2 Sluggo's Garage

[rmalkow2]

Roadster door handles….

Since I'm not young enough any more to jump over the sides of the roadster and into the seat I thought having door handles to open the latches would be a good idea. I had no original types on hand so I scrounged up some scrap stuff to make some over the weekend.
In my old wrench box I had these two "S" curve open end wrenches. One was a Williams and the other a Mack but had been broken on one end. That gave me the idea to cut off the broken part to match and weld them onto a bolt that I had ground into a square shape to fit into the latch.

One welded up and ready for finish grinding and paint.

Trial fit before paint. Yes, I did weld them in mirror image so that the "S" curve is upswept on both doors and points forward. To unlatch the door you just give the handle a slight push down.

Painted matte black to match the theme and keep it simple.

Looks like one of the next projects on the "TO DO" chalk board will be interior door panels to give a little finish to the bare doors.

 

[dchance]

Door handles look great

Dwight

 

[jon72vega]

Bob,
Those door handles are KOOL!

 

[rmalkow2]

Door handles look great

Dwight

Bob,
Those door handles are KOOL!

Thanks guys. I thought I should inject the Tool theme somehow and they were available.

 

[rmalkow2]

I spent the entire day yesterday at the Fall Auburn Auction put on by Auctions America down in Auburn Indiana.
It took a few hours but I managed to walk the entire huge swap meet and come home with a few treasures including possibly a couple things for the roadster. An original vintage Cal-Customs gas pedal cover and a pretty old Wards motorcycle horn. The Yamaha tank and parts will be used on a future bike project. Thankfully there was one model A Ford parts vendor there so I was able to save the shipping and get some needed trunk lid hinge parts as well.

Watching the auction is always fun to me and to see what exactly sells and what doesn't. A lot more cars that did not sell than I expected. Buyers were just not in the mood to spend money yesterday. It's also a more revealing experience than watching on TV. Paint and body always looks better on TV but when you get up close you can see which vehicles are really nice and which are dogs.

Tired feet from the walking but a fun day anyhow.

 

[rmalkow2]

Garage Build Update…..

I was totally surprised today after coming home from work. Since I'm waiting on shipment of some trim materials from Menards I expected no building action until I got that material. Well evidently the garage door installer came today while I was at work and I came home to two working garage doors.

Good progress and one more task closer to completion.

 

[xtremek]

Now I won't have to worry about all the stuff I'm bringing over getting stolen now.

 

[rmalkow2]

Now I won't have to worry about all the stuff I'm bringing over getting stolen now.

As long as you're bringing the good stuff that I can use or sell!

 

[rmalkow2]

New Garage Build Update….

WooHoo The building is basically done as of today. All my back ordered steel came in yesterday and the crew was back on site this morning for a long day and push through to finish. They completed all remaining braces on the interior framing, trimmed out the front and installed all the steel wall material, graded all the land around the building with a very cool little Ditch Witch machine that has a bucket on the front.

Also put cuts in the cement floor and ground the floor threshold a bit to make the main garage doors fit better when closed.

It's now ready for the final building inspection to happen tomorrow (keeping my fingers crossed) and I could be moving equipment in this weekend if all goes well.
Really the only trim related work is to bend up some custom metal trim around the service door.

Then there is just fiddily stuff to do as I start using it. One overhead door latch was missing so back to Menards again for another part. I can't wait to start moving in my treasures and arranging things. Kinda like a whole new Tetris game!


Here's what it looks like basically finished.

Oh, and it rained hard for a short time late afternoon to we got to test the roof for leaks ( none thank you) and prove that the grading around the building didn't cause any issues. It did get all the clean siding muddy so I guess I get to clean that off when it dries.

 

[xtremek]

As long as you're bringing the good stuff that I can use or sell!

Whadda mean good stuff? All my stuff is "good". I'm just guessing we have different definitions of "good".

Now, let the fun begin.

 

[rmalkow2]

Whadda mean good stuff? All my stuff is "good". I'm just guessing we have different definitions of "good".

Now, let the fun begin.

Haha, That's what worries me.

But on a serious note, thanks for the well wishes. The fun of placing things will be a bit slow on purpose as I don't want to just drag all my random junk in there in a big pile. Some items may need cleaning and painting before they enter the new building. I'm gonna try to do this one right and not trash it up from the start.

