Shop upgrades

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Rettax3
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Shop upgrades

Post by Rettax3 »

No, no, no, not 'shopping for upgrades', upgrading the shop!

I needed more storage space for some of the larger spare parts, i.e. engines and transmissions/transaxles. I had a pair of old Chevy straight-six engines sitting around and rotting (not worth rebuilding to me, both came with the house when I bought it), so I stripped them down to the blocks, and they became the base for my new engine-rack. Initially, I had intended to make a vertical 'tree' for the transaxles, but I like this 'beam' much better -no additional floor-space used! The beam is solid, supported on each end all the way down to the floor and boxed-in to keep it from trying to twist forward, but since the weight is all overhead, I wanted to add straps up to the rafters just as a backup precaution.
5-4-3-2... The straps on the transaxles are just an extra safety, since they are overhead.  Hard to make out the differences in the pic, but the far transaxle is a very rare Muncie 284!
5-4-3-2... The straps on the transaxles are just an extra safety, since they are overhead. Hard to make out the differences in the pic, but the far transaxle is a very rare Muncie 284!
You can't really see them in this picture because my 'little' hoist is in the way, but there are a pair of RWD five-speed transmissions stored on the far side of the engine rack, and I pushed the 5.7 TPI L98 from my GTA Trans Am in the empty slot under the rack right after taking the picture, so... Five transaxles on a beam, over four engines on a rack, with three engines underneath, and two transmissions to the side, and a partridge in a pear tree! I still need to do something with the engines sitting in the next bay too... :P
No, that isn't a torpedo...
No, that isn't a torpedo...
Turning the other direction, the big upgrade can be seen, somewhat hiding in plain sight. No, I don't mean the V-8 Indy project... If you know the name though, you will recognize what is going into the bay. More later, once assembly is complete. :pardon:


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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ifixalot
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by ifixalot »

Man, that looks like it was a lot of work but worth it.
How big is your shop? How did you get those trans-axles up there?


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Rettax3
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by Rettax3 »

I actually really enjoy engineering things like this, then making them into reality, so it was fun. The shop isn't real huge, a couple of bays and a workshop. It will be nice when the next 'upgrade' is finished, and I'll have an extra spot in there :twisted: . The transaxles weren't too hard -I have a couple of engine-hoists, and I made an extension arm for the small one -only safe to use at max reach with lighter loads and I also have to calculate the extra force on the hydraulic ram, but those trannys only weigh about 80 pounds +/- (the 284 is closer to 95, I think). The little hoist actually reaches that far normally, but the legs are a bit long and start interfering with the back wall once the arm is cranked up so high, as it is also pivoting backwards at that point. The extension just makes life easier. "One of these days" I will make it a 'live-load' adjustable arm, with thrust-bearings and a crank handle, that has been on my drawing-board for a couple of decades...


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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woody90gtz
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by woody90gtz »

Sweet, a lift! We're searching for the best deal for my old man's new garage now.

I like the transmission beam. haha. I just have a pair of spare getrags on my steel shelving unit full of Camaro parts.

Have you checked out Garage Journal? I used to be on there quite a bit when I first bought my house...but haven't checked it out in years...probably since I basically got my garage "build" done. Lots of good info there. https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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Rettax3
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by Rettax3 »

Yep, I don't go to garagejournal as a deliberate internet hang-out, but a lot of my searches end up there, some smart ideas and good info available for sure.

Bend Pak is NOT the cheapest lift around for sure, but ever lift in the shop I used to work at was a Bend Pak, and those things were work-horses. Aside from their new 'made in China' Grand Prix series, their lifts are all commercial-grade units, so far as I can tell. Even comparing next to Rotary, Bend Pak lifts are heavier-duty or comparable for virtually every component across the board. Safety, longevity, and reliability over-rode my typical search for 'better value' in this case. But, I got a year-end sale on my lift, which helped a bit, and the salesman screwed up a few things, the shipping company screwed up, and my lift ended up sitting in some warehouse for a couple of weeks and was never going to come to me, so they are supposed to send some cool extras out to me to try and make up for the inconvenience... Freight was also free as they refunded the fork-lift/flat-bed fee to me, and I only needed to drive down to the shipping hub about an hour away to pick it up, so overall I feel like I got a decent deal on it. They also threw in a couple of free drip-plates (I feel it should come with them anyway) because they showed a 'refurbished' accessory I wanted in stock, and they only had it in factory-fresh for twice the price. The customer service could have been better, I actually had to write a nasty-gram to them to get someone to pay attention to the fact that my lift was weeks overdue and the salesman couldn't figure out how to dial my number back to address the problem, but it has worked out okay to this point. It was a PITA to move all the parts in by myself, especially the ~600-pound-each ramps, and setting it up isn't an overnight project either, but I don't even have everything set up yet for the power supply, so that is okay. By the time I am done, I will know every nut and bolt on this thing, and I will know it is all put together right, too.

