Save That Classic Garage aka "STC Garage"

[savethatclassic]

STC Garage build, lots of pics!

First off its great to be able to access GJ and get inspired, so many great ideas, creativity and work done out there.

Here is my little blog of the build of STC garage, but first a little background about myself. As far as I can remember I have been building "things" since I was a kid. I started building bicycles when I was about 8 years old and it kept me occupied until about 16 when I first got my drivers permit and my first car, an 1981 Cadillac Fleetwood (This was 1993). So over the years I moved from working on cars on the street, to a carport, then a single car garage and about 12 years ago to my current house with a 2 car garage. I have built many cars/trucks over the years. Over the summer I looked at my shop and realized how much time I waste with A)being disorganized, B) constantly moving stuff around including cars, C) Just not being inspired to work on stuff when surrounded by an avalanche of parts and what not.

First thought in my head was to rent a shop close by and just move all my stuff into the larger space, but after doing some math I decided to just invest some cash into my own property and build my shop at home. I also want to build a race car starting next year (1973 Datsun 510 for road racing), in addition, complete building a 1949 Ford Club coupe (shoebox), my 1963 Cadillac Sedan-wood and finish my shop truck a 1963 Chevy C10.

So my list of stuff that were a must:
New concrete floors, both inside the garage & in front of it.
A lift as its getting old sitting and laying on the floor to work on projects.
A small welding station as welding on the floor is pretty lame.
Storage, storage and more storage.
Sell and toss a lot of "might need it one day" items
Small spray booth for painting smaller items.

Here are some before pics of what I am basically starting with, I did actually have the slab in front of the garage poured last year so I'm a a little behind in posting.

 

[savethatclassic]

So the first step was to separate the deck area from the shop space so I put up a redwood fence, then I had the slab redone in front of the garage, it's about a 25x25 slab, 4inch thick.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Welcome to the group, lot of thread on garage storage ideals. Use the search feature.

 

[savethatclassic]

Here are a few pix of my current rides and projects.

1963 Cadillac SDV with Fleetwood trim
1963 C10 Shop truck
1949 Ford Club coupe shoebox
1973 Datsun 510 2 door sedan.

 

[CodeRedZ]

any plans for that other shop truck?

 

[savethatclassic]

If your refering to the 65 big window, it has been sold and went to Neveda to be shop truck out there, had to get some funds and room to do this remodel. The 63 will be getting a crate 350 and kinda overkill built 200R4 trans (I already have it, so gonna use it)

 

[CodeRedZ]

ah gotcha, at least it went to a good home

 

[rubberrodder]

At todays price of gas, that 510 is would make a sweet daily. And fun too! Love the Caddy and shoebox. What plans on the shoebox? Gasser? Custom? Resto-rod?

 

[savethatclassic]

At todays price of gas, that 510 is would make a sweet daily. And fun too! Love the Caddy and shoebox. What plans on the shoebox? Gasser? Custom? Resto-rod?

Well I solved the daily problem with buying a little civic, the 510 is destined to be a full on race car. The shoebox will retain it original "patina", its more of a custom , NO chop.

 

[savethatclassic]

So the first step was to remove all the stuff in the garage, I also had a shed full of Cadillac parts that I boxed up so it basically took up two parking spots..

 

[savethatclassic]

Next up is gutting the garage, including removing all the extra random wires that have accumulated over the years.

 

[savethatclassic]

Here are some shots of the floor, it was poured in 1947 and with no rebar and living in Socal we have clay soil which basically pushed up the concrete over time. Since I will be installing a MAX JAX set up I was initially just going to pour a 4x12 section but opted to just redo the whole garage floor.

 

[madoc1]

nice collection of cars. wish I had that dat. what happened to the 48-49 ford shop truck? good luck and you are off to a proper start. also, I see you have a proper cali lawn, while your cross street neighbors seem to be water hogs.


jim

 

[savethatclassic]

So I set up a time to have the floor redone and started adding a million outlets and putting OSB on the walls in the mean time. I also recessed the sub panel and cleaned up all the other wiring.

I decided to remove the sink and put it outside since I just use it to wash my hands and fill up buckets, I needed that valuable wall space.

 

[savethatclassic]

nice collection of cars. wish I had that dat. what happened to the 48-49 ford shop truck? good luck and you are off to a proper start. also, I see you have a proper cali lawn, while your cross street neighbors seem to be water hogs.


jim

Thanks, I have bunch of greenery but the grass is not worth the effort and water especially the parkway that belongs to the city, prob put some pavers there in the middle of the night haha.

The 49 F1 was sold sometime ago..

 

[rubberrodder]

That looks like a pretty good sized space. How big is it?
I know what you mean by "extra random wires". My old garage was patched together with ancient knob and tube, along with bits of extension and lamp cords. Scary stuff indeed.

 

[savethatclassic]

That looks like a pretty good sized space. How big is it?
I know what you mean by "extra random wires". My old garage was patched together with ancient knob and tube, along with bits of extension and lamp cords. Scary stuff indeed.

