Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT My Mini Garagemahal

[gearhead1960]

Mark, it is certainly worth looking into! You and add that to the list of thing to discuss at some point! BTW - poster showed up yesterday, I haven't had a chance to open it yet, but can't thank you enough! Look forward to meeting in person at some point and discussing all things over a cold beer!!

...or a few cold ones..... It might be Thanksgiving time when I get down to Greer. I think it's my brother turn.....

Yeah, Ireland is definitely on the list, so IoM would be do-able. Just have to time it right, make sure we have the right travel partners, and convince the wife to do it....LOL. Big ask...maybe.

As far as the poster, here is the frame I put it in from Amazon....fit perfectly. Enjoy!

 

[fouckhest]

...or a few cold ones..... It might be Thanksgiving time when I get down to Greer. I think it's my brother turn.....

Yeah, Ireland is definitely on the list, so IoM would be do-able. Just have to time it right, make sure we have the right travel partners, and convince the wife to do it....LOL. Big ask...maybe.

As far as the poster, here is the frame I put it in from Amazon....fit perfectly. Enjoy!

OH, don't worry, a few will be in order! Certainly keep me posted, post Thanksgiving day, we are usually in a chill mode! Plus there is a cool little brewery right down the road from my house, so easy to go from garage hangs w/garage beers to a couple decent pints!

Also, fun fact about IoM, if the wife likes seafood, apparently the are VERY well known for their scallops, the taxi driver that took us back to the airport told us that if we come back for race week, to look into staying down around "Peel" which is a big fishing village, the fishermen have what he described as basically food trucks/boats with fresh seafood from that days catch!

Frame purchased, thanks!

 

[gearhead1960]

Frame purchased, thanks!

....I'll need photos....

 

[fouckhest]

....I'll need photos....

Absolutely! Your gift has motivated me to also hang up @Metallitubby gift also! Might be a couple weeks, but will be putting it on the project list when I get some time after some upcoming work travel

 

[MrPink]

man that looks like an awesome trip.

 

[Metallitubby]

Mike, you know I've crewed 3x for the HRC/Honda Racing TT Legends team, right? I wish knew you were going, because I've got PLENTY of contacts to get you some unique experiences.

Next time, right?

 

[Trapps]

Outstanding!

As a TT fan, if you have not seen "Road" yet, add it to your list:

 

[fouckhest]

Outstanding!

As a TT fan, if you have not seen "Road" yet, add it to your list:

Was hoping you were still around Mark, I figured you'd like the IoM photos!

I've not see that movie, but it will be found ASAP! Thanks for sharing!

 

[fouckhest]

Mike, you know I've crewed 3x for the HRC/Honda Racing TT Legends team, right? I wish knew you were going, because I've got PLENTY of contacts to get you some unique experiences.

Next time, right?

Wait, I DID NOT know that Andy!!!

Had I known I would have certainly hit you up....sadness! But, like I mentioned, a return for race week is on the 5ish year plan, wanna join?

 

[Metallitubby]

a return for race week is on the 5ish year plan, wanna join?

Yes, as long as I don't have to work it.

 

[fouckhest]

Yes, as long as I don't have to work it.

Goes without being said! Just bring your contact list! LOL

Had beers and wings with the guys last night and we chatted about it briefly, I think we all are still very intrigued about the event, island, and experience.

 

[MrPink]

Mike,

any updates?

 

[fouckhest]

Mike,

any updates?

Hi Justin, thanks for checking in. Couple small updates, I was traveling for work back to back weeks, mid-June, so been playing catch up around the house. I am hopeful that work slows down starting tomorrow and I can upload some photos and an update post going!

 

[fouckhest]

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July, remember what were are celebrating and be safe!!

As a parting though, this is always one of my few social media posts, but it rings true!

 

[fouckhest]

I hope everyone had a good 4th weekend! Lots of fun here, nothing too crazy, but was nice to hand with both family and friends.

Sunday my BIL headed home, so spent the morning playing in the garage finishing up a small project I've been working on and wanting to get finished up.

