ratsun workshop project

[Gary]

nice one, thanks

[Mr.Dean_Yates]

No problem! Nice shop

[Gary]

i had to move some cars beside the shed

 

a little more digging and cut a nice hole

 

all fitted and glued together. you can sort of see how out of level the ground is here

 

i got some dirt bought and delivered. not as clean as i'd have liked but it was cheap

 

i had to fill in the trenches obviously but also level out one side of the shed and make as shallow a gradient to the shed door as i could. its still not very level but at least built up more, looks much nicer. i'm thinking about top soil but might see how the grass takes to this first

[]2eDeYe]

Man that mezzanine is beef, love it. Excellent use of space and materials. :cool: 

[Gary]

finally got the roof screwed down properly

 

got some gutters up

 

and some downpipes in place. messed up the gap a little :( but almost done!

[Gary]

gutters finished, then final shed inspection by the local council. all was ok except the downpipes from the top roof. they said i had to make them discharge over a longer distance which i thought it was pointless but ironically a few weeks after i'd made them we had probably the heaviest rainfall we'd ever had. i was watching it and i can kind of see why they want them, the bottom gutter would easily have overflown at the ends without something spreading out the flow. i made them up as i went a long, they're probably not ideal but they do what they should do

 

i needed lighting so i worked out a reasonably cheap and simple way to do it. i started with a 12V power supply and used decent gauge speaker wire to some switches, then wired from there to those LED adhesive light ribbons you can buy from ebay for cheap. i got some aluminium channel and stuck the strips to that (but because of the heat i cabletied them also), then riveted them to various bits of the shed. for the mezzanine i riveted little neo magnets to the channel and it works ok. i think they were SMD5050 LED's i can't remember now. i haven't done the whole shed yet, ill do them as i need them i think.

[Gary]

i've been spending a lot more time on cars recently so work has been going into them and some random things around the shed for storage. i made this that hangs off the mezzanine for powertools and things

 

a big pain in the ass is what i do with tools when i've just finished using them. i forget where i dropped them or they're always where i'm not, so i made this to help

 

i was stressing out over some weld tests for mmaw a while back and ended up putting myself in bed with the flu because of the fumes. i made this quickly so that wouldn't happen again. useless for most of the things i make but really good for small things like welding coupons. the shed went from very hazy after an hour to crystal clear after a few hours. im not sure how long the fan will last, it's just a bathroom fan.

 

i've been getting progress in on some cars for a change and one of them needs lots of work with the lathe, but the old enclosure i made was terrible. machining is tedious enough without being uncomfortable doing it. both the mill and lathe were uncomfortable to use, and their old stands were huge and taking up too much space so i salvaged some 200mm SHS from work, cut up some of the old enclosures for 20mm and 30mm SHS and made much smaller, much higher much easier access stands for both machines. makes a massive difference. they wobble a little so i need to brace some things but overall they work fine.

 

since i'm losing the old enclosures i've also lost some of the storage space they had. i was planning on getting aluminium for these yesterday but the place i go is closed over christmas. here's what i had in mind anyway, shelves that don't go to the floor so i still have the space to manouvre cars on dollys around the shed as i need to. i'll get a light under the shelf near the lathe too so i can see what tolerances i'm going over.

[]2eDeYe]

Love this shed. Will be stealing a few ideas from it :D

[Draker]

I am jealous of anyone with a shop... You've done great work!

[jesusno2]

as man after my own heart and a fabricator myself with some structual steel  :thumbup: nice work well planned out.

[Gary]

small update, i've been working on cars and things again and the shed hasn't needed much more for me to work

 

with the machinery enclosures gone, lots of random stuff i needed to store was on the floor

so i started with a basic frame, screwed to the supports of the shed

 

then welded shelves to that, and riveted some of the old tiny shed sheets i kept around. fairly rough but they do what the need to

 

had some 'fun' refinishing some wheels for my other car, this pic gives a decent idea of the lighting i made. im going to replace it with better LED strip lighting eventually so the whole shed is lit.

[racerx]

Nice shop..

[Hondanx250]

Life goal right there! 

[Lachlan]

On 10/7/2013 at 5:38 PM, Gary said:

started out like this, thats the fleet 😄 just missing the 620 and a cressida, and my current daily. an extra manly mazda demio/bubble

While most of us have ADHD with cars, the one that’s stuck around is my better half’s daily: a ‘99 Mazda 121 Metro DW with the mighty 1.3L mated to a three speed auto. 54kW / 72hp through 13” front wheels isn’t much on paper, but something magic happens when you dial it in just right. It goes like a scalded cat!

 

Being younger-er and dumber-er, I got tired of paying mechanics and bought a basic set of tools to do simple maintenance jobs. Over time I delved deeper into deferred maintenance, then into preventative maintenance, and finally into extracting every last drop of that little engine’s performance juice. With most of the (non-internal) mechanicals now either replaced or refreshed, it’s a hoot to drive. The term ‘go-kart’ comes to mind. This was my weapon of choice when joining @slowlearner at his club’s motorkhana a few years back. It beat the likes of many more powerful cars and won the newcomers category.

 

Many cars made during the Japanese bubble economy era (1986-91) were overengineered in comparison to others manufacturers offerings, and I suspect these cars enjoyed some of that effect. It drives much better than a boxy nana car should. The DW is almost identical to your DB except it has a fuel injector for each cylinder not just one on the carb.

 

Yeah, so to say I’m a fan is an understatement. Great cars, no shame.

[datsunfreak]

On 8/19/2023 at 6:44 PM, Lachlan said:

While most of us have ADHD with cars, the one that’s stuck around is my better half’s daily: a ‘99 Mazda 121 Metro DW with the mighty 1.3L mated to a three speed auto. 54kW / 72hp through 13” front wheels isn’t much on paper, but something magic happens when you dial it in just right. It goes like a scalded cat!

 

 

Those were really cool. Wish we had got them here in the states...