Civic EG

http://12-gaugegarage.com/index.html

just finished looking through this guys website. he built the entire thing himself. kinda freaking awesome.

lift hidden in the floor


wish my garage looked like that

Maybe not ever, but that's pretty awesome.

That's Jack Olsen's garage. It is one of my favorites on Garage Journal... He's like a hero over there, doing so much with a 2 car garage
Every square inch has been put to good use

teal_dx wrote:That's Jack Olsen's garage. It is one of my favorites on Garage Journal... He's like a hero over there, doing so much with a 2 car garage
Every square inch has been put to good use

My vote would go to Teal's garage. That shit is pimp

Apexracing wrote:
My vote would go to Teal's garage. That shit is pimp

Thanks but I doubt my garage (if ever finished) would ever be this optimized or functional. I only have more space = more projects = garage never gets worked on

Thanks for the mention, juls1488.

I looked at teal_dx's garage and it's pretty awesome. Like he says, he's got lots of space, Mennonite building skills, more and bigger projects, and a very bad-ass cat.

I'm proud of mine for making the most out of a pretty small space on a very small budget. But I know there will always be LOTS of bigger and better shops out there. Mine's enough for my home- and race-car-related projects, which is just about all I've got time for.

Again, thanks!

Jack Olsen wrote:Thanks for the mention, juls1488.

I looked at teal_dx's garage and it's pretty awesome. Like he says, he's got lots of space, Mennonite building skills, more and bigger projects, and a very bad-ass cat.

I'm proud of mine for making the most out of a pretty small space on a very small budget. But I know there will always be LOTS of bigger and better shops out there. Mine's enough for my home- and race-car-related projects, which is just about all I've got time for.

Again, thanks!

love the porsche and the hidden lift

Teal-is there a link to your garage. And Jack, that garage is incredible. There are some some things you did I thought they were genius. Like the hinged trim on the island. My favorite "tip" I picked up was how you said you angled the bar for the hanging lights so when you put the lights on they pulled the bar level. There are so many little things that I never would have thought about.

+1 for old school rotary phone

Thanks!

The thread on Teal_dx's garage is at this link.

@ jack olsen
what is the lift called that is in your garage floor

or did you make it

It's a Vestil hydraulic lift table. They're made in Indiana for use in warehouse/industrial settings. The company doesn't make automotive lifts, but it's built for a heavier duty cycle than an automotive lift, and has some OSHA-mandated safety features that automotive lifts lack. That said, I don't think it would make sense for most guys other than me, since the solid 48"x48" top means you have to use blocks if you want to access stuff right in the middle of the car. In my case, that wasn't an issue, since an early 911 (like the early VW bugs) just has a steel belly pan where it contacts the lift. I can access all four wheels, the engine, transaxle, half shafts and exhause without obstruction on this lift. But if I put any of my other cars on it, it's not sp ideal.

The other reason not to use it is that it's more expensive than a consumer-level automotive lift. But I saw this one on Ebay, and it got my brain going on how it might work perfectly for my old 911, and also be something I could bury in the floor of my garage so that I wasn't tripping over it when it wasn't in use. I spoke to a few different engineers (including my father) about whether it would work, and also did some tests on my car to find the actual balancing point -- and how that point would move when I pulled the engine or took apart the front end.



All my research pointed to the idea being viable.

So I bid on it and got it for $455. Even with the cost of tool rental, concrete and replacement tiles, I was only out a total of $670 by the time I was finished. I rented a truck from Home Depot to take the thing home.



Initially, I think I was motivated more than anything by the challenge of seeing if I could make it work. Aside from the question of whether it was an appropriate tool for this application, I had also never cut concrete, or set forms and mixed and poured the stuff.







A week of wondering what the heck I'd done, and then:



I got a lot of advice from professionals, and managed to not embarrass myself. And now that it's in place, I'm really amazed by how often it comes in handy. I've had the engine out of the car twice -- but it's also handy every time I need to just do a basic brake/suspension/nut check before a track day.

And it allowed me to make this awesomely cheesy video.

Now there's a video. A web site called Petrolicious just released a video they did about my car and my garage. I know it's not a Civic, but if you've got nine minutes to spare, click on the image below to watch it.

And let me know what you think.



Link.

Kudos to a well made video on your car & garage. I want to go for a ride in your porsche now I had no idea it was built from such a wide range of different models.

What other vehicles have you owned?

Thanks! I've had the 911 since early 2000. Before that, cars were mostly just transportation. A couple of old Datsuns and then a Triumph Spitfire. Nothing I really thought about before the 911.