Above 1200 Sq/FT 56x24 hot rod garage

[burger]

Hello,

Long time poster but I’ve never had a garage thread that I’ve stuck to. I’m gonna try. Never been good at taking pictures while doing things. I have a very awesome garage. I am going to try to keep you guys up on my antics.

Three weekends ago I went to the Maple Grove Swap Meet. It was effing huge! I have not gone since the pandemic and now it is much larger. I allotted 3 hours and that was not enough time to walk it all. It’s at a drag strip so obviously most of the goods are for the go fast crowd. You can do very well if you’re looking to build a SBC, SBF or LS. I’m building an old Flathead so there wasn’t much to find. I did score an Edelbrock dual manifold from an old guy who used it on his 1965 build.

At the meet I bought the *** end of a 64 Impala. Today I hung it up on top of a Pontiac dash that I’ve had for a while.

 

[burger]

A few weeks ago I finally got the Harbor Freight drill/air tool organizer. It’s a very inefficient use of space but I like it a lot.

 

[burger]

Two days ago I decided to organize my grinder drawer. It was an awful mess of things everywhere I cut down some organizers from scrap lumber and it looks a lot better.

 

[burger]

I purchased a new F150. I found an amazing deal buying a loaner truck. It had less than 2000 miles and I paid 5900 under invoice. You don’t walk away from that.

 

[burger]

I installed Rough Country wheel liners, OEM mud flaps, and a Lund bed cover

 

[GlennSullivan]

I love the drawer organization, I wish I had a drawer deep enough for the tool organizer.

Maple Grove has seen an amazing comeback since the Koretsky Family purchased it several years back. The track was up for sale and everyone thought a developer would buy it and develop the land, like so many other racetracks in recent years. But they saved and have steadily improved it.

 

[Jayman17]

Nice looking shop, did you make your carriage style doors? Sounds like a good deal on your new truck too.

 

[burger]

I love the drawer organization, I wish I had a drawer deep enough for the tool organizer.

Maple Grove has seen an amazing comeback since the Koretsky Family purchased it several years back. The track was up for sale and everyone thought a developer would buy it and develop the land, like so many other racetracks in recent years. But they saved and have steadily improved it.

It’s sad that so many drag strips are closing. We just lost Atco in South Jersey. I’m glad to hear that Maple Grove is in good hands. The swap meet was much larger than I ever remember it being. Wish I’d gotten there earlier so I could have had time to walk the whole thing.

 

[burger]

Nice looking shop, did you make your carriage style doors? Sounds like a good deal on your new truck too.

Thanks! I did build those doors but honestly they’ve been a pain in my ****. They’re built from pine and even with good paint and caulk it’s a constant fight to keep them from rotting.

The truck is the first new car/truck I’ve ever bought for myself. I am very frugal (that sounds better than cheap) so I did a lot of looking before I bought this truck. It was a compromise as I wanted a 6.5’ bed and bench front seat, but I couldn’t argue with the price. Work truck XL money for an STX truck with some good options. I did pay extra to have a spray in liner installed. Very happy with how it turned out and I think it’s a better option than drop in.

 

[GlennSullivan]

It’s sad that so many drag strips are closing. We just lost Atco in South Jersey. I’m glad to hear that Maple Grove is in good hands. The swap meet was much larger than I ever remember it being. Wish I’d gotten there earlier so I could have had time to walk the whole thing.

There are obviously less and less sportsman racers and people in general going to tracks. Couple reduced income with large increases in Insurance and these once remote areas now being prime development spots and you have a perfect storm. The next generation taking over looks at the numbers and figures they can put more money in their pockets by selling than working the track for 20 years.

Atco was a real shocker. No notification, I know people that had rentals booked and they just got told, "sorry we are closing, effective immediately".

Maple Grove and also Cecil County Dragway in northern Maryland are both in good hands and will hopefully be around for awhile.

 

[burger]

I do have a hot rod that I’m building. Matt and Mike at Irontrap have been instrumental.

 

[GlennSullivan]

That looks like some original Henry Ford steel

 

[NUTTSGT]

I do have a hot rod that I’m building. Matt and Mike at Irontrap have been instrumental.

Interesting, very interesting.

 

[burger]

I decided to intentionally downgrade the antenna on my truck. It’s not a big deal. I listen to podcasts or Spotify while I drive, so radio reception isn’t important. Why did I dislike the big factory whip antenna? I like to use conveyor belt slappy flap auto washes and I had an antenna ripped off once. I live on a dirt road, so keeping the truck clean is a constant pain in the **** and needs to be easy.

 

[burger]

Interesting, very interesting.

28 body, 32 frame, Flathead. Been talking about this for decades and finally doing it.

 

[jollygreengiant]

Just found your thread. Throw some pics up of your shop!

 

[burger]

So here we are with a shop tour of how things sit right this minute.



