Woo Hoo!! Garage Mods!!!

[Petrograde]

Well,.. ok it's not a mod really. But, my Marauder will finally have a dry, safe place to sleep in!

Since this is my 1st home, and my 1st garage; I was wondering is anyone had any cool garage setups...

It's a small 2 car garage,... in fact, I pulled my car in today to check out the space and found out that I have approximately 4 inches of space left in front of the car and just enough room to close the door. :rolleyes:

I'm gonna have to figure out how to fit a workbench, an air compressor, a cabinet or two, and roll-away tool box in there. .....Any ideas?

I haven't bought the workbench, air compressor, or cabinets yet. Any one have any favorite brands or preferences?

I've budgeted $1800.00 for this, so no Snap On stuff unfortunately!

Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Tom

PS- the Marauder will be the only car in there,.. the wife's Honda will have to brave the elements! :banana2:

[martyo]

Tom:

Funny you should ask. My garage has been my fall/winter project. I added the following: (i) floor lift - 48" of lift height for the whole car (woot!); (ii) 6hp/27 gallon compressor (with drop down overhead air hose); (iii) roll away tool chest (man, that thing is big); (iv) new shelving: (v) new paint; (vi) 5 new flourescent fitures (I like a bright work area); (vii) speaker phone; and (viii) more stuff if the snow doesn't let up and I am trapped working instead of driving.

I will be posting pics as soon as I am done -- hopefully in the nexty week or two. But it is looking pretty sweet. Hint: A black Marauder looks awesome against a bright white paint job!!).

[Petrograde]

sweet! :up: I'm looking at the same kind of air compressor (6hp/27 gal, upright) I found at Lowe's for under $300. My walls are painted white. You're right, she looked very good in there!

I'm gonna have to put some flourescent fixtures in. Right now there is only a naked 60 watt bulb hanging there. That won't do! You're right,.. you need to see what you're doing!

My garage is already outfitted for phone and cable!! lol.... I wish I could get a lift,.. not enough room or funds for something that spiffy!

I've been looking for a workbench,.. but I haven't really found any. I been to Lowe's and Home Depot, all I've seen there is the Gladiator system, which is nice, but out of my price range. ........Can anyone help me out here?

Tom

[Bigdogjim]

Tom I have used Craftmen's for years. Sears is good quality stuff. NASCAR use them! Look around for yard sales or check with local garages to see if they are upgrading:)

[Ross]

Don't forget the very top of your walls. If you're like me, you have a lot of stuff that you hardly ever use, and you want to store it out of the way. If you are handy at all, you can buy cheap, but sturdy lumber and build shelves all the way across the tops of your walls where you can store things you won't use often, and leave the more accessible space for things you will use more often. A lot of times people get/build shelves that only go about 6 feet up, and there is a lot of unused air space near the ceiling.

[Petrograde]

Tom I have used Craftmen's for years. Sears is good quality stuff. NASCAR use them! Look around for yard sales or check with local garages to see if they are upgrading:)

I agree,.. I use Craftsman tools at work, never had a problem returning a broken tool. hmm,.. I guess I better start looking around!


Don't forget the very top of your walls. If you're like me, you have a lot of stuff that you hardly ever use, and you want to store it out of the way.

hey,.. good idea,.. I hadn't thought of that.

Thank guys!

Tom

ps- this is my 1000th post!!!! :banana2:

[Logan]

Before you do anything, lay an epoxy coating down on that floor! It makes all the difference!

Just make sure you get a two part epoxy, the one stage epoxy's suck beans.

You can get it in almost any color you can dream up. My last house, I painted the floor Ford Blue, this house it's beige to match the rest of the house.

[Petrograde]

Before you do anything, lay an epoxy coating down on that floor! It makes all the difference!

Just make sure you get a two part epoxy, the one stage epoxy's suck beans.

You can get it in almost any color you can dream up. My last house, I painted the floor Ford Blue, this house it's beige to match the rest of the house.

Dude,.. you read my mind,... but I was thinking about this. linky (http://racedeck.com/shop.htm)
I wonder how much this stuff costs? That will be the decieding factor!

Tom

[rumble]

I'm gonna have to figure out how to fit a workbench, an air compressor, a cabinet or two, and roll-away tool box in there. .....Any ideas?

I haven't bought the workbench, air compressor, or cabinets yet. Any one have any favorite brands or preferences?


