Third time's the charm - 40*50*12 build

[wisconsin hillrod]

Well it has been awhile. I had intended to post a few times but I kept being overly optimistic on my timelines and felt like I didn’t have interesting update but I’m finally getting somewhere so let’s get caught back up!

My wife and I traveled to Europe for a solid chunk of May. This was my 4th trip to Europe and my wife’s first. We rented a car which was a first for me, and had our share of fun on the Autobahn in a car that was entirely too slow...

We flew into Munich, checked out the BMW museum (unfortunately they weren’t doing factory tours while we were there), and got the bier garden experience. Next we found our way to Salzburg Austria (which was both of our favorite parts of the trip). After that we did a day trip to Hallstatt to see the salt mine on our way to Prague. After Prague we checked out Rothenburg on our way to Nuremburg. After Nuremburg we headed south to Fussen to see Neuschwanstein & Hohenschwangau Castles. On the way back to Munich we spent our last day driving through the foothills of the apls and visited Linderhof Palace.

We took a ton of pictures but since this is Garage Journal…I present to you…the best garage in Rothenburg!

Once back, it was time to get started on the shop again. I decided it was time to gain access into the crawl space so I could run electric, ethernet cables , and the gas line. I decided the best place to do this was in the closet of one of the bedrooms.

I had hoped to be able to just cut out my square and then pry it up and make a trap door. Liquid nails had other plans.

Success!

I’m in!

-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

I noticed some fluid had been dripping onto my 98 z28 donor car. It seems reasonable to think that after 23 years my 3000GT finally had a seal go bad. Except the 3000GT was still bone dry...the leak was from the hydraulic cylinder on my 3 month old hoist…

Dannmar was good about it and sent me a replacement cylinder and agreed to send someone to replace it. In the end I wish I had done it myself since I had to help him anyway and he made a huge mess of my floor and neglected to bring hydraulic fluid so we used $50 of my own stuff.

You can see in the below pictures the fittings are not leaking at all, the fluid is leaking out around the ram.

-Hillrod

 

[wasfast]

The good news is they took the time to glue the sheeting to the joists. It's an often skipped step and in no time the floor has nail squeaks. Good work on the crawl space access panel!

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

The good news is they took the time to glue the sheeting to the joists. It's an often skipped step and in no time the floor has nail squeaks. Good work on the crawl space access panel!

Thanks! I am amazed at how well my $20 Masterforce sonic tool works. I was able to cut it out and can't even spot a nick in the floor joists.

I have no complaints about the liquid nails being there, it just ruined my plans haha. The subfloor is ~3/4" too with alone with the liquid nails makes the floor quiet and sturdy.

-Hillrod

 

[NoPressure]

Nice thread! I’m in the planning stages and your setup, as far as lot layout, is the closest to mine that I’ve seen so it helped visualize what I’m thinking about. My shop will be on the opposite side of the house from the garage/driveway and the right side will have an overhang for a patio/outdoor kitchen area beside our pool. Still trying to decide on size. Will probably end up around 30x30. Maybe a little bigger but I don’t want the shop to look bigger than the house.

Building it for more room for activities with this. 01 SS 4.8 with a 76mm. Swapping a tci th400 in right now.

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Nice thread! I’m in the planning stages and your setup, as far as lot layout, is the closest to mine that I’ve seen so it helped visualize what I’m thinking about. My shop will be on the opposite side of the house from the garage/driveway and the right side will have an overhang for a patio/outdoor kitchen area beside our pool. Still trying to decide on size. Will probably end up around 30x30. Maybe a little bigger but I don’t want the shop to look bigger than the house.

Building it for more room for activities with this. 01 SS 4.8 with a 76mm. Swapping a tci th400 in right now.

Awesome. Planning on a hoist? Mine ended up being a few feet taller than the house but I haven't regretted it once and I do care about the ascetics, but ultimately they are secondary to function.

Nice looking car. That's a lot of tire on the back. What rear axle? When I get around to doing my Olds I've got a TH400 and a 4l80e sitting around. Haven't decided which way to go.

