Pimp my Garage Episode 2 - Bend Pak Strikes Back!

[matteni]

Pimp My Garage - Episode 2 - The Bend Pak Strikes Back!

OK - as of this writing over 1070 known people read my lift story.  I tried to warn you that it was going to be hell, I mentioned that I can be a little windy, and would not be responsible for any time and/or money you lost.  Yet you still came, read, laughed, and listened.  I can only surmise that my audience are car enthusiasts that are sado masochists.  If you weren't reading my drivel and pouring through my meaningless dry rote - you would be otherwise torturing yourself with sporks and other implements of destruction.  Knowing what I know about you - the best way for me to help you is to go over the top with my pictures and descriptions of the rest of the project so that you will instinctively fall asleep before you are able to inflict any further damage upon yourself.  So the reading time for this one is well over a half hour - unless you are some kind of Evelyn Woods freak - and in that case - go ahead and beat yourself up for me.

Let's review.  In episode one we learned how not to buy a house, how not to do remodeling, and how not to prime and paint.  At the end it was revealed that I was the first person in my family, or any family I know of to try to stuff an automotive lift into a normal sized 2 car garage.

Well the lift thing all started around the end of the year.  I started searching Prime for lifts and made some inquires with other car geek friends.  Unfortunately for me - I couldn't find a single "enthusiast" that had a lift in their small 2 car garage.  Well I was determined to change all that!  Pretty early in the process I got hooked up with our own John "Anytime" Racing who suffered through countless hours of discussions, customer support, and anal retentiveness.  Before we go any further - if you are even remotely thinking about doing this (and can't be talked out of it <Grin>) - PM John right now.  He knows his stuff and more importantly - he will stick with you every step of the way.  Also - let me say this - nobody can beat John's price on Bend Pak (and I tried so damn hard!).  I just can't say enough about John and not just because that is what it says I have to do on the check before I can endorse it. 

Let me also add a few words about Bend Pak - although everything didn't go completely smooth - you will see that many of the problems I did encounter were handled extremely well by them IMO.  There is a reason when you see all those garage shows that all the lifts are Bend Pak - IMO - it is customer support.  In the end they never made excuses and made it right by going the extra mile and compensating more then fully financially for my troubles.  I measure my suppliers not by what happens on a perfect transaction - but what happens and how they react when things do not go perfect.  I think in the end you will see that John and Bend Pak did right by me and I can recommend them without hesitation.

Back to our story.  Well I went out into my garage with my tape measure and started to see if this would work.  I have a standard 20' wide garage with a long side (27') and a shorter side (23').  The lift would meet the minimum requirements (barely) in all directions.  This is not something you want to screw up on.  I was going to go with the 4 post lift because it is a lot cheaper but the problem is the width and the height are built to accommodate a Hummer.  The 4 posts model is just too wide and would have blocked my garage door almost completely.  I asked my wife about moving the door into the laundry room but apparently she doesn't like people walking into our dirty laundry.  Shasta! 

I literally went out in my garage every night for a week for an hour measuring the height of my Cadi, the height of the NSX, the length of both cars, the slope of the cars, the height of the garage, etc and compared those to all published dimensions of the various lifts by Back Yard Buddy, Bend Pak, etc.  It seemed the only one that would work was the Bend Pak single post lift.  It has the most narrow platform and one of the shortest posts.

No matter what anyone tells you - the riskiest part of the job is the measurements.  If you have a "normal" 2 car garage with a long side (apprx 27' on the long side) it MAY work - but it may not.  The problem is it barely fits in all directions and it is damn near impossible to get every measurement.  Since the car was going to go up against the garage door opener - you have to guess if your opener will crash into your trunk.  You also need to guess if the door itself will have enough room to open.  Also guess if you will have enough room to open the door when you pull in.  In the end you have to have faith that you can "rig something up" if worst comes to worst - or start knocking out the walls and build out!

Even with all the measurements there was still one problem.  Unfortunately my ceiling was only 9' 3 1/2" and the single post is just under 11' from the factory.  More phone calls and Bend Pak says - no problem - we will engineer/cut the main column down and adjust the chain/lifting to accommodate the shorter column.  Boolya.  They even offered to paint it Formula Red (for a fee that I thought was way too much - so I passed).

Now comes the dilemma about installation.  Bend Pak has "sales and service" reps who help them with their products locally.  Knowing what you now know about me - I really had no interest in setting this up and John made it pretty clear it is a LOT better to get a pro to do it then to do it yourself and try to save a few bucks.  On one had - being a single post lift means not having to run the chain through all 4 posts and get all that stuff setup.  On the other hand I had trouble remembering "righty tighty - lefty loosy" (until that visit to the tattoo parlor back in 02'). 

Bend Pak gave me the number of a couple of installers and said it shouldn't cost more then $500 or so.  Well the cheapest quote I got was $1500 and they had never even setup one of these types of lifts "what do you mean it only has one post!  Are you crazy?!?" was pretty much the conversation we had.  So lucky for you (as the reader) I decided to hire my partner's brother who is a mason/welder as his profession and has a network of people who can help us if we need them.  How hard can this be?

So after a month of praying, scraping up money, and measuring I decided to make the leap.  If I was off in my measurements by even a couple of inches - I would have a lot of scrap metal for sale!  I placed my order on February 1st knowing it would take about a week or so.  After I complete my order the comment comes up - we have a conversation that goes something like this:

Bend Pak: "how are you going to get it off the truck." 
Me:  "Won't UPS just bring it in the garage?"  
Bend Pak:  "Uh - it is coming common carrier"
Me:  "OK - so maybe my wife and a buddy can help me once they get it off the truck"
Bend Pak:  "Your kidding right?  This lift weighs over 2100 lbs"
Me:  "That sounds like a lot.  Can they roll it down the ramp"
Bend Pak: "Uh - no.  There is no ramp."
Me:  "Can they take it down on the truck lift?"
Bend Pak: "Uh - no.  There is no lift."
Me:  "Well how am I going to get it off the truck?"
Bend Pak:  "That was our original question.  We recommend a fork lift.  We have seen a lot of weird stuff but a forklift is really the best way"

So I call my buddy / installer and he says - "don't worry about it - we will rig something up when it gets here - no problem".  Hmmm.  I really don't want to rig something up.  There will be plenty of time for that!  I am trying to imagine how much 2500 lbs weighs as that seems like a lot to me.  Anyway - I am told that we would have a day or two of notice before it gets here so that we can line up a way to get it off the truck.  My installer / buddy decides to call in a favor and a buddy of his is going to drop it off the night that we need it so we are all set to get it off the truck - or so we think.

