280zwitha383 Posted May 23, 2006 Share Posted May 23, 2006 I really like the logo but if you're close to people I think it would draw attention which might not be a good thing. If you're not then that would be really cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BiltWel Posted May 24, 2006 Share Posted May 24, 2006 Very Nice Shop Man!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Beck Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Hi Grumpyvette Very nice garage indeed... A few words about Ben Person Lifts... In another life, back In 1975 I owned/operated a Muffler Shop - had a new Ben Person Pipe Bender and two 4 Post Lifts. After I actually learned something about the business... I realized that I should have bought a Huth Pipe Bender... and I found that Ben Person was a young company at that point. One day I was letting a car down, as I watched a fine young girl walk by outside... distracted to say the least... My attention was returned to the car when I heard it sliding sideways and threatening to fall off the lift!! YEA GAD !!! One of the "stops" had failed to retract on the Left Front Post...so that corner was still at its uppermost position... in the mean time the other three corners were allowed to come down... The car was sliding backward on the ramps, as the Right Side was now about four feet lower than the left front... As the car slide - the lift made a horrible noise... twisting posts, drive on ramps sliding across the cross braces... I jumped back away from the lift.... as the Customer exclaimed "Watch My CAR!!"... Everything was at a "ALL STOP"... and I stood there wondering how I was ever going to get this customers car safely back on the ground... After I calmed down... I called Ben Person in Arkansas. They put a "technician" on-line... I explained what had happened..... cute little ass walking by and all.... and he said; "no problem, just go out and push the UP button and raise the car back up... then make sure all the STOPS are up and let the car down". I told him I was not intending to get too close to that mess, because I was afraid that it would either fall on me, or go through the side of the building. He said; "then take a broom handle, stand back and push the UP button... I will give you my word that if anything happens, other than the car returning to the full up position - then coming down properly - Ben Person and Company will pay all damages". He added the fact that he was the lead engineer there - and that lift had 4 times the strength required in every aspect of its design build. He also said he was one of the Principle Owners of the company.. So I took a boom handle - stood back - and pushed the UP button. Among much loud creaking, screeching and popping... the car did in fact return to the lift's full up position... and all four posts returned to their former unbent state. I put the STOPS up and let the lift and car down... The Customer, now some three hours into this venture... exclaimed "I'll be damned!"... "if I hadn't been here to see that - I wouldn't have believed it." Needless to say, there was no charge for the work on his car... Two days later the man from Ben Person was in the shop to inspect the lift... and find out why one stop had failed to retract. He OK'd the condition of the lift ... and three months later a service team from Ben Person was in the shop installing a new mechanism for raising all the STOPS.... At that point I found out that I had two of the first twenty 4 Post Lifts they had designed and built for the Muffler Shop industry... Bottom line - don't buy a lift from anyone that hasn't been in business for at least 20 years. Don't buy a lift from anyone that builds their lifts outside the USA (to avoid product liability suites)... Don't PAY for anything purchased from ANYONE until it is delivered to you (the exception is when you are dealing directly with the factory, that has been in business for at least 20 years). Way too much FRAUD with retailers and re-sellers or "factory rep.'s".... If they don't have the working capital to order and deliver your lift - prior to payment - RUN... FWIW, Carl Carl Beck Mad Hatter Muffler (lost a lot of money on that one...) Clearwater, FL USA http://ZHome.com 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8260 Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 thats awesome. I can only dream.....for now anywho..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOTORHEAD427 Posted December 5, 2006 Share Posted December 5, 2006 Nice garage Grumpy... Wouldn`t it be better if it had 3 doors instead of just 2?...Easier access... ERIC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted December 6, 2006 Author Share Posted December 6, 2006 "Wouldn`t it be better if it had 3 doors instead of just 2?...Easier access..." now IM sure your not the first guy thinking that way.. first EACH HURRICANE RATED door cost in EXCESS of $3500 AND security holds as a bigger factor for me than ease of access. so let me point out a few facts.... I use the shop MAINLY to build RACE and HOT STREET/STRIP engines....and building a few race cars and secondary to park my corvettes and tractor, I don,t work to a tight schedual,I do things CORRECTLY and with friends, theres rarely a need or room for more than a few cars due to all the engines in various stages of completion and the necessary tools I don,t do this as a BUSINESS , rather as an OBSESSIVE hobby to a very sellect few friends, IM constantly booked solid for years in advance, while a great deal of time and parts cycle thru the