-Hillrod

 

[NoPressure]

Awesome. Planning on a hoist? Mine ended up being a few feet taller than the house but I haven't regretted it once and I do care about the ascetics, but ultimately they are secondary to function.

Nice looking car. That's a lot of tire on the back. What rear axle? When I get around to doing my Olds I've got a TH400 and a 4l80e sitting around. Haven't decided which way to go.

-Hillrod

Yes Probably a two post. I think I’m gonna do 12’ tall with scissor trusses.

It’s just a 275/60. Axle is a Strange S60. I wasn’t sure about the 400 but I wanted to keep it simple and being a turbo deal I can run a tall enough gear that highway cruising won’t be ridiculous.

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Yes Probably a two post. I think I’m gonna do 12’ tall with scissor trusses.

It’s just a 275/60. Axle is a Strange S60. I wasn’t sure about the 400 but I wanted to keep it simple and being a turbo deal I can run a tall enough gear that highway cruising won’t be ridiculous.

If I did it over again no scissors trusses. I'd do stick built with 12' 2*6s + the sill and top plates for an extra ~4.5" to fit a hoist in with a nice easy to work with flat ceiling.

275 drag radials behind a turbo LS are a lot for a 10 bolt is what I was getting at ha. I keep thinking the S60 is the way to go over a 9" or Hawks 8.8. The QP 9" and Hawks 8.8 both seem like a good deal until you put some decent parts in them. Then I just think S60. You recommend it?

A TH400 is a double whammy between no OD and no lockup. I'd like to think I could buy a triple disc converter for my 4l80e and get torque multiplication off the line with WOT lockup higher in the RPMs.

http://www.jakesperformance.com/converters/


-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

After 7,500 miles on the supercharged setup and 12,500 miles overall since buying it my Vette finally left me stranded. Of course I was at the top of a parking ramp...but a friend was able to give me a ride home to get my truck and trailer I was able to get them all the way up there.

Found that my winch setup worked flawlessly and the car didn’t even bottom out on the trailer!

It barely makes it but it goes on the trailer without hitting:

The problem ended up being a melted connector on the fuel pump harness. It seems the Walbro 450lph pump was too much for the stock wiring and fuse. (18 gauge wire and 20 amp fuse). I fixed the harness and reused the wire as a trigger for a relay mounted by the fuel tank. The pump now runs on a 10 gauge hotwire. I found it pulls 16amps constantly so honestly I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did. I’m pretty baffled that GM put a 20 amp fuse on a 18 gauge wire that was that long but that problem should be solve for good.

This has been the only real issue I’ve had with the car. I’m pretty pleased considering.

-Hillrod

 

[jbmatth]

I'm pretty surprised the vette didn't bottom out, glad it worked out for you though. I just finished a standalone harness for a 5.3 and used an old suburban frame as the test stand including the factory wiring to the pump and sure enough it was 18 gauge wiring to the fuel pump. So do you now have two relays in line before the pump?

JB

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

I'm pretty surprised the vette didn't bottom out, glad it worked out for you though. I just finished a standalone harness for a 5.3 and used an old suburban frame as the test stand including the factory wiring to the pump and sure enough it was 18 gauge wiring to the fuel pump. So do you now have two relays in line before the pump?

JB

Yeah, it was close, even with a 3' dovetail, 5' ramps, with some homemade race ramps in front ha. The homemade ramps were a proof of concept with some leftover 2*8s from the old garage. Since that worked I plan to redo them with 2*12s with bevel cuts so cars can roll up the boards easier.

I'll do a little wiring but I'm paying to have a truck harness reworked into a standalone one for my IROC. You have a lot more ambition than me ha. I like your test bench. I always thought the reason people did "hotwires" to the fuel pump was to prevent voltage drop, not because you would melt stuff... Thought you'd upgrade wires if you kept popping fuses.

For what it is worth the factory 18 gauge stuff lasted years with a Walbro 255 pump in there. It took a Walbro 450 to kill it.

