Finally A Workable Shop
The storage facility was about to raise my rent and this new facility was
actually a little less than I had been paying before the increase. My friend's
shop has plenty of heat for the winter season. It has windows for light and
ventilation. It has running water and a restroom. It has 240 volt electric
facilities and compressed air. And finally, it has a monitored burglar alarm.
I only have a little more than half the space I had at the storage but it is
enough for my storage units and ample space to work on one car or store two.
I also have the ability and permission to paint a car here. All considered,
it was an easy decision. This is the front of the shop. The taller door, with
its man door is my entrance. The other photo is my trailer inside as we were
moving in. There is also a covered shed on the property where I can lock the
trailer for safe-keeping.
Notice in the above photo that there is only one of the industrial shelf units
installed. They are a little over seven feet wide and my space is only 13 feet
so I had to shorten one unit to fit. This photo shows both units installed with
the shortened one on the left. Its "stuff" is still stacked on the
floor. And here they are painted in green and yellow, the colors of my two British
cars, and finally loaded.
The left photo shows my floor space with only the shelves and Sprite taking up
floor space. The other is with the Prefect in place and we are finally fully
moved in. The Prefect is in pretty good company with a very nice MGB driver on
its left, a Ford Model A project on its right and my Sprite stored for later on
the shelves in front. I don't plan to go into any details on the projects or
work accomplished here as it will all be covered elsewhere. Since it really is
a continuation of the previous chapter, I will just
describe the first task done, getting the Prefect running.
Here it is with a new 160 degree thermostat,
setting outside to run for an hour on each of two days. The '50 Ford pickup
gives a pretty good idea of the car's size. The temperature held fine so I built
the temporary seat shown in the other photo and drove it around the block, its
first movement under its own power since 1998. In addition to continuing the
Prefect restoration we also began
the Sprite restoration as well as
the Model A restoration.
Oh, one more thing. I mentioned being able to paint a car here. These photos are our "temporary paint booth", two from inside and one from outside, near the overhead door. That is a 10 foot step ladder with the bottom side of the Sprite in the inside photos. The right photo also shows the semi-permanently mounted exhaust fan.
After getting the Model A pretty much completely painted, Dan wanted his space back.
I didn't mention above but his was the only space that had access to a window for
the exhaust fan so it became the paint booth. Our plan now is to construct a paint
booth in the common area that can be rolled up against the trusses when not in use.
It will probably be clear plastic sheets with very little structure and it will
require some duct work for the exhaust fan that will have to be permanently mounted
through the wall. I'll have more on this as plans are finalized. Meanwhile, the
area is now cleaned up and we have built a sort of temporary hoist to lift the Model
A body so the chassis can be rolled under it for installation. Dan didn't want to
risk any damage to the roof structure so it may be a little overkill for a 400 or
so pound body but it will do the job and certainly will not hurt the building. A
photo of it is here. The 2x6 beams are attached to the truss but the legs are easily
removable. The other photo is our individual work spaces after cleaning up the paint
booth and moving my Sprite from the common area into its own space.
I have rearranged some of my stuff so that two cars actually fit in my space, which
was always my plan. Of course, that doesn't leave much working room but as the cars
are eventually finished, I won't need so much work room. I will store two here and
keep one, usually the Sprite, at home. The larger of my two shelf units was almost
exclusively dedicated to Sprite parts. Now that it is mostly assembled and the parts
are installed, there is actually a lot of empty space. I will soon discard some empty
boxes and rearrange the shelves so that more can be moved from the floor, making even
more work space.
So I did rearrange the shelf unit and my work space. I first emptied everything and
raised both shelves to match the other unit. That's 2 inches on #2 and 4 inches on
#3. That makes clearance for my welding table to roll under the bottom shelf as well
as giving a little more head room so I could clean out and rearrange the floor under
it. On the floor behind the tool cabinet are all the heavy stuff that I rarely, if
ever use. That includes the box of known spare parts for the Sprite, second set of
wheel ramps and the Crosley engine internals. Along the back are two sets of Sprite
bumpers and its original gearbox with the Crosley engine and gearbox. Along the left
side are the other wheel ramps, jack stands and the welding table. That still leaves
room for me to crawl in if I need something that can't be reached from outside.
Behind the tool cabinet on the #3 shelf are boxes of Sprite parts that probably will not be needed or used. The left side of that shelf is now devoted to tools that won't fit in the tool cabinet. These were previously just scattered about. The right side of the #2 shelf contains only boxes of Sprite parts that are yet to be installed. The left side holds paint and painting equipment. The #1 shelf now has the small parts bins that no longer fits between the shelves as it was. Under that are the Prefect bumpers and running boards. To the right is excess paint, mostly for Dick's Model A. Behind that are boxes of Sprite upholstery and a couple of tonneau covers. The top shelf now also has a plywood cover so that the whole shelf is usable.
Well Dan determined that the shop piggy bank had enough funds to purchase the materials
for the paint booth mentioned above. The plan is still in the working process but we
decided on a 1x4 wood structure, rigidly attached below the trusses. This is covered
in 6 mil Visqueen. The sides will be the same material, permanently attached to the top
and with a 1x2 frame at the floor to give it some weight. The 1x2 and sheet sides will
be lifted by small ropes around the perimeter, one on either side of the sheet so it
will be at least somewhat contained between the ropes. We are hoping that the material
will fold rather nicely but expect it will more "bunch up" rather than fold.
We are trying 10 lifting points initially and think that will be sufficient. More can
be added if not. All these ropes will then terminate at a set of cleats on the wall
behind the unit. These photos show the frame as we are lifting it to the trusses. It is
12 feet wide by 18 feet long, dimensions established by building and other constraints.