Is your dad looking at four-post or two-post lifts?


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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woody90gtz
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by woody90gtz »

He's looking at 4-posters. The place he's pretty much decided on is in NH I think. I forget the name. Saves shipping and sales tax if we pick it up there. And it's got a feature where you can move it around on the floor when you need to.


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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Rettax3
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by Rettax3 »

woody90gtz wrote:He's looking at 4-posters. The place he's pretty much decided on is in NH I think. I forget the name. Saves shipping and sales tax if we pick it up there. And it's got a feature where you can move it around on the floor when you need to.
Yeah, I bought the 'caster kit' for mine too -my shop bay is too small to get a whole lot of use out of the option, but you just never know what you might need to do around the shop, and having it mobile might just be 'priceless'. My garage door is just wide enough for it to roll through, and we have an eight-foot deep pad in front. My loving Better Half suggested that we should consider eventually extending the pad to provide enough room to roll the lift completely outside if desired -um, sure! Twist my arm... :D I believe Bend Pak ships free to the 48 contiguous -not that I am pushing for them at all, they were my first choice NOT necessarily my recommendation. :P I worked under several different lifts for years, two-post pogos are the only ones I never felt comfortable with. And I don' think ANY of them are rated for 'storage' use, whereas my four-poster can be used to create an additional garage space and store a car on and under indefinitely.


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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Rettax3
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by Rettax3 »

Finished running the lift cables, air lines (safeties are released by air-pressure), and hydraulic lines yesterday. I guess I will end up waiting on the electrical after all. :roll:


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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Godlike
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by Godlike »

I like the storage ideas. That lift will be sweet. I had some shipping issues when I ordered mine too. I will try to avoid LTL / LME Freight in the future.


90' GTZ 189whp NA 14.00@99 / 237whp 50 shot 13.3@104
95' Integra 240whp / 04' Z71 Tahoe/ 85' K20/ 15' IS350 Fsport
projects: 86 Bonneville 6.0 swap / MkIII Supra 2J swap / 91 Volvo 740
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Rettax3
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by Rettax3 »

Working on the bay's electrical this weekend. Running PVC conduit with steel boxes -mostly because the rest of the shop used this setup and I like the consistency. I thought about doing an Edison circuit (common neutral for two hot-leads) for the outlets, but decided against it -I have the room and wire to run dedicated neutrals and I don't need to worry about tying the circuits' power together on opposing phases in the box. I will be adding five quad-outlet boxes to the bay, and two doubles outside, it will also be brought up to Code with GFCIs as the lead outlets (this is the only unfinished bay in the shop, and it originally had only one duplex outlet run through the wall from the adjacent bay, so they decided they could fudge the GFCI rules for unfinished areas).

For lighting, I picked up some 8-foot fluorescent fixtures a couple of years ago (free), and am retrofitting them with eight bi-pin 'tombstones', and two new instant-start low-temp (-20 degree) ballasts for each one, so I can mount four 48" LED bulbs per fixture instead of two 8-footers -I already upgraded the rest of my shop with new ballasts/LEDs. I will put three of them up in the shop, in addition to the two-bulb fixture already there, and run them off of two separate switches, each controlling one pair of bulbs per housing.

Power for the lift will have to wait a little longer. Supplies for that, including special heavier-gauge wire and a 'local' emergency disconnect are on the way though. Bend-Pak de-rated the their own wiring pigtail with a 20-Amp rated wire, despite calling for a 25 Amp breaker. %) They may be relying on the lift's duty-cycle to get away with this, but I don't much care for it. I will be replacing their pigtail, which isn't long enough to provide any movement-range to the lift within the bay anyway. :no:

*As a side-note to the LED bulbs, after updating my garage and the shop, I am down to just six LED bulbs left in the box. While shopping around local stores then the internet, I can't find a ballast-compatible LED bulb for less than $4 each. The last box I bought last year was ~$10 for ten Phillips bulbs, the box before that was a couple of years back and I want to say was maybe $25 +/- for 16 bulbs... WTF happened to the prices, I thought they were coming DOWN? I will just run my old fluorescents (I have at least one box of new bulbs I bought for $5 a little while ago) in the secondary set of fixtures until they are exhausted at that price, and only when I need the extra light, so I'll probably never need to replace them... :o Oh well.


