AR 30x60 Porsche and Ducati shop

[mtm_motors]

My buddy and I have been looking for a place to store and work on our many projects for several years, finally found this 1800 sq ft shop on a dirt road about a mile off a major highway last year. It works perfect for us, as the neighbors aren't close, so we can make lots of noise at whatever time of day we wish, and it provides much more storage than either of our garages have. The seller had a business selling junk he bought wholesale, and he left quite a bit in it. The building also had no garage door, so we had a few obstacles to overcome before it became usable.

As we bought it. Unfortunately the sweet old International crew cab did not come with it

Boarded up windows (only this one, the others just had screens and some cattle panels bolted on to deter burglars)

Classy advertising

The building was originally built as a Masonic lodge, hence the lack of a proper garage door

After we closed on the building we cleaned it up a bit (on the outside, at least)

This fall we hired someone to cut an 8' x 10' wide opening for the door and got one installed a few days later (had to board it up with OSB)

As soon as the door was in and the building was secure again, we brought my buddy's 944 in. He is doing an LS1 swap in it, and we started pulling the engine right away. I have a Boxster and 912 that will be moving in soon as well.

The breaker panel was a rat's nest, with blacks and whites reversed and none of the grounds hooked up. Before I redid it (added a few breakers as well) the ceiling grid for the suspended ceiling was hot. Not sure if it was related, but it was a necessary fix.

I closed in a couple of the windows with the help of my Dad

This is the layout. We plan to put a workbench along the wall with the platform and shelves along the other wall.

Unfortunately I work overseas, so I won't get to work on the shop for a few months, but my Dad and buddy will sometime between now and then, so I'll keep this up to date with what they get done.

 

[Hesketh]

That has got some fantastic potential. Will be following this and nice 944 had one years ago really nice.

 

[dubber]

Very cool project. I like the angle of doing it with a friend.

 

[Nighttrain]

Neat project, always enjoy seeing commercial style buildings being turned into a shop. Sounds like your dad is enjoying this as much as you and your buddy.

 

[mtm_motors]

That has got some fantastic potential. Will be following this and nice 944 had one years ago really nice.

Thanks, and yes they are great cars!

Very cool project. I like the angle of doing it with a friend.

Neat project, always enjoy seeing commercial style buildings being turned into a shop. Sounds like your dad is enjoying this as much as you and your buddy.

Thanks guys. Yes, its great to have someone else in on it, we can pool resources and tools etc. I'm trying to get my cousin to move some of his stuff over, he's a great fabricator. At that point we would start running out of room though. Yeah my Dad is very enthusiastic about it, it gets my projects out of his hair!

Another pic of when we brought the 944 over with a good view of the door end

 

[55cadillacking]

Very cool project. I like the angle of doing it with a friend.

I'm not good at sharing!

That is a really cool project you guys got going there. Not sure why, but I see a reality TV show in your futures! Maybe I just watch too much Discovery Velocity.

944's are of my all-time dream cars. You're a lucky man.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Where are you located? Or better, where is the shop located? Can you put it in your profile? For some odd reason we (Garage Jourinalites) like to know that. Had a 68 British Racing Green 912 a long time ago. Picked it up new at the factory in Stuttgart. Sold it for no good reason. One of those things I regret.

 

[fergus]

4 wheels from Stuttgart, 2 from Bologna...I like your style dude.

 

[motofiend]

Looks to be a nice shop when you are done. What ducati will be joining the Porsche?

 

[mtm_motors]

Thanks guys!

The 944 is my buddy's. My 912 is a 67 and was originally Irish Green, it is a pretty big project but I'm looking forward to starting work on it. I don't have the original engine so I have a VW Type IV I plan to put in it. The shop is located near Springdale in NW AR.

We both have 99 Ducati Supersports and I'm building a MH900e with mostly factory parts. We have a few other motorcycles too, but Ducati runs in the blood I love aircooled bikes but I would like to get a 748/749 one day.

 

[motofiend]

Thanks guys!

We both have 99 Ducati Supersports and I'm building a MH900e with mostly factory parts. We have a few other motorcycles too, but Ducati runs in the blood [emoji14] I love aircooled bikes but I would like to get a 748/749 one day.

I like the air cooled bikes myself. I've got 3 of them, 2 being designed by Terblanche as well. A 07 SC 1000s and an 06 Paul Smart. The other a Triumph. It looks like the air cooled bikes won't be with us for much longer. At least not to be bought new. I think the scrambler is the only air cooled bike Ducati sells now and who knows for how long with the new euro emissions coming out. Triumph looks like it's moving all of its bikes to water cooled as well after next year.

