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FuzzKill posted:Has anyone here installed a 2 post lift on their own? I'm not against doing it on my own, but I don't want there to be any problems either - it's a decent chunk of change to have someone do it for you. We will be in a few weeks, should be interesting.
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May 10, 2015 14:40
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From what I saw, it's just making sure you measure the angle and spacing of the posts very carefully. The guy who installed mine used chalk string to create a profile on the concrete. Aside from that just make sure you have the correct size concrete drill for the anchor bolts. Didn't look hard.
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May 10, 2015 15:20
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FuzzKill posted:Both outdoor lights are LED - since they will be on all night I didn't want a huge power draw. They came out nice, I may swap out the outdoor fixtures on the house to some of those. The small light I've swapped all of our (line voltage) outdoor lighting to LED, save for one (which is now CFL), and changed the front landscape lighting to only run for 6 hours after dusk, instead of dusk to dawn (rear landscape lighting is now only on when we're in the back yard - connected to an outlet/switch originally installed for a fountain that's no longer out there, instead of running dusk till dawn). It made a huge difference in the electric bill. Our front porch lighting now pulls ~14 watts instead of 360 (I did go with much dimmer LEDs, the 3x60 watt bulbs in each fixture were massive overkill, camera can still pick up everything just fine), back porch now pulls 67 watts instead of 360 (6x50W halogen lights in the eves replaced with 9W LEDs, 60W wall lamp now has a 13W CFL). These are obviously just incandescent replacements, not LED fixtures, but they work well and look good.
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May 11, 2015 12:11
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I've got these, and replaced the motion sensor with a photo eye for dusk to dawn. They are effing bright. Apparently my neighbors say my house is "lit up like a prison".
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May 11, 2015 18:47
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Shop has air! The compressor was live yesterday but I didn't have the fittings to plumb from the compressor outlet to the PEX line coming out of the ground. The compressor has a pretty large outlet (3/4" NPT) - so I got some adapter fittings and a 24" flex hose to go from the compressor to the wall to absorb any vibrations caused by the compressor. From there it is piped in the PEX to the shop. I had one quick connect that wasn't seated all the way, pushed it in and no more leaks! I was surprised that the compressor I got was so quiet - it's nowhere near as noisy as my 30 gallon 110v compressor is. Which is good, for my neighbors I guess. If you're in the shop having a conversation you wouldn't even notice it kicked on in the other building. Perfect. To-do list : Bring over sink and install Bring over tools/boxes Bring over lifts/workbenches Install lifts
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May 12, 2015 04:26
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Brought over the first trailer load of equipment to the new shop. The electrician took care of his last task (adding lights in the shed) so he is done and gone now. I plan on keeping the less used/bulky items in the shed to try and keep the shop with more usable space and general tidiness. I'm very happy with the lighting in the shop. With the big door open between the indoor and outdoor lights it lights up my front yard. This is with all 3 banks of lights on  New lights in the shed. 2x double bulb 8ft T8 fixtures. He supplied them for free - they didn't meet code for a residential installation so they had to be removed. Perfect for a shed.  New compressor vs. old. Both can supply chocolate pudding on demand.     We got a fair amount of the large/heavy items over. Trans jack, work bench, cart, press, lifting arms, lift top plates, lift power units, a/c machine, coolant machine, RACING SEAT, etc. The only really heavy poo poo still in the garage is the actual lift posts (we need the hoist to move these), the giant toolboxes, and the engines. I need to finish with that Mazda so we can stage everything as we're bringing it over.
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May 13, 2015 05:57
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 This garage owns so hard. Got a ballpark of the total cost?
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May 13, 2015 13:16
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Awesome. Is that a ricon or a rancher? Excited for future craziness coming from your shop.
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May 13, 2015 14:10
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Oh man now the really good parts start. We have the setting, but we need the actors.
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May 13, 2015 14:55
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See, you were smart to hold off packing in gear until more building stuff was done. Spyder and I have bee using extension cords to run our whole setup for what seems like a year.
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May 13, 2015 19:26
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Still haven't been able to coordinate moving the tool boxes and actually setting up the lift columns yet. Hopefully soon. The Mazda I bought to fix and flip is ready to go out the door, as soon as I get the title from the DMV and find a seller. Was nice having a real workspace to work on it, but going back and forth for tools and still working on the ground sucks. Hopefully that was the last car I have to do that on. I set up a couple of the boatloads of cabinets we have - one with all my Milwaukee M18 stuff and the other with all my scanner/diagnostic/meter equipment. I started to arrange one of the workbench/work areas and got the computer/sound system up and going.   
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May 25, 2015 01:23
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I never realized you had so much poo poo, are you a mechanic by trade or did you just acquire all of it for projects?
