Above 1200 Sq/FT The Warthog Hidey Hole

jbmatth · Sep 8, 2014

I've been patiently waiting to buy/build a shop for working on whatever I might decide to for many years now. My wife actually picked out a house she thought I might be interested in seeing and said I'd even like the shop. We weren't in the process of trying to buy a house so I was surprised. What she showed me was a rebuild farm house on a few acres with a one car garage. I was not completely sold until I saw the shop. It is a 46' by 76' "barn" with electric and 12" slab foundation. The lean-to on the side has drains in the floor and is set up in animal stalls right now. Well here are the only pictures I have as of right now.

Here is the house, it is a little dirty, but is spotless throughout, and all new other than studs, some doors, and two of the original stained glass windows.

Here is the Hidey Hole:

Quarter view of the Hidey Hole:

What is in a name?
Well the name Warthog is my nickname for my car, it is a replica of a '66 Shelby Cobra with a 351w, T-5 trans, and an 8.8" rear with 4.10 gears. Nothing fancy, but is a blast to drive at only 2,400 pounds. He Hidey Hole name is just simply because I like the way it sounds.
Here is the car:

Now onto what I have planned for this place. It will be mostly a storage shed for the short term, and I may keep my cobra in there if it doesn't leak. (Fat chance of that happening) I'd love to finish it out, but I don't know if that will work because of the Quonset hut style of the building. The tin may have to be replaced sometime in the future, and I don't want to spray on the insulation only to have it destroyed when the tin is replaced. I'm open to suggestions on how I should handle this. I want to be able to work in it eventually throughout the year because the attached garage will have to house my wife's daily driver. Should I build an inner garage that is something like 20'x30' insulated and conditioned, or do ya'll have any other suggestions?

That is it for now, thank you for taking the time to read through all of this and if you have a chance to comment I'd love to hear from you.
JB

P.S. I have all of my photos posted through G.J. so you may have to be logged in to see them, sorry for this but that is the best way I can get them to work. Along those same lines I've had a few people ask recently how I post photos so I did a detailed writeup on it here: (post 1643), this post you are reading I have posted the easy way and started doing them with albums later on.

67carl · Sep 8, 2014

Sounds like your wife is a keeper! On another note, I've seen several beautiful things called warthogs, which are ugly. A Nicely done Cobra replica is not a warthog! Looks like a blast to drive (and the other beautiful thing that is nicknamed a warthog is the A10 Thunderbolt - who's purpose is evident in it's design and is awesome!).

jbmatth · Sep 8, 2014

I should have elaborated more on the Warthog name but is slipped my mind. The Cobra was never a very aerodynamic design, and most replicas leave much room for improvement in this area as well. The car starts to float a lot around 100-120. I was talking to a coworker who'd asked me how fast I'd gotten it up to and when I said only about 120 they asked why. My reply was that it is about as aerodynamic as a warthog (the animal). So ever since then that has been the cars name. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.

Sunbimmer · Sep 8, 2014

Whoooo.... :drool:

I love that car, well the house is nice too

jbmatth · Sep 9, 2014

Sunbimmer, Thank you for the comments, I've had the car for about 4 years now since I started working after college. I mean who needs a practical car when you could have a fun car right?

Sunbimmer · Sep 9, 2014

jbmatth said:
I mean who needs a practical car when you could have a fun car right?

That's my motto also :bounce:

jbmatth · Sep 9, 2014

Sunbimmer, I couldn't agree more, I must have missed your thread, I'll have to catch up real quick on it. The inspirations you have listed at the beginning of your thread are pretty much identical to the one's I've enjoyed following. Also happy early or late birthday, I see your 50th will be this month.

madoc1 · Sep 9, 2014

have you already bought this? looks like a lot of potential there. since the house is done, you can jump right in on the hidey hole. going to take your shed with you?
oh, and where are you located? looks like a pretty area.

jbmatth · Sep 9, 2014

We have a contract in place to purchase, we are supposed to close on it in mid October, but that is likely to get pushed back. We are purchasing the house with 5 acres that will have to be divided off from the larger lot, then will be leasing the remaining acreage until we can buy it in a year or two. I do plan to take the shed I just finished, but will have to find a trailer to borrow or pay someone to move it. My in-laws had a trailer when they moved hear last year that would have been great, but was stolen right after they were moved in.

