The One Piece at a Time Shop

[getblown5.9]

Long time lurker, and have posted on occasion but decided to share my place and hope to get some ideas on how to organize it better as its a disaster currently.

My wife and I bought the new place back in October. It is quite the upgrade from our old 2 bed, 2 bath starter home with a 24x24 garage. This place has 2 acres which is part of 4 fenced acres containing 2 homes. The same couple owned both, the other house was an "in-law suite" so it. They still own that house and have it rented out to a nice retired couple, great neighbors.

The house is just under 5,000 sq ft with the finished basement included, and there is a pool house with full unfinished basement for storage, and the 50x36x16 garage with complete upstairs. The garage was what sold me, along with the pool and location (out in the sticks, 8 miles from town).

I really thought the garage was way more than I would need, but I found out I have more stuff than anyone thought. And add to the mix, the master plan is for my parents to sell their house and move in with us which will only be part time as they will be retiring to their house in the mountains of WV for much of the spring and summer. All of my stuff cam from the 24x24 garage, sheds, and outside at the old place. Add in my fathers 50+ years of collected tools and stuff from his 3 car garage and I am finding I need some optimized storage solutions. I will update this as I get things organized and keep posting updates about the things I am building in the shop as I have many projects to do.

So now on to what everyone wants to see...pictures.

View from the driveway

Attached 2 car, poolhouse, and shop in the back with my 280k mile daily driver

The shop

Makes a full size truck look small in there (the day we settled)

 

[getblown5.9]

The summer chill zone, we moved in October 1st and got to take 1 celebratory dip in the pool before it was too cold and had to close it up.

 

[jkeyser14]

Very nice setup you have. I love how private the back yard is, and that garage is gigantic!

 

[getblown5.9]

The current state of things...its full. I still have not got all my boxes of parts, tools, fluids, etc put away from the move because I have almost no shelving or storage space for all of it.

Luckily we have been slowly getting alot of the "non garage items" carried upstairs to the storage room. One day I would like to make a wood shop or something up there.

My mess

I was nice and let my sister and her husband store their boat inside for the winter...next year it will not fit as that last bay will be storage shelving and an enclosed room for the 2 compressors (mine, and my father is bringing an identical one with him)

You can see a glimpse of my diesel sled puller that is going on year 6 of a rebuild. Hence the name of the shop. Truck was named after the Johnny Cash classic which is one of my favorites.

 

[getblown5.9]

Very nice setup you have. I love how private the back yard is, and that garage is gigantic!

Thank you. The garage has been the best part since moving in. The week we moved I lost a 2nd gear lever in my daily driver transmission. So we dropped the trans and fixed it on the floor and put it back in the next weekend. Just this past weekend I went through the front end and did ball joints, axle joints, track arm bushings, calipers, rotors, and pads. Having the heat this winter has made is nice to work. Just walk in and kick the t-stat on to 60-62 degrees and it warms up quickly. This summer, having the AC in there will be very nice. I hate being covered in sweat while laying in a tight spot trying to fish bolts in with my fat fingers. The garage will be cool and the beer cold this summer!

 

[upndown]

Welcome and congrats on a beautiful place! Looking forward to seeing how you make it your own. The possibilities look endless.

 

[getblown5.9]

Welcome and congrats on a beautiful place! Looking forward to seeing how you make it your own. The possibilities look endless.

Yes the possibilities...I can not wait. The deal with my father is that my wife and I will be paying the note on this place along with all the other expense, but my father help outfit the shop to suit our needs.

In the distant future that includes a 4 post lift, LOTS of shelving and storage cabinets, air compressors in an insulated enclosure and the whole place plumbed with air line, and upgrading the electrical service. I would also like to add a more shop lights, particularly over the are where we will have work benches set-up.

The one corner the previous owners cut was on power. The whole place is 200A, with 100A subpanel in the poolhouse, and a 70A subpanel ran from that to the garage. Any welding, or plasma cutting will need to be done via generator as I do not have the power for that in the shop yet.

 

[Strouty]

Nice looking space for sure.

If you get an inverter welder like the miller 211 you can weld on that type of circuit. I do think that power upgrades should be high on the list. A space that size should have a 200 amp service (or bigger!).

 

[getblown5.9]

Thanks Strouty.