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May 25, 2015 01:53
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leica posted:I never realized you had so much poo poo, are you a mechanic by trade or did you just acquire all of it for projects? I plan to make some money out of this garage, but that is not it's primary purpose. At least, not in the short term. I sell parts 50 hours a week for my primary source of income. I don't like borrowing things and I can get some decent deals pulling strings at work so here we are. Most of the used big ticket items came from one of my customers that closed up shop (lifts, compressor, tranny jack, welder, etc). I also got a ton of smaller things that I now have duplicated so once I test everything out I can sell off some extras (I have two welders now, two compressors, twenty jack stands ... ) There are a couple big ifs about the future, because I know wrenching for a living will ruin the hobby. If there is enough business available doing higher end swaps/wiring/etc then I may change my mind. But just in and out repairs I'll do occasionally to pay for my habit. There is something I am lacking though 
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May 25, 2015 02:17
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FuzzKill posted:There are a couple big ifs about the future, because I know wrenching for a living will ruin the hobby. If there is enough business available doing higher end swaps/wiring/etc then I may change my mind. But just in and out repairs I'll do occasionally to pay for my habit. quote:There is something I am lacking though I picked up a 415L fridge for free for my shed. Thats a LOT of beer storage in hindsight...
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May 25, 2015 02:22
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FuzzKill posted:There is something I am lacking though Where in FL do you live again? I may be able to help you fill that fridge 
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May 25, 2015 04:41
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leica posted:Where in FL do you live again? I may be able to help you fill that fridge Loxahatchee (West Palm Beach area) I kept flip flopping on the lifts, I couldn't decide if I wanted to put them up myself or bring someone in to do it $$$ Ended up deciding to have someone assist and/or install the lifts. Had a Rotary installer come take a look the other day and hopefully have an appointment setup for next Friday to get them both up. Waiting to hear back for confirmation on what day. The power drop is already setup for 220v for both lifts, just need to make the connections.
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Jun 13, 2015 17:19
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You've done so much on your own, what was your concern with the lift installs?
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Jun 13, 2015 19:48
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meatpimp posted:You've done so much on your own, what was your concern with the lift installs? For two reasons really 1) There are no second chances when installing it - it's either right or you done hosed up 2) I like to quiet the fear of being crushed by two tons of steel. Wife will probably sleep easier as well. The person I found is a certified Rotary tech and is going to do it for about half of what the two other people I contacted wanted - and he is including hardware. It's good to have connections!
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Jun 14, 2015 13:13
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Apparently Rotary lift guy runs his business by not answering phone calls - solid business model. He said he was free after Weds, I scheduled myself off Friday, and then immediately can no longer get in contact with the guy. Awesome. Oh well, at least I'm salary. Today wasn't a total loss though, I did manage to mess with the garage door opener. It's a residential door opener - albeit one of the top end models. 1HP, screw drive. Out of the box it will do a 7ft door. You can buy a 1ft extension to make it work for an 8ft door. I checked my math out, and then bought 3 extensions because I have a 10ft door. That should work, right? Technically, it did open and close the garage door twice out of the box without any real modifications, but if I kept using it as such it would have ground the (plastic!!) carriage to pieces or snapped the track apart in a very short time. The way the track is designed, you have to use the (1) extension before the last section. Which means I needed to use all 3 extensions before the last main piece. This introduced quite a bit of flex in the track, and when operating the door the track would bow up, bow down, and twist sideways several inches. Not good. In addition to that, when you add more than one extension it leaves about a 3" gap in the track. The carriage is about 6" long, so it can't really slip out, but with the load of the door pulling it to one side or the other it can make the carriage snag as it passes over and catches the next section of track. As you would imagine, that is terrible for the carriage and puts a ton of load into the track. Solution time! Each track section slides into the next with a coupler sleeve, which isn't a perfect union. Each one has a little bit of play and can introduce flex. First I went to each coupling and tacked them all together with the welder. That took care of some play but there was still some sag in the track over the 12' run because of the weight of the track. So I propped up the track to keep it level, and then picked up some angle iron and welded it along both sides of the track. This gave the track great strength and resistance to bowing up and down along its length. Lastly, I cut out several 2-3" sections of 1/16" steel bar stock to fill in the missing sections of the track that occurred because of the stacked extensions. Then I just had to go back and clean up all the welds that the carriage would pass over and reassemble the screw drive into the track. Tested everything out and it works! The track moves slightly from the load but not significantly or enough to bother me. Plus, I still need to grease the poo poo out of everything so after I do that it'll probably still improve from where it is now.  In other news, since I was at home all day I saw someone looking at the Mazda I had for sale and was able to strike a deal. Take that, craigslist and facebook. On the lookout now for the next car to flip ...