This is my tribute/low buck DIY'er version of the @zmotorsports "Overkill Paint Shaker" I love Mikes concept but don't have the same resources in the way of the mill mostly, so I wanted to take a little more anyone can DIY approach, so here we go.

Same can holder, cheap HF drill, amazon timer, not pictured here is the HF speed controller

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr


Step 1 - Disassemble drill to shorten the cord and modify the chuck drive to accept the allen key to drive the shaker
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Welder up
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Trimmed down to a reasonable length
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Reassemble drill
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Also shortened the cord on the timer and lengthened on the speed controller
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This was getting things mocked up, but ended up having to flip everything 180° due to where the studs are in relation to my outlets on the shop walls....so started like this
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Ended up like this....and this is the finished product.....Timer works as a run time, then an "off" time, so If I walk away/get distracted, it will run for the set time, which I'll likely set at 90-120 seconds, then it will go off for likely 60 seconds, then it would kick on again....all in all, it works well, the speed is a little funky, not sure if thats due to the cheap drill or cheap speed controller, but its not going to be used daily, so it will work for the given use case

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[fouckhest]

In other news, prior to starting the shaker, I had in a round about way taken on my first ever "commissioned" yard art job....after my alternator issue post car show, I took the alternator to a local shop, he had some cool little nut/bolt art stuff on his counter, so started showing him some of my projects, he loved the sunflower I made for my wife, so I told him I'd make one for him as a trade for rebuilding my alternator, seemed like a fair trade!

Finished product
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Took a photo next to the one I made for my wife
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In project car news, my fuel cell showed up, very excited to get back on that project!

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[fouckhest]

Spent some unplanned time in the garage last night, but it was due to needing to get a project knocked out that I had been putting off....so last summer I started to notice that the drain for my mini-split wasn't really draining well, so it would drip in the garage, not wanting to damage the unit, I basically stopped using it. My plan was to re-route a new drain line using 3/4" PVC into the basement to give a noticeable fall.....well this all got accelerated yesterday, bear with my, tangent time.

Monday morning, my wife tells me that there is a stray German Shepard in the neighborhood, we have a neighbor with one that got out a lot last year, figured it was him...NOPE....so between my wife and a neighbor wife, the got the dog, gave him some water/food....said neighbors were leaving for vacation yesterday, so we kept him on our porch Monday night, with plans to take him to the "no kill shelter" yesterday....well, they are full, so we are "fostering" him until he can go back and jump to the front of the line next Tuesday.

Dog pic for attention!
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

So, project new drain line got mocked up and tested last night, still needs glued up, but wanted to make sure it could "get enough fall" in the run to make it drain properly....Great success, woke up this morning to the garage being 74°
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

I won't elaborate on that hole in the wall and what was there when I bought the place, but was definitely some janky plumbing...

BUT, silver lining, while the garage A/C was running and the dog was resting down there during the heat of the evening, I set out to tackle a project that I need to get going for my silver GTi. I needed to get these seats fitted/mounted before the car goes to the upholstery shop to get recovered to match the factory 337 seats

Recaro Sportster CS, one of my all time favorite seats, pretty stoked to get them recovered
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

These are my inspiration, guy in Europe did these, I am going to keep mine all cloth and will not color match the seat backs
Screenshot 2025-02-20 092056 by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[MrPink]

Spent some unplanned time in the garage last night, but it was due to needing to get a project knocked out that I had been putting off....so last summer I started to notice that the drain for my mini-split wasn't really draining well, so it would drip in the garage, not wanting to damage the unit, I basically stopped using it. My plan was to re-route a new drain line using 3/4" PVC into the basement to give a noticeable fall.....well this all got accelerated yesterday, bear with my, tangent time.

Monday morning, my wife tells me that there is a stray German Shepard in the neighborhood, we have a neighbor with one that got out a lot last year, figured it was him...NOPE....so between my wife and a neighbor wife, the got the dog, gave him some water/food....said neighbors were leaving for vacation yesterday, so we kept him on our porch Monday night, with plans to take him to the "no kill shelter" yesterday....well, they are full, so we are "fostering" him until he can go back and jump to the front of the line next Tuesday.

