To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT The 12-Gauge Garage

Workspaces sized between 265 and 485 squarefeet.
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

tinbender 66

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
2,294
Location
Western Washington State
Congrats Jack. You are an inspiration to a lot of us even though you've caused my project to extend into the next millenium. I'm having a blast though thanks to you and several others on here.
 

1Garageman

Well-known member
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
4,417
Location
Columbus, Ohio
Jack did you ever dream when you first moved into your house that your garage would end up being in some magazines? All the work you have done in there to the garage and your car are some amazing accomplishments!
 

Dan in Pasadena

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
13,139
Location
Pasadena, CA
Very, very nice Jack. Well deserved kudos.

Hve you ever thought about finisihing the wood on that post the same as the bench tops? I know its a small point...but isn't that what you're down to now? Minor things to just keep improving what is already an extremely well done job?
 

UncleJoe

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 2, 2008
Messages
908
Location
New Bern NC
Jack, you might as well go ahead and write a book about your garage. Maybe a nice coffee table book or something.
 
Last edited:

shopnut

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 22, 2006
Messages
4,237
Location
Florida
Congrats Jack. I would think a framed copy of those cover shots would look great in your shop!

I don't think Jack has nearly enough open wall space for the hundreds of articles he's likely to have eventually. :thumbup: I guess there's always the ceiling though ;)

Nice job Jack.
 

caropepe

Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
15
Location
Seattle
Jack's garage is an Internet meme. A trending zeitgeist. Who'd a thunk it? Jack, next time be sure to include a cat playing a piano video, it'll be really big then!

Joe
 
OP
J

Jack Olsen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
6,678
Location
Los Angeles
Wow. Thanks, guys.

Jalopnik seems really active. I started reading comments and saw my day sliding away. I'm not sure what the Ikea angle is, really. I've only got two lights and a piece of butcher block from them. But so be it. I'll stand by my ancestral Swedes. :)

Hopefully the traffic on Hemmings and Jalopnik will bring over some more people to Garage Journal.
 

Sick Puppy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 3, 2010
Messages
869
Location
Sydney
I've been working on a hitman story. I guess he could be described as sassy. Maybe I should make him a robot.
Hold up, what about the modern frankenstein story?

Back on topic, I love the ongoing work on the garage, and the work on the Porsche!
 

Brian R

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 1, 2009
Messages
591
Location
Chestertown, MD
"In the immortal words of Liz Lemon: I want to go to there. And I'll take the Porsche, too." -And can I drive like Jack, too?

Good work.
Brian
 
OP
J

Jack Olsen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
6,678
Location
Los Angeles
Those kids are sassy; but there are a lot of them. Over 34,000 views in a day. :shocking:



I tried replying to some of the posts -- even set up a Twitter account, since Facebook makes me queasy. I may be okay with a welder, but I can not seem to figure out how to post something there and have it actually show up. :confused:
 
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
OP
J

Jack Olsen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
6,678
Location
Los Angeles
Tesasguy, that made me laugh out loud.

bchee, I'm not sure where they got the Ikea part. I've got two pendant lamps and one piece of butcher block from Ikea, but that's it. But maybe they thought it looks a little like a kitchen? Hard to say.
 

neonnblack

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 7, 2010
Messages
4,913
Location
Reno, NV
I think you have said it before, jack but since youre not un-used to posting things multiple times im not going through the thread to find the answer. Do you race in the SCCA or weekend track days? I was thinking of signing up for the SCCA myself.
 

Wingnut65

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
3,170
Location
Tampa Bay, FL
Congrats on all the coverage on your spectacular garage. I just invested 2 hours catching up on the past couple months since my work has had me too busy to browse. I simply love that lift and how it just fits in, like everything else in that place. Wow!

I agree with LLWillysfan that this shot is probably my favorite 12-Gauge photo. Not only is the shop in perfect condition, but it is also getting used and abused. Thanks for sharing it...
dirtyz.jpg


Just had a thought... Any chance you can get this little piece paradise as a location shoot for a scene in a movie or TV show and actually get someone to pay you some real money for using it? Just think if it can earn its own income to pay for improvements... or engine rebuilds... or just tires...

(BTW, the drill needs some green paint. It doesn't blend in...)
 

