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

Workspaces sized between 265 and 485 squarefeet.
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RivennHewn

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Jun 4, 2011
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10,371
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PNW
Love Catalina.

should have spent more time there. Has to be at least 3 days worth of fun stuff to do there!
 

Dan in Pasadena

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Feb 18, 2009
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Pasadena, CA
Good on you for doing this with the kids, Jack. They'll never forget it and they'll only hold you in higher esteem as the years go by, they get older and realize the time you always devoted to them.
 
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Jack Olsen

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Ah, that.

In 2002 I came out of the corkscrew at Laguna Seca and into Rainey Curve (turn 9), just a little bit too hot. I was two corners away from a Fastest Time of Day with the time trial group I was running with. But I put two wheels off on the exit and (since the ground was wet from an overnight rain) I went straight into the wall. There's still a black mark there, although they moved the wall sections farther from the track in subsequent improvements. I broke the steering wheel in my hands and the windshield came out of its frame and landed on the other side of the wall. Here's a right-before-I-went-out selfie with some freeze frames from the impact.

Crash.jpeg

The damage wasn't terrible, but the car was totaled.

Fortunately, I was not hurt in the slightest. Except in the wallet.

I got a new shell and transferred my drivetrain, brakes and such over to it. I went with a widebody configuration the second time around, and the car got faster. I also added a cage, fire system, head restraint and some other safety items to the car. (I figured I might not be as lucky the next time.)

As it happened, I went to my local racetrack this past Wednesday and ran into a friend named Hans Stoehr there who I hadn't seen in probably a decade. He was the guy who graciously offered his trailer to me after the crash (I drove his race car behind it), and the day we saw each other again happened to be the 19th anniversary of the crash.
 
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opinion

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Nov 25, 2020
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1
Location
Timisoara
Hello there
First post for me here on the forum and the only thing I can say is THANK YOU Jack Olsen. I was planing to rebuid my garage - a small open one without any doors. It's ~5 meters deep and currently ~5 meters wide with possibility to expand it with 2 more meters. I always considered to small, but now, after reading everything here in the past week I understand that size is not always important :).
I need to extend the deep with 1 meter and the add doors. Due to you I think I will be able to do something and not dreaming anymore to a garage for 3-4 cars :).
 
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Jack Olsen

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Mar 22, 2009
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Los Angeles
Hello there
First post for me here on the forum and the only thing I can say is THANK YOU Jack Olsen. I was planing to rebuid my garage - a small open one without any doors. It's ~5 meters deep and currently ~5 meters wide with possibility to expand it with 2 more meters. I always considered to small, but now, after reading everything here in the past week I understand that size is not always important :).
I need to extend the deep with 1 meter and the add doors. Due to you I think I will be able to do something and not dreaming anymore to a garage for 3-4 cars :).
Thank you for making it through this very long discussion!
 

Squankum

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Joined
Mar 28, 2011
Messages
7,702
Location
Southeast
Jack, I went looking for a video of the Porsche inflating air dam and found this promotional video covering all of the gizmos and various strategies. (Of course, airflow management to the radiator dates back to the 928S4 and movable wings, the 964 generation of 911.) What was news to me was that some modes you can select will use the rear spoiler as an air brake!

(Alas, I don't keep up with car magazines like I used to, so a lot of things are news to me.)

 
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Jack Olsen

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Jack, I went looking for a video of the Porsche inflating air dam and found this promotional video covering all of the gizmos and various strategies. (Of course, airflow management to the radiator dates back to the 928S4 and movable wings, the 964 generation of 911.) What was news to me was that some modes you can select will use the rear spoiler as an air brake!

(Alas, I don't keep up with car magazines like I used to, so a lot of things are news to me.)

I think MacLarens (sp?) have their wings swing up under hard braking. My guess would be the effect is pretty negligible. Like the Porsche 'active' stuff, I think gizmo is the right term. But I'm sure it's fascinating to guys who have a new Turbo on order and are enjoying checking all the boxes.

Full disclosure, however: I experimented with a drag-reduction setting for the wing I use at the track. I'll see if I can find the video.

