I need to get organized. Again.

A few Hours Wednesday. I did some shuffling. Stuff went to trash. Bikes went out, bikes went in. Lots of stuff got moved, but not everything is where it's going yet. Let's not look in there tonight.

The Ninja is on a rolling motorcycle dolly that had assorted junk on it. Being able to roll it sideways is handy. Maybe I should get another.

Picking up home HVAC filters at Lowes, decided to get this:

Not fancy or huge, but should be a good fit for what I need.

Great progress! You have cam along way!

BBC

Yesterday was some general garage clean up and putting tools in the toolbox.

Today I organized some Boxster parts to get them ready for a new home. Now I'm trying to make sense and sets of orphan sockets and wrenches.

When it is done I'm giving a decent set of wrenches, sockets, and screwdrivers to my son. Nothing special, but something to get him beyond the basic homeowner stuff he has now.

Thoughtful idea giving tools to your son.  Another use for those orphaned tools, is setting up a car trunk tool set.  I have one in every vehicle, never know.  If you have any small cooler bags laying around, they work great for this, durable, sealable, and don't take up much room.

I've been at this long enough now that it's time to use my garage for projects again rather than have my garage be the project. There's still plenty more to do, but I am going to integrate it into my routine rather than stop doing other things until it is done. I can still spend weeks sorting hardware and tools. I will always be accumulating more scrap and trash that needs to be hauled away. The way I work needs to change from how it was - jumping from one thing to another without putting things back should be to complete the job.

In two hours of work in the garage, it wasn't uncommon for me to spend an hour of it looking for a couple tools that I just had in hand. Going from one side of a car to the other, I've had to walk the 'long way' around or climb over parts left on the floor from the car I was working on the week before. If I do it right and make it a habit, the 'extra work' of keeping things in order will actually save time.

It's a sunny day today and not too cold. I'm going to pull more clutter out of the back of the garage and do some rearranging in the area by the air compressor and refrigerator. As I cleaned other areas a pile developed there. Lets call it a staging area. It's time to clear that out. I'll get an 'after' picture of the garage tomorrow to compare with the picture from when I started.

My garage isn't nearly as large as yours and I don't have as many cars.  However I make it a point to always clean up and put all my tools away after every job so I know where stuff is when I need it next time.  I admit a lot of that has to do with my "dentist" ocd tho...

I second the idea of keeping some in a car, if you dont already. 

Or, as you are thinking, gift them. Good sockets are great and you never know when you might need them, tools in general, really.

Im 'dealing' with this at the fiance's house, she doesnt have many tools for some tasks as we're working on her house some - yesterday it was a pair of pliers that I needed...thankfully I had my leatherman in the car. But, yeah, gifting tools is great. 

docwyte said:

My garage isn't nearly as large as yours and I don't have as many cars.  However I make it a point to always clean up and put all my tools away after every job so I know where stuff is when I need it next time.  I admit a lot of that has to do with my "dentist" ocd tho...

I used to share my shop with a couple friends. One of them constantly made fun of me for wiping down my tools and putting them away after each job. He was the same guy that would leave his in piles when he had the shop and spent more time searching for a tool than using it. I would just point and laugh.

Here's when I started:

Here's where its at today:

I can actually work on a car in the garage again! (Best if I push two bikes out first, but carport for the bikes is planned later in the year.) It's still overcrowded. It's still a mess. I'm still going to work on improving it every day.

Originally my plan for this week was going to be pulling the engine from the Fiero and putting the 3.5L engine in. I've changed my mind. This weekend the buyer for the blue '98 Boxster is coming to pick it up. He has asked me to install the engine and transmission to make transporting it easier. I've decided to prioritize that rather than getting the Fiero partially done and then changing to a different car in the middle. I realized that organizing my tasks in the right sequence will help as much as organizing my tools.

Looks amazing - what an improvement!   And I hear you on prioritizing the order of projects.  Once I decide to do something it is psychologically very difficult for me to change course, even if the new one is better. 
meaning, if I had planned on pulling the Fiero motor it would be very hard to shift to doing the boxster even though that is the better idea. 
 

as I get older I've learned to identify these times and do better about making the wiser decision. 
 

thanks, btw, for the second shipment!!

You've done an amazing job get organized.

As for the planning I try very hard not to have two things apart at once; even if they are simple tasks.

My only exception is if an active car has a failure or needs a service; If I have one of the race cars is apart and one of our daily drivers needs service, then OK. Example: While I had the F500 motor apart we had to replace the fan clutch on my son's Lexus.

 Again I only do service; if it's time to do the brakes on the car, OK, but pulling apart a functioning car for an upgrade is a no if I have one of the other cars or motorcycles apart.

Upgrades, projects and servicing all get a triage of sorts: Daily drivers maintenance, race car maintenance and then upgrades.

Yes upgrades take a little longer to happen but I don't have ten things apart at once, most of the people I see who do this never finish the majority of the projects. 