Well - days pass and I call to check on the lift.  No new news.  Then on the 9th I get a call from a guy in a truck.  He says he has my lift on his 18 wheeler!  Who hoo.  I ask him what day he will be here.  He says - "what?".  You know - "what day are you going to be in St. Louis?"  He says he is in Chicago will be there in the morning!  Shasta! 

My installer isn't ready and we don't have the forklift.  I tell him to make his other deliveries first.  He says "what other deliveries?".  He basically has to get a hotel room and watch TV until I am ready to get it off the truck.  So I call my buddy on his full time job site and beg him to be here in the early afternoon.  We get it all lined out and go to bed thinking - tomorrow night my car will be on a lift and we will have a three car garage.  Well the diver calls again that night and says that bad weather is going to keep him another day in Chicago.  I tell him we were expecting him and had the fork lift.  I hear the sounds of violin playing in the background.  Shasta.  I have to bribe, beg, and do what I can to keep everyone motivated on my end and it turns out I can have the forklift the next day but not till 4pm.  The driver decided to hang out till then so we keep the whole deal together.

	Here is our Bob Cat / forklift ready and waiting for the lift to arrive.  See those rut marks on the concrete?  Yep - I do too - every time I walk out of my house (even 2 months later!)
	Here she comes!  What's all that other junk on there?  A huge shredder, a bunch of tires, and some construction blocks.  It is amazing how this stuff works.
	Oh - holly cow this thing is big.  How in the heck are we going to get this thing off.  I guess it doesn't "break down" too easy.  Maybe I better call work and tell them I might be a little late coming back tonight.  I watch in horror as the fork lift tries 3 times unsuccessfully to get this thing up enough to get it off the truck.  Then I really watch in horror as we finally get the lift into the air and the bobcat starts to tip forward.  The lift is so far to the center of the truck that the bobcat keeps tipping forward.  We have to stand on the back of the bobcat to keep it from falling forward!  Thank God for all the Canoli's I have been eating!
	Here we are backing down the driveway - careful - careful.  Now I have huge semi-permanent tire tracks down the driveway too.  Wife isn't going to like that too much... Uh oh.  Another small problem.  I have a split garage.  How do we get the lift inside the garage?  The post is 9' 3" so it is not like we can break that down.  Shasta!  Luckily I was at the store and one of the things I bought for the heck of it was a couple of 2x4s from the "not straight" pile.  We lined up the 2x4s parallel and put the lift down on top of them.  Then we positioned the bobcat behind the lift and pushed it over the 2x4s.  When we ran out of 2x4 to slide on we would put 2 more in front until it was in the garage.  Ingenious for a bunch of Italians - if you ask me!
	Well it appeared that Bend Pak put some steel framing around the lift that had to be removed before we got started.  Simple enough.  Except there was no way to get the bolt holding in on out!  Look at the right side and you will see.  The bolt heads hit the steel packing and wouldn't come out!  We tried everything and after an hour of swearing - nothing would work.  I burned up 10 dremel bits and at one point ordered everyone back so I could kick at it.  My 15 year old steal toed boots didn't like that and the old rubber completely disintegrated over the next couple of days until I had "steel toed socks".  Shasta!
	Plan B.  There are some tools that you just have to have.  One is a sawzil with a diamond blade!  Slowly but surely after another hour we were able to remove the packing bolts.  Sure hope we didn't need those as they are now lying in pieces on the floor.  Shasta!
	Time to get all the packing material off.  Damn this thing was wrapped with a lot of stuff.  I appreciate all the care that was taken getting this here in good shape with no rock chips.  It looks really well built with the thickest rolled steel I have ever seen.  The welds are all top notch too!  Cool.  Well, time to slide this stuff forward with the forklift some more.  Unfortunately - dragging this stuff across the concrete doesn't do a lot of good for the finish of the garage.  Hmmm - maybe I better look into getting the $4000 flooring from RaceDeck I was looking at to cover up all the damage we have already done to the floor. BTW - the bobcat dude has to leave soon and we start to ask ourselves - how do we get this post to stand up.  I mean - it weighs 1300 lbs and the bobcat wont fit in the garage to lift it.  Humm.  "Honey - can you come out and give us a hand with something?"  Not.  We look at the directions and it says you also need a forklift to setup the platform and test the lift.  Guess we wont be doing that either.  Shasta.
	Here is a picture of the 2 parts of the platform.  They weigh at least 500 lbs each.  We are getting good at using the 2x4s and our steel toed boots to move things around.  Basically you put one end of the 2x4 under something and you lift and it moves a couple of inches at a time.  It works amazingly well!  I feel like the ancient Egyptians building my own garage pyramid!  Well after several hours of back breaking labor with 2-3 guys working - this is as far as we got!  Maybe I am not going to be fully functional tomorrow as I had hoped.  I went to bed that night with no idea or plan as to how we are going to get that center column stood up.  It weighs 1300 lbs alone.  I look at the framing in the roof and there is no way in hell I could even use a hoist as the framing would get torn out in a New York second.  I am starting to wonder if I didn't make a very serious mistake buying this lift and trying to set it up myself.
	Block and tackle.  No - this is not me complaining about the pitiful job our Football Rams have done at some of the fundamentals - it is an ancient technique for lifting stuff you don't have the strength to do! Me and a couple of guys where able to use a lever and a long 2x4 and all our strength to get one side off the ground and then kick a car jack under it before we dropped it.  We then jacked it up as high as the jack would go - then put something under it to hold it and removed the jack.  We then built up a little wood and put the jack under it and repeated till we had it a couple of feet in the air.  Then 4 of us got under it and started moving it into the air!  It was working!  She is going up and it is getting easier!

