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A Garage too small.... aka my second home


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Since this is going to be my second home pending warmer weather I figured I start a build thread on it, and so it begins. So back in October I found my first 521 and needed a place to store it, and so I found my self a nice sized garage to rent out, and so began the maddness. What started out as a 12x25 powerless/heatless box, has slowly been transforming into a semi-legitimate shop.

 

How it looked when after I got my second craiglist 521. Nothing but a shell at this point.

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First task to making this shell into a shop was too make it useful

 

First step collect up some raw materials, and trying to be a frugal as I can so that more money goes into the cars, And that's why I love working at a factory, just so happened we were getting in new machines from japan. So plenty of wood to make anything I could dream of.

 

Borrowed the trailer from the professor and pulled these monsters home. The ones in the back are probably about 11x11ft square. And the front ones there are 5x5ish

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And my prized treated lumber pallet. Picture is pretty decieving, but this things is actually made of 40"x11' made out of 4x4's and covered with 2x6's. All treated lumber, and there were two of these :) Almost want to make a deck out of some of this.

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I'm so JDM even my work bench's gonna be JDM lol. Do gotta love actual 2"x4" 2x4's though.

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After about 3 weeks I finally had all of the pallets disassembled. Working 10hrs a day and then only being able to work an hour until "Quiet time" really slowed me down, not to mention the snow & rain we've been getting. Eventually I ended up everything taken apart and stacked in the garage. This is the last pallet I took apart, this is all just from one of those huge pallets.

 

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Once it warms up outside he will probably move back out. find out where he/she is coming in and out and use some spray foam to seal up. Under door maybe? I just had similar situation. maybe leave some dog food outside for a few days to draw him out before sealing. JDM wood seems legit. Invest in a ton of florescent light fixtures, seems you cant have to much light, look on craigslist for freebies. Pics...

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I sure hope so... as I know just from what I've discovered in the Grey truck, it did at one time have mice and I'd really like to avoid that if all possible. I'll have to try and look at getting some greatstuff or something like that. So far from what I've been able to find it looks like the only real place to enter is from underneath the garage door in the corners. Yeah I'm definitely looking for more light fixtures. For now I have a nice 4ft T8 6bank light fixture that they tossed out at work...

 

Here it is in how I was using it a week or so ago. Really need to get it hung up. That is also my only source of power out there for now. This should be changing soon though.

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so far haven't had any luck with lights popping up on craigs for cheap yet though...

 

And more pics are on the way :)

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So far been striking out on finding flourescent lamps on the cheap. But did luck out with the generator search.

 

 

 

Also one of the maintenance guys at work was clearing out his polebarn and was getting rid of this.... Now ready for when ever I get a legitimate shop haha

 

 

Found a used Honda EBX5000 for $500... Got to the place looked it over and when we went to start it it wouldn't kick over. So offered him $400 and he took it, and today found out my gamble paid of, got her up and running like a champ, only the slightest smoke with the choke in, and starts on the first pull.

 

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With that got too work finally making some useable realestate.

 

Cleared out the area for the new work bench, while I don't like that I'm going to have to block the grey truck it'll be worth it to have working space.

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With all the pallets apart had plenty of lumber to choose from to get too work.

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Also got some more use out of my station wagon... Gotta love the utilitarianisim of the caprice

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First project done! ended up making it 96x34 so I can still park the caprice in the garage if need be and also won't be too bad moving the trucks around it.

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Now I know the legs are kind of ridiculous on this thing but that's what I had, those boards are actually the top planks from those 11ft pallets

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After the bench was finished up it was time too get some storage figured out, so ended up with this shelf. I have enough planks too make another one too but not sure on how it will work with still being able to move the trucks in and out. Really need to get the grey one drive able and out of the garage so I can start to actually work work on one or the other.

 

The new shelf

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And the new projects in the garage.

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Also the lighting for this photo is all from that nice twin globe Coleman white gas lantern... While not the brightest it will be nice to have an alternate source for when the car battery gets low and I don't feel like listening to the generator.

 

Now also

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  • 2 months later...

Well decided to make a platform for the generator as I don't really want to have to listen to the full drone of it while it's running. Unfortunately the side of the shed is all mud and pretty slanted. Luckily I have a pallet for that lol.

 

Started off with the "Smaller" pallet up on the top. Thing is still about 5x10.

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Cut her down with my trusty old skill saw and got to work putting in some posts to help raise this up and level it.

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Also searched around the piles of junk around the shed and found some old roofing or siding from a collapsed trailer to use in guiding the gutter water down and away from the platform to try and reduce the amount of erosion right next to the shed/platform. And here she is done, now I can store stuff on it along with the generator, and since it's elevated won't have to worry about unsuspectingly stepping on a snake.

