The new Icehouse

Hello everyone, I decided I would put together a gallery of what I have done so far with much inspiration, help and extreme jealousy brought on by this site.

First off, I moved to Michigan in 2014. After 25 years in the same locale and 15 in the same house, I had collected too many cars and too much supporting material. My old house was 130+ plus years old, but had a 4-car garage added on that I filled completely from floor to peak of trusses. Took me 5 trailer trips to move cars (in addition to the three driven there) and 5 Uhaul trailer loads of parts just to handle the automotive and tool stuff.

The new house is only 18 years old, and has a two-car garage on the house. Thankfully it also has a three-car structure in the backyard. Actually that was a condition of house-hunting: either it had a shop, or a big enough property to build one. What I ended up with was a foreclosure with 2 acres. Price was good enough that the shop was essentially free. Also, I won the house in a three-way “final offer” bid by $74! Talk about not overpaying, nor losing by just a small amount. Felt meant to be.


Now to the details: Shop is 30x 36, stick built with concrete floors, but is broken up into three rooms. I heard a previous owner raised snakes. He took the heater.

One room about 10 x 14 will be the “dirty” room, with saws, grinders, blast cabinet, workbench, drill press, etc. Compressor is also in there. I can close the door on this room for noise remediation.

Another small room, about 8 x 10, will be office/clean room with books, computer, stereo, etc. I also has a door. These two small rooms have epoxy floors. Main floor is bare concrete.

I am missing the pics on my phone, so I have to find them and put them here.



My nickname since high school has been Iceman as you can see by my username. Thus the thread name. Still need to find a nice Icehouse neon beer sign.

More to come.

Since dumping everything the first fall and leaving it sit over the first winter, I started last summer to clean up and organize. First I painted one wall (rest will be painted later, likely next spring/summer), then built a large plywood shelf to house the heavy car parts.

Pics here. X


Then I built tire holders on the wall. I may replace them with something commercial and nicer eventually, but for budget sake, I built what I could with a minimal hardware and 2x4 investment.

Last November, I bought a used Rotary lift found on Craigslist and refurbished it (mostly) and got it operational. It's from the early 80's I believe. SP84-7 or 8 I think.

Here are some before and after pictures.

Just used it with a vehicle for the first time this last weekend. Had to add a circuit for this. There was no 240 in the garage (except for the circuit I also added for the compressor).

Commenced adding artwork and memorabilia to the walls.

Looks like I'm one of the first guys here this morning
I love garages that are laced with memorabilia and used to work on cars.

How long have you lived here? and what else do you have planned

Don

Don, first off, I LOVE your place, especially the store fronts inside, the diner, and the outside appearance. My wife and I were enthralled looking at everything of yours after I shared it with her.

I have been in the current house since August 2014.

I have to paint more, finish some cabinet installation, and then get to work on the project cars. I will post more stuff as I go.

Forgot the garage door.

Nice garage! Got any more pics of the 510?

Truth be told, if you are seeing the cars in my avatar, none of those are mine. It's hiding under the cover in post #3. It has not been on the road in years unfortunately. Hopefully one of the accomplishments of this facility will be getting it road worthy again soon.

I have some more somewhere, I will have to find them.

Thanks.

Found one lonely one, when the 510 arrived.

Another of my race car which I unfortunately do not have anymore

And some of my racing buddie's cars.

Looks good, will be following this one for updates.

Did all the stuff from your old garage find a home in the new one or did you need to down size/rationalise your stuff?

Looking good, from a fellow gearhead.

Cris B said:

Looks good, will be following this one for updates.

Did all the stuff from your old garage find a home in the new one or did you need to down size/rationalise your stuff?

Click to expand...

Thanks Cris. Just reviewed your thread. You have come a good length in just a few months, and I look forward to more rally car action.

I moved almost everything to the new place, and I do have more space. I have also decided to sell some things and have sold a few thousand $ worth of parts while cleaning and organizing. Have some Datsun parts headed to Germany shortly.

Great looking shop. I like the size and layout. You have quite an automotive set up there!!

Best Regards
Herb

iceman510 said:

Last November, I bought a used Rotary lift found on Craigslist and refurbished it (mostly) and got it operational. It's from the early 80's I believe. SP84-7 or 8 I think.

Here are some before and after pictures.

Click to expand...

You did an awesome job in refurbishing your lift. Can you please tell me what you did for prep and what paint and primer you used.
thanks

Sorry for the huge delay. I thought I had responded to this question a couple year ago.

For prep, I disassembled what I could, sanded and painted everything. Used flapper wheels on the most rusted stuff. Only found one c-clip I needed to replace. I used standard auto primer and I think rattle cans of Rustoleum industrial in the closest blue I could find to the original. My brother always picks on me for rattle canning things, but I have not branched out into spray guns yet. Maybe soon.

I intend to put some updates here when I get around to it. I had to not post for a while (you call that a while?) and do work in the garage instead of reading about everyone else's work here.

I have added a 4-post and two more 510s, so things are crowded.

iceman510 said:

Commenced adding artwork and memorabilia to the walls.

Click to expand...

Where's the Z-car?

I don't own a Z actually, but contemplating getting the new one for my own retirement gift.

I've got an '84 300 I could sell you lol