As we are moving it up a thought comes into my brain during a split second.  Maybe it is going to fast?  Maybe it is going to go over on the other side where the only thing that will stop it is the wall between the garage and the house.  Oh my God - what have I done!  Just then the top swings up and people are diving out of the way.  Yet it doesn't come crashing down?  I look up and the ceiling is all smashed up and there are big dents where the lift hit the ceiling.  What the hell?  I paid good money to have the column shorter then the ceiling - what gives.  It can only be one of two things - either my measurement of the ceiling was off or they didn't shorten it to the right height?  It can't be me!  I measured it 10 times and even had another person measure it.  I put a tape measure on the column and sure enough - they cut it to the perfect height.  Well - guess what?  I measured it correctly - but not at the exact spot where the column would go!  I have a sloped floor for drainage and it was shorter floor to ceiling then where I measured it.  My beautiful ceiling I spent so much time sanding, priming, and painting!  Perhaps I should have finished off the garage after I got the lift in?  Shasta!  Luckily we are close enough that I don't have to remove any of the framing - just the drywall.

	Well after we get the post stood up and I stop crying about the ceiling I just tore up because I am too stupid to use a tape measure, I go to shake hands with the other guys who are leaving and I slip and fall.  What the heck?  I haven't even started drinking yet.  I go to stand up and slip again!  I look like Bambi trying to ice skate in my garage.  I look around and there is some kind of oil all over the place!  Knowing my luck with jacks - I assume that my jack blew up but it seems fine.  I discover that all the oil is coming from the inside of the column somehow? I read the instructions for the 10th time and can't see or figure anything out and then I look inside to try to guess at the problem.  It seems the tube that raises and lowers the left has a smashed plug and is off the metal "self leveling" nipple it rides on.  I write the lift company and they tell me that the cylinder is "test lifted" with oil and that it is normal for some to get out if the plug was smashed during shipping.  I swear it must have been 3 quarts - but at least the threads around the plug where not mushroomed and the oil pushed out all the debris.  As you might guess - sending this back is not much of an option at this point!
	Well - we are into the 3rd day and we are making some progress.  The platform the car parks on is basically attached to the column through the carriage.  You basically slide two solid steel tubes that resemble 2x4's  through the carriage and then bolt them into the platform.  On the back of the tubes are steel tabs welded on the keeps them from sliding off the carriage.  Seriously - each of these tubes weighs well over 100 lbs and the platform is easily 1200 lbs.  On top of that - you have to drill six 1" steel anchors 4.5" into the concrete and epoxy them in so this is a "one chance" type of thing.  We decided we better setup the platform and drive both cars on and off to get a feel for opening the door, how much room there will be on each side, and how much the car overhangs on both ends.  You have to make sure your longest car can get far enough forward to "center the weight on the platform.  You don't want this thing lifting at an angle - for obvious reasons!  Thank god we did this!  It was a nightmare adjusting this thing 100 times - moving everything forward, backwards, etc.  Furthermore - with all the oil all over the floor - every time we had it perfect and drove a car up the platform - the whole thing would slide like it was on ice!  Maddening! After another full day of back breaking work - we called it quits but had the platform and the column where we thought it should be.  Unfortunately for all of us - the real work week is going to start again so now we have to do this at night when our wives will let us.
	Well we are forced to work on week nights while our wives watch all the kids.  Not good.  We are inspecting the carriage when we notice something strange.  There is supposed to be a drilled and threaded bolt hole on the outside of the carriage but it is missing.  We call Bend Pak and they said the hole goes to bolts that allow you to adjust the pitch of the tubes that slide through the platform so you can pitch up or down the platform.  Oh well - we will deal with it later.  We get everything lined up to the millimeter and it is time to prep and drill.  We mark the holes and break out the rotohammer with the 1" drill bit.  A rotohammer is a cross between a jackhammer and a regular drill.  It vibrates up and down while drilling to clear the bit.  Whomever put in the concrete at my house better not be making bunkers for the terrorists!  This stuff was impossible to get through and took forever! Once we had the holes drilled it was time to put everything in place again so we can put the anchors in and "smack down" the anchors through the holes, and finally the heads nuts on the anchors (which activates the anchors).

It is then that I finally realize something you cant see in the pictures.  There are these outriggers that go under the lift that counter the lift's natural desire to tip forward.  These things are the same general size and shape as the tubes the hold up the platform.  Well before I ordered, I measured the clearance between my NSX, the platform, the Cadi and the ceiling and everything barely fit.  What I didn't count on was driving over these steel 2x4s and if my NSX/Cadi would now crash into the top of the platform!  Shasta.  Also - my car is lowered a little (top perch Bilstein/Eibach) and I don't think I can even clear the outrigger platform without scraping the bottom of the car or bottoming out on the other side!  So now I have at least 2 inches of height I have to add to all my measurements!  I am really nervous that I will never have a 2 car garage at this point!  Gulp!

Well - there is no turning back now.  We read the instructions and they said they "recommend" a level surface and leveling the base of the lift.  Well as you already know - we have a slope in the garage so we use the provided shims to level the outriggers and the base of the lift perfectly in all directions. 

Now that we have positioned everything we carefully hammer in the huge 1" anchors.  The ones we had where a PITA as the little tabs wanted to break off and not deploy the anchor part.  Luckily - my installer/buddy was a union stone and brick worker and had some better ones left over from the last bridge/stone job he did.  Whew!  This is not the kind of stuff you pick up at home depot - if you know what I mean.