We are in northern Oklahoma just inside of the Kansas state line. Sadly we will be tight on money until our current house sells, then we will turn our attention back to building a little savings cushion before I'll get free reign to play with.

jbmatth · Sep 11, 2014

Not a lot to update, but at least a few photo's to keep you photo hounds happy. (I say photo hounds with utmost respect as I am one.) First things first, if buying my first house was this much of a headache I would have NEVER bought another in my life! :scared:

I won't go into details, but I don't know if we will ever get to close on this place, and for once money isn't the issue.

I snapped these while I was at the property for the inspection. The first here is standing inside the south double doors looking to the north west at the lean to section. Sadly the truck will not stay with the house as I'm fond of the Chevy square bodies. I'd like to be able to take out some of those support posts to be able to pull cars into that area for parking storage, but may just have to make that into tool and fab rooms. On the north end is an in ground drain that runs about half the length of the building.

You have got to love the natural light this place has, no interior lights were on when the picture was taken. Also that basketball goal that I'm sure is older than I am.

I didn't get a picture of the breaker box, but there is no main shutoff on it, is this typical? If I remember correctly there are about 10 slots in it, and only 4 are used, 40 amps for the water well I believe, then the lights are on one breaker and the 4 outlets are on another breaker. I'll have to install a much larger breaker box after determining what I can install.

After looking at the walls a little closer I believe I'll be able to insulate them with bats then use osb or plywood to cover the walls as the curve isn't that severe. I've thought about using barn wood or something of the like to cover the walls also to play on the old time nature of the building. I know the wood isn't going to be fire safe so I have some more research to do before I put anything up there. That is all for now, thank you for taking the time to read all of my ramblings.

jbmatth · Sep 29, 2014

While I'm (not so) patiently waiting for our new house to close I thought I'd share a little more info with ya'll. Here are a couple of google maps shots of the farm and house layout. The only real thing to note is the little building just to the north of the house, we call it the wood shed as it is sided in wood. (I know it is amazing we were able to come up with that name on our own.) It is in great shape and is very rustic so we want to keep it. However, that is where I plan to do an extension for the attached garage. I want to add a two car (30x30, or 30x24) onto the existing single then put a true master bedroom and bathroom there. That would make it a 5 bed, 3 bath home with around 3,350 sq ft. Anyway here are the photos:

The property lines can be seen in this photo, the fence lines along the edges to the north, east, and west side, as well as the road on the south.

I've talked to a friend here that is considering bringing some horses around and needs a place to board them, good news is with what he will be paying along with some small oil checks this extra acreage will be paying for itself.

landlord30 · Sep 29, 2014

that is awesome! Hopefully you get things settled and can own it. Lots of potential.

Good luck

Crzydmnd72 · Oct 10, 2014

Not sure how I missed your thread JB. I remember visiting via PM awhile back. Nice upgrade, probably quiet out there

jbmatth · Oct 10, 2014

Crzydmnd72, I'm sure it will be a great upgrade if we can ever get moved in. Long story but we just haven't been able to get all of the paperwork done by all of the people responsible in a timely manor. Sooooo we are in a holding pattern. I do have some neat stuff to update on at some point though.

Crzydmnd72 · Oct 10, 2014

Your old house actually looked like it was up near my dads area. Hopefully you can close soon and have the room to spread out! My son has kinda taken over my lil single car, both my wife and I have had a spring/summer of surgeries so we haven't been doing much heavy stuff at all. Its still a very active working garage though

jbmatth · Oct 13, 2014

Glad to hear there is still being work done, but sorry about all of the surgeries, hope you get back at it soon enough. I'm looking forward to the move, and it will happen in time.

jbmatth · Oct 22, 2014

Well things are still moving at a snails pace as we continue to wait for the buying process to progress. In the mean time I've read all of the 1930's Auto Shop Restoration thread by BB767. OH MY GOODNESS that place is just something else, if you haven't read it or scanned through it at least you oh it to yourself to look at the first couple of pages to see what he has done. It is long, and will take a lot of reading to go through the entire thread, but it was worth every minute of it. One thing he and I have in common is an anvil of all things. First some background:

This is an anvil I received after my grandfather past on it is a Vulcan Brand 120 lb anvil and is ok for starting off and lite work, but isn't meant to be used heavily. Here it is after I cleaned it up some:

Here you can see the 12 which means it is around 120 lbs, I weighed it and it is exactly 120 lbs:

I have no idea what the 44 means on the leg, but if any of you do let me know I'm curious:

I don't know how he came to own the Vulcan or two other smaller anvils he used to have as well. But this is the anvil my father has had my entire life. The story goes his dad my grandfather was asked to clean out a shed and not only was he paid for the job but he could keep anything in it he wanted, this is the only thing I know he kept from that shed, that is a 4x4 post and a gallon paint can on the floor as a reference to its size:

It is a Hay Budden anvil made by the Hay Budden Manufactoring Co. in Brooklyn, NY as seen here:

I'd always known it was heavy and not fun to move, but we found out it was 203 lbs, a very nice size for an anvil for most all small to medium duty, but might not be best for industrial use.

