Above 1200 Sq/FT The Suburban Working Garage in VA...now building the Highland House in the Teton Valley

[Nolift911]

Turning some attention to the Defender since it is here. I think I posted back in Jan of 2024 the intent to change the fender protectors on the Defender, got the parts and they were all damaged. Took a bit to get them resent but they are here and time to get them installed.

The top of the fenders are "oh to convenient to sit stuff on" even I do it. Flat, perfect level for everything so they need protection plus they are aluminum so they deform easily.

3 main objectives here: Full fender protection front to back, aerial hole cover up and matte black instead of gloss.

So here is what they look like now - (changed the air intakes with the hi-flow back in January of 2024)





New parts - undamaged.



Main thrust for doing this. I really hate radio antennas on cars for anything.





Tumor removed.



Fist step is removing the old ones. So drilling out rivets is like a 50/50 deal for me...some go great, some are a pain. I have a bit for removal but have found that an overside drill bit that can skim the surface, release the rivet and then poke the mandrel through to release it. Taking drills to body panels is exciting, try and protect whatever I can.



For the ones that have the mandrel head still sticking out (circled) - can't drill that so I take a file and smooth flat and then can start the drill in the pocket.








To be continued...

 

[Nolift911]

On to the install -

Took longer than I anticipated. The hood on a Defender can come off in about 3 minutes, but not with one person. My crew was out of town and I was determined to get this done over a long weekend. It rests on pivot points near the windshield and it just rests on the points, you need to hyperextend the hood vertical and it lifts right out. I didn't do any of that. It is aluminum with a steel structure and not a one person deal. Time to get creative.

Most of the holes were fine, but 3 on each side really needed the hood removed. Both at the cowl and one under the hood. I did have to remove the Safari Guard cross bar under the windshield, easy enough. The top rivet in the pic looks buggered or crooked but the head is resting on a diamond plate ridge - is what it is.





No drill can fit in here...or can it?



Great excuse for a new tool... $20 at HD





Also black rivets vs. silver. Defender debate for all Defender owners. I like the black rivets, some like rivets to stand out. There are certain high profile rivets on a Defender that are neither black or painted and just raw aluminum. You can tell good restorers from others that follow this model and since my truck is all original I will follow that path.



How to keep the paint from coming off the rivet head when installing? Riveting is a rather rudimentary way to fasten something. It generally takes 3 good pulls on the gun with significant force and its the metal rivet gun against your painted rivet....then BANG! After about 30ish rivets still never ready for that.

Here is my hack for not scratching the rivet head. Take some Gorilla Tape and put it between the rivet and the rivet gun head...one use per.



I have had the rivet gun for 30 years...used to rivet the bumpers on my Sea Doo PWC - the one I rode from Florida to the Bahamas back in the day, but that is another story.

All done.







More better in my opinion.

 

[zmotorsports]

For that application, you made the right call on black rivets. Looks great.

 

[Nolift911]

For that application, you made the right call on black rivets. Looks great.

Thanks! I think it turned out better than before.

In other news - bit of drama. Spent the last few weeks getting the M3 ready for a trip out to Colorado. My son is staying in Colorado for the summer, working and I can't blame him. Part of the bargain for that was he was able to drive the car out and keep with him for the next school year. Also part of the bargain is the car is 1700 miles away and I cannot work on it etc...so when you get there it will need tires, oil change etc. "Yep - got it!"

I "checkbook mechanic'ed" (paid for) a number of things on the car prep for this since I simply did not have time. Took it to a BMW shop that specializes in e30, e36 and e46 M3's. One of the major issues were the transmission detents - worn out. Had to R&R the transmission to do that, some suspension bushings, power steering rack and pump, aftermarket radiator replacement etc. Replaced the drivers side mirror, A-pillar trim...got it all tidy and nice. Never drove better.

Also got my dent guy to spend the day with the car working out all 27 years of dings and dents. Body panels were all nice and straight and no dents. Dude is a full on magician...he finds things with that light I never knew existed. Went panel by panel, turned out great.







After that a jiffy detail -



Looking smart -



So the kid was all ready for a road trip adventure, his girlfriend was riding shotgun. I remember these days, road tripping across the country with your girl, not a care in the world...and he is off!



Left on Saturday gets there late Sunday. Heads to his job on Monday and in the parking lot this happens...









Someone not paying attention backs into him in the parking lot...not his fault. Police called, insurance notified and @badonk stopped by to lend a hand. I felt bad for the kid...from glory to defeat in 48 hours.

Anyway - the real drama was with insurance. Insurance asked if it was drivable and he said no. While the fender was pushed into the tire and the car is so low it would rub the tire and cut it if driven. So he told the truth, but that was the wrong answer - unfortunately.

