Who here is building their car WITHOUT a Garage/Shop?

[pettyfan43]

I have a real dilemma, I am actually FINALLY getting some real progress made on my 66 Charger. The engine and tranny are in, I have started wiring it back up. I have replaced all the fuel and brake lines. I am getting things finished as I can.  It has been in a friend's shop for a good while as I am trying to get it back together.

It looks like I am about to be forced out of the shop.

I can't afford to do huge things right now, and my budget for the car is pretty much done right now. 
I'm getting things accomplished but the progress is a LOT slower than I like.

Working two jobs which ALMOST pay the bills keeps me pretty busy, I'm working every hour I can work. 

I'm going through a divorce right now, I have no way to build a shop, or move. The county I live in has a junky property ordinance and you are not supposed to  have a car in your front yard that isn't in working condition.

So how do you guys do some of this stuff with no help? For example, I can't get the fuel tank in by myself, Ive tried, I only have two arms and neither one is 9 feet long!! I still have so much to do. And I do have other things that have to be done besides working on the car. Especially without money to buy more parts I still need.
I am doing everything I am able to do at this time.

I still have to get and wire in the ignition, patch a couple small places in the right front floor, get the fuel tank in, master cylinder and booster in the car and new brakes at the wheels and get the interior back in.  I'm really HOPING my seats aren't ruined because of where they were put. NOT TO MENTION a left half of the taillight. I also have to plumb in a transmission cooler.

I have resumes going out but nothing has come of them so far.

I'm open to suggestions!

[Charger1973]

I havent had a garage to work in since way before I bought this car.  Im almost used to working on it outside.  It sucks and you look like an idiot doing some of this stuff in the yard/driveway, but you have to make do with what you have.  The main problem I have is storing my tools.  I end up using my 79 Blazer as a giant toolbox and most of my stuff is in there.  I just back up to the Charger and open it up when I start working.

[TK73]

PROPS to you guys that have to do it the hard way!! 

I had a driveway with a bad incline for a while and a 10x20 car tent. Sucked in the winter... can't work on the car at these apartments now... kinda lost interest anyways.

[Nacho-RT74]

I don't have garage or driveaways, just a rented parking place in my building and I make everything by myself and just some tools. To make the axle job I had to park the car toward to front ( front face to wall ) because I have building colums at sides and that didn't let me pull out axles or even wheels. In all this time I could maybe remove engine for a while I wait for SG carrier to mount new pistons, camshaft and everything else BUT I don't have room in front of car to remove engine.

Living on a 6th floor makes lost some interest on began to work on car because go up and down for any reason, smelling oil and being dirty, sharing elevator with neighbourgs

so with all this, allmost a year with my car on jackstands, making some touchs like some wiring stuff.

[MoParMetal]

i have a small garage, but i just use it to store the cars.
the charger and duster have about 8" between them and they fill up the garage.
theres about 6 inches between the washer and the charger and another 6 between the duster and the wall.

i take them outside to work on.
i like working outside.

[chargerboy69]

I have just a small 2 car garage.

I am luckey enough to have a friend that owns several large buildings. I am using one of his 40X50 buildings for as long as I need it. I have heat, power and a drain to piss in  My car and tools are all that is in there. I figure I will keep my Charger there until we are able to get our house sold, which in this market, might be a while.

[Old Moparz]

When I got my license & my first car in 1980, all I had was the driveway at my parent's house to use as a workspace. That driveway was paved, but I was happy it was paved & not gravel like my friend's driveway. Laying in gravel under a car sucks, but hunting for dropped nuts, bolts, screws, & other gray, or rock-like, looking parts, sucks even more.....LOL. Sometimes a large sheet of cardboard was your best friend.

My Mom was never the type to use a garage since that required opening & closing a garage door & walking an extra 25 feet to the house. The garage became a garden tool shed & dumping grounds for anything & everything. Eventually I cleaned it out & was able to use it, but it was a small, one car garage with no room to work on a B-Body. You had to work in the driveway anyway if you wanted to move.

I rented several different garage spaces later on for another car, but it was for storage only & I still had to use the driveway. When I bought my house in 1989 it didn't have a garage, just a gravel driveway that ate nuts, bolts, screws, & other gray, or rock-like, looking parts. I put my old car hobby on hold for several years, especially when I lost one garage rental after another & had to hunt for space & move my Satellite.

Working at home in the driveway on weekends, was basically for the daily drivers only. I did this so my wife & I could get to work on Monday. The worst was when I had to replace the bad carb on my Scamp. I was planning to swap the 2bbl to a 4bbl in the spring, but it couldn't wait & I had to do it that December. I had the intake, the carb, gaskets, & a few other things already, but not the 4bbl linkage.