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Jun 20, 2015 14:47
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FuzzKill posted:In other news, since I was at home all day I saw someone looking at the Mazda I had for sale and was able to strike a deal. Take that, craigslist and facebook. On the lookout now for the next car to flip ... Nice work. Please post more about flipping, I loved PBCrunch's old thread where he'd fix and flip cars.
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Jun 20, 2015 15:58
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Flip a 924.
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Jun 20, 2015 21:56
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FuzzKill posted:Today wasn't a total loss though, I did manage to mess with the garage door opener. It's a residential door opener - albeit one of the top end models. 1HP, screw drive. Out of the box it will do a 7ft door. You can buy a 1ft extension to make it work for an 8ft door. I checked my math out, and then bought 3 extensions because I have a 10ft door. That should work, right? Too late now, but you seem like the perfect candidate for one of those shaft mounted openers: https://www.liftmaster.com/For-Homes/Garage-Door-Openers/Elite-Series/model-8500
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Jun 21, 2015 08:13
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LloydDobler posted:Too late now, but you seem like the perfect candidate for one of those shaft mounted openers: https://www.liftmaster.com/For-Homes/Garage-Door-Openers/Elite-Series/model-8500 That would have been nice but sometimes you have to work with what you have! The opener works very well considering how heavy the door is. With the highest wind load requirements in the country there is a lot of bracing and some thick materials on this door - the shipping manifest put it at 1000lbs.
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Jun 21, 2015 13:53
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Well, if I had a) the space and b) the money to do this, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Think i'd move my racing sim setup in there too, and turn some of it into an office.Seat Safety Switch posted:Flip a 924.
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Jun 21, 2015 22:48
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Rule #1 of always having no money: Reinvest your profits Less than 24 hours after I sold the Mazda, I was trolling craigslist and I saw an ad that was aptly titled 'Tundra $5000' with no pictures. I was sure it was going to be an older model, but when I clicked the ad I found it was a 2007 model (first year of the newer body style). It had a one sentence description and no pictures. It had been listed for an hour. I immediately asked for some pictures, assuming the truck was wrecked or a shitter. It was listed as having a bad engine, so I looked up KBB, current postings, and costs on a replacement engine (and labor time). To my surprise, he sends me pictures of a beautiful truck, 5.7L, 4WD, crewmax crew cab Tundra. He is the original owner. He has already removed the engine, and has removed the bumper, headlights, fenders, and hood so as to not make any scratches while working on the truck. You can tell he took some pride in it. I am at his doorstep with the money less than 3 hours after he posted it. If this happens to you, you probably aren't asking for enough money (or you are selling crack). Truck has a ton of extras as well, he threw them all in with the truck (I didn't even try and haggle). New condenser, new radiator support (he bent both removing the engine and bought new), original mirrors, towing mirrors, TRD Bilstein rear shocks, trailer brake controller, leaf air bag helpers for towing, TRD rear sway bar, and the K&N and stock intake setups. Inside it has the Weathertech floor mats front and back and custom canvas seat covers (but the drivers side is worn out). The covers did a great job - he said he installed them when he got the truck and the seats I uncovered look new underneath. Replacement engine is around $4500. All in I should be around $10k invested on a ~18k truck. I couldn't believe my luck and timing finding this guy, I never see newer model cars as mechanic specials, much less a friggin one owner Tundra. All I see on CL is always sub 3k cars where you're going to bust your rear end for a few hundred profit and you don't have much margin for any unknowns - and buying a non-running car introduces many unknowns. Anyway - the guy was planning on fixing it but needed something in the meantime. Once he bought a replacement truck he became too busy to deal with it I guess. PICTURES!      Tomorrow we order the engine!
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Jun 22, 2015 03:49
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Larrymer posted:Nice work. Please post more about flipping, I loved PBCrunch's old thread where he'd fix and flip cars. Agreed!
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Jun 22, 2015 04:27
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Whoa, cool truck and a good find.
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Jun 22, 2015 04:56
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If you don't even sell it right away, a truck is a handy thing to have. Excellent work.
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Jun 22, 2015 05:52
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Wow that's a great find, awesome! We've got one at work, and it's a really great truck, if a little too large for what it is, but that's a complaint I have about every truck made these days. Should be a great flip
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Jun 22, 2015 06:05
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BrokenKnucklez posted:If you don't even sell it right away, a truck is a handy thing to have. I mean you're not wrong, but unless I missed something he already has one (although two is good too, and a proper full-size to boot).