A car that has a book value of maybe $6-7K. I have about $30-$40k in it. So the insurance company doesn't even see it and declares it a total loss as 180k miles, 1998, not drivable. Boo.

So I get on the phone with my local agent and say, its drivable, just a fender bender, we pulled the fender out, changed the tire and viola it automagically moved it from total loss to now needing an estimate for repair.

Got an estimate from a reputable shop and it is $6500.

The other thing I need to do is place a stated value policy on the car, it was on my list but I thought I would have more than 48 hours after he departed.

 

[tweidman]

I didn't see that one coming. What a shame.... I hope the repair goes well.

 

[zanyad]

Ugh. *****. Glad you were able to work it out with your agent.

 

[Xti04]

Man that ***** but if it were mine that would be exactly how I would get rewarded for all that hard work and money spent. I cant tell you how many people I have done major repairs on their vehicle only to hear from them a week later that someone ran a red light and totalled their fresh investment into their vehicle. Nothing like an infusion of cash to align the stars for a wreck. Glad someone was able to help out though!

 

[Vette60]

Thanks for sharing the trials and tribulations. I enjoyed your tribute to your Grandfather, the work on the new place, and all the Volvo work. When I saw the e36, threw up in my mouth a bit. Yuck! Hopefully, everything gets worked out with the repairs!

My wife got rear ended turning into our neighborhood in our less than year old V50 T5 back in 2006 when she was overdue with our son. That was extremely stressful and to top it off, the insurance company was just a PITA about getting the numbers right on the settlement.

Take care and keep posting!

 

[badonk]

More better in my opinion.

Looks much better than before and worth the hassle with rivets and shipping challenges. After seeing the new ones I'd say the old ones had been rattle canned at some point in time. They looked ok-ish. I like the full coverage of the new ones better too.

I didn't see that one coming. What a shame.... I hope the repair goes well.

It'll get repaired. The kid was so devastated but he's learning a lot about car ownership. Valuable lessons for someone that wants to own many cool cars someday. Dealing with insurance for the first time, finding a good body shop, caring for a car by himself for the first time, etc etc. It is a lot of responsibility. He's stopping by my shop tomorrow morning to change the oil and look for a coolant leak to fix. We'll get it back to tip-top shape soon.

 

[gba2331]

To be fair, you did tempt the body-damage-Gods by making it so beautiful

Hard lessons to learn but #1 nobody was hurt. I’m sure you’ll get it beautiful again soon.

 

[Lou's Garage]

I'm amazed at that detail shop! There appears to be about a dozen cars going through there at the same time, assembly line style! Is it coupled with a car wash? Or, do they hand wash all the vehicles first?

Lou Manglass

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

That was tough to see after you got that looking so good, but I can only imagine how he felt. Feel bad for him, but glad that no one was hurt.

Glad your agent was able to correct the total loss after you explained the situation. You remind me I need to put an agreed value on my TSX that isn't running right now for the same reason.

 

[Nolift911]

I didn't see that one coming. What a shame.... I hope the repair goes well.

Thanks - car goes in the shop tomorrow...we'll see.

Ugh. *****. Glad you were able to work it out with your agent.

Thanks -

Man that ***** but if it were mine that would be exactly how I would get rewarded for all that hard work and money spent. I cant tell you how many people I have done major repairs on their vehicle only to hear from them a week later that someone ran a red light and totalled their fresh investment into their vehicle. Nothing like an infusion of cash to align the stars for a wreck. Glad someone was able to help out though!

Bad Luck!

Thanks for sharing the trials and tribulations. I enjoyed your tribute to your Grandfather, the work on the new place, and all the Volvo work. When I saw the e36, threw up in my mouth a bit. Yuck! Hopefully, everything gets worked out with the repairs!

My wife got rear ended turning into our neighborhood in our less than year old V50 T5 back in 2006 when she was overdue with our son. That was extremely stressful and to top it off, the insurance company was just a PITA about getting the numbers right on the settlement.

Take care and keep posting!

Thanks! That sux - insurance is never fun...been with my carrier for 40 years, and never easy.

Looks much better than before and worth the hassle with rivets and shipping challenges. After seeing the new ones I'd say the old ones had been rattle canned at some point in time. They looked ok-ish. I like the full coverage of the new ones better too.



It'll get repaired. The kid was so devastated but he's learning a lot about car ownership. Valuable lessons for someone that wants to own many cool cars someday. Dealing with insurance for the first time, finding a good body shop, caring for a car by himself for the first time, etc etc. It is a lot of responsibility. He's stopping by my shop tomorrow morning to change the oil and look for a coolant leak to fix. We'll get it back to tip-top shape soon.

Thanks - it is going to take a village with that one!

To be fair, you did tempt the body-damage-Gods by making it so beautiful

Hard lessons to learn but #1 nobody was hurt. I’m sure you’ll get it beautiful again soon.

