What did you do in/to your Garage today?

General conversations about BMW E28s and the people who own them.
vinceg101
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What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by vinceg101 »

In looking through the decades of threads here, I didn't really come across a specific dedicated thread for our Garages/Shops. I am a big fan of the similar forum sections and threads over on GarageJournal.com on which peoples' garages/shops are documented; I live vicariously through them and envy their adventures in the construction of brand new shinny work spaces. There are two, a sub-section which dedicated to show-casing your Shop space
(https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/for ... ay.php?f=7) and the other a thread which asks "What did you do in your shop today?"
(https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/sho ... p?t=126997). Some of you here are posting members over there, and while I lurk over there, I'm not terribly active. I realize this may be a sub-thread to the ever popular related threads here on this forum: "What did you do to your house today?" and "What did you to your car today" and by extension "What did you to do to your other car(s) today?", however I thought maybe it was time to create a thread dedicated to our specific work spaces, whether it be a garage, yard, storage unit, barn, or whatever regardless of its' size. It's the space we work in on our cars and this thread is about what you do in it and what you do to it.

If you've been like me, maybe you all have been spending a lot more time in your shop these past few months. I have been taking advantage of doing certain improvements to The Hangar now that there hasn't been the constant summer pressure of car events and preparation for them. All these improvements are both in support of doing future car projects and a bit of procrastination mixed in.

So let me start with what I have been doing over the last month or two to the actual space:
First off, as some of you are aware and some of have actually been here, The Hangar is exactly that: a 2,000 s.f. communal aircraft hangar at one of the somewhat nearby local county airports, that I share with now just two other like-minded car guys (one deep in the '02 and Coupe crowd and the other an avid American racing car driver, don't ask me to remember the class and category). We were lucky to get this space some 9 years ago and have been using it to full effect for work and storage ever since. It's doubly cool that I get this space to retreat to that is all about working on my car and that I am surrounded by other life-long fascination: airplanes. Both airplanes and helicopters are all around me taxiing, flying over, taking off, landing, etc. all day long while I'm up there.
This past Sunday I was up there working on both the M535i chasing down an electrical gremlin and starting a long delayed interior upgrade to the E39. Here they are together, it's not often that these two get to "socialize" in the same space, the race driver had his new rig, a Camaro, out for a race weekend (probably Buttonwillow):
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Over the past few months doing some organization and shuffling when we went from 4 tenants to 3, I added some new heavy duty shelving (the ones on the left side of the first photo) and this slap-dash utilitarian work bench:
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It was mostly made from left-over parts and stock; the top was an Ikea Scratch & Dent clearance item my wife and I have been schlepping around for the last two decades that was languishing in my garage at home, the back was leftover from my closet remodel, and the 2x4's were from various projects. The only thing I had to buy was one stick of 2x4, the Simpson post connectors (great things those) and the shelf brackets for the light above. I had everything else. The bench vise is my father's that I remember vividly being in his basement workshop back in New Jersey. The rolling drop-leaf drawer box underneath is my Craigslist find painted out to match the Craftsman tool chest colors; it contains all my hardware.

Speaking of which, I re-shuffled my collection of vintage Craftsman tool chests from the outer wall to an "island" in the middle of my bay:
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These too were Craigslist finds and are in various states of refinishing. They are mostly from the late 1960's and early 1970's and are built like tanks to last a lifetime; I know once they are re-painted and lubed up they will outlast me. The one odd-ball out is the Husky Mid box in the first photo; I re-painted it to blend in with the Craftsman's. I have two other smaller 3-drawer bottom cabinets on the opposite wall that hold supplies and other tools as well. (It is my submission/response to the "Wall of Craftsman" thread over at GJ).

Also I tested out some prototype jack stand adapters for standard jack stands to fit the jack pads on the E39 body. A relatively simple design to be able to lock into the receiving "cup" to stabilize the car when on the stands. It is a steel box with a piece of bar stock on top:
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(And before you ask, no: these are not part of the infamous HF recall; the pawls on these are quite substantial).
The design works so I'm going to polish up the design a bit and see if the welder I worked with will do a run of these since I KNOW there are other E39/46/38/X5 owners here that might find these useful. I am not a welder (yet, maybe?) otherwise I would do this myself. Maybe someone who does weld wants to step up and give it a go?