I did manage to move it on my own, but will likely only do that a few times until I can get it mounted. The serial number is A13218 I was told, but haven't tried to look much more into it. That serial number from what I've found was built in 1919 or thereabouts. I was able to simply trade my small one for this one so he would have something to use if he ever decided he needed one. I'm stoked and am even more eager to get moved in so I can set up a small forge and get to beating on some metal!

jbmatth · Oct 27, 2014

I was out on a run with my wife and daughters this weekend and we found a swap meet. Of course I was on the lookout for tools and other such items. I picked up a shovel and managed to get my PHD while I was at it. (Post Hole Digger, which I've used hundreds of times putting up fences while working on farms growing up.) But my big score was this little jack. It is a Blackhawk S4 from what I can tell.

It is about 4 feet long with a 4 foot handle and weighs just shy of 200 lbs from what I can tell. The info I've been able to find has the S4 listed at a 4 ton capacity. I'll be doing some research on it to find out more info and try to find the parts to get the release to work.

It currently doesn't lift but is low on fluid so I'm sure it has a leak that will need to be addressed. However, for a $25 purchase I think I made out alright.
If anyone know what these numbers mean please let me know they are please let me know it is 48714 and are stamped on the lifting arm. It doesn't have a data plate as far as I've been able to find after washing it up a little.

jbmatth · Oct 30, 2014

A little update for everyone who may be reading in here. The house is scheduled to close on the 7th of November as long as there are no more surprises. Which means I'll be painting over the weekend and during the next week before moving in officially on the 15th!

Also I've been doing a little on the Blackhawk, when purchased it was almost out of fluid so I put some in today before work and the fast (low pressure) lift and the slow (high pressure) lift both work great and didn't even notice when I lifted the cobra rear end. When I get home today I'll be able to see if there are any leaks, cross your fingers.

Lastly I was working on the Hay Budden anvil and cleaned it up some, the 203 on the side is in fact a 208 and according to the bathroom scale it weighs 207.6 pounds!

markviii · Oct 30, 2014

Looks like a great place! I hope you're able to get the move done by mid-November. We'll be watching progress.

Chris

MacTexas · Oct 30, 2014

Good luck on the closing. Anxious to see how the garage turns out.

jbmatth · Oct 31, 2014

Chris,
Thank you for checking in here, we are really wanting to get moved in before it gets too nasty out, but you never know. We originally planned to move in early October, but there were just too many delays in the process. This has pretty much been my dream home and setting, and it just so happens to also be my wife's as well. Thomas is a lucky man, but I'd like to think I am only a few steps behind as I have a great wife, and she will even drive a manual. :3gears:

jbmatth · Oct 31, 2014

MacTexas said:
Good luck on the closing. Anxious to see how the garage turns out.

Thank you, and as am I, I've been dreaming of a shop of my own since I was a teenager working on my vehicles in a cold wet carport in winter. There will be more to come on here in the next few weeks so stay tuned!

sean Buick 76 · Oct 31, 2014

Very cool! We will have to throw a party when you close on this place! :beer:

I will subscribe to see all the updates!

Oh and I LOVE the car! :thumbup:

afmrick · Oct 31, 2014

Very cool! I've been trying to talk the wife into a pho-bra too. She's not into the replicas but, I like that we could actually drive it.

jbmatth · Oct 31, 2014

sean Buick 76 said:
Very cool! We will have to throw a party when you close on this place! I will subscribe to see all the updates!

Oh and I LOVE the car!

Sean,
Thanks for the subscription, I'm sure there aren't many out there subscribing yet, but maybe in time. I know we will be throwing a party with a big bonfire, food, and some drinks of choice! The car has been a blast, but it needs some work, it looks great, sounds good, but drives like **** and marks his territory constantly.

jbmatth · Oct 31, 2014

afmrick said:
Very cool! I've been trying to talk the wife into a pho-bra too. She's not into the replicas but, I like that we could actually drive it.

