Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT The 12-Gauge Garage

[Jack Olsen]

Alpinehwite, I think you're making a smart decidsion on a touch-up-as-you-go approach. If you try to turn a garage into a work of art, it'll never get used. You need to treat it like any other tool, in my opinion.

dwp99, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to photography. I'm using a Nikon D5100 camera, which I think is an entry level DSLR. Normally, I've got a 15-85 lens. The new one is a 10-20. The lenses seem crazy expensive to me (but then, they might not be -- I'm new to this stuff). The Nikon version of the lens I got costs $800. At that price, my brain says that I could get a good used car instead.

The one I got is made my Sigma, and costs about half that, new. And I paid less, since I bought mine second-hand. I think the thing that makes them so pricey is that the autofocus motor is built into the lens, not the camera.

I tried using a cheap Chinese wide-angle lens that screwed onto the existing lens. At it's best, I could get more into the frame. But it didn't focus correctly and would go dark around the corners. The new one does much better. Even with some distortion, it's nice to be able to fit so much into a single frame.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

....touching up my stained concrete floor would be easier than fixing tile.

Well this would be true, IF you had to "fix tile". But having been in the 12GG a couple of times I can tell you I've never noticed a single damaged tile. I know Jack has said there is a chip here or there, but they're essentially invisible.

And Jack has pulled/rebuilt/replaced the engine from his track car in there. He's pulled those 1 million pound Strong Hold cabinets around in there. I don't think damaged tile is much of a real concern unless you are dropping engines off tabletops! And I believe Jack used pretty inexpensive Home Cheapo tiles, not porcelain tile that would make this even less of an issue. YMMV, of course.

I don't think tile is a panacea but I plan to use it in my beat up old garage with it's 80+ year old cracked slab eventually.

 

[dwp99]

Alpinewhite,
You're correct, it is crop factor. I've got Minolta gear. I've got the Minolta Maxxum 9 as the film camera and a 7D as the digital. I had a few lenses for the Maxxum 9 so when Minolta came out with the 7D I picked one up, that was back in 2005.

Jack
My 15mm lens in a sigma, the equivalent Minolta lens used on ebay is over $1000. I buy all my lenses used as long as they are in good condition. My camera is probably considered an antique now, it's only a 6.1mp but I like it.

 

[markszabo]

Hey all, hey Jack, long time no see -

While I still don't have a garage, I still occasionally browse here just to catch up and get new ideas for organizing my admittedly tiny workshop. Right now I'm getting ready to put together my secondary bench, stealing your idea of the Ikea benchtop. I'll need to source some decent cabinets to put it on, of course.

I do need space for a table router, though. Where is yours kept? I don't see it in any of the photos.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Well this would be true, IF you had to "fix tile". But having been in the 12GG a couple of times I can tell you I've never noticed a single damaged tile. I know Jack has said there is a chip here or there, but they're essentially invisible.

I was talking in support of not worrying too much about touching stuff up. I'm not against tile. I still think it's probably the best garage flooring surface out there. And it's a bonus that it's also one of the least expensive. (But your shoulders will feel it after you finish the grout.)

My 15mm lens in a sigma, the equivalent Minolta lens used on ebay is over $1000. I buy all my lenses used as long as they are in good condition. My camera is probably considered an antique now, it's only a 6.1mp but I like it.

It's funny. We have an older Nikon DSLR that we replaced when it started acting funny. I definitely prefer the pictures from the older one. Although I was never a good enough photographer that I'd say I'd prefer to go back to film. I'm seat-of-the-pants enough that I need to see if it turned out right away.

Hey all, hey Jack, long time no see -

While I still don't have a garage, I still occasionally browse here just to catch up and get new ideas for organizing my admittedly tiny workshop. Right now I'm getting ready to put together my secondary bench, stealing your idea of the Ikea benchtop. I'll need to source some decent cabinets to put it on, of course.

I do need space for a table router, though. Where is yours kept? I don't see it in any of the photos.

It's great to hear from you, Mark. The Pelican board isn't the same without your voice.

I keep the table router on one of the shelves up above the garage door. Here's a picture of my exhaust fan where you can see a banker's box for the bits and other random stuff that goes with the table. The table router itself stores back behind the box. As you might guess, the thing next to it on the far side of the shelf is the tile saw. I use the router infrequently enough that I don't mind standing up on a stool to get it down when I need it.

Then, I've got four holes drilled into the wood fold-down bench so that I can drop four bolts through them and not have the thing slide around when I'm using it.

