more than the car was worth. Especially in the dilapidated condition the car was in. And, being honest, I enjoy working on cars. So, with these dis-parent notions I got down and dirty. 

While gorgeous, rolling works of art, second and third generation Corvette's come with a number of inherent problems. Their fiberglass bodies flex and can crack and are very expensive to repair. Their cast iron frames are rust prone, they have myriad electrical issues as well. However, it's their independent rear suspensions that are perhaps their most overlooked problem areas. They're Fred Flinstone mobile primitive, wear out easily and, being totally honest, don't really provide a degree of performance improvement above and beyond sporty domestic cars of similar vintage with "live", rigid rear axles. Worse yet, they can be frighteningly expensive to repair. Even if you do the repairs yourself. 

Diagnosing problems with cars, old and newer, is often times more challenging than the repair work itself. However, with our Corvette, it was pretty easy to determine that the issue with the rear end was that the bushings on the trailing arms were worn out. Also, the metal shims that brace the trailing arms against the body inside pockets on the frame were shot as well. Yes, metal shims that brace the arms in pockets on the frame; I said these things were primitive. I deduced from my research that "all I had to do" was pull the trailing arms, replace the bushings and shims, put everything back together, align it and very affordably rock and roll. I'd upgrade the tires too since I found, and embarrassingly so,  they're over thirty years old. 

Dismantling the car wasn't complicated but it was physically challenging and fairly dangerous; you never know what could snap a finger or hand off and I really don't like crawling under a car that has nothing more than a pair of thirty-nine dollar Autozone jack stands propping it up. As far as physically demanding, drilling out the rivets that held the brake rotors on felt like the a physical education test administered by the gym teacher from hell. Each one taking upwards of a half an hour of grueling pressing to get out. All in we're talking about five hours of drilling over the better part of a week. That and more than hundred bucks spent on cobalt drill bits. Like I said, this repair work is not cheap. 

The real scope of the project took shape once I got the rotors off. I found that the emergency brake hardware on each side was completely rusted up and useless and the cost of replacement hardware pushed my budget into the "replace the trailing arms" territory. Then I found it appeared the wheel bearing on the passenger side had significant play in it. Well, there went just replacing the bushings and shims. Might as well replace the both trailing arms. 

If drilling out the rotors was hard, cutting the bolts that held the trailing arms into the pockets in the frame amounted to torture. With the shims rusted to the outboard wall of the pockets and the bushings themselves having come out of the trailing arms, I had no way to determine where the bolts where; I had to start cutting what I could see of the rubber bushings all but completely blind. And with a very limited amount of room inside the pocket, my carbide reciprocating saw blade hit the back of the pocket constantly making it seem as though the worst dental procedure I ever had felt like I was receiving a communion host. 

Much like DIY home renovation projects, you never know what you're really getting yourself into until you're knee deep in it. This project got significantly more complicated when I found the transverse leaf spring and the differential needed to be replaced as well. Those two things not only adding significant expense and complication to the whole project but pushing the completion of it towards the end of the year if not into 2021. 

Funny, I thought I could do most of this project during a week's furlough from work due to The Pandemic. Funny indeed. Going on sixteen weeks into the project I feel as though I've only just started on it.