The Shop of Good Intentions

More info on TRiumph, flattracker or Roadster? Nice dog.

The bike is our son's Yamaha XS 400. It was a non/running basket case when he got it. The TR6 had been parked for 17 years when I found it. After the Capri is finished, I'd like to put a custom chassis under it and a small block Ford under the hood.

Before anyone mentions the framing around the windows, the walls do not support any weight; the brick pillars and 2"x12's from the original carport suppoort the roof/ceiling.

It's been a while since I've posted any progress:

I have been splitting my spare time between working on the shop and working on the Capri.

Had to move a lot of stuff, but the walls are insulated, the sheetrock is up, and it is painted.

I had an interesting guy stop by to check on the progress...

He looks seriously outclassed by that shop. nice work!

Another good use for the TV is to put up pages from PDF's of shop manuals. Nice and easy to read on a big screen. Can put up your disassembly pictures to help get things back together, if you do those, as well.

Shop looks great.

I've wanted these two items for a long time. I still have to mount the air filter and run the fixed air lines. The only real tool I'd still like to have is a welder, and the shop is already wired for it. I'll post some more pics soon. I think I've finally settled on the layout of the work bench, tool boxes, powdercoating oven, etc.

After reading some posts on Garage Journal, I mounted the compressor on 4 hockey pucks. It really seemed to make the compressor run quieter.

I will be putting in a through-the-wall HVAC unit (like in hotel rooms), but in the meantime I've been using a window mounted a/c unit our son brought home from college. It has really worked well so far, and I'd recommend it if it's ever been too hot to work in your shop. They are cheap on Craigslist.

We are headed to VIR the weekend after next for the vintage race. Maybe one day the Capri will be there. Anyone else going?

I will admit the TV was a nice luxury. The kids are out of college, so I splurged on the TV, a Bluetooth soundbar, and DVR. Top Gear or some road racing videos in the background is pretty neat. One consideration (selling point for the CFO) was the ability to pull up schematics, etc from the web right there in the shop.

Did you use a set of plans for the storage shed or were you acting as your own architect?

With regard to the TV... make a cover for it if you do any sort of grinding, cutting welding or just generally have any spinning power tools that are waiting to toss something thru it.

Put plastic sleeves on all the fluorescent tubes too. There is nothing like a sharp phosphorous rain falling down your neck from 13 feet up

That's a fantastic shop. There's a lot of garage talk around here lately, I like it.

GPS has good advice.

Someday I'll have a cool shop too....

mightymike wrote: We are headed to VIR the weekend after next for the vintage race. Maybe one day the Capri will be there. Anyone else going?

I'll be there. My dad runs a green lotus elan and 51, we usually paddock with a bunch of midgets in the back

fiesta54 wrote:

mightymike wrote: We are headed to VIR the weekend after next for the vintage race. Maybe one day the Capri will be there. Anyone else going?

I'll be there. My dad runs a green lotus elan and 51, we usually paddock with a bunch of midgets in the back

They prefer to be called little people.......

In reply to ScreaminE:

No plans, other than I wanted a 12'x24' shop, with walls high enough to have storage lofts on either end of the building. A friend of mine who is a cabinet maker by trade did all of the framing. I am unskilled labor when it comes to carpentry.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: Excellent advice- thank you very much.

In reply to fiesta54:

We will try to find you and introduce ourselves.

Did the SO let you build the garage so she could actually park her car in the attached garage?

Looks like it will be an awesome shop when you are done!

May be a bit late, but can you build a closet around the air compressor? It will still have plenty of air to breathe, and the line can run out under the door or through the wall. I did this at a prior garage and loved it. Some sound foam lining the inside of the closet and I could tell when it kicked on but was nowhere near loud enough to care about it. Made it so much more pleasant of an experience, especially when the garage door is closed because the AC is on.

We have that exact blast cabinet in our shop. Looks like things are coming along well. I wish the space I work in was that clean.

Nice Shasta

In reply to glueguy:

I do not plan on building an enclosure for mine, but I did bolt 4 hockey pucks onto the compressor legs, to make it resonate less. It seems to have worked well. I saw the idea on garagejournal forum.

In reply to JoeTR6:

I am very happy with the blast cabinet, but I am still getting some dust out of the exhaust on the vaccum filter. I am going to vent the exhaust outside, through the wall of the shop.

I'm not OCD about cleanlines, but I want to keep the dust down as much as possible.

mightymike wrote: In reply to JoeTR6: I am very happy with the blast cabinet, but I am still getting some dust out of the exhaust on the vaccum filter. I am going to vent the exhaust outside, through the wall of the shop. I'm not OCD about cleanlines, but I want to keep the dust down as much as possible.

Good luck with that. We finally moved the entire blast cabinet outside (next to the 2 air compressors). They just create lots of dust and every time you open the cabinet it will filter out and onto anything close.