 
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Jack Olsen

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You change your oil all the time, right? You never give much of a thought to the foil seal -- just push it in with your thumb.

Do something often enough, everything will happen.

My 911 has the oil (13 qts) go into an external tank. Today something felt funny after I poured in the first replacement quart. I couldn't find the main piece of the seal flattened down around the neck of the bottle -- or inside the bottle when I cut it open. I couldn't see it in the tank, either, until I dug out my endoscope camera.

OilCan1647888038.jpg

That's it, sitting on the tank's screen. I had to go about 14" down, and then over. It's a pretty big tank. More than once, I almost bumped the foil piece down one of the holes in the screen. (Why are there holes cut in the screen?) There was a fair amount of cursing while trying to get the flexible neck of the camera and the flexible neck of the grabber to stop bumping into each other.

Camera1647888038.jpg

It was a pain in the neck to get it out, but I finally did.

Got_it1647888038.jpg
 
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Nolift911

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May 16, 2011
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Location
Lansdowne, VA
You change your oil all the time, right? You never give much of a thought to the foil seal -- just push it in with your thumb.

Do something often enough, everything will happen.

My 911 has the oil (13 qts) go into an external tank. Today something felt funny after I poured in the first replacement quart. I couldn't find the main piece of the seal flattened down around the neck of the bottle -- or inside the bottle when I cut it open. I couldn't see it in the tank, either, until I dug out my endoscope camera.

OilCan1647888038.jpg

That's it, sitting on the tank's screen. I almost bumped it down one of the holes in the screen. (Why are there holes cut in the screen?)

Camera1647888038.jpg

It was a pain in the neck to get it out, but I finally did.

Got_it1647888038.jpg
Scary - what's the latest and greatest with Zinc these days for our 911's - need to do mine soon.
 

APEowner

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Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
4,164
Location
Sunny, New Mexico
You change your oil all the time, right? You never give much of a thought to the foil seal -- just push it in with your thumb.

Do something often enough, everything will happen.

My 911 has the oil (13 qts) go into an external tank. Today something felt funny after I poured in the first replacement quart. I couldn't find the main piece of the seal flattened down around the neck of the bottle -- or inside the bottle when I cut it open. I couldn't see it in the tank, either, until I dug out my endoscope camera.

OilCan1647888038.jpg

That's it, sitting on the tank's screen. I had to go about 14" down, and then over. It's a pretty big tank. More than once, I almost bumped the foil piece down one of the holes in the screen. (Why are there holes cut in the screen?) There was a fair amount of cursing while trying to get the flexible neck of the camera and the flexible neck of the grabber to stop bumping into each other.

Camera1647888038.jpg

It was a pain in the neck to get it out, but I finally did.

Got_it1647888038.jpg
I once fixed an intermittent oil pressure problem on a 350 SBC in a C10 pickup that turned out to be half a dozen of those floating around in the pan. It would carry good oil pressure until you reved it and then they'd get sucked up into the pickup screen and block it of. Let it sit and they'd float away.
 

Dan in Pasadena

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Feb 18, 2009
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13,132
Location
Pasadena, CA
I’ve told the story many times but my dad’s ‘59 Chevy truck kept “running out of gas”. He replaced a bunch of parts over a long time. Turned out it had a very large maple leaf floating around in it. As soon as gas got lower the leaf got stuck over the outlet. Drove him so crazy he almost sold the truck cause of that.
 

Outlawmws

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Aug 9, 2011
Messages
39,219
Location
The Badlands
I’ve told the story many times but my dad’s ‘59 Chevy truck kept “running out of gas”. He replaced a bunch of parts over a long time. Turned out it had a very large maple leaf floating around in it. As soon as gas got lower the leaf got stuck over the outlet. Drove him so crazy he almost sold the truck cause of that.
A buddy's truck was doing that, a 59 Ford PU. Same deal only his was a small boxwood leaf. I finally helped him pull the tank (behind the seat - remember those?) and we emptied it into a bucket. There it was!
 

Dan in Pasadena

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Pasadena, CA
A buddy's truck was doing that, a 59 Ford PU. Same deal only his was a small boxwood leaf. I finally helped him pull the tank (behind the seat - remember those?) and we emptied it into a bucket. There it was!
I do. I helped my dad pull the behind-seat tank on his '59 Chevy, I was a little boy. He cursed like a sailor when he finally got it out. Someone who REALLY didn't like him must have rolled it up to get it to go down the fill tube.
 

pwschuh

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Jun 29, 2012
Messages
240
Location
Mid-Atlantic
You change your oil all the time, right? You never give much of a thought to the foil seal -- just push it in with your thumb.

I've never done that. I was always worried about that happening and cannot understand why they use that design. I always slit the center with a razor blade and then carefully peel the whole thing off, including the part that adheres to the edges. (I'm not sure what was wrong with the old plastic lock-ring arrangement that detached when you unscrewed the top.)
 

Dh3256

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Mar 19, 2018
Messages
1,139
You change your oil all the time, right? You never give much of a thought to the foil seal -- just push it in with your thumb.
I've never done that due to the obvious risk, as you found out.

I either poke the foil in two places with a flat screwdriver so I can pour it in more easily without a funnel or remove it entirely. Same with fuel additive, antifreeze, etc.
 
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Jack Olsen

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Mar 22, 2009
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Los Angeles
A decade ago, I made a guide for driving my local race track, Willow Springs Raceway. In thinking about making an update, I wanted a camera angle for the car that would show where it actually is in relation to the edges of the track, and this is where I am in my testing.

 

Colin Len

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Joined
Jan 30, 2013
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1,233
Location
Long Beach CA
I keep coming back to this thread as I refine my work space. Watching the video has me rethinking my metal working area.
So true. While I haven't yet gotten too far down the road to re-doing my garage layout I plan to come back here multiple times for inspiration and ideas to steal. One of my favorite things is the compartmentalized workspaces. Similar to Jack's situation I need a space I can do ANY project in whether it be wood, metal, automotive...etc. Unfortunately I'm working with a 17'x19' space so will be even more limited than he was :(
 

Wrench97

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Jun 23, 2018
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12,089
Location
Southeastern Pa
A decade ago, I made a guide for driving my local race track, Willow Springs Raceway. In thinking about making an update, I wanted a camera angle for the car that would show where it actually is in relation to the edges of the track, and this is where I am in my testing.

That is really neat, what do you have the camera mounted to?
 
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Jack Olsen

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Mar 22, 2009
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Los Angeles
The camera shoots a 360-degree sphere, and it's mounted on top of a pole -- like a selfie stick -- and it erases the pole out of the image automatically. I can't claim to understand it. :)

Here's my 10-year-old standing next to it. (The camera isn't mounted in the picture, though.)

Molly and camera pole.jpg
 

Firebrick43

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May 12, 2015
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14,033
Location
West central Indiana
A decade ago, I made a guide for driving my local race track, Willow Springs Raceway. In thinking about making an update, I wanted a camera angle for the car that would show where it actually is in relation to the edges of the track, and this is where I am in my testing.

Is it just me or does the video go black after 0.35 second mark?
 

Bob Heine

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Oct 24, 2009
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10,705
Location
Boca Raton, Florida
Thanks, that's actually helpful (well, in the long term it is). I'm surprised to see the table part painted. On mine (which has rust), it looks like it was always bare metal.

And thanks for the congratulations on little Molly. We're crazy about her.

Everybody+Needs1317363979.jpg
Jack, does Molly know she's famous on the Garage Journal. It is fun for many of us to watch her grow up. We have three great-grandchildren and have a really easy job. We don't have to spoil them -- they have grandparents for that. We just show up and scare them by being alive.
 

Outlawmws

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Aug 9, 2011
Messages
39,219
Location
The Badlands
On the oil bottle foil I always cut a "V" (like a can opener would) and an air hole opposite. then I get controlled pours - this on the 4/5 L big bottles. on the single serving bottles I remove the foil. (I only use those to measure the amount of oil as on my DD rig its all of 3-1/2 Qts - or for "carriers" for my 2 qts of on board "just in case" oil......)
 
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