Thanks -

I'm amazed at that detail shop! There appears to be about a dozen cars going through there at the same time, assembly line style! Is it coupled with a car wash? Or, do they hand wash all the vehicles first?

Lou Manglass

Place is pretty massive - I have been told on a busy day they can do 300-400 cars. No hand wash, just hand detail, 4 lanes at the end. 7 locations near me and 40 in DC, Maryland and Virginia. They came through about 3 years ago and bought up all the mom and pops - service is ok for a quickie detail.

That was tough to see after you got that looking so good, but I can only imagine how he felt. Feel bad for him, but glad that no one was hurt.

Glad your agent was able to correct the total loss after you explained the situation. You remind me I need to put an agreed value on my TSX that isn't running right now for the same reason.

Thanks - stated value on old cars is the only way to go.

Couple of house updates - I think last update we were looking at the form work and ready for those stem walls to be poured which has happened.







Insulation and tar coating...more on the "tower of death" later...you can see the rods for the Simspon Wall reinforcement below on the garage corners.





I try to orient my self with the garage... one single, a double and then another single...front of garage.









So I need a bunch of dirt now...1800 cubic yards or 5000 sq feet at 10 feet deep because there is no basement and there is no crawl space.

 

[MrPink]

Loving the updates!
***** about the M3, I need to figure out how I am going to do an agreed value assessment on my VW with my Insurance company, I may need to switch.

 

[Madc]

Sorry to hear about the BMW-
Foundation work looks great on the house- congrats on that hurdle and getting going!

Did you mention what Radio antenna solution you use if you get rid of them like on the defender?

Thank you again for letting us follow along!
MADC

 

[fouckhest]

Holy cow! I don't know how your thread fell off my watch list, but glad I paid notice to your updated signature about the Teton build.

Property is looking amazing, that Volvo is great, the M3 makes me super sad, that stinks...

Glad to be back following the cool progress!

 

[Nolift911]

Loving the updates!
***** about the M3, I need to figure out how I am going to do an agreed value assessment on my VW with my Insurance company, I may need to switch.

Thanks - agreed value is the only way to go.

Sorry to hear about the BMW-
Foundation work looks great on the house- congrats on that hurdle and getting going!

Did you mention what Radio antenna solution you use if you get rid of them like on the defender?

Thank you again for letting us follow along!
MADC

Thanks! - I don't use antennas for systems in my car, I just use Bluetooth and stream - not sure the last time I actually listened to an FM station via an antenna?

Holy cow! I don't know how your thread fell off my watch list, but glad I paid notice to your updated signature about the Teton build.

Property is looking amazing, that Volvo is great, the M3 makes me super sad, that stinks...

Glad to be back following the cool progress!

Thanks! Yeah GJ is odd with the watched thread deal - I have had a ton fall off, and then go and check and there are updates but did not get notified. Odd.

More house updates - particularly my tower (which is actually just a fireplace) but it is built like a brick *********. There are actually two fireplaces one in the family room and one in the master - not sure why the one in the family room is so stout?







With people crawling on it can give an idea of height and scale...









This is the cantilever overhang...



Little earthquake action...south of Driggs. The house is built to some "earthquake spec" - not entirely sure what that is.



Well drilling starts this week, lumber is starting to arrive, lots of work on the rough plumbing happening, steel is ready to be delivered and trusses are set for delivery this week also.

Its moving along for sure - hard to keep up.

 

[Clemson13]

Looking forward to your tardy updates (hey, you said it in the other thread not me)

I hope the issues weren't too bad

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

I also came here looking for an update after you posted about it in the other thread

Hoping that the disaster is not too bad of one.

 

[gba2331]

Would you mind posting your dent-guy’s contact info? I’m in the market, sadly….

 

[Cdubu52]

Hey Jeff, any updates. How are things going with the build?

 

[Clemson13]

I'm excited to see a summer of updates

 

[Madc]

Hope all is going well, would love to see how the house build is going.

Regards,
MADC

 

[Nolift911]

Last update was June 5th… geeze, I ****. Sorry folks — work, kids, life… rinse, repeat.

So, when we left off, we were at foundation stage — “you had me at stem walls.” Then came lots of backfill.

More backfill than we ever anticipated. Our 2-foot stem walls and 4 feet of grade somehow turned into 4-foot stem walls and 8 feet of grade. I’m not great at math, but I’m pretty sure doubling anything means more — especially when it comes to concrete, dirt, and the labor to sling it all around.

Anyway, lots to catch up on. Things are definitely progressing, and I’ll try to load up the latest progress over the upcoming holiday.

So basically, we wrapped up the foundation and stem walls and moved on to the preliminary plumbing and backfill.







