Kansas Camaro Corral

camarosrus69 · Aug 25, 2017

Hello all. I've been on this site for a few years now, and have been incredibly impressed with the innovation and workmanship I've found here. I've been planning this project for years if not decades, and I thought I would take the opportunity of using my 100th post to kick off my 34 by 26 garage/shop project. The actual start of construction is still a couple weeks off, but I have the design, the building permit, the blessing from my HOA, and the concrete guy and framer lined up. I'm still working on the roofer and brick layer. I will be doing the siding, the painting, the insulation, and some of the wiring. I haven't decided how much, if any, of the drywall I’ll be doing.
A quick note about the name. First, I like alliterations. Second Kansas and Camaro should be obvious. and finally, I came up with Corral because I found the car in a "car corral" at a local swap meet that is held locally in February, every year.
I thought I would spend the first couple posts to describe and show my plans, and how they evolved to my current version. We bought this lot 13 years ago with the intention of a detached garage, and that drove the criteria for the size and layout of the lot. Finding a lot in a neighborhood that allowed a detached garage was more difficult than I ever imagined it would be, but we finally found a nice rectangular ½ acre lot where just about everyone has an extra garage in the back yard. Here’s an aerial shot of the lot:

Well maybe I won' t show an aerial shot. I'll need to do some research on images. I've done it before but it is kicking my a$$ right now

EDIT: As you can see, I've figured out image issue, so disregard all my bitching about it later.

camarosrus69 · Aug 26, 2017

This shows the placement of the garage.

LXCam · Aug 26, 2017

That's going to fit perfectly on your property. Good luck and keep the pics acoming

Richard Cranium · Aug 26, 2017

please post lots of pictures as you go along.

camarosrus69 · Aug 26, 2017

Re: Kansas Camaro Corral 34 X 26

Here is the first garage I designed in SketchUp. It is 24 wide by 36 deep, with an 8/12 pitch roof. As you can see, I have spent a lot of time, messing with this.

I played with this design for a year or more, because, that's what most of the neighbors had, and it is also what I had in mind when I positioned the house on the lot. I tweaked all of the dimensions. I moved it fwd, trying to save concrete on the driveway. Finally, I decided that while I was satisfied with the size, I didn't like the use of the space. The plan was for the cars to be in the back and the shop area would be in the front. I knew that down the road, I would have something torn apart in the front, and it would be in the way of getting cars in and out. Also, shelving along the sides would cramp the cars and make working around the cars difficult. So... I turned it sideways.

Bears Fan · Aug 26, 2017

Looks like a great lay out for the new garage and a great design too, I'm also a huge Camaro fan...So I'm wondering why such a blank look on your face? Looks like a great set up to me :lol:

Done That · Aug 26, 2017

Will be following your progress.....Mustang guy here who loves 'em all.

C_F · Aug 26, 2017

Looking forward to your progress photos, I hope all goes smoothly with your build. :beer:

camarosrus69 · Aug 26, 2017

As you can see I still haven't figured out the image issue. The first time put out a thumbnail pic, and the next time I got links. Can anyone tell me what I did wrong, on the links upload?

C_F · Aug 26, 2017

camarosrus69 said:
As you can see I still haven't figured out the image issue. The first time put out a thumbnail pic, and the next time I got links. Can anyone tell me what I did wrong, on the links upload?

Use the blue "post reply" button at the lower left, to open up the full size reply screen. Then click the paperclip icon (circled in red), to attach photos from your computer. Hope this helps.

*edit* The quote button will also open this same window.

lakeroadster · Aug 26, 2017

Neat thread and back history. Tell us more about you Camaro.

Why a scissor lift? A 2 post lift works great on a 1st gen Camaro.. and gives unobstructed access to the driveline.

camarosrus69 · Aug 26, 2017

Lakeroadster,
I've had the car since 2000. The avatar pic is about 15 years old, and fortunately the car hasn't aged like me. I just bought new wheels and tires this summer and have new pics which I will put up when I get that figured out. I'm going with a scissor lift because I want the open space when it is not in use. I notice that your garage door follows the ceiling. I just tried to order my door, and it turned into a fiasco, requiring a custom order and quote. Did you encounter the same situation? Does that arrangement require a special torsion spring?

