Family Racer and Dream Garage Build
 

I’ve been on the Board for a while now, but never started a build thread. My car progress hasn’t been fast, but methodical to fit my goals. I also just recently purchased a house with a 3 car garage that has a lot of potential, and thought some of you might like the direction I’m going with it. It’s an 800 sq ft (interior measured roughly 35x23) garage. I grew up tinkering in my grandfather’s shop, and will continue that with my girls and their kids (someday) in this very building.

Here she is the day I got the ISF from a former forum member. A one owner 13 with 20s, swift springs, headers, exhaust, and Toms body kit. It came with all original parts but the exhaust. It had like 28k on it I believe. He kept it mint, and was a very nice guy to work with. I flew to Florida with the lovely wife and drove it home. May have been one of my funnest weekends.

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Here is the shop as it was the day I took delivery (just last month).


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The house was very nice, but the garage was heavily smoked in. I have big plans for it, with work under way. A nice garage has actually been more of a life long dream than a cool car, so I’m excited and fortunate to have finally acquired both. Now it’s time to make it all my own style.

Ill update this thread soon to bring you all up to speed on the car and my shop, and the direction I’m headed with both.

Oooooh NICE. This will be a fun watch

Congrats on the house! Looking forward to see progress pictures of the shop/garage!

I quickly started playing with the car when I got it. I put on a set of 19x9 et 40 square Forged Fsport wheels from my daily IS350, and started hitting the track and car shows.


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However, this wasn’t really my style. It rode rough on a 30 series tire, and I hated the springs, so you see the ride height increase in these pictures as I went back to stock springs.

I have proven to myself many times that rotational mass matters, and I also prefer taller side walls, so I went to some Volk TE Sagas in 18x9.5 et 45. Here she sits on OEM suspension with drag radials in a 285 rear.

Weight reduction is expensive, but the benefits are profound, usually.



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Some of 2019... right before life slowed down a lot.


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Date night with my oldest girl. If you have girls, teach them how a man should treat them!
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I found a local ISF at the gym.
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Time to fix an exhaust leak!
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Drag night with my 707 whp buddy.
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Picked this up, but still haven’t installed it.
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Made a very fun commercial with my local Lexus dealer. The video is on my Instagram at Isfolution. I don’t really care for social media, so I fail to update that account much.

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I bought and installed Tillet carbon seats. I read they were comfortable. I sold them already, and my backside appreciates it.
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This shows how much legroom the oem seats steal. I’m 5’9, for reference.
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Random pic, but I built a virtual race car which has been a savior during COVID. A very fun and, ironically realistic, hobby!
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I personally hate the oem muffler design. My JoeZ exhaust was filling my cab with exhaust. Problem solved. I know many of you don’t like these tips, but i like them a lot. It has the added benefit of being very different. Granted, it doesn’t have the ISF look from behind anymore.
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The new seats arrived. I wanted to keep carbon but go comfortable. These are out of a euro spec Porsche, but they are really just carbon Recaro pole position ABE seats. They come oem in some merc, bmw, and I believe Porsche track edition cars, usually to the tune of 10-17k per set. I got these from an upholstery shop. Someone bought them and had custom leather done. He installed them, his wife hated them, and somehow the upholstery shop Owner ended up with them in storage.
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He gave me a very low price, and I happily paid it. They need a final adjustment, they are laid back a little to far. That said, they are very comfortable, and extremely supportive, yet they have plenty of room. They hold me well, and my very large friends love them too. I’m talking like 6’4, 350 pound guys. I drove all summer with these, and decided they are staying in my life forever. I weigh about 165, so I’m not sure how Recaro built a bucket that fits everyone... but they did.
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Ignore mess. I had no garage at the time. We will get to that later.
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I’m a bit tired of the Toms diffuser. It’s on seemingly every ISF.
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So I took it off. It was held on with gasket maker... so thanks to whoever did that.
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Oh wait... the paint is ruined from the gasket maker. I will be reinstalling the diffuser.
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Don’t ever forget to teach your kids how to mix E30... it’s a necessary life lesson. This kid loves tools, cars, and driving fast. See my Instagram for a great video of her while I’m accelerating.

