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My Ulitmate Garage makeover in the UK

grp4Escort

New member
Joined
Apr 3, 2007
Messages
2
Location
East Midlands,UK
I’ve been an avid reader of posts on this site for years now and thought you guys over there in the US would like to see my attempent at my Garage make over……

It all started 7 over years ago when I visited Ford M-Sport at the lunch of the new Focus RS.
This was to be a celebration of Ford’s WRC (World Rally Car).

I loved the car and bought one…. BTW it got delivered a year and half later… Ford do drag there heels in Eourpe…..

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This car has now been sold after 5 years of ownership with only 5000 miles on the clock to make way for another Ford RS model.
The thing that also struck me was the facility that the WRC’s were built in….. space cleanedliness and attention to detail….

Here are a few photos from that visit…..

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A couple of years passed and a house move later I acquired a modest 18x18 garage.
After looking round the net I found a site called the ultimate Garage and fell in love with their show garage and decided to model mine on there’s.

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Although I didn’t have as much space and money I drew up my plans and February of this year saw the start of which was to be 4 months of hard work.

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All work was carried out by me. I’ve had no training in any skills so it was all trial and error….

I wanted light and lots of it so fitted 8 doubles with 10 down lighters for display the cars in a nice light.

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I also wanted power points all the way round so a total of 10 doubles were used all around the garage.

Another requirement was sound, I thought about piping sound through roof speakers but then I had the idea that when I’m in there working I’d like to watch some car/bike rallying/racing so I included a small LCD TV with built in DVD/CD player with free view.

The Garage is only going to be for cars. No pushbikes No garden tools or furniture so storage was no problem as the loft space would be used as storage for the car build.

With car space being a premium I only wanted to use one end of the garage for units. These are 2 double door types one single and one tall single on one side of the door and one double sliding opening on the other side with space for the tool chest.
Work top was to be stainless steel with splash back.

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The walls were to be tiled and so was the floor.
Having never done a bit of tiling before it was a slow start, but I soon learnt and the pace picked up. 2500 tiles later the walls were finished.

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Work then started on the floor.
I used a grade 5 porcelain tile (industrial type) and these went down a little quicker. Although the cutting took some time as the tiles were stronger.

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Just Paint the ceiling NOTE “ Should have done this before putting the lights up”

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Now comes the big clean down and door fitting plus handles and finally towel and hand cleaning dispensers…….

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Job’s now done and I can’t believe I’ve done it…..
To say I like it is an understatement…..

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I hope everyone has enjoyed this thread and hope it inspires anyone intending to do there garage…..


CheeRS
Greg
 
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DPEXP

Active member
Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Messages
29
Location
So FL.
WOW ! Thats insane, great job. how long did that tile take you? looks like an operating room.
 

HiHoSilver

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
217
Location
Eleanor, WV
****** good show!!!!

very nice....like the subway tile on the walls, seems to reflect light really well......:beer:

BTW...wished ford would release the RS in the states....there are just to many freaking regulations imposed on auto makers to make a small car fun and fast...


enjoy the garage and the RS
 

JohnZ

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 28, 2005
Messages
475
Location
Washington, Michigan
That's terrific! If you didn't have the skills when you started, you certainly do now :) What is the white/brown box up on the wall at the right front corner?
 

GDA

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 19, 2006
Messages
935
Location
Dallas, Texas
Very, very impressive! I am sure you are going to enjoy working on the RS in there....

Again, congrats on a job well done.
 

chiefav8r

Active member
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
44
Very nice. By the way it appears that your steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car.
 

e-tek

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
10,690
Location
Saskatoon, SK
It's awesome - BUT DO NOT SHOW this to 'HOOPTY' or 'LA LOCKSMITHIERE'!!!

If either of you rednecks see this: Avert your eyes!!!!:shocking:
 

RPayne

Member
Joined
May 27, 2008
Messages
13
Location
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
If the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car, doesnt that mean the doors should be switched to the other end of the space and the tiles should be switched end for end two times?