It's just a standard detached 20x20 garage but it actually is more like 19x17 inside, gonna have to take lot of creativity to use every inch and not look cluttered .

 

[savethatclassic]

So ran into a little snag, the east side lower sill was completely dry rotted out, the whole 18 feet. Good thing was the original sill was a 3x2, so I bought 2 pressure treated 4x4 10 footers. I used a couple of floor jacks placed on 2x4's so they stayed in place, jacked up the roof just to take the weight of the sill, trimmed the studs, drilled and placed in 5 anchors, placed the 4x4's in place and it was better then new.

 

[savethatclassic]

So the crew showed up at 7am and by 9am most of the "easy demo" was done.

 

[savethatclassic]

Then they spent about 4 more hours chipping away at the footer, drilling and epoxying rebar into it, laying the rest of the rebar, and prepping for the pour the next morning . I had them dig a 12 inch deep footer for a total of 16 inches of concrete where the max jax will be installed.

 

[savethatclassic]

So the next morning the crew was ready to go at 7am. They set everything up and were done pouring by 8:30am. I ordered 3000 psi concrete, the "maxjax trench" took 1 yard itself to fill. by noon all was done and finished, I asked for a smooth finished since its inside the garage, I still have not decided what coating I'm going to use.

 

[savethatclassic]

The next morning it looked great, I'm really happy that I had the whole slab redone instead of just patching and pouring sections. worth the extra $$$ to me.

 

[savethatclassic]

Next step was to finish up the OSB for the walls, put the sink outside, put in the spray booth and prep for paint.

Of course I couldn't help myself and had to mock up the garage a little .

 

[savethatclassic]

It took over an hour just to mask everything off. I also replaced one 20' rafter tie that was split in half, the shop truck handled picking it up. The ceiling is also going to be painted, you can see for dark it is.

 

[savethatclassic]

So after 10 gallons of primer and 5 gallons of paint, it only took 5min to unmask the place. I must say I'm pretty happy with the outcome, all off white makes the place look a lot bigger.

Here are some pics after the primer, the ceiling really soaked it up.

 

[Brian80]

Awesome transition, and that shop truck is sweet.

 

[savethatclassic]

Awesome transition, and that shop truck is sweet.

Thanks!

 

[savethatclassic]

So here we have some pics with the off white final coat.

 

[savethatclassic]

So first I ran some new lighting, basically 4 fixtures, 2 have 3 T8 bulbs, one has 2 T8 bulbs and 1 has 2 8 foot bulbs, the lights have their own breaker. I also mounted and outlet on the ceiling in case I want to add some hanging retractable lights in the future.

 

[savethatclassic]

So the east wall will have about 16 feet of bench top, 24 inch deep. I went with 3/4 maple plywood for the top, the framing was done with 2x4's. I made a little jig so I could mount the support ties, made it a lot easier to get them level. I also positioned the east side MAXJAX post. Behind it I will hang the pump assembly.

 

[xtremek]

Some cool rides, so I'm dying to see how the garage is going to turn out. Looks good so far. Count me in.

 

[savethatclassic]

Some cool rides, so I'm dying to see how the garage is going to turn out. Looks good so far. Count me in.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[savethatclassic]

So I was debating what to use for wall storage, from shelves to cabinets, then do I build custom wood cabinets and buy new or used cabinets. So I went with new metal cabinets, I found these GLADIATOR cabinets online at sears for great price. $99 on sale from $239. These are 30x30 welded cabinets. Home Depot had the 28x28 un-assembled ones for $99 down from $149, so I quickly ordered 8 of them. The very next day they were listed for $180 at sears online, typo maybe, not my problem!

So 3 were in stock and 5 on two week back order, I picked up the 3 and started mounting them up. Must say I'm pretty happy with them, i also have plenty to do while I wait for the other 5. Also note the bench is almost done.

 

[savethatclassic]

So made a cut out for the maxjax to recess it a bit and mounted the pump assembly on the wall behind it. Most likely I'm going to run the hydraulic hose for the west side MAXJAX up and over along the ceiling.

 

[iceman510]

Nice transformation on the workspace. Used to vintage race my 71 510. Look forward to any posts on that project.

 

[Bib Overalls]

If you are going to bring the outside post hydraulic down from the ceiling consider adding a electrical outlet and a compressed air station as well. With your sized shop that post will be close to the center of the space and convenient.

 

[BoostAddiction]

Used to have a 71 510 with a lot of racing stuff on it, including a 5-speed from a 2000, 4.38 LSD, SSS head, Isky cam, Venolia pistons, headers and a roll bar. It was a great car.

 

[THR1LL3R]

badass!

 

[savethatclassic]

Nice transformation on the workspace. Used to vintage race my 71 510. Look forward to any posts on that project.

Thanks, once I get my shop done I'll be starting that project in 2016.

 

[savethatclassic]

If you are going to bring the outside post hydraulic down from the ceiling consider adding a electrical outlet and a compressed air station as well. With your sized shop that post will be close to the center of the space and convenient.

I did mount an outlet in the middle of the ceiling for the exact purpose, air might not be bad idea, tnx!