Turtle's Man Cave

[FireTurtle]

When I joined GJ, I had started a garage post in the welcome thread, but we moved since then. We've been in our current house for almost a year & basically I kept nudging my wife to buy this house instead of a few others we that she liked better because of the garage upgrade. So yes, I did in fact buy this house for the garage, she doesn't know that though. It's basically a 2.5 car garage, but during some early layout designs, I realized I could fit 3 VW projects in here if it were absolutely necessary & still have a bit of workspace.
I didn't really get to do anything to it until a couple of months ago. But so far, I have added a secondary electrical box dedicated to the garage & ran power to half of it so it would be functional as a Man Cave/Garage.
Please excuse the mess. Still working on tossing out a bunch of stuff & organizing, building shelves, etc.

Size is 24.5'w x 21'd & it has 9.5' ceilingsA little over 500sqft of usable floor space, not counting the recessed shelving built into the far corner.

Here it is before we moved in.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Great stuff! Lets see some more pictures of the VW projects!!

 

[FireTurtle]

First order of business was to get power to both sides of the garage. When we moved in, it only had one outlet in the whole garage & two piddly screw mount compact florescent lights on the ceiling. My FIL is an electrician, so he came up during our kid’s spring break to help me wire the breaker box properly & tell me all the steps needed to wire everything properly since it needed to be up to code. I ran two circuits to the far side one is 15A & one 20A. The 20A is in case I need to run something over there like a small 110V welder.
I also upgraded the lighting with two 4ft fluorescent shoplights. They are temporary until I can replace them with four 4’ T5HO shoplights. I would like more light, but it’s a vast improvement over the 2 40W equivalent CFL bulbs that were illuminating the space before.

 

[FireTurtle]

I am holding off on wiring the other side of the man cave for now. I still don't know what I want to do with the walls & I don't need the power over there for another month or so when it cools off enough to work in there again. I also don't know exactly where I want to put a compressor yet, so I was waiting till I get one to run the 220 outlet for that.
It hasn't stopped me from doing a few things, like working on my "entertainment station" on this side. Here's what did for that. The hood was painted by one of our friend's kids for a school art project.

I had to cut 1.5" inches out of this to get the TV to mount dead center of the shelf. I don't have a welder, so I went over to a VW buddies shop to mod it. He and another guy are teaching me the basics of welding while we work on our projects.

 

[FireTurtle]

Here's my workbench that I built a couple of years ago. It is all that remains of my old 105 gallon planted aquarium after the tank split a seam on me.
Added some heavy duty HF casters to it, used the plywood from the light canopy for an interior shelf, some extra scrap wood, pegboard & pegs, one of the shoplights from the aquarium, roll of 14/2 & some outlets & 3 disc stereo, cup holder, paper towel rack...
Boom I had a mobile, powered work bench! Currently I have an old laptop on it & when the weather is nice & cool, I open the doors & work out of my garage while sitting in my funky shop chair.

And my shop chair. Broken office chair, scrap 15" rim & a moving dolly. Eventually, I want to make a better rolling base for it though. This pic shows the old base before the moving dolly. It wasn't durable enough to handle rolling all over the garage.

 

[FireTurtle]

Great stuff! Lets see some more pictures of the VW projects!!

I'll try to get some pics of the buggy progress on here. I haven't done anything to it lately other than mount the body to the ceiling so it will be out of the way when I work on the pan & finish wiring the garage. It's been so hot, that I have retreated from the garage during the days lately. It was my grandfather's buggy when I was a little kid. He used to race it on the beaches of Cali in the early 80's. I'm restoring it from the ground up at a slower pace than I would like to admit. I also acquired a Honda Elite scooter project a couple of weeks ago. repairing a few things on it to get it going so I have a fuel friendly toy to buzz around on.

 

[FireTurtle]

Anyone have info on insulating garage exterior walls? The walls are finished already & I don't want to tear out the sheet rock to insulate them.
I was considering blowing in some cellulose to fill them up, but no clue on how to do that. I tried doing a search on here but came up empty on helpful threads.
I also need to insulate the garage door too, but was just going to foam board that.

 

[taumac]

Like the repurposed bench. Should be super solid if meant to hold that big of tank.

5 Stitches Garage
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211899
Florida GJ Group
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=117

 

[madoc1]

to insulate the walls you can drill 1 1/2-2 inch holes near the ceiling between studs and blow the insulation in. hd rents the blowers.

jim

 

[FireTurtle]

to insulate the walls you can drill 1 1/2-2 inch holes near the ceiling between studs and blow the insulation in. hd rents the blowers.

jim

Thanks, that's exactly the info I was looking for. I didn't know if that could be done or not.