Trenching for power and fiber -



Plumbing started for the slab -



Main power run, also for fiber



Spare bedrooms plumbing



Garage plumbing



Family room looking to kitchen and bedrooms



Weather has been good...thus far

 

[Cdubu52]

Awesome progress Jeff! Happy to see some updates.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Glad to see you back with an update, Jeff! Hope life outside of the craziness has been treating you well. Look forward to seeing more updates.

 

[Xti04]

Good to see ya back. Glad theres some progress on the project.

 

[Nolift911]

Thanks all!! And thanks for the patience, work has been a whirlwind roller coaster so time is tight and then there is this whole building a house thing... Its fun right? Build a house they said, it'll be fun they said...

So here come all of the deliveries for steal and lumber - getting to the good stuff.













Sill plates on - time to start going up!









Goes pretty quick -

 

[Nolift911]

Pic overload -







Steel for cantilever -









Well drilling -







Then a little bit of a set back...

 

[Nolift911]

So we had a trip planned for a good friend that was retiring and turning 60 so we took off for Cabo San Lucas for a quick vacation -
It had been awhile since I got some time away with my better half, no kids, no dogs etc...

















Here I am relaxing until a check the camera pics of the job site for the day...



Had to do a double take...

 

[Nolift911]

I'm like wait what?

This is where we were...garage trusses starting to go up...I am sipping a pina colada in Baja...









My builder is texting me weather updates...which up until now had been great. Lots of progress but there were storms in the area...



i wake up the next morning and check the cameras and this: something doesn't look quite right?



Obviously bad news but the good news is it happened overnight during one of the storms and nobody was on the job site so no one got hurt. Builder says he was on it...apparently there was a few 50-60mph gusts that registered at the Driggs airport. So now there is a pile of kindling where the garage once stood.

So who is to blame? Builder, framer...mother nature? Doesn't really matter, **** happens. Time to move forward. It was pretty clear that before the rebuild began things had to be cleaned up.

My builder took action to ensure that there were heavy things to strap stuff down for the rebuild...each of these weigh 5000 lbs. so this is a step in the right direction.



More to come...

 

[DeeDubz]

sounds like you scored a good builder. My experience I haven't had one go above and beyond like that.

 

[Nolift911]

Yes, I have a good builder. Makes all the difference. Once that mess was cleared up, we were able to move forward. The framer was out about two weeks’ worth of labor and about $12k in lumber. Sixteen broken trusses had to be reordered. Teton Truss stepped up, and the framing crew stepped up too—working long days and weekends to get things back on track fast. I told my builder I wanted to cover the crew’s lunch that week.

The approach this time was focused on more shear-wall strength: all four corners of the garage, a flat roof to tie everything in, and much more 2x4 bracing on all the interior walls. Sink the 5,000-lb blocks, set the heavy equipment on top, and then chain everything to the blocks and equipment. Then they’ll deal with the trusses and the piggyback trusses.

I don’t think I realized how much steel is going into this house. I was just thinking about the cantilever, but there’s a lot more. We chose the architect because he does mostly commercial construction and only takes on a couple of home builds a year. So the steel-heavy approach was appealing.

Few pics -











Then back to framing...







More to come...

 

[larry4406]

WOW!

I was surprised you backfilled what would have been a nice basement/bunker.

 

[Nolift911]

WOW!

I was surprised you backfilled what would have been a nice basement/bunker.

Not sure what I would have done with a 4 foot basement - plus the entire house and garage are a slab.

Couple more pics: Starting with the smaller pitched roof...





Strapped in -





Main flat roof done then tie the pitch to the first set of garage trusses then the piggy back trusses for garage and sheer everything out with the zip system.



Start of piggy back trusses -





Starting to take shape -





More to come -

 

[Horror Business]

Great progress!

 

[Nolift911]

Thanks!!

Quick project for the Defender: Not a fan of wheel spacers...but...these spacers are a bit different. Hub centric, well made and not obnoxious. Most Defenders have these and at some point I think Land Rover even incorporated them on some models. I have upsized tires so on full lock I do get just a bit of rub. One way to correct this is to add spacers. These are 30mm which may sound like a lot but the result is very subtle and takes care of the full lock rub.

Nice bit of kit - made by TerraFirma



Before:















Front wheel after:






Like I said, subtle.

 

[fourmotioneer]

Curious more than anything - did the instructions call for this application of 272?

House build is enjoyable to watch! Even better knowing that the pics date back to August

 

[Nolift911]

Curious more than anything - did the instructions call for this application of 272?

House build is enjoyable to watch! Even better knowing that the pics date back to August

Indeed - scare instructions below: (which I rarely follow)



I figured when I need to get them off I break out my Milwaukee - 1400lb impact gun.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Amazing updates. The framing really does go by fast. Sorry to see the issues they had with the storm but sounds like they have more than made good on it. That is one serious system of trusses over the garage.