Yeah, the ECM still triggers the factory relay but that now only energizes the coil on the relay back by the pump. The power for the fuel pump comes directly from the alternator now via 10 gauge wire. So the power only flows through the new relay. I will be doing this on every build going forward.

What is the 5.3 going in?

-Hillrod

 

[NoPressure]

If I did it over again no scissors trusses. I'd do stick built with 12' 2*6s + the sill and top plates for an extra ~4.5" to fit a hoist in with a nice easy to work with flat ceiling.

275 drag radials behind a turbo LS are a lot for a 10 bolt is what I was getting at ha. I keep thinking the S60 is the way to go over a 9" or Hawks 8.8. The QP 9" and Hawks 8.8 both seem like a good deal until you put some decent parts in them. Then I just think S60. You recommend it?

A TH400 is a double whammy between no OD and no lockup. I'd like to think I could buy a triple disc converter for my 4l80e and get torque multiplication off the line with WOT lockup higher in the RPMs.

http://www.jakesperformance.com/converters/


-Hillrod

Yeah I’d definitely rather have a flat ceiling but the wife’s biggest concern appearance wise is the roof height. She wants to keep it lower than the house. I talked her into more sq/ft though so I’ll take the trade off haha.

Yeah a 10 bolt would not like that combo. The S60 is really nice. It was in the car when I got it. Can’t give much of a review on it durability wise. I bought the car in January and up until about a month before I parked it for the trans swap, it had 17” zr1 replicas and a hard tire. The rear didn’t see much abuse because the car just blew through those tires and still had the t56. It is a really popular rear though. I haven’t really seen anybody push them much over 800ish horsepower. Seems like people go to an 8.8 or 9 at that point. I shouldn’t have to worry about out growing it any time soon lol.

You’re right on the 400 being a double whammy there but I figured I’d see how it does. Only real highway driving I’ll do with it is my drive to work everything else would be in town or 2 lane country roads and long term I see it being more of a track car.

If you could only have one lift would you choose a 2 or 4 post?

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Yeah I’d definitely rather have a flat ceiling but the wife’s biggest concern appearance wise is the roof height. She wants to keep it lower than the house. I talked her into more sq/ft though so I’ll take the trade off haha.

Yeah a 10 bolt would not like that combo. The S60 is really nice. It was in the car when I got it. Can’t give much of a review on it durability wise. I bought the car in January and up until about a month before I parked it for the trans swap, it had 17” zr1 replicas and a hard tire. The rear didn’t see much abuse because the car just blew through those tires and still had the t56. It is a really popular rear though. I haven’t really seen anybody push them much over 800ish horsepower. Seems like people go to an 8.8 or 9 at that point. I shouldn’t have to worry about out growing it any time soon lol.

You’re right on the 400 being a double whammy there but I figured I’d see how it does. Only real highway driving I’ll do with it is my drive to work everything else would be in town or 2 lane country roads and long term I see it being more of a track car.

If you could only have one lift would you choose a 2 or 4 post?

Understood.

Spec wise it seems to be the S60 is a pretty high dollar 9" build having 35 spline axles. I like how the torque arm mount is cast into the pumpkin vs the 8.8 and 9" where they sorta cobble the torque arm mount on.

Going to go with a Dakota Digital setup to get VSS output from the TH400?

If I had to pick I'd pick a 2 post long before a 4 post. There is a ton of work you just can't do on a 4 post. My 4 posts wobble around a lot if you bump them, wouldn't want to work under them. However, I suspect an "aliment" 4 post would be much better than a storage. The last point is that my 2 post hoists raise the car about 5x faster than the 4 posts. I don't often run the 4 posts but even with 240v motors they feel incredibly slow. That would be really frustrating when working on cars.

-Hillrod

 

[jbmatth]

Yeah, it was close, even with a 3' dovetail, 5' ramps, with some homemade race ramps in front ha. The homemade ramps were a proof of concept with some leftover 2*8s from the old garage. Since that worked I plan to redo them with 2*12s with bevel cuts so cars can roll up the boards easier.

