[ComposiMo]

After a few weeks of not exactly knowing what was going to happen with my shop (the lease was up on the 1st, and it was a last-minute decision to not renew it), i finally was able to make something work. As some of you know, i am now the shop manager of a local restoration/body shop called 'Exotic Concepts'. The owner has been extremely helpful in working with me through all of this shop moving stuff, even giving me 2.5 weeks off so that i could get the move done and taken care of.

In that time, he also decided that he'd be able to rent me out a section of their shop that they weren't really using efficiently, and in the process also enable them to have a full fabrication shop in-house for some of their projects.

So, i went from a 10,000SqFt warehouse to this nice little setup:

I'm very excited about the whole thing, because now i still have the ability to do fabrication and have a place to do it. Anyway, i'll give you the 'shop tour' around the room

This is my welding area, with my newly-fabricated all-aluminum welding table. I've been wanting to build this for a LONG time, and now was the right time to go ahead and get it done. It still isn't finished, but its a GREAT start.. haha!

Here is my sander/grinder, drill press, and vertical bandsaw... this is actually temporary, because i want to build a steel work-table, and it is either going right where they are, or on another wall in the room where the shelves are, and the shelves will come here... the sander and stuff will move to the other side of the shop.... you know, all 15 feet of it... haha! :lol:

Here's the sheet-brake and sheapo-press (which i've had for several years now, and it still works flawlessly... cheap stuff CAN sometimes work great, but not all of it will. My belt sanderf is also a cheapy, and its run forever, and works great!)

Tool box, and horizontal bandsaw... where the box is, is where my belt sander and stuff will move to eventually. The B16 on the floor is jfrolang's... its going in tomorrow 8)

Inside-looking-out...

So anyway.... thar-she-blows!

I may be out, but i'm not down... yet

 

[ollie]

Nice shop ya'll got there john..

BTW is that a Porche I see peeking outside?

 

[JKG08]

wow.....almost as small as my uncle's garage......but WAY cleaner haha

 

[jfrolang]

Hey that's nice... it's everything you need in a garage, even if it's not huge. Besides, you can still fit like 4 rexes in there.

 

[ollie]

According to my calculations 4.235 CRX's will fit in there.. :lol:

Still nice setup John I'm jealous.

 

[SETI20]

That floor will buff to a shine nicely with a polishing machine.

 

[mithuth]

Since I'm not familiar with the sizes of those machines, what's the dimensions of the floor space? If you think of it, grab a pic with a CRX in there to give us some scale please.

Looks like a damn nice lil shop to fab stuff up in.

 

[90blackcrx]

Size does not matter , wait but can I say it, my shop is almost , if not bigger then yours . Just kidding John, good to see pictures and its nice to hear about how nice the boss is. I'm sure he knows what he can expect out of you.

 

[ludesrv]

Wow. I want that shop...

 

[coldtotouch]

place looks real nice! congrats

 

[xJamesX]

Its a tad bit smaller then your warehouse.. :lol: but it looks like a nice place none the less. good luck with your future projects.. what happened to the CNC?

-James-

 

[g4crx]

I can see some real mean machines comming out of that place!!! 8)

Now get to WORK!!! :lol:

 

[andrey320]

Nice shop! Must be exciting moving into a new one, deciding where everything will go, starting over....
I do see a few OSHA violations -
- compressed gas cylinders not secured to the wall;
- no guard on the drill press.

 

[crxter]

So, is that CRX restoration project still going on?

 

[jmart]

Whoa! 572ci big block. I want one of those for my 64 chevy pickup.

