Above 1200 Sq/FT A new shed (my dream workshop actually!) build...

[metalhead140]

So I've been absent a while. My previous thread dealing with my attached home garage is here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...attached-garage-workshop-in-australia.232649/

I've had a rough few years. My wife passed away and it's been a difficult couple of years. But I have made big progress on the garage/shed front. My last post in Dec 2020 showed plans for a new shed. It took a lot longer than it should have, mainly due to council, but was eventually up in late Sep 2021... I was limited to 150m² (stupid council rules again, and wanted it separated into 3 work areas internally - I ended up with a 20x7.5m shed, with a 6x7.5m section intended for "dirty work" - fabrication and machining, a 10x7.5m garage/workshop area, and a 4x7.5m area intended to serve as a clean room and/or spray booth. I also extended my existing bay shed at the same time. I'm gradually getting there with getting it fitted out! It'll get there eventually. I've also gone a bit overboard with tool and car purchases over the last couple of years, and also now have a couple of motorcycles. I'll try to post a time line of pictures to get us up to date.

End of July 2021, concrete:










A new addition crammed into the garage while waiting on the shed to be built:






Shed going up...:









To be continued...

 

[metalhead140]

More shed going up... :



And finally complete! Well... Ready to start moving into anyway... End of September 2021:

 

[FTWingRiders]

Sorry to hear about your wife.. my condolences..

Now the shed? That beautiful! And the new addition is a dream of mine..

Tho I wouldn’t call that a “shed”… I was expecting like, a shed.. lol!

Enjoy!!

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Terribly sorry to hear about the loss of your wife. My most sincere condolences.

 

[metalhead140]

Nov 2021:




Dec 2021:

 

[metalhead140]

Dec 2021 continued




Jan 2022:

 

[metalhead140]

Feb 2022:

Scissor hoist arrived (one for Dad too)



******...



Some work to do! Oh well, only a couple of weeks before the first round of the state hillclimb championship. Better get to it:




March 2022:

 

[metalhead140]

April 2022, Got the Model A up and running again, and picked up a Suzuki SV1000 with a few nice modifications:



June 2022 - drove to Grafton for Round 3 of the NSW Hillclimb Championship, and took out not only the class and class record, but fastest tintop.




Had some supplies for the shed arrive at the end of the month too. :



July 2022 - Tamworth round of the state hillclimb championship:



Starting to build some workbenches for the garage/workshop portion of the shed:

 

[metalhead140]

July 2022 continued (I had some time off work...), workbenches:



Added some lighting:



Started filling out the shelving:



And started framing up a mezzanine in the fabrication part of the shed:

 

[southalabama]

Looks good but I think your definition of shed is different from mine.

 

[metalhead140]

August 2022 - back to work so progress slowed! Got some boards up on the mezzanine though:




September 2022, picked up some tools:




October 2022 - better pick up another project...:



December 2022 - and another:

 

[metalhead140]

And then another...:




January 2023 - managed to have an oil pump sieze in the Model A:



Made some progress on the mezzanine:



And yes, picked up yet another project. This is the last one, at least until I finish and sell some others!:

 

[metalhead140]

February 2023 - started making some stairs. I wanted them to be decent solid stairs but able to be lifted up out of the way when not in use. I figured tractor 3 point linkage pins would make a solid hinge. :



Got the Harley running and registered:



And got some new tools... :

 

[metalhead140]

March 2023: Blew up the engine in the Corvette while running in a hillclimb... The old cast crank (that I knew full well was the weak link) finally let go. Destroyed pretty much everything below the intake... :




So sadly that's put paid to this seasons hillclimbs for a while... I did get my trophies from the NSW Hillclimb Championship for 2022 though - first in class (Road Registered 2wd over 2.5L) and 3rd fastest tintop (any factory produced car with a fixed roof structure). Not bad a for a 42 year old Corvette that was driven to every event for the year, and double entered by myself and my brother! Closest competition in class was a modified Lotus Exige 420.:

 

[Geoff289]

Welcome back. I already did the condolence thing on your old thread.

Wow, you have been busy. Very envious of your new shed and equipment, and I still covet your F truck.

Looking forward to more.

 

[metalhead140]

April 2023... Started working on the Model A engine. Decided to clean up the ports, install some oversized intake valves and modern guides.:



Was cleaning up the exhaust valve seats ahead of reassembly, and found a crack in the deck... Oh well, I guess it's getting completely pulled down now. :



Some more new tools (toys)...