 

[Zengineer]

It's funny. We have an older Nikon DSLR that we replaced when it started acting funny. I definitely prefer the pictures from the older one. Although I was never a good enough photographer that I'd say I'd prefer to go back to film. I'm seat-of-the-pants enough that I need to see if it turned out right away.

Most likely its your lens selection. Try using some of your old lenses on your D5100. Chances are they have much better optics than either of the lenses you are using.

Pro lenses are easily $2k a pop, and can be up to $7k or more for specialty glass... and you can see the difference in every shot!

 

[Falcon67]

We are all Canon around here. I use a Canon 18-55mm most of the time, especially for shop pics. Paid a whopping $150 refurbed on Amazon. My wife uses a 18-135mm on her better Canon and it's a great lens. Not cheap, not a prime - but worth the price. It does have a bit of vignetting with a hood at full zoom. We'd have two but there are too many other bills right now.

Will never, ever go back to film. When we shoot pics at the drag strip, we may take 200 pics in a day. On a weekend race, 300~500. Our yearly average until the track cut way back on race days was 10,000 to 12,000 shot per year. Not possible on a budget with film. And corrections can be made right after download. I can have a full day's race report complete with pics up in 3-4 hours.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Yesterday was one of those days that shouldn't have gone well, but did. It started early -- at one in the morning -- with our one-year-old waking up everyone in the house, not sleepy at all -- for a little over three hours.



So I was tired enough that I knew I'd need a few breaks during the day or I'd fall asleep in my chair.

So I decided to change the oil on the race car and to install a new turn signal switch on it. I'd been putting off the switch because I know that anything down under the Porsche's dashboard is a huge pain in the neck -- or more precisely, pain in the wrist, since getting access down there requires finger lengths and additional wrist joints that I don't have.

The oil change was a breeze. There are two different filters, two different drain plugs that need to be opened, and 12 quarts of oil that had to come out and go in. With the lift, this is all pretty easy -- including checking the thing for leaks once it's been warmed up and driven around town a little. Need to tighten that filter that's way down underneath the block? Easy once it's up in the air.

The surprising thing was how easy the turn signal switch was. It's one thing to get the steering wheel off and get the new switch in (only about 18 fasteners involved in that part). The trick is threading the two leads down below and carefully swapping out the new connectors for the old ones without getting confused -- while you're lying upside down with your feet up in the air and the engine management computer digging into your back.

Not a lot of room down there.

But it worked perfectly -- the new switch doesn't turn on the brights every time the signal activator is cancelled. And as a bonus, I got the horn working again.

It went well enough that I threw on an extra project. I recently got an old cloth measuring tape, and I haven't found a way to set it on a shelf without it rolling away. So I thought I'd make a little holder for it. Quick and dirty.

I went to the scrap drawer for a piece of wood.

I used an oversized HF hole saw to make a kind of saddle for it.

I angled the bottom of the base so the tape measure would lean back a little where it sat. Then I cut a piece of wood to back it up.

Here it is assembled and ready for paint.

And here it is in place. Nothing fancy, but one thing I'll never have to worry about again.

 

[scab]

I know next to nothing about Porsches (other than most of them look great) but I wouldn't have guessed that car would take 12 qts of oil.

 

[Jack Olsen]

They have what's called a dry sump oil system, which means there isn't a reservoir down at the bottom of the engine. Instead, there are two pumps and an external (vertical) tank that holds the oil when it's not being circulated through the system. There's also a thermostat on that tank that bypasses oil to a cooler (or in my case two coolers) up at the front of the car when the engine temperature reaches about 190°. It's a system that is not vulnerable to lateral G-forces when the car is being run very fast through sweeping corners. A so-called wet sump system relies on gravity, and can run into trouble in racing situations. It's also a system that allowed the Porsche engineers to put off (until 1998) using water to cool the engine. Instead, there's enough oil volume that when you run it through an external cooler, it can provide as much cooling as the engine needs (in addition to a fan on top of the engine that circulates air over the cylinders and heads). One benefit is that an engine can't be damaged by freezing water inside it.

It's a kind of oil system that guys who race their cars pay thousands of dollars to install on their cars. But it was standard on 911s from 1964-1998, when they finally went to water cooling. But it means I have 14 quarts of oil in my car, which costs $98 for the type of oil I use. Combine that with a pair of German oil filters and aluminum crush rings for the drain plugs, and even a DIY oil change is somewhere around $120.

