Mazdeuce fixes the grosh

I'm not a hoarder. Probably. God this sucks.
I have so much stuff. This pile contains half a bag of pine bedding for raising baby chicks, three booster seats (I had two kids in them at once and one for travel) and the inflatable bounce house that has the fabric delaminating so it won't hold air any more.
Why was this in my garage? I have left over used wiper blades. A used timing belt from a car that I haven't owned in 8 years. A compound bow that was in a house fire that came out looking fine, checked out fine by the bow shop, but I was afraid to shoot. I know why I saved ALL of this stuff. All of it. Throwing it away is hard even though it shouldn't be because it's junk.
Does anyone want a Dodge 2.5 T1 from a 89 Daytona CS? Ran great when I pulled it from the Daytona. Ran great when I put it in the K-car. Ran great when I pulled it again a decade ago. I could spend the time and energy putting the car back together, but I don't want it and when it's done it really won't be worth more than scrap. berkeley, I hate this part of the job.

I thought that looked like a turbo dodge engine. Too bad you are so far away, I'd take it off your hands.

Speaking as one member of a family of four(plus Massive Cat) in a tiny two bedroom apt with a miniscule storage shed and no garage:

You haven't thrown that crap out/don't have to throw that crap out because you have the room to store it. Start weeding out perished perishables such as ancient wiper blades, timing belts, and bouncy houses. Things that are still useful beyond the scope of the zombie apocalypse can be organized better than piles(man, I do love me some piles though). Should make the mess one trillion percent more manageable.

... and we're going to need some updates on the big Ford.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Why do you still have some of this stuff? For the same reason I still have OE springs, a slightly bent grill surround and various other parts for a 1978 F-150 I sold in 1992.

I don't know.

I'll make a cozy spot in my garage for that Vespa if you would like

If I didn't live on the other side of the country from you I'd offer to help clean up. It's hard, but gratifying work!

This reminds me so much of what I go through when I try to start cleaning my shop. The "yeah, I don't have that project anymore but I may be able to use this part somewhere else" thought goes through my mind constantly. I have parts, new and used for so many of my "projects" that it often overwhelms me as to where to start.

The one thing I know I need to do is get some better shelving where I can organize the parts and the tools that I need but can stay stored for most of the time. But what to do with the big parts? Extra suspension pieces, extra GLC rear ends and pumpkins, spare engine blocks, transmissions, wheels, rain tires, etc., etc.

When I was out of work I thought how great it would be (if I had the spare $$) to be able to volunteer to help someone in my predicament sort through their stuff and be a voice of reason and help organize/store and prioritize and/or work on a project. Obviously with the hope that some day the favor would come back around. Hell, if you got a few guys together it would be like one of those DIY Network shows but with 0 budget and a lot more beer.

In reply to hobiercr:

GRM Forum TV.... not a bad idea.

Ian F wrote: In reply to hobiercr: GRM Forum TV.... not a bad idea.

It would de-evolve to welding something to something else to go REALLY fast almost every episode. It would also be the best show EVER.

The first clean corner of the garage. This is HUGE.
From that one corner things started to really move along today. That clean corner is closest to the door so I put my race tires there. Once those were moved I was able to move out an old rotten couch and a treadmill that died long ago. Once that space opened up I was able to move the motorcycles. I'm really excited. Maybe a week until I start putting the old challenge car back together so I can move it out.
I also found 22 cans of old latex paint around the garage. I check for paint recycling and found out that it's only possible to recycle it if it hasn't gone bad and if it has you should just open the cans and let it dry out and then throw it away. I now have 22 open cans of paint.

CL the paint or donate it to habitat for humanity

It's all bad, or seems to be, it won't mix. Most of it is from painting done 10-12 years ago.

In my community you can mix kitty litter in with old paint instead of leaving it open to dry. Do you have any kitty litter in there? I had old paint from the previous resident of my condo in my storage unit, and it was like yours (wouldn't mix)... it took maybe 6 weeks to dry out completely. Next time I'll go buy kitty litter!

I read about the kitty litter thing, and I do have a bag sitting next to the cans right now. The internet says the humidity is down to a nose bleed inducing 43% today, so maybe it will evaporate? I'm betting the kitty liter will get used. No big hurry, plenty of other stuff to do.

I should note that I had it on my deck where I had to walk around it to use the grill or water my vegetable plants. So for me it was a bigger deal.

It's like reverse Tetris. First one layer comes off, then another, then the next thing you know the front of the car is just staring at me. It's clean. I can sweep. The k-member is right there. It's a good days work. Time for a cup of coffee.
But then I stared at it for a while. I got to counting. I was 16 bolts away from putting wheels on the car. 16. Sixteen. I set down the coffee and put the gloves back on and dug in. Those 16 bolts took almost two more hours, but there it is, sitting on four wheels for the first time in a decade. I could theoretically roll it out right now.
Looks like I might be tearing the roof off a lot sooner than I thought.

Wow, looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you, but kudos for taking the initiative to tackle it. Looks like a fairly solid start, and there's a lot of potential there.

Also, thanks for the inspiration. I'm putting down my computer and going out to clean out my little attached 10x22' garage that I've been neglecting while we build our 26x24' detached!

I'm just impressed that you were able to find the 16 bolts...

hobiercr wrote: I'm just impressed that you were able to find the 16 bolts...

Took the words right out of my mouth!

Congrats on the progress. Right now it's taking me a week to install a friggen stereo in a Mini... motivation at an all-time low.

hobiercr wrote: I'm just impressed that you were able to find the 16 bolts...

I actually knew right where they were. Passenger side rear footwell, right where I put them when I took the car apart. Smaller bolts are arranged and labeled in plastic bags. Even most every wire has a label. I really did plan on putting the car back together and arranged the hardware so it would be easy. I'm actually slightly motivated to make a rallycross car out of it.
I should get the garage done first.

Great progress so far, can't wait to clear out and organize my garage!

I will follow this with great interest, I have much to do at my shop.

Mazdeuce - to me you have the exact mindset you have to have for this (and a lot of household) projects and is a good lesson for all - you just gotta tackle one pile at a time until it is gone, then find another pile. Rewards come in the small pile that's now gone. I regularly get stuck in disagreements with my wife over this issue when she's home all summer (teacher) and she freely admits she can't seem to get a cleaning project done. She gets stuck thinking of everthing that has to get done and what am I supposed to do with this thing that doesn't have a place to be (which is why it got left where it is) and how am I going to do this - and in the end nothing gets done. Frankly the same goes for project cars - I have 15 minutes - I'm going to do this. It just can't end up taking 2 hours though...

Pushed the car outside. Clearly I didn't finish cleaning it off before I did it, but I'll get to that. I'll bolt the trunk lid back on the keep water out.
I brought the four dead batteries that I had stashed around the garage into the parts store and was suprised to learn that there's a $5 bounty of them. Or they have $5 in lead in them. Either way, my garage project is making me money! For now. I also dragged all of the old oil bottles out from under the work bench. I recycled 5 gallons which is the daily maximum. I have about 30 more to go. Yes, I had 35 gallons of old oil. I'm glad I never had a fire. Don't be like me.
I found a box of old autocross trophies. I would have told you that I never won anything in Houston with my old Focus, but I must have. The date on this one is August 31, 2003, almost exactly 10 years ago.

HAHA nice! The trophy is not only for winning an event, its a trophy for winning at garage!

Also, if youre serious about finding someone interested in that motor, Im not. But I am interested in the turbo hanging off it...

That there is a hood ornament waiting to happen.