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Norb's BMW/Audi Double Garage

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nsogiba

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Re: The Suburban German 2 Car Garage

I didn't get a chance to load it up with my tools yet but it's a ton more space than I have in my old Craftsman right now and the drawers roll very smoothly. I mounted a surge protector off to the side and wired up my monitor, computer setup, speakers, and heater. Updates to come later.

Some really crappy pics of progress for now:

I did this:
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My side:
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Wife's side.
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From the driveway, before a lot of the decals went up
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SchillerM

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Re: The Suburban German 2 Car Garage

Good looking garage! Working on what colors to do mine.. Have a grey for bottom. Thinking BMW Roundel Blue for a strip and light grey on top...

Do the Dinan rear diff upgrade to that thing while its out! I am sure there are others out there as well, but for a dinan part its CHEAP... Had it done to my M5 while clutch was being done, bushing was bad and made sense to add it..

I hope to never need to LSX my M5, but I am saving your LS1Tech link just incase it ever happens..

Matt
2000 E39 M5, 160k..


I didn't get a chance to load it up with my tools yet but it's a ton more space than I have in my old Craftsman right now and the drawers roll very smoothly. I mounted a surge protector off to the side and wired up my monitor, computer setup, speakers, and heater. Updates to come later.

Some really crappy pics of progress for now:

I did this:
12273195083_aae0798aa5_b.jpg

12273559114_e0cc64457d_b.jpg
 
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nsogiba

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Hi Matt, thanks for the input. During the swap I rebuilt the entire rear diff, which was sourced out of a mystery wrecked 2000 M5. It has all new bearings, seals, clutch disks, friction plates, and even a 3.62 ring and pinion out of an E46 M3 for added oomph to help with the very tall T56 gearing. All it is getting over the winter is a fluid change :)
 
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nsogiba

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Spent the weekend hanging more lights and cleaning up a bit...

I had 3 T12 fixtures left over laying around so I hung those through the drywall in the ceiling. Of course there is power close by for the garage door opener but it is non-switched. So, I tapped into a switch by the main door of the garage that operates a small outside courtesy light and ran some conduit and romex up to and through the ceiling, and then across the crawl space/attic. I will say, hard-wiring and hanging lights is easy on a ladder, but very difficult when there's a car on jackstands in the way of the ladder!

Wired everything up, breaker back on, hit the new switch, and of course one of the Home Depot fixtures lights up for an instant before shutting off. It's getting power but isn't lighting up, so I'll be returning that today to see if I can exchange it. Brand new, too...

Once I get everything up and running there will be a total of 16 T12 bulbs lighting the space, as well as the 2 60ish watt CFL bulbs on the garage door opener.
 
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nsogiba

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been a long time since updating. I have to clean up the place and post some new pictures. Air, power, and lighting are all done, along with some decoration on the walls.
 
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nsogiba

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had a minute to clean up and take some pictures. I am getting married next weekend and will hopefully have some time after that to get back to working on projects. been so busy planning and tying up loose ends.

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Compressor is in the basement on some hockey pucks, I ran 1/2" copper all the way over to the garage with a ceiling drop and retractable reel. There is one water trap right after the compressor outlet and one right when it stubs into the garage. At my two previous apartments I had the compressor in the garage, and not only did it deafen you when it ran, but it took up floor space. It's now tucked away in a small utility closet, inside of a finished room, in the basement. Plenty of isolation away from the rest of the house, you can barely hear it running.

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Retractable power and air

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Transition from flex to copper hard line. You can see some of the lighting in the background.

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And now for the decoration:

Had a sign from an old valet job in college.

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My sister painted the framed piece for me (freehand) off a small photograph I took when I first bought that car. Means a ton to me. The decals I got online from various vendors, mostly ebay and amazon.

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The story behind the fender is a funny one. This past winter I had a buddy repaint both fenders as they were all scratched up and looked terrible. After months of waiting while he painstakingly cleared, wetsanded, and buffed, I finally installed everything, and it looked great. 2 weeks later I'm cruising home and a deer jumps out and splatters all over the right side of the car, ruining the fender (was dented in at least 6"). It was beyond saving, and I had just bought a rifle, so for some fun plinking practice we took it out to a buddy's range and showed it who was boss.

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I kind of want to install it for a car show just to freak people out...

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More wall art, a gift from my sister.

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The rim is off my old 2006 SE-R Spec V (great little car, I sold it to a teenager who totaled it a few months after buying it). The old rotating spigot was leaking so I tossed it and sweated in a new, quarter turn valve. Tapped into the hot water line as well while I was in there, now washing during the wintertime is fantastic.

