When I bought my house 13 years ago, it had a single car garage (right hand side below). I knocked down a wall and then another, losing two bedrooms, to make more room. Then I had three children and my Bugeye project stalled. Actually, it stalled about two years before the first one came along, but now I'm tired in addition to the lack of ambition I had before. Anyway, having swapped a $200 Colt pistol for the Sprite, I don't want to get rid of it. Given that I can't go out, I decided to go up.
Before:
After-ish:
Still cleaning, but so far, so good. My ceiling is only 7 feet. The Sprite is on industrial shelving from Lowe's. "Each shelf holds 2000lbs" says the description. The Sprite, sans engine, trans, interior, probably is around 800lbs. Easy lift with my engine hoist. Total cost of shelving was $220.
nocones
SuperDork
9/29/13 8:16 p.m.
Looks good. Tell me more about the giant 2d print on the wall
It's a Porsche 906. The next, next project and reason I sold my Locost. It's printed at 1:1 using the unfortunately titled app "Rasterbator".
Apis_Mellifera wrote:
It's printed at 1:1 using the unfortunately titled app "Rasterbator".
That is a brilliant name.
Is that a /6? I can't see the front brake or headlight bucket to tell it from a /5 and I'm not 100% sure on the tail light. I sure liked mine.
Very clever. Also LOL'd at the kid photo bombing you in pic #2.
If you would have sold me that GT when it was for sale you'd have a bit more room lol. That looks like a great work space though!
Whats under the Sprite in pic 2?
Could have sworn it was an evil Deceptacon.
Is the shelving tied into the wall? 800lbs 5ft in the air and no triangulation side-to-side would make me very nervous.
Evil Decepticons are almost never a car. Exception: Mopar
The BMW is an R60/5. There is an R90/6 engine in front of it in pic #2. If I can find a sidecar local, I plan to put the R90 engine in.
I flip-flop on selling the 'BGT. I drove it for the first time in six years last Saturday, so right now it's not for sale.
In pic #1, the Sprite is behind the 'BGT. In pic #2, the red MGA is under the Sprite and covered by a Union Jack car cover I made.
Also pictured amongst the jumble is a 'Han in Carbinite" cast from the prop used in Jedi, a Kentucky longrifle, a hornet's nest, and a giant horseshoe crab - all essential garage items.
mfennell wrote:
Is the shelving tied into the wall? 800lbs 5ft in the air and no triangulation side-to-side would make me very nervous.
Of course not. While it might seem like a rickety accident waiting to happen, it's actually pretty stable. The depth of each shelf is 24". The height of the shelf is 48". The width is 72". The wheelbase of the Sprite is 7 feet, meaning the shelving units are 5 feet apart. Each wheel is in one of those dished car dollies. The units are against the wall, so for side to side, it would have to move away from the wall. That's a possibility, but that possibility is diminished by the way the shelves lock in to the vertical parts. Before I put anything I value underneath, I let it stand for several days and then shook it around to study its tendencies. It doesn't want to tip over and because of the locking nature of the assembly, the more weight (within reason), the tighter it locks together. That said, I planned from the start to add diagonals. However it's not critical and I'm not the nervous type.
PS, for years the grey shelving behind it had Spridget engines stacked side by side on the top shelf. Land Rover and MGB gearboxes on the next shelf down, and a 5.0 Ford engine on the bottom; probably 2-3 times the weight on one unit. I wouldn't store a Cadillac on them, but these things are great for my needs and cheap.
In reply to Apis_Mellifera:
The angle of the picture exaggerates the height a little but the locking mechanism still does not triangulate the structure well side-to-side. If it gets bumped too far, you have a 48" lever acting against two locking tabs 3" apart. I'm sure it would stay tightly locked together as the end frames deformed about it or until the tabs sheared off. Width, wheelbase, and shelf depth do not matter.
The three shelves in the unit behind make it much more stable and the weight is better distributed.
I'll echo mfennell's concerns. Anchoring to the wall would be prudent, as would anchoring the feet to the floor - one good bump and the legs are going down.
mfennell wrote:
Width, wheelbase, and shelf depth do not matter.
The three shelves in the unit behind make it much more stable and the weight is better distributed.
Yes, I know, re: side to side.... dims are fyi.
It will take more than a good bump to knock it over. I used a sledge to plumb the legs. As I said, diagonals were and are in the plans. Floors anchors are a good idea; the verticals already have the holes for that. Assuming there aren't any earthquakes or car doesn't drive into it between now and whenever I get around to putting them in, things will be just fine.
Man, that's a full garage! Looks like a lot of fun stuff in there! I can't wait to have a garage someday!
I am loving your set up. It's like a bunk bed for your cars! Keep up the good work.
As a recovering car hoarder, these pics make my brain twitch. But I'm glad it works for others.
Nice. Get that triangulation in there pronto though. You've got kids.
