Popular Post rotorhoe Posted April 16, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted April 16, 2019 North Shore Rotary Club present a 1995 Workshop Coupe (as it has only 2 doors). Back in December old mate rot808 and I bought a workshop on the North Shore for a bit of classic rotary storage, which is great because families get excited to free up their garage space but realistically it means we can now buy more Mazdas. It's a tilt slab studio spec thing with only 2 doors for less whores (maybe why the brothel unit shut down opposite us but thats another story). Based in a group of 13 or so units which keeps the bodycorp and maintenance down heaps, the neighbours are great because from the ones we have met they have classic cars, two units are mechanics, and one races Targa. Built in '95 most the other units were converted to mezzanine all the way through, but ours in one of a couple left standard with a smaller mezzanine, and more room for cars. Even 3 phase for eventual hoist storage options. The upstairs is a fair size for office/lounge area and for collection of naked lady supercar pics. The funny story about the pics is that we won the Ferrari one and was one road away from collecting it as a man brought out the Lambo one to side of road. We immediately stopped and did a u-turn to ensure it was free. It was "after 10 years in the garage my wife told me to choose between topless lady Lambo or bottomless lady Porsche", so after admiring the other choices we chucked in the Lambo and went off to pick up the Ferrari. Functionally it can host 2 Mazda's, and tightly 3. Cleared out for overseas adventures it can host 4 (thanks to our specific bathroom measurements to not exceed two Mazda's door to door) and the 5th Mazda can of course be hosted with eventual hoist but we don't own 5 (... yet) Rocked up to meet the ex-owner of the workshop in my car, to find out he owned RX7's and the guy over the road has an FC outside his too. Bonus features not listed in sale agreement are weekend rotary burnouts - did not realise this, quite happy with the outcome. So we grabbed some workshop toolboxes and shelves to act as a kitchen for an industrial theme. Even added the slam bike for a feature, and $3 plants which I eventually forgot to water and they RIP'd. So it's come a fair way in 3 months considering it's a blank canvas to try design. The bathroom was extended out with help from Mr Ryan Fels, and I left him and rot808 alone too long and they made a ridiculous small door under the stairs with handle at bottom (it's all functional now though so great job guys). Then I taught myself how to gib-stop & subsequently developed stronger language skills. My mate Leonard (the fridge) was $10 on Trademe, won before we even had the workshop, but didn't check location… so down to Tauranga and back for one of the best purchases… second only to the fabulous Rothmans cigarettes dairy sign which required pick up and storage by the lovely Danger Dane until we could fly it home. So now that it was all painted and ready to go, we had the idea to invite a concrete grinder in to take off the paint I had just applied. Forward thinking does help these situations but anyway. These 2 guys came over from a company called Auckland Concrete Grinding and worked for 3 days perfecting the floor, grinding it back around 3mm and coating it with a couple layers of penetrating sealer and coater that smells like Tolene, to become water and stain resistant. Thankfully we don't own British cars so didn't need another 3 protective coats. The results are far more impressive than we thought, we assumed a light grind would just be a lighter grey finish with none of the speckles visible but they did an amazing job. Even got the back wall coated to act as a splashback. Before, During & Afters: So that's the basics of the downstairs for now, and after sorting out the plumbing and wiring downstairs we will then start to tackle the layout. First point of confusion how to lay things out... Will be updating some of the projects as I get time, feel free to follow along and give recommendations etc. 37 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cletus Posted April 17, 2019 Share Posted April 17, 2019 Sweet! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimjon Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 That is a cool refrigerator;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rotorhoe Posted May 28, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 28, 2019 So the first task after the bathroom extension was to have a kitchen area along the back wall. Kitchens are expensive, even for the kitset things. So after a bit of Facebook market searching (never expected to find good stuff on there) I came across a yuck cabinet thing that can only be described as the wooden entrance piece to school camp where 1J5's were stored in the top, and school bags below, and maybe one of those weird clear grey/brown mugs on the top too that a relief teacher sipped from occasionally. Well this thing was also bloody heavy but only $50 so we hoisted