Coffee Brake: Off Topic
Happy Friday to all DT readers, politicians, coyotes, and professional mud wrestlers. Today, for fun, I am going to open up the comments to
anything you might want to discuss.
Enjoy! Comments below.
Happy Friday to all DT readers, politicians, coyotes, and professional mud wrestlers. Today, for fun, I am going to open up the comments to
anything you might want to discuss.
Enjoy! Comments below.
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I just bought a house. 2 car attached garage and 25'x35' detached heated workshop. What do I need to buy? Is a tire machine more important than furniture? What sort of lift do I want to put in the workshop. What kind of welder do I want? I've got 220v in the workshop, and my hunch is that a MIG would come in more handy more of the time than a TIG, which I'd have to learn. Do I need a Kegerator? How would you recommend I turn a spare tail light 2002 rear end into a bar?
Oh man, lets get this topic going. You and I are in a similar boat here. I'm constrained to 400sq ft so every piece of equipment must justify its footprint. Which is why I no longer have a tire machine.
With regard to welders: learn from my mistake. I got rid of a 220V Marquette MIG and replaced it with a Lincoln TIG. Now I need a MIG again for bodywork. Honestly, I think the best solution is a small MIG like the new Twecos and a good TIG.
And, by the way, congratulations on your purchase!
Enjoy the extra garage: 2-post lift (bend pak or western)which allows you to park another car under it, (if you're secure with the state of its hydraulics). Need a nice big compressor mounted outside (if your local climate permits) with drops scattered throughout the shop to make it easy, plus a really nice overhead reel to keep you from tripping over extension cords. To quote my brother-in-law when I had a similar garage: "You see three cars in here, I see 35 motorcycles!"
The lift setup with a loft on the other side is key to good space utilization. It's really like having two garages in one.
Thanks! Tire machine is a must for me, between 6 cars (all but two have seen track time!) and a dually ramp truck, a tire machine is something I need. I'm tired of paying other people to do a mediocre job mounting/balancing tires for me. I can do my own mediocre job for free. Welder is a necessity for putting my 2002 back together. I've got (limited) stick and mig experience, and I can see where I'd use both on various projects. Eastwood has a pretty cool looking mig for $500. I might be able to put in a compressor overhead, above the ceiling, with some effort. I'd want one that takes oil, which would be tough to do overhead. Lathe and/or bridgeport is something I'd want at some point, but I'll probably pick that up used from a "I know a guy who's looking to get rid of a…" deal.
4 post lifts are best for packing cars in tight spaces. 2 posts are better for servicing cars, but if you store a street car on one long term, the wheel droop is very hard on rubber suspension bushings.
4 post, with dual bridge jacks is the best compromise, if the budget allows it.
Hunter – The welder you need totally depends on what you plan on welding. In a perfect world I would have an oxy Acetylene torch to do some quick cuts, a nice Hobart Handler for some light duty sheet metal/anything that needs some quick zaps (gas no flux) and a tig machine that can do both AC & DC for thicker materials, stainless and aluminum. I would also recommend buying an older analogue machine. A friend of mine just fried a circuit board in his $4,000 Miller tig machine that was really only used occasionally in the garage. This, of course, happened just out of warranty and is incredibly expensive to fix.
Hey Hunter – Sounds like you're on to something with the tire machine. And what August said on the welder. If you're just looking to do some light work like me and don't plan to make a living doing it, just get a new Tweco MIG for around $500 and set up a routine search for an old TIG on craigslist if you're looking to build your skills for not much financial commitment.
As far as the Bridgeport and lathe are concerned, I set aside the money a few years ago and just waited for something to pop up, then jumped on it really quickly. If you're patient around here, you can get a Bridgeport or lathe for under a grand.
Depending on your local climate, you might consider putting the tire machine outside the garage, perhaps in a small shed. They take up a lot of floor space and are only used once or twice a month. Put them in a shed and add a BBQ style cover to double-bag. But maybe that is just me. You also need: A good rolling floor jack, set of plastic ramps, work bench, bench vise, large pipe clamps, metal storage racks (on walls or overhead), a mill, a lathe (if you've got the space), drill press, beer fridge.
Don't forget the bench press!
(And the hundreds of bottles of creatine in the crawlspace).
Local climate sees snow on occasion. Tire machine will be inside the workshop for the foreseeable future. I'll look into moving it out, though.
A couple of my cars don't have any rubber suspension bushings. They've been replaced with spherical bearings/polyurethane in every spot. I've had my sights set on a 2 post for ages, car storage is a lot less important than wrenching ease.
Bench press ain't happening. Fat fo lyfe.
Cool projects I found for sale this morning
'61 Unibody Ford (Mercury) shortbox
kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?requestSource=b&adId=1205434986
'61 Impala
kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?requestSource=b&adId=1205958037
409 for the Impala
kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/edmonton/reduced-very-rare-chevy-409/1205967408?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
Have you guys seen this kit?
prerunner miata
Just got a new subscription to grassroots after taking a few years off. Always love the builds and ads for strange stuff.
Also another off the wall participant from the $2016 GRM challenge
[image src=" grassrootsmotorsports.com/media/img/articles/AWN_0386.jpg" width="400px"/]
Wow, that looks like a lot of fun. I'd love to see some videos of it in action!
How many of you actually plan on voting in November?
I'm going to grit my teeth and do it.
Throwing a dart at something, I don't know what.
The second Trump/Clinton got the nominations, I started researching 3rd party candidates. Then I realized they were Jill Stein and Gary Johnson. So now I'm researching property values in Ireland.
In all seriousness though, I'm probably writing in Colin Powell. Or my buddy Steve.
Vote for Steve 2016!!