Garage Normalcy Resumed

"MM54" (mm54mk2) 05/04/2020 at 17:00 • Filed to: Garagelopnik, SpringCar2

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With the new floor in place and sealed, the saw cuts gooped, walls painted, the shelving and cabinets reinstalled, everything unpacked, and the Chevelle back from short term storage (driving video coming later) I can confidently say that the garage is back to its new normal.

Yesterday evening I washed the 4Runner and brought it inside as well, for a full return to “how it was two months ago but better.”

In a general update, the Chevelle is doing well but needs either some baffles in the valve cover or a catch can in the PCV line, as it’s smoking at idle and the hose to the PCV is quite oily inside. I also have the thing to make the speedometer correct to install this week, and oil is somewhere in the mail to change it since it’s due.

The RX7 is still in storage, I may get it out for a little while here just to blow the cobwebs out and put it back some nice weekend. There’s nothing wrong with it other than leaking an absurd amount of oil still, which I’m a bit shy about pulling into the newly renovated garage right now. We’ll see how things play out with that. If I opt to not do the Chevelle’s rear end over this coming winter, I may rebuild that 12A.

I have since built an excessively fancy step for the door with leftover hardwood from inside

I can’t quite get over how nice the garage is now, after spending years just dealing with the dingy walls and moreso the horribly broken floor.

Before, for reference

Oh and I put a deposit on a new car today (took the day off work). It’s the only one in the country that checked all but one of my boxes, and the one it didn’t is available from the dealer parts department and I can install it. It’ll be here from the other side of the country in... even tually.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > MM54 05/04/2020 at 17:03

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More details on new vehicle please

Future next gen S2000 owner > MM54 05/04/2020 at 17:09

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More about this floor...Did someone completely remove it? Cut the cracks out?

lone_liberal > MM54 05/04/2020 at 17:20

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That garage looks absolutely fantastic! I have to admit that even with the beautiful floors and generous workbench and storage the one thing I envy the most is the power panel. I really wish my main panel was in the garage instead of the (finished) basement, or that there was at least a subpanel in there. If they had purposely chosen the one spot that would be the hardest to run lines to the garage they couldn’t have done a better job.  

ranwhenparked > MM54 05/04/2020 at 17:27

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Nice looking floor. The previous owner carpeted mine, and I’ve been afraid to remove it, given how cracked up the concrete driveway is just outside. But, I can’t begin to  imagine how much assorted crap has soaked into it over 37 years.

MM54 > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability 05/04/2020 at 17:35

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Details will be provided when said vehicle is in my possession

MM54 > Future next gen S2000 owner 05/04/2020 at 17:36

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Full demo (jackhammer and skidsteer), compacted the existing base and brought in stone to fix the grade, then poured a fresh 6" of concrete with some wire mesh so even if it tries to move again it won’t get far. This floor should outlast me (and I’m not all that old!) .

MM54 > lone_liberal 05/04/2020 at 17:39

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It has been very nice to have it there for the electrical work in the garage I’ve done (split the outlets and lights to separate circuits, added a dedicated 20A outlet for welding, ran the 30A 240v for the compressor). Saves on wire for sure, and way easier than getting wires between stories

MM54 > ranwhenparked 05/04/2020 at 17:40

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Carpet in an interesting approach. If it’s as badly spalled as mine was, it would certainly help keep the dust down though!

I suppose worst case if you pull it up and the concrete is a disaster you could get some new cheap indoor/outdoor carpet and at least have freshened it up quite a bit?

MonkeePuzzle > MM54 05/04/2020 at 17:46

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this gives me hope, as my garage looks about how yours did before

ranwhenparked > MM54 05/04/2020 at 17:51

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That would be the easiest way, with how much other work this place needs, its far down on the list though, for now, out of sight, out of mind. What little I've seen around the edges indicates that its probably not far off what yours was. 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MM54 05/04/2020 at 18:13

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I still intend to bug you in some depth about that fabulous-looking primer you used on your Chevelle.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MM54 05/04/2020 at 18:14

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In the San Francisco Bay Area, that garage would add about $200,000 to the value of your home.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > MM54 05/04/2020 at 18:37

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:(

shop-teacher > MM54 05/04/2020 at 19:27

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That’s freaking awesome!