 

[Grumblebum]

RM, what a great bit of progress going on over here. Are you doing any floor treatment before moving into the new garage?

Certainly looks like you are having some fun with the hotrod.

Cheers GB

 

[rmalkow2]

RM, what a great bit of progress going on over here. Are you doing any floor treatment before moving into the new garage?

Certainly looks like you are having some fun with the hotrod.

Cheers GB

Hi GB, I don't think I'll do anything special to the floor. At least not for this year. I gave different options some thought but I'm running out of time before winter sets in and I still have to get electrical service out to the building yet so that is a higher priority for the old bank account right now.

The roadster has been a fun project this summer which is way better than a project that just sits there taking up space. It's still got a lot of finish work ahead but I can drive it on the road now which is rewarding.

Bob

 

[rmalkow2]

Garage Build Update….

Well the big news today was successfully getting my final building inspection completed.

First attempt was yesterday and came up rejected for three small issues. 1. Some missing paperwork that I forgot to leave out, 2. One post did not have the south side truss support beam completely nailed, and 3. The service door trim was still showing exposed wood.
The paperwork was easy, I got up on the ladder with 6 big post spikes and fixed number 2, and painted the door trim with sealer and then enamel paint. Inspector came back today and gave me that precious little yellow tag signed off so now I can finally move in!!!

But the first job was to clean this new house before moving in. It was full of dirt and cement dust from making the relief cuts in the floor so I got out the pressure washer and washed down all the walls and then the floor pushing out a bunch of dirt in the process.

I also got a new overhead door latch from Menards that was not in my original kit and installed that today and did some raking and moving of dirt around the building and then spread some grass seed.
A fair bit of progress overall today and I'm slap wore out from an active Saturday. Also managed to get the front and back yards mowed.

 

[jon72vega]

Bob,
Looks great!

 

[rmalkow2]

Bob,
Looks great!

Thanks Jon. Now I look forward to setting it up for work and play.

 

[rmalkow2]

New garage setup….

I started to move a few things in today but first had to add a piece that I felt starts this garage off on the right direction.
I'm always thankful for my blessings. For me it includes this country that I live in so I felt the first thing to go up in a new garage should be a brand new flag. Found a good spot in the center of the back wall.

Second is a little family history and homage to my upbringing in a family of hard workers who always had home projects going. My Grandpa's pick axe ( Used on his farm) which helped build this garage. When a trenching tool was needed I pulled this down from display and after 100 years it still had the ability to be useful. Just a fun reminder of my hard working grandpa.

 

[taumac]

Garage is looking great. That's so awesome you started out the place with the flag and pick axe. That's deserves 2 thumbs up and a beer.

 

[xtremek]

I really like the pick. The flag is cool, but the pick is awesome.

 

[dchance]

Garage is looking great. Glad to see the move in.

Dwight

 

[rmalkow2]

Garage is looking great. That's so awesome you started out the place with the flag and pick axe. That's deserves 2 thumbs up and a beer.

I really like the pick. The flag is cool, but the pick is awesome.

Garage is looking great. Glad to see the move in.

Dwight

Thanks everyone. It's going to be a fun process setting this up.

 

[rmalkow2]

I stopped at Menards after work today to pick up a few things for the garage. A deadbolt lock, some LED shop lights, more grass seed and some expandable sealer.
The metal siding panels leave a small access opening at the bottom edge. you can see the light leaking in which means that's just enough room for Mr. and Mrs. Mouse to find their way into the building.

So hopefully a squirt into each pocket around the perimeter will eliminate this possible access point.

 

[metalhead140]

I disappear for a couple of weeks and the new garage is built! Looks great, looks like you've got some decent ceiling height too. Hoist?

I love those spanner door handles... Really neat touch.

 

[rmalkow2]

I disappear for a couple of weeks and the new garage is built! Looks great, looks like you've got some decent ceiling height too. Hoist?

I love those spanner door handles... Really neat touch.

The ceiling height is ten feet. As much as I would like to go even higher I thought visually it would look too tall in my yard and for the neighborhood. That should give me enough height to someday use a lift.
I hope to have a lift at some point down the road but we'll see. I'm actually watching an auction right now that has a number of lifts for sale. We'll see if the pricing goes beyond my budget or not.