it up into the van and to the shop, and I spent 3 days regretting my purchase. Had various ideas for it, tested different woods to see how food-grade polyurethane held up, then eventually stumbled upon a sale of ply at Bunnings and was sold. We sanded up the cupboards and drawers and took the top piece off. Spent another few days testing between paints and stains, with the matte black paint turning out chalky and holding fingerprints, so I settled for an outdoor satin black deck stain. Don't tell the Bunnings paint lady though or she has a meltdown. Ended up sacrificing the left had drawer and cupboard for a Bunnings showroom special oven and hob, and the shelf found it's final place but not by choice, because the chemicals in the floor coating has stuck the feet to that position. So it stays. And the legs are off a commercial cooker that were the cheap price of free. After that we went to work on the dirty/laundry area, but didn't want the machine visible because it's not cool and industrial, and wanted an area to clean car parts etc. Went with the cupboard theme of black with ply top and genuinely impressed with how it all came together, especially with Leonard. And other than those jobs, we had to get some of the bathroom done after months of procrastinating over different ideas. I got Ryan to leave some of the concrete bare, because I wanted to still have some of the tiltslab in the room, so I put what I thought was polyurethane on it, just turns out it was some wood varnish (definitely don't tell Bunnz lady) and it worked a treat, stopped the concrete dust and allows the water to run off. I waterproofed the shower over 2 days, the second day took 3hours straight of coating but old mate Missy and Ice Cube got me through. Then I found a tiler and it all went well until we were one tile short to finish. A few days later it was all tickety boo. Note to self though: if you've never had a dual shower head scenario going on before, do ensure the dump head is turned on first and not the shooty one. Stephen wanted me to have a photo of the shower on and a beer in the soap box, so turned it on full steam with old shooty head pointed at me and the camera. So the camera is thoroughly clean now. Next we are finishing off the final wall, and deciding an idea to make a bathroom vanity. Any ideas are hugely welcome - we got some galv feet off AliExpress which are lush so that's idea one. 33 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truenotch Posted May 29, 2019 Share Posted May 29, 2019 Looking really good! Are you guys planning on living in the coupe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thousand Dollar Supercar Posted June 3, 2019 Share Posted June 3, 2019 On 29/05/2019 at 11:12, rotorhoe said: Those are nice tiles! Yours looks better for being bolder and going full concrete, and the lighting seems more dramatic too. Also your tiler seems to have been smart enough not to put two tiles with corresponding patterns adjacent to each other and in the same orientation. Make the top of your vanity from something like rustic old rough-sawn timber planks so you barely have to clean it because rustic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanfels Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 That looks so fucking lush compared to wait you started with. Il have to come have a beer when your all done 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
63Ragtop Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 Living the dream people, this is what should be on Grand Small Space Designs! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piazzanoob Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 cool pad! Are your plans to live in this also? and whats the natural temperatures like in it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danger Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 Love heart emoji 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rotorhoe Posted August 19, 2019 Author Share Posted August 19, 2019 On 05/06/2019 at 20:33, piazzanoob said: cool pad! Are your plans to live in this also? and whats the natural temperatures like in it? Temps are surprisingly good, warmer than outside. Concrete seems to hold the heat well, and the clear-light pumps the sun through all day. If it's a good day (weekends) then the roller door goes up and traps the warmth in even more. On 29/05/2019 at 15:52, Truenotch said: Looking really good! Are you guys planning on living in the coupe? depends if @Alistair is around or not 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rotorhoe Posted August 19, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2019 So yeah it's pretty much finished, except... Bathroom: First idea was to flatten out some copper cylinders we had to line the wall, so after scraping back all the insulation and probably getting a mystery disease in the process, then cutting them to tiles, we decided it didn't look great. So instead used one of the best looking pieces as a feature in the bathroom cupboard storage area. And subsequently