Maxt

It seems like an eternity since I was able to do some work on my cars and some engine builds. The last 6 months has been nights and weekends of pipefitting,conduit bending, wire pulling, structural steel welding, the list goes on. The shop is finally at the stage I can tear into my own car and some others to start doing some 7 projects again.

I could have probably gotten it done sooner if I would have farmed some of the work out, but to be honest, things just tend to go a lot smoother for me when I do things myself. Also, I saved a lot money doing all the mechanical and finishing myself. The mezzanine alone would have been in 20k region easily, material cost me about 4500.00

I have some new additions that added a few weeks to the finishing line, I put in a 14,000 lb bendpak 4 post, and new Dynojet 224xlc load bearing/inertia dyno. I had a Dynojet 248 prior for about 4 years, it was a good machine, but just so damn huge, it took up way to much space. Of all the manufacturers I talked to about a replacement dyno, Dynojet was the most accommodating, and was by far the most complete package for the price.. And their stuff just works...

In hindsight I should have gone with the more expensive building quote, I am not very pleased with the base building construction of the shop. I had to wait almost 2 months to get the doors fitted and interior cladding screw ups repaired. And even after that, just about every line in the cladding/trim is either not plumb or running downhill. Everything I have in there now, more or less hides the building screw ups, but if you stand back and line up something I did with the base building lines, it stands out bad.. I have had to train myself not to look at the walls or trim or I just get really pissed off with it..

But I am happy to being able to turn a wrench again, and also not having to work on a creeper anymore.. And lighting, what a difference it makes in a work area, the more the better.. Another big improvement is having hard plumbed air lines and not having to trip over 50 feet of hose anymore, lots of storage space, and a high ceiling to be able to move stuff around.

The only thing left is stairs up to the mezzanine which I will leave for awhile. I want to work in the shop for a bit before I decide where to put them.

phinsup

WOW nice that's one hell of a setup, congrats!

1988RedT2

Awesome! Time to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Maxt

Thanks, yeah it kind of hit me last night that finally I have a shop where car work can be enjoyable again.. I struggled through some pretty big projects in a small garage for years, and it totally sucked.. The last roll cage I did in a car required emptying the whole garage out to do the job, which just makes work, well more work..

I was at the point I dreaded people bringing me cars and motors, because it created so much hassle with my own junk...

banzaitoyota

Very nice!!!!!!

vosko

so is this just a personal shop ?

Maxt

Its for my business, but works well to compliment my personal interests . I do a lot of mechanical contracting work, thats my main business. For the tuning/fabrication work, there isn't a lot of high paying work around since our local race track closes for good at the end of this year. So I just take on a few performance builds every now and then that I want to do, I don't do any standard automotive service work, I really don't care for it and I am not licensed to do it. I may hire someone to just run my dyno, as I am getting more and more local interest to use it.