SCAB build, Seattle WA

[pa-fatboy]

Really nice job on the chrome on your Chevy. I always like the before/after shots like that.

You seem to have a nice area to wok in. Would you go through your shop and talk about how you have it’s set-up for detailing? What’s kind of lighting do you have... Storage...

I always like seeing how other weekend warrior detailers have their set-ups.

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[LightingBlue]

You seem to have a nice area to wok in. Would you go through your shop and talk about how you have it’s set-up for detailing? What’s kind of lighting do you have... Storage...

Well, I used to have my own garage all set up for boutique detailing as that's been my side business for a while, but that was before downgrading to a condo so now my personal detail gear & tools are scattered between multiple garages and locations.

The pics in this thread are of Kathleen's wonderful garage that she custom built before we met. Her intentions with the garage were not to have an automotive or fabrication shop (or a 2-post lift, can you believe that?!?!?! ). We are currently in the design phase for fabricating industrial shelving from metal. We both enjoy welding and thought it would be more enjoyable to custom design floor-to-ceiling shelving that maximises the workable car space.

It will be a hybrid between metal tubing storage racks and this, without the silly all-thread or thick wood shelves.
bombproof shelving

 

[pa-fatboy]

Understood. Nice idea. I kinda saw the garage in the background and thought it looked like a car guys home away from home.

Your gf sounds amazing! Nice that you both enjoy welding. That must make it easier to explain things like, “... but Honey, the new plasma torch was on sale for a limited time...”

Peace.

 

[LightingBlue]

Your gf sounds amazing! Nice that you both enjoy welding. That must make it easier to explain things like, “... but Honey, the new plasma torch was on sale for a limited time...”

Peace.

She's pretty awesome! And she's a cleaner welder than I am! She likes the art of it, I like angle grinders and sizzled bacon. Neither of us have any formal education on the subject so we took an intro to welding class at the Hazard Factory (Link: HERE).

Days before her custom-build Ranger was delivered, we went to Pacific Raceways for a intro to track driving event with the Alfa Romeo Club of the NW where she finished off that set of tires. It was her first time driving on a race track and she had a blast! In the lowly Mazda6 (GT), it was pretty boring compared to the 700 wheel HP Mitsubishi Evolution IV that most of my track time has been in.

 

[LightingBlue]

Suddenly with time on our hands (WA state is in quarantine), we finish the mini-detail of the SCAB with a full interior cleaning. The suicide rear doors make interior cleaning a breeze, and you never drop anything under the seats you can't easily get to.

Have to say that i'm very impressed with the silicone carpet brushes for lifting even tiny particles while doing carpet vacuuming. A 4hp metrovac pulls drastically more than a 4hp shop-vac or wet/dry vac ever will.

Also, Griots interior cleaner continues to be my go-to interior cleaner over the likes of Sonax, ArmorAll, or Lexol. When combined with a detailing brush to clean crevices and ultra-soft micro fiber, you get fantastic results without leaving a residue, shine or scent (I prefer interiors to be devoid of all smells and without artificially shined surfaces). A can of soda fell from a grocery bag onto the driveway, exploded and caused quite a mess on the passenger side entry..... Over a month ago! And everything cleaned up as good as new, as predicted.

 

[LightingBlue]

Spent yesterday doing a little project for the new shop space in the garage. The garage is unfinished inside without any insulation so we had to install a 5-layer plywood backing plate, then mount the scrounge bins and modular metal peg-board. We have a few hundred clips so there shouldn't be a problem with mounting tools of various sizes.

We plan on welding together a 42" shop bench out of steel, plus sliding extensions for welding larger objects which will be going directly in front of these.

 

[LightingBlue]

Not a Ranger related update, but I lowered the Fleetline 3" and changed the stance to be a little more of a tail dragger.

Current plans on her are to shave a bunch of the trim off and re-spray the car a much darker shade of green so it's a bit less of a "My grandparents had a car that color" connection people make when they see it. Dual carb setup is in hand, but need to spend the time to install it and have the car down for a month or so so that I can make custom fuel, coolant and PCV lines. These aren't the type of projects that I slam out just to get the car running in a weekend. I prefer to take my time, learn new skills along the way and have a clean install. (Example: I've never ran custom hard lines or flared fittings before. The rest of it is monkey wrench work)

 

[Cape Cruiser]

Not a Ranger related update, but I lowered the Fleetline 3" and changed the stance to be a little more of a tail dragger.

