Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT 240Zed's Garage

[240zed]

Folks - long time lurker, first time poster.

Below I'll start throwing up some photos of when we moved in to house back in 2014 and get to were it's at now.
I'm starting this thread as I need some motivation for the next phase of the garage buildout before we embark on a 1200sf extension of the house (kitchen bump out and primary bedroom above the garage) which is hopefully going to happen in the next year or two.

I realize looking back through photos I take pictures of everything except the garage.

2014 - 24'x22' 2-car, only finished on the house side. The week we moved in I got the cars in and a tools board up.

 

[240zed]

2015 - 2016: insulated and added drywall, started a somewhat modular hanging system. Added 100amp subpanel. Added old high bays from work.

 

[Skellyii]

Love the thread, especially the Z's! I used to have a 71 and a 73 back in the days when I was young and single.

Love those cars, might try to find another one.

 

[dcg9381]

Walls are still open in that garage.. Lots of opportunity to do work on that!

I grew up working on these cars. Dad bought me one 30+ years ago for $500. Told me he'd pay for parts so that's what I had to do to have a car to drive. I transitioned to Toyota later, but basically the same motors with a few missing cylinders.

The prices on parts for these cars is shocking these days... I threw away what would now be a fortune in parts.

We still have the 1970. It was completely restored a few years ago... I have about a billion hours into this car and drove the smack out of it in SCCA stuff decades ago. OEM color. Gets driven to car shows in the summer.




I saw this come up recently, if I had $70k or so burning a hole in my pocket, I'd pick this up as a restomod version:
https://www.carscoops.com/2023/08/t...-also-has-a-massive-7-4-liter-v8-with-665-hp/

 

[Skellyii]

That restomod is SWEET!!

My 71 was the same color as yours, the 73 was black. I can't remember what I paid for the 71, but I bought the 73 for $100. Some friends had bought it from their hairdresser. The engine was locked up, supposedly she had taken it to one of those lube places and they drained, but forgot to put oil back in. I dropped a salvage yard engine in it, replaced the seats with something fancier and more comfortable, and tuned the heck out of the carburetors.

It was a really fun car.

I got the 71 from a co-workers wife, it had just been sitting around after they started having kids. I never really got a chance to do much with the 71, I hanged jobs and started having to travel a lot, so I ended up selling both of them and bought a Porsche that didn't need any work.

 

[F451]

Nice! Z cars in New England, keeping them alive, good job. I'm just starting my Z car search out here in the PacNW, sold a few motorcycles to free up some cash, got one more bike to sell and I will be better funded. Probably going to end up with a 280z since the 240z prices are so high. Once I decided that a 280z would work (vs a 240 or 260), I figured I would look for a 5 sp with a/c (and no g damn sunroof or body side moldings). Of course if a nice Z come up for sale in any 240/260/280 flavor I will jump on it.

I've owned a number of Z's over the years, a couple more in the family too, my last one was a sweet '70 that I sold off when I went down the Porsche 928 rabbit hole. I couldn't afford this one now, Lol.

 

[240zed]

2016-2017 - Zed raced it's final hillclimbs in current form. Garage work took a back seat to kids and house projects. Tackled a deck rebuild and addition. Promised I'd be done the deck in a month of weekends.....took about 4 months!

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Love the Z's.

Great work also on the deck build it came out fantastic.

 

[NA&CH]

What part of Maine? We just picked up a HumbleDump in Kennebunkport. Fellow Z owner as well.

Chris

 

[240zed]

What part of Maine? We just picked up a HumbleDump in Kennebunkport. Fellow Z owner as well.

Chris

Southern Maine outside of Portland.

 

[240zed]

2018 - two more kids arrived (twin boys) bringing us up to four total.......and all done with that! We could never get the grass to grow near the new deck extension so patio was next on the agenda. A very ambitious treehouse project also started.

 

[zjohnson1]

Your widebody Z - it wouldn't happen to be RB swapped with SC400 front suspension would it? Looks eerily similar to one a buddy of mine had maybe 10-12yrs back. Wrong area geographically but stranger things have happened

I'm a Z nut as well, currently have a 76 280z and 91 300zx that's under the knife for a motor swap (life gets in the way and everything takes longer than anticipated now)

 

[tweidman]

Your patio pavers are awesome. I really like the look.

 

[240zed]

2018 -Zed got a full cage and new engine was acquired, plans were afoot for a full rebuild (suspensions, floors, rewire and engine swap).
I also got going on organizing my tools and various consumables around the garage.

 

[240zed]

2018-2019: From the PO of the house there was an older and somewhat sketchy playset. I needed a shed because who doesn't. Old playset had to go to make room so I decided to combine the shed with a swing set and treehouse build. It got slightly out of hand.

 

[240zed]

2019: Finished up the Treehouse/Shed/Swing Combo.
2020: Added Dutch door and replaced sonar tubes with a full pad.
2023: I just recently laid down some turf to replace the small stones.

 

[240zed]

During 2021 the workbench area in the garage got a little update.