I'll do a little wiring but I'm paying to have a truck harness reworked into a standalone one for my IROC. You have a lot more ambition than me ha. I like your test bench. I always thought the reason people did "hotwires" to the fuel pump was to prevent voltage drop, not because you would melt stuff... Thought you'd upgrade wires if you kept popping fuses.

For what it is worth the factory 18 gauge stuff lasted years with a Walbro 255 pump in there. It took a Walbro 450 to kill it.

Yeah, the ECM still triggers the factory relay but that now only energizes the coil on the relay back by the pump. The power for the fuel pump comes directly from the alternator now via 10 gauge wire. So the power only flows through the new relay. I will be doing this on every build going forward.

What is the 5.3 going in?

-Hillrod

Hillrod,
Good to know the factory 18 ga TXL is up to the challenges you put it through, it should be fine for my purposes at least on the test stand. To simplify the wiring a bit you could pretty easily bypass the factory relay but then you'd have the front relay trigger wire spliced into the factory fuel pump feed. Works either way so I guess it really doesn't matter.

The 5.3 could go into a couple of different things, it was purchased to go in my '57 Chevy 210 I put C4 'Vette suspension under with a TR-6060 out of a 2014 1LE Camaro and a Mantic 9000 clutch and possibly a couple of small turbos just for fun. Or my brothers in-laws are interested in it for their C10 swap which is more likely where it will go as that will be ready for an engine well before my '57 will be.

JB

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Hillrod,
Good to know the factory 18 ga TXL is up to the challenges you put it through, it should be fine for my purposes at least on the test stand. To simplify the wiring a bit you could pretty easily bypass the factory relay but then you'd have the front relay trigger wire spliced into the factory fuel pump feed. Works either way so I guess it really doesn't matter.

The 5.3 could go into a couple of different things, it was purchased to go in my '57 Chevy 210 I put C4 'Vette suspension under with a TR-6060 out of a 2014 1LE Camaro and a Mantic 9000 clutch and possibly a couple of small turbos just for fun. Or my brothers in-laws are interested in it for their C10 swap which is more likely where it will go as that will be ready for an engine well before my '57 will be.

JB

I was going to bypass the factory relay but there wasn't much room at the fuse/relay panel to get at the wires and I wasn't positive I traced the correct one, so decided to just leave it.

That 57 sounds awesome. I was going to ask how you were going to make the TR-6060 work with the live axle without a slip yoke when it occurred to me the C4 suspension is IRS haha.

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Next up was the front and back walls. This took a really long time because I needed help from my buddy to do it and he was very busy this summer.

Once the plywood was up I painted them. It was a very tedious process painting around and on top of the garage door header as everything is above 12’ up there yet the garage door tracks were in the way of the scaffold.

Front:

Back:

I also got my conduit run and L6-30 outlets up. I put them right about 8’ from the ground. The power whips from the 4 post hoists fit perfectly. I am really pleased with how it worked out.

-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Trench Time!

Time to run the gas line and Ethernet to the shop. I decided to go with a 1” gas line for two reasons: The first being it is a fairly long run from the house. The second is that we are planning to T it off to use for a pool heater at some point. The shop heater will never run at the same time as the pool heater but it takes a lot more energy to heat up water than air so needed the capacity for that.

I made the appointment for a Tuesday thinking I could dig the trench over the weekend. We happened to get solid rain for four days leading up to it and so my wife generously offered to dig it for me the night before as she gets done with work earlier.

She dug the trench down to 24” where they put the line and then I put direct burial cat6 cables at 18” down.

The stub for the heater is only 1/2", but the 1" pipe runs up to the attic should I want to add to it later.

I ran a total of two Ethernet runs to the shop, but also ran three more Ethernet cables to the other side of the house and a new coax home run to the cable modem so I could install it in the basement.

My wall of EBay junk.

Now I can finish the last section of plywood!!!


-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

And just like that the last of the plywood is up! It felt so good to see it finally done. I started framing the walls three years ago and got the first piece of plywood up in March 2017. I had no idea it was going to take this long.

