Cuda's Cars, v2.0

[Random]

. The hardest part was getting the wheels off the car. I don't know if it's a BMW thing but this car has always liked to seize the wheels to the hubs, which in my experience almost never happens out here in CA.

That was a thing with my E36; had to give the wheels a thump to get them to pop off the hub. FSM (or the owner's manual?) recommended a light coating of grease or anti-seize, IIRC. I would usually hit the wheels and the hub with a wire brush, too, before reinstalling.

[Godson]

I've had good success with axle grease.

[dodint]

Continental DWS are my jam for road cars.

[CudaMan]

Spinning off from samoht's thread that now has a photo of his stellar garage dweller, thought I'd post a bit about my American garage life.

This was an average suburban home around here for its time (built in 1980). I was lucky to get in on it when I was in my 20s, the downside is I was too inexperienced to know that not all "two car" garages are created equal. It's really cozy for two cars, even when both are under 67" (1,700mm) wide. I believe my garage door is 14' across, and the other standard size for a 2-car garage is either 16' or 17'.


What the garage looked like years ago mostly cleaned out. Looks spacious enough right?


Some janky shelves removed. Finishing the walls in white really brightened up and cleaned up the space. At the same time I had four large-ish LED lamps installed overhead, with diffusers to make the light less pinpoint-y. These two things did wonders for my garage. Totally worth it. Oh and I had some outlets added, basically one near each corner of the garage. That has been very convenient.

The stacked washer/dryer facing away from cars is one of the keys to making this place fit two cars inside. Back then washers were all top-load as I recall, nowadays stacking modern front-loaders is more common. At the time it seemed like a clever solution.

The water heater (inside the tall metal box on the left) takes up valuable real estate, and gets really cold in winter making it have to work harder when you need warm water the most, but if it does ever spring a leak it won't ruin the floors inside the house at least.

There's one other important thing I did to make 2-car life easier...


To the left of the 350Z you can see a cut-out area. Before finishing the walls I had a couple studs partially removed and the cut-out area framed to retain strength. This allows the driver door of the left side car to open that little bit further to get in and out more easily.

More of the storage space is being used by now. Better shelves on the wall and a nice cabinet for detail supplies. Tire stacks go wherever there's room. Passengers have to get in and out in the driveway, not the garage. Less than ideal when it's wet or windy out.

Guest appearance by my friend's Supra (Russ: Shelly's 6spd TT) as I was working on it for a couple weeks.



Last year's project, finally putting in a proper tool chest/workbench. You can see how even two little 2-seaters take up most of the door width.


Current situation. There's just enough room to stand next to the Spyder and open the tool chest drawers. Also managed to fit a folding engine hoist between the washer/dryer and tool chest.


Tight! You can see why the cutout for the door is important. Also man do I need to repaint the trim.


I was drawn in to this place in part by the large side yard. A portion of the houses in the neighborhood have this feature, for parking your RV or boat or whatever. It seems kind of unusual because all the houses are a similar size and it's not exactly a wealthy area, but I do see some RVs in their side yards here and there. For me it was intended for a trailer at some point, although I still don't own one.

Unfortunately the big side yard is on the opposite side of the house from the garage, which really limits how handy it is. I'll put a car back there from time to time on a temporary basis, but as the cars are still exposed to the elements and I have to drive across the lawn, prop open the gate, get up over a rise, then put the car half on concrete half on dirt, it doesn't get used much.



I'd kind of like to build a spacious 2-car shop in the back yard, there should be just enough space if the door was where the chain link fence is. But again, it's a really inconvenient spot on the opposite corner of the property from the garage (where would I decide to keep my tools?), and a proper building is probably at least $30-40k once you account for concrete. IF it can even be permitted. An additional dwelling unit is okay with the city, but a garage in a back yard may not be. Regardless it's a lot of money to drop on a luxury. It's just so much nicer to a car to have it in a garage. No real plans to go forward with this, just wishful thinking.

[George]

[Phil_SS]

You do have plenty of height. Wonder if you could have a four post and park a car underneath with one on top.

Then you would have a lift for work.

My garage is kinda the opposite of yours. Tons of width (around 20’) but no height (around 8’).

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, although our garages are way bigger than ones in England, but still not spacious enough! My 1950s home in LA has like a 1.5 car garage. Even two S2000s would be a tight squeeze!

My current Seattle home was built in 2000s, so they’re bigger but still kinda tight for 2 mid size SUVs though. I guess we ain’t never ever gonna get no satisfaction with sizes…

Anyway, I like how your garage has transformed over the years. Hope mine can end up as neat as yours soon. Right now it’s still half filled with moving boxes and half filled with wife’s succulent plants from CA! Yeah, it’s now kinda like a green house with artificial lights a stuff…

[CudaMan]

Yeah it's like homebuilders mostly still haven't caught on that the typical American family has multiple cars these days, unlike 70 years ago when it was the one Family Automobile, or even 30 years ago when two cars was more normal. If I was a developer I would think it'd be prudent in the 21st century to build a portion of homes in my development with larger garages, for people with multiple cars and/or lots of things to store.

Good suggestion on a lift! I thought about it briefly, I think there is enough height from floor to rafters. The garage door would have to be replaced or have a new track made where it rises higher before rolling back. A two-post lift might be a tough fit because of the width of the posts - putting 2 cars in there would be even harder. A 4-post car storage rack might be a little easier. Then again any lift would make the game of Musical Cars take even longer when I want to work on one and need access to both sides. To do that now I park one car centrally in the garage. A rack or lift wouldn't give me that option.

I thought about remodeling to add a 3rd garage bay and what that would take. I'd lose half or more of my kitchen for a start, and lose even more light (the kitchen/dining area is in a weird area in the house that gets little natural light).

I could extend the garage back farther to make it a 4-car (2x2 grid of cars), which would be awesome, BUT I'd lose the living room that has the big sliding glass door to the back yard, which is one of the few afternoon sources of natural light.

Best thing is to start all over on the lot and build a custom home. Or just move (more realistic!). One house in the neighborhood must have burned down or something, it's the only one in the entire city block that looks different and has a 3-car garage. Would love for that one to come up for sale.


I do have the option of more shelving over the cars. I'm nervous about that though. Even though there are no known major faults close to where I live, there is enough earthquake activity in CA to make me wary of putting things overhead. Even the exhaust on the top shelf back there makes me uncomfortable.

[CudaMan]

I didn't know this existed until now. An interesting idea. Not sure how much I'd trust it, and it would move the cars closer to center due to the size of the single post, but it does solve the post(s)-in-the-middle-of-the-garage problem.

https://www.fastequipment.net/produc...-storage-lift/

[Crazed_Insanity]

Nice! Makes me want to get one for my S2000. Rated 6000 lbs meaning it should work for most cars!

However, I get the feeling that it'll be super expensive and probably not something I can afford...