RXtacy's small detached rotary haven

RXtacy · Oct 5, 2016

Hello all. My name is Mike and I live in the MD suburbs of DC. I've been in my house for six years and have been dreaming about building a detached garage the entire time. Well that time is finally here!

First a little background. I've been working in my driveway for the duration of living at this property. I eventually turned the basement into my "fab shop" which was a dramatic improvement. I started out just working out of my laundry room area, but eventually converted the entire basement over to shop space.

The reason behind all the work, my 93 RX-7.

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The early days doing an engine tear down in the laundry room.

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That ~10' x 10' room used to serve as the do everything room. All fab work (cutting, grinding, welding etc), and engine work happened in the same space. Needless to say it was cramped.

The laundry room in its final iteration before the fab shop was moved.

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When I finally had enough of being cramped in the laundry room I took over the remainder of the basement.

The room mid conversion.

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Basically complete prior to work bench, tool box, blast cabinet, and sander move.

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Expanding the fab shop was a huge improvement, but still not good for the actual car work in the driveway.

RXtacy · Oct 5, 2016

Anyway enough of the background, and on to the current garage build. I'm on a very small lot < 8,000 sqft with a significant slope in the rear. This posed some design challenges for the new garage. I designed/permitted the structure myself (Mechanical Engineer by trade) and have a GC doing the work.

Here is the proposed site plan. Not drawn is the current man door entrance to the basement on the left side of the house. It is currently below grade ~24" with stairwell access. This creates difficulty bringing large/heavy items in and out of the basement, and additionally will be an obstacle to the new driveway so I planned for the driveway to be below grade and to remove the stairwell.

Here is the site plan with contours to give you an idea of what we're working with.

I designed the garage with 10' high walls and raised tie trusses to maximize interior ceiling height. I plan to install an in floor scissor lift, so the more height I could get the better. The garage is going to be a large structure relative to the yard space, so to best minimize it visually I sunk the garage ~10" below current elevation in the front and pushed it into the rear slope as much as possible.

RXtacy · Oct 5, 2016

Here are some before pictures prior to excavation work.

Looking forward towards existing driveway.

Looking towards the rear where the garage will be.

Taking the shed down.

After removal.

There is also a large established Maple on the top of the hill that I didn't want to kill. I had an aroborist come out to prune the roots prior to excavation.

-Brent- · Oct 5, 2016

This is the absolute best image I've seen on the Garage Journal!

RXtacy · Oct 5, 2016

We broke ground on Monday, and they were able to make a great deal of progress!

No more stairs!

RXtacy · Oct 5, 2016

Yesterday they brought in a mini excavator and continued the excavation work. They also installed the county mandated sediment control (sediment fencing and "stabilized construction entrance" the #2 stone you see).

And that brings us up to date. I will continue to update as work progresses

RXtacy · Oct 5, 2016

-Brent- said:
This is the absolute best image I've seen on the Garage Journal!

You gotta make do with what you got right?

NoPressure · Oct 5, 2016

When I saw the title I thought you were gonna be a guy that lives down the road from me haha. He has 3 white 2nd gens sitting outside and a 3rd gen in his detached.

RXtacy · Oct 5, 2016

NoPressure said:
When I saw the title I thought you were gonna be a guy that lives down the road from me haha. He has 3 white 2nd gens sitting outside and a 3rd gen in his detached.

It's a sickness that there is no cure from. Except maybe more cow bell. :lol:

NoPressure · Oct 5, 2016

RXtacy said:
It's a sickness that there is no cure from. Except maybe more cow bell.

haha

was looking on my way home today and i think the ones outside are actually 1st gens. dont see many of them around here.

sean Buick 76 · Oct 5, 2016

HI there, nice thinking on this garage build it will turn out really good I think! Smart idea about the raised tie truss to give you the height you need. I am digging the flush mounted lifts, they look great and take up no space.

RXtacy · Oct 6, 2016

NoPressure said:
haha

was looking on my way home today and i think the ones outside are actually 1st gens. dont see many of them around here.

First gens in general are becoming more rare. Parts are getting difficult to come by.

sean Buick 76 said:
HI there, nice thinking on this garage build it will turn out really good I think! Smart idea about the raised tie truss to give you the height you need. I am digging the flush mounted lifts, they look great and take up no space.

Thanks I hope so as well!
Yea the in ground lifts were a hallelujah moment. I had resigned myself to not having a lift due to the space constraint but they solve all my problems.

HemiRamOn22s · Oct 6, 2016

Beautiful RX7! Looks like a great project. The consturction entrance is a great idea. It will keep from tracking mud onto your driveway and road. As soon as you get the foundation in the ground try to get the floor poured in the shop and stone the entire driveway and get the yard graded and seeded or you will have a sloppy mess all winter long.

RXtacy · Oct 6, 2016

HemiRamOn22s said:
Beautiful RX7! Looks like a great project. The consturction entrance is a great idea. It will keep from tracking mud onto your driveway and road. As soon as you get the foundation in the ground try to get the floor poured in the shop and stone the entire driveway and get the yard graded and seeded or you will have a sloppy mess all winter long.

