It's more of a sense of relief to me. Relief that I'm done spending time and money on the car for the time being. The real rush comes after the inevitable sorting out of other problems that usually takes a few days to a week after getting the car up and running again, when the car is running better and faster than ever and you rip it through the gears for the first time after driving a slow commuter car for a few months. That almost makes all the sweating and hurting yourself and offending the neighbors with your cussing in the driveway worthwhile. But not really.

I'll be very happy when I can get a car that is new enough that the only work I have to do is installing mods. That's the one thing I do really enjoy, installing mods. I'd pay a shop to do every item of repair work if any of them would treat the car with the same attention to detail I do, but on a modified car there is a lot of value in knowing you did everything so it's exactly the way you want it. On a stock daily, fuggit, as soon as I have the money I'm sending everything short of simple 30 minute fixes to a shop. It's no fun working under a deadline to get the car back on the road.