Raven gets a new nest

I think we've turned a corner. My memories of the problems with the build team is starting to fade, and we are beginning to "do things" in the garage. For example, last night a buddy and I had the first beers in the garage.
20200207-first beer.jpg


I also brought the first (of many) e9 parts in. This is a 1981 date stamped NOS windshield for the Raven. A 39 year old windshield for a 46 year old car. ;)
20200208-first part.jpg


And today we installed Amy's "sticker wall". This was one of the structural walls in the original 90 year old garage. Amy started this art project a few years ago and we joked that it was all that was holding up the old garage. We removed the boards before demo to continue the legacy. It represents so many of the things and places we enjoy. For those with a keen eye, you'll notice that the top of the sticker wall is not level. That is an accurate representation of the old structure. :oops:
20200208-sticker wall.jpg
 
Stephen,

CAN'T resist. I'm sure there are a lot of people who really liked Wolski's. Why on earth did you and Amy close it THREE times, thus eliminating the possibility of others being able to enjoy it in the future???

Cheers,

Gary--
 
Another great week! We hung Amy's old Jeep grill as wall art. I will eventually wire it up so the lights glow. More important, I had a fantastic visit from out-of-state forum member Andrew Wilson, @adawil2002 He drove Athena all the way from Maine (just kidding)). It was an absolute pleasure meeting Andrew in person and sharing the nest for inspection. Here's a pic to commemorate his visit. :D
20200223-Andrew Wilson visit.jpg


I also started to cut and fit rigid insulation for the interior side of the concrete foundation wall. This is just a trial fit-up. And yes, that is a NOS Hepu water pump, a box of e9 clocks, and a box with a new "horseshoe" engine compartment seal holding the foam pieces in place.
20200223-int fdn insul started.jpg


At this pace, I'll have the insulation finished by summer. But next winter it will be appreciated. I used a thermal camera to investigate the heat loss at the foundation. This image was taken on the coldest day we've had so far. It was 5 degrees out this morning - same corner as above.
img_thermal_1582207758307.jpg
 
I'm sorry that it has been a while since an update on the nest. I think I may have mentioned previously, as soon as I bring the coupe to its new nest I will never "work on the garage" again. So I feel it is important to resolve the thousand details before that day happens. With the stay-at-home order, this has been going quite enjoyably. I've been working hard on completing the insulation and vapor barriers on the envelope of the building so it will be easier to control the humidity and performance within. Almost finished with that. And the lift is installed. That was a long afternoon with me and two young men from Illinois. I just finished wiring it up, and included a shut-off switch right at the lift. I also installed and wired a convenience outlet on the far lift post. When I install the compressor, I'll run an air line down the lift as well.

"Decor" is going to be slow, and is frankly non-essential. But it does give the place some character. I hung some flags up that not only add some color, they are centered on the lift bay so I can use then as a guide to center cars. Still need to bring a lot of equipment in, and also some storage cabinets/shelves to help organize.
20200517-nest update 1.jpg
20200517-nest update 2.jpg
 
YES! So happy for you. That's a great milestone! Time for a Nitro Brewed Coffee!

Still waiting on my 2nd 4-post lift! Ordered it 9/24/2019, I've e-mailed, & called twice a week to mid-March, there is zero communication now just the sound of crickets. Should have shipped first week of December 2019.
 
adawil2002 said:
YES! So happy for you. That's a great milestone! Time for a Nitro Brewed Coffee!

Still waiting on my 2nd 4-post lift! Ordered it 9/24/2019, I've e-mailed, & called twice a week to mid-March, there is zero communication now just the sound of crickets. Should have shipped first week of December 2019.
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Andrew, that is so long to wait for your lift - and you are a repeat customer with Mitch! I hope it ships soon. I ended up finding a dealer that was extremely responsive, and took a ton of time to educate me on my options. In the end, I am very happy (even though they scratched up the garage floor pretty well trying to slip the posts up into my truss bay). I didn't make it easy for them...
 
Yes, a repeat customer with Mitch. My first lift was ordered in mid-July & delivered in early-September 2011. Thought this would be the same, of course. Hopefully it will ship in June if Missouri lets him open. Fingers crossed...
 