Like the repurposed bench. Should be super solid if meant to hold that big of tank.

Yeah, it was approximatly 1000lbs when you count the weight of the water, tank, gravel, rocks & substrate & the lighting canopy that was on it.

 

[sean Buick 76]

I'll try to get some pics of the buggy progress on here. I haven't done anything to it lately other than mount the body to the ceiling so it will be out of the way when I work on the pan & finish wiring the garage. It's been so hot, that I have retreated from the garage during the days lately. It was my grandfather's buggy when I was a little kid. He used to race it on the beaches of Cali in the early 80's. I'm restoring it from the ground up at a slower pace than I would like to admit. I also acquired a Honda Elite scooter project a couple of weeks ago. repairing a few things on it to get it going so I have a fuel friendly toy to buzz around on.

Only someone who has done a frame up build can understand the amount of dedication it takes to hang in there and complete long term auto projects... I am in the middle of a big one myself so you have full respect from me... And it takes time, lots of time as you know.

 

[FireTurtle]

Yep! Between wife, kids, family, work & other responsibilities progress really gets slowed down. It's not as bad when you have other piddly parts of the project to work on, but I have run out of those at the moment. I am at the jumping off point on major things that the rest of the project relies on. I have good friends with more tool resources than I have, so they will help me accomplish some of those big tasks.

I wish you the best of luck with your project as well. I'm really digging your car too. Looks like it will be a beast.

 

[CaptainCaveman]

I like the reuse of items, the chair, the tv cover, very cool.

So, what are the car projects?
I do like old vw's.

And is 'FireTurtle' an interesting nickname or just a funny forum moniker?

 

[FireTurtle]

I like the reuse of items, the chair, the tv cover, very cool.

So, what are the car projects?
I do like old vw's.

And is 'FireTurtle' an interesting nickname or just a funny forum moniker?

As far as cars go, I only have the vw dune buggy project at the moment. I used to have a 66 vw bug & a 62 chevy stepside. I got rid of the bug in college & the truck after I got married & had kids so that I could focus on the buggy since it was my grandfathers. It's been in the family for about 35 years.

As far as the name "Fireturtle" I use it as a secondary handle when I'm on forums that already have someone using just "Turtle". The fire part comes from my past endeavors as a fire-breather. I was part of a fire tribe in college named φλογίζω a greek word that meant "set on fire" & we would do street shows displaying various forms of the fire arts like fire spinning & fire breathing. I've largely given it up since my old college buddies have moved on. Also because it's extremely dangerous & it freaks my wife out. I only do it on rare occasions like parties or small gatherings with people I know.
Here's an old pic of me that was taken at a camp out the night before our group put on a VW car show.

 

[FireTurtle]

I picked this 44" tool box up at HF this evening. I finally have a real tool chest. Can't wait to ditch those plastic cases they came in. Eventually I hope to upgrade to Williams(USA made tools) tools since it's also my name or SK if Williams doesn't have what I need.

 

[Wuaname]

Nice work

 

[FireTurtle]

For those that asked for pics of my buggy. I haven't done much to it since the last shop day nearly 2 years ago. The old house started falling apart. So I spent 6 months fixing leaks, replacing floors, faucets, lights & other stuff so we could sell the house. After we moved, it stayed covered by unpacked boxes until February. Then spring came, so work slowed down & I was able to hammer away on the garage. While it was nice I spent time getting the garage in shape. Threw a bunch of **** out when the wife wasn't looking over the course of a couple of months & spent time sorting & storing the rest. Then it got hot, but that's Texas for you. I decided to hide out inside till fall starts to creep up on us & only work on quiet projects in the garage at night when it is cooler.

I sold the 62 stepside to a friend. He did me a favor & loaded the buggy up too & hauled it to DFW for me & stored it until I could clear the garage.

This is delivery day. It's loaded full of VW parts & other ****.

After I dropped the motor & cleaned out 10 gallons worth of leaf litter, wiring & rat **** then I had another shop day at my house with some of the VW gang to help me separate the body from the pan. Then we took turns cutting out the rusted floors.

All of this was rotten, so I had to cut out the side rails too.

And here it sits, well with the exception that the body is now hanging at the ceiling level. I paid some VW buddies in beer to help me lift it the rest of the way. Without a pulley system, I couldn't get it any higher on my own without it being dangerous. It'll have to stay that way at least for a few more weeks until cool weather starts to reappear.