Thanks man! :beer:

I just checked out your thread. Wow that is an amazing project, I really like your finishing choices and color pallet.

Yea it has trapped some mud, driveway is still caked however :lol:

It's definitely a concern trying to get the grass seeded before winter fully sets in. I'm not sure we're gonna make it, but we'll see.

HemiRamOn22s · Oct 6, 2016

RXtacy said:
Thanks man!
I just checked out your thread. Wow that is an amazing project, I really like your finishing choices and color pallet.

Yea it has trapped some mud, driveway is still caked however

It's definitely a concern trying to get the grass seeded before winter fully sets in. I'm not sure we're gonna make it, but we'll see.

Thank you! Things should be wrapping up on my project in the next month or two.

They make a seed mix i use in delaware called contractors mix. I've grown grass up until mid December here depending on the weather. I specialize in site developement, stormwater, and erosion & sediment control.

RXtacy · Oct 7, 2016

HemiRamOn22s said:
Thank you! Things should be wrapping up on my project in the next month or two.

They make a seed mix i use in delaware called contractors mix. I've grown grass up until mid December here depending on the weather. I specialize in site developement, stormwater, and erosion & sediment control.

That's got to be an awesome feeling! Congratulations.

I'll have to look into that. I'm hoping to be finishing up late November. I had a lot of fun dealing with the drainage folks at the permit office :thumbup:

RXtacy · Oct 7, 2016

Update:
They finished excavating for the foundation and have begun digging the footers. It's turned into quite the hole!

They ended up digging the pits for the lifts too far apart, but when I went out this morning they were already fixing it. It's nice to know the GC is on top of things.

RXtacy · Oct 10, 2016

Footer excavation is now complete, rebar is placed and everything passed inspection

Step down footer and turn down slab.

diskreet · Oct 10, 2016

Looks like this is going to be a great addition! Can't wait to see more.
Beautiful car, too. Never owned a rotary but I think I'd like to some day. Maybe if they come out with a new RX-7 in a few years...

Sharpest · Oct 10, 2016

That looks like a tight squeeze on the lot but great use of space. My relatives from other parts of the country have told me that its so flat where I live, you can see the earth curve. They arent wrong :lol:

BiTurbo228 · Oct 11, 2016

Looking good! I'll be especially jealous of the lift...

My mate is a bit of a rotary fan as well. He's got an RX-8 with some fancy electronic adjustable suspension that adjusts on the fly. Runs rings around anything else I have in the corners.

He's always wanted a 7 though. Unfortunately due to finances he's had to pass on a 3-rotor Cosmo which would have been the first step on his plans for a 3-rotor RX-7...

kansei · Oct 11, 2016

Looks great so far!

HemiRamOn22s · Oct 11, 2016

I hope you didnt get too much rain from Hurrican Matthew. Seems like whenever you open up a hole here comes the rain. My basement and footers were both washed out once.

sean Buick 76 · Oct 11, 2016

Nice progress I am excited for you!

RXtacy · Oct 11, 2016

diskreet said:
Looks like this is going to be a great addition! Can't wait to see more.
Beautiful car, too. Never owned a rotary but I think I'd like to some day. Maybe if they come out with a new RX-7 in a few years...

Thanks!
If you're secretly a masochist that loves constantly fixing **** all while getting terrible gas mileage a rotary might be for you :lol_hitti

Sharpest said:
That looks like a tight squeeze on the lot but great use of space. My relatives from other parts of the country have told me that its so flat where I live, you can see the earth curve. They arent wrong

It definitely is a tight fit. Unfortunately we don't have the vast expanses of land like you do out in TX.

BiTurbo228 said:
Looking good! I'll be especially jealous of the lift...

My mate is a bit of a rotary fan as well. He's got an RX-8 with some fancy electronic adjustable suspension that adjusts on the fly. Runs rings around anything else I have in the corners.

He's always wanted a 7 though. Unfortunately due to finances he's had to pass on a 3-rotor Cosmo which would have been the first step on his plans for a 3-rotor RX-7...

I can't tell you how excited I am to have the garage/lift up and running. Crawling around the ground was getting old.

I also have an RX-8. The chassis is incredible, it's great to drive through the twisties. Unfortunately IMHO the platform needs a good amount more power than the Renesis is able to provide. I don't plan to keep mine for too much longer, but if I did some sort of engine swap would happen.

3 rotors are always beasts. It's a good amount of work to keep the CG in the right spot, but worth it in the end.

kansei said:
Looks great so far!

Thanks

HemiRamOn22s said:
I hope you didnt get too much rain from Hurrican Matthew. Seems like whenever you open up a hole here comes the rain. My basement and footers were both washed out once.

We fortunately got lucky. It never made it this far north and we didn't get much rain at all. You can see the tarping and plywood to mitigate runoff, but fortunately they weren't necessary. Footers were bone dry!

sean Buick 76 said:
Nice progress I am excited for you!

Thanks man. Footers get poured today, then blocking, parging, waterproofing and foundation drain.

I set up a GoPro this morning to hopefully capture a time lapse of the pour today. We'll see if it works out.