So what's the deal with your mh900e....was it wrecked or are you building a completely new one from the Ducati parts bin? Either way, it want be cheap. Would like to see some pics if you got any.....



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[02blueru]

Subscribed . I've owned a 944 (miss it) and own several Ducatis. Looking forward to more updates.

 

[mtm_motors]

Happy New Year, all! Hopefully we can all get lots of work done in and on our shops and garages!

Subscribed . I've owned a 944 (miss it) and own several Ducatis. Looking forward to more updates.

Thanks for the interest! Glad to see lots of Garagistas here with similar taste in machines!

So what's the deal with your mh900e....

I hear you on the air cooled bikes... I will miss them. I got to ride the new Scrambler, it isn't bad but certainly entry level and a bit small for me at 6' 2". Love the Sport Classic, you have great taste!

With the MH900 I am still in the parts accumulation stage... I found a brand new frame in Italy on one of the Ducati forums... it took 2 months to arrive

I have a connection in the US that hooked me up with the swingarm... also new. I guess Ducati dealers stocked some spares, I think they are pretty much dried up now.

I also have a 944cc big bore kit for a 900 engine, not sure if I will sacrifice the Supersport for a donor or how I will progress from here.

 

[motofiend]

I hear you on the air cooled bikes... I will miss them. I got to ride the new Scrambler, it isn't bad but certainly entry level and a bit small for me at 6' 2". Love the Sport Classic, you have great taste!

With the MH900 I am still in the parts accumulation stage... I found a brand new frame in Italy on one of the Ducati forums... it took 2 months to arrive

I have a connection in the US that hooked me up with the swingarm... also new. I guess Ducati dealers stocked some spares, I think they are pretty much dried up now.

I do love the Sport Classics and will never sell any of them. Wife thinks I am crazy but puts up with it. I will most likely add an 06 monoposto or an 07 1000 one of these days. Nice to see what you are doing with the MH900e. Have you added up how much it will cost to build a bike from scratch, basically. With the prices they go for these days it might actually come out cheaper in the end. Can you still find all of the body work for them? There is a guy building a PS from scratch kind of like you are.

Good luck with the build and I will be following your thread and hope to see more progress!

mf

 

[mtm_motors]

Good luck with the build and I will be following your thread and hope to see more progress!

Thanks! That's great you plan to get all of the SCs, I would love to get one eventually. I guess I got stuck on the MH900 just from seeing images of them growing up. Terblanche is an artist.

I haven't really priced the build, I just plan to continue collecting parts until it starts coming together. There are quite a few of the unique MH900 parts on eBay (mostly NOS, some used). I will probably deviate from Ducati and do a Motogadget gauge and computer, as I'm not in love enough with the original speedo to pay what people ask for them. I have seen bodywork on eBay as well, including CarbonDream (hand laid carbon fiber from Japan) but I will probably source mine from Airtech Streamlining (fiberglass, made in USA). My ultimate plan is to hand form aluminum bodywork... but I don't have the skills or tools for that now. I would like to eliminate as much of the mass-produced elements as possible while still keeping the bike very much a MH900e.

 

[motofiend]

My ultimate plan is to hand form aluminum bodywork... but I don't have the skills or tools for that now. I would like to eliminate as much of the mass-produced elements as possible while still keeping the bike very much a MH900e.

That is kind of where I am at as far as producing parts. Would like to start messing around with Aluminum and steel. Want to learn to weld as well as metal fabricating. I got to get my little basement shop done with first. I am on ebay all of the time trying to buy up parts that I think I will need for my Sport Classics in the future. I do see some MH900e parts but not as much as I used to see.

That swing arm is a thing of beauty. I think someone on the forums put one of those on a SC1000 and it turned out very nice.

 

[motofiend]

I found the picture


Here's another one someone put on a Paul Smart in the same thread.

 

[mtm_motors]

So, almost four years later I'm back with a couple years worth of updates. This shop project has been very drawn out.

My first project in the shop was to build some wooden shelving across one wall. This was the first stage of that.

My cousin donated and installed a wood stove for me. It gets very cold in the old concrete block building in the winter.

One of the first fires I built in it I decided to stay the night. It just happened to be one of the coldest nights of the year in Arkansas, around 20 degrees, and the stove didn't do much to keep me warm!

Early stages of my workbench. I had purchased 6 solid core doors in anticipation of building a workbench along one 40 foot wall

Dad helped me hang some old upper cabinets I had laying around.