Dog pic for attention!
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

So, project new drain line got mocked up and tested last night, still needs glued up, but wanted to make sure it could "get enough fall" in the run to make it drain properly....Great success, woke up this morning to the garage being 74°
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

I won't elaborate on that hole in the wall and what was there when I bought the place, but was definitely some janky plumbing...

BUT, silver lining, while the garage A/C was running and the dog was resting down there during the heat of the evening, I set out to tackle a project that I need to get going for my silver GTi. I needed to get these seats fitted/mounted before the car goes to the upholstery shop to get recovered to match the factory 337 seats

Recaro Sportster CS, one of my all time favorite seats, pretty stoked to get them recovered
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

These are my inspiration, guy in Europe did these, I am going to keep mine all cloth and will not color match the seat backs
Screenshot 2025-02-20 092056 by fouckhest, on Flickr

Awesome!

I do have to ask, what is your plan for the OE 337 front seats?

 

[fouckhest]

Awesome!

I do have to ask, what is your plan for the OE 337 front seats?

That is actually a great question, short term, I am going to get some nice storage bags, put a desiccant bag in with each and put them in my storage room. Long term, I really don't know, they are in what I would call well above average condition, both have brand new seat base foam in them and have been retro-fitted with seat heaters. All that being said, I can't imagine I will ever WANT them back in the car, but I am telling myself not to believe myself saying that b/c too many times I've sold a stock part only to have to go rebuy it later at a much higher cost and likely lower quality than what I sold.

So for now, parts hoarding continues LOL

I did get the other seat installed the other night! They are SO MUCH more comfortable than the OEM seats its not funny

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[MrPink]

That is actually a great question, short term, I am going to get some nice storage bags, put a desiccant bag in with each and put them in my storage room. Long term, I really don't know, they are in what I would call well above average condition, both have brand new seat base foam in them and have been retro-fitted with seat heaters. All that being said, I can't imagine I will ever WANT them back in the car, but I am telling myself not to believe myself saying that b/c too many times I've sold a stock part only to have to go rebuy it later at a much higher cost and likely lower quality than what I sold.

So for now, parts hoarding continues LOL

I did get the other seat installed the other night! They are SO MUCH more comfortable than the OEM seats its not funny

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Yep, I understand that i sold the OE wheels from mine and now would like to properly refinish my wheels and can't til i am done driving it for the season lol. I am actually trying to find a set of tan big bolster seats for mine, Only because every racing seat i can seem to find that is "tan" in color is nowhere near the correct color as the seats in my MK4.

I really like the Recaro's in your car though too.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice job on the paint shaker Mike. Well done and thought out.

 

[fouckhest]

Yep, I understand that i sold the OE wheels from mine and now would like to properly refinish my wheels and can't til i am done driving it for the season lol. I am actually trying to find a set of tan big bolster seats for mine, Only because every racing seat i can seem to find that is "tan" in color is nowhere near the correct color as the seats in my MK4.

I really like the Recaro's in your car though too.

I've got some standard golf tan seats if you are interested?

Thanks on the Recaros, should be taking the car to shop last week of the month to get them recovered, pretty stoked on that!

 

[fouckhest]

Nice job on the paint shaker Mike. Well done and thought out.

Thanks Mike, must appreciated!

 

[fouckhest]

Not much to report on projects from this past weekend, between the heat and my garage has been temporarily repurposed as a stray/foster dog sanctuary LOL
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Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr


Although, yesterday I did finally get some wall art hung up courtesy of @Metallitubby @gearhead1960 many thanks again!!

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

 

[MrPink]

I've got some standard golf tan seats if you are interested?

Thanks on the Recaros, should be taking the car to shop last week of the month to get them recovered, pretty stoked on that!

I have the std ones already. I would love to get more bolstering

 

[fouckhest]

I have the std ones already. I would love to get more bolstering

Gotcha, just wanted to offer since you have the tan interior also. There are lots of options out there for aftermarket seats, unfortunately there aren't many oem options for better bolstering.