 

[rmalkow2]

Ahhhh yes, Saturday's you gotta luv em.

During the work week I maybe get one or two extra tasks done per day if I'm lucky with work and life getting in the way of shop time. But Saturday comes and especially with a sunny day like yesterday I love having the time to work on things all day until I'm out of energy.

I woke up to seeing little green whiskers finally sprouting from the grass seed planted last week so that was exciting for sure.

I moved my dirty work bench down from the house garage and gave to a good sanding and 3 new coats of poly before moving it into place. It has some stains and scars which is how it came to me from auction but is plenty solid and good for my wire wheel station and other dirty work. It will likely get a vise in the future as well.

I also re-purposed some walk path stones that were not being used to the service door entrance to give a little threshold area when entering from the future grass.

Then it was time to hang up more signage that I've been collecting over time just for this purpose.

Last job of the day was to rake the dirt around the back side and spread more grass seed there to start that growing process.

 

[metalhead140]

Looking good!

 

[don long]

Hi Bob
Thought I'd pay you a visit and do a bit of catching up.
congrats on the new garage. You will fill it up sooner than you think (speaking from experience) It sure is fun though. I too commend you for starting the process with the flag. (That shows a ton of class IMHO) The old pick and gas signs give the place a warm feeling and I'm sure you will enjoy your new garage journey. I find it just as much fun working on the garage as working in it.

Looking forward to visiting more often

Don

 

[rmalkow2]

Looking good!

Hi Bob
Thought I'd pay you a visit and do a bit of catching up.
congrats on the new garage. You will fill it up sooner than you think (speaking from experience) It sure is fun though. I too commend you for starting the process with the flag. (That shows a ton of class IMHO) The old pick and gas signs give the place a warm feeling and I'm sure you will enjoy your new garage journey. I find it just as much fun working on the garage as working in it.

Looking forward to visiting more often

Don

Thanks guys. I agree with you Don, I am very much enjoying the process of working on the garage and setting things up little by little. Trying to make it a fun as well as functional place to work. Like you I like to collect signs and antiques to decorate with as much as I can afford.

 

[rmalkow2]

I worked a long hot day today continuing to transfer items to the new garage and setting it up to my liking. Man it was hot today, 90 degrees and humid so I had to pace each task and take a lot of water and cool down breaks.

First task was to assembly a new HF shop crane. This is my second one from them and I'll keep one in each garage now as I cannot lift the heavy items like I used to. The extra lifting power is needed. Once assembled they work pretty well but their assembly instructions are **** and they have a hard time packaging the right parts for assembly. It took me three trips to the store to get the right parts finally this week.
Here's what I started with plus multiple bags of fasteners.

I finally got it put together and then got three of my future flathead project engines moved and lined up along the back wall.

I also started putting up some shelves on the south wall to display some collectables. 1x10 pine boards cut to length and then finished with some semi transparent deck stain I had left over.

Here's the first two shelves up and filled with some of my oil can collection and a few other items. I also found a new home for the Hot Rod To Do List to hang and be framed by a set of headers not currently in use.

 

[don long]

That's all looking good Bob. I like the new shelves. Zephyr cans, can't say I've ever seen them before. You have some nice cans up there and love the to do board.
That's very cool
Thanks for sharing

Don

 

[Vieux]

Very nice job!

 

[rmalkow2]

That's all looking good Bob. I like the new shelves. Zephyr cans, can't say I've ever seen them before. You have some nice cans up there and love the to do board.
That's very cool
Thanks for sharing

Don

Very nice job!

Thanks for stopping in and checking on my progress. I appreciate the comments.

 

[rmalkow2]

Well another hot dry day here so I had to use the afternoon to get some more things done in the new garage. Got to take advantage of these warm weather days as they won't be here for long.

I got the final engine moved from house garage to new garage. It's a 260 Ford V8 that is hopefully destined for another hot rod project someday. So now I have all my engine projects gathered up and in one place to wait patiently for time in the future.

I put up one more shelf today to display this 1950 Ford instrument panel. It's almost complete minus a few knobs. Not sure of it's future purpose yet except as a neat old display item. Maybe I'll put a functioning radio in it someday and turn it into a retro style entertainment center.

Also moved my 24" finger brake and combination belt/disc sander and placed in temporary positions.

