New Shop in PNW

[Jensen74]

Well I figured I would stop lurking in the shadows and finally start my own thread. I discovered this great site after I built my new shop. The shop is 24'x36'x12' with a 24'x14' covered overhang.

This shop came into being because a coworker had a car for sale that I wanted to buy. But my wife informed me that we did not have enough room for another car. Then she said that I should build a shop. God I love my wife! So I went to the bank and got a small loan (and I mean small) 15k was my budget.

So with money in hand I went to a local lumber yard that sells pole building packages and worked out a deal with them. I got all the materials for the building for $6500. Thinking I would be able to do this myself. I subbed out most everything.

Location of new shop

Digging the holes, and I thought I would be able to do this myself, boy was I wrong.

These hole are deep!

All posts are in and only cost $900,

I contracted a local company that mixes concrete on site, they came in first and pored for the posts, then came back and scraped and filled. It's only 4" with fiber. I did not know about requirements for a lift or anything else at the time. I had not found this site yet. They did a great job. I got all this done and they even hauled off a huge pile of old dirt and concrete for me all for $4200.

The company that I bought the pole building from recommended a local guy that puts up the building for them. I contacted him and he agreed to help me get my shop up. He came out and made sure all the pole were straight and lined up. I installed the girts, window and had a neighbor that owns a truss business bring his crane over to set the trusses.

Purlins going in,

I don't have any pictures of the rest of the job. They guy I hired came out and installed the roof insulation and roofing. Cost was $300. The wife and I had a trip scheduled to the Philippines for the next month. I only had the roof and the girts up. The person I hired told me that it was not a good idea to leave the girts up and not cover them with siding. So he offered to do the siding while I was on vacation.

So off to the Philippines we went. When I got back the shop was almost done. He trimmed out the doors, windows and put up all the siding for the building. All for another $300, this guy was great. I only have a partial shot of the outside of the building.

The overhang where the truck is parked will be an outdoor bbq area sometime in the future. The total cost at the end was around 13K. The rest was spent having fun in the Philippines.

I will update this with some of the projects I have done so far.

Thanks all,

 

[Jensen74]

On to why the shop was built, I picked up a 1974 Jensen Healey from a co-worker for $1000. This car was in really good shape. It ran that last time when they stored it in the garage, 20 years prior! I was covered with a cover and left to sit. I am planning to do a total tear down and restore. Just because I want too.

Starting the tear down.

Look a hitch! I found out that the owner had a small sailboat that he towed with this car.

This interior is in great shape.

Not much rust anywhere,

Getting ready to drop the front suspension and engine,

Engine out, but I must have forgot to finish draining all the fluids,

Engine out, exhaust removed and all fluids cleaned up,

All parts bagged and tagged, also too a couple hundred photos,

On to getting paint and undercoating stripped off,

Yes this is a custom rotiserie, the car is extreamly light. I can lift it up without much trouble. If I had a welder I would have built one like I have seem on this site.

Undercoating really *****, this thing had over a 1/4" of the stuff. I wanted to remove it to see if there was anything hiding under it.

I found some rust, mostly just surface with just a couple pin holes.

More scraping,

All clean now,

Tucked away for other projects, sprayed down with some WD-40

This project will be a long and slow one, as time and money permit.

 

[Jensen74]

First mechanical project in the shop. My daughters 200 323i decided it did not want to work in reverse anymore. After a lot of research and being told that the local trans shop wanted $6500 to fix it, I decided to do it myself. Now I have a good knowledge of working on engines. But I had never rebuild an automatic. It was actually a lot easier then I thought it would be. So with a rebuild kit $400 and a new reverse drum $160 on order I decided to get to work.

Transmission is out. Oh how I wish I had a lift.

Bad reverse drum, from what I have read this happens to a lot of these transmissions. I am just waiting for mine to go out in my 2003 325i.