I’ll start with the work that I just finished. A few minutes ago I put a third coat of poly on some shelves that my son and I made. He has too many video game systems and not a lot of real estate, so we set upon project to make shelves. He put on the first coat of poly. At 12 he’s new to wood finishing, but by the end of the first coat he was doing a decent job. He’s at his mom’s for the rest of the week so I put on the last two coats to move things along.



Next up is a lumber cart that I recently put together. Two goals here: tame my cut offs and use my Kregg pocket screw jig. The jig was purchased years ago to repair a water damaged cabinet. I thought the jig super handy and resolved to build something cool with it and that something finally happened.

Prior to this cart, there was an unruly pile of sheet good and cutoffs in this space. The dimensional lumber cutoffs were stored in a random collection of Tidy Cats containers and totes that took up way too much space.



So I pocket screwed the **** out of four sheets of 3/4 plywood. Solidworks was used to design the thing. I made quicky drawings for all of the parts and experimented with pre-cutting all the parts and then assembling them rather than cutting each part to fit.

It worked out ok. Definitely saved a lot of time, but the finish is ok but not tight. For something like this I would do it again. If I were making inside furniture, I would make each piece and measure for the next.



I’m happy with it. It’s big but it takes up less space than the disorganized piles and buckets. And I can find things now.

 

[burger]

The ongoing project is to light up some wall art. I have the *** of a 64 Impala, a 50 Pontiac dash, and some detour flashing signs. A buddy donated a power supply that converts 120v to power 12v bulbs. I bought cheap LED bulbs to replace the incandescent bulbs to reduce power draw.



The flashers had two sockets with water damage. Everything else was perfect, those two must’ve leaked water resulting in rusted out sockets. No big deal. New sockets on deck to replace.

 

[burger]

Here we have the Flathead that is going to power my roadster. It was a happy accident. I was visiting the Irontrap warehouse for the first time and got lost on the street. There was a large garage open with a bunch of Harley’s inside. I figured that guy would know where Matt was, so I stopped to ask.

So I met Larry. It’s a fun story of serendipity. I was lost and ended up buying a key component for my build.

Larry is a great guy. We shared stories and it turns out I parked my 70 Skylark next to him at a car show at Eastwood last summer. We talked at that show not knowing we would later meet. It was funny that I had video of his car.

Larry had his Model A at that show. He wanted to replace the SBC with a Flathead. He purchased a runner from Irontrap/Matt, but sold the A before swapping it. When I stopped to ask him for directions, the conversation led to the 8BA he no longer needed. Happy accident indeed and I now have the power plant for my roadster.

Larry has a 58 F350 for sale if anyone is interested.

 

[burger]

Irontrap sold me a Thickston PM-7 high rise intake. Very good looking and equally functional as it fits the stock generator and a two carb high rise is just right for a mild engine.

 

[rixtrix1]

I do have a hot rod that I’m building. Matt and Mike at Irontrap have been instrumental.

As soon as you said flathead, in your location, I thought of Irontrap. He has so much cool stuff, including his garage and attitude! Can you fit a lift in your shop?

 

[burger]

As soon as you said flathead, in your location, I thought of Irontrap. He has so much cool stuff, including his garage and attitude! Can you fit a lift in your shop?

I built the shop with 12' walls with the plan of installing a 2 post lift. Someday..

 

[burger]

Ladies and germs,

Here we are at the end of the weekend. The weather was crappy, though we managed to watch an 1864 old time baseball game and visited a spring festival at Pottstown Manor. Today we planned to see the Sly Fox goat races, but hours outside in gloomy damp drizzle just didn’t seem fun.

So it was a garage day.



My garage now has a “bisque” staging area. Why is bisque in quotes? Was it really not bisque?

The road sign lights are done.



I had to replace two sockets. Water got into them. The lenses don’t have any gaskets or seals so I’m surprised just two rotted out. You can see one of the rusty sockets I removed and the stain on the reflector.



I also disassembled and cleaned the carburetor for my pressure washer. Last year the thing could barely stay running. It was time for a going through. This particular pressure washer is made from two broken pressure washers that I married together more than a few years ago, so I’m not at all surprised that it needed some love. I didn’t order replacement parts ahead of time, so it’ll be next weekend before it goes back together.

Lastly I fixed the flat rear tire on my mountain bike. While replacing the tube, tire, and rim strip, I noticed that the hub had a ton of slop. YouTube University to the rescue. I learned how bike hubs go together, cones and cups, locknuts etc. I don’t have the tools or parts I need, so I ordered some Park Tools ultra thin metric wrenches and a bag of 1/4” ball bearings.

I had a video of this that a planned to share, but this site has nothing for adding videos?



Oh lastly lastly— I spent an insane amount of time cleaning the bellhousing from my flathead. Years of grease and dirt and grease and dirt formed a thick hard layer of crud on the outside and the inside was a burnt on thick layer of grease. The above photo is after heavy chiseling, wire brushing with a stiff steel brush, scrubbing in my parts cleaner, and a can of carb cleaner. After all that it still has a ton of caked on residue. My plan is to drench it with Gunk engine cleaner and then stick it in a plastic bag overnight. Ultimately I will sandblast and powder coat.