And here is a peek at things to come. I ordered this week a complete Max Line 3/4" air line kit plus extra drops. Some of it started to arrive this weekend. Once I figure the exact layout this will be a future project.

 

[jon72vega]

That's all looking good Bob. I like the new shelves. Zephyr cans, can't say I've ever seen them before. You have some nice cans up there and love the to do board.
That's very cool
Thanks for sharing

Don

Don & Bob,
Regarding Zephyr,
We made a trip to Michigan's beautiful Upper Peninsula this past weekend.
On our way back from Tahquamenon Falls we stopped for gas at a Zephyr station in the town of Newberry.
Don't know if there is any connection to the original Zephyr.
I thought of Don's post so I took a picture.
..

 

[jon72vega]

Bob,
Good progress on making the shop the way you want it to be.

 

[rmalkow2]

Thanks Jon,
And yes that station would have likely been connected to the original company. Its still showing the design theme and colors of the latest of the Zephyr gas stations before the company was sold off. I'm a bit surprised it still uses the name but maybe it's a independent and was allowed to keep signage or, just overlooked way up there in DA UP! But Zephyr did have other locations in Michigan and some in the UP so I believe this would be one of the last ones.
Zephyr also had a refinery in Muskegon which came under much scrutiny and controversy for oil leak damage to the environment.

A little company history:
The ZEPHYR brand is one of the oldest independent brands in the country,
dating back to 1939 when the J. D. Streett Co. in Maryland Heights, Mo.
(St. Louis) branched out into gasoline marketing. The company began
way back in 1884 as a grease distributor. Founded by its namesake,
Street got into lubricants wholesaling around 1926 and then into gasoline
with the ZEPHYR brand in 1939. At its height, the company was up to around
500 stations, including some unlikely areas such as Cincinnati and north Florida
(mostly Jacksonville). However, the gas crunch of the mid-70s took care of
those far flung operations and the company retreated to their traditional
market area including much of Illinois and parts of Indiana, Missouri, Iowa
and Kentucky. After the C-store era came in they were mostly into major brand
C-stores, but the ZEPHYR brand continued at a limited number of sites.

Additional history can be found at this link.
http://www.gassigns.org/zephyr.htm

The oil cans I have came from a local area farm auction I attended. They were in a bunch of cans I bought and to me were unique and still had decent color. The triangle logo on them dates them back to the 1950's so not super old but still cool to me.

Thanks for sharing about that place in the UP. I'll remember it next time I'm up that way traveling.

 

[rmalkow2]

I've been busy with work, life and moving into the new garage and just keeping new planted grass seed watered so it would grow. No time to mow it yet so I finally gave in and hired a landscape crew.

A couple young lady experts at trimming of vegetation, Peggy Sue and Betty Lou. They do careful and excellent work.

 

[rmalkow2]

Garage Lighting

I've finally got to put up the first two overhead lights in the new garage. I decided awhile ago to go with LED 4' shop lights and have picker out these guys from Menards. 4800 Lumens from a two strip LED fixture and they only consume 70 watts power each. Even the housings look good compared to the old cheap fluorescent fixtures.

These things put out a lot of light and I'm really satisfied. Bought two more tonight on sale for $28 each. I think this is reasonable considering how long they will last and should light up immediately in cold weather and, not spin my electric meter like a top.

And yes, you will see temporary extension cords for now until my electrician can get in there and run all the permanent wiring. I at least wanted to get a couple lights working as an interim fix and to see how much light these things put out to estimate how many more to buy.

 

[metalhead140]

Lights look good, and love the wildlife... I should take a photo next time we have a 'roo or wallaby come to visit I suppose!

 

[rmalkow2]

Lights look good, and love the wildlife... I should take a photo next time we have a 'roo or wallaby come to visit I suppose!

We've been so dry for weeks here that everything else in the yard is dry and brown except the little green oasis around the building because I water just the new grass and seed to sprout. So I'm getting regular evening customers to my little fresh salad shop now.
The other evening I was starting to walk out there and interrupted two bucks and two does (double dating I guess) enjoying a little green grass. Unusual to see the bucks out like that. I started talking to them in a calm voice and one of the bucks started crossing the yard towards me. Well since he can run faster and has lots of sharp points to convince me to leave I did a retreat back into the house until they were done.
Seeing wildlife in your own yard is always fun.