Craig's Workshop Build

[h5ngs]

Hello everybody, just introducing myself as i've been on the forum for a while now, so thought id start a new build thread as i am in the slow process of my exocet build. My names craig and im a FORD senior technician and have always wanted to build a kit car. I have just moved into my first house with my girlfriend about 2 months ago and once decorating inside was done i could concentrate my efforts in my garden The house we bought has a garage so thought id start my build using my old mx5 as its gone past repair due to rot. I am used to driving mx5's as i have now owned 5 of them and my last one is now my donor for my kit.

I have decided to sell all the parts off my donor first to raise funds for the build but because i was selling so much and making money i couldnt refuse buying my friends mx5 aswell as it is a 1.8 with torsen LSD, and much better condition suspension including rear brace bars. This now means i now have 2 part stripped mx5's on my drive much to the amusement of the girlfriend

As i started stripping i soon realized that the existing garage is not suitable at all as its far too small. So i decided to stop the stripping and selling and make my new workshop ready for the build.

I thought i would show you all the build as i think it is part of my exocet build as without the garage i dont think i would build the kit. First off here are some pictures of the garden when we bought the house of my auntie and uncle. The garden was awesome and always very well looked after, but far to over the top for us.




we first started by clearing out the garden and garage and shed to put our things in.





As you can see much clearer and you can actually see the garden is a good size. I removed all the trees and started work on the 4 large ones in the bottom corner. Once all the trees were removed i started on the main structures.
The existing garage was about 10 foot wide by 16 foot long. This was okay but due to my job i also wanted somewhere to work. So i made a plan and stuck to it.
The plan was to remove the old brick garage and shed and build a 12 foot wide by 20 foot long wooden workshop I got a company in who said that they would make me a new base for the grand total of £1500 including removing my old garage and shed. However this was too expensive for me, so out with the string, spade, sledge hammer and pick axe and away i went.




removed old wall


started smashing up the old concrete slab at the bottom of the garden






lines marked up 13 foot wide to support new workshop



lets start digging




more digging


our dog buster keeping me in check


now the trench is dug out i marked the depth of the foundations and then leveled with hardcore




started too remove the old shed which was a fun job, reason being is the trench i am building needs a new wall to keep the new concrete slab in place. So in keeping with keeping the costs down i am removing them brick by brick and cleaning them up to reuse. I know i know its only £100 for 400 new bricks but this is free and also less rubble to remove, plus £100 is a full polybush kit for the new car.

from this


to this


to this




Thats how far i have got so far, not been doing it for long mainly on a night but as im doing it on my own its hard work. Its my 25th birthday tomorrow and on the cards is a half 8 start mixing the conrete and laying the foundations for my wall. Im classing it as a birthday present to myself haha.
I have also organised my new workshop. I was going to get this one off ebay.
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160618134583&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

It works out £1500 including delivery but i have found a local company to me called Woodcraftuk who are going to price match it for £1500 and build it to my specifications. It is going to be as follows

12 foot wide
20 foot long
7 foot to the side walls
9 1/2 foot to the apex
no floor but bolted to my new base
3x2 framework
single side door
4 x 2 by 2 windows down the side
and 10 foot wide double doors on the front

i am going for 13mm shiplap cladding but im waiting for a price on 22mm loglap cladding, this is much much better, very strong and looks better imo.

Well i will keep you up to date on the build. Sorry for the lack of car pics but here is a few of my donor. Im planning on using 1.6 engine and hopefully either supercharged or turbo'd.

my 1.6 old car



new 1.8 i bought from a friend


Thanks for looking and sorry for the huge starter thread i'll try to keep it updated regularly and should have a few tomorrow. Cheers Craig.

[tlight]

Craig,

For a minute i thought MEV had launched a new model "kit garages....based on mx5 running gear"...are you tiling so the same standard as Mabbs...
Tim

[h5ngs]

Thanks for the advice, the place who are making the workshop said i can choose between shiplap and t&g at no extra cost. The outside cladding is not set in stone yet as they are doing me a price on 19mm and 22mm log lap which is much much more superior to both shiplap and t&g. I will get the costs tomorrow so will keep you updated.

Today was a good day for progress, bearing in mind it is me doing the work (never done building work before) and my mate from work came to help teach me brick laying as he made his own brick garage a good few years ago, so it did take us a good few hours but with reusing the old bricks it does take a little longer as the bricks still have some motar on them even tho they have been cleaned but gives the wall more character i think.