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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woody90gtz
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by woody90gtz »

I just updated the T8s in my shop to LEDs from Amazon. They are ballast compatible, but brighter with the ballast deleted. So now I have 20 T8 bulbs and ballasts to get rid of. Haha. I like the crisp light though. It always annoyed me how the light was yellow compared to the natural light coming in the big door. More noticeable in a garage than in a house I think.

My old man just bought some LED fixtures for his new garage... some of them 3000k, some 6000k. Talk about driving you nuts...


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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Rettax3
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by Rettax3 »

Yeah, the original 16-pack I bought are 6500k, very clean cold light with great contrast and 100% on instantly -no warm-up. The Phillips are 4000k, I realized my mistake when I replaced the ballast in one of my fixtures and installed a pair of the Phillips a couple of weeks ago. I switched them around, so now I have those in the garage and workshop, my maintenance bay with more fixtures got the 6500k and I really like those better, so I wanted more for the lift bay. P!$$es me off that the price more than doubled on them, and it doesn't matter what color range I go for. Worse, I grabbed the Phillips box today (empty now), and noticed the sale tag on it had actually been reduced to $5.00! Wish I had grabbed a lot more of them -I don't remember if this was the last box they had though.

While picking up the electrical boxes at the store the other day, I noticed some recessed LED ceiling lights on clearance. We want to build a studio later on, and now I am paranoid about missing decent deals on LEDs, hahaha. Went back and cleaned them out of all the 5000k+ lights, complete LED fixtures with bezels and all for under $4, tomorrow I am going to go back down and snatch-up all of the warmer ones too, we decided it would be nice to add more lighting to the house, and I wanted to install some lights positioned lower in the bay, to see underneath the lift better when it is raised, maybe I'll use the 5000k lights for that. :wink:


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
Juraf34
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by Juraf34 »

Rettax3 wrote:I actually really enjoy engineering things like this, then making them into reality, so it was fun. The shop isn't real huge, a couple of bays and a workshop. It will be nice when the next 'upgrade' is finished, and I'll have an extra spot in there :twisted: . The transaxles weren't too hard -I have a couple of engine-hoists, and I made an extension arm for the small one -only safe to use at max reach with lighter loads and I also have to calculate the extra force on the hydraulic ram Carton déménagement double cannelure, but those trannys only weigh about 80 pounds +/- (the 284 is closer to 95, I think). The little hoist actually reaches that far normally, but the legs are a bit long and start interfering with the back wall once the arm is cranked up so high, as it is also pivoting backwards at that point. The extension just makes life easier. "One of these days" I will make it a 'live-load' adjustable arm, with thrust-bearings and a crank handle, that has been on my drawing-board for a couple of decades...
And that's what makes people happy. Build a project and publish it for everyone to enjoy.


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Rettax3
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Re: Shop upgrades

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Spent some time in the shop today -it has been gathering junk for a while now. A friend moved away and left a bunch of stuff with me that I am still packing away. Another friend has left his old truck project here for me to tinker with, and it is really getting close to going back home -it stops safely now, but the fuel system needs 100% redone still. The truck is blocking my lift, so it needs to get moved REALLY soon. I moved those two RWD 5-speeds to the other side of the engine-rack with a new two-stack shelf I built for them, and will probably need to add another shelf for the Nissan 300ZX 5-speed I need to find a place for. The junk 3100 got moved to where they were just to the left of the engine-rack, and my 4.6 Northstar got pushed under instead. That freed-up a spot under the stairs for my oxy/acetylene welding cart. I still need to make a spot for my Kawasaki KZ1000 'J' series engine, and the entire under-the-stairs spot will be clear for tools -I would like to park my stick-welder there (for now) and find some room for the larger jack-stands and transmission-jack too. Getting close to having this bay squared-away, it feels good.


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
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woody90gtz
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Re: Shop upgrades

Post by woody90gtz »

Wifey keeps shopping for houses since the kiddo has taken all our free space and then some. So a 4+ car garage is on my must-have list. My 2-car is full too easy. Right now it's full of a partially assembled camaro and 4 engines with two axles out in the snow. And the Beretta sits at my dad's house 5 miles away form its engine, trans and axle...haha


91 "SS" - WOT 3400/5spd - 13.29@101.6 - World's fastest N/A FWD Beretta
96 "T56" LS/6spd/8.8 RWD swap - 13.45@104.7 lol
GEARHEAD dezign youtube
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