I say go for it, there is just nothing like it in my opinion! Just don't tell her it is hot in the summer, cold in the winter, wet in the rain, and loud. Other than that is is just uncomfortable to drive. Saying that I love it and drive it like mad any chance I get. :evil:

afmrick · Oct 31, 2014

Heh, I emailed the Mrs. your recommendation:

So you even have strangers on the internet trying to talk me into it.

jbmatth · Oct 31, 2014

Good luck, it would be a great to have, and if that is you in the image dragging your knee you have a need for speed as well.

jbmatth · Nov 14, 2014

Quick update. We have a house, we closed last Friday and have been painting an moving in small stuff all week so very little garage time has been had lately. We are now the proud owners of a 1928 farm house, 5 acres, and a 3496 sq. ft. shop that will get lots of love over the coming years.

On the Blackhawk S4 rebuild, I was able to get a few parts blasted after work and put back together. I took the lock cylinder for the release knob in to have two keys made. One week and $13 later I know have keys for the knob. I assume that most of these jacks used the same keys and if you are in need of one for yours PM me and I'll be happy to send one your way.

I took the Jack Handle Yoke into work to clean it up, and had our welder fix a couple of cracks. He is great with TIG and was hungry, so he got lunch and I got this fixed.

As you can see by the mud dobber brazing job it has been repaired in the past. Rather than clean this up for now and take a chance on compromising the structural integrity of the part I'll leave it alone, at least for now.

Here you can see an attempted weld repair with a crack in the middle of the weld. I believe this is caused by welding to a cast part and not letting it cool slowly enough. It was completely ground out as well as a crack on the other side.

Here are the numbers stamped into the yoke, S4-188-1 I believe.

I didn't get a picture of the weld repair, but it looks okay, and is all one piece now. I put it all back together and even fabbed a Release Valve Control Rod that I'll attach to some 1/4" U joints I picked up at HF a couple weeks ago. The jack is all back together now and ready for our moving party this weekend. I have 3 brothers and by parents coming in to help out even though the weather is calling for freezing temps, snow, and rain. Some of them are going to be traveling a total of 1,500 miles this weekend to help me out, I love my family!

madoc1 · Nov 14, 2014

great news!

jim

jbmatth · Nov 17, 2014

Quick update, and one picture. We were able to get everything moved before the snow fell on Saturday night Sunday morning. Here is a picture of the little bit of snow we did get.

There really wasn't much to point out other than I almost lost a member of the family. First a little back story, last weekend I was able to move the Warthog out to his Hidey Hole, he was only staying for five nights before I put him in the garage. Well I knew he would have some company from those viscous little buggers known as mice. I tried to discourage them by leaving the lights on and giving them some "food" as an alternative to the car. Well it didn't work! After pulling the car out of its Hidey Hole I smelled gas and there was a little trail of it on the floor. When I moved it into the house I didn't think much of it other than maybe the cold had cause some to spill over. When I lifted the hood in the garage I say puddle of gas all over the intake. We pushed it outside really quick and cleaned it off before it had a chance to catch fire. Those little villeins chewed threw the fuel line under the air cleaner. I normally have fire extinguishers on hand, but they were still all packed up. I have them now out and ready if this ever happens again, but for now the crisis is averted and the battery has been disconnected.

Crzydmnd72 · Nov 17, 2014

Only 5 nights and the boogers got to it? Wonder if thats some sort of record ?

jbmatth · Nov 18, 2014

I think I am loosing the battle in resisting the urge to get barn cats. I'm not a cat fan and neither is my wife, but I think it is inevitable. I'm afraid they will climb on anything I have out there and make a mess of things as well. I'll see what happens, but it looks like I'll be picking some up after the Thanksgiving holidays.

Bob Heine · Nov 18, 2014

I have had several rat infestations over the years. I tried traps but they ended up being feeding stations. I had excellent luck with two different poison baits but had to be careful to use it where our dog couldn't get to it. Even more important, don't put any poison in the car! When the rodent feels the poison take effect, they invariably crawl into the heater box and die. Every time you turn on the heater on a damp or rainy day you'll get a reminder from your "leettle friend" that their remains are in there (even after you remove the dried up body).

For the first and second infestations, I used d-CON Rodent Control cubes in the attic and on the workbenches in the shed/shop. It was easy to see when this bait was taken and easy to get rid of the leftover bait when the rats were gone.