May 2023 - girlfriends car gets hit while she is parked on the street at work - if you're keeping count, that takes out 3 cars (with the Model A and Corvette) leaving us with one registered and driving car between us, the Cayenne...:



I decide the best way to teach myself how to use the new sheet metal tools is to fabricate stair treads for the mezzanine from sheet. I'm starting to get the hang of it:



Meanwhile, I've had a friend put an insert in to repair the cracked Model deck. Then on measuring up the bore found that it really needed a bore and new pistons rather than just a re-ring. And I found an old mill for a steal, so I think I'll bore it myself. :

 

[metalhead140]

June 2023 - and finally to the present... Started getting the VH tidied up for rego, complete with some more period appropriate new shoes.:



Also got the 3 phase hooked up, and mill and lathe up and running! Was very happy with that, as both were acquired very cheaply, in part because they weren't powered up and may not have been functional.



The past couple of weeks I've been pretty crook, but I was able to get some lighting up underneath the mezzanine to light the lathe and mill over the past weekend. No pics unfortunately.

 

[metalhead140]

Sorry to hear about your wife.. my condolences..

Now the shed? That beautiful! And the new addition is a dream of mine..

Tho I wouldn’t call that a “shed”… I was expecting like, a shed.. lol!

Enjoy!!

Thanks. It's been hard, but can't change it. Just gotta try to keep moving.

Thanks! I'm very happy with how the shed is working out. It seems painfully slow, but the good thing about doing this is that I can see just how far it's come, which is encouraging! The bloated Beetle is a dream of mine fulfilled, I really need to get it sorted and make the most of it.

The "shed" thing is a difference in language between us Aussies and the rest of the world I think! I have changed the title to hopefully better reflect the content.

Terribly sorry to hear about the loss of your wife. My most sincere condolences.

Thanks.

Looks good but I think your definition of shed is different from mine.

Lol! As above...

Welcome back. I already did the condolence thing on your old thread.

Wow, you have been busy. Very envious of your new shed and equipment, and I still covet your F truck.

Looking forward to more.

Thanks mate. I let the Effie go out of rego last year intending to do a bit of work on it and then put it on historic plates. I've too many regos! I haven't got to it yet though - as you can see I've been too busy breaking stuff!

 

[ned911]

Condolences on your loss. My wife passed away suddenly in October, total **** show around here.

Garage question. How does the in ground scissor lift work versus the 2 post on the 911? Can you easily drop the engine with the scissor lift?

 

[Bob Heine]

Andrew, it's good to see you back. As you have so sadly learned, a problem you can fix with money isn't a real problem. The other kind of problem is far more devastating. Honor Jenna by carrying on as you are.

Good to hear the engine in the A is being saved. Since you need to replace the engine in the Corvette, are you going old school or LS? The parts you save from the blown engine would be nice to spruce up the top of a Holden 4.2 from the period and shoehorn it into the VH. I think the same vintage Commodore SS had that engine from the factory.

 

[racer-john]

Sorry to hear about your wife.. my condolences

 

[metalhead140]

Condolences on your loss. My wife passed away suddenly in October, total **** show around here.

Garage question. How does the in ground scissor lift work versus the 2 post on the 911? Can you easily drop the engine with the scissor lift?

Thanks Ned (I assume). I'm sorry to hear that. It's been a bit over 3 years for me, but it's still a huge thing every single day. Hope you're going ok. My wife dieing at 33 years old from cancer in a matter of weeks definitely wasn't in my life's plan. Just gotta keep going and find happiness where I can.

Andrew, it's good to see you back. As you have so sadly learned, a problem you can fix with money isn't a real problem. The other kind of problem is far more devastating. Honor Jenna by carrying on as you are.

Good to hear the engine in the A is being saved. Since you need to replace the engine in the Corvette, are you going old school or LS? The parts you save from the blown engine would be nice to spruce up the top of a Holden 4.2 from the period and shoehorn it into the VH. I think the same vintage Commodore SS had that engine from the factory.

Thanks Bob. Great to hear from you! The old Holden 253 and 308 (4.2 and 5.0) don't actually share any parts with the sbc unfortunately... The VH currently has a 202 (Holden straight 6) in it, 253 and 308 were optional (as was a 179 Holden 6). I do have a 308 that I got with the Torana... Not sure whether it might end up in the VH or the Torrie. I also have another 2 SBC engines here, one the original from the Vette, and one that came with the '54 Chevy custom - that is set up currently for a sbc, but I'm tempted to go BBC, or possibly use the Hemi I have here. Dunno, I have some decisions to make!