 

[scab]

I'm familiar with that type of system but I didn't know they were on Porsches. Very interesting. And I have a Cummins so I can totally emphathize with you on expensive oil changes.

 

[luvit]

is your exhaust fan just for welding?
i bought one, but i'm quite far from cutting a hole in my roof/ceiling, yet.

.

 

[Outlawmws]

is your exhaust fan just for welding?
i bought one, but i'm quite far from cutting a hole in my roof/ceiling, yet.

.

Luvit; instead of going through the roof, go up and back through the wall high under the eaves. You can rig several dryer vents, or a large equivalent, and not be worried about dealing with trying to reseal the roof.

 

[luvit]

Luvit; instead of going through the roof, go up and back through the wall high under the eaves. You can rig several dryer vents, or a large equivalent, and not be worried about dealing with trying to reseal the roof.

i hear ya.. but the wall i really want to use is my front wall and it's brick.
i don't mind cutting the ceiling, but if i can go through the brick nicely, then i'll need those ideas..

.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I use the fan pretty often. It cools the place down when it's hot. I also use it if I've briefly run the car with the door closed -- hoping I'm reducing the number of dead brain cells or whatever carbon monoxide might do. Or when I paint something in there.

I had no idea what I was doing when I put it in. But I don't see any evidence of leaking.

 

[alpinewhite]

Jack,

I don't think I ever saw an explanation on how you use this stick. You seem to drop the cabinet one step at a time. Do you merely lift the cabinet with one hand and position this pole so that the next step catches the cabinet?

 

[Jack Olsen]

That's pretty much it, except I wouldn't have been strong enough to just lift it, even in the 18" increments. The cabinet weighs a lot -- 800 pounds with the shelves and doors. What I did with that prop thing was use a 10' or 12' long 2x6 as a lever to raise or lower the thing, and then rest it at each interval while I repositioned the big lever for the next step up (or down). As you can see, I didn't have complete confidence that the cabinet wasn't going to rotate just enough to come crashing down, so there are some dog beds and other padding in place to silence the (possible) booming crash.

If my memory serves, I flipped them on their side to make them easier to move on a dolly. I'm not sure why I had them all the way upside down. But I had to cut their legs off before I installed them in the garage.

I'm not sure where I got the idea for the stepped resting thing. It did come in handy, and it was cheap to make with scrap 2x4s.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I've always hated cordless tools, since their cost is high and their life expectancy is so short. But a few weeks back, I got drawn in by Ridgid's Lifetime Service Agreement, where they agree to replace batteries that fail -- for as long as you own the tool -- when you buy the battery bundled with one of their tools. I think their drills and impact drivers are pretty good, and now I don't have to worry that every time I'm charging the battery I'm eating up another precious cycle.

In fact, I liked them so much that I also picked up Ridgid's cordless circular saw on Ebay for $19. The idea wasn't that I wanted to cut 4x8s away from any electrical outlets, but that the thing might be useful for cutting steel -- since it spins at only 2,500 rpm. I got a pair of Freud Diablo metal-cutting blades for $29 a piece, and figured I'd give it a try and see if it would have the torque to cut mild steel. (Worst case scenario: I'd use the 6-1/2" blades on my 7-1/4" corded circular saw and throw away the cordless circular unit.)

Here's a video with my first two cuts. It looks like it will work pretty well. I have no idea what the battery life will be like with steel cutting, but the blades are rated for 11,000 rpm, so I think the lower tooth temperatures of 2,500 rpm might mean a decent lifespan for them. We'll see.

Click here for the video.

 

[redintex]

"Pretty well" is an understatement - it cut like a knife through butter!!! Another great idea! Did it generate a lot of chips/shavings/mess? It looked fast, almost effortless and very clean.

 

[Jack Olsen]

It generates chips that are similar to sawdust. Easy to clean up. And unlike an abrasive disk, no smoke/dust to choke on.

I've used a 7-1/4" circular saw for this kind of cutting for years, and I wasn't looking for something to replace that. A Skill 77 and a Freud blade will go through inch-thick steel. But out of the shop, this might be a useful alternative for when a light-weight saw or not having to run a power cord is important. The thing that prompted me to do it was a pergola I'm planning to build, which might need cuts made up high if I don't get all of my measurements right on the first try.

 

[alfazer]

That's impressive. Makes me wonder why I'm still using an angle grinder.