Well another weekend is upon us and we know we are going to get it all done by Sunday night now!  Most of the oil is finally cleaned off the floor but unfortunately - all this moving stuff around is beating the crap out of my perfect walls.  I will have another day of filling and painting when it is all over. The final task at hand is setting up the hydraulics, setting up the control panel, filling it with oil, and tightening down all the bolts!  With 2 full days ahead of us - we are surely going to be done on Saturday and will have all of Sunday off - right?  Not exactly. Fast forward to Sunday evening after working 2 twelve hour days!  We setup the console, attach all the supplied hoses and hardware, put a case of 12 quarts of transmission fluid, plug it all in, and get ready for the big moment of our first lift-off!

Well - we need a volunteer for the first liftoff.   The NSX was completely out of the realm of possibility so check that off.  My buddy's truck was loaded with crap and was beyond the weight limit of the lift.  So the best bet is of course - my wife's mini van!  It only weighs 4500 lbs (which is actually 600 lbs less then the Cadi and 1500 less then the max weight).  My wife knows we are getting done with the lift so I call her out to the garage to see it's inaugural lift-off.  That was my first mistake.  Apparently, she relies on the Odyssey to cart our 3 young kids to school, soccer, dance, and a million other things.  Believe it or not - she had a problem with us experimenting with her car!  These modern women... So it is late Sunday, the video camera is rolling, everything is plugged in, and I press the lift button - and .....

Nothing.  The motor is making a motor sound and the car / platform does a little shimmy like it is going to go up but it doesn't move more then an inch off the ground.  I don't think I can get my son's hot wheels under the Cadi at this point!

Depression sets in as there is nobody I can get a hold of and my installer is really behind at his day job and other jobs he was committed to.  Shasta!

The next day I get a hold of customer support and they are looking at solutions.  God love them - they are good and agree to send me out a complete control panel / motor assembly. 

Another week goes by waiting for them to ship a new unit and in the mean time my buddy gets a hold of a hydraulics expert who works on bobcats all the time.   I finally get him on the phone and he asks me if the lift worked fine when we exercised it?  Well I haven't been exercising myself - let alone my lift!  He explains that by raising it to the top and back down a couple of times it will expel any air trapped in the system.  Shasta.  Well I do this several times and wonder if it made any difference?  I load up the Cadi again and this time we get about 5 inches off the ground on one side and only 1 inch off the ground on the other side.  Worse, the top of the column leans in and tears up a bunch more ceiling!  Shasta! 

Well I have a crazy idea - maybe - just maybe the lift does work - just not with a 5100 lb car?  Even though it is rated for 6000 - maybe GM lied and the car actually weighs 8000 or something.  There is only 1 way to find out! Nervously - I drive my baby onto the platform and press and hold the up button!  Slowly but surely the NSX rises into the air.  I start calling everyone I know screaming - it works - it works!!!  I have been mocked and ridiculed by family, neighbors, and people at work for weeks and it works!  I am the master of my garage!  I am a modern day Pharaoh!  I am so excited and light headed the whole world seems to be tilted at an angle.  Then I steady myself and realize the world isn't at an angle - it is the car on the lift.  Not just a little angle - like 6 inches across an 84 inch platform.  Remember - I barely had enough clearance with the lift to start, then lost 2-3 inches because of the outriggers and now was about to loose 6 more inches!  Shasta!

Here is what my new neighbors are treated to every single day I work on the lift and every single weekend.  I have had 4 cars stop and ask if it was a yard sale!  One person actually had stuff in their hand and was haggling with me when I said it wasn't for sale!

Meanwhile I finally get a hold of a great guy at Bend Pak who really was prepared to do "anything I wanted" to make it right.  He even offered to tear it out and our replace it.  I told him we would figure this out together as the way this is bolted and epoxied in - you would literally have to bust up the concrete pad to get it out now!

He asks me to try something.  There is a plug on the back of the motor, once I remove it there is an assembly with a spring and a strange looking star nut on one side.  We turn it 3 turns in, replace everything, clean up all the transmission fluid, and lift the NSX up and down to make sure everything is working.  Then the test again.  We load up the Cadi and hit the up button.  Now remember - I have never been able to get the Cadi more then 3 inches off the ground.  It comes up 1 inch, then 2, then 3, then 4!  Go baby go!  I am screaming like it is Marshal Faulk running down the sidelines with no time on the clock to win the game.  Don't give up!  Eventually I am into the mechanical locks and finally to the right position!  It did it!  I hear the "Chariot's of Fire" theme in my head.  Unfortunately it is leaning more then ever.  Shasta again.

Well the next day I tell Bend Pak that the lift now works - just at an angle.  This is when I could really use those tube pitch adjustment bolts so I could pitch up the lift.

Then I notice - there is a lot of slop in the place where the tubes run through the carriage.  Perhaps?  Maybe?  Yes!  What if I jacked up the outside of the lift and pitch the platform back at an angle and then WELD it all up?  I have never done any welding nor do I have any equipment - but how hard can it be?  I jack up the outside of the platform and - yes - it seems like it should work perfectly.  I call my contact at Bend Pak and he is skeptical and says that the slop is there - but you can't really dial it out because of the self leveling feature and how the inside of the column works.  I convince him we should try and he authorizes the work.  My installer / buddy has done a lot of welding and his boss at his current job agrees to loan him a generator/welder for a night next week.

Meanwhile I get a call that the new console I no longer need is in.  Shasta.  I send it back as I really don't need it now that I have adjusted the hydraulics. 

Well we finally get the generator and the welding torch and get ready to do some welding.  First comes the grinding.  My poor lift!  We have to grind off a bunch of paint in order to get a good welding joint.  Boo hoo.  While we grind hot pieces of metal land on my skin, in my hair, and everywhere else.  Little did I know that was a tickle compared to what the welding slag would be like!

Well the first thing is getting the welding rig off the truck and onto the ground.  The ground is full of fresh snow and it is cold as heck and this thing weighs a TON.  It broke my back getting it down so I wonder how we are going to get it back up?  The only positive is that it is a Honda generator so I know it will start!   Unfortunately - with all the junk in the driveway I have to roll this thing over the grass and snow - rutting up my front yard completely.  I wonder if my wife will notice?  Probably not since we will have to pave over our front yard anyway to park the cars.