As for the Corvette, really I want to build a stout n/a alloy block big block. But $$$. So may end up with another small block. I can't go much further with an n/a small block though, and I hate to put the effort and money in to not see a solid improvement. So in short, I don't really know... I'm not really interested in going LS, to most people's surprise. A few reasons, firstly I like keeping it "classic", secondly an LS built to a standard to match the SBC I just blew up would cost an absolute bomb - the engine made just under 500hp to the tyre the one time I had it on a dyno, my computer model of it (I modelled the engine virtually before turning a spanner) showed 620hp at the crank, and despite hydraulic lifters (very good hydraulic roller to be fair!) it saw over 7,000rpm every time I drove it, and 8,000rpm on occasion when it allowed me to avoid a gearshift on track. So you can understand why I wasn't surprised when the cheap cast crank eventually cried enough! It was used purely because I already owned it, it wasn't the correct choice for the job. All the bearings and journals still looked perfect though. Building an LS to meet or exceed that standard would cost a ton... SBCs are still much cheaper at that power level. But to go much higher, naturally aspirated and street use, I really need more cubes and more head flow - hence why I'm thinking BBC. Oh, and also LS would require more difficulties with street registration over here too. And it is and always will be a street car first and foremost.

Sorry to hear about your wife.. my condolences

Thanks.

-----------------

Under the mezzanine with and without the newly fitted lights. Makes a big difference!

 

[Uncle murph]

Thanks Ned (I assume). It's been a bit over 3 years for me, but it's still a huge thing every single day. Hope you're going ok. My wife dieing at 33 years old from cancer in a matter of weeks definitely wasn't in my life's plan. Just gotta keep going and find happiness where I can.



Thanks Bob. The old Holden 253 and 308 (4.2 and 5.0) don't actually share any parts with the sbc unfortunately... The VH currently has a 202 (Holden straight 6) in it, 253 and 308 were optional (as was a 179 Holden 6. I do have a 308 that I got with the Torana... Not sure whether it might end up in the VH or the Torrie. I also have another 2 SBC engines here, one the original from the Vette, and one that came with the '54 Chevy custom - that is set up currently for a sbc, but I'm tempted to go BBC, or possibly use the Hemi I have here. Dunno, I have some decisions to make! As for the Corvette, I want to build a stout n/a alloy block big block. But $$$. So may end up with another small block. I can't go much further with an n/a small block though, and I hate to put the effort and money in to not see a solid improvement. So in short, I don't really know...



Thanks.

-----------------

Under the mezzanine with and without the newly fitted lights. Makes a big difference!

Very nice!

 

[metalhead140]

Condolences on your loss. My wife passed away suddenly in October, total **** show around here.

Garage question. How does the in ground scissor lift work versus the 2 post on the 911? Can you easily drop the engine with the scissor lift?

Forgot the scissor lift question! The scissor is perfect for working on the 911 - I trust you're familiar with Jack Olsens 12 gauge garage? It's actually better for pulling an engine on a 911 or similar than a regular car - the scissors get in the way of engine crane legs. That's the single downside of a scissor in my mind - they're perfect for low cars and don't waste space in the garage for the posts etc. I've had one in the attached garage for a long time now, was my only hoist until I built this shed.

 

[hewey]

Hey Andrew, great to see you pop up again, and that you're staying more than busy through a pretty rough time. I'd wondered how you were going.

Shed/s look amazing. Awesome set up with the different spaces, multiple lifts etc. Very nice!

I love the irony of winning the 'tin top' class in a 'glass Vette Looks like the barriers at Western Sydney dragway won one round at the Whiteline rallysprints? In the videos I've seen they come up very quick! Been meaning to get out there and check out the action in person.

New Porsche looks amazing too, such a great tough look to it. How's it compare to the Vette? The lead sled project looks fun too. Is that going to be pretty or give some matt black and get it on the road kind of project?

And Torana hatch looks like another great addition. Not sure if you're on Insta, but Heath's account is worth checking out. He does a lot of events like motorkhana, Wilby Sprtints, streetcar challenge etc and gives it an absolute hiding, and still placed in the Top 60 at Summernats. He's got a few vids of his hatch in action for some inspiration: https://www.instagram.com/hezath/

Again, good to see you back.

 

[Kasal]

Congratulations, if there is anything better in life than having your own garage, it is having a 911 parked in it.

 

[metalhead140]

Hey Andrew, great to see you pop up again, and that you're staying more than busy through a pretty rough time. I'd wondered how you were going.

Shed/s look amazing. Awesome set up with the different spaces, multiple lifts etc. Very nice!