lost the cupboard storage area as it looked too cool to cover up. Bought a concrete pot plant thing to use as a vanity, painted the inside black, but didn't like that either. Bought railway sleepers, but cutting them up seemed like you would lose the point of them being sleepers. So we have a sink, pot, and sleepers just hanging out here now. However, we did definitely want exposed pipework, so got the external copper pipe bent around which looks fantastic against the black wall, and my flattened copper. It finishes now where it will eventually be behind a "floating" mirror, and down into the valves and taps. The old stool is the makeshift bathroom shelf, it's helped paint and waterproof the place, oh and I have successfully managed to kill that plant now. Stephen even bent the original pipework from the bathroom into a towel rack which looks sweet And finally used some leftover pipe to create this vision I had of a hanging rack for my favourite rally jackets. Stephen's dad referred to the place now resembling a second-hand shop. Which is perfect by me. I want to end up wrapping the rack around the wall and including shelves for the huge collection of Mazda shit I own, but we are waiting for the concrete dudes to come back and coat the walls prior to making it a better fit. Other than copper pipework and my rally memorabilia, the interior has been gradually added to downstairs, but gets changed around a lot as things move on or come in. The plinth was made for the Sachs rotary bike, but has now ended up as the desk upstairs which is far easier. And that brings me to the rotary storage... it was meant to be for the RX2 Coupe as a priority. But I ended up storing my 808 here for a while, which was bloody cool to wake up to. However, we have managed to break Stephens 808 after a mission to the snow on Friday that ended with a tow truck from Smash Palace to Auckland, arriving at midnight on Saturday. So it's temporarily a piston workshop but it might need an engine upgrade so might sneak a rotary in while it's here as payback for dropping petrol on the concrete and stripping a circle of coating off. (have managed to get rid of most of that stuff on the left now so it's getting tidy) Also birds on tin roofs are hilarious. This little guy smashed his apple core on the clear-light but it bounced back and spooked him so he's left it for the rest of the bird bro community. Hopefully next time we will have a bathroom sink... 18 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rotorhoe Posted July 22, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 22, 2020 Well great news, and slightly delayed, the Covid19 pandemic allowed time for a bathroom sink(!!) Made from an old brass preserving pan, and brought the copper pipes down to the valve taps. Stoked with it! Prior to this great update, we spent a day coating the walls with $100ish of driveway anti-slip - stops all the dust escaping the 25 year old tilt slabs and seems to keep it a more moderate temperature, but in hindsight it made the walls really rough to touch as there is evidently sand in it... I should've understood how it was anti slip. But anyway it's still far better than dust and can confirm second winter round, it's bloody warm in here and that is without any heating and still exposed roof. Since lockdown it's become my full time office space until the travel industry picks up again, so I've spent many hours (and dollars) on artwork and instructing old mate what furniture to make me. But finally finished off the feature wall with a favourite picture from my parents work, Rod Millen in the RX7 in the Santa Monica Hills. I spoke to him yesterday and he confirmed it was the first "official" test of the 4WD RX7 (other than around the workshop streets at night) and his team mate explained how it was 3 images cut into 1 image. Also over lockdown it became home of various additional rotary projects, from the strip down of the 12a Twin Dizzy for the RX2 to starting up and restoring the Sachs rotary bike. It's currently home to both 808s which is surprisingly fine as the floors cleared out more so they don't really get in the way. Have started discussions with alibaba about a car stacker for when the RX2 ever eventually moves in. A massive shout out to the great people who have given us amazing additions as well! Got given a vintage fuel pump from Rodney's vast collection of 60 of them, and a oil can from the airport he used to book out to test the Celica for Pikes Peak, amongst some signage too. Got some amaaaaazing signs like Rotary Engine Specialist and rotary goodies (on lease apparently ) from @73crownwagon and with some brilliant new LED lights straight from Mr Jackson @UTERUS it's coming along really well. Also picked up this cool Turkish rug to hide the petrol stains the blue 808 caused, and protect the floor from the oil leaks the rotary provides. Pretty sure I've forgotten a lot of things but yeah, it's still fucking cool to be here tbh. 36 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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