shop its RARE for me to make any money, what I do get is satisfaction of having alot of races won with my engines, and a rather tight group of old geezers that love embarraseing the younger crowd with cars that leave them thinking thier brakes locked up as they get left in the tire smoke, looking at the fast receeding tail lights btw doing it as a hobby beats doing it as a BUSINESS like I did for 28 years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOTORHEAD427 Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 It makes a lot of sense Grumpy. Thanks for replying. ERIC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 So um.... how much you asking for rent? That thing is bigger than most houses over here. And just a FYI a friend of mine owns a european & japanese auto shop and when they recently moved locations they bought those lifts and haven't had a problem yet. They have 3 lifts, always full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naviathan Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 6"-8" thick concrete...Man that must have cost a pretty penny to have poured. I had mine done at 4" as that's the minimum recommended for a lift and concrete is expensive since Katrina hit. Everything here is being shipped down there for repairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted December 6, 2006 Author Share Posted December 6, 2006 "6"-8" thick concrete...Man that must have cost a pretty penny to have poured. " thats the basic floor the area under the lift base is slightly thicker, and its NOT the crappy 2400psi concrete most contracttors use its MINIMUM TEST 3500psi concrete,( I paid EXTRA) just the floor slab cost me $21,000 but its got enought rebar and good concrete, that its not likely to have problems youll be supprised at the minimal differance in cost of concrete, around here at the time a yard of 2400psi was $90, 3500 PSI (GAURANTEED to TEST HIGHER) (yeah I had it tested, it tested over 4000psi) was only $105 a cubic yard,theres aproximately 90 cubic yards in the slab, (keep in mind the footer under the walls it much thicker and wider)so the differance was only about $1350, on a garage costing 100K plus thats minimal. but you would thinkl its worth it after hearing the lift installers bitch about " THATS THE HARDEST and THICKEST SLAB IVE SEEN IN 30 YEARS installing LIFTS" thats why its a ALI certified/validated by ETL LIFT and had it profesional;ly installed also http://www.ben-pearson.com/9000si.shtml I could have purchased a chinese lift for less than 1/2 the cost, but.....hey my butts going to be under that lift, you can bet Im making reasonably sure its not going to fail due to anything I can CONTROL/PREVENT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naviathan Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 One of the previous owners of my house was a concrete mason and there was a ton of rebar behind my house so I had them throw as much rebar in it as they saw fit to make the concrete as strong as possible. It's worked out well so far, but I haven't gone the lift route yet. My garage is 23'x27' and it cost me $1500 for the concrete. I got the fiber mix for more support too. The only thing I wish I had done differently is get the surface smoothed. I had them do a brush finish for better adhesion when I painted the epoxy. In retrospec I think it's too course and could be a bit smoother, but it works and I'm happy to have a nice place to work under my cars. Of course now I've got more junnk in there than I know what to do with and I need to clean it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted December 6, 2006 Author Share Posted December 6, 2006 "The only thing I wish I had done differently is get the surface smoothed" there ARE VERY HARD/SMOOTH EPOXY COMPOUND finish coats available that can be poured and smoothed on the surface that leave a glass smooth rock hard bonded surface...about a 1/6" thick,they cost a good deal but it might be an option? this MIGHT be one of them, but its an option http://www.epoxy-coat.com/floor_paint_samples.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naviathan Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Yes I looked at those and I wish I could afford that kind of epoxy, but alas, I only had a certain amount saved up to complete my garage and between the concrete and the tools, I'm tapped out. I went with a cheaper, not the cheapest, but a cheaper epoxy that was suppose to be really good. It went on like water. It repels water well, but it's not chemical resisitant as the label claimed. I was working on a lawn mower and spilled a bit of gas on the floor and when I wiped it up the rag turned gray from the epoxy coming up with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldestzguy Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 I hope I am not hijacking a thread here but I guess we are all talking about our garages and bathrooms, etc. Soooo, You guys that need a bathroom out back for your garage; DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND: check out the one I built and is selling on ebay; item number 200055138183 and can be transported on a truck. It is not going to sell there, they have thousands of things to look through before you get to mine. Even your wives would like it. Hooks right up to your plumbing exceeding all code req by far. Thank god I'm a county boy..... City boys don't look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naviathan Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Nice, out houses have a come a long way since a hole and four walls... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 6, 2006 Share Posted December 6, 2006 Grumpy, I'm gonna do the exact same thing on the concrete when I have the addition built onto my shop. I'm looking at 3500PSI at about 8 inches with rebar in it. Mine will have stub outs for sink/toilet, but My drain/septic field is uphill and I'm not sure how that's gonna work... The shop addition keeps growing every week... Place is currently 26deep by 32wide and we're gonna make it atleast 60ft. wide total. Not sure if the depth for the addition will remain at 26ft. or go deeper on the addition. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted December 7, 2006 Author Share Posted December 7, 2006 "Mine will have stub outs for sink/toilet, but My drain/septic field is uphill and I'm not sure how that's gonna work..." youll most likely need to install a LIFT STATION PUMP like I was forced to, building department B.S. the top of my septic tank is about 2 feet below my slab height and the garage floor slab,is on a mound I had built thats 4-4.5 feet above the surrounding area, but the heath dept insisted on having the contractors building the drain field height 1 foot lower than the slab so I needed 40 truck loads of fill brought in and have a huge drain field for a septic tank that rarely gets used at a cost of about $12,000 on that part alone, so the total cost on the bathroom was close to $17,000 btw I needed a hole dug larger than the foundation that was 5 feet deep and 45 x 80 before they started pouring in crushed rock/sand fill so the foundation was over 8 feet deep under the slab, that then was hammered and packed,and certified solid enough that it would support the garage, it seems that in palm beach some areas are soft....anouther in a long line of expences....dream garages cost money.. that was 60 plus truck loads of FILL, the stuff dug out was used to slope the area as it was considered inferior as a foundation, as it was sand and dirt mix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldestzguy Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 Sometimes you canplumb the bathroom to a buried 55 gallon plastic drum ($12 Home Depot) and sink a submersible solid waste pump ("150 Harbor Freight) that has an automatic float switch into it sitting on a concrete block on the bottom; to pump stuff many many yards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 I got an E-mail asking how I managed to get the cars/garage, if Im on a budget, well its been a 35 year PLUS goal Ive worked at!, I bought the land when I was 18 years old (41 years ago) and it was a HUGE burden finacially, for several years,but a necessary step in my goal to retire with a decent shop to work on corvettes.... I plan and (DREAM)both (long and short term goals) but the SECRET too ACTUALLY ACHIEVING those goals is to write out a very detailed STEP BYE STEP PLAN detailing whats required to reach those goals...... example if your goal is to install a big block 600hp engine in a 1996 corvette, thats fine....but you need to both make a list of the parts, thier price, the suppliers that have them ,youll need to aquire the skills necessary or line up someone with those skills on your calender and work them into your budget,then, locate the car, make the purchase, and budget all the costs, youll need a place to work, a time table, schedual,a budget that includes so slack for the obvious screw-ups and unforseen , and a calender with each step listed and the finances secured, if you won,t do that and stick to the plan, its a #$%^& day dream, not a realistic GOAL. you should have BOTH a REALISTIC time frame (schedual) and BUDGET, and KNOW exactly when and where EACH component will be available and reached and a check off each step, and NOT think ...SOME DAY, or WHEN I GET SPARE CASH....THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN, SOMETHING ALWAYS COMES UP!, if you can only afford $50 a month toward your goal, thats fine, it will take longer than a guy who can access $250, but youll BOTH reach the goal, IF and ONLY IF you stick to the detailed plan with the list and budget! spending time and money on other projects will slow or defeat your main goals, DON,T get side tracked, accomplish your MAIN goals, then add new ones but don,t get stupid and un-realistic, if your not willing to schedual, budget and work toward the realization of your goals they are ..DAY DREAMS at best..........the old sayings true... EITHER PLAN OR PLAN TOO FAIL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyvette Posted September 13, 2007 Author Share Posted September 13, 2007 updated picture of the old guy at one of your requests, to see what the old geezer looks like back yard view btw if you think your garage is a mess....don,t worry they DO EVENTUALLY clean up........this is a picture from a year ago taken on the first day when we first got power with everything just STUFFED in the garage untill we can sort it out and put it away, my son took the picture from scaffolding as he was installing light fixtures, theres a good 25 feet still behind him thats why the garage appears shorter than it is really, and yes Im darn proud of a dream thats slowly come true, of having my dream shop, Ill post more picturtes once its complete, theres phones, computers and more fans,, welders, extensive shelving, work benches and lights still to install at that point, most but not all is in a year plus later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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