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Next project - living room coffee table

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The monitor is a nice flat screen hooked up to one of those $80 chinese mini-pcs running Android OS. It's got everything I need (browsing, Pandora, other music apps, Netflix, you name it). It's not bad but sometimes can be finicky, so I might make the switch to a cheap conventional desktop. I'd also like to mount some speakers up on the walls and connect them to a receiver that has an AUX input.
 
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nsogiba

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Hazet? never heard of it? Google says it's expensive German tools...I am more of a Craftsman guy :) whatever works and is affordable. I prefer to dump money into what I'm working on!
 

spoon671

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Makes sense to me. Nice 540! Buddy of mine has an E38 540, and is looking for a 6speed from a European V12.

Post more pics!
 

akdiesel

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nsogiba

Nice work on the garage and color scheme. Looks like the paint job on the fender held up for the most part even after a few rounds.
 
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nsogiba

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Makes sense to me. Nice 540! Buddy of mine has an E38 540, and is looking for a 6speed from a European V12.

Post more pics!

The E39 6 speed is all over the place in junkyards.

Loving it. Well, one side of it.

Hey now, to each his/her own. I took a lot of inspiration from your build, thanks for the compliment!

Really digging the LS swap and the LSX decals on the wall there.

Thanks - it's a fun toy - the plan over the winter is to finally hook up AC and do some exterior detailing. Maybe eventually single turbo up front, should scoot out.

nsogiba

Nice work on the garage and color scheme. Looks like the paint job on the fender held up for the most part even after a few rounds.

Just some .22LR and .223, nothing crazy. Next time I take it back I want to have my buddy put some of his 7.62x54R through it...now that would put a hole in it. We put one of those through an old WW2 Mosin Nagant at 450 yds, and against a 1/2" steel plate it still managed to make it almost all the way through. Talk about firepower.
 
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nsogiba

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thanks. once the dust settles from the wedding and money picks up a bit, I'd like to re-do the floor with a friend who works for a specialty flooring contractor. They do all the polished concrete for Wal-Marts, Cabelas, auto dealerships, etc. I'm looking for more of an epoxy/polyurethane coating, so I will have to see what kind of coatings they recommend for my desired use.

I am also in the process of laying out MaxJax on my floor plan and running through all the operation/teardown scenarios :)
 

55cadillacking

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I was just messing with ya. I love the entire space and love how you customized it to the beasts that live within.
 
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nsogiba

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that is tempting but for considerably less I can get a used but high horsepower PC from a buddy of mine that will do more than everything I need.
 
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Seavs

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Norb, your garage is looking awesome!!! I go back and forth daily on how I want to paint my garage, and your scheme is one that I bounce to often. You've really made a very functional and nice looking space there. From seeing this thread and following your swap on bf.c, I'm seriously contemplating an e39/LSx project.

Keep up the good work!
 
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nsogiba

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^ that's what I'm thinking. No other option will fit width wise.
 
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nsogiba

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Picked up a used unit heater locally for $200. 60,000BTU input, 48000 output. Although I used to work in the HVAC industry a couple years back I mainly did design for air handlers and such, so not much experience with unit heaters (in either safe installation or general design/layout). After gathering an idea of where I wanted it and what needed to be done, I decided to skip the contractor route and do it myself.

Start by bolting unistrut to ceiling joists behind drywall with lag screws. Home depot naturally only sold unistrut in 10' lengths when I only needed 2', but I'm sure i'll use it one day.

IMG_20150301_131007_687 by nogiba, on Flickr

Nobody around to help lift? No problem. Unleash the engineer. Attach eyebolts to unistrut and secure with nut to use as lifting points
IMG_20150301_143220_219 by nogiba, on Flickr

Attach ratcheting tow straps to lift points on unit and in ceiling
IMG_20150301_143220_219 by nogiba, on Flickr

Unit was probably 120#, so each strap was only lifting a bit over 60lbs. Lift one side, make sure it's locked in, lift other side, rinse repeat.
IMG_20150301_144712_400 by nogiba, on Flickr

Get it high enough, and the straps hold her in place while I start the nuts on the allthread.
IMG_20150301_160314_617 by nogiba, on Flickr

Tip: make sure that your tow straps are short enough at their fully shortened position to lift the unit high enough to get to the allthread. I had to drop her down and reattach the straps lower on the unit to give me the last couple inches needed.

Next: Special Gas Vent (single wall) and gas piping from basement
 

EMC2

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Great garage transformation. Subscribed!! :thumbup:

I had an E39 also and loved it. One of the best looking BMW's ever in my imho.
 
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nsogiba

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thanks for the kind words! your garage was the inspiration for the color scheme I have, but with different hardware in the garage! I still need a nice epoxy floor to really tie everything together as stained concrete does not do the walls justice.
 

plain garage

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The rim is off my old 2006 SE-R Spec V (great little car, I sold it to a teenager who totaled it a few months after buying it). The old rotating spigot was leaking so I tossed it and sweated in a new, quarter turn valve. Tapped into the hot water line as well while I was in there, now washing during the wintertime is fantastic.