Anyway, I have a really long list of tasks and projects for the space. The next being a pneumatic air distribution system (a mix of copper and RapidAir Maxline) which I'm gathering parts for presently.
Someday, we may get a lift...
Last edited by vinceg101 on Sep 02, 2020 10:50 AM, edited 2 times in total.
dsmith
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by dsmith »

Well, I cleaned an oil pan of its original gasket tonight, as part of a manual transmission swap. The intent for my garage was to not have anything on the floor. Well that didn’t happen and now I have a car on a rotisserie and 1 on jack stands and parts all over the place. Too hot for welding and grinding, so I decided to increase the value on the 528e until it cools down and I can finish body work on my b35 e30 wagon.

Probably another year before I start getting the space in shape for the future.

Very nice space you have there.
RetiredDoc
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by RetiredDoc »

After I realized I have vehicles with a total of 54 tires, I have been ordering and setting up equipment so that I can remove, install, and spin balance tires at home. The final piece arrived today, a rolling tire storage rack from Tire Rack.

Today I assembled the rack.

Now it looks like I will need a bigger air compressor to be able to do tractor tires. That will mean another 240V circuit addition, which will require a sub panel install since my shop 100A subpanel is already maxed out.

I can hear my wife now. “You do know that you could hire people to do that, and for less money than you’re spending on the tools.”

You spend your life acquiring tools, and then you die.

Wonder what the wife will do with them?
gadget73
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by gadget73 »

workshop, but close enough. Used my lathe to face off a couple of hex bars used to press out bearings at work. It has to pass through a hex bore bearing, rotate, and press out a second one using the corners. They get beat up and sometimes it just has to get shaved back enough so the corners exist again.
vinceg101
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by vinceg101 »

RetiredDoc wrote: Sep 01, 2020 10:38 PMI can hear my wife now. “You do know that you could hire people to do that, and for less money than you’re spending on the tools.”

You spend your life acquiring tools, and then you die.

Wonder what the wife will do with them?
I used to hide most of my car & shop acquisitions from my wife (and still do for the most part) since, okay I'll confess, I have a streak of self-preservation born out of avoiding having "that" fight with my wife (I'm sure I'm not alone, right?). But lately I realized that in the unlikely event of my sudden demise, she is going to have to liquidate all my crap. Some of said crap is actually worth a lot of money; not to just to fellow E28'ers, but has actual open-market worth. Tools, parts, the actual cars, etc. all are adding up to quite a lot. So I have been making an inventory or sorts and keeping in it the vault with an instruction letter showing her the value and a list of as yet named individuals to contact to aid in their liquidation.

It's a rather morose exercise, but a few mores years like 2020 and who knows what to expect?
RetiredDoc
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by RetiredDoc »

I prepared 4 old tires for disposal.

I have four old tires from my car haul trailer. Rather than make a run to the county tire disposal site, I decided to find a way to dispose of them in the the household trash.

Googled and found ways to cut up an old tire. The most common was to separate the tread band portion from the two sidewalls. The 3 pieces, 2 rubber discs and one band, will then not be identified as “tire” and will be picked up as household trash.

For the sidewall separation, I tried a utility knife, a reciprocating saw, and an oscillating saw. The saws created a lot of rubber dust so I eventually decided that for me a utility knife was best.

Once I had the tires in 3 pieces, I decided to try to cut the tread portion into shorter segments. The steel bands and rubber thickness stopped the utility knife cold, and neither of the two saws used up to now worked well as they tangled in the steel wires. So I resorted to my Dewalt 20V deep cut portable bandsaw with a 24 TPI blade. That was the trick.

So I have 4 tires which are now cut into 8 rubber sidewall discs, and I cut each tread band into quarters, for 16 rubber rectangles. Today was weekly trash day, so I put the pieces of 2 tires in the bin. They were just hauled off about an hour ago. Because of weight, I saved the remaining pieces to put out next week.
cek
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by cek »

After ~18 years, the fluorescents in the garage have started to fail in earnest. I've been planning on replacing them all with LEDs for some time. It's going to be a big job because there are a LOT of fixtures and tubes (~20 fixtures). Buying LED tubes is a PITA. On Amazon there's a dozen choices and none of the reviews help you actually find the highest quality stuff.

