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Space required to build Locost
mradamg - 4/6/06 at 10:20 AM

I have been interested some time now in attempting to build/restore a car but my first problem is that I have not got the space for a workshop. I live in a terraced house with no garage. Could anybody advise me of the cheapest method of obtaining space so I can get started on this obviously facinating hobby? I live in Bury Lancashire.

zxrlocost - 4/6/06 at 10:28 AM

local council garages 7 quid a week

small no power etc etc though

mradamg - 4/6/06 at 10:36 AM

Thanks, but I don't know how I would get by without power and I would think that I'd require at least 2 car spaces??. I would be willing to pay more than the £7 per week

DIY Si - 4/6/06 at 10:45 AM

It can be done in a single garage, but you'll really wish you had a second one, I do.

mradamg - 4/6/06 at 10:52 AM

I have visited my local council's website and emailed them to ask for availability. Let's see what they say.

Macbeast - 4/6/06 at 10:56 AM

All the local council garages round here (North London N8) are full up...mainly with stolen DVD players, semtex, bodies and Columbian foot powder.

Going rate for a lock-up seems to be around £80 a month. I would pay that but can't find one.

If anyone knows of one....

MikeR - 4/6/06 at 11:04 AM

Id agree with the comment about a single garage - it is possible, but i wish i had more space.

NS Dev had the right idea, built a garage to his own specification .......... you could hide a tank batalion in there

mradamg - 4/6/06 at 11:09 AM

I would have thought that no power would be a bigger problem than lack of space. I would intend to do most of my work at weekends and in the evening. Surely I would require light and the use of power tools. I would be interested to know if anyone uses a single garage without power or maybe uses a generator.

MikeR - 4/6/06 at 11:16 AM

depends what you are doing, if you're buying everything (like a chassis etc) then you can get away with battery or hand tools.

(i believe)

omega0684 - 4/6/06 at 11:18 AM

how about renting 2, side by side, at £7 a week thats a bargain, just £56 a month! then once you have aquired two garages adjacent to each other, knock the wall through and vwalla you have a double garage, then b4 you stop renting move house and the council will never know

just a thought

ATB


as for lighting, check out diy stores for spot lights, and just run an extension into your house

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/ranges.asp?g=114&r=2103

[Edited on 4/6/06 by omega0684]

mradamg - 4/6/06 at 11:21 AM

thanks omega, let's hope it's not a supporting wall...

omega0684 - 4/6/06 at 11:25 AM

who cares its a council garage, just put a temp support up, then when you are finished get you car out, and then just think of it as doing the council a favour by tearing it down for them

stevec - 4/6/06 at 11:30 AM

What about a Big Gazzebo in your garden?

omega0684 - 4/6/06 at 11:33 AM

steve you car looks a bit like a frog in that pic

nitram38 - 4/6/06 at 12:09 PM

Built mine in a single Garage.
A single garage is better than none!

stevec - 4/6/06 at 01:37 PM

Alex, thats rich coming from someone with a shiny metal head.

[Edited on 4/6/06 by stevec]

Lawnmower - 4/6/06 at 09:06 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mradamg
I have been interested some time now in attempting to build/restore a car but my first problem is that I have not got the space for a workshop. I live in a terraced house with no garage. Could anybody advise me of the cheapest method of obtaining space so I can get started on this obviously facinating hobby? I live in Bury Lancashire.


I also live in a terraced house! I plan on building it in the garden shed, and then dissambling it and reassembling it on my front yard! The way I see it, if you take the engine and gearbx out, and remove the wheels, most other thing will bolt off, and if i lift it sideways, the max height of the car will be less then the width of the doorway to carry it through. May have to remove the sash windows at the front of the ouse though! Given that most people take a year or more to build a locost, accessbility to the project is key. The money i save on not renting a garage, can go to offset the cost that i will incur by not being able to have a donor car. The time i save by been able to pop out and work on it, and not dissmantalling, transporting etc a donor car can go to been spent on the project. I plan on building my own chassis, so worst case is i spend 6 months, a year, whatever, on that, if i still have enthusiasum, then i can always try and find somewhere to rent if i decide i need to.


The was a tv program, (i have never seen it) Kit Car crazy, where the guy built it in his garden and had it craned over his house.

mradamg - 4/6/06 at 09:30 PM

Thanks Lawnmower. It's good to know these problems can be overcome if you want to do something enough. Are you not getting a donar car, meaning you are going to obtain all the parts seperately?

If the worst comes to the worst for me, I have a back yard which I can knock down the wall and install a garage type door. Only problem is I won't have shelter (I have visions of engine parts scattered around my house).

For my chassis, I was thinking that I do not want to get involved in making it myself, but as I work as a draughtsman I could draw it and send it to a fabricator I already use.

Taz Surfleet - 4/6/06 at 10:03 PM

whats a garage??

James - 4/6/06 at 10:05 PM

The average build time is far longer than a year!

I would say most people average 3 years. The Jaspers (1 year) and Rob Lanes (3 months!!!) of this world are the exception not the rule!

Mine's taken just over 4 so far....... but I have a large collection of ready excuses!

I'd recommend buying a chassis if you don't have a garage- it just ain't worth the frostbite!

HTH,
James

[Edited on 5/6/06 by James]

DarrenW - 5/6/06 at 08:14 AM

If you replace back wall of yard with garage type door, could you then install some sort of a cover over the yard? As far as i know car ports need planning permission but maybe some temp type afair might work, just got to be mindfull of surface water drainage.

Maybe a shed or similar inside could be used to store spares. Tools then carried inside and stored in a cupboard.

I know of at least one member on here who has done this but ill let him explain - queue Guinness.......

Lawnmower - 5/6/06 at 12:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mradamg
Thanks Lawnmower. It's good to know these problems can be overcome if you want to do something enough. Are you not getting a donar car, meaning you are going to obtain all the parts seperately?


I moved house last autumn, SWMBO didn't like any of the houses we saw with garages, off street parking etc, but as its me who does all the gardening diy etc, then I get to choose what gets done in the house. (Just gotta finish this damn kitchen first). Am toying with the idea of french windows at the back of the house, and/or building an new shed.

Ass for a donor car, I wnat to use Mazda MX5 mechanical, hubs wheels etc, but probably stick in either the MX5 engine, or a Mazda RX7 rotary engine, as like James says it will take a few years to build, this then lets me buy bits as and when I need them, rather than have an engine stuck about for a few years.

You just gotta make the best use of what you have got. Keep seeing part built projects, spare parts etc, but unless you need them, then there is no point filling up valuable space with junk that probably wont get uses, or when you do finally come round to looking at it, you realise its scrap.

Steve Lovelock - 5/6/06 at 07:53 PM

I had a prefabricated concrete single garage at the back of my house which I knocked down and built a bigger wooden garage instead, my wife says this is a shed and I guess she is correct. But, it was cheap, larger than the original and has power. It has been great. You could do the same then knock it down when you are finished. I think a single garage would be ok but power is a must have.

mradamg - 6/6/06 at 05:00 PM

Well, I haven't had a reply from my council regarding garage rental, no surprise really. It's definately looking like the back yard conversion is my best option. Only problem is I wanted my project to start with ripping the guts out of a Ford Sierra and It seems it will start with knocking down a wall instead It's harder to get as enthusiastic about building work to my property. Let's hope I get it done quickly so there's still enough summer left for me to get to the good stuff. Thanks for all the advice guys.

DIY Si - 6/6/06 at 06:44 PM

It's not all bad. Hitting walls with a big sledge hammer is really relaxing! Just be careful not to go overboard with it or you wont have any wall left to put a gate in!