In the most recent infestation the rats made a nest under the hot tub on the patio. I had used up all the cubes so I shared a Real-Kill Rat Killer Place Pack with them. Mother Rat was dead within a couple of hours, quickly followed by her five children. The rats tear into the paper pack to get to the poisoned bait so the contents gets spread around a bit. Once the hot tub was moved I was able to vacuum up the nest and the poison, followed by a thorough pressure cleaning of that part of the patio.

If you don't have pets or small children and the risk of poisoning owls or hawks doesn't bother you, the poison is a pretty effective control. With all your land you may want to buy rat poison in bulk.

jbmatth · Nov 18, 2014

Bob Heine,
Thank you for the suggestion, I've already picked up some poison that is in the little boxes so pets and children are deterred from eating it. Good news is my car doesn't have any heating equipment, and never will other than the engine. However, I don't want them pushing up daisies anywhere around my car. I'll get this thing knocked out and hopefully not have any more troubles from them.

jbmatth · Dec 5, 2014

Wow I have a lot to update, so I'll probably have to do this in a few smaller updates to keep from feeling as overwhelmed. First of all here is the state of the garage shortly after moving in. I have since cleaned it up some and have gotten my road bikes hung from the ceiling joist the previous owner used to lift the front of his Harley for tire changes. However I don't have pictures of that yet.

jbmatth · Dec 5, 2014

Next as some of you may know I made a trip to TCotU (The Center of the Universe) to visit the 1930's Restored Auto Shop that BB767 (Thomas) has been restoring for the past 8 or so years. If you haven't seen his thread you owe it to yourself to check it out:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51567

Tom has been trying to dispose of a few remaining items he doesn't feel as though he needs or will have to time to properly restore. One of the items was a Keller powered hacksaw seen here in the photo taken from Tom's thread.
It is just to the right of the anvil in this picture:

Here it is the day I was there to pick it up:

It was loaded into my truck using his little 855 J.D. with forks which made it much easier to handle as it surely weighs over 200# and isn't easy to man handle.
Here it is in the Warthog Hidey Hole awaiting it's restoration next to the Blackhawk jack also awaiting further restoration and the Bolens Handi-Ho that has been restored:

Here are a few photos I was able to snap of some of the cars in his other shop on the property:

As well as the Hudson Taraplane with the famous "Three on the Tree":

Then as proof that I was actually there here I am investigating the only thing in the shop out of square, the crooked switch panel:

You would think and retired piolet would be able to install a simple switch cover, but I digress. :willy_nil

(All in fun Tom and Chris if you are reading this.)

More is on the way for my other Thanksgiving Treasure Trove Tour (T^4)...

jbmatth · Dec 5, 2014

The next item on the Thanksgiving Treasure Trove Tour (T^4) also came from Tom's shop this old cabinet makers bench. It is a unique design that has two tail vises on opposing corners. It had been sitting in his tool shed on 4 old wheels for quite some time. The legs were in terrible shape and termites had done a number on all of the legs and cabinet structure under the top. The middle plank of the top is severely twisted and there is nothing to my knowledge that will flatten it out.
Here it is in the back of the tool shed in all of its um... glory?

It was here for who knows how many years and contained untold treasure, but Tom was lucky enough to clear it out before giving it to me. Darn the luck, I could have been the lucky recipient of this...

GOLD BAR!!!!!!! :shocking:

But the planets didn't align and he found it before giving it away.

He also pulled it out of the tool shed with his trusty J.D. 855 with the forks.

These pictures show the state of the bench when I picked it up:

We got it loaded up in time to eat at the world famous Philo Tavern in Illinois:

I made the 300 mile trip back to my parents house in S.E. Missouri where the next T^4 awaited...

I'll go into more detail on all of these items at a later time.

jbmatth · Dec 5, 2014

The next stop on the Thanksgiving Treasure Trove Tour T^4 was to a "junk yard" in Poplar Bluff, Mo. at the intersection of Bus. 67 and St. Hwy. 53. Tucked back in the woods you will find hundreds of 30's, 40's, and 50's cars and trucks. They were all in really rough shape and most would probably not be worth restoring, but there may be some gems out there. I know this area has been under water a few times so I'm sure they were in rougher shape than the pictures let on.

Front of a 30's? truck that I liked:

Buick Special I believe:

Buick Special's dash:

If any of ya'll are interested in these cars I can give you more information on how to contact the junk yard that is still in operation. I know they have been there as long as I've known about them probably 15 years or so, and probably aren't going anywhere fast.
Keep watching because there is more to come on the T^4 adventures in store...

Above 1200 Sq/FT The Warthog Hidey Hole

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