Mikelly Posted June 9, 2002 Share Posted June 9, 2002 ...So yesterday my lovely wife and I empty out all the Zcar parts and yard "STUFF" from out 10X12 shed that just happens to be sitting right where the garage is gonna go. I'm supposed to pick up a backhow at 12noon, so we need everything out and out of the way before it gets here... By 0930 the chore is done, and the phone rings... The company I'm supposed to get the unit from says "The guy who had it is gonna keep it for an additional week...Sorry!" So I'm calling around to find another one and get lucky enough to get one that will be delivered for the same price as the other unit I was gonna have to pick up... Only catch is that the bucket is 24inches wide and the one I was gonna get was 18inches... which would have required less conrete = Less money! Oh well, I just want the project under way... So my dad and brother arrive and start laying out the leveler so we can shoot the grade and make sure we get the footers consistantly 18 inches deep. Mind you, to this point in my life I have built one set of stairs and a deck that sits ON the ground for my hot tub... I've never built a bird house, let alone a garage... Footers, shooting grades, my brother and dad are speaking alphabet soup at this point.. The backhow is delivered and I climb in (Never driven one of these before either, but what the hell..) and I take it around back where I'm ejected from the seat by my brother, because...I've never driven one of these before! We pull out 5 stumps, and dig the complete 32X24 set of footers in about 3.5 hours. I'm beat, exhausted, but glad we finally got the project under way... Now to get the footers inspected so I can get the block in so we can move past the concrete phase and to the framing/ construction of the structure... Went with bonus room trusses which give me an 11X32 room up stairs of the garage, which will make for one heck of a nice storage area... Gonna run electric, water, heat and AC (Ac for the upstairs only) and cable (Complete with my network connection for the computer!) out there... A true GUYS dream garage, if I survive all of this! I'm also gonna have a lift installed Hopefully by the time we have the HybridZ eastcoast meet... My everything hurts today... and how the hell do you get rid of the stumps once they are dug up??? I'm not sure the landfill will take them... Have to tackle that one today! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 9, 2002 Share Posted June 9, 2002 You take one of those stumps, and cut a concave divot in it and use it for beating sheet metal panels on! Seriously though, good job, construction work (specially at this point in the project) is pretty damned hard work, but the good news is you had a backhoe, I've had to help level a area with the old manual shovel and at the end out of my own pocket, I would have paid for a backhoe! Good luck with it Mike, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted June 9, 2002 Share Posted June 9, 2002 Awesome. Glad you are started on the project. I love my shop, best thing I own! I can make a couple of suggestions FWIW. Doors on both ends, let you drive through and make awesome ventilation. 9' studs instead of 8' for more ceiling height. At least do 1 bay with scissor trusses in case you ever wind up with a lift. My shop is 34x40 with 2/3 vaulted and the other flat for 400 ft sq of attic space. By being 34 feet deep, it is enough to park 4 cars in just a little over half the space freeing up the rest for working on a project or tool storage etc. I started mine in 1997 and am still doing details. I need to get rid of some junker cars and get my brother to take his home. Good luck on the project and I'm happy to offer any assistance if you can think of anything. After I finished I said I'd never build anything bigger than a doghouse ever again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 9, 2002 Author Share Posted June 9, 2002 ...Mike, Mine is gonna have 12 foot walls so we can out the lift I'm buying in it. Today we leveled (By hand) the footers, moved the stumps out front (My neighbors are gonna love me!) and hauled off all the roots, old lumber I had stored, and some old railroad ties we had dug up. 3 loads of debris later and Donna and I are BEAT! I'll call the county tomorrow to get the footers inspected... Then its block ordering time! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted June 10, 2002 Share Posted June 10, 2002 i hate you guys. I live in an apartment, and to do the suspension work on my Z i wound up borrowing my pop's garage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted June 10, 2002 Share Posted June 10, 2002 GRR! If I can get the RX7 sold I'll be upgrading my garage too. No bigger floorspace-wise but I'm going to put on a second story. My problem is no room for a lift height wise. My roof is toast, the shingles shot. Just need to get my bills straight to do this. I figure a barn style roof for headroom and a door on the front end so I can load big stuff up there myself. Need storage space big time and room for a lift, this crap of laying on the floor is WAY old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 10, 2002 Share Posted June 10, 2002 Yeah with the price of lifts being pretty reasonable (2k or so and even that they're available these days) if you have space for it, its sweet, Id have one in a heartbeat, not sure how my brother will feel about putting a second story on his garage though. That one lift ad even parks one under the other car on the lift, hope it doesn't leak anything, that would suck, your roadster drops oil on your vette, all the problems of the rich... haha.. (no sweat to those that have lots of money, you must have done something to earn it), I'm just jealous.. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted June 11, 2002 Share Posted June 11, 2002 Hard work is usually worth the effort, especially when you have good help! Nice to see it's coming along well, Mike! Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 12, 2002 Author Share Posted June 12, 2002 Damn....Last night I had a soil & foundations engineer come over and inspect my footers for me... My soil won't support what I'm building, which means we're still building it, just with more concrete spread over a larger area, and rebar running through it.... This is gonna add to the cost, and take more time.... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted June 12, 2002 Share Posted June 12, 2002 Yeah, but good thing they discovered the problem now rather than after everything started cracking and shifting and generally being unhappy. My crappy garage is pretty much falling over - cracked and disintegrating foundation, rotting joists. Previous owner put a new roof on it (3-4 yrs ago), which I think is either hilarious or poetic - not sure how the roofers were able to crawl around up there without the whole thing falling in. You know what's got me thinking is that magazine ad I've seen that shows the guy working on his Mustang in his garage and he has a pit. Seems musch easier and simpler than a lift and probably cheaper too. Doesn't necessarily make suspension work any easier I suppose. Maybe not a super idea. I'm in a sticky spot because I desperately need a new garage, and need to get one built before my house gets added to the historic district. But I ain't gots the dough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted June 12, 2002 Share Posted June 12, 2002 I`ve tossed around all sorts of ideas including a pit,scissor lift,2 post,4 post, and even in groung hydraulic. when I get back to Ohio for good,I`m going to put in one of the low clearance 2 post lifts. You can pick them up on Ebay for 1800 bucks and no sales tax. I will have to modify the trusses in the front half of my garage to vault the ceilings,But if I had all the money that I`ve spent on chiropractors in the past from having to twist,lift,push and pull while laying under a car. I could have bought two by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted June 13, 2002 Share Posted June 13, 2002 I wouldn't toouch a pit and many counties won't allow them either. It's a safety hazard as fumes can collect in there and lead to an explosion. If I recall correctly gas fumes are HEAVIER than air - guess where they go Look for a USED lift. My friend's shop has at least one that cost only $500 and he's bought several used. Out of the 4 he has only two are new and one of those is a 4post for the dyno and alignments. There's always someone going out of business somewhere selling alift, that's the way I'd go. Even if it needs some repair you're ahead of the game. Just make sure the pump works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clint78z Posted June 13, 2002 Share Posted June 13, 2002 The problem with a pit is it hard to get parts and pieces down there, and clean up is a pain in the hoop. Nothing like a lift to effortlessly work on the underside of a car. Mike will probably be doing some serious wrench time, it will pay off after a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 13, 2002 Author Share Posted June 13, 2002 ... The saga continues... I have a soil Samples Engineer coming out to the house today to asses the mess in the back yard... As for lifts, I can get them "re-certified" delivered, and installed for about $2700. I've seen them for as little as $400 at auctions, but I'm keeping my eyes open for a deal or a hookup, which one of our esteemed members here may very well provide... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted June 13, 2002 Share Posted June 13, 2002 Mike, you referring to me? Esteemed? probably not me then . Ken got rid of that lift elsewhere I believe. I had to say no, unfortunately. I was surely pissed when the wife put the kibosh on having that 2-post lift 1 foot from her car passenger door. Can't say I blame her. This taught me a lesson though - build the bays 12 feet wide or more (and of course, 9+ feet high) if you ever plan on a lift. That's out of the ordinary for builder houses (typically 20'x20' in my area for a 2-car - mine's 20'w X 25'deep). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 13, 2002 Author Share Posted June 13, 2002 Pete, I was refering to someone else! But I appreciate the thought... Yea, My attached garage is 23X24 and it got small safter I loaded it up with shelving and work benches and other crap...I have probably got 1000# worth of stuff in the upstairs above the garage! Way to much crap on my hands... When Les takes the white Z off my hands, that will also remove enough parts to build that car, and then I'll actually be able to focus on the other car! Can't wait to get the garage done so I can actually build this car. I suspect that I'll have a complete roller by winter with a painted and finished car by next spring... This Mustang has re-instated my need to build my Z... The 'stang is a nice car, but it isn't near as quick, and the only edge on the Z is in creature comforts! I'm thinking about electric windows and door locks, as well as A/C! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lockjaw Posted June 14, 2002 Share Posted June 14, 2002 My suggestion for the stumps is about 10 gallons of kerosene and a match. Good luck with them. I once burned a huge pecan tree/stump that fell during one of the hurricanes. Took a week, but it was gone. Good luck. Wish I had a shop too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 14, 2002 Author Share Posted June 14, 2002 The stumps were easy, but expensive... $340 for backhoe rental for Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday, and $200 to this guy with a truck to haul all five of them off... He used a rollback and a winch... But they are gone and I now have the start of some footers dug... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted June 17, 2002 Author Share Posted June 17, 2002 Well it looks like I'll be delayed a week or two while the county and my construction consultant battle it out over how to deal with my soil issue. It can be done, and it will be done. Making the county happy is the issue. So, besides that little pissing war, Les came down on Saturday, evaluated the situation, did the math for my concrete and then took a look at the White Z i'm offering up for trade for services. We have avery amicable deal struck and Les will become the owner of the white Z I have slaved over for many years. It is quite possibly one of the straightest shells I've ever owned and I'm glad it will go to a new home. This will allow me the chance to get the other Z (Chris' Project I acquired!) started, and the cage and paint work done hopefully by October, if not sooner. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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