Work continued on the Zed as well......very slowly.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Zip panels on a tree house. I would say it got out of hand for sure. Which means it fits here perfectly. Nice work.

 

[240zed]

This post will probably catch up to the current garage status.

This summer I decided to move around the shelving locations and build a new bench (ala Steve) with room for two HF boxes, beer fridge and a small lower drilling/grinding bench with some room for HF parts storage system. I wanted to consolidate tools and get the shelving off the sidewalls to create some better use of the wall space.

Start of Summer 2023 Shot:





My Quick Concept:



During the build:





Semi-Finish Product:

 

[240zed]

Plan for 2024 in order of priority

1. Finish out the tool bench area with TV, second HF box and a new counter top.
2. Replace one exterior window with side entry door.
3. Replace both 8*8 garage doors with windowed 8*9 doors, high lift track on racecar side with side driver.
4. Hopefully tear the roof off and build the new primary bedroom.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

That is a nice work bench area. Those HF toolboxes definitely provide a great amount of tool storage.

 

[240zed]

Winter is in full swing here in Maine so not a ton happening out in the garage.

Thinking about the above garage bedroom buildout, I've start to send out drawings for pricing.

My current thought process is complete the misc garage work late spring to satisfy the structural engineer. This would include:

• Replacing garage doors with larger.
• installing a man door with the upsized headers.
• Installing Simson HDU5 anchors and resheathing the front garage interior wall per the structural drawing.

Thankfully I installed 5/8" drywall when I originally dry lined the garage.

After that I'm looking to find a week off work to demo the roof and frame in the new structure. With a couple of good friends I believe I can get it weather tight and bring in the appropriate subs afterwards.

Have a look at these drawings/render and give me all the feedbacks.

I'm looking at an I-joist support structure , 2x6 framing, Zip system all around with LP siding. I'll share pricing as I get it.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

That is a great looking upgrade. I think it is a good layout you have come up with.

 

[Boosted1]

Nice work on the deck, tree house, patio and of course the Z cage.

 

[240zed]

2025 Project Looming - Feedback Wanted:

So we change our mind a bit, quite a bit about our house addition. Originally we were just going lift the roof of garage and add a second floor but with some structural complexities to deal with and the "boxy" look it would give to the whole gaff we stopped and went back to planning.

Suits me as now the current layout is for a new 2.5 car garage with room up top. I still need to engage with our architect to change the plans but it definitely give the house more definition. More mudroom (family of six). more garage and IMO a better kitchen layout.

Thoughts?

OG Idea



Front

Rear



First Floor Layout:



Second Floor:

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

The new design looks great. I really like the look it gives the outside house. I think for your family size you will find the large mudroom area of great use to keep things out of the way of the rest of the house. A new larger garage doesn't hurt either.

 

[240zed]

One year later and we're back.

As usual - plans have changed but progress is happening. We reverted back to the original idea of removing the existing garage truss roof and adding the primary above - see post #22.

A couple of reasons, cost and time of new build and our architect was unable to verify with in good reason if the front setback was enough. We didn't want to incur the $10k for a site survey.

Anyway - I've broken the project down in 2 phases; first begin primary over the garage and interior remodel of the existing 2nd floor. Phase two will be the 1st floor Kitchen and entry bump out.

Permits went in and were very quickly approved (~48hours) by the local town and phase 1 is starting this week. Storage "pod" and dumpster are arriving and also the first load of timber.

I'm taking on a lot of this myself and be happy to document for you all.

Here's a couple pictures for the project start to get the thread going again.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Glad to see you getting underway with this project. Can't wait to follow along. Nice to deal with a fast turnaround from the township. Taking a roof off in December in Maine though, could be fun. Imagine you get a decent amount of snow up there.

 

[240zed]

Glad to see you getting underway with this project. Can't wait to follow along. Nice to deal with a fast turnaround from the township. Taking a roof off in December in Maine though, could be fun. Imagine you get a decent amount of snow up there.

-2f this morning and the roll off is getting delivered

 

[runit]

Keep us updated!

 

[240zed]

Storage pod, roll-off and snow arrived! Absolutely baltic here in Maine.

 

[240zed]

Materials showed last Thursday and Friday.



Demo crew arrived on Saturday aka The Lads. We scabbed today some staging and a set of pump jacks.



Took a small break to watch Liverpool match and then got back after it.



Roof off mission was successful.

 

[Boosted1]

You are committed now

 

[240zed]

Monday - Paralams installed to raise existing walls for I-Joist placement.



I-joists installed.

 

[240zed]

Tuesday:

Subfloor installation and gable wall construction.

 

[240zed]

Wednesday:

Lifted the gable wall and start on the two main walls.

 

[Klokwerk]

It's looking really good! Looking forward to more.
Seeing the roof come off your garage must have been something else

 

[240zed]

Thursday:

The monster of the ridge beam got installed, the doorway framing inro the existing second floor and a few rafters on the shallower roofline.



The weather is not cooperating today so no work on the job until Monday probably.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Wow, you are making pretty rapid progress on the project. Always shocks me at how fast framing seems to come together. Looking good.

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Looking great, looking forward to the rest of the build.