I had a wiring issue I figured out with the help of the forum.

I added an intake, tune and catch can. I think I deleted most of those pics. My car now runs the oem tune with oem intake, and no catch can. I have a completely unsubstantiated theory that the 12 plus ecu is different somehow. My car didn’t like the tune or intake, and held back some timing. I could never figure out why. With the oem stuff, it runs more timing, with KCLVs in the 24s and 25s. I sold that stuff to another member that loves them (with full disclosure)... so who knows. His car is faster with it... mine was slower.

My overall goal is a weekend, family friendly, but pretty serious race car. I have a ton of interest in road coursing, especially after hrdiven let me ride along with him this summer. Hold tight for coils and track mods, as well as watching me learn how to drive. I drag race, but have bored of it. A whole night of sitting for 5 runs in a 12 second car is fun with friends, but it isn’t much speed overall.

I almost bought Ohlins TTX from figs, but most car mods went on hold this summer. With so much time at home, we decided it was time to buy a house we really love instead of a garage-less condo that was cheap. So I spent the summer getting the condo ready, and saving all my Nickels for a house. We closed last month, and I now have the blank canvas of a garage you see above.

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The yellow is a nicotine stained ceiling. The white is basic Kilz primer. I wouldn’t even move in until I primed the garage. It smelled terrible. He mostly smoked out there.
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Ceiling picture.
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I tore out pretty much everything he left. I only kept the TV.
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This was not easy, since we only had 4 days to give our condo over to the buyer. I drank many Red Bull during that 4 days.
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HVAC before cleaning. House was scrubbed, carpets cleaned, and HVAC system cleaned. House smells nice and clean now.
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My commercial grade armorproxy supratiles came in. Hit them up for overstock deals. I wanted dark grey and black checkerboard flooring. They didn’t have enough from overstock commercial jobs for the garage, but they did have enough if I would take 1/3 black, 1/3 dark grey, and 1/3 light grey mix. This stuff is pretty cool, and you can drive a fork light on it, so it’ll easily take my auto shop abuse. I won’t put this in yet, but I already have a layout plan.
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More cleaning... this has been the worse part.
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Glad you finally got the garage you've been wanting! Worth the wait. If you want to join us on road course, DM me. A few of us have signed up for NCM and Mid Ohio already with more to come. Hrdrvn's said his schedule may not allow for ISF runs but hopefully he can join us.
Enjoy the new home and of course the F.
Rick

Congrats on the new house and garage! Hope you can find a way to get a lift in there too.

Thanks.

My brother and I are hitting Putnam this year. We considered mid Ohio, but we just built his engine, and If it kabooms on us, we want to be closer to my house and not 3 hours away. It should be fine... but we aren’t pros by any means. He’s a farmer and I work in hospital administration, so time will tell :).

A lift is going in for sure. The ceilings are 9’3”. I’m looking at the bendpak 2 post lift designed for 9 ft ceilings. Overhead work can be done on a gliding stool for someone that is my height. Some 12 ft ceilings would have been nice, but 3 car garage homes that aren’t in vinyl villages are not plentiful in Indy. I prefer craftsman custom homes from the 80s, so was super limited in options. Since a lift would fit, I pulled the trigger. I need to drill a pilot hole to see how deep the concrete is. I only need 4.25 inch depth, so I think it should be ok.

Beautiful work! Can’t wait to see it finished.

Congrats on the house purchase. Garage space is critical. Coming along nicely it seems. That cig residue is naaaaaaasty.

Is your '13 Nebula Grey Pearl or that Meteor color?

If it’s an event I can commit to hitting, let me know and I’ll bring the trailer. As long as only one of us has issues, we can figure it out.