 

[magnumleigh]

I've been reading about your garage for the last week Jack, it's been my "wind-down" when I get home from work. I'm inspired by your ideas and I love the overall look and layout of the garage. Also, you appear to have a great work ethic there, in so much as it always appears clean and tidy - we all know it's too easy to just abandon stuff and clear it up next time but that rarely gets done.

My own garage is a disgrace but you've guilted me into actually doing something about it.

Ps I like that you've posted so many pictures of the garage even though you may have had some ribbing about it - you deserve to be proud of it, if it were mine I'd do the same!

 

[xXSanderXx]

Very nice home shop sir. I hope in the future, when I live with my wife in my own house, I have some garage like yours.

Good luck in the future and don't forget to post your updates!

 

[alpinewhite]

Jack,

Is there a reason you rattle-canned your red boxes instead of rolling red paint just as you did the green paint?

 

[Texcam]

Jack,

This is an inspirational thread, and has to be one of the best all-time forum threads on the net since you seem to answer every question no matter how small or large.


Thanks so much for your time and detailed post.

James

 

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, guys.

I've been reading about your garage for the last week Jack, it's been my "wind-down" when I get home from work. I'm inspired by your ideas and I love the overall look and layout of the garage. Also, you appear to have a great work ethic there, in so much as it always appears clean and tidy - we all know it's too easy to just abandon stuff and clear it up next time but that rarely gets done.

My own garage is a disgrace but you've guilted me into actually doing something about it.

Ps I like that you've posted so many pictures of the garage even though you may have had some ribbing about it - you deserve to be proud of it, if it were mine I'd do the same!

Thanks. It's still hard for me to get my head around the idea of people being interested in the garage from all different points on the globe, but I appreciate it (and also the time spent).

Part of the reason for the quantity of pictures is the fact that there are really two different groups of people who use this board. There are 'regulars,' like myself, who have been here for a long time. To them, I've got to apologize for so much repetition in the pictures. But the other group is the people who show up here and only spend a short amount of time. They still find useful information, but the quantity of time they're willing to devote to thinking about their garage is shorter. The second group is significantly larger than the first. So the fact that something has been covered 20 pages back in a thread is not very useful to them. Information has to be re-hashed and re-hashed to hit those people while they're here. I don't think there's any one way of posting information that will serve both groups, so I err on the side of showing stuff again and again.

Is there a reason you rattle-canned your red boxes instead of rolling red paint just as you did the green paint?

The red is gloss; the green is semi-gloss. Plus, I can't get the Regal Red locally in cans (I finally got some online, but it's more expensive that way). So it made sense to get spray cans of the gloss stuff. If I could get the green in cans, I would probably use it on some things. But it's latex and it's also a discontinued color. And semi-gloss is a lot more forgiving than a full gloss.

Jack,

This is an inspirational thread, and has to be one of the best all-time forum threads on the net since you seem to answer every question no matter how small or large.


Thanks so much for your time and detailed post.

James

You're welcome -- and thank you.

 

[Jack Olsen]

A great place to get bad news...

I'm lucky.

A meeting I had scheduled this morning got moved, so I had a little time open up. I've got a track day next Wednesday, and I had four new tires mounted the other day. So today I went out to swap in the new wheels/tires and also swap out two cameras to replace a pair I'd been using.

These are inexpensive key-fob-shaped HD cameras that come from China and cost ~$40. I use three of them in the car -- one attached to the front windshield, one pointed at the driver inside the cabin, and one on the back license plate. The manufacturer recently came out with a new model with a wide angle lens built into it. Previously, I'd had to buy a wide angle lens separately and attach it with glue. One of my lenses was coming loose, so I decided to spring for a pair of new ones.

Here's the old one and the new one. The cameras are already small, but without the extra lens they'll be even less noticeable. As a bonus, the new lens has a wider field of view than the old one.

In the picture, you can see the high-tech mount I use to attach the camera to the stalk of my rear-view mirror.

I also added one other thing, since the mount is subject to shift around and there's no monitor when it's being used. This is a little bubble level that they make to adhere to the sides of an RV or trailer so you can see if they're level when you're jacking them into their resting position. I trimmed off some of the plastic and hit it with black spray paint. Now it should be pretty easy to verify that I'm not going to get too crooked an image.

But what about that bad news?