This is the Sketchup model of the final version, when I turned it sideways and tweaked the dimensions from 24 X 36, to 34 x 26.

camarosrus69 · Aug 26, 2017

C F,
As you can see from my previous post, that didn't seem to work. The only difference that I can see between my first image and the rest, is that the first was a ".JPG" and the rest were ".jpg". I'm not even sure that is a difference. I think I'll try different file types and see what that does. Thanks for your help.

lakeroadster · Aug 27, 2017

camarosrus69 said:
... I notice that your garage door follows the ceiling. I just tried to order my door, and it turned into a fiasco, requiring a custom order and quote. Did you encounter the same situation? Does that arrangement require a special torsion spring?

One of the few things I was hands off with on the barn build was the overhead doors. They are Clopay.

Thinking through it... the spring does have to hold more weight when the door is up. On a standard door it's horizontal in the up position. thus almost zero weight for the spring to hold up.

I'd suggest you start a new thread here and ask that question. There are some installers here that can answer your question... they likely may not see it here, buried in a garage build thread.

So is your Camaro a factory stock drive train, numbers matching car or a modified?

MacTexas · Aug 27, 2017

Going to follow your progress, looks like you are off to a good start.

camarosrus69 · Aug 27, 2017

lakeroadster said:
One of the few things I was hands off with on the barn build was the overhead doors. They are Clopay.

So is your Camaro a factory stock drive train, numbers matching car or a modified?

When you say "hands off", do you mean you had a garage door company figure it out and install it? I am getting a Clopay as well, through Menards. They don't have the special tracks for the non-horizontal layout, so they called Clopay to get a quote. Unfortunately, that was Thursday, and they won't have a quote till Monday at the earliest. The doors were on sale and Menards was having their 11% rebate last week which I consequently missed out on. Maybe I can catch the next one. Almost all of the material was ordered on Friday,and I'll be getting over $1000 in rebates, and I'll use that for insulation, drywall, etc. Hopefully Clopay will have it all figured out since we gave them the pitch, ceiling height and the door size and model.

As to the Camaro, it was a 327 4-speed base unit originally, according to the PO. It has a 69 non-numbers matching 327 and 4-speed auto now. It is done up like a Z-28 but without badges. I have added A/C and Stealthram Fuel Injection. I have tubular control arms, tall drop spindles, new headers, a new FI computer, and a quick ratio steering box, sitting on shelves, waiting for the new garage and lift, for easier installation.

camarosrus69 · Aug 27, 2017

A couple new pictures of the Camaro. Sun kept disappearing behind clouds.

Hilltopmasonry · Aug 27, 2017

Nice looking Camaro!

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Matstock4 · Aug 28, 2017

Subscribed! Looking forward to the progress!

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Bears Fan · Aug 28, 2017

Man I'm red with envy :thumbup:

That is one **** machine! Just happens to be my dream car :drool:

lakeroadster · Aug 28, 2017

camarosrus69 said:
When you say "hands off", do you mean you had a garage door company figure it out and install it?

Yes. I told them I wanted the door to follow the profile of the bottom of the purlins.