By odd circumstance, I spent three years owning a condo with no garage. I needed a place to live and it was cheap / good investment, so I bought it. Hated it every day because of not having a garage, but I saved up enough to buy what I really wanted... a necessary evil. The car is nebula grey pearl, all the trim is satin black from the previous owner.

The nicotine is very, very gross. One garage door scrubbing results in 2 full bucket water exchanges. The water becomes so dirty that you just start spreading the filth, so I have to swap the water. It’s 24 years of cigarette buildup. I’m having the floors power washed tomorrow. There is the same buildup on the concrete, which is the last source of nicotine stench in the garage. Then I can move on to making it look good.

I was going to text you today. I want to sign up for an event at Putnam that you can be my instructor for the day in the beginning class. We can also collaborate on mid-Ohio days. Do you know your instructing schedule already for the spring/summer?

I need to ditch my drag radials and get a matching set of tires for the rear, or just buy a whole new set of tires. What’s a good beginner grade tire that isn’t silly expensive, and what brake pads and fluid do you all run? My car sees a lot of street use in the summer, so I don’t think a full track pad will be great for my use. I have a daily, so I’m not worried about tires that can handle bad weather. I’m on the fence on an oil cooler. I’ve never seen a 12 plus isf complain of oil overheating, and I won’t be pushing it hard my first year out. When I do buy one, I’ll buy figs.


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Hardrvin and me in his mostly stock (at the time) ISF summer of 2020. He instructs, and let me ride along in the advanced class. It was very, very fun, albeit a little scary since that class runs close together and I didn’t have any prior track experience. So, I jumped in the deep end on day one.

As a novice, any tires and pads should be fine. I ran on all seasons, cheap stop tech sport pads and OEM fluid for the first 1-2 years. Though I strongly recommend fresh high temp fluid.
if you want a "budget" summer tire, the Firehawk.Indy 500 seem to be a popular choice.
choce.
let me know if you guys sign up for any track days. Right now I'm signed up for NCM August 8 and Mid Ohio Sept 18 and still looking to sign up for more.

We have the same license plate on our F's. Great work on the house. Its nasty work but yet satisfying once its all done.
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I have a few updates. Been pretty busy.


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Even after the entire garage was scrubbed and walls were sealed, it would smell of nicotine when you pulled in a wet car. We realized the floor was harboring just as much, if not more, nicotine as the rest of the place had.


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So I had my friend that does commercial floors come in and scrub the place. He used some pretty strong cleaner and a nifty pressure washing device.


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Here is the final result, still drying. It smelled and looked much better. Made my entire house smell like citrus for about a week.


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I am glad to know that my days of wrenching in the cold are mostly behind me. This ventless heater can turn the garage into a Florida summer.


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Getting the first coat of Lexus racing blue on the accent wall.


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It’s actually a lighter shade than Lexus blue, as I didn’t want to darken the room. It works for me, though. This wall will have a lot of stuff on it, so it won’t be so overshadowing when the garage is done. It should match (ish) the Bendpak lift as well.


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For good measure, I sealed the floor with a penetrating sealant. This will keep any remaining nicotine locked in. This dries without changing the appearance of the concrete.


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I did half the garage at a time, as my ISF has drag radials and they should not sit outside overnight. It’s too cold for that here.

The ISF side of the garage is already sealed, so it cures without any tint.

Up next is installing the armorproxy supratiles.

I'm enjoying the hell outta this.

Giving me ideas for my own garage space.

I may like shop builds more than car builds. I follow them on the garage journal. When you grow up playing in shops, they quickly become a natural environment for someone.