Well we only have one mask so my buddy warns me to not look at or around the light.  I to need to hold a portable light as it is dark out.  Well I have a strategy!  I won't close my eyes but will hold the light in front of the welding arc!  This way I can see what is going on!  Brilliant!  Apparently welding vertically is very hard.  You have to hold it the welding torch about 1/8" from the weld.  To close and it fuses to the welding material, too far and nothing happens.  While you are welding 1000 deg F stuff if flying everywhere.  If it lands on your shoe - it burns a hole.  If it lands on your skin - it burns a whole.  If it lands on the lift - it burns a hole through the paint.  If it lands on your head and you have a huge head of hair and you are wear more gel then Michael Jackson - well can you say Pepsi commercial?  After every 15 minutes of welding you have to stop and grind down any and all bubbles (as I call them) to make sure there are not any pits in the weld.  Then over and over you go.  Grinding, welding, grinding, welding - but mostly burning your clothes and your body.  The only thing that is carrying me through is how confident I am that this is going to work!

Well we are keeping the entire neighborhood up as midnight comes and goes but our success is at hand.  Not even the mighty Ra can stop Nick the Garage Pharaoh from completing his garage / burial chamber!  At 1:30 AM we are finished.  We have several more sides to do but figure the current welds would hold up great until we witness our success.  We have been working for 5 hours.  Before the welds we had a 5 inch slope from right to left.  We raise up the platform off the jack stands to lift height - pull out the tape measure and low and behold...

We have gone from 5 inches to 4 1/2 inches! Shasta! Shasta! Shasta!  I can tell my installer feels beaten and recommends we get Bend Pak involved again.  I reach an all time fix-it-up low.  My guy at Bend Pak is going to setup another lift like mine in a couple weeks and will take pictures when it is perfect and send me the missing parts.  I might go crazy in a couple weeks.  Also - I have scorched and marred up my floor so badly that I decide I have to get the tiles now.  I went to RaceDeck web site but they were outrageous!  I went to Sam's web site and they have this roll out stuff that looks like a yoga mat.  I went to Costco online and they were just right!  They had the same "steel plate" plastic tiles as RaceDeck - but only in 3 colors (black, white, and gray).  They were 1/3rd the price so I decided to order 16 boxes of tile including the end/finish kits.  The total for the tile was $1800 as I recall.

I go to bed and go to sleep.  I wake up in a couple hours and there is something wrong with my eyes!  They burn!!!  I get up - all I see is white light - even with my eyes closed.  I wash my eyes out and wonder if I should have closed and / or averted my eyes a little better during the welding?  It feels like people are pushing pins into my eyeballs.  The pain goes away just in time for me to go to work.  Shasta. 

Well one week passes and no new news.  Meanwhile I suffer the endless torture and ridicule of my family, friends, and co-workers.  I am hearing from people I haven't talked to in years - calling me up as they have heard I was trying to put a lift in my garage and it wasn't going well.  My closest friends know not to even ask anymore.  It is all I can think about.  It has consumed me and I know I have to figure this out myself, MacGyver style, as patience wasn't something I was born with.

On a Saturday morning, I decide to go out and just stare at the lift for a couple hours.  Actually I snuck out to stare at it since my wife was sick of me obsessing about it.  I knew there had to be a solution then I had an idea!  Ideally I would have the pitch adjustment bolts and move the platform up.  Since I can't pitch the tubes / platform up - the only other solution is to tilt the whole lift backwards!  But how?  The base is now bolted, anchored, and epoxied into the cement.  There is now way to tilt it back.   Or is there? 

Remember the anchors?  They are eppoxied in but the nuts are put on last on top.  What if I jacked up the entire platform to hold the weight and then removed all the bolts and anchor nuts completely from the main column?  I could then theoretically tilt the entire column and platform backwards and shim it at an angle before bolting it back up!  Assuming the lift doesn't crash down and kill me and / or destroy my house - it might just be crazy enough to work!  The problems are I haven't the strength to move this thing, haven't any friends left to help me, and haven't any of those huge shims to shim the column back at an angle.  Well after 2 hardware stores - they didn't have any strength potion, friends, or shims but they DID have some huge washers that looked like they would work.  I considered dremal-ing out one side but figured I could make it work without doing that.  So I thought again how I might move this huge thing backwards. 

I've got it!  Look at this picture.  See how the framing in the ceiling is right up against the main column?  There is a cross beam there.  What if I got the NSX scissor jack out and rig it between the ceiling 2x4 and the lift.  I could move it back an inch and then jack up the outside of the platform and keep going back and forth!  Yes!  Well I rig up the NSX jack and start moving it and it is working!  It is moving!  Then - SNAP!  Uh oh.  Yes - I tore up some of the framing in the ceiling.  But I proved the concept!  Italian engineering at its best!

So - back to the hardware store to buy more scrap lumbar.  I screwed in a bunch of 2x4's and 2x8's to the framing in the ceiling to distribute the load.  Inch by inch I was able to move the scissor jack and the floor jack to tilt the whole thing backwards!  I even bought a $40 adjustable wrench with a pointy side specially made to line up holes to keep the thing centered.  It is not falling, I am not dead, and it is holding.  Sure the ceiling is creaking madly like the whole roof is about to tear off - but not any worse then the last 80 mph tornado that went by the house!

I moved the top like 10 inches back but it barely moves at the bottom.  I slide in as many washers as I can and still get the bolt back in and the tops back on the anchors.  All but one anchor got excellent thread coverage and with the epoxy and the outriggers I am comfortable this thing is going nowhere.  I even had the Bend Pak people review and they fully agreed.  I did it!