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Also recently switched presidents at work and the new one is much more concerned with 5s and general cleanliness. As a result we purged a lot of scrap/un-used equipment. Some of which I gladly took home haha. Really excited about those two green tables as they both roll. So those should come in handy once I start working out side. Be nice to set parts/tools on and then roll back inside when I'm done. Figure I'll use the white table for workin on engines or tran's and then the white upright one is also a rolly one so that'll be nice for hoses and cords.

 

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Well picked up my last pallet for a lil bit lol... The ones in the last photo are still in a pile as I've yet to feel the enthusiasim to go out and tackle taking them apart. However I did get one more that pretty much takes the cake on largest pallet hauled to date. This thing is made out of 3 14ft 4x4's and 2x8's all the way down, and it's about 6 feet wide lol, barely fit on the trailer haha.

 

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And of course they used a million nails on this thing. So still trying to come u with ideas on what to do with it. Really wish I owned my own land as I would turn it into a greenhouse or second shed in a heartbeat.

 

And here I am using good ole simple tools to move this behemoth. In order to get this off the trailer I attached the strap to this scrapped porch. Well sliding on wood the pallet moved pretty well, but trying to move it back into the pile the gravel put up a little more of a fight and I just ended up moving the porch. So this is what I came up with. Hook a strap to the porch and then use it as a pulley almost and then hook the other strap attached to the pallet to my car so I can pull it back since there's no way to hook up straight to it.

 

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Then put the ole caprice in drive while I helped the pallet along by using the 3x4 there as a lever to help ease it along....

 

Ah yes... trailer park engineering at its finest

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You remind me of those guys that come to our parts department with like a thousand pallets on the back of their trucks and still want the 5 broken ones by the dumpster...

 

 

Good shit  B)

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Lol... Kirden, when I was actually walking out to the garage tonight to get my bike I was thinking that same exact thing... I think that'll be one of the first things I do with the 521 when I get it running. In all honesty it really should.

 

Hahah, yeah I know exactly the guy's you're talking about too lol. They swing by work here too. It sucks though when we're setting up new assembly lines (these are all the pallets the machines come on) we have to choose if we want anything as we're unloading them otherwise they all get tossed in a dumpster and hauled away before the end of the day due to our company wanting to keep a nice and clean image

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Sadly my work reuses all of their pallets. I work in a distribution center and we have somewhere around 2-3000 empty pallets around the DC at any given time. If one breaks they salvage it to make others so we don't get to take any home. However, when they did the building expansion we were able to take home huge rolls of industrial insulation for free :P

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  • 2 years later...

Let's see, a 411, a 521, a generator, half aa Honda motorcycle, a bicycle, an engine hoist, a propane tank, a fire extinguisher, an extension cord, an air cleaner, an extension cord, an engine stand, likely with a Datsun engine on it. I have not yet found Waldo though I'm sure he's in there.

 

Where's the 510 getting stuffed?

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  • 1 month later...

Haha, Waldo's back there just gotta keep looking lol. Yeah it's pretty crazy in there. Thankfully got to make some progress with this winter break. Gotta love working in a factory with shutdowns.

 

And 510 being a runner sits out in the elements next to the house.

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First I guess I should clear out the backlog of images I've been sitting on. Finally turned cold enough that I don't feel bad sitting here typing and posting for once. I mean when its end of December and 65* can't just sit inside can ya haha. Not all of use lucky enough to get this yearly, lucky Cali bunch...

 

Though since today it finally returned to a normal Illinois Winter, though snowless, I can finally begin again.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Like most lonely people in the world, I spend a lot of time on craigslist. Just not the "Personal's" side (Probably why I'm still lonely actually....)
 

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Anyways, after doing the 1/4 mile or so walk back and forth from my garage with loaded arms countless times I finally broke down and started looking for a bike. Being the cheapskate frugal individual I am (Owning a Datsun ain't cheap) I searched for a longtime before finally stumbling upon this "Beauty". Wanting a durable bike to carry a load and my not so light self back and forth from the shop, a Chicago born Schwinn Tank was the ticket, and at only $15 Dollars I really couldn't pass it up. After work the next day I met the seller, a cheerful garbageman who thought it was too cool to trash tossed it up on top and brought it home, but not feeling motivated enough to bring it back to life enter me & my 15 Dollars.

The Rebirth of a Legend - 

Once I got It home I took the bent up fenders & chain guide off and spent a little time with a rubber mallet & pieces of wood to get them back to almost their original shapes.

 

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From there it was time to take care of the mechanical s, oiling up the chain, replacing the brake pads & cleaning up the calipers themselves.



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 And, well hoping the tubes inside these slightly weathered tires weren't nearly as old... Thankfully they went up to 30psi and somehow didn't explode into a million pieces.

 

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Then a little bit of elbow grease and turtlewax before re-assembly I got her to clean up really well.

 
Ending up with this fine looking heavy weight Schwinn from my Hometown
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Then late last year for her 2yr anniversary of great service as the shop bike bought a basket and installed an old rack I had sitting around.  Man is this thing convinient!
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(And yes those are Datsun Parts...)
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