 

[FireTurtle]

This is in the 80's in it's original glory. That's my grandpa next to it at a race location. This must have been before the race, because he had a pair of sand paddles that he would swap out on the back for beach races. This is somewhere on the California coast circa 1980-81. In 1983 we all moved back to our native country of Texas & he parked it in a barn on the family farm & it sat there until I was in college. I got it from him in the late 90's & it stayed there in the barn until 2000-2001 when I spent a summer working on stripping it down some & I got the motor running & drove it around in the pasture with no brakes. It pissed off the cows a lot, but it was fun. Then it went back into storage until a little over 2 years ago when I finally brought it home. I knew if it stayed there it would never get done. It was one of those "out of sight out off mind" problems, so I fixed that issue.

 

[PatStroud]

Good stuff FireTurtle !!!!!
Love YOUR picture of "Flaming On" ...... some of my buddies say that is exactly how they feel after eating my chili ..... lol....
Dune buggie makes an awesome project - although it can be avoided , I hope you don't run into too many obstacle.

 

[FireTurtle]

Thanks. Most of the obstacles I have are due to a lack of proper tools for the job. No welder, air tools or compressor big enough to handle them, etc.
But I have a good friend near by with a shop that has everything I need until I get my own or upgrade what I do have.
It's like the electrical, it was necessary for me to install it before I could really progress any further. Out fitting the garage is part of the project to me. It's more of a Le Mans race than a drag race. Got to be in it for the duration rather than just a white knuckle trip down the strip if it's ever to get done.

 

[FireTurtle]

Not much of an update. Just been organizing my tools here & there lately. Don't get much garage time with the ankle biters running around in the house. Normally I have to wait till we put them to bed. I did get a couple of goodies recently though. Picked up a few metal signs at hobby lobby to go with the one I had & got a Traffic light from a buddy today. I need to polish it up & get a controller for the light to make it function like a real signal, then I can mount it on the wall.

I also picked up some plastic pencil boxes at Wally world for organizing things in the tool chest. They fit in the shallow drawers of my 44" HF roll cab great & were only 57 cents to boot. I need to get more of them though. I only bought 4 not knowing if they would work.

 

[akdiesel]

FireTurtle

Nice work on the re-purposing some parts.
I like the hinged hood. Nice touch.

 

[Wingnut65]

Nice score on the traffic light. Those always fit well in a garage. Nice signs too. HL has so many cool signs that I could spend a fortune, and then not have any wall space to display them.

The garage will work itself out as you go and you realize you need this, or that, or storage here or there. But you are off on the right start with more electrical and an entertainment center (with protective cover!). The only other electrical that I'd suggest is more light! Put fluorescents all over on two circuits and you will have no problem working out all the details on car restorations.

Nice story on the buggy and wanting to keep it in the family. VW's are like that! Is that a Manx?

I seem to have the other problem than you do... I bought a small welder a couple years ago, but now need to learn how to use it, then learn how to use it better to not destroy the replacement of thin sheet metal.

And another suggestion, if you don't have the compressor and air tools, hit HF for some corded electric cut-off grinders to get started with. I have a couple with different wheels on them so I don't have to keep changing them during a project.

Can't wait till the temps cool to see the progress...

 

[FireTurtle]

Yesterday, I did a bunch of reorganizing & dug out most of my collectibles that have been stored since we moved.
I also added a dolly to the bottom of this cabinet. It's strictly for my old Atari 2600 & any future Atari stuff I get. Still need to paint it black before I can set everything up in it. I also plan on adding some Atari logos & 80's Arcade game decals to it, but for now I can roll it out of the way when I'm not using it.

 

[FireTurtle]

This last week we had a few days of awesome weather so I spent all of it out in the garage getting rid of old **** & looking for specific items that had been stored. I managed to completely free up two free standing shelf units that I can put all of my VW parts & automotive maintenance stuff on.

Today I added 12 feet to my display shelf, so now I have an 18ft display for stuff.

Then I mostly filled them with my some of my stuff.

 

[FireTurtle]

I don't really have anything valuable in my collection, but I don't really collect anything for monetary or rarity reasons. Mostly sentimental or just stuff I'm interested in.
Porky is probably the most valuable thing I have in my opinion. It's pretty much one of a kind unless they still have them on the rides at Six Flags. It came off a a kiddie ride at 6 flags magic mountain back in the late 80's. They periodically replaced them & destroyed the old ones since they had no use for them. This was given to me by a family friend that saved it from being crushed along with the rest of them replaced that year.

I also hung up my BTTF Gray's Almanac & Clock Tower Flyer from Bob's Pro shop here in the DFW area. It's not worth much either, but that's not why I like it. I was a little excited to find it. I thought it got stolen by one of the moving guys we hired. Glad he was an honest little turd after all. He was still lazy though. LOL