Norwegian west coast garage

[Pogona]

Im a new member and figured id present myself and show of me and my dads garage. Im 27 years old, electrician by trade and working as an Rov pilot in the north sea. I also recently started a small buisness doing some engine work, welding and some machining part time in my basement shop when im on leave from my regular job. My automotive interest started very early in my life and its become a big part of it.

Our garage is a small one that started out as a crooked wall-carport under a big terrasse. We started a couple of years ago, when i got myself a 65 chevy nova that i planned on rebuilding in a couple of years, boy was i shitting myself with that idea... we decided to start with pouring a new concrete floor under wich we also had a very great deal of steel reinforcement to secure the old brickwalls from collapsing due to the added weight. We made a new foundation for the outer wall and straightened it by pulling the whole bottom of it with 4 3ton jackstraps, i can assure you that was an exiting moment. We also made a new entrance area with some extra space for a portable welding table while we where at it.

With the help of two strong buddies we lifted the chassie inside its new habitat in wich it still rests some 5 years later

My dad has almost as big an interest in gardening as i have in engines but when we had to expand into the basement, these had to go.

The 400 block i got with the car also needed a place to rest so we made a stainless steel engine stand. (This has later blit modified with an extra support and a fourth wheel)

Fast forward a year or so we started building a wall, dividing one half of the basement in half and we got ourself both an assembly room for engines and a storage for parts. The concrete floring from the 50s was dull enough so we bought plastic tiles to cover it.

A table was needed so we built it

The tool racks looked plain wrong in blue so they got a coat of paint to.

Fast forward a littlebit more and we were starting to settle in.

Milling machine in place.

Made a rack for the accessories for the rotary broach

When i got the rotary broach, i figured i needed a hoist to so i made one.

Grease grooves

Welding, cutting, grinding table, this is by far one of the most used tool in the garage. Will make a steel plate for this later.

Connecting rod and cylinderhead rack in 2x8"

Kvik way 054 stand with a van norman 777s boring bar and a homemade attachment

How it looks today

423 stroker in the making

My dads 406 (the block from the nova) thats going into his c10

And this is me, doing what i enjoy most.

André, Norway

 

[Sunbimmer]

André welcome to GJ. Fantastic start, absolute gorgeous place

 

[1/2 Cup]

Welcome to the GJ Andre, you have an awesome set up there, thanks for posting.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Your shop looks like West Coast USA. That Nova is going to be a screamer.

 

[Pogona]

Thanks guys, i appreciate it

Forgot to mention but the garage area, is about 28sqm, the "boysroom" is about 15sqm and the machineshop is only about 7.5sqm wich im pretty proud of, considering we have crammed in a mill, a rotary broach, a cylinder boring machine, a drill press, a grinder, a mira 3 angle valve cutting tool, a few special hand tools, a shop vac, a crane, a carbide lapping tool for the rotary broach, an air compressor, a rack of air tools, about 150kg of aluminium, steel and pom material, and guess what, im planning on stuffing in a valve grinding machine aswell

thats one of the reasons our new lathe will have to stand in the hallway to.

 

[Taurus]

Fantastic Garage! Love the floor and the tools! Looks like you do not make compromises. Everything looks superclean and well organized. Where did you get the checkered stools?

 

[Pogona]

Thanks! We are doing what we can with the limited space we got and there is still work in progress getting things sorted out. Ive always been asked by my dad "do you really need those tools?" But every now and then he gets caught using some of those wich he originally didnt see the use of so thats fun. Im still making and buying some tools for both my own projects and for my small buisness and put money aside so maybe someday when the nova is done, we can build another garage behind the one we have and use the small one as a workshop to.

I bought the stools on ebay, think it was from this seller:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Shop-Stool-...0942073890&pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&vxp=mtr

 

[jeepinjz]

Yes as everyone said very nice set up

 

[Pogona]

Time for a smalll update.

Been very busy with housepainting and stuff at home last couple of weeks and i came across a an add for an auction not very far from where i live so i had to go there, this of course resulted in some impulse shopping, so i got myself a new lathe and an addtitional milling machine. While this was not a planned auction for my part, i didnt actually have any idea of how to get the machines home or even inside, and even where to put the machines i had to move to make room for the new ones but thanks to helpful customer of mine i got the machine delivered to my door and a good friend helped me lift it inside the garage with his crane equipped truck. From there, me and my very helpful dad started the big process of finding moving stuff around, including my van norman 570, wich i at some point last year assured my dad that "its in now and its not going anywhere for at least 50 years..." It stayed for a year until we had to move it further into the basement where its now going to sit at least 50 years, i hope i was lucky to sell the old lathe in short time and got a valve grinder as a part trade for it, eventough its smaller it still ways a lot but ill guess well find a space for it somewhere.

When we started to move the lathe we had to slim it down a little bit, removing the oil tank and pump along with the entire eletrical control cabinet and we even shed some wheight removing the top slide, the chuck and the backrest. Saved us at least 120 kgs from the original 1400kgs.