I replace all gaskets, o-rings and clutch packs. Having the information available from the internet was really what made me even try to do this job. Without others information I would not have even attempted it.

Everything went together just fine and has been running for about 1 1/2 years now.

 

[Dale Leeds]

Nice place!! Great work on the car, too. Good luck.

 

[Jensen74]

No onto my latest project. My wife and I are board members of the local filipino organization. FAAIE - Filipino American Association of the Inland Empire. Our organization had a Jeepney build by the original manufacturer about 7 years ago. We imported it direct from the Philippines without an engine and transmission, this was to get it through customs easier.

We later had an engine ('69 Ford I200) and transmission installed. This was all done before I joined the group. They had all this done on the cheap (and I mean very cheap) The engine had to be rebuilt within the year.

So after I joined the board last year, the member how houses the Jeepney in his garage asked me to take a look at a few things. That was the start of it. It was having a problem with the brakes. We ended up replacing the master cylinder and also had to adjust the drum breaks, all four of them.

I Also found that the rear leaf spring shackles needed to be welded better. They was only a couple tack welds holding them on. He had someone else take care of that as I did not have a welder at the time.

There was several other security issues that I wanted to take care of. So I offered to bring it to my shop over the winter and get them take care of.

Here is a shot of the Jeepney at a local car show. It was a hit, we took home the "Best Import" award. It was a great time.

The "Ambassador" as it has been nicknamed in my garage,

This is one of the three hand painted murals, all the pin striping was done by hand. There was no air brush used on the entire vehicle. Everything was done by a 72 year old man sitting on a bucked. I will have to find some of the pictures of it being built in the Philippines.

This is a shot of the back of the Jeepney. More info to come on this.

Some of the issues I am working on, wiring was a mess.

This mess was for a second radiator fan that was installed later.

This is the emergency brake that was installed that is not hooked up to anything, still deciding what I an going to do with it.

One of the radiator fans that was installed. This one was wired to turn on when the key was on, no relays either. The other fan was installed to be turned on via a switch. This fan has been rubbing the fins on the radiator. Have new aftermarket fans, relays and thermostat switch ordered. Also the fluid was brown when I drained it. So it is off to the local shop to get checked.

Wiring for gauges, ugh

More wiring and a new problem to be fixed, battery box.

Don't know if you can really see in this photo. The battery box was welded to the fender and a bracket was bolted to the box and the other end was bolted to the engine. So from all the movement from the engine, only one weld was left holding the battery in. Also there was no strap at all to hold the battery down. I have already fabricated a new box and have bolted it to the fender and frame, not the engine!

Also of note the bolt has almost wore through the side of the battery.

Headlight wiring, these were wrapped with tape but very badly. I plan on soldering and using shrink tube on all these splices. Also thanks to another garage member I found some really good wire wrap that I have ordered.

More to come as I try to get all these things wrapped up for a parade in April.

A little history on what a Jeepney is for those of you who have not had the privilege (or misfortune) to ride in one. After the war in the mid to late 50's the US military left several military jeeps. A man named Sarao took a few of these and stretched the back and added a top. Thus the Jeepney was born. This was used (and still is) as a for of public transportation. This Jeepney is designed off some of the original Jeepney's from around 1956. All the newer ones are much longer and not as decorated as ours.

 

[G8rDuc]

Question in regards to your pole barn. I noticed no insulation, have you had heat or cold issues when the weather turns?

 

[burrhead]

Good build thread! You have a nice shop and it looks like you are really getting good use out of it. I too am infected with the British car bug. I have a couple 1959 Bugeye sprites. Back to your shop...I'm sort of thinking about building another shop and may do a pole barn style like yours, but do the work myself. I wish you had more close up pictures of the construction detail. I noticed on some of the 6x6 posts that there are some 2x6 boards nailed to each side of the post. It looks like the boards cover the full length of the post. I was wondering what their purpose is? It looks like not all the 6x6 posts have those boards nailed to the sides.