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

At this point, it seems like you have just acquired a new member to the family. Seems like the best resolution

Can't wait to see the Recaro's once they get recovered. Those seats are fantastic. I believe they were the successor to the older Recaro Sportline seats.

 

[fouckhest]

At this point, it seems like you have just acquired a new member to the family. Seems like the best resolution

Can't wait to see the Recaro's once they get recovered. Those seats are fantastic. I believe they were the successor to the older Recaro Sportline seats.

If we didn't already have 6 dogs he could stay for sure, but its already too many, and with 3 males already, just wouldn't be smart or really even fair to the rest, its already tough enough to pay the existing crew equal attention.

I'm pretty stoked to get them done, I've been like a little kid just getting into the car and sitting in them LOL

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

If we didn't already have 6 dogs he could stay for sure, but its already too many, and with 3 males already, just wouldn't be smart or really even fair to the rest, its already tough enough to pay the existing crew equal attention.

I'm pretty stoked to get them done, I've been like a little kid just getting into the car and sitting in them LOL

I knew I had seen dogs in your posts, but I don't think I realized or had forgotten if you had posted before that you had 6 dogs. I understand that, as we have 4 here and have had up to 5 at one time before.

 

[gearhead1960]

You're very welcome! Always glad to share cool gearhead stuff....have a lot more to go through and figure out what to do with it....

 

[Xti04]

You're very welcome! Always glad to share cool gearhead stuff....have a lot more to go through and figure out what to do with it....

Love the memoribilia. When the Porsche / Audi dealer I worked at went through their first remodel since the 80s I was able to grab some really cool 80s VW Audi and Porsche full size framed posters from them. I gave them away years ago since I didnt have the space and now that I have a shop worthy of those posters they are all gone. I have my flags hung up in there my license plates and my neighbor does plasma cut signs which I am going to have him make a couple for the shop soon.

 

[gearhead1960]

Love the memoribilia. When the Porsche / Audi dealer I worked at went through their first remodel since the 80s I was able to grab some really cool 80s VW Audi and Porsche full size framed posters from them. I gave them away years ago since I didnt have the space and now that I have a shop worthy of those posters they are all gone. I have my flags hung up in there my license plates and my neighbor does plasma cut signs which I am going to have him make a couple for the shop soon.

In a earlier career I worked for several tire companies including the one with the winged feet. I was always getting stuff. As part of the job, I also got to know many people and for awhile I was a Jim Downing groupie when he was competing in the Camel Lights series. A buddy of mine was friends with his co-driver, John Mafucci and we saw them many times. With pit passes from a top team I got into a lot of spaces most could not and was able to grab unique freebies sometimes.

 

[fouckhest]

Hope everyone had a good weekend, not a super productive weekend, but overall a good one for sure! My normal Friday night boys night out for wings got cut a little short b/c foster dogs new mom came to pick him up was great and happy to report that after the weekend he seems to be settling in pretty well, and even got to go to work with his new mom on Saturday! He lucked out, she is a physical therapist, so I'm sure he is going to have a life full of fun adventures!
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Saturday was a pool day and cookout in the afternoon with some friends, which is always a good way to escape the pretty ridiculous heat we've been dealing with here in the southeast.

Sunday kicked off with a morning costco and lowes run to get some supplies, then I got to go play in the garage, cleaned up the foster dogs house and cleaned up the material that will be the key component to my upcoming interior project for my silver GTi.

One bad thing about 20+yr old fabric is the backing doesn't hold up, I decided to clean that up rather than have to pay the upholstery guy, his time/talents are better served in other ways (in my opinion)

Here is the material, you can see in this roll how the backing is separating
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In process of vacuuming the old foam off
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All cleaned up
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Here is the piece that will be used to recover the seats. This material is a one year only fabric used on the VW 337 GTi, which is the 25th Anniversary edition of the Rabbit GTi which debuted in 1976, it is pretty rare in the VW world, this may be the only raw material left in the world
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Also as part of getting these seats redone, I had kind of "fallen out of love" with the look of the steering wheel in the car, specifically the airbag. I had it recovered when I did the wheel a couple years ago, the air bag wasn't in great shape so let the upholstery guy do his thing, but it was always "a little too much" for my style, so found an OEM unit in pretty good shape, so swapped that out as while I was playing in the garage

Before
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After
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In other news, with tons of heat and the occasional afternoon storms/rain, on top of my normal every other day watering schedule, the grass in the front is looking "OK"
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Hope everyone has a good week! Currently planning a new addition to the shop, excited to share when I can get some time and help!

