bwap
Active member
Hey all,
I've been lurking here for a while, and thought I'd finally post up what some mates and I have been working on.
Late last year a friend and I decided that we wanted to rent some industrial space so that we'd have some decent room to work on our cars, and eventually (in a year or two) get a hoist.
Initially we just wanted 100sqm or so, but after some searching we found a 200sqm industrial workshop up for rent close to our houses.
It was a little out of our price range, so we found a couple of mates who were interested and sign up.
This will mostly be about our half of the space, but you'll occasionally see snippets of their areas.
The building in total is around 30m x 6.5m.
When we signed on, we requested a new door, and new lighting in the building.
The lighting was completed before we moved in, and it was significantly improved with new LED lights throughout most of the building. The door on the other hand wasn't completed.
(lower section only)
Workshop0 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
Workshop1 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
First thing on the cards was to build a couple of new work benches, we decided to add in some plugs for convenience, two doubles on the front of the bench, and a double on one end, as well as some LED lighting.
Nothing fancy, but they'll do the job
workshop2 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
workshop3 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
The first car to come in through the tiny 2m wide door was a mate's, and after a lot of manouvering we got it in. A quick fix this one, with a replacement coolant line under the turbo.
workshop4 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
The next weekend was the "Big move" of everyone's projects.
First up was the E30, which is in the midst getting an M52b28 swap, and currently has no steering, so was questionably rolled onto the trailer.
workshop5 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
workshop6 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
Featuring the site inspector on the E30, as well as the fastest car of all of them that we have, which is sadly the one towing haha.
workshop7 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
Next up was the Legacy RS rally car, which is in the midst of some engine work, so with no winch was entertaining to push onto the trailer...
workshop9 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
Car #3 is the 300ZX with a bottom end knock, potentially up for a V8 conversion, but currently in the strip down stage.
workshop8 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
Last but not least is the GTO, currently awaiting a paint job, then some sweet engine upgrades including new turbos.
workshop10 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
___________________________________________
A few weeks later, after browsing Facebook, we found a cheap hoist for sale locally, and on an impulse we decided we'd message the seller. Sadly we were too late and it had already sold, so shrugged it off, and back onto the back-burner that idea went.
Until the next week when I mentioned it to a friend of mine, who went on to say his work had just replaced his hoist, as it had blown the 3 phase motor, and instead of waiting for a new one, they just bought a whole new hoist.
So we went back, and did the required slab checks, and bank balance checks, and decided we'd go ahead with it.
After some discussions with his boss, we went back a few days later and picked up their old hoist.
workshop11 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
and later on that evening, we had it assembled in the workshop.
workshop12 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
The next problem was the motor. We thought we'd try out a single phase motor on it, but after getting one, and installing it, we found it wasn't powerful enough. Then we found a more powerful single phase motor, and had the same problem again.
During this time, we turned up one day to find they'd finally started working on the new door. This one was much wider as you can see!
workshop13 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
It's now a roll up door, instead of a slider, and 2.7M wide instead of 2M wide.
After some discussions with more electrical gurus, we realised we had to go back to a three phase motor, but with no 3 phase easily available to us, we found that we could get a VFD and run a 3 phase motor on a single phase supply.
Conveniently Cadbury's were closing down their local factory, and auctioning everything off that week. After a search on the auction site, I found the perfect motor for sale, the exact same specs as the original one for this hoist, but rated for constant duty instead of intermittent, so a slightly larger form factor.
Thankfully I wont this auction at a bargain price of $79, not bad for a brand new motor!
Once the VFD arrived, we set it all up with some brand new belts, and tested it on my car:
workshop14 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
____________________________
A couple of weeks later, and another impulse purchase.
I received a message from a friend, saying that my old Boss wanted to sell his old MR2, that he over heated 15 (Yes 15!) years ago.
I cheekily offered $500 and was declined, stating they wanted $2000 for it.
A few days later I had a message back, saying that if I could get it gone by Sunday, it was mine for $500!
Sure enough, come Friday, we went around with a trailer and some wheel dollies and picked it up.
Did I mention it came with a replacement engine and gearbox too? Score!
This is what we arrived to:
workshop16 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
workshop17 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
Sitting in the same spot for 15 years, it's most certainly covered in a few layers of dust!
Onto the trailer, and hauled away by the over-powered tow car:
workshop18 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
And straight to the workshop and washed:
workshop19 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
Nice and clean, ignore the rear wheel, just test fitting some Falcon 18's for laughs:
workshop22 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
Before we could start working on the new car, we had to do a pre-organised gearbox swap on a friend's rally car, swapping in a freshly rebuilt DCCD 6 speed gearbox.
workshop15 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
It was a good test for the new hoist, and it would've been such a paint without it!
After some testing on the MR2, the engine was found to be unsurprisingly seized solid! So straight onto the hoist once the Legacy was done, and out with the old!
workshop20 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
workshop21 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
During this, we found that the gearbox that was in it already had an LSD, whilst the replacement didn't so the gearboxes will have to be swapped before we put the replacement engine in.
And that's us up to date for the 10 weeks since we moved into the new "garage"!
Shall keep things up to date, and happy to answer any random questions.
I've learnt a lot from reading these forums, so it's nice to be able to finally throw in my contribution!
I've been lurking here for a while, and thought I'd finally post up what some mates and I have been working on.
Late last year a friend and I decided that we wanted to rent some industrial space so that we'd have some decent room to work on our cars, and eventually (in a year or two) get a hoist.