Then we made a ramp for the steps in the floor, got donated a slightly damaged pallet jack and we borrowed some rock hard teflon wheels from a friend of mine that we fit in the lightest side of the lathe. The entire process from getting it from the garage floor to the machineshop took us two days but only a combined time of approx 6 hours of effective work, something im a bit proud of considering all the challenges faced when moving a machine like this. The mill on the other hand weighed only about 320kg and took us only a sacktrolley and 5 minutes to get in place.

 

[MacTexas]

Saw your post for the first time today. Nice looking shop and I really liked the American flag on the ceiling. Today is Independence day in the US, so the flag on a shop in Norway is appropriate.

I also like your Chevy shaped door mat.

 

[drivesitfar]

Andre: i don't come over to this side of GJ often, but was checking out another member's garage pictures and came across your title. since i'm 100% Norwegian and on the West Coast (of USA) i had to look. I call this area of the Journal the dark side because you can add a few zeros to the back of the cash numbers that is needed to play over here. impulse buying for me in tools and vises is maybe $2000 and i saw where you spend a bit more just like others if you really need a machine or new addition to the shop. check out the Vises of Garage Journal if you want to see a few thousand vise pictures if you are in the market or want to just see some and there are European and Scandinavian ones on it too.

now amazing or awesome are maybe not terms you are used to hearing in Norway, but they hardly describe your garage. AND it's in your home which is even harder to believe.

I've never been to Norway and hoping to go there some day while i'm still above dirt so i might pick your brain a bit.

by the way welcome to the Journal and i hope you learn a bit as you teach us because you obviously have some talent.

 

[Squankum]

Pogona:

By the time I was done looking at the pictures in your first post, I was literally salivating!

 

[wazzza]

Hello fellow Norwegian! Its nice to see other europeans on this board. I love yor craftsmanship. We are both equally old (young ) and it is very inspiring to see your work..

Are you able to do sideprojects while at work? I work on "Oseberg feltsenter". We are about to connect a new subsea system to our rig. A lot of work have been done on the seabed by ROVs lately to connect the new subseaframes to the old pipelines..

 

[ICT_Kevin]

That's quite an impulse buy. I'd love to have that lathe too. Nice shop.

 

[HSpencer]

BLOWN AWAY IMPRESSED!! everything looks fantastic!!

Welcome to GJ!!

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[Pogona]

MacTexas: thanks! old american cars has been in my blood since i was a child, and that off course lead to a natural inspiration when decorating the workshop, always looking for more vintage american art to fill the walls with and as you see, now the roof has to work as a canvas too happy independence day

drivesitfar: Thanks for your compliments! really appreciate it! if you ever decide to visit Norway, you are very velcome to pop in for a visit

Squankum: ill take that as a compliment. thanks

wazzza: Hello to you too fellow norwegian thanks for the compliments!

ive been a couple of trips to Oseberg C as an electrician and flew past the field centre a lot when we where shuttling. we do have some quiet days sometimes and we have a great workshop on the vessel, almost as clean and tidy as our own, equipped with welders, torches, lathe and a small mill so whenever i get the chance to bring some work with me from home i do but it can be challenging turning out something in the lathe or mill in 7-8 meters significant of waves lol

had a look at your thread, great build, it seems like you get a lot of extra energy from your work when you go ashore, maybe ill have to slip in an application when i get to old for the waves

ICT_Kevin: impulse buy was actually a modified truth, i have ben longing for a lathe this size for quite a while but at the time of purchase it was at an impulse, and all the regrets i felt when i was facing moving it is gone now that its in place, the thing is really brilliant compared to the small one i had. its actually less noisy too. hehe

HSpencer: really appreciate your compliment! will keep this thread updated with more when i get the rotary broach and tooling set up and organize a little bit better in the storage. could post some pics of the work i do to if it allowed

 

[zkdiesel]

Absolutly amazing! The machine room is incredible

 

[rhino lennie]

nice shop like to have some of your tool LOL

 

[Boosted1]

That is an excellent work place you have created.

 

[Grizz1963]

6 posts and your thread has 5 stars already ..... Wish there was room for another star.

This is a serious little work shop.

Impressed with everything you have done so far.

I take it your dad's C10 is a 67-72 ??

 

[kfainf]

Fantastic garage and shop. You are very skilled and talented also. Really admire all the shop items you have built and fabricated. Great job and keep us posted with updates.

 

[Pogona]

Been a while since previous update but i have been busy at work. I have done some rearangements in the shop lately, so i sold off the small milling machine and actually made a decent amount of money on it so i bought myself a partswasher, its a fairly new Teijo unit wich uses hot water and high pressure and its totally enclosed, only downside is the space it requires but on the other hand its big enough to clean v8 and six cylinder engine blocks and cleaning is just plain fun now. Takes about 40 min to heat the water to 75 degrees celcius and then i just drop in the parts and let them spin for 30-60 mins and go and do something else while i wait for the parts to come out clean and dry.

I also got my superflow 110 in place and i cant wait to test it. Im currently making a fixture for it thats going to allow for easy set up of different heads (sbc, sbf, vw air cooled, volvo 8 and 16v etc) and im making different cylinders for it to imitate the correct bore sizes.