Moved cars out of the way and finished up the last of the nailers in the ceiling.

-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Next up was figuring out how I was going to hang my heater so I could get whatever framing was needed done before the ceiling was up. I thought about it a lot, but wanting to hang it in the corner at a 45 degree angle in addition to the 6 degree slope of the ceiling due to the scissors trusses certainly presented a challenge. I decided if I finally unboxed it I could better visualize how to do it. I pulled it out of the box for the first time and set it on a furniture dolly and rolled it into the corner.

Hrm…why does that look so funny?

Oh

This surprise has been waiting for me for two years:

Post #56 12-25-2016 Have heater.
Post #71 3-30-2017 Electric run for heater.
Post #123 8-30-2017 Lack of ceiling/heat. Talk about having it winter 2018/19.


Interestingly enough the box doesn’t have any physical damage and as I said I had never taken it out of the box before. I had only opened the box and inspected it from the top where everything looked good. I kept it in the box to protect it from scratches and dust. When I purchased it from Northern Tool online I elected to have it shipped to my local store for free instead of paying shipping on a 75lb item. To my surprise it arrived at my house. They shipped it bare in the retail box with no further protection which is why I think it is damaged.

Since this really wasn’t my fault aside from not removing it from the box and installing it right away I thought if I called up Northern Tool they would likely tell me they can’t exchange it due to the time that has passed but they would offer to do…something. I spoke with a pleasant woman who was apologetic and explained that they have a 45 day policy and there isn’t anything she can do. I asked her to clarify their policy and she made it clear that even if I had opened the box on day 46 they still wouldn’t have done ANYTHING. She transferred me to her manager Tyler who was not pleasant, not apologetic, and more or less mocked me and told me he thinks I am full of ****. I’ve done thousands of dollars in business with Northern Tool dating back to 2004 and this is the first time I have ever had an issue with a product so little did I know how little they care about customer satisfaction.

I realize two years is an awfully long time to ask a retailer to do anything, but I would have been content with even a $50 credit towards a replacement. For comparison sake, Menards happily took back 7 sheets of extra plywood this week that I purchased 18 months ago. Since there are a variety of other retailers who treat customers better I will take my business elsewhere.

Since I needed to buy another heater I decided to upgrade from the 80k to the 125k unit. Northern Tool had the 125,000 BTU unit on sale for $640 so naturally I had Menards price match it and bought it there

-Hillrod

 

[C_F]

Damn, that's a bummer about the dinged-up heater. Are you just gonna put in on Craigslist or something? Congrats on getting the final bits of plywood up on your wall!

 

[Finallygotit]

Is that heater at all salvageable?

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Is that heater at all salvageable?

Damn, that's a bummer about the dinged-up heater. Are you just gonna put in on Craigslist or something? Congrats on getting the final bits of plywood up on your wall!

Just sold it tonight for $250 to a body guy who is going to straighten it out and use it. So that lowers the lesson down to $175 for me.

Thanks! Sure felt good to be done with plywood and was a nice surprise that Menards took the extra plywood back. Turned right around and spent the credit haha.

-Hillrod

 

[Finallygotit]

Yeah, I have always made a point of opening the the packaging that stuff comes in for this specific reason. More often than not, I have received goods that were damaged but you would never know it by looking at the box.


Anyway, you got a larger unit and that will warm up the place even faster.

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Part of the decision to upgrade to the 125k unit from the 80k was I decided against mounting it in the front corner as I had originally planned. That area presented difficulties and the HVAC guys wouldn’t put the exhaust through the roof so it would have to stick right out of the front corner of the shop which would just look ugly.

I decided to mount it at the peak of the back wall facing the garage doors on the front wall. To solve this problem I needed to figure out a way to secure it up to the ceiling. Being in the peak and straight towards the front wall made this problem far easier to solve.

As a test I ripped down a 2*4 on my table saw with a 6 degree edge to match the pitch of the ceiling. With the angles matching the bottom of the 2*4 is parallel to the ground. Add another one on the other side and you've got a flat surface to bolt the heater to.