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Good work! Do you happen to know where I can get a hose like that? Looks durable and very pliable.
 
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nsogiba

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http://www.sears.com/craftsman-all-rubber-garden-hose-5-8-in-x/p-07169602000P

Bought it at Sears on the recommendation of a friend. When I went to buy it, they didn't have it on the shelf; I had to ask specifically for it, and they got it from the back area. It's a very tough, commercial style rubber that doesn't kink easily and stays pliable at low temps. I originally wanted a 50' length but all they had was 25', so I got 2 and screwed them together. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I use just 1 25' length during the winter when I wash the cars in the garage; it's easier to move around and easier to drain all the water out when I'm done, so that it doesn't freeze. I absolutely recommend it!
 
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nsogiba

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wrapping up the heater install, i still need to chase down some trim collars for the vent pipe and finish trimming the outside with j-channel.

other than that I am trying to figure out why the heater won't start up (power vent, blower fan, burners, etc) when I turn the power on. Thermostat is calling for heat, gas is on. It's an intermittent spark type so no pilot - i don't know if there is an easy way to test if the gas valve is working.

the heater will hum slightly when power is turned on, almost as if the blower motor is trying to run, but can't. The fan spins freely but has some minor resistance, so I am assuming the bearings inside are fine. it's a Dayton 4E455, 60k btu input natural gas.

in other news I placed my order for a MaxJax 2 post lift. Install won't happen until this summer as I need to plan the layout and decide if I need to pour some new sections of concrete or not (current floor is pitched to a drain)
 
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nsogiba

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Some recent pictures:

Had a buddy over to do some big service on his E39 M5. Another good friend with an M5 helped.

_DSC3695 by nogiba, on Flickr

_DSC3693 by nogiba, on Flickr

_DSC3700 by nogiba, on Flickr

_DSC3701 by nogiba, on Flickr

Had a catastrophic valvespring failure in my LS 560i.
IMG_20150412_112537_907 by nogiba, on Flickr

IMG_20150413_191344_548 by nogiba, on Flickr

It completely destroyed the block. The motor came out and wife helped me tear it down

IMG_20150414_204610_208 by nogiba, on Flickr

IMG_20150421_204532_836 by nogiba, on Flickr

IMG_20150421_204459_780 by nogiba, on Flickr

IMG_20150421_204401_246 by nogiba, on Flickr
 
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nsogiba

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Wife kept complaining that the hose reel was to close to her car door/parking spot so I moved it to the recessed portion of the wall. I should have done it that way the first time, but oh well.

_DSC3664 by nogiba, on Flickr


Now some recent shots of the garage all cleaned up
_DSC3666 by nogiba, on Flickr

_DSC3668 by nogiba, on Flickr

_DSC3670 by nogiba, on Flickr

my friend Technician117 on here gave me a hand and brought home a new toy
IMG_20150424_164622_932 by nogiba, on Flickr

Posts in place - I still need to plan their width, spacing, and location fore/aft before I commit. Due to the slope of the floor I will be having new pads poured to support the columns. Still undecided on whether I'm doing one long width, or two smaller pads.

_DSC3749 by nogiba, on Flickr

I rolled the daily into place for an idea of how columns will line up

IMG_20150425_190930_898 by nogiba, on Flickr
 
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nsogiba

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I only have one, a 2001 540i with a 6.0L LS. That's the black one with the M-Parallels.

The Carbon Black M5 with the Dinan badge is a 2000 with facelifted lights and belongs to a friend from Pittsburgh. 243,000 miles

The Anthracite Grey is a mostly stock but meticulously maintained 2000 M5 belonging to a member on here, Technician117. 217,000 miles
 

bonecrrusher

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Charlotte, NC
Ah sh*t - what happened to the LS?

Nice upgrades so far - your making me rethink just painting my walls in primer like I did to the old shop...
 

TiFJ

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Love the E39s but it's a shame to see fluids from your engine running straight into the floor drain. Catch that stuff and dispose of it properly... it'll keep your floor and the environment looking much nicer!
 
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nsogiba

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Ah sh*t - what happened to the LS?

Nice upgrades so far - your making me rethink just painting my walls in primer like I did to the old shop...

Broken valve spring caused a valve to drop and smack a piston. The valve broke and wedged in the combustion chamber, broke 2 rods, put a hole in the block. I am rebuilding a new and improved 6.0 now

Love the E39s but it's a shame to see fluids from your engine running straight into the floor drain. Catch that stuff and dispose of it properly... it'll keep your floor and the environment looking much nicer!

Yes, it was unfortunate that it puked right onto the floor - but I managed to grab the majority of it with cat litter and such.
 
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