Current plans on her are to shave a bunch of the trim off and re-spray the car a much darker shade of green so it's a bit less of a "My grandparents had a car that color" connection people make when they see it. Dual carb setup is in hand, but need to spend the time to install it and have the car down for a month or so so that I can make custom fuel, coolant and PCV lines. These aren't the type of projects that I slam out just to get the car running in a weekend. I prefer to take my time, learn new skills along the way and have a clean install. (Example: I've never ran custom hard lines or flared fittings before. The rest of it is monkey wrench work)

Sweet car !

 

[LightingBlue]

Some small updates:
1: New welder and large tank of 75/25 obtained. Now we will get on with the garage shelving project as well as building a welding table from scratch, plus we'll be fabricating anchors for an aluminet shade structure now that spring has sprung and the pool will be getting some use.

We drove the '51 since it was a nice spring day. Welding rack in the back seat, tank and welder in the trunk. You just don't find trunk openings like this on modern coupe cars.

2: Wanted to show off the track system on the RETRAX pro bed cover. Here are a few eyebolts (from Yakima) that have a 500lb rating to match the rail system. We have about 300lbs of blackberry bushes and large weed trimmings as we clear the yard and these tiedowns will be used so that a simple bed net can be thrown over the clippings to make them safe for transport to the transfer station (clean greens)

Neither of us had any desire to use the lower bed mounted tie-downs as the bed will be filled with blackberry bushes, thorns and the like. This is a simple and elegant solution!

 

[LightingBlue]

Really nice job on the chrome on your Chevy. I always like the before/after shots like that.

You seem to have a nice area to wok in. Would you go through your shop and talk about how you have it’s set-up for detailing? What’s kind of lighting do you have... Storage...

I always like seeing how other weekend warrior detailers have their set-ups.

Thought you would be interested in the garage update, it's a serious upgrade for detailing and shop work.

 

[LightingBlue]

The garage received a big upgrade this weekend in having the lighting entirely upgraded including additional 3-way switches and better delineation of the lighting zones between the 2-car and 1-car bays.

Previously there were nine single-row-LED lamps without diffuser and a single switch at the back of the garage

Now there are eight dual-bulb lamps with white diffusers, two four-bulb lamps and one six-bulb lamps all with chromed diffusers. Also converting the existing switch and adding another switch to 3-way. All of them are 5K spectrum LED's putting out gobs of lumens

The six-bulb lamps are right above the main detailing area and the four-bulb lamp is over where the welding table will be.

Four lamps in total are now placed above the garage doors so that you don't have darker areas near the back of a car that you're working on. The single bay was the least important overall as that's where long-term automotive projects will be, so it received only fivededicated two-bulb lamps, but i'm excited to have two lamps slightly forward to give better engine bay lighting. Those lamps might get altered to be at a slight angle if under-hood lighting is still an issue given the big hoods of classic cars.

After spending a few days designing and planning, plus one loooooong day of install, we're pretty darn pleased with the results! It's not harshly bright or over-lit. But adequate for all needs be them car detailing or fabrication. You could easily work in there and quickly lose track of time without sunlight as a guide.

Before:

After:

 

[LightingBlue]

Finally moved the bulk of my detailing equipment and chemicals over to the new garage.

It's been a few years since I was taking boutique detailing clients as my time has been spent on other things. There were more than quite a few bottles of expired chemicals and "thinning the heard" of chemicals which had been replaced by better-performing products. Now it's just a lean kit with only one or two chemicals for a given purpose, two puck waxes, one sealant, and only three polishes to use across 6 different pads.

Have been thinking about getting a nicer orbital but I cannot justify spending $400-600 to replace the Porter Cable 7424XP (type 1) when only doing a few cars per year and without taking customer cars.

 

[LightingBlue]

Not much Ranger stuff to update people on since it's been tax season and the world is burning.

However, I (the BF portion of this shared account) just put a deposit down to reserve a 2021 Ford Bronco. We'll see what happens with their ordering system, however, since we dealt with this through Ford for the Ranger, we should be in the loop.


- 2-door
- 2.3t motor (same as in the Ranger)
- Manual transmission
- Black Diamond trim level
- Cactus Grey
- White top
- Probably a few options, but not many

The look I'd like to go for is the pre-release one-off shown in the press shots, but 2-door.

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