As for what the ripped down 2*4s will anchor to…I hung up 2*4s 12” on center. I will anchor them to the three in the middle and then directly attach the brackets on the heater to the ripped down 2*4s. I’ll post pictures once installed. You can see the 1" gas line feed back there. I had to have that extended another 75' from where i was in the front corner.

This is more or less exactly what I did at my old house except I didn’t need to angle the 2*4s because the ceiling was already flat:

-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Yeah, I have always made a point of opening the the packaging that stuff comes in for this specific reason. More often than not, I have received goods that were damaged but you would never know it by looking at the box.


Anyway, you got a larger unit and that will warm up the place even faster.

I thought it would be a good plan to add a light to the soon to be attic. I had a flood light sitting around so tossed a scrap of 2*6 up with a light switch and snagged power off the ceiling lights. That way the light can only be on with the ceiling lights, but can be off itself.

It looks crooked but I assure you it is the scissors truss that is crooked haha.

-Hillrod

 

[C_F]

I like the attic light, I imagine I would have done practically the same thing.

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Finally time to start hanging my ceiling! I have 17’ sheets to cover the ~50’ span front to back. That will give me three rows of steel. Pulled down the lights that were in the way of the rear row.

We got our first snow extra early this year. Fortunately it was only a dusting.

I decided to hire a contractor to help me with the steel as neither I nor any of my friends have ever worked with steel before. I took the day off and this was the result of 9.5 hours of work.

I had thought that we would have gotten the whole rear row done in that time but it seems hanging 17’ sheets of steel with two people is a fool’s errand haha.

Time for a new plan.

-Hillrod

 

[mmavet]

If they only made a drywall lift that would reach that height...

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

One of issues we ran into hanging steel is that the lumber desk at Menards sold me the wrong j channel with my ceiling. Having never worked with it before peeking at it everything looked good to me. Unfortunately the j channel I was sold is ½” and the right stuff is ¾”. I believe what I was sold was window trim.

Menards made it right even though 7 months had passed.
I don’t have a great way to move 12’ long j trim but I made it work haha. Nothing moved an inch.

The next problem to solve was to get more bodies in there. Having learned enough from the contractor I offered $20/hr to any friends or friends of friends that were willing to help. I had two people bite and we knocked out the rest of the back row in 6 hours including cutting out the scuttle hole.

I climbed up through the scuttle hole to see how bad it would be and found it was a lot easier to walk around up there than I thought it would be.

-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

If they only made a drywall lift that would reach that height...

I debated using a drywall lift on top of one of my 4 post hoists but with 17' panels you really need three people to get them in place anyway so we've just been holding them and zapping some screws in.

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

After finishing the back row of ceiling panels, I had 3 nights to prepare for Saturday morning when three guys were showing up to help hang the middle row of panels. I also had to take down 4 lights, remove the wiring for the hoist, remove the outlet for the opener, remove the garage door opener and brackets, and then block out wood and pigtails for power drops for the above items. I also wrapped the top of the hoist in towels so we could rest the steel up there while hanging it without worrying about scratching it. I finished 11:30pm on Friday and the guys showed up at 7:30am.

I had to get way up there to get all of the brackets down for the opener. My floodlight really helped out.

Blocking for EMT box for garage door opener and a 2*4 to hang opener bracket from.

Another 9.5 hours with what feels like not much to show for it. We fought most the day getting the vapor barrier up and taped. I had thought with 4 of us working we would have gotten the entire middle section done. Oh well progress is progress.

-Hillrod

 

[Finallygotit]

Like you said, progress is progress. You're getting there.

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Like you said, progress is progress. You're getting there.

Previously I had been measuring and pre-drilling the holes in the steel for the electrical pigtails and then fishing them through as we put the panels up. After finding it was a lot easier to get around in the attic I let the guys talk me into just throwing up the steel and then drilling the holes afterwards.
To accomplish this I climbed up and drilled a pilot hole to locate the hole then from the bottom used a step bit to hog it out to the correct size for the grommets then climb back into the attic and fish the wire through. I couldn’t use the step bit from up top as there wasn’t enough room and some of the holes had to be drilled right in the middle of the ribs.