RobSmith

Banned
Joined
Feb 5, 2009
Messages
562
Location
NSW Australia
Just got a download from Popular Mechanics and your garage is the feature ! Congratulations Jack ! WOW... featured in Popular mechanics; probably the ultimate recognition of practically and function by a magazine that preaches practically and function! Ha ha ha ...good on ya Jack.
 

Red Leader

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
2,689
Location
Denver, CO
Jack,

btw when is your kid due? Ours is due the 12th of July. I looked through and I didn't see any 'congrats' type messages so I'm assuming they are still to come. Of course, this thread is a few pages back, so....

Maybe your a little occupied at the current moment:)
 
OP
J

Jack Olsen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
6,678
Location
Los Angeles
Hey, Red Leader. The kid isn't due until the end of September -- although there's a room to paint and furnish and the previous contents of that room to relocate before the happy day comes. Plus, the previous kid came two months early, so it's possible that we'll have that happen again. As it happened, everything was fine with the first (a boy), but we'd rather go closer to full term with the next (a girl) -- if for no other reason because I've got to get that room finished.

More recently, I had a work thing that basically entailed 8-10 weeks of work crammed into 14 days. But that finished up on Friday, and now my friend and I are starting the re-assembly of the race car motor. I got to spend almost all of today in the garage. :beer:
 

ChristopherLutz

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
270
Location
Flower Mound, TX (DFW)
I've been gone a while and it appears I missed "a lot". After 2 cups of coffee nearly 2 hours of reading, I'm finally caught up with the latest in the 12 Guage Garage.

Jack - congrats on the 2nd baby....I'm hoping you have 3 or 4 more quickly. That may limit your time and progess on projects to a pace attainable to us mere mortals.

In all seriousness - congrats on the accolades and the new lift....and, thanks for taking the time to document so that the rest of us can live vicariously.

As some others have noted here - your build/projects/approach is special because it really can be had by most of us if we had your energy level. You shope wisely, plan thoroughly and make the best use of what you have.

Thanks again, enjoy the July 4th Holiday.....I read online it was going to be 112 in some parts of SoCal....
 

quick60

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 5, 2010
Messages
214
Location
Virginia
I think it should be the next Iron Man movie garage scene!!! They can photoshop everything red and gold. Or better yet sequel to the green lantern movie!!!
 

Red Leader

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
2,689
Location
Denver, CO
Hey, Red Leader. The kid isn't due until the end of September -- although there's a room to paint and furnish and the previous contents of that room to relocate before the happy day comes. Plus, the previous kid came two months early, so it's possible that we'll have that happen again. As it happened, everything was fine with the first (a boy), but we'd rather go closer to full term with the next (a girl) -- if for no other reason because I've got to get that room finished.

More recently, I had a work thing that basically entailed 8-10 weeks of work crammed into 14 days. But that finished up on Friday, and now my friend and I are starting the re-assembly of the race car motor. I got to spend almost all of today in the garage. :beer:

Very cool. I admire how you've done that work while also being a dad. That has probably been one of the bigger questions in my mind, how I'm going to do that. Let me know if you have any tips.

So, any 'next steps' with the garage?
 
OP
J

Jack Olsen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
6,678
Location
Los Angeles
You'll get a lot done after you have the kid. But the part you'll learn is that having a two-month-old kid is a lot different than a one-year-old, or an 18-month-old, etc. You won't have much time at all when the kid is still waking up every three hours to eat. But once it's sleeping through the night, things will start to creep back toward normal. Never exactly the same as when you didn't have kids -- but workable.

I'm sitting watching my three-year-old now, but this weekend, my friend and I got some stuff done.

coolersstruts.jpg


Front shocks and struts are still out getting rebuilt, but I pulled the oil cooler from each front fender (I know, Porsches are odd). They got dropped off today at a place that cleans aircraft oil coolers. I've got an idea for cleaning the lines using a simple pump and some threaded PVC to bridge where the coolers were.

wideshot.jpg


I'd estimate it'll be a month before the car is rolling again. But we took advantage of the downtime to pull a rear trailing arm that I bent way back in 2003 when I spun at Thunderhill in Northern California. The car was still drivable with the bend -- and some adjustments to the suspension. But now both rear corners will have symmetrical handling (roll center, toe curve, all of that in sync).

controlarm.jpg


Here's the trailing arm. Easy to take out, kind of, but then you're pounding out lug studs and you realize how many systems (brake, parking brake, bearings, axle) come together back at each corner of the car.

headssm.jpg


Time-serts in for three studs that snapped during removal.

ghostcrank.jpg


The crank got built back up where the bearing failed, then heat treated. Tyson did the complicated double-torque procedure to stretch and torque the rod bolts. NOw it's under plastic while we wait for a single 50-cent bearing retaining pin which we misplaced.