I have also spent a couple of days fitting the induma mill with digital readout using the sinpo 3m from the Drostore, alltough it was missing a couple of brackets and bolts i got it fitted and working using mostly time and patience. Now this is going to be awesome with the next batch of aircooled vw heads im doing next.

I also started mocking up a crankshaft polisher, i know one can buy these for 5-600 bucks but i figured i might as well save some bucks when i had the parts, tested it briefly on a ford crank and the results were great, even with the 240 grit belt i tested the first time. Just making some handles for it and then ill throw a layer of powdercoat on it, oh yeah, im building a powdercoat curing oven next.

 

[dhubbard422]

An amazing use of space! I love it.

 

[Hugo L.]

Unreal. Damn!

 

[drivesitfar]

Pogona: love the new parts washer. just a thought on your making your little sanding machine work a little easier for your cam shaft polishing. how about welding on a handle or tapping a hole to screw one in the frame so you can have a little better control.

keep up the great work improving the shop and looks better than all of the businesses i have seen around here.

 

[Pogona]

Pogona: love the new parts washer. just a thought on your making your little sanding machine work a little easier for your cam shaft polishing. how about welding on a handle or tapping a hole to screw one in the frame so you can have a little better control.

keep up the great work improving the shop and looks better than all of the businesses i have seen around here.

Thanks for the comment as for the polishing machine, its still under construction, i just had to test it to see if the mounts for the pulleys were strong enough, next step will be t make a bicycle-like handle for it, and ill prbably end up powdercoating the frame in a radical color, because i just started another project now, as i mentioned in the earlier entry, i bought a powdercoating kit on ebay and i had to test it in my tiny little shop oven:

This oven has been with the familiy for several years and probably was a reliable source for hot pizzas in my parents youth, after sitting many years in the attic, we found use for it once again in the shop for heating parts and it worked great for curing powdercoat but as you might notice, not many big things wil fit in this oven, so we set out to make a bigger one:

This one is made from prefabricated pieces of offshore livingquarter parts from oilrigs and vessels, its actually insulated wall panels, with a unpainted steel plate, rockwool insulation and a painted steel plate for the outside.

I suspect the walls might be a little to thin but if that turns out to be an issue, we will just add another layer on the inside. Its nearly done now, just missing the heater element, a thermostat and some corner mouldings and hooks and shelves on the inside. It will end up to be approx 60x60 cm wide and deep and about 150 cm tall, and if it all works out well, il be showing some powdercoated valve covers and other cool stuff soon, stay tuned

 

[cheatmaster300]

Very nice shop and equipment. I dream of having a small manual mill and lathe for my garage as well.

 

[hoho98925]

Great little shop you have, clean and well organized!! Also love that you are making equipment for your place instead of buying. Great job!

 

[404]

Great shop! Cover the bed or ways of the lathe when using sandpaper or polishing paper above it.

Regards,
404

 

[Pogona]

Been away for work alot and had a lot to do for customers in the shop but managed to find som time in a mazak 500 machining centre with a friend at his work so we managed to turn out some beatiful parts for my dyno project. Will keep you posted when i get some more work done

 

[Pogona]

Detail pic

 

[old-air-performance]

please keep posting, love your projects!
What parts are you using for the dyno?
I would protect the bed of your lathe when using sand paper

Kind regards

 

[drivesitfar]

Pagona: is the dyno project a ground up car production or are you restoring one? if you haven't already posted pictures of it other than the parts you just made please do. it sounds pretty cool.

did you get any heat figured out for the parent's old pizza oven?

best of luck as always and your parts and shop look amazing.

 

[Pogona]

sorry about the late replies guys, im currently at work outside the coast of ghana, africa so im not able to upload any pictures until i get home.

the dyno is a ground up build where im planning on only buying the waterpump and the control system. i will keep you posted with pics as i get along.

the oven was a huge success, i was a bit worried about the heat insulation and wether or not the oven itself would be hot on the outside so we added a layer of 30mm rockwool on the inside and a double layer on top and bottom so the total thickness of the walls is about 55mm now and after sorting a small issue with the door gasket it worked awesome, ive only had about 180-190 degrees celcius but even at that temp we couldnt feel a temparature rise on the outside. only thing whe have left now is to make some provision for the shelves to rest on and some hangers in the roof and probably move it out into the garage because of all the hot air coming out of the oven when we open it and the wood roof in my shop, because i dont want it to dry out over time and crack.

will keep you posted with more when i get home

 

[madoc1]

absolutely amazing space and your fab skills.

jim

 

[Faisal]

woooooow thats really amazing garage

thanks for sharing the pictures

 

[bluebolt]

Awesome shop Pagona.

Reminds me of Jack Olsen's 12 Gauge garage!

 

[HSpencer]

Fantastic machine shop and beautiful work!

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[drivesitfar]

Pogona: we miss you so hope you are ok. any updates to talk about or post pictures of?

cheers

 

[rixtrix1]

Great looking shop and equipment. Looks like you have enough rods to build a few nice engines.