Projects Shop organization part 2, what to use for frames and loose body parts

Here's mine, made it narrow enough to work on the bottom of the rockers plus high enough to easily get the engine hoist under to lift the body. Large diameter casters really help the mobility. It's also made from the crate my frame was shipped in.

 

My "deadhead shelf". Had to buy the 4x4's and 2 of the 2x8's and swap for the wheels, otherwise it's left overs and scrap from other projects. The coupster or the OT under it can roll in and out freely. Shelf is also mounted on wheels so it can be moved.

 

Used fruit bins work great for parts storage. You can move them with a fork lift, or maybe add some wheels and push them around. Not sure if you have that option in your area, but you could toss parts inside and set your frame on top.

Come to think of it, used pallets would be just about as handy, and who doesn’t live in an area with pallets?

John

 

Yeah, You are correct. I generally have someone helping me to move it.

 

Is your ot a GT or roadster, I'm almost done putting a Buick 215 in mine?

 

I always try and finish up a thread with what I ended up doing. So here it is… I had some scrap 3” square tubing left over from another project. I made 12”legs with flat plates and added casters. I picked up almost all of the factory holes in the frame. I had to drill 2, but I will have 150 to weld up anyway, so what’s another 2?

Anyway, the legs are removable and could store in a drawer. I just didn’t want another cart in the way. It helped free up quite a bit of room and I only invested $35 for casters.

Oh and if forced me to finish my rocket…..
My wife says I have ADHD and that’s why our hot rod projects never get finished. I say meh! Check out my rocket I built!!! Ha ha

 

Roadster. Was going to be my daughter's first car. She's 45 now. Swapped her an S-10 Blazer for it. Get my money back when I finish the car.

 

Nice solution. Now you are ready to store stuff under, in, and on it. Having a scrap pile is handy until it grows to where storing it becomes a problem.

 

Yeah, I have been forcing myself to use up what I have before buying more

 

Hello,

We did not have a lot of body parts laying around, but when my brother wanted to store a tailgate from a truck he had purchased, he stuck in the rafters of the big two car garage. It was sitting over the extra wooden supports we installed for our garage chain pulley for engine removal and installations.

The steel tailgate was heavy, but the extra 2x4 supports we installed were strong enough to support it. When we sold the old house in 1998, the steel tailgate was still sitting up there in the supported rafters.

One has to know how much support cross beam rafters can hold. In our backyard garage we created out of a Rumpus Room recreation place, it had cross beams, but they were not supported like we created inside of the bigger two car garage. So, a pair of dual pipe chrome scavenger pipes was put up there. Out of the way and nothing to scratch it. They were pristine chrome. Also, when we sold the house, we forgot about those scavenger pipes in the rafters, but it was a surprise for the new owners after we left.

Over the years and several houses later, I had supported a two car garage rafters with extra 2x6 cross beams on the edge of the garage supports. Then when I took down some 1 x 6 cedar planks from some interior walls, I stored them up on the very secure cross beams, near the stronger edge of the supporting beams. Otherwise, the cedar planks would have overpowered the normal cross beams and cracked.

Red = new 2x6 cross supports and two new 2x4 joist to ceiling supports
The weight of the cedar was put closest to the edge support for best strength.

Jnaki

We never had a yard large enough to store any big item under a tarp. My wife would not have allowed it anyway. If it is not being used, then out it goes with the next weeks trash pickup by the local community trash company’s trucks. These days, everyone pays for the automated pick up service and at any time, we all get a one time, “big item” pick up for free from the community trash service.

If you think about it, is it worth the effort to store old fenders, doors, windshields, trunk lids? If you did not need them at the time, will you need them later? If you have to store those large parts inside of the garage, make sure there are plenty of extra supports to hold the added weight. (And... strap them down.)

We used the expensive clear cedar planks for another room wall coverings and other projects. So, the garage rafter storage paid for itself in the time of low money and funds. Out of site storage was a necessary item. Then... YRMV

 

I know what you mean by having a big shop but cannot move in it.

I have a frame on something similar to your 2 engine stand, basicly a rotisserre. but as someone else mentioned you just need to lock them so they don't spin which is nice about the one I have. I have a frame on it, underneath it I have all my extra hearse parts because that is blown apart. On top of the frame I have more hearse parts like all the big interior peices and the hardwood floor and then more miscellanious crap and then on top of that I have my helicopter body and tail pieces. bad part, I want just the frame out now and it is buried under all this other crap.

I also built a rack out of pallet racking that holds extra smaller weight cars like a's and t's and put rollers under it. I just lift the cars up on my regular car lift and roll the pallet racking frame under neath and lower the car on it and just roll it into the other corner and I have extra tires and engines stored under it right now with a dune buggy on that rack now but had my model t on it a few years ago.

 

Another cheap option:
Back in 1990, I rested my '55 Chevy body on sawhorses positioned wide enough to roll the chassis under it when not working on the frame or suspension.

 

You put a lot of faith in those Home Depot saw horse brackets

 

Chain Link Gate hanging from the rafters, store stuff on it and see what it is just by looking.