The wall is going to be 4 bricks high until the step in the foundation then 5 bricks at the end of the garden. I know it doesn't look much for a days work but hand mixing 4 x 25kg bags of builders sand with 2 x 25kg bags of cement and laying over 60 odd bricks was hard work especially when it was around 24degrees today. The first course of bricks is always going to take longer as this must be perfectly level as the rest of the wall will rely on this so if the first course is out then the whole wall will be. So we took our time and made sure its right first time. Now this part is done the rest of the wall will go up easily but we had to stop as we ran out of builders sand lol nevermind. We will be finishing it off on thursday night so once the wall is built i can start infilling to start making my level for the new base. Cheers for looking Craig.

[kitcrazy]

I admire your commitment, building a 20ft shed just so you can build your Exocet, impressive, building the exocet will be a breeze after that.

Might i suggest you invest in a cement mixer though!

[h5ngs]

Ha yes i wont be laying the base, i am getting someone in to do that as its back breaking works just doing this by hand. plus i want a nice smooth finish with i just dont think i will be able to achieve. Ive managed to make more progress last night and only a little tonight as its starting to get dark at 9pm now and i didn't managed to get started tonight til half 7. Just got one more course of bricks to do now then the walls at the required height. Once ive completed that im going to start taking the garage down and in filling the massive hole i now have Ill try and get some pictures uploaded tomorrow. Cheers Craig.

[h5ngs]

Ive checked on my local council website for the laws on building a shed and i meet all the criteria so should be fine. Its replacing an existing structure aswell so should be fine. Loads more done but just been slow hard work. Managed to get all the wall built and started leveling the garden out. Also started to infill the base and moved all the paving slabs. Need to order some hardcore to finish infilling and rent a waker plate to harden it down before i can call in a company to lay the concrete and smooth is as im not confident enough to do it myself. Garage has also been emptied now and started to remove internal rafters ready to start to demolish it this weekend aslong as i manage to finish off the infilling of most of the base before then. Its slow hard graft and im at work half 8 til half 5 and then straight in the garden til dark now. Shame the dark nights are closing in FAST...

Well here are some random pictures from recent progress.









And a quick before tonight


After tonight with lots of slabs to move



Well im getting the, having to learn as i go along but enjoying it still which is the main thing. Will be a good sense of achievement once done aswell.

[h5ngs]

Well more progress last night and work wasnt busy today so took half a day today and half tomorrow so i can try and get ready for taking the garage down this weekend. Ive been and spoke to the place who are making my workshop and they've agreed to delay the build until im ready, which works out best for both of us as they are really busy at the moment so its a win win. Ive been moving all the broken rocks and concrete slabs into the founds ready to be smashed up for hardcore and then leveling the garden with all the extra soil i have. Come rain or shine i will complete this build so i can make a start on my kit car just seems to be one thing after another in the garden so id prefer to have that all finished new fences etc and then make a slow start on my kit during the winter where i can be inside warm instead of out in the rain digging and splodging around in my wellies in the mud oh how it feels to be a small child again

Well here are a few pictures just to show you the progress.




The field behind my house is starting to get overgrown with brambles and it grows through the metal fence, inbetween the gap/no mans land and then through my fence. So ive taken the fence down, fence posts out and laid the spare 3x2 paving slabs across the metal fence to stop growth through. Im then leveling out my garden and the section in between before putting up a new fence across the back.

Also while i was at the woodwork shop i took some pictures of the horse stables which they have built. This is the same materials which i have chosen for my workshop and the same colour staining also which i think looks great.

3x2 frame work throughout
19mm loglap cladding
T&G roof








Hope you like, Cheers Craig.

[h5ngs]

Cheers for the comments guys keep moral up seems like never ending work but will be worth it in the end. Pretty good update today tho with lots done and some mega hard graft. Started at 9 with a help from my step dad to remove the old garage roof. There was 1 layer of corrugated metal coated in bitumen and one layer of newer square ridged metal, so instead of removing the old roof they had just put the new stuff on the top, which made the roof twice as heavy and also took twice as long to remove.

Ill start with fridays progress as i didnt manage to get anything uploaded. I was trying to get the muddy area all leveled off. I raised the level of the floor behind the shed wall up to the same as the back of the garage, no idea how much soil was shifted but was worth it. Made a small wall with the spare bricks i had in the garden. Just put them down so i can section off the garden and the wasted bit of land between my fence and the scout huts fence behind. I plan on putting up a new fence with new posts so cut the old ones down to make access easier.











hes buster again... think this time he was wondering what the hell all of today noise was about


Well that was fridays job done and i was happy how it turned out. Mainly level but it will settle then will fully level it just needed to keep the garden semi tidy

Right big job on todays agenda ....................... TAKE THE GARAGE DOWN.... Well the roof at least. Ill let the photos do the work.