I love the irony of winning the 'tin top' class in a 'glass Vette Looks like the barriers at Western Sydney dragway won one round at the Whiteline rallysprints? In the videos I've seen they come up very quick! Been meaning to get out there and check out the action in person.

New Porsche looks amazing too, such a great tough look to it. How's it compare to the Vette? The lead sled project looks fun too. Is that going to be pretty or give some matt black and get it on the road kind of project?

And Torana hatch looks like another great addition. Not sure if you're on Insta, but Heath's account is worth checking out. He does a lot of events like motorkhana, Wilby Sprtints, streetcar challenge etc and gives it an absolute hiding, and still placed in the Top 60 at Summernats. He's got a few vids of his hatch in action for some inspiration: https://www.instagram.com/hezath/

Again, good to see you back.

Thanks Hewey! Good to see you're still here. Yep, staying busy, making the most of what comes my way. I'd give it all up, but that's not an option, so might as well make the most of it...

Thanks! Obviously the shed layout comes from a long time thinking, and a lot of time spent trying to do everything in one space, with all the resulting difficulties. I'm still getting it set up, but I think it will work really well for me.

Yeh, the tintop win in a Corvette caused some consternation! But the rules are clear... And they'd been giving me points in that class for years. No one had a problem until I won it! The accident at Whiteline was actually after the finish line. It was very wet, and the finish line was the fastest part of the course, and after the finish line was the burnout pad (for those that are unfamiliar, it's a tarmac rally sprint around a drag strip facility). Anyway, when wet it was like ice. On that particular run I left the car in 3rd instead of short shifting 4th over the line. If you watch the video you'll see I'm basically short shifting everywhere - when it's slippery like that it helps a lot with keeping the car more stable. Anyway, I knew I had to be off the brakes with the car settled to cross the pad, what I didn't realise, and took me several times watching the in car video to work out, was that the grip was so low that the engine rpm (and hence rear wheel speed) dropped to nothing when I entered the burnout pad. So then when I reached the end of the burnout pad it was as if I had just pulled the handbrake. It was a nasty accident. In car footage here... :

Anyway, important thing is my brother (co-driver) and I were fine, and I was able to get the car sorted enough with a bunch of late nights to make it to Bathurst where we both drove the car a couple of weeks later.

The Porsche is a cool bit of gear, I'll give some details below... The Kustom... Not sure yet. Might get put together a bit rough for starters and then made nice later, or I might just bite the bullet and get stuck into it straight away. The chassis and suspension is all complete, it's bagged, all glass is there. Should be a good project.

The Torrie needs a lot of work. But hey, that's why I could afford it. It's always been a dream car (as the 911 and Kustom have too). It'll be a longer term one. I don't use Instagram a lot, but have added Heath now!

Good to see you here, thanks for commenting.

Congratulations, if there is anything better in life than having your own garage, it is having a 911 parked in it.

Thanks! It's a dream purchase and a pretty cool bit of gear. 934 tribute ish, lol. Has a 3.6l engine, gt35 turbo, runs on straight e85, lightweight panels and carbon fibre doors, plastic windows etc. It's pretty fun! Was originally built for a racing series called Porsche Cup here in the late 80s and early 90s. Was pretty successful too, this is it out the front of the field:



Previous owners have since done some upgrades and made it "street able... ish", I intend on getting some plates on it (following a few changes and fitting a set of more period 16" wheels) reasonably soon. I bought it wanting to do some Targa tarmac rallies in it, but the state of tarmac rally in Aus is a mess following a couple of deaths in the past couple of Targa Tasmania events. It might end up getting shipped to NZ so I can run over there, time will tell.

 

[fouckhest]

Welcome back, very sorry for your loss, truly aweful...

Great to see you build, fixing, learning, etc.! I look forward to following along, LOVE the Porsche, very cool car with some even cooler heritage!

 

[LeonardY]

Very cool build.

I'm very sorry for your loss. I'm glad your finding your way.

I'll be following along on your journey.

 

[metalhead140]

Welcome back, very sorry for your loss, truly aweful...

Great to see you build, fixing, learning, etc.! I look forward to following along, LOVE the Porsche, very cool car with some even cooler heritage!

Thanks! I do love it... It's a "pinch myself" car for sure, but I feel that way about the whole shed and all of its contents. 15 years ago I couldn't have dreamed of it.

Very cool build.

I'm very sorry for your loss. I'm glad your finding your way.

I'll be following along on your journey.

Thanks!

------------

Didn't get a huge amount done in the shed over the weekend as we had a few people come over for a BBQ and drink on Saturday night.

