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View Full Version : New Shop for The Gearbox Garage!



GEARBOXGARAGE
09-04-2015, 08:48 AM
So I decided to create a "build thread" for our new shop. As we go along, I'll be posting our current status, asking questions, and sharing what/how we are setting up shop. The first 4 years of business we have been a part-time venture selling performance parts and working with others on their builds. We want to focus on making the change to build it up into a thriving business. Here are a couple of shots to get the thread going. Please feel free to comment and join in on the conversations as we continue.

Thanks,

Mike

GEARBOXGARAGE
09-04-2015, 10:45 AM
A few more pics of the concrete going in. In the first pic, you can see where we dug out the dirt to increase the thickness for a hoist location. Those are 4 foot circles and the concrete will be approximately one foot thick there.

Typhoon1015
09-04-2015, 11:25 AM
Very cool! How residential is your neighborhood? Looks to be tight quarters once the building is all up.

GEARBOXGARAGE
09-08-2015, 04:53 AM
Very cool! How residential is your neighborhood? Looks to be tight quarters once the building is all up.

The neighbors are pretty cool with it. Quite a few Gearheads too. One guy has a '69 Dart, another is a circle track racer, and a few houses down there's a guy who is into Jeeps and off-roading. We're on a 5/8 acre double lot and I have room to add on in the future if I really need to. I was not shy about my intentions for this shop and the village approved the zoning. If you look at the history of a lot of the well known performance businesses, they pretty much started the same way. Detroit Speed has been a big inspiration with their humble beginnings. I'll never reach their level of notoriety, but I'm willing to work my tail off and do my best.

GEARBOXGARAGE
09-08-2015, 04:58 AM
A few more shots from this weekend. My daughter has taken over on sweeping duties, she's excited to start helping with cars! I was up early working and she had to come out and help, didn't even want to change out of her nightgown to get out there and start working.

Motown 454
09-15-2015, 05:40 PM
It's going to be a nice shop. Good luck with the new venture.

GEARBOXGARAGE
09-18-2015, 04:51 AM
Still making slow progress, took most of last week off to head to Kentucky for Ron Sutton's workshop. Back at it this week with another haul from Menards. Getting ready to build in the overhangs on the ends and put the roof on.

GEARBOXGARAGE
09-18-2015, 04:52 AM
It's going to be a nice shop. Good luck with the new venture.

Thanks Wayne!

minendrews68
09-21-2015, 05:42 PM
What size is this going to be?

GEARBOXGARAGE
09-23-2015, 10:45 AM
What size is this going to be?

32' wide x 56' long x 14' ceiling height.

GEARBOXGARAGE
09-28-2015, 10:35 AM
A little more progress....

minendrews68
10-04-2015, 07:33 AM
Man!, I want one of those...

GEARBOXGARAGE
10-05-2015, 04:40 AM
Some more progress on the Garage this weekend. Overhang is built on one end and started on the other. Getting real close to putting the roof on and started sheeting the back wall.

GEARBOXGARAGE
10-12-2015, 04:59 AM
A little more progress this weekend. We put the header in for the overhead door, finished of a window opening, put up the overhang on the north gable end and have the fascia boards on. We're now ready to put the metal roof on next weekend!

72BBSwinger
10-12-2015, 06:15 AM
Excellent, the 14' ceiling part is what I wish I had. A hoist would be the bomb.

GEARBOXGARAGE
10-19-2015, 04:37 AM
Had a couple of buddies come over this weekend and got a good start on the roof. First side is done and hoping to get the other side this coming weekend.

minendrews68
10-23-2015, 05:29 AM
Nice!

GEARBOXGARAGE
10-25-2015, 04:25 PM
More progress today. Second side of the roof finished up, just have to do the trim work. Back wall is sheeted and ready for the house wrap. The other front window is just about finished up being framed in also.

Yelcamino
10-25-2015, 04:47 PM
Looks good and congrats on the new venture!

Wraith
10-25-2015, 05:26 PM
Very nice! I dream of building my own spec built shop one day.

GEARBOXGARAGE
10-26-2015, 04:46 AM
Thanks! Can't wait to put this place to work and start utilizing and honing skills to build more cars. My son is also starting to get bit by the car bug. He's taking a trip next month with his school to tour a career center for high school kids. He's looking at Automotive Technologies.