Initially we just wanted 100sqm or so, but after some searching we found a 200sqm industrial workshop up for rent close to our houses.
It was a little out of our price range, so we found a couple of mates who were interested and sign up.
This will mostly be about our half of the space, but you'll occasionally see snippets of their areas.
The building in total is around 30m x 6.5m.
When we signed on, we requested a new door, and new lighting in the building.
The lighting was completed before we moved in, and it was significantly improved with new LED lights throughout most of the building. The door on the other hand wasn't completed.
(lower section only)
Workshop0 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
Workshop1 by Because Racecar, on FlickrFirst thing on the cards was to build a couple of new work benches, we decided to add in some plugs for convenience, two doubles on the front of the bench, and a double on one end, as well as some LED lighting.
Nothing fancy, but they'll do the job
workshop2 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
workshop3 by Because Racecar, on FlickrThe first car to come in through the tiny 2m wide door was a mate's, and after a lot of manouvering we got it in. A quick fix this one, with a replacement coolant line under the turbo.
workshop4 by Because Racecar, on FlickrThe next weekend was the "Big move" of everyone's projects.
First up was the E30, which is in the midst getting an M52b28 swap, and currently has no steering, so was questionably rolled onto the trailer.
workshop5 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
workshop6 by Because Racecar, on FlickrFeaturing the site inspector on the E30, as well as the fastest car of all of them that we have, which is sadly the one towing haha.
workshop7 by Because Racecar, on FlickrNext up was the Legacy RS rally car, which is in the midst of some engine work, so with no winch was entertaining to push onto the trailer...
workshop9 by Because Racecar, on FlickrCar #3 is the 300ZX with a bottom end knock, potentially up for a V8 conversion, but currently in the strip down stage.
workshop8 by Because Racecar, on FlickrLast but not least is the GTO, currently awaiting a paint job, then some sweet engine upgrades including new turbos.
workshop10 by Because Racecar, on Flickr___________________________________________
A few weeks later, after browsing Facebook, we found a cheap hoist for sale locally, and on an impulse we decided we'd message the seller. Sadly we were too late and it had already sold, so shrugged it off, and back onto the back-burner that idea went.
Until the next week when I mentioned it to a friend of mine, who went on to say his work had just replaced his hoist, as it had blown the 3 phase motor, and instead of waiting for a new one, they just bought a whole new hoist.
So we went back, and did the required slab checks, and bank balance checks, and decided we'd go ahead with it.
After some discussions with his boss, we went back a few days later and picked up their old hoist.
workshop11 by Because Racecar, on Flickrand later on that evening, we had it assembled in the workshop.
workshop12 by Because Racecar, on FlickrThe next problem was the motor. We thought we'd try out a single phase motor on it, but after getting one, and installing it, we found it wasn't powerful enough. Then we found a more powerful single phase motor, and had the same problem again.
During this time, we turned up one day to find they'd finally started working on the new door. This one was much wider as you can see!
workshop13 by Because Racecar, on FlickrIt's now a roll up door, instead of a slider, and 2.7M wide instead of 2M wide.
After some discussions with more electrical gurus, we realised we had to go back to a three phase motor, but with no 3 phase easily available to us, we found that we could get a VFD and run a 3 phase motor on a single phase supply.
Conveniently Cadbury's were closing down their local factory, and auctioning everything off that week. After a search on the auction site, I found the perfect motor for sale, the exact same specs as the original one for this hoist, but rated for constant duty instead of intermittent, so a slightly larger form factor.
Thankfully I wont this auction at a bargain price of $79, not bad for a brand new motor!
Once the VFD arrived, we set it all up with some brand new belts, and tested it on my car:
workshop14 by Because Racecar, on Flickr____________________________
A couple of weeks later, and another impulse purchase.
I received a message from a friend, saying that my old Boss wanted to sell his old MR2, that he over heated 15 (Yes 15!) years ago.
I cheekily offered $500 and was declined, stating they wanted $2000 for it.
A few days later I had a message back, saying that if I could get it gone by Sunday, it was mine for $500!
Sure enough, come Friday, we went around with a trailer and some wheel dollies and picked it up.
Did I mention it came with a replacement engine and gearbox too? Score!
This is what we arrived to:
workshop16 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
workshop17 by Because Racecar, on FlickrSitting in the same spot for 15 years, it's most certainly covered in a few layers of dust!
Onto the trailer, and hauled away by the over-powered tow car:
workshop18 by Because Racecar, on FlickrAnd straight to the workshop and washed:
workshop19 by Because Racecar, on FlickrNice and clean, ignore the rear wheel, just test fitting some Falcon 18's for laughs:
workshop22 by Because Racecar, on FlickrBefore we could start working on the new car, we had to do a pre-organised gearbox swap on a friend's rally car, swapping in a freshly rebuilt DCCD 6 speed gearbox.
workshop15 by Because Racecar, on FlickrIt was a good test for the new hoist, and it would've been such a paint without it!
After some testing on the MR2, the engine was found to be unsurprisingly seized solid! So straight onto the hoist once the Legacy was done, and out with the old!
workshop20 by Because Racecar, on Flickr
workshop21 by Because Racecar, on FlickrDuring this, we found that the gearbox that was in it already had an LSD, whilst the replacement didn't so the gearboxes will have to be swapped before we put the replacement engine in.
And that's us up to date for the 10 weeks since we moved into the new "garage"!
Shall keep things up to date, and happy to answer any random questions.
I've learnt a lot from reading these forums, so it's nice to be able to finally throw in my contribution!
Last edited:
