Updating the Shop

I've been constantly cleaning the garage since we moved into our house over three years ago.  It always seemed like I was doing pretty well, and then I'd actually try to do a project and the entire garage would fall to pieces.  That became much more literal a few weeks ago when my main storage shelf fell on me.  Many of the shelves fell through their frames and large car parts and all of my scrap metal, used for fabricating things, came down on me.  The bruises on my shins were the things of legend.  Legend and pain.

To tidy things up a bit, Jim and I had some whiskey, argued about optimal shelf design and then built a more appropriate replacement to the old fallen shelf.  We probably should've measured better but things generally went together just fine. Except the main pole, which is hung from the rafters, doesn't always touch the floor.

Clearly, the acrobatics were necessary.

Having built a shelf, I wanted something a bit more sustainable for storing my scrap metal bits. It just so happened my wife brought home a nice wooden crate. Which I then modified by adding a 2x6 floor and some cast steel casters.

Rolling box of metal sharps.  Reach in, feel around, it'll be a fun tetanus shot filled trip to Urgent Care.

I'm a computer geek by trade and was really excited to have the box. It was an old electronics shipping container for one of the more historically significant computing companies - Control Data Corp.

"Data Action Corp" was a pseudonym at the time.

This has allowed me to see floor space in the garage. I still have some things to sell and some items that I should just trash. (But how can I not have a wiring harness for a 1988 Lincoln Mark VII?)

The Bowels of Winter

A major portion of getting the car ready has been winterization.  This car lives in Minnesota.  Furthermore, it lives in an unheated garage in Minnesota.  Today's high was a balmy 15 degrees Fahrenheit.  I'm not really complaining about the heat but it did mandate the car get actual coolant in the lines.  During the build I solely put distilled water into the system and leaving it that way would probably necessitate installing new frost plugs in the spring.  So Jim helped flushed the system and we put in some fresh 50/50.

Explanation for People Who Don't Really Care about Cars
Every car has some form of engine cooling.  Engines generate heat and if too much is trapped inside, it will fail to really operate properly.  The most popular form of modern engine cooling is liquid cooling a.k.a. water cooling.  There are a few key components to this system:

• The engine, it actually generates the heat, and moves the car.  It also has a part on it called, "the Water Pump."  The water pump is important because it actually pulls cool water from the radiator into the engine.
• The radiator.  This is the part where all the water generally goes.  When the "low coolant" light comes on, you generally are putting water into this.

When the engine is turned off there is water left in the engine.  This good, this is how the system is intended to work.  However, when water gets below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Centigrade) it will change itself into ice.  This is problematic.  If a pop-can gets left in the freezer for a little too long you get a mess, the same thing happens with an engine, leave it with just water in the engine for too long and you get the same style mess.

Recognizing this potential problem, most engines have "freeze plugs" which will pop-out before the entire engine turns itself into the can of Coke someone really needed to have cold fast.  The real prevention mechanism is to add "antifreeze" or "coolant."  We put in Prestone's best green goo, mixed with some water, and so the car should now be very comfortable for the winter.