 

[ComposiMo]

Ollie: Yea, we actually have several porsche's gracing our facility... one 2002 911 Turbo, a 1998 Cararra 2 turbo, that fine 928 you see in the pic there, and a 1973 914 that needs a lot of help... and last but not least, a '68 (?) shell, that we're going to make a little auto-x tube-frame monster out of whnever we get time..... (i.e. never )

JK: Small shops force organization

Bas: I was thinking about seeing about that, but then realised that i'd then be too worried about getting it dirty.... its a floor, and it looks fairly decent as-is

mithuth: I'll have a pic up tomorrow of a CRX in there from the swap we just did into Jeffs car this weekend

Bob: Yes, the boss knows exactly what to expect from me... and that is to exceed his expectations

James: the CNC is now in storage. There is nowhere here for it, so it had to go somewhere... ah well.

g4crx: Yea, like the twin turbo Camaro that i have to begin working on next week... hahaha!

andrey: interesting observations First of all, the 'guard' on the drill press... what exactly are you referring to? Aside of what is there, i was unaware that anything had to be on it. As for the cylinders, they are secured using the same chain that i used at my previous shop that was "ok'd" by both the fire safety folks, and was also suggested by a local OSHA guy who i've talked to in the past regarding this. The two cylinders to the left of the gray cabinet are on a roller and chained to it, which was also "ok'd"...

crxter: Yes, but on a slightly different course. Because this new shop is not mine, but rather workspace that is being granted to me, it has conditions... i have to follow their rules... the biggest here being any personal projects have to be over and done with on the weekends or at night. I severely PUSHED it this weekend with the swap we just did, since it ran into today... But as of right now, they are finishing up a couple of things on the chassis at the body shop, then it will be moved to the owners house, where it can be assembled further, then it will be brought here for some of the final things, like the final fab work, etc... but yes, it is still in progress

jmart: that one happens to not have a home... have an offer?

 

[Robb]

Floors could use a scrub. why no hoists ???

 

[ComposiMo]

Cause we can't all be perfect Robb... hahaha! j/k

The floors are fine... they are actually so far beyond repair, that what SHOULD be done, is rip them all up, and epoxy-coat the floor.... i'll do that before having this floor buffed.

And lifts? We don't need no lifts... haha! There are actually 3 in the next bay over (including my old one), and for what i'm doing in this bay, i don't need one... not to mention, the roof-height sorta limits that a tad 8)

 

[crxter]

In that time, he also decided that he'd be able to rent me out a section of their shop that they weren't really using efficiently, and in the process also enable them to have a full fabrication shop in-house for some of their projects.

...Because this new shop is not mine, but rather workspace that is being granted to me, it has conditions... i have to follow their rules... the biggest here being any personal projects have to be over and done with on the weekends or at night.

I don't get it, it sounds like that is where you work, not so much "your" shop.

So, getting back to the CRX restoration project. The customer ended up having a shell towed back home and basicaly brought his car back in boxes. Is this another project that you are not going to finish?

 

[ComposiMo]

Wow..... you've got a thorn up your arse, don't you?

I don't get it, it sounds like that is where you work, not so much "your" shop.

Well, its a bit of both... i'm not going to explain it to you fully because quite frankly i don't have to... but it is still a place where i can put my tools, and do some work.... the bigthing, is that it still is a work-area for the rest of the shop, and i have to respect that as well. So there ya go.

So, getting back to the CRX restoration project. The customer ended up having a shell towed back home and basically brought his car back in boxes. Is this another project that you are not going to finish?

If you knew the WHOLE story, and did not decide to be a jerk and assume things, then you wouldn't be making this statement.

As for "another project you are not going to finish"..... i've only ever NOT finished my OWN projects, because i've always worked on other peoples stuff, and never had the time to work on my own stuff... and when i did have time, i was too tired from the other crap (its the "shoemakers kids goes without shoes" syndrome)... and more recently, i've decided that i flat-out do NOT want to spend the money on finishing them, so even if i had the desire to finsh them, i'm not going to because i have many other things that i have to spend money on than cars right now. But regardless, the ONLY two projects that are not getting finished are my yellow CRX, and my race CRX... the all-motor Civic project never really got past 1st base, so im not really counting that... lol!

We are TRYING to make the best of the situation at-hand, and the only place where EITHER of us feel comfortable having the car to work on it, is at his house...

So, you can TRY to start stuff, but its not going to get you very far, because you don't know the whole story, and are just assuming things. The only two people who know whats up is the owner of the car and myself, and we are both ok with the current situation.