GEARBOXGARAGE
11-02-2015, 09:19 AM
More progress on the Garage this weekend. Back wall is wrapped and more sheeting on the front wall. Need to make another trip to the lumber yard for more OSB, Wrap, and some 2x6's to finish framing in the windows. Soffit and Fascia trim should be going up soon also.

rhurley
11-02-2015, 09:24 AM
Badass!!!! Very nice work

minendrews68
11-04-2015, 07:26 PM
I'm still jealous!

GEARBOXGARAGE
11-10-2015, 08:43 AM
Finishing up some trim work on the roof this weekend. Framing in windows and bought 20 more sheets of OSB to do more sheeting. The overhead door will be on order soon and have been researching lighting options. Also have been researching a little on air compressors and other shop needs. Stay tuned, more to come.

GEARBOXGARAGE
11-16-2015, 05:40 AM
Not much to report today. Finished up the roof trim and ridge cap and framed in the rest of the window openings. I'll most likely get those on order this week along with the doors. Skipped out on working on the Garage Sunday to go deer hunting... should have worked on the Garage.

GEARBOXGARAGE
11-22-2015, 07:26 AM
Well this changes things a bit.... Early snow storm dumped 6" of snow on us. :banghead:

GEARBOXGARAGE
11-25-2015, 11:38 AM
A few more shots of the sheeting going up. Waiting on the windows and entry doors to arrive.

GEARBOXGARAGE
11-27-2015, 05:51 PM
So I may have gotten the cart in front of the horse a bit today, but couldn't pass up this Black Friday deal at Menards. They may not be Snop-On, but that's 144" of Stainless Steel tool storage! Saved $400 on each one, got them both for under $1K.

GEARBOXGARAGE
11-29-2015, 01:52 PM
Little more this weekend. 14 sheets to go and and the walls will be closed up. Windows should be arriving soon.

raustinss
11-29-2015, 02:57 PM
Be nice to at least get it closed in before winter shows up.....again

GEARBOXGARAGE
12-07-2015, 05:57 AM
Finished of the OSB sheeting this weekend and Sturgis Overhead Door came out to measure the opening for that. They should have it installed within the next 2 weeks. I believe the entry doors and windows will be arriving this week. The conduit is run for electrical and Ethernet. Minimal amount of house wrap to finish up and we'll move on to the electrical work inside. It's been a long haul this year, but I've always believed that you should never hire out a job that you are capable of doing yourself. It may take a little longer, but I've always taken pride in my accomplishments.

GEARBOXGARAGE
12-13-2015, 04:03 PM
Not much progress this weekend. Went to PRI in Indy, but did get the first entry door in.

SSLance
12-14-2015, 05:11 AM
Good to see you'll get it sealed up before winter really hits Mike. Are you going to put in a drop ceiling? How are you going to insulate the walls and the roof\ceiling?

Mine is 36x50 so about the same size as yours. I started mine in 2001 and am pretty familiar with the process you are going through. It's hard and satisfying all at the same time.

GEARBOXGARAGE
12-14-2015, 05:57 AM
I'm going to do a steel panel ceiling, then do blow-in insulation up in the attic, about 14". They have 8 ft. wide R19 batted insulation specific for pole barns, with a nailer strip at the top. They install between the posts and hang in place, pretty quick and easy. The walls will have a 36" high black steel wainscot, then I'll use the T1-11 wood siding painted light gray for the rest of the wall coverage. I did a simple 3D model of it in SolidWorks for fun to get a rough idea of the color scheme.

SSLance
12-14-2015, 08:53 AM
That should work out pretty nice...

GEARBOXGARAGE
12-21-2015, 08:56 AM
We were able to get the windows and second entry door installed this weekend, as well as pull the electric and Ethernet cables through. Overhead door is scheduled for install today and should be able to get the rest of the wrap finished up this week.

GEARBOXGARAGE
01-11-2016, 09:12 AM
Not much new in the form of pictures, but we've been running electrical and getting things planned out for lighting, insulation, etc. We'll post some new pics up soon.

rohrt
01-11-2016, 02:37 PM
Love it.

