Offthewallds' Apartment Single

[Offthewallds]

Hello Garage Journal,

I've got a love hate relationship with forums, but I finally broke down and signed up for this wonderful community. I love the wealth of ideas, experience, and penny-pinching know-how this place offers. The hate is more of a personal time management issue when it comes to binging on 50 page threads.

Thank you for keeping it free and thank you all for your time.

Long story short, I said goodbye to my detached 20x30 in Alabama and upgraded to this luxurious 11x20 in the Northern Seattle area. Sarcasm aside, I'm happy to move to the PNW and gladly accept the new work/life balance that allows more time to putter away in the garage.

Last weekend we finally snagged the detached unit directly below our apartment. Settling in has entailed a pair of 4'x2'x6' Edsal shelves I picked up off CL for a song. Sears had a bargain I couldn't pass up on a triple stack so I finally upgraded from the portable boxes.

The space is primarily storage and parking for my GF's SVT Contour, but I'll move it for projects as needed. Since our stay in this particular apartment is finite, I'm going to focus on minimal footprint and stowable work surfaces and tools. The next goal for this space is to build a workbench I can use for metal and woodworking. More on that later.

Before and after pics of last weekend aren't anything special. Due to the slope of the floor, I had to get creative to level the shelves. Fortunately, the recycling needed to go out, so the beer cans found a new home. When I find myself with some scrap 1/16" sheet stock those may go away.

Anyways, thanks for reading if you made it this far. Catch ya later.

 

[PFSard]

Welcome to the forum that can chew up lots of your time and money. Good luck in your new temporary space. For the record, I made it to the end. LOL

 

[RogueFab]

Welcome the the PNW. Sorry it came at the cost of space scaling. Cool somewhat obscure SVT rig. I like that you're wanting mobile org/storage. That will speed up your next garage, since you'll take most of all of it with you!

 

[Offthewallds]

@PFSard, thanks for making it to the end! I've already accepted this will be a time and money drain, but that's the first step, right?

@RogueFab, thank you for the warm welcome! Honestly, scaling down has been a good exercise in simplification. At my worst in AL, I had six cars and more projects than I could shake a stick at. That being said, I'm absolutely looking forward to a larger space down the road. Especially access to 240V.

No major updates yet. This log will move slow with minor updates but I'm hoping to update it semi-regularly as this is all very cathartic. Took some time this weekend to cut mats for the toolbox and grease the tracks/bearings with SuperLube before placing tools.

This 1' x 20' Easy Liner is available on Amazon for just under $6/roll. I made the mistake of assuming the pattern was square to itself but quickly realized I needed to measure and cut with a framing square guide.

Current plans for the workbench are a Unistrut / superstrut frame, locking casters, and bolts at the feet for leveling. For the worktop I'm currently just planning on countersinking two sheets of OSB and covering with epoxy, may include an 1/8" steel top but my welding will be pretty limited here. Not sure on overall dimensions yet, I may very well move the shelves to keep the table assembled.

This should come together in the next few weeks, trying to scrounge for deals as the big box home improvement stores charge a pretty penny for strut supplies.

 

[jblnut]

That Superlube is some amazing stuff. I use it at work all the time to lube up and assemble air cylinders on Lely robotic milkers. It lasts a long time and isn't sticky like some others.

Never heard of an SVT package being available for the Contour. Seems like it'd be a fun unique set of wheels.

There are a few threads in here that seem to grow by a few pages each day, those are the ones you want to watch out for. Once you get behind it takes days of reading to catch back up !!

 

[Offthewallds]

@jblnut, Superlube is a new product to me but it's going to be a staple from here on out. The SVT Contour is a great little corner carving sedan. SVT blessed the standard Contour from 98-00 with upgraded suspension, quite a few engine upgrades to support hotter cams, the appearance package, and a few more odds and ends I could ramble on about. I still have a few parts to support my GF's car, but the stable got cleared out from the move. Most of what you see surrounding the XJ below is Contour related.

http://imgur.com/cc3GFYY

Speaking of rusty piles of junk, I started a vinegar and salt bath today for a bunch of tools. The Gulf humidity took a toll on a lot of my collection, so the worst offenders are getting a thorough cleaning. The Home 204 vise will be it's own project when the bench is complete.

Edit: I apologize for all the photo shuffling. I had no idea Imgur had a TOS against B/S/T