So with a scissor lift... how do you capture the correct lift points on the vehicle? Just curious? I've never used one. I have a Rotary 2 post.

camarosrus69 · Aug 29, 2017

The scissor lift comes with rubber blocks of varying heights. they are placed on the platforms under the lifting points. I think they provide 4 of one height, and you can order other sizes. They even have a cross-bar setup to be used on narrow frame vehicles(trucks and Jeeps). If you use some tall blocks, you will have reasonable access to the underside of the car in the area of the platforms. Some folks have made some tall wheel stands, that hold the car up while the lift is lowered to gain even more access.

camarosrus69 · Aug 29, 2017

Quick update. Ground breaking is tomorrow(Wednesday). The concrete guy thinks they'll have dirt work done and forms set by COB Thursday. Inspection will be Friday, and the wet stuff will show up Tuesday. We'll see how well that pans out. If things slide a day or two, I won't really be impacted as I'm waiting on material, and Hopefully that will show about when the concrete has cured enough to drive on.(with small stuff)

camarosrus69 · Aug 29, 2017

Bears Fan said:
Man I'm red with envy That is one **** machine! Just happens to be my dream car

OK Bears Fan, how are you doing that? Do you have an account on flikr.com? Is there a charge for that? I heard about all of the issues with photobucket recently and figured I would just post to this forum, but I like the full size pictures. And I'm still hit or miss on whether I get a thumbnail or a link.

P.S. Thank you. I like it too.

Bears Fan · Aug 30, 2017

I don't use Photobucket anymore (I think everyone is dropping it) they are charging $399.00 just to be able to link your photos to third party web sites like The Garage Journal "that's just crazy"....

I started using Flickr to host all of my photo's, It works great! but it does take some playing around with to get it all figured out...but so far there is no charge for it :thumbup:

I do resize all my photo's for The Garage Journal to the custom size of 1024 x ? before uploading them to Flickr with Image Resizer For Windows...so they are not to large...and it is super easy to use...I added a link below...

http://www.bricelam.net/ImageResizer/

camarosrus69 · Aug 30, 2017

Thanks Bears Fan. I'll check in to that for the next pictures I post.
Update for today. I have three truckloads of dirt. lots of orange paint, and some hellacious tire ruts destroying my front yard. Maybe I'll get a pic of that. When we started laying out the driveway, I realized it wasn't going to work per the sketch. My sketch didn't take into account the three dimensional aspect of my yard. And while Kansas can be quite flat, my yard is not. Having a view out basement, forces the house up and the yard slopes away on the front and sides. The driveway is basically in the bottom of a valley between my house and the neighbor's detached garage. My original design tried to line up with the left stall, so it would be a straight shot to the lift, and would optimize the driveway for a three point turn, so I wouldn't have to back down a 100 foot driveway with a dog leg on the end. Unfortunately that puts it on the far side of the valley. That would entail a lot of fill and/or cut and a whole rethink of the drainage plan in the area. My solution is to center the driveway on the door and taper out to 24 feet wide x 20 feet deep pad for the overhead and walk in door. I marked it out and tried it with one of my cars. It was a little difficult with the dirt piles in the way and lath sticking out of the ground marking the corners, but it worked. The final product will be easier.

camarosrus69 · Sep 2, 2017

So, here's where we are as of Friday. The ruts I spoke of.

camarosrus69 · Sep 2, 2017

Here are a few shots the work in progress.

camarosrus69 · Sep 2, 2017

Here are some panning shots from the inside looking out. That rectangle is the location of my scissor lift. You can see the PVC pipe for the hydraulics in the far corner. I wish I got it in seven shots, so you could click thru them all at once.

C_F · Sep 2, 2017

Looking good, glad you got the picture thing figured out.

Yesterday I had this nice long help post all typed up, then I hit send & got the dreaded "504 error" screen. Arrrgghh! So I gave up. :lol:

Man, you weren't kidding about the ruts, that's a bummer!
It appears that you have a school as a back neighbor, I imagine that's pretty nice most of the time, having no houses right behind you.