Thanks for the comments.

Today I drove the Fiero out and put the Boxster in. Even running on less than six cylinders, I love to sound of the Fiero with the basically open pipe exhaust. The Boxster easily rolled down hill into the garage after I reinstalled the e-brake handle. While the floor was open, I laid down a couple more rows of old vinyl tile that I stripped out during our last remodel. It's a good surface to work on and protects the concrete. Now I can cut the edges straight and throw away the few remaining scraps.

The vinyl flooring was a good idea until today. The Boxster was done and on the trailer, so I drove the Fiero back in. The front brakes on the Fiero lock up easily and the pedal does not effect the rear brakes. The engine revs pretty high at idle. Enter the garage a little fast. Apply brakes. Rear wheels keep pushing the car ahead and the front wheels think they're on lunch trays as the tiles spread apart and slide across the concrete floor. I grabbed a handfull of parking brake just in time to stop it before hitting anything at the back of the garage. I may or may not put the tiles back together. The 'click together' vinyl doesn't really like to click together very well the third or fourth time you lay it.

I was in a rush at the end of my garage time. Putting the Boxster on the trailer (for quick and easy trailer to trailer loading in the morning) took longer than I had planned and getting the car ready was full of 'one more thing's. The garage is a bit of a mess because Mrs AAZCD stopped checking on me and telling me I should eat dinner before I go to work (night shift). When she stops, that means I've pushed it too far and really need to drop what I'm doing and go. Tools - I think there's just a 13mm gear wrench and a Phillips screwdriver that didn't get put away. The rest of the new mess is excess Boxster stuff that will be easy to pick up and clear away when I get back to the garage.

(The little trailer jack stands are used to level the engine as it goes in, not for support.)

The Fiero episode sounds like it was exciting.

You're doing a good job keeping up the momentum, I've been trying to get myself motivated to do a similar cleanup.

Okay seeing these photos, begs a question I could use help with.  I have a 00 Boxster S.  I really need to do the IMS solution, water pump, AOS and other items to make this car more reliable.  I want to check cam deviations too and see if it's time for guides and tensioners, etc. 

How difficult is it to drop an engine like this and replace it and get it fired back up?  Any guides?  You want to come to DFW one weekend and school me?  You want me to bring the car to your place?  Did you take a series of photos or videos?  I'm seriously considering seeing how many miles I can put on it soon, since I enjoy driving it, it's fun, comfortable, paid for, and I'm going to have a long commute soon. 

In reply to AnthonyGS (Forum Supporter) :

I'm actually going to be in the DFW area on Feb 18th - 20th and could arrange to visit. Dropping the engine isn't too  hard. For me the most difficult part is putting it back in. I go slowly, stopping every inch or two as I raise it to make sure that everything is aligned and nothing is getting pinched.

For tools, I use an engine support bar and 6 Ton jack stands. Typical 3 Ton jack stands are too short. In the picture I posted with the engine on the floor, I had the engine sideways to the car to slide it under between the suspension brackets with minimal clearance. My 6 Ton stands were only two clicks above their lowest setting. If you have a lift, it can be simpler to drop the whole rear suspension with the engine and transmission. Here's a pic of when Tom Stone was swapping from one car to another for his Spec Boxster (I highly recommend looking through his thread):

Here's a good video from 'NewArt', on the 986 Forum.

Right now I'm slowly working my way through dropping the engine out of the Fiero. I missed my chance to do it it the warmer weather last week.

Yes, amazing progress. 

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

Yes the weather is not so good this week. Today I took a bunch of old brake and exhaust parts to scrap metal to get them out of the garage.  I'm trying to figure out what to do the next few days that I can do in colder less comfortable weather.  I also took a ton of photos, so I'm going to make a For Sale thread in parts soon too.  I have to get some more wheels down to photo.  I have 10 wheels to sell and some other parts.  I'm also taking some Mustang parts to a friend about 45 min away this weekend.  Anything I can get out of my way is a huge help. 

I'd love to meet up and grab lunch or talk cars.  You can always stop by and see / drive my junk.  I'm hoping to throw you the keys to the Subaru at a rallycross this spring and you can ride in it too.   It's wild how well it works and it's basically stock. 

Looking at the payroll I just submitted, I worked 150 hours in the last two weeks. That doesn't leave a lot of 'free' time. I'm off work tomorrow and Tuesday. Tomorrow after doing some shopping with Mrs AAZCD, one of two things may happen; I might finish dropping the engine from the Fiero and get the LX9 under it or I may make my life more difficult (but happy) by buying a $500 Audi TT 225 Quattro Coupe.

Win or win?

I did good today. I didn't buy any project cars. I spent the whole afternoon working on Fiero stuff, then put all of the tools and loose parts away before closing up for the night.

AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) said:

I did good today. I didn't buy any project cars. I spent the whole afternoon working on Fiero stuff, then put all of the tools and loose parts away before closing up for the night.