A good friend of mine is going to let me borrow his Miller 211 and plasma cutter to finish up my pulling truck this spring so I will get to see how it does. I have a generator that I can use to run it on 240 with. The main issue with the power upgrade is that I have to trench about 300ft from the road and cross my driveway to get to the garage. Luckily my father is a retired heavy equipment operator who can dig the trench in about 4 hours with the right machine.

 

[getblown5.9]

Working on the sheetmetal dash/cockpit for the pull truck tonight.

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[Richard Cranium]

Wow, Your house is very large, And a really nice shop

 

[ThrifyGarage]

Looks like a lot of work ahead. Great potential!

 

[Strouty]

You will be impressed with the 211 especially on 120 volts, it is not a production machine, so you have to watched the duty cycle. It will shut down if it overheats, then you have to wait. Using the generator for 240 volt operation would only be needed on the thicker materials, but it will not help the duty cycle.

 

[Zeke]

Very nice. Big garages fill up just like little ones. Must be a version of Murphy's Law.

 

[getblown5.9]

You will be impressed with the 211 especially on 120 volts, it is not a production machine, so you have to watched the duty cycle. It will shut down if it overheats, then you have to wait. Using the generator for 240 volt operation would only be needed on the thicker materials, but it will not help the duty cycle.

I have been doing a bunch of work with a Eastwood 135 on 120v here the last few days and I am impressed with it also. I'm a novice welder, so I'm not able to pick out the little things a professional may take issue with, but it's getting the job done and has not given me any problems.

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[getblown5.9]

Got the dash for the pull truck mocked up. Next up is getting the gauges mounted, and starting on all of the wiring harness, power distribution.

 

[LXCam]

Wow what a complete dream set up for me. I'm super jealous and stoked for you! Making that 70amp feed is very manageable, you just need to be conscious as I'm sure you know of what's running and when. The biggest limitation would be the compressor operating while welding which is highly unlikely for a one guy shop. I have the same limitation, but my saving grace is the compressor is located 100ft from my shop and on a different subpanel. I've been working off a 60 amp panel for the last 6 years and only tripped the sub feed breaker once. Anyhow good luck and it'll be fun to watch what you do with the shop!

 

[getblown5.9]

Thanks LXCam. I was just starting research about upgrading power to the building, but instead of spending $5k+ on that now, I will just add a couple 240v circuits, and pay attention to what is running simultaneously. I can always upgrade later if I find it necessary.

Right now I need to focus on getting storage shelves up and organized, and start looking into a 4 post lift set-up, and get this truck back together before next spring.

 

[getblown5.9]

Worked on the truck this weekend. Got the new rear cut out of the other frame and prepped, and removed the old rear from my truck.

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[getblown5.9]

The expanding foam is to take up space and use less oil. This rear weighs a ton so I don't know why someone thinks taking up some space and saving a gallon or two of oil is going to save much weight but it doesn't hurt anything. This rear will be going 300 feet at a time, lubrication will not be an issue.


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[getblown5.9]

Made some progress. I ended up adding a 50amp dedicated welder circuit to the garage, so now we can run the welder to its full power with no worries.

I've been doing some cutting and drilling here the last few days getting some brackets fabbed up and ready to weld this rear under the frame. My new Evolution Rage 3 saw is awesome for cutting this 2x2x.25 wall tubing. Perfect straight cuts with no slag. Also got to put my late father-in-law's old drill press to work. He was a printing press machinist and would have been a great help in the shop for this and many other builds. Take my time and continually sharpen the bits and it will cut right through anything.











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[shepherd]

Man, great set up you have...and nice work on the truck!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Love your setup! Where are you located? It looks very New England to me haha.

 

[getblown5.9]

Northeastern corner of Maryland. Pa and Delaware are just a few minutes drive away for me.

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[Mr. Roboto]

Ah, I was somewhat close then. Just curious - seems like you do a lot of wrenching in there, how come you want a 4 post lift over a 2 post?

 

[getblown5.9]

Ive worked under a 2 post with heavy trucks alot. Between rolling on the floor to get the arms set, and always having to use stabilizing jacks I got tired of it. Recently did some work on my daily driver on a 4 post at a friends shop and found it handy to have a large bench type work surface right where we are working. I wouldnt dream of having a 4 post without at least 1 trolley jack though. Also, I do not know if the slab is sufficient for a 2 post attachment, 4 post i have no worries.

The other factor is my father will most likely make the investment in the lift, and his vote goes to 4 post, so I cant argue too much with him.

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[GLTHFJ60]

Love the shop, holy cow.