I bought some 2 by 4's, made a wooden A-frame over the nose of the car, tied a tarp over it to block out the wind & went to work. I froze my ass off, even with a small heater under the tarp with me. What should have taken one weekend took 5 when I had to scrounge 5 or 6 junkyards in New York & New Jersey to locate a small block 4bbl linkage. I finally did & finished up in January.

I built a garage when funds allowed in 1997 & don't miss the driveway scene at all. 

[bull]

I have a 20x22 garage where I store my 68 but it also contains the furnace, water heater, freezer, 2 tool boxes, air compressor, cabinets, 15-foot ladder, work bench, two engine blocks, a transmission, six wheels and tires and the dog's bed and food tub among other things. So I don't have much room to negotiate. I end up having to pay for towing here and there to have the bigger things done. I'll most likely have to have it hauled to a shop to install the engine and trans. Plus my driveway is on an incline so I can't push the car out and back in without help and work outside. It's also an exposed aggregate drive so a cherry picker won't roll around on it. I'm still trying to decide if I can rebuild the front end at home or if I'm going to have to tow it somewhere to do it. But hey, the towing bills are cheaper than the payment would be on an acre or two with a shop on it. The pain won't last forever.

[hutch]

The garage where my car is kept is 75 miles away.  I do lots of work at home fixing parts, making parts or cleaning parts then when I get a fair amount of stuff ready, I dive down twice a month and work on the car.   My goal is to get it running (after 19 months now) by this July so I can drive it home.  I have a very small garage here at my home so I dont have the room to work on it at home. 

[Charger74SE]

I know what it feels like to work outside. I did it on my 71 R/T for many years. I still do all the work on both of my trucks in the driveway.
I have an 18 x 20 garage that I call "The Concrete Shoebox" is where I'm working on my 74 Charger.  It needs a new roof and I'm hoping it makes it through another Hurricane season so I can get the remaining bodywork finished then its off to the paint shop late this fall. Then I can put a new roof on it.

[Judhudson]

Man Chris...I was waiting to hear an update from you and was hoping for it to be a good one...didn't know you are juggling 2 jobs!

Like you mentioned, time and money is hard to come by, but if it is even remotely possible, get you a 10x20 tent garage and some stakes.  Make sure you don't put it under a tree and be sure you stake the tent down good!  (Speaking from experience here)

And you do know our mopar club offers assistance with members by the "wrenching" sessions, right?  All you need to do is let us know when you would like one so we can get the word out.  5 + people will show up ready to assist you on your various projects.  We only had one with George before he passed away, but nobody has offered any projects for us to do another one.

[pettyfan43]

Yeah i may bring this stuff up at the Meeting Saturday, and afterward I am gonna get that tank in the car, AFTER i get a haircut - I look SHAGGY!!!! 

[Finn]

I bought a "garage" tent at costco for 200 bucks.

Not as good as a garage but it beats having the car sit outside (which really sucks if you have bare metal exposed or nasty weather and a time limit). Its a good investment...except when the wind REALLY blows and the tents not bolted down so it lifts up (metal poles and all), clears the charger, and lands directly on the daily driver truck!! 
Oh and all this happens at 3:45 in the morning 
But moving on...
The car was on beams with rollers underneath and if I shoved it to one side of the tent Id have about 4 feet of space on the side I was working on.
As for dropping the fuel tank I had a buddy help but it'd do-able with one person. We made a wood frame and used a car to lower it down and roll it out.

I managed to tear apart the entire thing under that tent and only had to buy an engine hoist, engine stand, and tranny jack.
And In-n-Out burgers for the friends that helped out which was totally worth it.
It does suck sometimes when your laying under the car which is under the tent making it about 98 degrees and the wind is blowing the tent and so many leaves from the trees have found their way into the tent that you cant find the unorganized tool tray and the sprinkler run off water is soaking your back and the bolt you've been fighting with for 5 minutes completely breaks off, cause you to cut your hand on the metal and knocking undercoating and dirt in your mouth and eyes and you hit your head as you try to roll out from under the car...
But after a long day of working on the car, you get to take a 30 minute shower with a feeling of accomplishment, scrubbing yourself with hard bristle brushes and using GoJo as soap as the bugs and crap wash out of your hair...

then some asshole flushes the toilet.

[Blown70]

then some asshole flushes the toilet.

hahahahah Thats funny right there.

[Charger_Fan]

then some asshole flushes the toilet.

hahahahah Thats funny right there.