camarosrus69 · Sep 2, 2017

Here is the last of the panning shots, and what it looked like at the end of the day. We were expecting rain, (and got it) and I opted to get a plastic liner, which will stay and become a vapor barrier. Since the inspector won't show until Tuesday, they weren't busting their **** to get it ready today, which is alright with me. As I said before, a few days slide won't affect building. Also, since the gravel trucks have already destroyed the front yard, we won't be using the pumper truck for the concrete. The extra cost of the dirt will be partially offset by the savings of not using the pumper. It was originally intended to do the pad and driveway at one time. Now, we'll do the pad, repair and finish forming the driveway, and pour that the next day, while someone saw cuts the pad. The rectangle will remain unfinished until I have the lift on hand. The rectangle is 7' by 8' wide. That leaves about 9-10" of excess around the lift. That's a little more than what some guys over on the scissor lift thread are doing, but it gives me some wiggle room to change my positioning of the lift, and the saw cuts will line up with the corners and be fairly evenly spaced at 9',7',9' in one direction, and 11',11',11' in the other.

camarosrus69 · Sep 2, 2017

C F, The school can be good or bad. The fence you see is because they couldn't figure out that my yard isn't a shortcut through our neighborhood. They rewarded me with a TP party when I put it up. Those kids are gone and its mellowed. Football practice is no big deal when the coaches aren't chewing little asses, but marching band practice can be a little annoying at 7:00 in the morning. I'm normally gone by then, but not always. It was a wheat field when I moved in, and there was wildlife passing by occasionally,(deer, fox, turkeys, coyotes) and they are still around, but not as much. It could have been worse. You never know what you're gonna get, when you move into a new area. I still have a nice open view out of my back yard. Here are a couple screen shots of the new design's interior from my Sketchup work.

rpenner54 · Sep 2, 2017

Edited for safety.

camarosrus69 · Sep 5, 2017

Update. Another day, another setback. Did not pass inspection. It was minor. Inspector wanted the rebar that ties the floor to the wall in place, before he'll sign. Contractor says he normally drops the rebar into place during the pour, but will comply. I prefer the inspector's wishes. By the end of the day the rebar was in place and the contractor did some work on the driveway. Inspector will return tomorrow. I will not be present, as I've been away from work longer than I planned already. I'm now a week behind my concrete schedule. I'm shortening the cure time before the framer to stay on schedule. Also splitting what was a single delivery of all the material into two. Everything is ready except the trusses and the garage door, so will do them separately, about a week later, with an added expense,of course.

camarosrus69 · Sep 6, 2017

We have concrete!!! The footings, stemwall, and floor were poured today, and the driveway formed for tomorrow. I'm having a bit of a disagreement with the contractor about how many square feet are in the driveway. My Sketchup model says about 1480 sf. My estimation by cutting it up into rectangles and triangles, and rounding up in all situations gives about 1500 sf. One on his guys
did a couple quick measurements and came up with 1750 sf. I took my 200 foot tape and double checked some numbers to make sure the model was close and the big numbers were within a foot and little numbers within an inch, close enough to not be off by 250 sf. Big boss will be out in the morning to double check the dimensions. I will post pics after the driveway is poured.

camarosrus69 · Sep 7, 2017

All of the concrete is placed. Pictures as promised.

C_F · Sep 8, 2017

Wow, look at all that purty concrete! :drool:

When do they finish up the recessed area for your lift? Also, it looks like your weather is cooperating for you so far, gotta love that.

camarosrus69 · Sep 13, 2017

Things are moving right along at the moment. The framers have all 4 walls up and sheathed. The trusses will be delivered tomorrow. I have to remember to call Menards early to add some lumber that was overlooked. I need the long 2x6s that trim out the garage door and that the door rails attach to. They're 8, 10, and 18 feet long, so I can't throw them in the back of my car. Hopefully I can get them added to the delivery. Here are some more "new baby" pics, as I have been calling them at work.

camarosrus69 · Sep 15, 2017

We had a rain shortened construction day, but still made good progress. The guys will be back tomorrow. It is starting to resemble a garage. For some reason, I didn't envision the ceiling being that high.

lakeroadster · Sep 16, 2017

I'll bet you're getting excited! :thumbup:

Looking good. Nice neighborhood too.

Are those attic trusses so you can store things? That bottom chord of the trusses looks beefy.

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