 

[fouckhest]

Quick little project from last night, I hesitate to post, but its slow at work this afternoon...

Buddy that owns a VAG repair shop hit me up yesterday asking if I could take a look at welding something for him, when he told me it was an old(er) aluminum A/C line, I hesitantly/begrudgingly agreed to take a look and then "give it a shot"

With that said....the ask was to weld these crimp on fittings onto the ends of a line that had broken.
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

In all honesty the A/C line itself didnt weld too bad, the brand new fittings were rather nasty and just did not want to cooperate, but in the end, they got stuck together
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr
Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

As soon as I started they started to smoke and smelled like burning rubber, I stopped immediately and we looked at them and it makes no sense while there would be any o-ring in there, then later one of them "oozed" some yellow plastic-like substance out, again, stopped, showed and discussed and was asked to proceed. So no guarantee job, so will be interested to see how it goes when he gets the line crimped, installs and pulls vacuum on them.....honestly, I am doubtful, but guess we will see.

Until next time

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Glad to hear you were finally able to find a home for the foster dog and that it seems to be going well so far. Here is to hoping it sticks.

Can't wait to see the seats in that fabric and that is pretty cool on the rarity of it.

 

[fouckhest]

Glad to hear you were finally able to find a home for the foster dog and that it seems to be going well so far. Here is to hoping it sticks.

Can't wait to see the seats in that fabric and that is pretty cool on the rarity of it.

Definitely excited about where he ended up, so far haven't heard anything bad, so I'm taking that as good news.

Same, taking Friday off work and heading up to drop the car off!

 

[Xti04]

Looking forward to seeing how these seats come out!

 

[zanyad]

Also looking forward to seeing the seats!

Also as part of getting these seats redone, I had kind of "fallen out of love" with the look of the steering wheel in the car, specifically the airbag. I had it recovered when I did the wheel a couple years ago, the air bag wasn't in great shape so let the upholstery guy do his thing, but it was always "a little too much" for my style, so found an OEM unit in pretty good shape, so swapped that out as while I was playing in the garage

Before

After

Definitely agree on the steering wheel looking better with the original airbag cover.

 

[fouckhest]

Been a while since I've done an update and its not for lack of things going on, but my current garage/shop project is ~80% done and keeping it as skunkworks like @zmotorsports did with his new lift....more to come on that soon'ish, but it may or not be something to lift things

It has rained almost every day for the past week, and even been a touch chilly here (mid-60s), spent a little time working on aforementioned skunkworks project. Wednesday we caught a break in the afternoon to get the pole saw out to trim my pecan tree that has gotten out of control and started hanging over my shed and blocking the walkway.

Before
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After...nice little hair cut....guess I forgot to take a photo after cleaning up the limbs and putting them on the burn pile
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One nice thing about all the rain is I've been saving on my water bill, combine that with the cooler temps, and latest fertilizer application (6-1-11) on Tuesday, the grass is looking okay. The weather held out Wednesday and all day Thursday, so after picking up one of the pups from the vet (another long story), I got home in time to cut the front lawn for the first time 10days, which is usually a lot for my grass, I have a new piece of OPE, so gave it a good test, did two passes, one parallel to the road and one diagonal to that. After a couple months of cutting with the rider I am happy with how it looks, hopefully after a couple more weeks it will recover a little more.

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

Not sure how much shop time I'll get this weekend since its my wives birthday, but going to push to try and finish up the shop project, been excited to get that done an tested out! Have a good weekend all!

 

[zmotorsports]

Lawn looks great Mike.

Also, looking forward to see what you have in store for the shop.