Agreed on the 4 post lift. Not as ideal for fabrication (if you're building suspensions and whatnot) but much more convenient for maintenance, assembly/dissassembly and bodywork.

 

[getblown5.9]

This solid subframe "suspension" is about the most involved fabrication I have ever taken on, and probably ever will for that fact. I like to do as much of my own work within reason, but I know my limits and my hobbies don't need me to get too much more involved than where I am today.

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[s_blaylock]

very nice place. could you tell us a bit more about the truck's motor?

 

[getblown5.9]

The motor is a standard 5.9L cummins that was bored .020 over to clean up some scoring on the walls. The pistons are from Mahle Motorsports with a wider bowl, and .250" deep flycuts to clear the valves due to the lift and duration of the camshaft, the pistons were also cut to bring compression ratio down to about 12.5:1. Factory crank and rods with minor tweaks made for balancing and smooth operation, with HD studs and a girdle to hold it all together. The cylinder head is an aftermarket casting with a complete port job which is now double the flow of a factory 12v cummins head. To port it fully, the integrated intake manifold is milled from the head and an individual runner manifold replaces it. I use a copper headgasket and steel fire rings to seal the head to the motor. The gasket is reusable, and the fire rings are crushed into a groove in the head to withstand the cylinder pressures that come from stuffing 60+psi worth of air into this thing. Fuel system is 100% mechanical, lift pump drives off of the timing cover to supply the injection pump. The injectoin pump has been custom built to provide plenty of fuel to well above 5000rpm. The governor has been changed to an agricutural style and is operated via hand throttle.

This motor is actually very simple compared to todays competitive builds, but my budget doesnt allow for that type of motor. Nowadays most competive pulling engines are built from the new 6.7 cummins block with a plethora of modifications that net a final engine size of 6.4-6.7 liters and produce much more torque. My goal is to get this thing together and work out all the bugs and then I can easily put together a better shortblock over the course of one winter and drop it in. This sport is very expensive, turbos run $5k and up for the top of the line class spec pieces, injection pumps are over $5k now and its keeps getting worse. A turnkey motor from the best engine builder in diesel truck pulling will run about $60k now and the wait time is pretty long. Ive put this motor and entire truck together for less tha $40k so far by shopping for used parts and working out trade deals. This is also why it has taken me 6 years to get this far.

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[s_blaylock]

thanks for the run down. i used to have a common rail 5.9/6.7 ******* motor stuffed into a '06 ford F250. Really liked that truck but it just never felt reliable and i was always afraid of the repair costs. Miss that power though.

Spinning up to 5k rpm in a cummins is pretty damn impressive. Keep us updated! Thanks!

 

[getblown5.9]

I plan to bring it up to about 5200 on the line and under load down the track it should settle in about 4500. I have a buddy who likes life on the edge and he cracks about 6300 coming off the line. Talk about sounding like its going to come apart. That thing screams.

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[getblown5.9]

Well the rear is tacked in permanently. Time to add more tube to beef up the frame and support the rear in front and back. My welds are getting better, still not perfect but they will hold. Miller 211 gets good penetration on the frame and 1/4" wall tube.







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[GLTHFJ60]

I never thought about it before, but I guess it makes sense that sled pullers don't have any suspension. Lots of weight gets transferred onto the tongue.

Have a sketch of what the subframe will look like when it's completed or designing as you go?

 

[getblown5.9]

I never thought about it before, but I guess it makes sense that sled pullers don't have any suspension. Lots of weight gets transferred onto the tongue.

Have a sketch of what the subframe will look like when it's completed or designing as you go?

This is the design I came up with. I made changes to what most guys do. They usually weld a single tube from frame down to the rear and then weld bars front and rear right to the axle tube. I wanted a strong bolt in design so thats why i am using double uprights and 4 3/4" bolts on each side.



Made some more progress today. Welding is getting better as I go, but I still struggle with out of position and tight spot welds. Got the axle plates welded up. Also cut and installed the 4x4x5/16" hitch cross member to keep the frame rails tied together since I took out the reese hitch and factory cross member.





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[GLTHFJ60]

Sweet!! Love it!

 

[getblown5.9]

Little more progress. Need to try turning the heat down, welds are undercutting slightly.





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[getblown5.9]

A little more progress yesterday until my saw blade burned up cutting the tube. Waiting on a replacement.





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[GLTHFJ60]

Badass!! I think that will be strong enough!

 

[sean Buick 76]

Looking good, nice work!