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Farmer's special

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Lahti35

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Jul 7, 2013
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195
Location
Bay City, MI.
First a little catch up...

After a year long search we purchased a farmhouse with barn and garage on a few acres of land just outside the city...

In true man fashion the garage was a major selling point... after working in a small 1920's one car garage with a dirt floor at the last house I swore that would never be repeated!

Back in it's heyday...
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Lahti35

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Jul 7, 2013
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Location
Bay City, MI.
Indoors the previous owners installed a wall in the front section with windows and a screen door to turn it into an office... That's gotta go!

It looks clean but the wiring is a mess, splices and junction boxes everywhere. I'm going to have to go through and clean it up and change a few things around to suit my needs.

One good thing a previous owner did was to chop out the broken and cracked concrete floor and pour a new one. The neighbor who lives next door (grandson of the guy in the first photo) said he would have just knocked the building down and started over since the floor was so bad. I'm glad he didn't, its a neat old building.

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Ole Slewfoot

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Definitely keep an eye out for aliens.

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Lahti35

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Location
Bay City, MI.
captain14 said:
I vote for more truck pictures!

And history of the truck if you have any to share.
Click to expand...

Its a 1960 Ford F250 with an inline 223, sadly I no longer have it due to downsizing of vehicles but it was neat, we used it around the place up until we sold it recently.

It was a dealership truck from a ford dealer in Indiana. I was the 3rd owner, the 2nd owner bought it from the dealership and took it down to the car wash to clean it up... he blasted all the original hand lettering off the sides when he did that... bummer!

When we bought it I drove it home from Indiana 350 some miles over back roads... I was in need of some adventure back then.

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HSpencer

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That building is very nice. I would suggest thinking that you may indeed want the office later. It is nice to have a place to keep your computer and books and just have a nice chair to relax in. I love the whole building. A big thumbs up on your truck as well!!

Best Regards
Herb
 
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Lahti35

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Messages
195
Location
Bay City, MI.
By October the embryonic stages of functionality began to take shape...

I got my workbench reassembled:
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I also removed the office wall/windows/door built by the previous owner. I'll keep it an office with my desk and chair but wanted it back to being open. It only had one side finished so it was either finish the other side or remove it.

Before:
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After:
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Found this cool sign at an antique shop for $45:
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Lahti35

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195
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Bay City, MI.
HSpencer said:
That building is very nice. I would suggest thinking that you may indeed want the office later. It is nice to have a place to keep your computer
Click to expand...

Too late, its gone! It was unfinished on one side and the wiring was pretty freaky. Originally back in the day it was open from wall to wall. I added a post and wrapped it with some 1x and trim to finish it out and make a home for and electrical outlet and switch as well as a fire extinguisher.
 
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Lahti35

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195
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Bay City, MI.
falconero said:
curious as to what engine that is? straight 8?



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Click to expand...

That's out of a 1938 or 39 Nash ambassador... straight 8 with overdrive 16 spark plugs, dual coils, dual points and condensers... its a mini marvel of an engine I'm saving for a vintage speedster project.
 
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Lahti35

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Jul 7, 2013
Messages
195
Location
Bay City, MI.
Finally got some stuff done between work, school and side jobs...

Got my painting booth constructed in the SW corner of the shop... almost the exact size and location of the old dairy's walk in freezer. I took advantage of a wall mounted ventilation fan already in place and constructed an air intake with a replaceable filter in the opposite corner. Installed the brightest lights I could find and made a lazy Suzan out of an old table support, bearing and some scrap wood.





 
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sean Buick 76

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Edmonton Alberta
Awesome place! If it were me I would work on setting up a whole new electrical system in there and then once it it was done I would switch over power to the new system... Expensive but at least you would know it was safe. Have you considered BX armored cable? It might be a better option than tearing open the walls??

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Electrical-Wire-Armored-Cable/N-5yc1vZc57m
 
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Norcal

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sean Buick 76 said:
Awesome place! If it were me I would work on setting up a whole new electrical system in there and then once it it was done I would switch over power to the new system... Expensive but at least you would know it was safe. Have you considered BX armored cable? It might be a better option than tearing open the walls??

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Electrical-Wire-Armored-Cable/N-5yc1vZc57m
Click to expand...

MC cable has the same limitation as NM cable "Romex®" requiring protection from physical damage.

Under the NEC, AC cable, "BX", and MC cables, are two different items, each having their own code section.
 