The lights ended up being easier to mount than I thought they would as they happen to line up with the ribs so I just count 5 ribs over from the center and drill a hole. I found some countersunk washers that fit the Torx screws I’m using well and they snug up tight to the ceiling without trying to tear through the light fixture.

When I originally put the hoist up I followed the instructions to a T and wired up the safety stop at the top. Basically you run one of your power legs up through a normally closed micro switch. If the padded bar at the top gets pushed up by a vehicle you lifted too high it pushes on the micro switch which in turn opens up the circuit and stops the hydraulic pump. I have had many vehicles up on the hoist in the nearly three years I’ve had it and nothing has been tall enough for that to happen so I decided to remove it because I wanted to do something else.

Since they ship you a 14-4 cord to use for this I figured I could remove it and use a 12-3 cord in its place and be even safer. I debated using a 10-3 cord to match the romex and circuit breaker but it was twice the price of the 12-3 and more importantly I don’t think it would fit. I figure they use 14 gauge wire because the duty cycle on the hydraulic pump is quite low so you won’t ever heat the wires up enough to melt.

By doing this I am able to almost entirely hide the power cord with it securely held in place with the factory design.

And it works!

-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Another 5 hours this morning and a cleaver cropping job and it looks done! It is actually 2/3 done but the last section is going to be more time consuming as I have to take down garage door tracks and cut every single panel to length. The important thing is I can now push cars into the back of the shop and keep them there.

I also picked up a new toolbox. I outgrew my old Snap On box years ago but have been dealing with it. I debated picking up a Matco box but I just can’t stomach $5,000+ for a toolbox. I got the Masterforce 56 x 24 for under $1300 on sale. It was very well packaged. I can’t find any blemishes on it anywhere. It certainly isn’t built as well as the Snap On but I’m impressed with it so far.

-Hillrod

 

[kberjian]

Really like how your finishes are looking. The attention to detail on the wiring for the lift made it look so clean. Taking a lot of your ideas for my shop!

 

[Ronin22]

I don't know how I've managed to miss this thread. I love what you've done! I'd just get rid of the boat, and sneak another car in it's place, lol!
Thanx for sharing!

 

[C_F]

It sure is looking good in there!

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Really like how your finishes are looking. The attention to detail on the wiring for the lift made it look so clean. Taking a lot of your ideas for my shop!

Thanks! I was very pleased the hoist wiring worked out like it did. The other two post won’t be as clean but I’ll see what I can do when I get there.

I don't know how I've managed to miss this thread. I love what you've done! I'd just get rid of the boat, and sneak another car in it's place, lol!
Thanx for sharing!

Thanks! Haha you have no idea how many times I’ve told myself the same thing about the boat. But then I don't ha.

It sure is looking good in there!

Thanks!


-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

My wife helped me get three more lights hung up:

Then she helped me get the hoists moved around so we could push/drive the cars back inside. The yard has been littered in cars for about a month. Fortunately it was raining all day yesterday which cleaned the snow off of the cars. I am hoping to have the ceiling finished by Christmas.

I am hoping to get the heater hung up this week so I can run power to it and get the thermostat wired up before the HVAC contractors show up next week to hook up the gas and install the vent.

-Hillrod

 

[wisconsin hillrod]

Heater is up! It wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined. Ripped down 2*4s with a 6 degree angle to match the ceiling and another set to put up top so the fender washers sit flush. Drilled the ceiling and 2*4s and sandwiched everything together.

Me and a buddy ended up just dead lifting it (110lbs) up to the platform 6’ up on the scaffold, climbed up there, then dead lifted it once more up to the top of the scaffold and my wife slide a couple 2*4s under it. Then we just needed to shim it up a bit more for the bolts to reach. Finally we just tightened the bolts which sucked it up tight.

It is SOLID and I don’t anticipate any issues with the ceiling rattling.

-Hillrod