📌 Welcome to Garage Therapy

Sometimes the best mod is just clearing your head.

This group is built for those moments in between the wrenching and racing — when you just need to talk it out, vent a little, or remind yourself why you fell in love with this culture in the first place.

Whether you’re deep in a 2 a.m. garage spiral, fighting off burnout, or riding high off a perfect weekend cruise — this space is for you.

🔧

What This Group Is For:

I had been chasing down an issue with the car for nearly a year. It would come and go, leaving me puzzled.

As some may know, at Boxerfest, the car fell on its face. But just when we thought we figured it out, it fell on its face again. This happened 3 more times. I spent a decent amount of money and lots of my own and friend's brain cells trying to diagnose it. I finally had had enough and called the one and only Andrew Yates. Who, by the way, built my block many years ago. Within seconds, he told me what he believed it was: the 4 bar map sensor. I swapped it out and let the car idle. Idled great. But she's done this before so I didn't get my hopes up. Weeks went by until I could actually test drive it. All is well! Finally!

The…

As the weather gets colder we all know the motivation begins to lack when it comes to getting your ass in the garage and getting to work. What helps motivate you to get out there and start wrenchin?

The question was posed a while back, "What is your garage to you? How do you see that space?" Well, I've never been good at short answers and this is no exception so please bear with me. If you'll indulge a longer post, I'd like to tell some of my story and share some thoughts I've been mulling over and sorting out for the last few weeks.

Here goes...

Growing up, my younger brother and I spent countless hours in the garage shoulder to shoulder with my Dad and grandfathers and uncles doing everything from a timing belt on Mom's Dodge Grand Caravan to a transmission swap on Dad's Mazda MX-3 to learning to adjust carburetor jets on Grandpa Dave's '57 Chevy coupe. We built small block Chevy motors for my uncle's dirt track cars and tuned up boat motors and built and modified go-karts. The list could go on…

I have ZERO motivation to get my cars fixed.

Bmw needs new plugs, coils and injectors - i have all the parts, i just can’t bring myself to get it done (the whopping hour it may take).

ST still isnt bleeding, starting to think its my flywheel taking a shit based on the sounds that are now occuring when the clutch is out. Just replaced the trans, clutch, slave, master and the stupid little clutch switch and the regulator that filters the fluid into the master. I’m at a loss, flywheel is my last ditch effort. After that i’m rolling it in a lake 😭

Gixxer is still sitting in pieces at the yard waiting for a new cluster and fairings / as is the b2200, waiting for me to pull the 5.0 to finish the swap and get a driveshaft made.

Have to buy a drift car and potentially…

What got your build started and what motivates you to continue pushing in with this passion?

What are a couple must play garage songs that are therapeutic for you? Something that makes you either feel big feelings or makes all your feelings fake away. Whatever calms the storm in your mind as it drowns out in the background.

The garage is more than just a place to wrench — for some it’s a sanctuary, for others it’s a canvas. When you’re in the garage, is it about chasing perfection, escaping life for a while, or building something that reflects who you are? Curious how everyone here defines their version of ‘garage therapy’ and what it really means beyond the bolts and grease.

Where am I at right now?

Truthfully, I feel stretched thin, ragged, and ready to just turn it in and hide for a while. My second little boy is due in early September and I've been riding the razor's edge near physical and mental burnout since well before April.

See, we found out we were pregnant on New Year's Eve. This kiddo was prayed for and hoped for through loss and heartache for nearly two years. Finding out was a massive surprise and the best start to the new year we ever could have asked for. But with the excitement also came stress. What if we experienced another loss? What if we went to another ultrasound appointment and didn't see a heartbeat? What if things didn't go well? What if? I feel like I've been holding my breath all year waiting for something to go wrong and I know…

Y’all if I might be so bold to ask, I need some advice. Any input would be helpful at this point.