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NES

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Dec 22, 2013
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Illinois
Congratulations on buying the farm house. I always wanted a house out in the country with big outbuildings. As well as a big piece of land.
 
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Lahti35

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Messages
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Location
Bay City, MI.
sean Buick 76 said:
Awesome place! If it were me I would work on setting up a whole new electrical system in there and then once it it was done I would switch over power to the new system... Expensive but at least you would know it was safe. Have you considered BX armored cable? It might be a better option than tearing open the walls??

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Electrical-Wire-Armored-Cable/N-5yc1vZc57m
Click to expand...

I was fortunate in that the previous owner upgraded to a modern breaker box, romex and several 220 outlets for his woodshop. All the cloth covered stuff is long gone. There were a few questionable connections and splices but I've gone through and reworked them for safety sake over the summer.

I've had to move a few of the outlets for the equipment I've brought in but nothing major.
 
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Laredo

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Jun 26, 2008
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Stillwater, MN
Awesome new home!! :beer: I am happy for you!!

I was in the same situation, 100 year single garage with dirt floor, no room to expand. Have been looking for something like that (farm/acreage) around here for over a year. Everything is either too much $$ or too far driving distance from metro. Finally had to settle/compromise on a city home with larger garage.
 
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Lahti35

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Bay City, MI.
I went back and forth for months about which compressor to buy but ended up going with an 80 gallon SB... should last my lifetime and cover my needs. Got the air lines and regulators run recently and finally have air for blasting and painting. As someone who's never had but a dinky a compressor before I can say this is very cool!

 
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Lahti35

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Bay City, MI.
I also got my heater installed... took a day but no more cold in 1/2 of the building. The work shop area is nicely insulated above and in the walls but the garage portion isn't. They're divided by a heavy sliding door so my heat won't bleed away. Not sure what I'm going to do with the other half yet for heat...

 
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Lahti35

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Location
Bay City, MI.
Early in the summer I got one of the walled off windows in the auto part of the garage opened back up and installed new sash windows. Its one of several windows that were sided over when the garage was done with vinyl in the late 80's. There are 6 other windows to open back up, this shop needs more light!

Got the auto part of the garage cleaned up and everything tucked in for winter. The '61 and 64' Falcons are hunkered down for winter.



I came home one day and there was a TV sitting by the shop's front door. Turns out my neighbor upgraded to a flat screen in his garage and donated the old TV to me. I built a shelf for it out of some scrap wood and steel for over the toolbox...

 
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falconero

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Lahti35 said:
Got the auto part of the garage cleaned up and everything tucked in for winter. The '61 and 64' Falcons are hunkered down for winter.



Click to expand...



OOoo nice falcoons
whats the plan with the pair?


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Lahti35

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Bay City, MI.
falconero said:
OOoo nice falcoons
whats the plan with the pair?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The '64 wagon gets a 200 with a C4 to be used as a cruiser for hauling a small vintage camper. I picked it up a month ago from a guy in Indiana. He was going to put a V8 in it but hadn't upgraded the front end for it so I sold the engine and picked up a good running 6 and ****** from a guy in Ohio.

The '61 gets a 250 inline with a 3 speed toploader so I can keep the column shifter. I've had it for a number of years and used it as a daily driver. It originally had a 144 with a 2.77 behind it but the 144 died. The 250 will get a late big log head shaved to bump compression to 9.5 and the manifold shaved/hogged out to accept a 2 barrel carb. Also an 8" rear end upgrade from a late 60's comet.
 
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falconero

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Lahti35 said:
The '64 wagon gets a 200 with a C4 to be used as a cruiser for hauling a small vintage camper. I picked it up a month ago from a guy in Indiana. He was going to put a V8 in it but hadn't upgraded the front end for it so I sold the engine and picked up a good running 6 and ****** from a guy in Ohio.



The '61 gets a 250 inline with a 3 speed toploader so I can keep the column shifter. I've had it for a number of years and used it as a daily driver. It originally had a 144 with a 2.77 behind it but the 144 died. The 250 will get a late big log head shaved to bump compression to 9.5 and the manifold shaved/hogged out to accept a 2 barrel carb. Also an 8" rear end upgrade from a late 60's comet.
Click to expand...



nice [emoji106]

i've always liked the first falcons and comets

ive got a 61 ranchero dropped a 200 with a 4speed waiting to be hooked up


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matt_i

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Great shop, great vehicles, love the old wood stove :)

My grandfather had a bigger/rectangular wood stove, that old shop was ICY in the morning and it took awhile to get things going but it was toasty out there when the fire got everything hot.
 