Well thats it .... half 2 we stopped and i had a tidy and was left to my own devices. Lots of work done and i was happy at where i had got to, decided to cut the grass to keep the garden tidy but ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

My friend from work who helped to build my retaining wall popped round at 3 and had other ideas. Ill let the pictures show what happened.

From this


To this


To this








So with that little lot done we have started to in fill the base. As you can see there alot of in fill
Only problem/concern i have is joining the new base to the cracked old one. Im starting to this how much extra it would take to smash up the old base and then just lay a whole new base the full length of the garden. Im getting a few builder in for costs on laying the new base. If i dont and i join the old to the new because the old base has sagged and cracked i think we will need another course of finishing half bricks on the wall. Oh the joys, thats why me and my friend from work are mechanics and not builders

Well hope you like it, going to start smashing up the old bricks in the base for hardcore and leveling it and wait for the builder to see what they say about it. Cheers Craig.

[h5ngs]

Yeah ive been told that, tonight ive moved out all of the old bricks and started smashing up the old concrete base as this falls into little pieces. Here are some recent pictures.

decided to smash up the old garage base as it was cracked and not the best.



seen in the picture above the other half of the garage roof which needed to be cut up and then ready to weigh in the metal to recoop some costs.
this made light work of the wooden beams


bit more progress made to the base





then after speaking which my neighbor she wants to put trellis up with plants on, obviously i dont want plants growing up my new workshop so she suggested just reusing the old fence to cover the gap between the shed and the rest of her garden, so i took the old fence down and put a new post at the bottom and put the fence back up. Looks fine on her side but not bothered on my side as my new workshop will be there so makes no difference.




well that was progress since last update, after speaking with the builder i started to clear some space on the base tonight and start leveling, removing all the old bricks and just leaving the smashed up pieces of concrete, starting to get there now so should be too long now, just waiting for the builder to give me a date when he can do it.






should have the skip by friday so i can have a good weekend at it, plans to have everything taken down, wall and garage doors etc and all the base smashed up.
Cheers for looking. Craig.

[h5ngs]

Well update for the work i've been upto, filled the first skip straight away so had to order a second which is now full too, managed to get all the garage walls down, smashed up the rest of the garage base and dug out the pit and generally levelled the base ready for the builders. All of the large bricks have been removed and just left all the small smashed up pieces, they have then put sharp sand over the base to give a good level and damp proof layer. Here are some pics, still waiting now for the concrete to arrive so they can get it all laid













Concretes just being laid eventually as the mixer was an hour and a half late, but alls good now pictures to follow tonight.

[h5ngs]

Filling the base and starting to Laser level and its starting to take shape now




Ive also phoned the company who is making my workshop and told them to start building, they are hoping to get it done for next saturday but they are busy so will more than likely be the following saturday. Wont be long and i can start to build my kit car

[h5ngs]

Also forgot to add ive ordered and payed for my supercharger for the exocet, hoping to build the first charged one should be around £150-160 BHP with basic fueling and will be able to tune to around 200 with reduction pulleys and aftermarket ecu.

I cant wait to start my build, spent all my money on the workshop tho so will have to get saving

[sspogman]

Hi Craig,

Garage area is looking good, should be awesome once it's all done.

Pleased to hear that someone has gone for a supercharger, I've been wondering what (if anything) I should do around tuning mine. Wasn't too sure whether putting a supercharger on to a 15 year old engine was a good idea, and not sure whether I can justify the outlay either. Started looking at the www.noswizard.com website as they have a fantastic reputation but, again, not too sure whether I can justify the cost - the good lady gets a bit tetchy with the amount of money I spend on this project!

[chrisw]

Aug 31, 2011 11:43:05 GMT h5ngs said:

Also forgot to add ive ordered and payed for my supercharger for the exocet, hoping to build the first charged one should be around £150-160 BHP with basic fueling and will be able to tune to around 200 with reduction pulleys and aftermarket ecu.

I cant wait to start my build, spent all my money on the workshop tho so will have to get saving

Cool
Which charger kit have you gone for?

[h5ngs]

Im using a mini cooper s supercharger its an eaton m45 gen 3, see here for all the details of a really good DIY kit

www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=42329

also a company called TR lane now suppy all the fabrication parts ie inlet outlet brackets tensioner etc if you cannot make them yourself.