A little while ago back in November, I bought my first car, a 2019 Infiniti Q50 Luxe. Ever since I bought it, it’s given me nothing but issues. Let’s go down the line of what has gone wrong thus far. First, I got a flat tire (Rear driver side) but luckily the tires are run flat, so I could get it back home. Once I got new rear tires, my rear bumper cover flew off on the highway and I still haven’t been able to replace it yet. Next a few months later, I was driving in the rain and my front tires lost traction around a corner so I went straight into a curb, smashing my upper and lower oil pan as well as my oil pump whil…

No, I'm not talking about from the Sun, I'm talking about the "Ahhh man, I gotta wash the f*cking truck again" and the "Why do I do this sh*t" time of year.

Well it's that time of year again. We've reached the point where I am sweating out of every orifice of my body trying to get the ride ready for the 3rd meet of the week, after work, dad and husband duties, as I drop another 10mm socket into the Abyss of broken dreams and think of selling my stuff and buying a nice sensible car.

I'm sure we all reach this point, but what keeps us going back to the abuse, like Tina to Ike? I'll explain....well, at least why I do, and how I keep mustering up the strength to push on and wash and wax the bitch, one more time. This summer has been a lot…

The week is half over, and with that in mind i wanna get a little deep.

What pushes you toward finishing your build? What is that inner most feeling that you use your car to get away from?

What is your motivation, whether good or bad?

Motivation is motivation, and we wanna hear what gets you guys out to the garage and working!

So been waiting almost 3 months for my custom vertex bumper to be finished and painted.. painter is dragging his feet but can’t say much because he’s doing it for free along with my new widebody fenders.. but damn 🥲 he’s had my bumper almost 3 weeks. Keeps telling me the end of this week.. well we’re coming up on 4 weeks and now it’s Monday he will get to them with my fenders. I have a show in 8 days I thought I’d be more than prepared for and finished with paint. But uhhh.. 😬 just loosing steam on the car. I thought I’d make it into one showcase with her this year but not looking like it. None of my friends care about this kind of thing, it’s all hair and nails for them so they don’t understand the disappointment I have for not only myself but my…

Well folks... This one got me today. Full-blown panic when I got an email from my wife while I was working saying, "Call me right now." She's 29 weeks pregnant and had our 5-year-old son in the car with her on their way to an ultrasound appointment when they were rear-ended by a teenager driving aggressively in a one-lane construction zone. Officers and the trucker who stopped as a witness said impact was around 50 mph while my wife was completely stopped for traffic. And I believe it. The trunk floor is shoved all the way forward into the rear sub-frame and diff and both trailing arms are bent badly. It'll be a right-off I'm sure.

Enough about the car though. My boy was checked out on the scene and cleared by paramedics and went home with my best friend who dropped everything (bless the man) and rushed to help…

Another week’s rolling in. Nothing wild, nothing chaotic—just another set of days to tune your life like you’d tune your build.

No need to over-rev.

No pressure to be at peak performance.

Just… be. Enjoy the little stuff.

Open your windows.

Play your favorite playlist.

It’s Monday again.

Yeah, we feel it too. But before the week kicks into high gear, just a reminder — you don’t have to have it all figured out today. Take it slow, one bolt, one breath, one small win at a time. The garage will still be there. The build will still be there. You’re allowed to pace yourself. Let’s ease into it this week — steady hands, clear mind. 🤝🛠️

Hey crew — quick reminder before the weekend hits:

Not every bolt has to be torqued to spec, not every build has to be perfect, and not every day has to be productive. Sometimes just showing up to the garage, putting some music on, and zoning out with a ratchet in your hand is enough. Don’t overthink it. This is therapy, not a competition. ✌️🛠️

Crazy Times out there! Sometimes you might just need to talk to someone to make sense out of things. So, if you’re in need of a shoulder, and ear or even a kidney, holla at ya boy! I’m not a therapist but I listen without judgement and sometimes, I give sage advice. Anywho, you’re not alone!