bfeng said:
Kudos on making the lift possible. Very creative. In a year you’ll wonder how the heck you got on without it.
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I know that is true. Yet, at the moment I am still getting my arms around getting along "with it". Although I've worked in shops with lifts, this is new to me in my own garage. Last Thursday I picked up a nail in my DD tire. I learned this as the dash screen alerted me that a tire was low but I could drive slowly as they are run-flat tires. It turned out that it was a slow leak, and it takes roughly 24 hours to get too low. But I thought I'd pull the wheel and bring it to the shop to have it fixed. But the car doesn't have a jack, nor a lug wrench. And my floor jack and other tools are still 2-hours away where the Raven is. So I sat, dumbfounded for a while Saturday morning - "How am I going to get that wheel off?" Then the light bulb came on. Duh, I could put the car on the lift!!! At least that solves the absent jack. I'll enjoy getting used to this. ;)
 
autokunst said:
I know that is true. Yet, at the moment I am still getting my arms around getting along "with it". Although I've worked in shops with lifts, this is new to me in my own garage. Last Thursday I picked up a nail in my DD tire. I learned this as the dash screen alerted me that a tire was low but I could drive slowly as they are run-flat tires. It turned out that it was a slow leak, and it takes roughly 24 hours to get too low. But I thought I'd pull the wheel and bring it to the shop to have it fixed. But the car doesn't have a jack, nor a lug wrench. And my floor jack and other tools are still 2-hours away where the Raven is. So I sat, dumbfounded for a while Saturday morning - "How am I going to get that wheel off?" Then the light bulb came on. Duh, I could put the car on the lift!!! At least that solves the absent jack. I'll enjoy getting used to this. ;)
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Give it six months and you won’t be able to live without it. I didn’t much mind working on the XJ, and often didn’t need any jack stands. The e9 is the only “car” that I own and I forget how low the rooflines are, and how low to the ground they are. I often think the e9 is lower than most but I think it is just my imagination.
 
Stephen, your garage looks sweet! Must feel good to have it mostly done.
I had the same problem getting used to having a lift at home as well, it took a while but now I'm so used to it that I wouldn't work on cars without one..
I've found that tinkering and "doing stuff" whether it's organizing or decorating the garage, is a perfect step back from whatever project you got going on in the garage, so I think you'll be fine even if you bring the raven into the garage before you're 100% done with it :)

Again, it looks great!!
 
autokunst said:
I know that is true. Yet, at the moment I am still getting my arms around getting along "with it". Although I've worked in shops with lifts, this is new to me in my own garage. Last Thursday I picked up a nail in my DD tire. I learned this as the dash screen alerted me that a tire was low but I could drive slowly as they are run-flat tires. It turned out that it was a slow leak, and it takes roughly 24 hours to get too low. But I thought I'd pull the wheel and bring it to the shop to have it fixed. But the car doesn't have a jack, nor a lug wrench. And my floor jack and other tools are still 2-hours away where the Raven is. So I sat, dumbfounded for a while Saturday morning - "How am I going to get that wheel off?" Then the light bulb came on. Duh, I could put the car on the lift!!! At least that solves the absent jack. I'll enjoy getting used to this. ;)
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Stephen,
Not only don't you need a jack or jack stands, when you've finished the 'detailing', you'll have the 50' air hose on a reel within a few steps, you'll have the tool cart along the wall with all of the sockets/ratchets/extensions/male and female torx sockets, etc. etc. within a few steps of the car. I hardly ever do anything but what I wonder how I'd get along without the lift (answer is I couldn't!!!).

For example - changed from winter wheels/tires to summer wheels/tires a few weeks ago on two cars. Perhaps 30 minutes per car from start of lifting. Used impact wrench to remove 20 bolts or nuts, inspected brake rotors, pads. put a spot of anti-seize on each bolt, low setting in impact wrench to snug up bolt/nuts, final manual torquing when car lowered. FINI.

Enjoy,

Gary
 
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Had to post this. My wife Amy gave me this sign as an xmas gift several years ago. I just rediscovered it while transferring some parts and decided to hang it where I'll be restoring the Raven. The only problem is, by rule I can't park there now. The best I can do is perhaps shave some weight from my "CS" and tell a good story?
20200519-CSL parking sign.jpg
 
autokunst said:
Had to post this. My wife Amy gave me this sign as an xmas gift several years ago. I just rediscovered it while transferring some parts and decided to hang it where I'll be restoring the Raven. The only problem is, by rule I can't park there now. The best I can do is perhaps shave some weight from my "CS" and tell a good story?
View attachment 93463
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Or just get some white tape and cover up that L. :)
 
I have to report that I haven't been spending enough time on the car, but there are some good reasons. One is that I hadn't installed my compressor yet, and it is hard to do work with air tools without... air. I have a fairly inexpensive compressor, but I'm hoping it will serve my needs. I have an autobody friend that laughs at it and tells me it is woefully inadequate. But I'm hoping he is speaking from a full time, multi-person shop perspective. I wanted to achieve a level of reasonably dry air, so I built a, uh, pipe organ. :D The theory is that the hot compressed air cools as it passes through the 45' of pipe and can be drained from valves at the bottom of the runs. The internet says this works. Whether it does or not, it sure looks cool!
20210112-copper drier 1.jpg
20210112-copper drier 2.jpg
 
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