Well, I got the old wheels off, and did a little work on improving the ducting around my front oil coolers. Then I checked where I was on brake pad all around. And then I noticed a little smudge of grease on one of my coil springs. A little investigation, and I found a split in one of my four CV boots. I've got no idea how long it's been there -- it hadn't lost much grease yet. But my CV joints are important to watch, since one of the mods on my car was to move the drivetrain forward about an inch and a half. This means the angle of each CV joint is more acute than it was designed for. I go through a new set of half axles about every two years on average. And I write down the install dates on the axles so I can track it.

Sure enough, this pair was installed in November of 2010.

But here's the good part of it. It's raining outside. I'm in my garage, which is dry and warm. The place is cleaned up and ready to go. I've got some 1970s-era Springsteen going on the stereo. I've got a pot of hot coffee and a couple of hours at my disposal.

And I've got a Porsche parts place in town that can get me a set of replacement axles by tomorrow. (Thank you Pelican Parts.)

The axle nuts aren't such a headache when you pop them off every two years. My cheapo HF impact wrench takes care of that. Also, since I've been down this road before, I've got the right XZN tool to get the CV joint bolts off. Everything goes quickly. For a few moments, I can imagine I actually know what the heck I'm doing.

I'm glad I checked the stuff today. At the track I drive on, the failure of the joint with the cracked boot (on the left side) could be fatal, since Willow Springs is mostly very fast right turns (one of them is a 130-mph corner). One option would have been to rebuild the joint with the bad boot (two actually, I later found a smaller crack in the inside joint on the other side), but with the sharper angle, I don't want to have to worry about second-guessing the wear on the balls and cage in the thing and possibly putting myself at risk.

Nothing really earth-shaking in this post. But it's a good contrast with a recent day where I tried to fix a wobble in the rear-view mirror base and ended up breaking the windshield. Some days are easy; some days are hard. Today went pretty well, all things considered.

 

[reyna14]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

Yeah, that would be bad news if it came apart at Big Willow. Ever try going through T8 pinned on a sportbike?

 

[NUTTSGT]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

As much as it ***** that you had to replace the axles, it's better to find broken parts in the garage than at the track, doesn't matter what type of racing you're doing.

 

[2fat2fly]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

As much as it ***** that you had to replace the axles, it's better to find broken parts in the garage than at the track, doesn't matter what type of racing you're doing.

+1 The garage is the best place for this find.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

Yep. It happened once at the slower track at the same facility.

It was a safer place to have the thing fail -- but this is how I had to go back home that day.

And no, Reyna14 -- never ridden Willow on a bike. I'd be scared stiff.

However, I've gone off of 8 a couple of times in the 911. It's bumpy.

 

[BlindViper]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

I know for the VW axles I get the oem rebuild kits. Are these not available or just not a option?

 

[goodspeed]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

a tow truck is always better than having several tow trucks to pick up the pieces, am I right?

Glad you caught it in time. What resolution do those cameras shoot in and do they handle shock decently? Might be an inexpensive solution to a gopro until I can afford one.

 

[Falcon67]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

But here's the good part of it. It's raining outside. I'm in my garage, which is dry and warm. The place is cleaned up and ready to go. I've got some 1970s-era Springsteen going on the stereo. I've got a pot of hot coffee and a couple of hours at my disposal.

One of those special moments in shop life. If only those could be captured in a bottle and used again.

I can identify with the windshield deal - busted the windshield on the Falcon during shop construction.

 

[JOHNMAN]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

EXCELLENT! What we have here is a pre event tech inspection. The kind all should go through prior to taking one's car onto the track. Been doing it for 25+ years now and have replaced many "questionable" components that "maybe could have lasted but were replaced anyway".

Job well done!

 

[jabberwoki]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

How much work was it to move your engine?

 

[APEowner]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

That's great but didn't you get some seat time in something exotic when the last one let go at the track? I guess you can't count on that happening every time.

 

[chevy.stroker]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

Glad you found the issues before they grew. Tech inspection before racing is wise.

Is there a link to the cameras or am I going blind?

It would also be interesting to see video quality from the new cameras if you don't mind sharing.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

Bad news - but admit it. You loved the fact that you knew what to look for, found it, and fixed it on your own. That is why hard corps Garage Journal guys (and gals) have garages. "Smudge of grease"? On Jack Olsen's Porsche undercarriage? If your garage is any indication then I can understand why your alarm went off.

 

[Jagmandave]

Re: A great place to get bad news...

Thse cameras are readily available on ebay, I know a lot of guys who use them for track cams, especially mounted to the front splitter or other outside location - and especially since the investment is so low if you lose one.

But how do you start them all when mounted all over the car?