Cool shop, it looks like you could operate on people in there. I'd be afraid to even eat anything in my place. I had a box of those tiles once, its somewhere, maybe I'll run across it soon!

Good Job!!!!!
 

Brookesy

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
Messages
341
Location
West Midlands, UK
Lucky ****** getting a tour of m-sport:bowdown:

What RS have you got now to replace the focus?

Loving the garage & that looks like a us pro toolbox
 
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GTRClive

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
91
Tiles on the walls look great, well worth the effort, makes it look bigger and reflects more light. Great finishing touches...
 

700jfm

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2008
Messages
383
I'm going to have to stop showing the wife pics. from this site. She will be getting the old garage, if and when I get the new one built. And every time I show her some of the great jobs that members have done to their garage. She says can you do that to mine?
Well this one takes the cake, now she want's to do this to her "garage" as she calls it now. So there goes the budget for mine. Has anybody ever built a garage out of sticks, twigs and grass. :lol_hitti
 

fatrod

Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2006
Messages
9
Location
Ascot, UK
Great job Greg,

A man after my own heart! The ultimate garage site was an inspiration for my rebuild. Have you read Ultimate Garages by Phil Berg?
 

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grp4Escort

New member
Joined
Apr 3, 2007
Messages
2
Location
East Midlands,UK
Thanks for all your great comments guys...:bowdown: like i said i really love it now it's done....

I sold the Focus RS at the end of February this year to make way for this.

It's a 1978 Ford ****** Mk2 RS Mexico. I bought the car from over in Northern Island In Early April.

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And this car has been a long term project it's going to be my Tarmac Rally / Track car. This is based around a 1979 ****** Mk2 RS2000
It's been fully converted to group4 spec for Historic Rallying.
Now the garage is finished i'll be able to spend more time on it.

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A couple of photo's of them both in there new home.....

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EdNJ

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 9, 2005
Messages
102
Location
NJ
Looks great :thumbup: Did you use an epoxy-based grout on the floor tiles?
 

Brookesy

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
Messages
341
Location
West Midlands, UK
Old skool fords you got to love them, what engine you putting in that rs2k & any more pics of it.

Taking them to any ford shows???????
 

MSRTom

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 9, 2008
Messages
109
Location
Summerville/Charleston, SC
Excellent work, mate. I'm not partial to tile, but you've done a fantastic job.

I've always been curious.. what brands of tools do car guys use in Europe? Also, I suspect that you rarely (if ever) run into non-Metric fasteners and tools... do you call them SAE, US, or what?

Just wondering. BTW, it's very nice to see a Ford guy across the pond.

-Tom
 

Bib Overalls

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 4, 2006
Messages
3,318
Location
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Over 750 square feet of tile I recon. Do you have any idea what a tile setter would charge (in labor) to do that job? You could not read the estimates standing up. Good job. I think you have some "skills" now!
 

stf

Active member
Joined
Mar 19, 2008
Messages
30
WOW!!!!!! That looks awesome.

Do you ever use jack stands or any thing heavy on that floor? Ever drop anything heavy on it? I'm interested in how it holds up to heavy work. Do you do any welding in there?
 

LanCat

Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
22
Excellent work, mate. I'm not partial to tile, but you've done a fantastic job.

I've always been curious.. what brands of tools do car guys use in Europe? Also, I suspect that you rarely (if ever) run into non-Metric fasteners and tools... do you call them SAE, US, or what?

Just wondering. BTW, it's very nice to see a Ford guy across the pond.

-Tom

Popular tools are from the likes of Britool, Draper, Teng. Snap-On are around too but mainly focus on trade rather than the enthusiast.

Metric tools really only became common here about 10 years ago, so there are still many imperial tools available. AF, BSF, BSW are the common types and terms and that takes me back a few years (look on wikipedia for details).
 

OrangePeel

New member
Joined
Jul 26, 2008
Messages
2
Awesome......., you have every right to be proud my friend, that is a stunning work space, finished to an exceptionally high standard.

Well done.

Can i ask, as a fellow Brit, where you got your units and worktop from.
 
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