We also found out the oil pump inside the case was getting hit by the loose rod. So a replacement pump is on its way from Ohio.
 

Red Leader

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
2,689
Location
Denver, CO
My dad would get a kick out of your thread and car. He has a Porsch...I cannot remember the model, but if I had to guess it would be an early to mid 90s 911. It had some engine trouble and so he pulled the whole engine, found half the cylinders had oil at the top of the pistons and the rings disintegrated. He got the head sent out for work, got it back and put it all back together and now it runs great. I almost couldn't believe it, but he's pretty handy so he just did it.

Eventually I'd like to get to that level of mechanical aptitude but he's got some years on me:D. I believe he detailed the work on some Porsche forum, I'll have to ask him about it.

At this stage in my life a Porsche would be a little overkill (younger, new homeowner, 1st kid coming, etc), but my dream car is a mid 50's Porsche 550A Spyder. An original example being *just* out of the price range:lol:, I'd like to put a kit together one day. At 1200 pounds those cars can really take off and be great for gas mileage, if for nothing else to make up for the complete lack of any creature comforts:D

I've always admired the Porsche 'lines' and think the 550 is one of the most beautiful cars ever made.
(Okay I can't just say it without throwing a pic in...hope you don't mind!):

90654072004porsche550as.jpg

By daveamy at 2011-07-05
 
Last edited:
OP
J

Jack Olsen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
6,678
Location
Los Angeles
Red Leader, you've got good taste. The 550 is just about the prettiest thing Porsche ever produced. And of course it has an unimpeachable competition history, too.

The 911 takes a little getting used to -- at least, it did for me. But now I'm hooked on the early fastback shape.

Mine didn't used to have the wide flares. I think it was prettier back then:

00MissThatCar.jpg


But now it's wider in the hips, basically. It lets me put a lot more tire down underneath it.

Basic+RearAngle1142646338.jpg


And Nighttrain, the pieces you see form a triangulated brace between the two front strut towers (although I have some similar looking pieces in the suspension). We're re-engineering the strut brace, since it proved that it was working by actually tearing through the sheet metal of the car where the triangulated piece attached. So the next step will be to beef up the mounting point.
 

Dan in Pasadena

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
13,139
Location
Pasadena, CA
Man, as much as I admire BB2 I am in LUST with the beauty and (relative) simplicity of the look of BB1; may she rest in peace. What became of the tub, do you know?
 
OP
J

Jack Olsen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
6,678
Location
Los Angeles
Thanks. I agree with you, on the styling.

I think the functional pieces ended up as part of Kevin's (the guy who painted it, originally) scrap pile. So like an organ donor, I hope the old stuff went on to keep other pre-74 911s alive. :)
 
OP
J

Jack Olsen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 22, 2009
Messages
6,678
Location
Los Angeles
Well, I haven't seen it in person. But I've got some low res images of the print version of the August Popular Mechanics "Ultimate Garage" article. I'm thrilled to see my garage in such a mainstream publication (heck, I'm thrilled to see it in any publication), but I wish garagejournal.com could have gotten a mention somewhere in the text.

pmcover.jpg


The contents page shows a cool picture of the lift in use. (I faded everything else out in this image.)

contents800.jpg


But here's the (puzzling) main article. It's a pretty picture, but it's an old picture, really more of a 'before,' than an 'after.' Puzzlingly, the text doesn't make very much sense with it at all, since all but one of the features they call out in the paragraphs below are not in the picture at all. No cake-pan lights. No consistent bench heights. No steel cabinets. :wtf:

theirssmall.jpg


So because I'm kind of OCD-ish, here's a version of how I think it should have looked -- with a current photograph that shows the things they're talking about:

pm100lr.jpg


Edit: Added higher-res images of pages, with my own changes made to their originals -- including a more-recent picture of the garage so that the text makes some sense.
 
Last edited:
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom