Above 1200 Sq/FT The Never Ending Retirement Garage/Shop Projects

[ODIS]

So sorry about Fred Ody. RIP. After following your thread, I feel like your friends are my friends as well.

What a kind and generous thing to say! I've read these two sentences many times and they still tug at my heart strings. Really miss Fred as well as Mom.

It was a shame that all that Ivy was blocking your amazing view. Great job on cleaning it al up.
Be sure to get all the Ivy out, even the smallest bit can take your garden (and view) over in no-time.

Years ago, well prior to our ownership, ivy was assumed to be used as erosion control and recently, have learned it is mostly just a good home for critters. Going forward, will try to keep ahead of the growth and cut what I can with the mower and the rest with the string trimmer.

There has been a little more progress in my quest to clear it a bit more:

More of the vines off of the trees:

Well Ody
Here it is the end of another year.
I want to let you know that I have enjoyed our communications over the past few years It has been a great ride for me.
You first posted on my thread in June 1012 and I have looked forward to hearing from you ever since.
I have enjoyed sharing your journey over these last few years and look forward to many more

I hope you and your family are enjoying the holidays and I want to wish you a very happy new year


Don

Thanks, Don!

Always enjoy what you are doing in the Big Party Garage and know too, many GJ members are always interested in all of the activities at your shop/home. What a fantastic place you have created!

Still such a lovely place. Best wishes for the New Year, Ody.

Andy

Thanks, Andy! Have been following your posts on F-Chat as well. Always look forward to what you choose to post and the pictures as well as content is just wonderful!

Happy New Year, Ody.

Trust you and family are all well. Hope we have mild winter.... But, by most standards, we are such wimps when it comes to really cold weather.

Great posts. Thanks you for sharing. Have a Happy New Year!

Thanks for your post, rixtrix1. Hope to read more from you. Please do stop by again.

I knew you and Don had a few years on me, but WOW! I guess that would make you two older and wiser that all the rest of us combined!!! (I'm just yanking your chain, of course)

Thanks for sharing your garage life (and beyond) here on the Journal Ody. I've been working on my garage for so long, its nice to come here and see there is life after the building process.

Have a Happy New Year. Looking forward to many more stories here.

Always appreciate your time shopnut!

True story-- Went to a new dentist the other day and thought the name was familiar, perhaps from my High School days. Most always when I meet people my own age, they always look older than I see myself. After examining my teeth, I ask him if he went to my High School and it turns out we were there during the same years. However, the dentist can't place me and then asks what subject I taught....

My thanks again to all that have taken the time and interest to post to this thread.

Hope we all have a terrific 2015.

Ody.

 

[dubber]

True story-- Went to a new dentist the other day and thought the name was familiar, perhaps from my High School days. Most always when I meet people my own age, they always look older than I see myself. After examining my teeth, I ask him if he went to my High School and it turns out we were there during the same years. However, the dentist can't place me and then asks what subject I taught....

My thanks again to all that have taken the time and interest to post to this thread.

Hope we all have a terrific 2015.

Ody.

Almost spat out my water when i read that.... Have a great new year!

 

[ODIS]

More car adventures!

Day after Christmas, drove the 355 to an early morning meeting. It is cold out (mid 30's) and the car always takes 3-4 minutes to warm up the F-1 transmission components prior to engaging the clutch. (shop temp at 64 deg)

The destination is a mere 7 or 8 miles away with a 2 mile segment at 50MPH. It is still dark out at this hour and upon arrival, the car is shut down and all seems to be normal. Always try to park under the lights and when going past the rear of the car, there is a large column of black smoke pouring from the engine compartment. Don't remember what four letter word was used at that point. Back to the cabin for the flash light; no where to be found. More smoke coming out.... Grab for the fire extinguisher... Another four letter word, the extinguisher is no where to be found.

The smoke starts to subside, taking a deep breath and perhaps a subconscious "Hail Mary" some of my buddies show up with all the needed equipment in their pickup... Dang! Did it again.... Another trip without the right tools/equipment!

An hour or two later:

The culprit:

The quick connect is for the fluid that operates the clutch. Seems that this unit developed a leak and is conveniently located directly over the junction where the exhaust header meets with the muffler flange.

Looks like the gaskets/seals have gone sideways:

So, why a quick connect? When the timing belts on the engine need to be changed out, the entire engine/transaxle have to be dropped out of the car and this connection facilitates a more rapid disconnect.

Anyway, happy it happened on a short trip with cool temperatures.

Best,

Ody.

 

[Skyline]

A friend just had a 355 in his shop. With a clutch fluid leak. It was leaking from a bad slave cylinder. They needed to change the clutch at the same time. Actually, it's one of the easiest cars on the planet to change a clutch. Not much labor, just a very expensive clutch.

The rear bumper and exhaust are pretty much the only things that need to come off, and the clutch is right there.

 

[ODIS]

Almost spat out my water when i read that.... Have a great new year!

Thanks Dubber. Hope all is well with you and family. Have a great year in all that you do.


Ody.

 

[dhubbard422]

...

True story-- Went to a new dentist the other day and thought the name was familiar, perhaps from my High School days. Most always when I meet people my own age, they always look older than I see myself. After examining my teeth, I ask him if he went to my High School and it turns out we were there during the same years. However, the dentist can't place me and then asks what subject I taught....

Ody.

This is TOO funny (and too true).

I've really enjoyed reading your posts - thanks for sharing. All the best for 2015!

Don

 

[EMC2]

Ody,
To say that I am thoroughly impressed would be a terrible understatement.

Everything from the very tasteful landscaping to the amazing cars and house are just incredible. As someone who also likes to tackle on lot of projects personally; I really admire your attention to details and energy

 

[GRN96WS6]

Ody,

In the pics where you have people sitting in the 4 car attached garage do you roll the lifts out of the way or do I miss that you moved them?

What's the current fleet?

 

[ODIS]

This is TOO funny (and too true).

I've really enjoyed reading your posts - thanks for sharing. All the best for 2015!

Don

Thanks for posting, Don. Always good to read you have enjoyed the thread and our best to you for a wonderful 2015.

Ody,
To say that I am thoroughly impressed would be a terrible understatement.

Everything from the very tasteful landscaping to the amazing cars and house are just incredible. As someone who also likes to tackle on lot of projects personally; I really admire your attention to details and energy

Appreciate your very kind thoughts, EMC2! Have always been pretty good at starting projects.... Finishing them in a timely fashion, not so much! The older we get, the slower we go, but then too, can look back and remember how good we used to be....

Ody,

In the pics where you have people sitting in the 4 car attached garage do you roll the lifts out of the way or do I miss that you moved them?

What's the current fleet?

There is one lift in the attached 4 bay garage. A relatively new (used lift) purchased from a local friend and car guy. Unlike the Backyard Buddies, with the optional casters, this lift is not set up to be mobile. However, can put car dollies under each post and move as needed.

Have a couple of larger gatherings planned for this year, one for spring and the other during mid summer at the house, both of which will honor Porsches. Will infill the center of the blue lift and use as a serving table/station, the rest of this space will be set up for seating.

We can usually get about 70 people comfortably seated in this space but with the lift hogging up space, will bet it will be more like 50:

Current Fleet: 4x Fords (one on loan), 3x Vettes, 2x Porsches, 2x Ferraris. Does this make me a Ford guy?

 

[ODIS]

Trying to get creative for this summers car gathering which will center around the 356. Our 356 Group wants to publish a little flyer for this event and we want to make the day a memorable one for the people driving 80 to 100, 356 cars that might attend. This is an annual event and is called the "Bull Session" hence the BS in the license plate.

Since we are on the bay, thought it might be appropriate to do a little honor to one of the bay's local and delicious inhabitants:

Or:

Or:

And last:

If you have interest, please pick a shot that best represents the goal of car and crab.

Thanks for reading and looking at the pictures.

BTW: Will get someone out to take a high resolution picture that is suggested from the GJ forum.

Can think of all kinds of captions too: "I Got My Crabs At...." "Twin Grill For Crabs..." No More Crabbing About My Car....:"

 

[GRN96WS6]

I like pic one and pic three.


Another one liner, "guaranteed to not make you crabby" referencing when driving the car of course.

 

[CJUDGE]

Cars and Crabs. ?????

 

[dubber]

Honestly its a no lose, however i think #2 is great!

 

[Toolfool]

Last pic with "Nothing to crab about".

 

[ODIS]

Daffodils are up, some of the trees are in bloom, relatively nice weather with some rain, but for the most part, no room to complain and besides, who is going to listen anyway:

Busy most days and this early nice weather has been helping to get my rear end out in the yard to prune the fruit trees in the orchard, burn that giant pile of brush (of course have another one growing) remove an old fence, cut the grass several times already this year, pull maintenance on the mowers.

Evenings are filled with working on Sketch Up designing the master bathroom:

At first, was going to use granite slab to surround the tub however, wife convinced me to use walnut instead. Will have the "granite guy" book match the adjoining faces in the shower. Should look pretty good. Also going to use 1/2" frameless glass for the shower enclosure.

So now all the drawing have been completed for the master bath, doors and all the trim along with the entry doors to the bed room:

Since it is relatively easy to explode all of the individual components and assign dimensions to them, this too has all been completed:

Tomorrow, will be meeting a friend that has connections with a couple of premier wood suppliers and will be ordering all the wood, Black Walnut, in rough cut form. Will attempt to get some of the build/construction process added to the thread as it happens.

On the car front, have been getting some of the cars ready for this coming driving season.... much to the surprise of my wife who asks me in this "tone of wonderment: Will you actually have time to do any driving with bathroom project in full swing?" What can be said, except, yes dear!

All kidding aside, there has been some great days for a little drive. Recently, was asked to display the 456 GT at Griot's Garage "World Headquarters," in Tacoma, for the month of March so that was a nice drive to this location. The guys & gals that work at the store know the products and how they "should" be used.

We have also added a new member to the stable too. This car, local all it's life has been with the same family since 1960. The owner, an engineer at Tacoma's Pulp & Paper mill, bought the car from Sports Cars Of Tacoma early in 1960. It was used, but less than a year old:

Really looking forward to working on the car, but, only after more work is completed on the master bath.....but wait, no wood yet and the planning is done... so maybe.... a few hours can be spent on an oil change, valve adjustment, brakes, polish the heck out the paint, clean the interior..... yeah, an hour or two for sure!

Have been a little more active with the local 356 Group planning for this summers Bull Session. While at one of the meetings, the conversation turned toward automotive lifts. One of the guys attending offered that he made his. Naturally, we all are interested. Here is what he has done:

Pretty dang cool! All out of wood!

For the wood working around here, have been practicing making dove tails for the drawers in the vanity. Using the Porter Cable Jig:

View media item 104803
Made a dust collection/capture devise from some old 4" PVC and connected it to the DC. Still get a little dust, but nowhere near as much as before.

View media item 104802
Results:

View media item 104804
Think this is going to be a really great spring and summer!

Oh, yes. Will be back at the flagstone project too. Can't wait.... really?

Trust all of you are well.

Ody.

 

[Ferrari-lover]

Love the new Porsche, and the bathroom looks really good.

 

[dubber]

Love the new Porsche, and the bathroom looks really good.

/\This.

Odis its always fun catching up with whats going on in your world. That Griots gig sounds pretty cool. I'm assuming that comes with an included detailing session?

Awesome job on that bathroom plan, seems as though you have mastered that program.

 

[Bricen18]

Great bathroom plans. It looks amazing.
On the new 356 what is the bracket or guard below the rear windshield? I'm not well informed on these cars.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Toolfool]

New car , new construction project. Call me if you need any help with ...... driving the cars.

 

[WarrenJ]

Sounds like you are off to a busy Spring in the PNW.

 

[michel]

Have been a little more active with the local 356 Group planning for this summers Bull Session. While at one of the meetings, the conversation turned toward automotive lifts. One of the guys attending offered that he made his. Naturally, we all are interested. Here is what he has done:

Pretty dang cool! All out of wood!

This is so cool, scary but cool.
Are the 4 by 4 fastened to the floor and ceiling?

 

[Boosted1]

Wow Odis!
No early spring here.
Got about 12" of snow last night and forecasted to sub zero temp by tomorrow morning.
That 356 and story are awesome.

 

[ODIS]

Love the new Porsche, and the bathroom looks really good.

Thanks, Ferrari-lover.

/\This.

Odis its always fun catching up with whats going on in your world. That Griots gig sounds pretty cool. I'm assuming that comes with an included detailing session?

Awesome job on that bathroom plan, seems as though you have mastered that program.

Would be embarrassed to take an "in need of detailing" car to this location.

At this Griot's location, they have a couple of large work bays for the purpose of demonstrations for the products. By appointment, or by their time/staffing demands, one can take a car there and get lessons with the products of choice or by recommendations by the attending staff and use on your car while there. A great place to have in one's back yard.

Me master SketchUp? No way. Hardly scratching the surface. A very powerful program and not without it's issues either. Think it is a great tool and with practice, one could become pretty proficient with modeling.

Great bathroom plans. It looks amazing.
On the new 356 what is the bracket or guard below the rear windshield? I'm not well informed on these cars.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for your compliments, Bricen18.

That little bracket thing is actually a bit of stainless steel shaped as a foil and it's intention is to direct more cooling air to the engine. In the engine bay, the previous owner also installed an ancillary oil cooler located between the mounts for the engine lid. Probably not needed, but the PO was an engineer and believe he loved to experiment (read as tinker). No offense to all you engineer types out there....

Note too, he added an air foil in front as well......... In respect, will probably leave them in place. Never know if they are really keeping the tires planted at speed generated from that 90Hp (more like 75Hp) twin carbureted, flat 4 cylinder mill!

New car , new construction project. Call me if you need any help with ...... driving the cars.

You are on, TF. Let us make it a point to connect this season.

Sounds like you are off to a busy Spring in the PNW.

Yeah, WarrenJ! Will take this weather over the stuff to the east of us here. Good grief! Really looking forward to making more sawdust and soon.

This is so cool, scary but cool.
Are the 4 by 4 fastened to the floor and ceiling?

Yes, fixed to the rafters above and to the concrete below. This fellow is also the owner of a larger wooden boat that he and wife maintain. Feel confident he knows what he is doing. He also set up a system of PVC above the lift to instantly turn this space into a spray booth.

Wow Odis!
No early spring here.
Got about 12" of snow last night and forecasted to sub zero temp by tomorrow morning.
That 356 and story are awesome.

My heavens! Your weather just *****! Promise to never gripe about the rain here or the ******** moss that seems to grow everywhere!

That new to me 356 will no doubt tell more stories of it's history once it can be looked at closely and worked on. Stay tuned!

Many thanks to you all for taking the time to read and look at the pictures.

Ody.

 

[polexican23]

Kentucky gets one lil snow storm and it is time to shut down the world. While in Chicago we get 28 inches and still show to work on time.

 

[ODIS]

Kentucky gets one lil snow storm and it is time to shut down the world. While in Chicago we get 28 inches and still show to work on time.

When the white stuff hits the greater Seattle area, it is much the same. Schools close or go to delayed opening and the drivers are absolutely scary. Can't see the lines on the road? Then, it must be OK to make up your own rules to drive by.....

 

[Crown]

Great looking 356 Ody!
Did you consider rerouting the exhaust through the bumperettes? It's the only thing I'd change to an otherwise perfect looking car.

Nice job on the dove tails as well.

 

[ogdawg]

Just read through the whole thread and was great to see all your many projects.

I saw the post about your car at Lemay and remembered seeing the Ferrari exhibit there and had to look back at my pictures and saw your car in a few of them.

 

[ODIS]

Great looking 356 Ody!
Did you consider rerouting the exhaust through the bumperettes? It's the only thing I'd change to an otherwise perfect looking car.

Nice job on the dove tails as well.

Thanks for stopping by, Crown.

Excited to get some work completed on that car soon. It will be a driver and won't spend a ton of money on it so will just get it going.

Going to try to preserve the chrome on the bumper and keep the "sport" exhaust installed. Running the exhaust through the bumperettes is a little more problematic as seen in this picture on my '63 356:

The plan is to get some little extensions and run them through the bumperettes to solve this issue. Most all owners do this.

More wood for the bathroom vanity project. These are the "shorts" from a fellow that specializes in milling curly maple for guitar bodies. What is shown here are the rejects. Will make great drawer boxes and will get lots more practice making dovetails. This is just half of the pallet load from him:

Just read through the whole thread and was great to see all your many projects.

I saw the post about your car at Lemay and remembered seeing the Ferrari exhibit there and had to look back at my pictures and saw your car in a few of them.

Welcome, ogdawg!

Appreciate your interest in the thread. As your time allows, feel free to post a picture from your collection on the 456. Always a treat to see the car from another persons perspective.

Thanks again for posting.

Ody.

 

[ODIS]

For us, lots of rain yesterday. Nearly 2 inches (or about 14.3% of our annual rain fall) and it all sheeted over the ground. Drain ditches that were installed a couple of years ago performed well:

My observation port to the west (the 4" lines were at capacity):

View media item 103330Outflow to the west:

View media item 103343
East Outflow:

View media item 103344
Still running, but at a much slower pace.

Like this a lot:

Took a little over 3.5 days to excavate, backfill, compact, lay the field, lay the border, cut the field pavers to fit, compact with sand and clean up. Clearly, the work was completed by professionals.

Back to flagstone soon.....

Thanks for reading and looking at the pictures.

Ody.

 

[Toolfool]

That was a LOT of rain, even for the PNW. Unfortunately, the snowpack is still suffering.

The pavers look great Ody. Sometimes it's just better to hire it out.

 

[dubber]

Nice stone work. That really fits perfectly.

 

[ODIS]

That was a LOT of rain, even for the PNW. Unfortunately, the snowpack is still suffering.

The pavers look great Ody. Sometimes it's just better to hire it out.

Too true. Think there should have been more professionals working around here!

Nice stone work. That really fits perfectly.

Thanks Dub. Always appreciate your comments.

Have spent a little time on the '59A 356. Working out the paint. It seems, many years ago, there was an attempt to do some paint touch-ups.... Might be a good thing since the paint under the top coat (touch up) is in good condition. Some wet/dry 600 grit lubricated with car soap and then the Griot's 1-4 polish compounds (via random orbital) yield the following pre/post pictures. No sealer or wax yet:

Pre:

Post:

Runoff onto the floor:

More to follow.

Best,

Ody.

 

[dubber]

That runoff is crazy! Can't believe how much shine it still had. Nice job! Did the rest of the panels have a similar result?

 

[Crown]

Thanks for stopping by, Crown.

Excited to get some work completed on that car soon. It will be a driver and won't spend a ton of money on it so will just get it going.

Going to try to preserve the chrome on the bumper and keep the "sport" exhaust installed. Running the exhaust through the bumperettes is a little more problematic as seen in this picture on my '63 356:

The plan is to get some little extensions and run them through the bumperettes to solve this issue. Most all owners do this.

That's a common problem indeed and looks nasty over time. I've seen cars that had the exhaust ceramic coated till it sticks out of the bumperettes, leaving an inch or so of the exhaust sticking out which was chromed. They didn't have stains on the bumperettes but I can't tell if the cars where frequent drivers or garage queens unfortunately.

Looking forward to your flagstone project. I have to do it myself as well so I'll check regularly if I can steel some ideas

And look at the results of polishing the paint on the 356! you certainly do an amazing job reviving the tired paint.

 

[ODIS]

That runoff is crazy! Can't believe how much shine it still had. Nice job! Did the rest of the panels have a similar result?

That run off reminds me of an operating room during C-Section, but there would be a lot more on the floor from that procedure. Think there will be plenty of the original paint to bring back to life. Fully expect to hit some areas that are thin and get into primer or bondo. Not too worried at this point since the intentions for this car is to drive it! BTW, only worked on the roof and just half of that.

That's a common problem indeed and looks nasty over time. I've seen cars that had the exhaust ceramic coated till it sticks out of the bumperettes, leaving an inch or so of the exhaust sticking out which was chromed. They didn't have stains on the bumperettes but I can't tell if the cars where frequent drivers or garage queens unfortunately.

Looking forward to your flagstone project. I have to do it myself as well so I'll check regularly if I can steel some ideas

And look at the results of polishing the paint on the 356! you certainly do an amazing job reviving the tired paint.

Have seen many other 356s with the little exhaust extensions both trailer queens and serious drivers. The serious drivers bumberettes look to be in fine shape. The big problem is fitting the extensions through the bumberettes....

Will keep you posted on the remaining flagstone work.

Was pretty happy with the results thus far on the paint. Going to get some better sandpaper today and give it another go this PM.

Thanks to you both for posting.

Ody.

 

[charlie v]

Nice results from your polishing effort.

A friend of mine took a 25 year old paint on his 911 from rags to riches. Wet sanded with 2000 grit and lots of power polishing. Looks amazing - turned a 50 footer into a 10 footer.

Have enjoyed reading your thread.

 

[upndown]

Hi Odis. Can't help but drool every time I catch your thread!
Love that color.

 

[ODIS]

Re: The Never Ending Retirement Garage/Shop Projectsq

Nice results from your polishing effort.

A friend of mine took a 25 year old paint on his 911 from rags to riches. Wet sanded with 2000 grit and lots of power polishing. Looks amazing - turned a 50 footer into a 10 footer.

Have enjoyed reading your thread.

So far the results have been pretty good and my technique is improving a little. Did burn through in 4 areas where the paint under top coat was thinner than expected (Where the blue tape is located). No big deal. Can have these areas blended or just polish them up and make it look like someone has waxed the snot out of the paint for years on end....

Happy to see you have enjoyed this thread!

If I can get the entire car to look like this, I'd be very happy:

Hi Odis. Can't help but drool every time I catch your thread!
Love that color.

You are always welcome, upndown! Thanks for taking the time to read and look at the pictures.

Ody.

 

[stealthmagic27]

I love the fact that you work on your Ferrari and actually let those cars breathe that air out there

 

[ODIS]

I love the fact that you work on your Ferrari and actually let those cars breathe that air out there

Thanks for stopping by stealthmagic.

Try to work on all the cars in the collection. Can do all the routine maintenance requirements, but when there is software involved, have to farm that out.

Going to be driving the 456GT this week....rain or shine. Have to remove the car from it's display area at Griot's Garage.

Ody.