But on Friday afternoon I found this huge set of metal drawers that had been put out for curbside cleanup. They'll make some great storage for my lathe and mill tooling I think, which I've been trying to work out what to do with because it's currently a pallet and a couple of big tubs as well as loose odds and ends floating around and getting in the way. I think I'll build a dolly for it so it can easily be moved around if / as needed.





And yesterday, my brother came and gave me a hand. My brother Paul has convinced me over the past couple of weeks that I should resurrect this project and has committed to help with it, so now we've made a start. It's been sitting since I finished painting it in early 2018... I spent ages (well over 12 months) getting the bodywork and paint really nice, mostly documented in my old thread. Then I put it in the outside shed to cure for a few weeks. During which time Jenna had some hay delivered, and they bounced a couple of hay bales off it, scratching and denting the front guard. That killed my motivation, and it has sat ever since. I wanted to repair the paint and bodywork, that have further deteriorated in a couple of minor areas from the weather, but instead I think we're just going to put it together and get it running and driving. It'll still be reasonably nice, and I can always mask it up later for repairs and a scuff and spray, but it's been sitting too long, progress needs to be made! So it's cleaned, and space has been made to get it in the garage. Just have to find all the bits and pieces spread around the place and reassemble!

Where it had sat for more than 5 years:





It took a fair bit of cleaning to get it vaguely acceptable...







Cleared out some space to get it in the garage. Gave the gearbox and tailshaft a quick clean and got them installed.





And gave the engine a clean too, ready to throw it back in. Where we finished for the evening:



It actually feels really good to have made some progress on this after it sitting for so long. As much as I probably shouldn't be dividing my time by yet another project at the moment! Almost everything should be there, I just need to dig it all out. This was a running driving car that was crashed, and then I purchased a running driving (but rough) car to re-shell it. I built the first car ground up from a shell I had repainted too, and Paul helped with assembly the first time, so he feels a bit attached to the car and is keen to see it up and running again (as am I!).

 

[Bob Heine]

Andrew, I was afraid to ask about the Midget. I remember how you brought it back from the dead. Not seeing it in the new shed I thought it might have gone to that farm in Queensland where our childhood dogs go. Some may have forgotten what you brought back...

 

[metalhead140]

Thanks Bob, yep, that's the one... And I was never going to give up on it, we have too much history. It's just been on hiatus for a while. I actually had members of the car club who know of the car try to buy it from me a number of times over the past 5 years. Not for sale!

 

[metalhead140]

Some pictures of the car going together the first time, in April 2012 in our garage in Tregear... Jenna's 260z (her first ever car) in the background - I really should get that home to work on it too.



With a much younger Paul, myself, and Jenna's brother Ben pitching in (Jenna was heavily involved too, I think she took this photo though)...:

,

We had the entire car assembled from a shell in just over a week of very long days! Unfortunately it took a bit longer to work through the teething issues.

Here it is getting some new suspension and brake bits early in 2012.



Fathers day 2013:





28th March 2015:





31st March 2015:





12th April 2015:

 

[MacTexas]

Sorry for your loss. Nice chop on the Model A top.

 

[metalhead140]

Started using the lathe to cut down the flywheel for the Model A on Friday, and did some more work on it yesterday. Very happy with the lathe, makes huge cuts like they're nothing. I'm taking some weight off the behemoth (68lb bare - without the ring gear and spigot bearing - stock!) and also modifying it to take a modern pressure plate. I'm happy with how it's coming along, I'm taking my time and working out the lathe as I go.

It started like this:





And yesterday, before flipping it to start on the other side, it now looks like this.:



Saturday was spent out at the Gresford Mudrun. I was entered in the Model A, but obviously unfortunately didn't get it back together in time. Was still a good day out, lots of cool stuff to see!

 

[metalhead140]

More Mudrun:

 

[metalhead140]

And a few more from Mudrun... This is a Riley F headed (overhead intake valve, sidevalve exhaust) banger, pretty neat!

 

[Geoff289]

That's some flywheel.

 

[metalhead140]

Sorry for your loss. Nice chop on the Model A top.

Thanks! I like it to. It's definitely a work in progress, but that's the way I like it.

That's some flywheel.

It's a monster! Engine will definitely feel more sprightly with some weight off it, should make life a bit easier for the crankshaft too. I reckon I'll have taken at least half the factory weight off it, I'll be curious to weigh it when I'm done.

 

[racer-john]

I drew up a section of a VW 1192cc flywheel (28lbs. before). Had it machined (my lathe was lacking spindle height) final weight 14 lbs.