	Here is what the lift looked like after I shimmed it.  It is almost perfectly level in the front and slopes down 2" across the back.  Close enough and I LOVE it!  It fits perfectly, doesn't block the door to the house, and looks awesome. Also - some more great news!  The garage is deep enough that the garage door opener does not interfere with either car.  But the best news was yet to be discovered.  The garage is deep enough that I never have to drive over the outriggers.  Once either the NSX or the Cadi tires touch the front of the outriggers - I am in far enough and can get the garage door closed behind me!  Hooray!  The lift is officially done! You know I am obsessed about my lift when my NSX is out in the snow and elements for a month and I spend 3 hours scrubbing, touching up, polishing, and waxing my lift!  What wrong with this picture? On the downside - I still have new lights, tiles, drywall patching, cabinet building, and decorating to do.  Shasta.
	Here are the florescent lights I found.  They were cheap, low profile, and pretty easy to setup.  I tied them into the garage light switch and also ran an outlet to the lift so it works off the switch too.  This was the first time I had ever done electrical work and I didn't take any chances.  I didn't want to be forever known as the guy who finished his lift and electrocuted himself the same day!
	Now it is time to lay the flooring.  I started early on a Saturday morning with my son helping.  I started on one side and they basically snap together.  I used a rubber mallet to snap them into place.
dscn0648.jpg 3/6/2005 4:11:32 PM	The tiles come pre-snapped in 4x4 large squares.  if you are doing a checkerboard this actually creates work.  This is when it is great to have a 6 year old son who hasn't seen his dad in 3 months and wants to help!
dscn0649.jpg 3/17/2005 12:14:20 PM	After a while my son figures out a better way to break apart the tiles proving mentally he is more like his mom!
dscn0650.jpg 3/17/2005 12:14:21 PM	My son is having so much fun he wants to go door to door and sell garage floor jobs to the neighbors - now that is my boy!  Screw the 5 cent lemonade stands!  Let's do $5,000 floor remodeling jobs!
dscn0651.jpg 3/6/2005 10:50:48 PM	After I am done with all the straight pieces I decide to use my sawzill again and make the "cuts" for all the edges and around the lift.  I cut literally hundreds of tiles so that I get a near perfect fit.  I won't stop until I get perfection at this point!
dscn0668.jpg 3/17/2005 12:14:28 PM	Thank God for warning sticker people!  If it wasn't for them we would stand under falling cars instead of running away!
dscn0783.jpg 3/27/2005 10:51:20 AM	The following 2 weekends I built wall shelves and all my cabinets.  It takes forever to get everything really organized and accessible!
	Here is a picture of the NSX on top.  You can see how we modified the garage door tracks so it barely fits.
	Well - no matter how hard you try - you will always have too much stuff in the garage.  One of my neighbors actually had a great idea.  Why not build a big trap door/attic door above the lift?  I can load all my seasonal stuff onto the empty lift, ride it up, open the door, and casually load all the stuff into the attic!  Awesome.  Unfortunately I have no experience doing ceiling dry wall work and framing in doors. Well I spend another hour or two walking around the hardware store and had an idea.  They sell sheets of dry erase board.  I bought a piece of that stuff so I wouldn't have to cut, prime, and paint it.  I bought some hinges and some bolt locks and wahla! - instant attic door.  It's not perfect - but like I have been saying - "good enough for the garage!" I built a plywood floor up there with a light and I store my track tires and a bunch of other seasonal things.
	I have several NSX prints, some car prints, and a few other things but I am going to go banner crazy!  I buy like 10 banners for about $15/each and 4 classic prints for about $10 each.  I then went to Target and found the frames for all 4 prints plus the one I had rolled up.  Talk about awesome art cheap!
dscn0995.jpg 4/4/2005 10:39:32 PM	Here is my USGP print from the first Indy GP race.  It had been sitting in my basement for years.  Nothing like a $10 frame to make it look nice.
dscn1001.jpg 4/4/2005 10:39:34 PM	Here is the wall right in front of the lift.  These are 2 of my favorite prints ever.  My mother-in-law was visiting during the decorating phase and commented that I had more framed art in the garage then in the rest of the house combined!  LOL!
	Anyone an old Imparts catalogue fan?  I was.  Every month they would have some awesome automotive art on the cover.  My favorite was Fred Stout.  Fred was a racer when he lost one of his eyes in an accident.  He changed careers and started painting racing scenes from his mind.  This was incredible because of the unbelievable depth he could draw with only 1 eye!  You loose your perception when you only have 1 eye. One day Imparts announced they were going out of business.  I went down there and sure enough they had two of the prints from the covers of past catalogues!  They were both #1 in a series and signed by the artist!  Well $100 later I had 2 of my favorite pieces of art and now I have a home worthy of them!
	I tried to contact Fred Stout (the 1 eyed race artist) and finally found a gallery that knew him.  Here is what they wrote about him: Thank you for your interest in our gallery and the artist Frederick Stout. Frederick Stout has enjoyed a most remarkable life following and participating in Motorsports. Once a well-respected amateur sports car racer, he is now a noted painter of historic Motorsports scenes. He has been painting Motorsports art for years, and has sold paintings all over the world. A colorful character with a racing history, he has driven in the vehicles most others only imagine. A certified “mudder”, he has driven a variety of vehicles: a Berkley 328cc, a Crosley powered Jabro H Modified, and a Triumph powered D-Modifed Peerlees GT solidified his desire to compete. He moved up from a 1200cc Aerodynamics Formula Vee to a 5-liter Lola Formula A then a Surtees Formula A/Formula 5000 which he promptly stuffed into the wall at Mid America Raceway in Wentzville breaking both his legs and sidelining his career for a short span. He resumed racing a couple of seasons later and became a well-respected competitor in SCCA’s Showroom Stock class, racking up 79 wins as a driver. It was years later that he was in a second major accident that ended his competitive career and turned his complete attention towards painting. It was this accident that left him with a paralyzed eye and the distinctive patch that provides him with the distinction of being “America’s foremost one-eyed historic Motorsports artist”. Fred is without a doubt an original character, we have sent a few messages to one another, and it is very obvious he has a sharp wit and colorful humor.
dscn1006.jpg 4/2/2005 3:46:42 PM	Here is the wall next to the Honda Odyssey.  With 3 kids, 7 bikes, tools, etc - there isn't a lot of room left for art!  I like these NSX prints from Le Mans JGTC racecars from 94 and 95.
dscn1012.jpg 4/2/2005 3:48:14 PM	Better give my baby a decent detailing from being outside in the cold, rain, snow, etc.  Poor thing...
dscn1014.jpg 4/4/2005 10:39:35 PM	Here is the front of the garage.  Still missing the sports banners I am going to do "above the stripe" next to the lift.
dscn1016.jpg 4/2/2005 4:01:36 PM	Here is what it looks like when I pull onto the lift with the NSX.  The ramps in the back fold forward to act as wheel chucks.  Brilliant!
dscn1018.jpg 4/3/2005 2:22:34 PM	Here is my Ebay art collection.  I couldn't believe these were only like $10 each.
dscn1019.jpg 4/3/2005 2:22:42 PM	I bought tons of heavy duty storage hooks and bike hooks.  It is amazing how many bikes and things you can hang in a small area with the right organization tools.
dscn1021.jpg 4/3/2005 2:23:06 PM	Here is my NSX on the lift.
dscn1023.jpg 4/3/2005 2:23:30 PM	Here is the other side of the garage where the wife's van parks.  You can see the shelving I built up high as well.  My wife was always complaining about the kids crashing into junk on the walls so I wanted everything secure and up high.  I bought a bunch of "garage Tupperware" to store everything neatly on the shelf.
dscn1025.jpg 4/3/2005 2:23:50 PM	Another pic of my NSX on the lift.  Is this Bend Pak lift awesome or what.
dscn1027.jpg 4/4/2005 10:39:36 PM	Here is the wall to the left right when you walk out with the USGP commemorative poster.
dscn1029.jpg 4/3/2005 2:25:14 PM	A good shot of my work center with my bench.  I bought the Coleman line and the steel plate and gray go great with the flooring.  People think it was all custom ordered to match!
dscn1142.jpg 4/17/2005 4:56:00 PM	Here is the "upper deck" of the lift wall with all my favorite sports teams.  You can't see the Bud banner to the left of the Rams.
	Here is the Cadi above the NSX and what people see as they are walking by.  Every kid on the block things I am awesome and every walker stops and gawks.  I am Garage Pharaoh!  Victory was mine!