Dad then helped me build an epic 26 foot long work bench! We only wound up using 4 of the solid core doors, so I have a couple extras for mobile work stations. The bench is trimmed in Red Oak with Red Oak reinforcements between the door joints as well. It is STOUT!

Lastly, Dad helped me triple the shop lighting (from 4 2x4 fluorescent fixtures to 12!) and finish tiling the ceiling. The tiles are 1 inch thick styrofoam and help insulate the shop area very well! I do plan to eventually blow in some insulation for good measure.

 

[mtm_motors]

Sometime along the way I got a survey to determine how much area I had for parking on one side. It turned out to be quite a bit, nearly 30 feet. I came up with a plan for a pad on one side and a proper driveway.

The driveway and pad got delayed due to funding, but Dad kept helping me with little projects around the shop. He made this hardware bin shelf for me

My parents are quite anxious for this shop/apartment to get finished up so I can move all my junk (and vehicles) out of their place!

Somewhere along the line I picked up another 911. This one is a 2000, my last one was an almost identical 1999 model.

This picture is from the fantastic Porsche Palooza event that is held in Eureka Springs, AR every November.

 

[mtm_motors]

I finally decided to pull the trigger on the driveway this fall. It isn't exactly according to my plan thanks to some trash I have yet to haul off, but most of it is there.

This was pretty exciting to get done! The area where the pad is got very soft and muddy when it rained before, so hopefully the gravel will mitigate some of that. We also had to use makeshift ramps to pull anything in and out of the garage door thanks to about a 8 inch drop off the slab. With the driveway we can now pull even low vehicles in and out!

 

[mtm_motors]

Now it was time to do some work on the apartment. The first order of business was getting the room tight, so we had to sheetrock the ceiling.

Then we got some paint...

And some grout...

And Voila!

The shop was also cleaned up to a point that it could be used for parking again.

All stored away and on the tender while I go work for 3 months.

 

[wout]

Nice shop and progress!

Wout

 

[Boosted1]

Nice shop.
Apartment work looks good too.

 

[mike93lx]

This is awesome.

Unfortunately, spaces like this don't exist around me. It would be great to have somewhere to escape to every once and a while to work on projects.

 

[M-technik-3]

Very cool re-purpose you have done there. Do you have the height for a lift or plans for one?

 

[MacTexas]

Are you the sole owner now or is your buddy still in the picture? Nice place to work.

 

[ZRX61]

Fresh coat of flat black paint on that woodstove & the odd looking heat exchanger doodad will increase it's thermal efficiency

 

[mtm_motors]

Thanks all, I finally feel like I am making some progress with the place! My buddy is still involved but he has moved away from the area so he doesn't get out there much.

Very cool re-purpose you have done there. Do you have the height for a lift or plans for one?

Ceilings are about 10' 6". I would like to install a lift at some point. I wouldn't be able to go full height but it would still be a major help.

Fresh coat of flat black paint on that woodstove & the odd looking heat exchanger doodad will increase it's thermal efficiency

Thanks for commenting and for the suggestion! I hadn't really thought of that, plus it will dress it up a bit.

 

[koendd]

Sweet place! Love the fact that is had an apartment [emoji106]


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[54earl]

I need one.

 

[M-technik-3]

3 months....TDY rotation? Was happy when I no longer had to do those.

 

[mtm_motors]

Thanks, all! Happy to be getting some progress on the apartment, all thanks to my parents

3 months....TDY rotation? Was happy when I no longer had to do those.

Yes, I will be happy as well. There's not much TDY about my job, it is more of a permanent rotation until I get sick of it or we pull out of the sandbox!

My parents have been plugging away at the apartment. The next step was to get some trim painted.

Dad brought over some of his woodworking tools to make the job a bit easier.

And he started installing some trim!

Mom helped with painting to door frames to finish it off!

I definitely need to repaint the old steel door now!

I'm certainly very lucky to have parents that are so willing to help me out

 

[aventino68]

Is there any way you can do basic insulation? Just worry about moisture and condensation with big changes in temperature and makes it more enjoyable working in it when you're there.

 

[mtm_motors]

Is there any way you can do basic insulation? Just worry about moisture and condensation with big changes in temperature and makes it more enjoyable working in it when you're there.

The apartment is fully insulated and I am going to be putting HVAC in there.

The shop has gotten a lot better with the installation of all the ceiling tiles and I hope to blow some insulation in over it as well.