Dan is on the ladder, temporarily attaching it to the trusses with rope. these will be
replaced later by 1x4 lumber. Someone noticed that we picked the oldest guy in the shop
to do the ladder work. As you can see, he has ample supervision.
These photos show Dan one more time on the ladder installing one of the last lift lines.
You can see most, if not all, are now in place. The other photo, actually taken first,
gives a good view of the upper structure now held in place by 1x4s hung from the trusses
instead of the earlier, temporary ropes. Also, there is another revision to the design.
Instead of 10 lines to pull, we have devised a way to attach all the lines from one side
and one end together so that there will only be 2 lines to pull to raise the thing. We
have the left side done and it appears to work although there is still some adjusting of
the individual lift line lengths so they all work together. Another day should get the
other side done.
We got the lines adjusted well enough then began installing the Visqueen, starting a few
feet from the south corner on the west wall and wrapping all the way around in a single
sheet. These photos show the wrapping at the end of the first day, about 3/4 done. This
was a slow process. The lifting ropes had to be removed and the material was glued to
the top material as we worked our way around. The other one is from inside after it was
finished. It is surprising how much light we still have inside. Then the last 6 or 8
inches of material was tucked under the 1x2 at the floor and glued to itself on the inside.
These photos are of the walls raised to the "stored position". I think we were
all pleasantly surprised at how neatly the Visqueen folded and was well retained by the
lifting ropes. The material hanging down on the near side is excess where the door will be
located. It is not glued since we have not determined exactly how we will implement the
door. Dick and Dan are taking a much justified break here and I will be joining them
shortly. That small empty space of wall near the floor, left of the heater and shop vac
is where my spark-proof exhaust fan will eventually be mounted and ducted to the east end
of the booth, also close to the floor.
Next we worked on the supply air blower. Dick's master plan is to supply a little more air
than the exhaust fan removes, resulting in a slight positive pressure within the unit.
Our friend Harold gave us an old updraft home heater unit that we salvaged the blower
from and built a plywood box for. The left photo shows the blower installed and the box
partially assembled around it. The other shows the completed box from one side. There is
an identical 14x20 filter on the opposite side. The air exits from a 10x11 inch hole in
the bottom.
With the blower box ready, we added legs and installed on 2 of the building trusses above
the paint booth door. We used ropes over both trusses to lift it. Due to too tight fit, it
could not be lifted directly but had to be done from one end in a father precarious manner
at an angle to get the south legs over their truss then carefully raise the north end from
the other rope, still not aligned, until we got it above the paint booth structure. From
there we were able to muscle it above the truss and finally into position. These photos show
it in final position from different angles.
The left photo shows the primary cause of the difficulty. The corner of the booth structure,
indicated by a red arrow is 14 inches from the truss vertical, also indicated by a red arrow.
The box, with its legs has to fit between the two points. The box is 27 inches wide, 23 inches
tall and 60 inches long, including its legs. Obviously, that won't fit. The last photo is of
the supply air duct work. We built a 1x4 frame with a 4x42 inch opening and mounted it to the
top structure and cut out the Visqueen to allow air entry into the booth, just above the door.
Then we glued more Visqueen to it and the 10x11 snout where the air exits the box. If this
cannot hold the pressure, we may have to examine alternatives.
Next we cut a hole through the wall a few inches above the floor and installed the exhaust fan.
With just 2 lines to lift the walls, and what proved to be an unsolvable though minor friction
problem, Harold came to the rescue again by giving us an old boat trailer wench. We used it to
attach to the two lift lines giving more than enough leverage to overcome any problems. The
left photo here shows the fan mounted to the wall with the wench just above it. The excess
rope has since been removed. The other photo is the fan from the outside. Dan added a small
lean-to roof over it to deflect rain.
This next photo is the exhaust duct work. It is a 24 inch, steel reinforced PVC tube, 10 feet
long when extended but only about 6 inches folded. We found it searching the internet for flex
duct at Deelat Industries for about $60. The
only local source we could find for something similar wanted $250. We will build a box at the
end that can be easily attached to an exit hole in the Visqueen wall with velcro for use. It
can then be folded back to almost nothing by the fan for storage.
After building the box, cutting the corresponding hole in the back wall of the Visqueen and applying velcro for portable attachment, we gave Dick's design a test. Our design was based on the air supply blower being able to maintain a slight positive pressure inside the unit. We hoped to be able to have a permanent opening right under the blower, just large enough for entry and exit. It turned out that the input air was insufficient, resulting in slightly lowered pressure inside, even with the opening actually too narrow for regular access. We had to restrict the exhaust air more than we liked in order to gain positive pressure. A second test wa somewhat more successful. With the exit fully closed, we did get the internal pressure we wanted. It looks like a more tightly closed opening will be required.
I was initially concerned that restricting the input air to the exhaust fan could damage the motor. Restricting the input makes it sound at first like it is working harder. This turns out to not be the case. The fan actually turns faster. That means the motor is not working as hard since it is easier to spin the fan. A little further research proved this to be true so I no longer worry about overworking the motor. I'm sure the air flow over the motor is also its only method of cooling itself so too much restriction could probably lead eventually to overheating even with the reduced work load. Experimentation has indicated that blocking about half of the inlet opening produces a very slight positive pressure within the unit as indicated by the walls ballooning outward slightly. Opening it much below half results in a slight inward bowing of the walls. I suspect we are still getting about 75% or more of full air flow at that setting. The system works probably even better than we expected. After using it several times painting various Sprite bits, I am quite pleased with its performance and really wish we had it for painting the Model A. It would have saved a lot of sanding.