Over and out.

Ed

 

[burger]

Hosing the bellhousing with Gunk and placing it in plastic bag overnight worked fantastic. Some scraping ensued. Next step sand blast cabinet. Then powder.

 

[Ford52PU]

Just found your thread! Love going to Maple Grove but haven’t been since before the pandemic. I live out in Coatesville. I used to work at Eastwood years ago before they moved to Pottstown, been watching Matt’s videos for years now.
Enjoyed reading your posts!

 

[burger]

Where was Eastwood located before Pottstown? I like living near enough to pick up stuff without paying shipping.

 

[Ford52PU]

It was in Malvern, that’s where they started.

 

[burger]

Last year my pressure washer was hardly able to stay running. It would run hard for a minute, dog out, then run fine again. A frustrating way to clean a patio to say the least.

Let me digress for a minute and tell you the history of this finely pieced together contraption. It is the happy marriage of two broken pressure washers. The engine is original to the green frame. That unit had a bad pump. The same guy gave who gave me the first broken pressure washer gave me a second one. Apparently I like broken pressure washers. Anyway, the second one had a seized engine but a good pump. That pump turned out to be an exact enough replacement for the pump on the green unit. Happy days, free pressure washer.

Things ran great like this for about ten years. Clean patios and walkways every spring, I was a man living the dream.

As already mentioned, last year the washer went poopy and didn’t want to run.

Last week I took it apart and I could see it was hurting. Carb had a lot of crusty junk in the bowl, needle had a lot of scale that may have kept it from seating. The plug looked done and wasn't even finger tight!



Parts came from Amazon. I ordered a kit with a new carb kit. I guess I was expecting a lot for $15, but the replacement carb shared a casting with my carb at best. The original carb had a throttle valve and choke valve. The replacement had the throttle valve and an unmatched boss for the choke.

Oh well I guess. I cleaned mine and used what I could from the kit: gaskets, spark plug, and air filter.

The lesson here is shame on me. I should have know better than ordering a $15 carburetor kit. Next time order parts from Jack’s Small Engines or PartsTree or eReplacmentParts or Appliance Part Pros or any of the companies that sell OEM replacement parts. The Amazon and eBay sellers offering cheap Chinese “kits” that have no idea what carburetor is on my pressure washer.

We are back together and buttoned up but it is far to late for me to fire up noisy equipment.



Also with this picture you may ask: 56x24 garage, why is that ******* working in a small clear space between two cars. Answer: too much ****! I need to work on that.


Building things with your own hands is awesome,

Ed

 

[Ford52PU]

Ed, need more info on the car with the Jersey plates. I don’t recognize it but looks interesting.
Glad you got the pressure washer going.

 

[plain2car]

man!! what timing on the pressure washer issue! that is the EXACT same issue I had this past weekend. my crapsman P.W. is needing the same thing, although I am more interested in how/ if I can just get a replacement carb & bolt on?? i will check into the places you mentioned..... it is nice to know that I am not the only with silly P.W issues!! LOL!!!

 

[burger]

The pressure washer runs great. Sidewalks and patios are looking good. Even washed the cars.

The black car with the Jersey plates is a 41 Chevy. I took it apart eleven years ago and even with all the king’s horses and all the king’s men, I still haven’t put it back together again. Kids, work, and life have gotten in the way, but those are excuses. The real reason is that I have the attention span of a squirrel and a greater ability to acquire projects than to work on them.

Here’s a link to some pictures of it on the H.A.M.B.

 

[burger]

Well. It appears that the pictures have gone missing.



Surprisingly that’s the only photo on my phone and it’s from 2016.

The 350 that’s in the 41 has been installed in three vehicles four times, yet has zero miles. It was originally rebuilt for a 54 3100. That truck was sold, but I pulled the 350 and put it into the 41. Later I was hopping up a 73 c10 and put the engine in that. When I sold that project, I put the engine back into the 41. All that and it still has zero miles!

 

[Ford52PU]

Been there done that!

 

[burger]

Esteemed readers,

I have a couple of more interesting projects going on that I’ll post more about later, but here’s a quick update.

Today I installed a cord reel. I’ve wanted one of these for years. This guy came from Amazon, my daily purveyor of cheap **** presumably from China. That seems like a problem, huh?!

Anyway, cord reel. It installed easy in about 15 minutes. VEVOR brand. The cord seems nice and pliable, has good feel. 12 gauge cord, which I wanted since wiring in walls is all 12 ga. The housing is mostly plastic and kind of cheap but not especially cheap. The housing seems like it may be too small for the amount of wire. When I wind it out and then try to retract it, it struggles on the last few feet. I’m thinking to take it apart and remove some wire as I don’t need the 65’ range.

I did some awesome upgrades to my parts washer and I’ll make an in depth post about that later.

Regards,
Ed

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Hi @burger Nice set up. I hadn’t seen your thread before but will be back. We are heading to an air show today and have to get going.

 

[MacTexas]

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