Here is a video of me pulling into my garage and lifting it up.  It is 142 seconds long and 7 MB.  The clicks you hear as it goes up are the safety locks engaging.  You basically lower it onto the locks so that the car is stable for storage.

Well I hope you enjoyed my adventure and it inspires you to go out, find John, get a Bend Pak lift, and have them set it up while you are on vacation

Peace out.

[queenlives]

just reading it makes me feel more manly and, of course, now i'm starting to get garage envy. great write up and thanks for including the pics, too - all great!

[MvM]

Matteni,

Absolutely great story and a lot of fun to read.
Am very happy that I simply cannot affort something as elaborate as this for myself.
One question though.
Why did you but the column of the lift in the middle of your garage instead of on the wall-side. Would that not have saved you some space. Or is it because the doors of the garage did not allow you to have done it that way.
Just wondering...

[matteni]

Originally Posted by MvM

Matteni,

Absolutely great story and a lot of fun to read.
Am very happy that I simply cannot affort something as elaborate as this for myself.
One question though.
Why did you but the column of the lift in the middle of your garage instead of on the wall-side. Would that not have saved you some space. Or is it because the doors of the garage did not allow you to have done it that way.
Just wondering...

Great point - ideally we would have (completely clear floor with column out of the way) but that would have pushed the platform into where the door was (by the width of the column) - so it wouldn't work.

[MiamieNeSeX]

Good work on the write up, probably took you as long as the build. You having me wanting to sell my house for one with a garage.

Armando

[caz-nsx]

Great thread. I'm glad I went with the portable (900lb) version of the lift.

[jlindy]

Great work, I am impressed with the set up and love the floor. It looked fairly easy to install the floor too, but was wondering where you got it and how much flooring costs. (sorry if I missed it) The music in the video was hilarious. Bang Bang I am a warrior...time to update the CD collection Nick. One question, do you have enough room if you ever sold you Caddy and got an suv or a taller vehicle?

I would probably have gone insane trying to do something like that myself. Now it's time to sit back and enjoy. With the stress out of the way, you will have time to get over the OCS. (obsessive compulsive shastas)

[matteni]

Originally Posted by jlindy

Great work, I am impressed with the set up and love the floor. It looked fairly easy to install the floor too, but was wondering where you got it and how much flooring costs. (sorry if I missed it)

No problem! Here is the link http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...pnav=&cat=&s=1

They don't sell just the "black" by itself anymore so you can only buy the dark grey or the mixed black/white. Strange.

Originally Posted by jlindy

The music in the video was hilarious. Bang Bang I am a warrior...time to update the CD collection Nick.

..."and victory is mine!" That is actually my "new" stuff!

Originally Posted by jlindy

One question, do you have enough room if you ever sold you Caddy and got an suv or a taller vehicle?

Unfortunately - no. My NSX is about 45 inches tall and my Cadi is about 63" inches tall and I have about 3-4 inches to spare. I couldn't even get a cool sports wagon as the garage door opener sits almost right up against the glass of both cars.

Originally Posted by jlindy

I would probably have gone insane trying to do something like that myself. Now it's time to sit back and enjoy. With the stress out of the way, you will have time to get over the OCS. (obsessive compulsive shastas)

LMAO! You actually have my ultimate day driver in a M5! Why don't you bring it over and let's see how it works on the lift. I bet it would look real good! Sure my wife would have to go to work full time just for me to get an M5 but we all have our crosses!

[jlindy]

Originally Posted by matteni

No problem! Here is the link http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product...pnav=&cat=&s=1

They don't sell just the "black" by itself anymore so you can only buy the dark grey or the mixed black/white. Strange.



..."and victory is mine!" That is actually my "new" stuff!



Unfortunately - no. My NSX is about 45 inches tall and my Cadi is about 63" inches tall and I have about 3-4 inches to spare. I couldn't even get a cool sports wagon as the garage door opener sits almost right up against the glass of both cars.