This a pet peeve of mine: Amazon actually makes it HARD to find the highest quality of something. More often than not, I'm not price-sensitive: I will happily pay a premium for something that I have confidence is high-quality. But Amazon's customer-review-based-meritocracy actually works against that because most people care more about 'value' and so many reviews are fake. Yes, Amazon knows I feel this way. No, they don't care.

Anyway, I gave up on Amazon and went to Home Depot so I could fondle the product. I ended up buying a 10 pack of "Halco Lighting Technologies 4 ft. 14-Watt T8 Non-Dimmable LED Linear Light Bulb Type B Bypass Double Ended Daylight 4000K". I'm quite happy with them, and will now buy 80 more (!).

I had previously replaced some tubes in a closet with "toggled" brand that were similarly 'ballast bypass' but single-ended (you have to orient the tubes on way). These Halco require bypassing the ballast by wiring to both ends of the fixture and thus the bulbs can be inserted either direction. The tubes feel higher quality than the Toggled and seem to be of a simpler construction.

Bypassing the ballast was simple and quick.

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vinceg101
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by vinceg101 »

Charlie: It's nice to hear someone synopsize what I felt is Amazon's biggest problem.
I did the same in my home Garage/Shop (four 2-tube fixtures). After all the searching and running down that rabbit-hole that is Amazon, in the end it was a roll of the dice and I went with the Hyperikons (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5 ... UTF8&psc=1). I guess I got lucky since they have been fine since going in over two years ago. By-passing the ballast was a cake-walk.
If I had the extra money, time and a scissor-lift I would do this to The Hangar; but those are 8 footers and 13 feet in the air and, well, my Landlord's not mine (I'm not feeling that generous at the moment).
Mike W.
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by Mike W. »

Since PGE is the electrical provider, I made toast in the garage today.

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cek
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by cek »

Mike W. wrote: Sep 08, 2020 7:32 PM Since PGE is the electrical provider, I made toast in the garage today.

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LOL. Great to see you Mike.
dsw99a
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by dsw99a »

cek wrote: Sep 09, 2020 11:12 AM
Mike W. wrote: Sep 08, 2020 7:32 PM Since PGE is the electrical provider, I made toast in the garage today.

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LOL. Great to see you Mike.
Im partial to him myself. :cool: True Guru :bow: :thanks: :bow:

Keep ur powder dry and ur hatchet sharp!
Karl Grau
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by Karl Grau »

Mike W. wrote: Sep 08, 2020 7:32 PM Since PGE is the electrical provider, I made toast in the garage today.
Breakfast at 11:00?
I'm really looking forward to retirement.
Mike W.
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by Mike W. »

Karl Grau wrote: Sep 09, 2020 9:46 PM
Mike W. wrote: Sep 08, 2020 7:32 PM Since PGE is the electrical provider, I made toast in the garage today.
Breakfast at 11:00?
I'm really looking forward to retirement.
Actually a little late. Normally it's more like 10:30. :D
gadget73
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by gadget73 »

played with my new to me internal micrometer set. They all read about .001" too large vs my external mics with cal standards. Since its consistent across all the rods with and without the 0.5" spacer my guess is a bit of shmutz on the mic head face where the rod sits, or maybe the barrel needs to be rotated a smidge to correct things.
vinceg101
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by vinceg101 »

In The Hangar on Saturday, spent the morning test fitting rigid insulation panels to the big folding door we have. I know it seems kind of late to be thinking about this now, but here in LA we still have several months of pretty hot weather (case in point we're about to enter another heat wave this week with temps being over 100 up where The Hangar is located).
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Thankfully this door faces east and not west but being a big, non-insulated metal box when the sun beats down on it the inside gets mighty toasty. During the first part of the day up until about 1-2pm, the sun hits that front door and working next to it is none too pleasant. When it's really hot up there, it's best to keep the doors closed and the big fans going (85-90 degrees beats 100+ any day of the week). We're also lucky that we have a floor above us so we don't get the roof heating other hangars do.
So I thought about hanging these: 1" thick R6 rigid insulation panels, foil backed both sides:
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I opted to go with these which were more expensive but I thought that during the winter, the foil on the interior would help keep what little heat we have in here stay in here. However, the solar heat radiating from the door would be eliminated with these, but it's not like it gets to freezing here; I can always put on another sweater. I'm only seeing what doing the lower section of the door gets us, since these panels are a little pricey and we only come in contact with the lower portion anyway. I'll get some spot temp readings next weekend, but just standing at 2' there was huge difference between non-insulated and insulated sections.