My garage floor is in significantly worse shape than your old one. It's a detached garage, so it doesn't have separate foundation walls and floor, just a (very badly done) heavy edged slab. My dream it to have it jacked up in the air, the old slab demo'd out, and a new slab with a third stall poured in.

MM54 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 05/04/2020 at 20:07

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I think out there the half-acre lot would make me a millionaire in the firs t place!

MM54 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 05/04/2020 at 20:07

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Any time!

arl > MM54 05/04/2020 at 20:32

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Sharp! 

Urambo Tauro > MM54 05/04/2020 at 20:54

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Very nice! N o more getting creeper or jack casters caught in those cracks! I bet it sweeps up much easier too now.

MM54 > Urambo Tauro 05/04/2020 at 21:06

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Everything rolls so much better now, it’s crazy... and yes it’s actually possible to sweep at all now without just making more dust

gmctavish needs more space > MM54 05/04/2020 at 22:49

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God damn that is a nice garage

MM54 > gmctavish needs more space 05/05/2020 at 12:48

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Thank you

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MM54 05/24/2020 at 08:20

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I am insanely jealous of this garage.

In separate news, I posted this yesterday:

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/why-not-if-its-this-or-a-rattle-can-1843633321

My plan is to use satin finish Rustoleum on my Crown Vic. That’s been my plan for months. I’ll take a quart of satin finish black, cut it with a small amount of white to make a dark grey/charcoal color, then spray it. I don’t have a spray booth or anything like that and I’d spray the car a section at a time in my driveway, I was thinking. But overspray...

Then it occurred to me that I had this Wagner sprayer in the shed, unused. First off, I think there’s no way this little thing could generate anything like the amount of overspray that an air compressor would. Second, I’ll not be using automotive paint and if I read the specs correctly for this sprayer, Rustoleum would be appropriate. I think this would be slower going than air spraying, and have a tendency to go down thicker, so got to be careful there.

I’m already mismatched panels, dents, and a couple of panels on this car rattle-canned anyhow. My theory is hit it with 320-grit sand paper, possibly even wet sand a bit, then prime and paint.

What was the primer you used on your Chevelle’s front quarter panels? That might be considered an automotive paint, which I’m told would be inappropriate for this sprayer because flammability or some such.

MM54 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 05/25/2020 at 20:38

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You’ll need to thin the quart/gallon cans of rustoleum to get it to spray without being a mess. I’ve never tried it in an airless sprayer but I’ve shot rustoleum through an HVLP gun and it was... interesting. The airless sprayer should be better for the thicker paint though (recall actual automotive paint is as thin as - or thinner than - water). Definitely experiment to get both the color and finish you’re looking for. I think they recommend to thin with acetone but check the can, it’ll say.

I wouldn’t wet sand before paint, a 320 grit finish should be fine to get rustoleum to grab in. Maybe 220. Make sure to degrease/dewax well - the surface needs to be clean so the paint can stick, in addition to having something for it to ‘grab’ onto. Cheaty way is acetone or mineral spirits, correct way is with a wax and grease remover meant for paint prep, I like this stuff (probably not legal in CA):

https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/solvent

I used SPI Epoxy primer on the Chevelle, it’s very much an “automotive paint” and needs to be properly catalyzed and sprayed (as in atomized in a sprayer) in an environment which won’t make the resulting fog explode, which being pretty much pure solvent it would be fairly keen to do if there was a bunch of sparking or open flame nearby. Primer:

https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/6620

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MM54 05/25/2020 at 21:22

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Okay, two decisions made: cheaty way and no explosive primer. I think this is going to be a very interesting experiment. For HVLP, the trending recipe is one part RO and three parts acetone. Could be too thin for the airless sprayer, so I’ll experiment starting with 1:1. The Vic is somewhat, well, much more than somewhat, of a beater. A uniformly applied dark charcoal, low-sheen skin ought to look pretty good. I want it to look like I tried. I am hoping for a tidy result. I will need to report on it though.

MM54 > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 05/25/2020 at 22:07

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Sounds like a good plan - in any case a real sprayer will turn out much better (and cheaper) than cans! Looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MM54 05/25/2020 at 22:18

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And rattle cans take forever and really aren't meant for spraying large areas. I'll keep you posted.