LMAO! You actually have my ultimate day driver in a M5! Why don't you bring it over and let's see how it works on the lift. I bet it would look real good! Sure my wife would have to go to work full time just for me to get an M5 but we all have our crosses!

The next time you guys meet for a drive, I would love to stop by and see everybody and all the stinking F1 that is making me so jealous. Just let me know.

I'm up for throwing it on the lift too. I would like to see that floor up close sometime. As far as the M5, it was a compromise with my wife to go from a three car family to a two car family and to be able to take our 1 year old places too. I had to sell two cars to get it and love it so far, but miss the NSX too.

[matteni]

Originally Posted by jlindy

Great work, I am impressed with the set up and love the floor. It looked fairly easy to install the floor too, but was wondering where you got it and how much flooring costs.

I got a PM and an email about this too so I was able to dig up the original order with part numbers. You may be able to use the part numbers to get boxes of black only - YMMV:

Qty: 5
Product: 48-1' x 1' Black Tiles
Item Number: 809767
Price: $129.99
Line Total: $649.95

Qty: 1
Product: Black Tile/Black Edge Completer Kit
Item Number: 823427
Price: $69.99
Line Total: $69.99

Qty: 5
Product: 48-1' x 1' Charcoal Tiles
Item Number: 811346
Price: $129.99
Line Total: $649.95

Qty: 1
Product: Charcoal Tiles/Black Edge Completer Kit
Item Number: 824800
Price: $69.99
Line Total: $69.99

Shipping and Handling: $0.00
Tax: $100.08
Total: $1,539.96

______________________________

It sucks in that I barely needed to open the last 2 full boxes of tile - but I have a lot left over in case I need to replace them. One thing you have to be careful of is dragging sharp things over them. They seem to scratch pretty easily if you move stuff around on them.

[TitaniumVtec]

That thing is freakin massive!!!!!!! Great job and a well written. Congrats!

[NSXLuvr]

Great write up Nick. Truely hilarious.

[DutchBlackNsx]

Thankx for the great story Matenni.

Your floor looks absolutely amazing!

I now know i will NOT be installing a lift in my carage


BTW, whats is your ceiling height (at the point where your lift is , rofl..)

[xxx]

Stunning!

[ChopsJazz]

Awesome job!!!

BTW, Block and tackle:

[matteni]

Originally Posted by DutchBlackNsx

Thankx for the great story Matenni.

Your floor looks absolutely amazing!

I now know i will NOT be installing a lift in my carage


BTW, whats is your ceiling height (at the point where your lift is , rofl..)

Thanks everyone for the nice words - it is therapy to get it all out with my brothers and sisters on prime! BTW the height at the point where the post is - is 9' 2" (or 2.79400 meters for my friends across the pond).

tschüss!



Nick

[NSX Addict]

I always dream of being able to put a lift in my garage. One thing to note for in case your garage door opener ever goes bad. I have a Wayne Daulton opener that only mounts on the headboard and nothing sticks out other than the door rails which I had run all the way up to the ceiling or at least 6in away. Makes it nice when nothing else hangs down from the ceiling.

Great install!!!!

[Yawwn]

Very entertaining story. Thanks for sharing your experience!
What the heck does Shasta mean? Is it a curse, or an exclamation of joy?

[RPM217]

Originally Posted by Yawwn

Very entertaining story. Thanks for sharing your experience!
What the heck does Shasta mean? Is it a curse, or an exclamation of joy?

I know it as a "soda" as in Shasta Cola

[nsx-animal]

Damm, this is a hell of a thread. I need one of those lifts in my garage, cuz I only have a one car

[ChopsJazz]

Originally Posted by RPM217

I know it as a "soda" as in Shasta Cola

Or Mt. Shasta Nation Park, an active volcano in California.

[matteni]

Originally Posted by Yawwn

Very entertaining story. Thanks for sharing your experience!
What the heck does Shasta mean? Is it a curse, or an exclamation of joy?

It's a minced oath for crying out loud!

The phrase "Shasta" is a minced oath. A minced oath is a phrase that is substituted, sometimes at the last minute, for a swear word or blasphemous phrase. The minced oath usually sounds similar to the original swear word or expression. Examples include: oh my goodness, gosh darn it, for crying out loud, shucks, shoot, fudge, holy cow and Mother Fletcher. No offense to NSX prime member Tom Fletcher or his mother. If you want to hear some truly creative minced oaths, try watching Al Pacinio's Scarface the next time it is on Network TV.



Note - special thanks to an old college buddy Rick R. and his ask-the-rit e-zine on minced oaths from long time ago! I had forgotten what they were and an outlook search turned up his old post!

[NSXVURGIN]

My question is this.....do you "DUKES OF HAZZARD" in and out of your cars now?

Is there enough room for the NSX/Jetta to get in/out the drivers side?

As much time and effort you have put into everything (which looks great) I would consider padding the wall and the beam when the doors could possible touch/hit.

Wait till I send a picture to this thread to show you guys where I park my 92
RED/BLK NSX. You'll fall over laughing....but hey at least I have one

[matteni]

Originally Posted by NSXVURGIN

My question is this.....do you "DUKES OF HAZZARD" in and out of your cars now?

Is there enough room for the NSX/Jetta to get in/out the drivers side?

As much time and effort you have put into everything (which looks great) I would consider padding the wall and the beam when the doors could possible touch/hit.

Wait till I send a picture to this thread to show you guys where I park my 92
RED/BLK NSX. You'll fall over laughing....but hey at least I have one

Actually I have a lot of room on the driver's side. I can go to the first door open position on both cars and as long as I duck when getting out so I don't hit the car/lift over my head - all is good. Now I am very close on the passenger side and just let my wife or any kids out before pulling in (the console is in the way)

[mmmikemo]

Nick...outstanding work and write-up...one question...does the lift require a special type of concrete to handle the weight on such a small area?...like some special density of concrete...seems that it is an awful lot of concentrated weight?...thanks...Mike