[reign444]

In the process of setting up my home garage for the complete teardown and restoration of my 68 coupe and looking for some ideas on must have tools and equipment as well as layout for workspace. I am limited to an older garage that is not nearly as deep as I would like to have for winter work but am finding my way around this issue with better organization and storage of parts elswhere to help ease the pain. Right now my primary focus is to add in some better lighting and have had some input as to what I should do but wanted to see what others have tried and liked or regreted before I commit.
As of now I have a single bulb above each bay of my two car single door garage that is just over 20 feet deep. Thinking of removing these and installing 2 12"x8' surface mount fixtures with reflectors in place of each bulb giving me 16' runs in each bay. As well adding in a 4' bench light at my workbench and another to cover my parts cleaner and media cabinet area. My concern is the lighting will be directly over the car and shadow out some of the floor space on the one side.
Any comments or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[02mingrayv6]

just fill the entire celing of florecent bulbs lol i mean it sounds dumb but if i was doing what u are i would just so that i wouldnt have to take a dam flashlight everytime i needed to work in a shadow

[02mingrayv6]

as a matter of fact put 2 8 foot things running the sides of ur car like if ur car is 5 feet wide space the 2 light fixtures 5.5 feet from eachother

[mechanic1025]

I agree, get some flourencent lights and hang them up, get a good sturdy work bench. Some tool boxes to keep everything organized.. and get some floor sealent to make it look good and nothing can leak in or out..

[rpmcarter]

LOL.....my garage looks like some villians from a bad race car tv show parked their cars in there and living in it.....

I NEED SPACE!!!

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by 02mingrayv6

as a matter of fact put 2 8 foot things running the sides of ur car like if ur car is 5 feet wide space the 2 light fixtures 5.5 feet from eachother

That's similar to what I have, no light is directly over the car, I have flourescents on either side.

Here's the best pic I have off hand showing the light setup,
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z.../fourramps.jpg

Another shot, different angle,
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...overview-1.jpg

My Millermatic 135 MIG welder,
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...mig_welder.jpg

You can see more stuff by going to my website, www.jasonsgarage.com and looking around. I have a habit of not showing off my tools directly, for obvious reasons ) but if you look in the background and what's laying around you'll get an idea of some of my stuff. I don't have a garage for myself, everything I do, plus my Mustang is stored in half of my parent's garage. My '87 Caprice is stored outside, I unfortunately don't have inside storage for that car.

The garage is well insulated, has insulated foam core vinyl garage doors, is caulked/sealed well too, but has no heat source itself. The garage faces dead North too which sucks and it gets very cold here in Northwestern, CT. I normally don't mess with the car much during the winter but the few times I do and that which I spend quite some time out in the garage I use a 40k BTU Reddy Heater. Not the best heat source but the best for the occasional need for heat that I have. I only run grade K1 kerosene which keeps the smell down than using diesel and open a garage door a few inches for fresh air while it runs. Once the garage gets up to temp (60 deg in about a half hour) I shut it down and close the door fully. Warms the garage quickly and only has a real faint odor. I've generally found the people that do complain about the odors from these heaters are the ones that dump anything in them to burn.

My heater,
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...237/heater.jpg

[reign444]

Thanks Jay. my garage situation is similar in size but I do pull the wifes car out to have the free space on ones side when I wanna toy around which does help greatly. got a good upright tool box set alreay and the basic tools,need to invest in some more specialty tools for body work and trim removal/install tools more or less. Looking into a mig welder now. Picked up a nice parts cleaner for 40 bucks from a co worker and might grab up a media cabinet from him as well only because he has it in great condition and for very cheap otherwise I would have passed.
Was considering doing like you have your lights but again with 2 8' sections put together for even more added lighting.Your car looks nice as well. Considering that color for mine as well but still way off from painting and have already changed my mind a few times.
Hoping for some more feedback and photos from others with ideas. Thanks.

[dodgestang]

Bearing in mind scale differences.....
regardless of size (since I have worked in several garaged over the years):

Light, you can never have enough light, I am running 8 bulb t-8s that light right up even below zero:
http://www.dodgestang.com/emAlbum/al...y/DSC00590.JPG

I also have (but don't have a good photo) three covered (so they are not open bulb) 2 bulb t-8 fixtures mounted vertical at 2 to 6 foot high in the one corner where the lift 'is supposed' to be (haven't actually bought it yet) that will light up the underside of the car when lifted.
http://www.dodgestang.com/emAlbum/al..._overlay/2.jpg

Power: I have 4 plug outlet boxes every 5-6 feet on every wall.

Workbenches with lotsa storage...you can never have enough flat, clean, clear working area
http://www.dodgestang.com/emAlbum/al...y/DSC00917.JPG

I also like to have a serious duty rack for storage of some of those heavier car parts (sorry its sideways but since I put these in they now store 2 blocks, a transmission, power washer, the old compressor, spare fuel cell, etc...
http://www.dodgestang.com/emAlbum/al...y/DSC00417.JPG

Dedicated 'bits and pieces' area. Harbor freights sells great little container sets that come with a lot of useful nuts, bolts, washers, etc in them. This area has actually doubled in size because I bought another set of containers...so take the red bins and multiply by 2
http://www.dodgestang.com/emAlbum/al...y/DSC00416.JPG

[Dare1]

yeah man definately those lights. but as far as tools, i've got a set of craftsman open-ended wrenches and a craftsman socket set. i've had my '65 for almost for years now and haven't needed any other tool other than those wrenches and that socket set.

made it pretty simple to work on back in the day

[Calponycarsmike]

I am in the middle of redoing my entire garage. I just built all new cabinets and I put the doors on this Thursday, I put little cut outs my tool box and air compressor could roll into. I will post pics when it is done.

[Icerat]

I have the same size garage as you and fortunately have it designated Mustang parking only so I dedicated the whole two car garage to restoration. The one mistake I made that will be remedied after it is done is not U-Coating the floor, that stuff is so great, I would recommend it to anyone.

I have my set up to work on the car dead center. It is on a rotisserie right now so that is helpful. I have 2 8ft runs of flourescent lights long ways on both sides which gives plenty of light. I have a rolling toolbox, wall cabinet, workbench and compressor on the RH side, a media blaster on the back wall and the left side is the welder, storage, parts washer and room (never enough) for tools like the engine hoist and extra parts and peices. I will try and get some pics for you. It stays a constant mess though.

[reign444]

Yeah the high bay garage set up is very nice and roomy. I am going to layout the garage on paper to scale and mess around with it abit before commiting.As well may temp. rig some lights up and move em around to see what I like best. Would love to caot the floor as well but needs some work prior so will shoot for that part next year.Thanks again for all the input and photos.