I didn't see a coax ran to the shop.

Pt109
01-19-2016, 08:13 PM
Hey Mike, awesome project ya got there. Thought I'd toss some ideas out to you that I have researched and implemented on my shop. Mine is a 21x 32 old shop that needed ALOT of improvements. I went with the overhead highbay lights and they are the new small diameter bulbs, (cant think of the number at the moment) but you can get different intensity of bulb brightness, a bit costly at first but are very efficient and put out great light. Finally convinced a buddy of mine to go with them and he is very happy. As far as air compressors, the only way to go is with a rotary. Thay are much more quiet and can run lots of tools etc.. If you are planning to do alot of restoration/building of cars i would really consider using delta rib or equivelent due on the walls for grinding sparks etc. My buddy i mentioned had a shop burn down because of sparks etc. He has an incredible '57 chevy convertible but thank God it had been moved outside. As far as insulation goes, I would suggest spray in foam where you can. really helps with costs of heating expense. Again all of these things cost a pretty good amount but you never regret it. The plains of northern Montana have some brutal winds and cold winters, and these things have really helped me.
Just thought I'd let u know what i have done and how happy I am. As for now my shop does not have the delta rib but the next one will. Also I'm sure you are going to build nice bench's I used some galvanized steel. very tough and durable,easy clean up and makes a very nice surface. I am in the process now of installing Maxline 3/4" airline to feed the shop. Its pretty reasonable and others have told me it works good. Well thats it for now, now you know most of my shop secrets. Oh, by the way I saw the pic of your little helper, I was tinking how cool it would be if you built here a pedal car or something so she could cruz around the shop and really help keep her interested. I guessing a pink one would go over well. Take care and good luck on your ventures.

GEARBOXGARAGE
01-25-2016, 09:52 AM
Thanks for the suggestions Pt109, and your service to our country!

As far as the lights, yep, I've already bought 6 of the T8 panel lights and will buy 6 more soon. I'll be doing sort of a wainscot with sheet metal on the lower levels of the wall to protect from sparks. (the black section in my rendering posted above) I've looked at the rotary compressors, whew! The prices were a little scary. Haven't decided for sure yet on that. The spray in foam has crossed my mind. may get a quote, but the draw back is it reduces the ease of any electrical upgrades in the future if everything is run within the walls.

And for my little helper, She's already excited about building more cars with Dad in the Garage!

Motown 454
01-28-2016, 02:32 PM
Beautiful shop! Its coming along nice. Are you making a small room to keep your compressor and mechanicals in?

GEARBOXGARAGE
01-29-2016, 05:42 AM
Beautiful shop! Its coming along nice. Are you making a small room to keep your compressor and mechanicals in?

Thanks! No separate room for now, but will be building a partition to help divert the sound from the air compressor and hide it a bit. When we were at PRI, I was looking at the Polar Air Compressors and they have a noise suppression system that brings the operating decibels down to around 60. Don't know if I will go with that, but it was impressive. They had one operating there and you could stand right next to it and have a conversation without yelling. Still doing some research on air compressors, though.

GEARBOXGARAGE
01-29-2016, 05:43 AM
Beautiful shop! Its coming along nice. Are you making a small room to keep your compressor and mechanicals in?

Thanks! No separate room for now, but will be building a partition to help divert the sound from the air compressor and hide it a bit. When we were at PRI, I was looking at the Polar Air Compressors and they have a noise suppression system that brings the operating decibels down to around 60. Don't know if I will go with that, but it was impressive. They had one operating there and you could stand right next to it and have a conversation without yelling. Still doing some research on air compressors, though.

GEARBOXGARAGE
02-20-2016, 04:11 PM
Well it's been a while since I've posted any updates due to a couple of weeks of mid-teen temps and no progress on the shop, but we're back at it today with some fantastic weather! Working on electrical now and was great to be able to open up the doors to let some sunshine in. I set all of the outlets at 48" so regardless of where I decide to put work benches, I'll still have easy access to them. Started mounting light panels for the time being, but before next winter we should have a ceiling installed and be fully insulated and heated.

Tincup
03-14-2016, 06:48 AM
Do yourself a favor, put in more windows. You could put them up high to keep people from seeing in, but there is no substitute for natural light. JMO..