Enjoyed seeing your Jeepney. Back in the 70s I was stationed in the Philippines with the Navy for two years. I have fond memories of riding around in those jeepneys. If I remember correctly, we could go anywhere in town for about 5 cents! Yours looks nice and tidy. The ones I remember from back then had more streamers, and lights, and chrome things on them. They could fix anything over there and so these old "jeeps" could be kept running forever.

Buzz

 

[Jensen74]

G8rDuc: Yep no insulation yet. It does get cold. So I have to limit my time out there. In the summer it is not so bad. Get some good winds blowing through. I am hoping to get some insulation and a ceiling in this year.

burrhead: I can take some more pictures of the interior and post them for you. All the 6x6 posts have the boards running up them. This is in place of having to use bolts through the trusses.

Yes the Jeepney is awesome. At the car show you could tell the military vets that have ridden in them. We always asked "drunk or sober" most replied that they rode in them while drunk.

The Jeepney is mostly made of hand formed stainless steel. There are only two pieces on the body that were stamped. They are the small wheel wells on the back. Everything else on the body was hand formed. I can post more detailed pics.

Thanks all,

 

[WarrenJ]

Nice build. Good luck on the Healey rebuild.

 

[Sunbimmer]

The Jeepney..... now that is something different, very colorful, I love it

 

[burrhead]

I would be interested in seeing some closeup pics of the tops of the 6x6 posts where the trusses attach if it's not too much trouble. Also the structure above your garage door would be nice to see. Thanks.

Buzz

 

[Jensen74]

Sorry burrhead did not see your post, here is a close up of where the 6x8 post and trusses attach.

 

[Jensen74]

If anyone is interested here are a few updates on the Jeepney.

Installed carpet, move shifter over 2 inches, was hitting our feet while trying to drive. Very unsafe. all wiring in cab re-spliced, soldered and shrink wrapped. Had to disconnect the Ammerter since ther post were getting way to hot for my licking. Will swap it out for a Volt Meter soon.

Engine bay has been cleaned up also, re-routed all alternator wires, and wrapped everything. Had to do some modification to the alternator bracket so the radiator hose would route better. Also wiring for new electric fans. Also had to fabricate a new battery holder.

Old fans, they were rubbing on the radiator, had to go.

New fans installed,

 

[LShee778]

Loving this jeepney and your shop!

However, coming from experience I would keep an eye on how well those fans keep that motor cool. They look like the same low cost fans that I ran on my jeep at one point. They were way overrated in their CFM capacity and even with what they claimed I was still not able to keep my motor cool. I'd keep an eye on it especially if you'll be cruising parades or other low speed/high traffic zones.

 

[Jensen74]

Thanks for the info, I was definitely going to keep an eye on the temps. Our group is a nonprofit and most of this is coming out of my pocket. Until we can do some more fundraisers. The old setup was not working that well to keep the temps down. These were not that bad for cost, and I am hoping they will work better to keep it cool. Also am planning on using some water-wetter. I think I got that name wrong.

 

[Vieux]

Great job!

 

[Filson]

Cool stuff! Nice to see a (somewhat) neighbor! I'm new to eastern wa, been in the Colville area sense Jan. Anyway, nice builds and shop!

 

[plexxarn]

Nice !

Good to see someone daring to tear apart a modern automatic ****** !
They cost fortunes to rebuild, especially on the german brands. But I guess it's not rocket science if you take your time, and do some reading up on some forums before.

 

[burrhead]

Thanks for the close-up picture of the truss/post connection. Looks like your building is very well put together.

 

[Jensen74]

Filson: Nice to see another Eastern Washington member. I've been to Colville too many times. We have an office there.

Plexxarn: When I was quoted the cost to get it fixed I said "WHAT!!!!" Then I jumped on google! I was actually surprised how easy it was. After I finished it and it actually worked!

Burrhead: For the price I am very pleased, now I just need to finish the inside.