BiTurbo228 · Oct 11, 2016

Yeah that's his prognosis as well: great chassis, but needs more power.

A turbo for that is one of the options for that as well...

Out of interest, how does the 7 compare to the 8 chassis-wise?

RXtacy · Oct 11, 2016

BiTurbo228 said:
Yeah that's his prognosis as well: great chassis, but needs more power.

A turbo for that is one of the options for that as well...

Out of interest, how does the 7 compare to the 8 chassis-wise?

Due to the port design on the Renesis it doesn't take well to turbo charging unfortunately. Additionally due to how low and far back the block is fitting a turbo is a massive pain. Supercharging is an option but it's expensive and only gets you to the mid 300's IIRC.

The 8 chassis is definitely stiffer. Stock for stock the 8 will handle better and be more forgiving. The 8 has a pretty substantial weight penalty however it's around 3k lbs whereas my FD weighs in at ~2600. A well setup FD is more of a scalpel in my opinion and quite rewarding.

diskreet · Oct 11, 2016

RXtacy said:
Thanks!
If you're secretly a masochist that loves constantly fixing **** all while getting terrible gas mileage a rotary might be for you

Too funny! After owning two British sports cars I've had a taste, but not that bad. My Lotus Elise had so many endless issues, but nothing major. Maintenance was a pain. The Aston Martin v8 Vantage had similar timing with issues, but the cost to fix was so much more. Traded for my current S6; faster, more reliable, and family friendly (have a little one now). Still, in a few years I'll want another analog sports car. Till then, hopefully motorcycles will keep me happy.

RXtacy · Oct 11, 2016

Footers were poured today!

RXtacy · Oct 11, 2016

Was also able to get a short time lapse. Unfortunately the camera's battery only lasted for ~2 hrs.

RXtacy · Oct 11, 2016

diskreet said:
Too funny! After owning two British sports cars I've had a taste, but not that bad. My Lotus Elise had so many endless issues, but nothing major. Maintenance was a pain. The Aston Martin v8 Vantage had similar timing with issues, but the cost to fix was so much more. Traded for my current S6; faster, more reliable, and family friendly (have a little one now). Still, in a few years I'll want another analog sports car. Till then, hopefully motorcycles will keep me happy.

I appreciate your taste in automobiles sir :beer:

I had an opportunity to run my friends elise around for a bit. Really fun car, and surprisingly comfortable for what it is. Didn't get to really push it, but I'm sure it's a blast on a track. I'm assuming the issues were electrical? I would assume the Toyota power plant was pretty stout no? 911's at least have a back seat suitable for a child if that floats your boat.

RXtacy · Oct 14, 2016

Footer finished up and marked for block work.

Went away for a business trip and came back to finished and parged block. They did a really nice job.

Ad13 · Oct 14, 2016

Gorgeous FD! I'm a huge rotary fan boy ; Hope to own one some day as a weekend sports car. Good luck with the build!

RXtacy · Oct 17, 2016

Ad13 said:
Gorgeous FD! I'm a huge rotary fan boy ; Hope to own one some day as a weekend sports car. Good luck with the build!

Thanks man :beer:

930dreamer · Oct 17, 2016

The build is looking good, I'd like to rebuild an RX7/8 someday.

bczygan · Oct 17, 2016

Laundry room?

Basement?

Digging into the side of a hill?

Man, that's determination!

Bill

squeezyphil · Oct 17, 2016

rk_tek · Oct 17, 2016

Congrats on the garage. I've had 3 2nd gens. Sold my 89 GTUs last year after 12yrs. I had almost enough spares to build another car. Loads of fun when they're running and loads of work when they're not.

RXtacy · Oct 17, 2016

930dreamer said:
The build is looking good, I'd like to rebuild an RX7/8 someday.

Thanks. They're always an adventure.

bczygan said:
Laundry room?

Basement?

Digging into the side of a hill?

Man, that's determination!

Bill

Some say determination others say hard headed. Reality is probably somewhere in the middle :lol:

squeezyphil said:
nice work man, looking good so far.. would also like something like this to house a race car build but unfortunately don't have the land or space. looking forward to more updates

Thanks brotha. Best of luck with the race car!

rk_tek said:
Congrats on the garage. I've had 3 2nd gens. Sold my 89 GTUs last year after 12yrs. I had almost enough spares to build another car. Loads of fun when they're running and loads of work when they're not.

Nice! I've had the FD for 12 years as well actually. Ain't that the truth.

Bib Overalls · Oct 17, 2016

I'm assuming, from the tear down in your laundry room, that you are a bachelor.

I washed a pair of aluminum heads in the dishwasher once and it worked great. Just let me say that my wife came home early, caught me in the rinse cycle, and I am never going to do that again.

Are you maxed out in terms of space or will the authorities let you add on at some point in the future. I don't think you told us but counting blocks I came up with 16x22. That is a nice size for a service bay but constrained if you want to do tear downs, have a solvent washer, or a blast cabinet.

Will the authorities let you run a carport type roof along side of your house? That will give you cover for a couple of vehicles.

RXtacy's small detached rotary haven

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