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Jun 22, 2015 06:06
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What I wanna know is how the hell did he destroy that engine?  Looks like a very well cared for truck, if the engine bay is anything to go by - you could eat dinner off of that bellhousing.For what it's worth, every screw drive opener I've had gets louder than poo poo once they get a few years on them. Granted, they've never been maintained very well before I got them, but my current one (mid 90s Genie) sounds like it's going to rip itself off of the mounts even after the track and screw have been freshly greased (quiets it down significantly). The only reason I haven't replaced it yet is laziness - the remote receiver doesn't work anymore, the IR beams constantly poo poo out (you have to smack them to get them working again), and even with proper Genie Screw Grease  it's still a herky jerky mess while closing. New spring on the door, door is aligned fine, door is perfectly balanced and moves easily by hand; I've gone so far as to replace nearly every bolt/screw in the door, since most of the hinge screws were ripping through the sheet metal (and the door opener arm actually did tear free once).They do seem to tolerate a lot more neglect than a chain unit, but I would much rather have a chain or cable drive, simply because they're so much quieter. They need a little more maintenance, but they're also easier to work on IMO. Also for what it's worth, my mechanic had commercial Lift Masters installed in his shop (two overhead doors). They seem to use the same remotes as the residential models, but they seem to attach to one of the cables between the bottom panel and spring - and also automatically lock once closed (sliding lock into the frame, one on both sides). Really nice units, really quiet. I have absolutely no idea what the cost difference would be though. His only gripe is anytime he gets near them (they seem to have a mix of motions and IR beams - I haven't figured it out entirely, but I've tripped them by walking within 5 ft of the doors), the lights come on (and they're wall mounted instead of ceiling). He hates the lights, but he was trying to stay 100% legal and pulled a permit.
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Jun 22, 2015 11:02
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FuzzKill posted:Replacement engine is around $4500. All in I should be around $10k invested on a ~18k truck. I couldn't believe my luck and timing finding this guy, I never see newer model cars as mechanic specials, much less a friggin one owner Tundra. drat dude. Wow. That truck is in incredible shape, to. Awesome find. Mine's a 2011, and its an amazing truck. Should be a really easy flip once you have the new engine in.
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Jun 22, 2015 13:06
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What a dream find! I'm looking for something like that to fix up and pull stuff with, so count me as incredibly jealous.
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Jun 22, 2015 14:05
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Wow, that is clean as hell. Good find. Do you have the old engine? I'd be tempted to pull it apart and figure out what's wrong with it before ordering a new one, worstcase you have pics for the horrible failures thread and some conversation pieces plus a coffee table base, best case you can put it back together for a couple hundred and drop it back in.
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Jun 23, 2015 00:38
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kastein posted:Wow, that is clean as hell. Good find. I don't know how it works in other places, but you would also have a core to turn in with for the new engine.
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Jun 23, 2015 00:46
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Also interested to know what came apart, especially in a truck that was maintained. I know they are vvt engines, and knowing Toyota, interference.
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Jun 23, 2015 01:08
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kastein posted:Wow, that is clean as hell. Good find. I have the old engine, we transported it back in my truck. That was one of the first questions I asked was if the engine was rebuildable - unfortunately it's not. But I have the engine and all of the parts, accessories, harness, manifolds, etc. angryrobots posted:Also interested to know what came apart, especially in a truck that was maintained. I know they are vvt engines, and knowing Toyota, interference. Yes it was an interference problem. Two inspection windows!  He said his father was driving it and it happened while towing. I can only guess it ran low on oil or something along those lines. Engines don't just throw rods for fun. Haven't really looked inside the old motor, I want to leave it as assembled as possible so I can see sensor/clip/bracket locations because it's always a crap shoot on what is or isn't going to come on a used engine. Nothing is cheap for this motor/truck! Waiting to see what the new (used) engine comes with before I order a few parts from the dealer. Engine may come tomorrow, it was shipping from within the state.
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Jun 23, 2015 01:39
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Here are some carnage pictures of the old engine. Once I get a little farther into the swap I will do a full tear down on this motor.  New motor arrived today, and by peeking in the valve cover it appears to be amazingly clean inside - no visible varnish or discoloration on the aluminum.     Now time for the fun part! 
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Jun 26, 2015 01:27
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Figuring out where all the mystery bolts, hoses, and wires go that you didn't remove yourself? Making sure you don't use a too-long bolt and a too-short bolt swapped so one cracks the casting and the other strips the threads out? That's always... fun. It's like an adult jigsaw puzzle.
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Jun 26, 2015 01:49
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kastein posted:Figuring out where all the mystery bolts, hoses, and wires go that you didn't remove yourself? Making sure you don't use a too-long bolt and a too-short bolt swapped so one cracks the casting and the other strips the threads out? That's what my wife said - like adult Legos. The Mazda I just sold was like that too - the engine block alone was still installed (held in only by virtue of one tranny mount) and the rest of the motor was in the hatch. Wasn't missing anything serious, hopefully same story here. Made some serious progress so far, pictures soon.
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Jun 26, 2015 04:42
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