Take a look at this: High Lift Garage Door Conversion to get some more room to raise the car. I'll be doing this in my 3 bay garage before getting setup with a lift. I suspect I have a little bit higher ceiling at 11'3". Don't bet on the floor being 4 1/2" thick. Standard residential pour is 4" even. I know mine is. My garage is 30' 10" by 20' 11" and will be getting a similar makeover, hopefully this year. I don't plan to do a permanent lift. There's not enough room to put one in and still be able to let the kids open the car doors. Even when you're careful, opening the doors in the lift bay will be an exercise in patience. Unless I find a good reason to go with something else, I'm looking at a MaxJax set up. They say you can install it on a 4" pour floor, but I'm not excited about that. I plan to cut squares in the floor where I'll have the lift and make some rebar forms about 48" tall with the bolt holes I need welded in place, sink those in the cut holes and concrete over leaving the bolt holes exposed so I can bolt the units down and never think about safety. What's funny is the wife said the garage had to be adequate to support having a lift. We've only been here 13 years, and still in the planning phase...

Lots of great points. I want high lift bays, but they aren’t necessary for my lift, so on the back burner a bit. You have 2 more feet of clearance than me, but about 2 feet less depth. I’d have loved taller ceilings, but was lucky to get into here. The ceiling height was a give. For that reason, I’m getting the bendpak 9 ft ceiling lift. I have read up on lifts a lot, and like their products. https://www.bendpak.com/best-two-pos...-low-ceilings/

I considered raising the ceiling in that bay... but I have no idea how to safely do that.

The max jacks are nice, but I feel
comfortable with a permanent lift. I have a bit more width, and I’m installing the lift at exactly half way depth in the far bay. This will allow me to lift bigger vehicles, such as trucks. It also will put the posts at about my fender / door hinge when I’m not using it, as I only pull in far enough to close the bay doors. That bay also doesn’t have an opener. I manually open and close it to drive the ISF, so no opener clearance issues. It’ll eventually get a wall mounted opener and a high lift in that bay.

I have to measure my concrete. My driveway is garbage and completely destroyed. It was not poured well. However, my garage floor has aged very well. So, it was prepped better and likely poured deeper, or it has been redone at some point. I can’t tell. My lift will require 4.25 inch depth. I’m hoping I can avoid footers, but may have to put them in like you described above. Concrete has gone up about 40% around me... so that’s a cost I hope to avoid.

Document your car and garage build for us!

Time for some input from you all.

I bought the 6.5 mm depth industrial grade Supratiles made by Armorproxy. I was going to buy the residential (4.5 mm), but they had a bunch of this in overstock. Their overstock is DEEPLY DISCOUNTED.

I wanted a black and dark grey checkerboard floor. They did not have enough, but they had enough if I took some light grey as well. The light grey looks good, but hot tires can potentially transfer black marks onto the light grey. It is not noticeable on the darker colors. Since I had to use a color I didn’t want, they discounted it even more. SOLD!

Read up on this stuff. It’s cheaper than professional epoxy application, and lasts way longer with a 25 year warranty. I couldn’t not buy it at the price they offered.

That said, I can do the checkerboard pattern I wanted with a light grey border. This will keep the tires mostly off the light grey. The few feet in front of the cars will also be light grey, which is more of the workshop area.

Or, I can do a 3-way checkerboard pattern throughout the floor. What are your thoughts?

Pics below.

2-way mock-up with light grey border.


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This is the 3-way mock-up. I have enough to do this pattern throughout the shop. I may actually like it more, but the downside is I may have a light tire mark transfer onto the light grey tiles. They said it would be minor.


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I have also learned, while mocking these up, that my garage is not square. I’ve never laid flooring before. I intend to lay as straight a line as possible across the 35 ft wall with the bay doors and work my way backwards. As I come to a wall that a tile won’t fit up against perfectly, I’ll trim it. That may happen pretty shallow into the garage, because it’s just not square. Let me know if you have a better idea. I want to avoid waste, as I don’t have much spare flooring.

I never posted the finished paint job. It is below. I never, ever, want to paint in a heavily
smoked room again. These walls soaked up sealer and paint in a way I couldn’t believe.


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Don’t mind the mess. I’m constantly moving things as I work on different areas.