In the end, using simple string tied from one door frame rail to the next, along with friction, did the trick. Two 48x96 panels got me two large bays, one half and some leftover smaller ones:
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vinceg101
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by vinceg101 »

To follow-up on the efficacy of the rigid insulation panels I installed a few weeks back, I was up in The Hangar yesterday and we were/are in our usual October heatwaves (I don't know why the weather tele-forecasters always seem surprised by these things, we get them every year).
Outside temperature at about 10:00am was above 80 and eventually climbed into the 90's by midday. As mentioned the door faces east and gets hit by a strong morning sun for several hours and as such really heats up.
This is the temp taken at the bare metal door panel:
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This is the temp taken at the rigid insulation:
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So was it worth the cost and effort? Yeah, I think so for comfort alone. The radiating heat I believe is adding to the premature failure of the quilted car cover on the M535; the nose of which is only about 12" from this door. With that kind of heat day in and day out, it's no wonder.
jhh925
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by jhh925 »

Lights! The three bright bars are new LED strips (8000 lumens each). The duller bar in the foreground is fluorescent that's on its last legs. But now that I see you can buy swap-in LED replacements, my next step is obvious.

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cek
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by cek »

jhh925 wrote: Oct 21, 2020 5:14 PM my next step is obvious
Get a bigger garage where you can have a lift?
jhh925
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by jhh925 »

cek wrote: Oct 21, 2020 5:50 PM
jhh925 wrote: Oct 21, 2020 5:14 PM my next step is obvious
Get a bigger garage where you can have a lift?
Ugh. That too. We're shopping, my friend, we're shopping.
austin8753
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by austin8753 »

ripped out the half ass work bench and "shelves", that the former tenant installed, scrubbed the floor and painted the walls three times.

apparently, they used the garage as a smoking lounge, rather than, you know, putting cars inside. yuck.
krhodes1
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by krhodes1 »

Put together my new QuickJack that I bought for my teeny-tiny garage at my place in Florida. I got the BL-5000SLX to use with my 128i convertible, GTI, and Mom's '01 Camry V6. Ready to go, but they included liquid thread sealant instead of tape, so I have to wait until tomorrow for the first lift. Wish I had opened the boxes, it arrived on Monday - I could have had that all done before today! First project will be front brakes on the Camry. Blech.

ImageQuickJack by kevinr1916, on Flickr
glowell222
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by glowell222 »

On my side of the garage I have a Sommer Synoris Duo garage door opener. There is no way to keep the opener lights illuminated-they time out after about 3 minutes, and they will not stay on. This is actually a feature and not a fault in the controls or wiring. I spent some time today connecting the opener's high voltage power to a wall mounted light switch and then back to the lights in the opener so that I can keep the lights on when I want. These are LED bulbs and they use less wattage than the specs call for, so I am not in danger of starting a fire. And it's nice to have a bit more light when I need it.
vinceg101
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by vinceg101 »

I made this little tool sometime back last summer, but I had to fire up the M535i since I couldn't remember the last time it left The Hangar.
Even with the hangar door open and the rear door open also, running a car in here gets problematic.
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Simple parts: 33' of 6" diameter high temperature vent hose, (1) 6" Inline Duct Fan, (1) 6" hose clamp and some HVAC seam tape. Works like a charm and I don't pass out. Yay!
vinceg101
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by vinceg101 »

Also, even though it wasn't me, my hangar-mate made some improvements on his side:
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At least one of us is taking advantage of the 13' high ceilings.
gadget73
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Re: What did you do in/to your Garage today?

Post by gadget73 »

Pulled the lower unit on my outboard engine so I can do the water pump. Wasn't terribly motivated to get further, so the lower unit is hanging off the workbench for now. The pump job is simple, I'll spend more time cleaning stuff I usually can't get to than actually doing the work. There are two large fiberglass "shells" that come off during this job and they get some exhaust soot under them.
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