Good news today...

[katanaman]

  I'll bet you think I've fallen off of the planet.  All work is waiting until I build a new garage to restore the Lotus.  I am going with either Coolhouseplans.com garage # 51683 or familyhomeplans.com garage #45126.  And... I'm going to build as much of it as I can.  I will get lots of help from friends from the car club here on the peninsula.  That will start early in the spring if I am lucky.
  So...  today I went out to the temporary tent garage I'm not supposed to have here in the homeownersassociation.  After repairing the damage caused by the last noisy wind storm -- I learned I needed to augment the framing to better support the tarp side panels, I cleaned up the Lotus.  I was looking closely at some overspray on the rear window, and trying to scrape it off with my fingernails.  There is a rather period correct 24 Hours at LeMans decal covering up a crack in the rear window.  I mused that it was strange that the crack is contained within the decal.  That's when I realized that the "crack" is the decal itself!  I hate to scrape it off and lose its appeal, to me at least, but that baby is history!
  Since I have last written, about all I have done other than begin negotiations with building contractors, is purchase a motor stand from Harbor Freight.  It is now up in my attic until the garage gets built, but I will assemble it and mount the correct Renault based engine onto it and play around measuring the components and determine what I need to get a hold of if I want to restore the car.
  If the Mazda A12 rotary plays fair and I like the 100 hp. it's supposed to deliver, then the correct engine will make a nice background to the car parked in its new garage!!!  If not...  the Mazda lump will join the remnants of the 24 Hours decal!!!
  The attached photo shows the 24 Hours decal at the extreme right of the window.                               Cheers, Dan

 

[EuropaTC]

Hi Dan, it's good to hear from you again. I reckon we all have these interludes where life gets in the way of the important stuff.....   

I didn't realise you were restoring the car without a garage. Boy that's tough, having to do everything outside in the open so getting yourself a garage would be number one for me as well. Just don't let anyone fill it up with old chairs, kitchen sinks and boxes of junk ! (of course boxes of car parts, regardless of what the other half says, will never be "junk" )

Brian

[erioshi]

Hi Dan, it's good to hear from you again. I reckon we all have these interludes where life gets in the way of the important stuff.....   

I didn't realise you were restoring the car without a garage. Boy that's tough, having to do everything outside in the open so getting yourself a garage would be number one for me as well. Just don't let anyone fill it up with old chairs, kitchen sinks and boxes of junk ! (of course boxes of car parts, regardless of what the other half says, will never be "junk" )

Brian

The "Fill it up with junk" problem is exactly what I've been battling on my home-front.  We built a new place last year and immediately I was asked just how much of the garage could be used for storage.  I ended up needing to surrender one stall temporarily, but hopefully I'll have that reclaimed before I get to working on my Europa.  Unfortunately I'll need to finish upgrading the garage into a proper work space before I am comfortable restoring the car.  I try to limit myself to one huge project at a time, lol.

Best of luck on your garage build.

[cal44]

Ooooo.........new garage.  That is exciting.  Of course you will want it to be fully insulated with 5/8" drywall.  And have a bunch of dual box electric just above work bench height.  Insulated dual steel garage door with either belt drive or the mechanism that lifts right above the door.  This way you don't need to take up ceiling room with the opener.

I had 240 installed in this garage and in ten years have not used it once.  My wire feed uses 120 as well as all my other equipment.

We (the contractor) starts digging footings on ours this week or next.  I've been through this before in the current place so I have a little insight of what to do and not bother with.

mike

[erioshi]

You've definitely been through all of this before.  I didn't go for a 220 outlet as my mig and compressor are 110v units, and unless I find a need to upgrade I'll not bother.  I did have a dedicated 20 amp outlet dropped next to panel (it's in the garage anyway) for the mig and other high-draw tools because it was an easy add-on.  I  insulated the walls as we were building, but living in MN does actually mean that insulation + heat (I did have a gas line pre-run to the garage) and even AC for summer (if you don't want to be devoured by our bird-sized mosquitoes every evening) really are essentials.  Other things on the to-do list include installing a deep sink, adding a permanent de-humidifier (for those months when the heat or AC aren't running), painting the walls and coating the floor, and yes, possibly adding a couple more outlets.  The doors are already insulated, but I may need to add a bit more insulation.  Oh, I forgot lights; I need quite a bit more lighting for any real car work.  The builder only put in the minimum two bulbs for the entire three car garage (and wanted way to much when asked about adding more).  And then adding a bunch of storage for typical household stuff, lol.

I know mine will get used.  I've already done a number of projects in the garage, and with each job my work areas and needs become more defined.  At least I'll be making my changes towards how the garage is actually being used.  The low profile garage door opener is dead on.  I had some extra height put into the garage so there's room for at least a low-profile lift of some type and I'm hoping to eventually be able to add that.  If nothing else that extra height will pay for itself in added storage capacity.

[cal44]

If I bought a lift for the garage I would just end up buying another car..........

[3929R]

If I bought a lift for the garage I would just end up buying another car..........

Yeah?  So?  Your point? 

[andy harwood]

if possible, build garage at least 50% larger. after about a year, you'll wish it was twice as large.
things accumulate rapidly.
looking forward to your progress.

[katanaman]

Actually, I have two garages.  One is at my old house, 165 miles away.  It has an 18' door.  Lots of room inside.  Just too far away and my nephew is renting the house.  The one here is minimal, and my Kia Forte and an MGB fill it.  It is difficult to maneuver around in what space is left, let alone fit through the 16' door.  So... I want a nice bunch of space around the work areas, and with this plan I will have this central area that doubles, at least later, as a large, perhaps storage room.  I will not put up this wall until after I finish work on the Europa.  So my concerns are, as addressed, 120 or 240v, and for my neighborhood, how I will heat it.  I really, I mean really, like my friend's garage.  This is the guy who traveled with me to bring the Europa home from Moreno Valley.  He used to live in Santee, and therefore had insight into what would be useful on a cold winter's night.  His floor is heated by pipes that have a pump and circulate water heated by a standard heater.  I would be very happy to flop myself down and crawl under the car on one of these floors.  In the summer, the floor would provide coolness for free, too!  A concern my friend has (he has 5 cars in a 4 car garage) concerns windows.  I thought windows were a good thing, but he complains about the minimal (in my opinion) windows his garage has on two counts:  a) they allow too much distracting light in, in that he needs to have brighter light inside to "compete" with the light the windows admit, and  b) the windows preclude the wall shelf type storage opportunities.  In my neighborhood, I have a 16' height restriction so the "rich guys on the ridge" can see over my house and view the Pacific.  So... fitting a lift in the garage isn't precluded, but I won't be able to lift the 41" high Europa to service station heights.  I do find, however, that working on the underside of the MGB with just jack stands, there are features I need to work on that are too close to my retired 57 year old eyes to focus on, so that lift could still be worth the bother and expense!  So for now, my plan is to get the shell built, and insulate / sheetrock the one bay to store my, or a fellow club member's car, then deal with the Lotus project.  I might just insulate the walls adjacent to the work area -- I might set up a spray booth -- who knows?  After the Lotus is done, I can then sheetrock that side, and locate that wall to the center storage area.  I get the impression that the wall location is arbitrary and that I can "adjust" its size after its mission changes...