I've budgeted $1800.00 for this, so no Snap On stuff unfortunately!

Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Tom

PS- the Marauder will be the only car in there,.. the wife's Honda will have to brave the elements! :banana2:

Tom,
In a past life I used to sell Snap-on tools but I have always built my own work benches from 2 by 4's and 3/4 inch plywood. I mount a 5" vise, bench grinder and bench mounted drill press on the top. By doubling
the 3/4" plywood you can pound away on thee top with no ill effects. If necessary you can cover it with galvanized but I have never found that to be necessary. I make the bench so I can fit a 30gallon, 5 hp air compressor
under the bench and out of the way and at the end I put my parts washer. The bench top is 16' long and 24" wide. Compact and very sturdy, you can build it for a pittance compared to a "manufactured" one. It fits
nicely along one wall in the garage and my Snap-on tool box goes at the front.
Gary

[martyo]

Dude,.. you read my mind,... but I was thinking about this. linky (http://racedeck.com/shop.htm)
I wonder how much this stuff costs? That will be the decieding factor!

TomTom:

This stuff is similar: http://www.griotsgarage.com/images/products/lg/91340_LG.jpg

But it is pretty pricey at $15.00 per square foot! A 12 foot by 17 foot garage would run you over $3,000.00. Yikes! I have been exploring some nice extra large floor mats for the same purpose and the price is only a couple of hundred bucks, plus install/removal is much easier.

[Petrograde]

Tom:

This stuff is similar: http://www.griotsgarage.com/images/products/lg/91340_LG.jpg

But it is pretty pricey at $15.00 per square foot! A 12 foot by 17 foot garage would run you over $3,000.00. Yikes! I have been exploring some nice extra large floor mats for the same purpose and the price is only a couple of hundred bucks, plus install removal is much easier.


I also found this..Kiwi Tile (http://www.kiwitile.com/products/) $2.93 a sq. ft. I guess it would cost something like $1800 for a 2 car garage.

I can't imagine why the hell that other stuff is soooo expensive! It looks like the same thing! :rolleyes:

Tom

[martyo]

I also found this..Kiwi Tile (http://www.kiwitile.com/products/) $2.93 a sq. ft. I guess it would cost something like $1800 for a 2 car garage.
I like that.....Must investigate. Maybe I will order their sample pack to get a looksee....

[Petrograde]

I like that.....Must investigate. Maybe I will order their sample pack to get a looksee....

I spent over an hour 'designing' (http://www.kiwitile.com/design/) my floor yesterday. :P seems like some descent stuff huh? ...and the price is the best I've found so far.

Racedeck.com has what looks to be the same stuff, but no price listing. :rolleyes: I've e-mailed them for details. I'll post it here.

I was thinking about going with a black and grey checkerboard. :cool: White seems a little too high maintenance!

Tom

[Petrograde]

you can build it for a pittance compared to a "manufactured" one.
Thanks Gary, but I'm no Bob Vila. :lol: in fact, I'm a terrible carpenter.

However,.. with a new house I'm gonna have to learn eventually huh? :o

Tom

[Logan]

You didn't look too hard. Go find a distributor on the net. Search google on "race deck" tile price...

Here's one:

http://www.tracksidesupply.com/Merchant4/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RES&Category_Code=iaMiscellaneous3

[Petrograde]

lol,.. well,.. I guess I didn't look too hard,.. Thanks Logan! :up:

Tom

[jaywish]

Hi Tom,

I saw the picture of the front of your garage but did not see the back end.

What is behind the garage? I ask because this is where you may be able to make a significant improvement.

I live in an old town and many of the garages were too short for the 60's cars so folks modded the garage itself.

They would cut out a hole larger then the hood & trunk. Then build a box (with a sloped roof) around the hole so they could pull their car all the way in the garage. Or have room to work on either end depending if it was parked nose or tail in.

This probably matters more if you have a cold or rainy or buggy season to deal with and would want to work on the car with the door closed.

If my description was not clear, let me know & I'll try again.

Other than air you may want to have a couple of 20Amp outlet electric boxes installed in strategic locations.

I have both a Sears 120/220v oilless compressor (the largest 120V model) and it is nice, but for faster recycle times I like the standard 220V model. Don't forget FLR ! and two different color hoses if you ever want to paint so you don't get oil in the paint hose.

Adios,
Jay

Dont mind the Speelling..