Where else could this question go? I'm moving and finally getting a GARAGE!!!!! Any ideas on garage organization? Since time is such a factor in our lives, garage layout could make or break a short or long term auto project. Any ideas?

 

The bigger the better.
Shelves whether freestanding or wall mounted come in extremely handy for all the parts you'll be removing.

 

you best bet is to have a layout so you have AS MUCH free room as you can have. if you have to work in a small place and you need to remove the motor you will cuss up a strom when stuff keeps getting in the way when your tryign to move the cherry picker..... also keep in mind that on our cars you have to remove the motor fromt he side of the car not the front (on most cherrp pickers i had to do it on my firebird... damn front end is so far out. )

 

Make sure you have plenty of storage so you're not tripping over stuff on the floor, make sure you have a good sturdy workbench with a good bench vise, invest in good lighting and pick a place for your toolbox where you don't have to walk all the way across the shop to get a screwdriver. If you can swing it, go for an epoxy coating for the floor too. Makes a world of difference. It brightens up the shop and also makes clean ups a lot easier.

 

Oh yeah, and don't forget about a good radio

 

oh you preach it brother, ahmen!


Aint nothing like drinking a cold cola and cranking some Celion Deon while wrenching on your hog.


(i'm just joking about the celion park, maybe)

 

Furnish the shop with yard sale furniture, preferably the free stuff. I got an ugly orange recliner that is my thinking chair, and I spend alot of time thinking. But also got a good buy on a 5 disc CD player. Plus my old TV and VCR from my single days found a new home. Plus now I got cable run in there. Life is good.

Seriously though, setting it up depends on what kind of person you are. Some people are fine with stuff piled everywhere and just having paths. My shop is 20 x 30 and the back 10 feet is where the benches and other non moveable items are. The rest is on wheels like my tool box's and welder. I can always get two cars in there and have enough room to work. I have to have space or I'll go nuts. Hope that helps.

 

me too!!!

 

Most pickers have a telescoping boom and legs. I pulled my engine out the front.

 

well i think the front nose on the 91-92 firebird is longer cuz even with them we couldn't drop it in

 

Sounds like you need a bigger picker. I R&R'd the 88 bird and still had about another 18" of extension left in the boom. I'm sure that would cover the front of a 91/92. Unfortunately you can only work with the tools you have.
I hate pulling engines from the side.

 

My garage is 26' x 44', and is sometimes still too small. It seems like the more space one has, the more junk one accumulates.

Whatever layout you devise, plan on changing it once you start working "down and dirty" inside the footprint. Keeping everything mobile is a definite advantage.

 

i think you need a big freaking huge tool box full of cool tools as well as an air compressor. makes life soo much easier.

 

Lol...I should take some pic's of my "accumalation".

The neighbors call "Son"...as in Sanford and Son.

 

i also forget to say that is wasn't just the motor.... the transmission was bolted on it to too.

 

are you black and have a little red pick me up truck too?

LOLOL

 

Lets not forget the most important thing here, security.

have you looked at all the accessible entries/what can be broken to get inside n thought about how to strengthen them?? Maybe devise some hillbilly welded gates to enforce n make one want to pass up your garage to an MUCH easier target.
You cannot let that go cause even if you have insurance, turning it in will result most of the time in the company jacking the rates up, bastards they are anyway.

How many doors/what kind of locks does your garage have? Are the bay doors aluminium? An axe will cut through that like butter.

What we did was we went to my shop n got a few of the rails that go along side the buses n welded them across the doors, make a nice thing to grab to pull the door down n up n make for extra hassels to break in.

=]

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm sur there will be some trial and error for a little while. I don't have a big MAC or SMEARS TRASHMAN box to worry about yet because I haven't had the room until now. The house's interior will be first on my list but I'm jonesing to be able to do my own work during fall and winter and be dry and warm. One thing I've got good is I work in HVAC and I can always get a good used heater. Maybe I'll do radiant tube,Hmmm.........

 

One thing I'm planning when I get a garage is having power and air wherever the hell I want it. As in, outlets every 10 or 15 feet, and air lines next to the outlets. If you run the metal tubes for the air lines, you'll have less pressure drop, and could actually "wall-mount" a filter/dryer if you ever do painting.

I also plan on having more then one circuit feeding the garage; a few 120 lines and a 220 line (for when I get a bigger air compressor). Right now, if my compressor kicks in 3 times (say I'm using the die grinder), and it trips the circuit breaker, I lose power to the whole garage. That's always fun when I'm working at 2:00 am! And of course the flashlight is never where you think you left it...

Don't forget a small fridge (for beer) and a microwave (for re-re-re heating that slice of pizza you keep forgetting about)

 

don't anyone ever eat pizza cold anymore these days? Damn, just think our ancestors ate a rabbit without even cutting it, just dig right in.

technology, horray.