GEARBOXGARAGE
03-17-2016, 04:36 PM
It's brighter in there that what the pictures show. I though about putting windows up high on the back walls like you mentioned Tincup, but it was an added expense I decided not to do. I'm sure once i finish the ceiling off in white it will add to the brightness as well.

I don't have any real exciting pictures to share at the moment. Typical wiring and small detail stuff going on. We'll get back to posting some good progress pictures when something more visual takes place.

Josh@Ridetech
04-29-2016, 05:40 AM
Very nice shop!

GEARBOXGARAGE
06-02-2016, 04:46 AM
Very nice shop!

Thanks Josh.

Nothing exciting lately on the progress. Wiring and trim work. Will start posting new pics again soon.

GEARBOXGARAGE
06-15-2016, 04:51 AM
Finally back to making progress on the shop. Soffit almost done and ordering siding this week. Getting a quote on the heating system as well.

minendrews68
06-17-2016, 07:09 PM
Heating system................? Mike you know summer is here! JK, Your shop is something I'd sure like to have.

Motown 454
06-18-2016, 10:07 AM
It's coming out nice. Wow I wish I could have a shop with that much room.

GEARBOXGARAGE
06-21-2016, 04:56 AM
Heating system................? Mike you know summer is here! JK, Your shop is something I'd sure like to have.

We are looking at an overhead radiant heat system, similar to this...

https://www.reverberray.com/?product=det3-series

From what I've read, it is the next best thing to in-floor heating.

- - - Updated - - -


It's coming out nice. Wow I wish I could have a shop with that much room.

Thanks! It's been a slower process than expected, but coming along.

Ron Sutton
06-21-2016, 07:45 AM
Nice progress on your new shop Mike !

:cheers:

GEARBOXGARAGE
06-24-2016, 08:22 AM
Nice progress on your new shop Mike !

:cheers:

Thanks Ron! I've been working on building 10" risers as well for measuring up my truck, I'll hopefully be getting that info to you soon.

GEARBOXGARAGE
07-29-2016, 04:47 AM
I've been putting up siding and trim when time allows. The quote finally came in for the Radiant heat system. On the home stretch now hopefully.

GEARBOXGARAGE
08-02-2016, 04:54 AM
Finished up this side over the weekend...

minendrews68
08-02-2016, 05:32 PM
I'm really not very fond of your garage.. With that being said, if it were MY garage in MY back yard I might reconsider. Man, I'm envious.

GEARBOXGARAGE
09-07-2016, 04:49 AM
The new air compressor arrived for the shop. Just have to button up some trim and siding on the outside and then we'll get the ceiling finished off, insulate and finish installing the lighting.

Ron Sutton
09-07-2016, 05:26 AM
Looking good Mike !

:cheers:

GEARBOXGARAGE
09-17-2016, 05:15 PM
Looking good Mike !

:cheers:

Thanks Ron!

GEARBOXGARAGE
11-20-2016, 07:27 PM
The ceiling installation has begun and the heater has been installed as well. Just in time for winter! The unit runs nice and quiet and no worries about forced air blowing a bunch of dust around, should help keep the shop cleaner in that aspect. We'll be blowing in insulation in the attic as we make progress on hanging the metal ceiling and also finish installing the light panels.

Tincup
11-21-2016, 04:15 AM
I have the same type heater in my garage, your gonna like it, they work great.

Motown 454
02-17-2017, 01:45 PM
Hi Mike how's the garage coming along?

GEARBOXGARAGE
03-12-2017, 05:30 AM
Looking to get the walls insulated and finished off in the fall. Otherwise the shop is coming along nicely.

We're getting a few projects in. Seem to be developing a following in the Classic Chevy Pickup market. The stripped down '38 is in for a complete rebuild. Did a 4" drop on the rear of the Red '61 and then later we put a 2nd Gen Camaro rear under it. We also did a 2.5"/3" drop and front power disc and steering conversion on the White '62. The owner of the '62 also wants to do a rear end swap and have a new wiring harness installed this spring.

minendrews68
04-14-2017, 06:16 AM
Looking good Mike! I'm jealous..