Shed ready!

Last few weekends have seen some good work and we now have a working shed!

Built the back wall from timber, and re-tasked the old garden gate to be the back door. I needed to weld an extension to the frame as well as some extra hinges.












(It is clear my welding skills are next to non-existent so I either need to do a course and/or get help if anything needs welding on my Cobra!)

Added some shelves and the all-important work bench. It is timber, but I think I'll get a sheet of metal on top as working with cars is a bit different to working with wood :-) But it is good and solid as you can see.

Also had a tradies special day at Total Tools last week so I stocked up on a few items including a decent vice for half price! Win!

And no shortage of power points as you can see. These are on a separate 15 amp fuse, just so you know! 

Finally, rolled out the compressor from storage and my tools draws I got for my birthday a few months back, and voila! All I need now is a kit car! Bring it on!

And then comes the floor.

A fair bit of progress over the past few months. Well for me anyway.

Gutter and downpipes installed and all the flashings finished up top.

Installed power and lighting. Used LED tubes in some old fluoro mounts I had; just removed the starters to bypass the ballast. It is as bright as day in there now.

Finished levelling the floor, prepped and poured the concrete today. Minimum 100mm thick with heavy duty reo, and as it took so long to go off today we expect it will be VERY tough. Shouldn't be a problem though as I don't have enough height for a hoist or anything but it is good to know anyway.

It happens to be Motorclassica in Melbourne this weekend so I am off there tomorrow for a bit of car bling to spur me on. I've recently visit Craig White at Absolute Pace in Queensland a few times and am quite taken with his Pace 427SC replica and he has come down for the show too, so will be good to a catch up with him.

So I've nearly run out of excuses. Shed nearly done. Kit pretty well chosen. Just need a bit more cash and off we go!

Shed roof done

Another small step completed now with a roof installed. I used double c-channel steel rafters (engineering required only singles) so if necessary I can use them for load bearing work. Although I don't expect they'd support much. Maybe 200kg at a pinch.

Will be installing LED lighting soon, then when more money is saved I am going to get a professional to pour and level the slab floor for me.

Big step forward (for the garage anyway)

Cleared the soil and knocked the rest of the walls down this weekend. Removed about 6m of soil. And had fun with a Dingo too-boot! Well it was actually a Toro, like a Dingo but with tracks instead of wheels.

Now we're going to clean those old bricks - handmade Hawthorn bricks can fetch $2 to $3 each - which will pay for the skip and Toro hire!

Then I can prep for the laying of a concrete floor. Busy summer ahead.

Minor Garage Progress

Some small progress.

Finally got the gas meter relocated. And they fixed the leak at the same time (the old meter has been leaking for years, despite repeated callouts and subsequent denials). The distributor gas man who came took one look at it and said 'Wow - how long has that been leaking' - before I said anything. Sigh.








Also started knocking down the small existing shed and put mini-me to work cleaning the bricks. 50c each!


My intention is to re-use these bricks to build two walls to complete the sides of the proposed shed.















Set a small footing for the first of the two short walls.



Next step, once the first wall is done, is to get a bob-cat to excavate and prep the site for the slab.

 

Garage Modelling

I've finally got onto the gas company to arrange a site visit so they can give me the estimate for relocate my gas meter. That took about two and a half weeks!

Now I have to wait for the distributor to call me for the appointment. We'll see how long that takes!

In the meantime, this week I had a play with modelling the garage. While I was out measuring, she-who-shall-be-obeyed observed that it would make more sense, if I am "going to build this thing", to encroach and extra 1m into her garden to give me more space inside. God I love her!

Gives me about 4m width, and 5.4m length. Biggest issue is that I will have to use the side door, so may need to use smarty-pants trolleys like a GoJack or similar.

Here is a couple of 3D images of the plan....

Field Trip

On Saturday I travelled to Winton Raceway with the Victoria Cobra Car Club to check out ShelbyFest 2011.

I was lucky enough to score a ride up and back with one of the committee members in his Dax Cobra - fantastic!

JB dropped me at home, and was kind enough to give my son a short ride. He loved it!

It also gave us a chance to see what a Cobra looks like in my driveway! Guess what - it looks GREAT!