Questions for Jay about his workshop/garage

[Devil69]

Jay,

        After reading all your Drag week blogs, as well as most of your other posts regarding upgrades to your shop (like your Haas CNC mill), and seeing plenty of videos posted on youtube of your late night thrashings in your shop, I am curious to know more about your shop.  I think many members would be interested as well.  I guess I should add that if I'm covering familiar ground here and that my searching through the forum was simply not thorough enough then just let me know.

So here are my questions:

1.  How big is the shop and what is the layout exactly?  For instance it appears that you have a couple car spaces/bays, dyno room, paint booth, a general working area and an upstairs, but could you describe the size of each space and their relation to the whole layout?  Perhaps a tour or a couple blueprint drawings would be cool to see.
2.  Did you plan it out or did you retrofit an existing structure? 
3.  Would there be any changes you would make if you could go back and start over? or perhaps would you have built a larger space etc.
4.  Given that you do paint, welding, engine dyno testing, machining etc... did you have to obtain special zoning variances, or permits to be legal to do all those things on your property?  Perhaps this is related to whatever legal steps you had to do in order to create your own FE Power LLC business (which would also be interesting to know more about how that works).
5.  Did you have to make special provisions for things like electrical or plumbing/drainage considerations?
6.  Any plans for new cool things in the shop?  Chassis dyno?  CNC Lathe?  CMM?

That's all I can think of for now.  If anyone else has any questions for Jay feel free to jump in.

Thank you for your time,
Calvin

[JERICOGTX]

I've been to the top secret FE research lab and all I can say is, it needs a bigger beer fridge for 57 Lima Bean.

[57 lima bean]

2.  "Did you plan it out or did you retrofit an existing structure"?  Thank goodness the farmer thought ahead nearly a 100 years ago.The milk house is now the dyno room.

[jayb]

Calvin, thanks for asking, but I would actually rather not put a bunch of details about my shop on the forum.  It is based on an existing structure, a dairy barn, but the lower level was converted to a garage by the previous owner of my place.  And it needs to be bigger...

[Hemi Joel]

Calvin, thanks for asking, but I would actually rather not put a bunch of details about my shop on the forum.  It is based on an existing structure, a dairy barn, but the lower level was converted to a garage by the previous owner of my place.  And it needs to be bigger...

Well if Jay doesn't want to say anything, I can sure help you out. What do you need to know? 

[Hemi Joel]

OK, I was just kidding. (either that or I just received a threatening phone call)

[Hemi Joel]

I need to find the Drunk Monkeys fridge...

[Barry_R]

Don't let him fool you.
Its plenty big.
You can see it from outer space...

[Devil69]

Jay,

        I apologize for stepping over my bounds by asking.  I guess I should really state that my interest has less to do with your exact setup and more to do with asking for your sage advice based on your personal experience with your own shop, on how someone like myself might be able to go about accomplishing the same (or some of the same) thing(s) that you have already.  My wife and I are looking to buy a house in the not so distant future and I have a basic requirement to have a shop large enough to conduct a full restoration/hot rodding of my 69 Mustang Sportsroof.  I would love to be able to do the work myself (of course after learning how to do what I don't know how to already), and the biggest part of that would be with respect to paint and body work, so having a paint booth and being able to do sheet metal fabrication and welding would be primary concerns.  I have seriously considered looking for an open lot and building on it as opposed to retrofitting an existing structure given the constraints of space requirement for the shop.  Obviously I would need to determine what the zoning allows for depending on the location, but I was just looking for your best ideas on what size shop would be required, and if there are things that people should be sure to think about ahead of time to make sure that we would actually be able to do the work we dream of doing and make it a reality like you have, (like electrical or plumbing considerations, special permits for paint work, etc.).  Better to have those concerns thought about now rather than after starting the project, or buying a property that won't end up working for the use.

Thank you again,
Calvin

[machoneman]

It's called.............Area 52 .

51 was taken! 

[Hemi Joel]

How about area 352?

[57 lima bean]

Don't let him fool you.
Its plenty big.
You can see it from outer space...

Considering the temperature outside today,yes,you can see it from outer space.Joel........is the pushrod Hemi goming together?

[jayb]

Calvin, no apology is necessary.  I had the building retrofitted with 400 amp services (it originally had 100 amp), and installed furnaces and insulation so it would handle the Minnesota winter.  I have found that the old adage that you will fill up the available space is absolutely true, hence my comment about making it bigger.  The downside to that is the winter heating bill    Also I am pretty far away from the city, with only one neighbor in close proximity, and he is a former drag racer, so the noise from the dyno doesn't really affect any neighbors.  If you plan on making a lot of fumes or noise, my advice would be to get as far away from your neighbors as possible - Jay

[shady]

you never  buy a house,.... you buy the whole neighborhood. Advise from my lawyer after having neighbor problems.

[Hemi Joel]

Calvin, Like Jay says, move out into the country where neighbors won't be bothered by your hobby. If you buy a place with a building already there, hold out for at least 12 foot ceilings, preferably 14-16'. So you can use a hoist with a truck on it and still walk under it. Sounds like you need at least 4000 square feet.

If you choose to build, make sure BEFORE you buy that there are no restrictions that would prevent you from building the size and height building that you want. Generally if it is zoned for agriculture, you are OK. Anything else is trouble.
Good luck!