I’m liking the three way pattern.

On anchor bolts: There are many factors that effect anchor bolt capacity, see ACI 318. A preliminary investigation by a non professional may indicate a slightly thinner slab would be considered safe. If so, contacting a friend with a professional engineering license in your state would probably be less expensive than slab modification.

I have a very strong sense that general guidelines like 4.5” are very conservative.

A wider base may also be an economical solution.

A home gamer that performed this analysis would need to remove the lift before selling the house.

This coincides with my research. Overall, I couldn’t find any pictures or stories of a lift breaking concrete or tipping over, but the internet is filled with pictures of cars falling off and tearing stuff up. I did find guys who used less than recommended concrete thickness with zero issues, and even posts from people in the know suggesting that the tensile strength of concrete is so strong that it’s unlikely a 4inch floor will break.

I work in the corporate legal field, and I recognize that if 4 inches is safe, many manufacturers would say 4.25 is required just to build in a liability buffer. Then considering it’s a 7k lb lift and I would not be using all the capacity, that adds even more of a buffer. Overall, I’m going to drill a pilot hole and see how deep it is, then go from there. I have a gut feeling my floor is deeper than 4 inches. If not, it was installed very well. It’s aged and still almost completely flat and crack free.

4" might could be just fine, but if it isn't you don't have any recourse. That's the real problem.

i agree, and I won’t belabor the point... after this...

I’d be very surprised if there was recourse w/ all the boxes checked either.

my point is if something were to happen with the 4.25 recommended thickness, there are so many “outs” that unless someone died and you wanted vengeance it would be cost prohibitive to seek and obtain damages from the lift manufacturer.

Second, if you don’t agree with the above statement, a PE would probably be willing to take on the liability for a fee if it were truly safe. That’s the point of getting someone with a stamp. Another way of thinking about this is... so you hire a contractor to install a thicker slab under lift as recommended, there’s an accident... do you really think that contractor is bulletproof? More bulletproof than the engineer? If so, go with the contractor. Be sure they know exactly what you are asking them to do and that there is a paper trail all over the contract documents.

Nah, I'll do it myself. Then failure is all mine. I do a lot of things that way.

I agree with the statement it probably would be difficult and expensive to win a case. Too many arguable variables in implementing a solution unless you spend more than the cost of the lift on engineering studies before installing the lift to prove the KSI of the concrete and the thickness of the pour and...who knows what all might be called into question.. completely agree with you.

Floor is in! I did make the mistake of ordering 800 sq ft of floor for an 800 sq ft room, which doesn’t leave any room for cutting waste. It almost covered perfectly, but the very last row is 1-2 inches short since I had to use leftover cut tiles from another wall. I’m OCD, so I’ll order a little more to finish it correctly.

On another note, the garage now looks so good it really brings out the dinginess in the doors. I’ll scrub some more, and may look into a way to cover the garage doors with a better color.


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This was the very last row. Every single tile is slightly too short.

The garage looks amazing! Don’t I know the OCD feeling all to well lol.

Looks nice! have you considered rubber floor transition strips/trim to fill in the gap instead of more floor material?

Great thread...Subscribed ;)

Couldn't find you on Instagram

Joe Z

Thanks! My bad. I forgot I changed my name. It’s Isfolution now.

Really coming together now. Looks great.

What kind of space do you have that attic? It's always nice to have extra space for storage to maximize the usable main garage space.

The attic is the same square footage as the garage, but with lower ceilings. It has some OSB laid in areas, but it wasn’t done well and has areas of sketchy footing. I’ll be fastening the OSB down and making it a bit safer. It has unlimited storage potential, which is a massive help. 800 sq ft really fills up fast when you stick 3 cars and a family’s worth of stuff in it. My goal is to keep as much functional mechanic space as possible, so I hope to fully utilize the attic. I want to add metal fab stuff as well, but I need to figure out how to organize that all and make it work.