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Lahti35

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Bay City, MI.
matt_i said:
Great shop, great vehicles, love the old wood stove :)

My grandfather had a bigger/rectangular wood stove, that old shop was ICY in the morning and it took awhile to get things going but it was toasty out there when the fire got everything hot.
Click to expand...

I'm fortunate in that the neighbor used to paint out of this shop back in the 80's -90's (it was his grandma's house then) and insulated the workshop part well. From stone cold it takes 30 minutes to get the place warm with the stove I have. Not bad but I think I could do better with a fan to push the warm air around some... I sure do love having heat!
 
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GLTHFJ60

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Durham, NC
Great progress so far! At first I thought you were going to be building the garage in the red barn, but I like this better!

What's the plan for the barn?
 
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Lahti35

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Bay City, MI.
GLTHFJ60 said:
Great progress so far! At first I thought you were going to be building the garage in the red barn, but I like this better!

What's the plan for the barn?
Click to expand...

Man I never thought of that! Might be hell to heat though:eyecrazy:


Right now its just storage for the tractor, various farm implements, the auto parts stash and all the lawn/garden junk. I turned the SW corner into a chicken coop:tard:

There is a spot where the cows used to get milked with concrete troughs for feed and manure that about 22' x 12'. The stations are gone but that space is kinda useless. This coming summer I'm going to build a deck over it and install all the woodworking equipment on it so we can use the space and keep the sawdust out of the garage.
 
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polski-13

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Nevermind the garage, I'm drooling over your old Gambrel Barn!! That needs to be turned into a shop!
 
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Lahti35

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Bay City, MI.
madoc1 said:
i agree. but think you have done a great job with the garage. gotta ask tho, how can you have a farm and no pickup? :confused::D

jim
Click to expand...

We do have one... 94 Chevy 1500 W/T... no frills plain jane good old work truck. Its my silent partner... been using it a lot to bring goodies home.

As cool as the F250 was, going a long ways away at 50-55mph just wasn't cutting it. I needed to ply the interstates at speed so we picked up the chevy last year. 140K, runs like a top. Clean rust free body... old guy owned it and took great care of it.
 
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theoldwizard1

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SE MI
Lahti35 said:
The '61 gets a 250 inline with a 3 speed toploader so I can keep the column shifter. I've had it for a number of years and used it as a daily driver. It originally had a 144 with a 2.77 behind it but the 144 died. The 250 will get a late big log head shaved to bump compression to 9.5 and the manifold shaved/hogged out to accept a 2 barrel carb. Also an 8" rear end upgrade from a late 60's comet.
Click to expand...

Seeing as you aren't going to keep it original, would a "big block" 6, like a 300 fit in there ? Then you could add a 4 barrel or I think there was a 3 - 1 barrel manifold for that engine.

I never knew they made a 3 speed top loader. With the 300 I would go with "4 on the floor" top loader (if you can find one).
 
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Lahti35

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Bay City, MI.
theoldwizard1 said:
Seeing as you aren't going to keep it original, would a "big block" 6, like a 300 fit in there ? Then you could add a 4 barrel or I think there was a 3 - 1 barrel manifold for that engine.

I never knew they made a 3 speed top loader. With the 300 I would go with "4 on the floor" top loader (if you can find one).
Click to expand...

You can do it with a 300 but its a lot of modding... more than I want to get into with the old girl. It would be nice to have the separate intake manifold though.

I'll be content with the 250, should have 50-75% more power than the original engine after I mod it. It'll be a world of difference in the light little '61.

I'm not sure when they stopped making the top loader 3 speed... they're tougher to find than the 4 speeds though... took me a few months to locate one close.

Got the engine, bell, and ****** now so I can finally start mockup:rocker:
 
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IowaMercMan

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Hiawatha, IA
Lahti35 said:
You can do it with a 300 but its a lot of modding... more than I want to get into with the old girl. It would be nice to have the separate intake manifold though.



I'll be content with the 250, should have 50-75% more power than the original engine after I mod it. It'll be a world of difference in the light little '61.



I'm not sure when they stopped making the top loader 3 speed... they're tougher to find than the 4 speeds though... took me a few months to locate one close.



Got the engine, bell, and ****** now so I can finally start mockup:rocker:
Click to expand...



You can really wake up that 250 by changing the gearing. Depends how you're going to drive it. If you didn't already commit to the 3 speed, I would suggest a 5-speed and maybe 3.73 gears.


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