The Ultimate Car-Guy Dining Room

[clayfoushee]

No, I think that makes it worse, and then you just want more and more aluminum. But, you can practice your hammer and dolly skills on the cans.

Hey Gasman, stop beating yourself up. You got a nice car for a good price, and your experience is not significantly different than a lot of other Cobra replica owners, including those that built new cars. You want reliable, then find a nice stock, throw-away, 5.0 EFI.

Clay

'98 Unique #9299, 427FE side oiler (454-stroker), top-loader (close), 3.31 rear

Annapolis, MD

[WBofTN]

No Clay – I doubt a few bucks more would get me a piece of aluminum.
That $39k price for aluminum quickly inflates when you read the small print.
Wes


'93 Unique 427/351W/4sp

[ralphscott]

Hey guys this is a test of sorts I have all sorts of problems with the relationship between me, my camera, and my computer. So here goes again just finished a long project on my garage floor filling cracks with a warehouse type epoxy finishing those, about 75 feet worth, then getting some industrial grade epoxy floor coating, took two coats, and my wife did the sprinkles (important that it is the industrial grade coating so that it is impervious to oil and gas, and no my FE does not leak oil it just has this really neat automatic oiling system to keep the input shaft of my transmission lubricated. My carb has a similar feature that makes sure I routinely clean my intake.) Then at my wife's suggestion we, and I do mean we put down the cove base molding. I also installed some temporary stops on my garage door rails so the bottom of the door does not touch the floor till it cures, and critters taller than 1" can't get in.





Well here goes...

Ralph

[bittentoo]

Ralph, that's really cool!

[ralphscott]

Thanks Kelly. I think next time I post the pictures I'll put a space between them so they don't go horizontal on me. Glad to see you back on line If you hadn't read my post sorry about the brakes that is a bummer! I think the worst that happend to me when I was out was I busted my rocker haft on the passanger side into three pieces so I made it home on 4 cylinders! Got to really love these cars they got guts!

[eliminator]

Ralph,

The floor looks like it came out really good. Think I will order the same stuff.



Rick
#4279405

[weaver]

Ralph, what brand floor coating did you use?

Alan

[ralphscott]

Rustoleum Industrial Grade. I had to order it through Home Depot. It is not the stuff they adverise on TV, which is not impervious to oil or gas and is latex based. This stuff is Xylol based. You can clean-up with lacquer thinner. Plan on two coats, as if you do the cleaning correctly the stuff gets sucked right into the pores of the concrete. You can recoat 16-72 hours after the first coat and it will bond. Cure for cars to be on it is temperature dependent 4-12 days The colder the slower the cure. Hope that helps Alan.

Ralph

[nolastyankee]

When looking at epoxy floors, be sure to inquire or specify that this will be used as an automobile parking surface. I know some of the inexpensive kits from the big-name home stores are not guaranteed to hold up to solvents like motor oil. This isn't advertised prominently on the package and the pictures all show use in a garage. I only stumbled on to this in researching several brands.

The coating that I used was a three step process, two water based epoxy and one solvent based clear coat. If you want something that is suitable for cars or shop use, you may need to step up to a heavier duty coating. I used the U-Coat-It products and couldn't be happier. Lots of colors, very complete kit, even comes with a video to make application easier.

www.ucoatit.com

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car

[gasman]

Brian, This coating looks fantastic. Just out of curiousity, I used the material estimator to estimate the cost of doing my 2,500 foot floor. Fortunately, someone discovered me on the floor and was able to use a defibulator to bring me back. My floor will have to wait a few years.

Steve Foushee
Unique #4279389

[ralphscott]

Steve, I had the same research experience as Brian, that is why I went with the Rustoleum Industrial Grade coating. I brought 4 Kits as I have yet to do the lower garage. I used 2.5 kits to cover 640 sq.ft. of garage (two coats). The cost per finished sq. ft was $0.53 including sprinkles (which are extra, but good camo.)if you do the work yourself. I also used 2 gallons of Muriatic acid $17.00. What I liked most is there was no problem with the work time on this stuff. You basically mix as you go so you always have a wet surface to lap to and the stuff stays liquid.

Ralph

[nolastyankee]

Steve,
I can see where the UCoatIt products would be cost prohibitive on a major project like your 2500 sq. ft. garage. At that point you might want to have a professional installer quote as they may be able to get a break on the materials. Not to mention that you'll need that defibrillator after coating 2500 sq. ft. with that solvent based stuff!

Ralph mentions that he had good working time with the solvent based coating...One criticism of the UCoatIt product is that the water based coats in the first two steps really worked poorly toward the end of the batch. Doing something as large as you are could cause problems if the working time is short. Again, in a normal garage this isn't an issue, but it sounds like yours is just not any garage!

Unique 9122 - 289 FIA Cobra - The Legendary "Spence" Car

[chill]

I had exactly that issue when I did my 3-car garage with the Rustoleum stuff. I tried to do it all in one batch and by the end it was getting tough to work with and now after its been down a year or so, it has pulled up under the tires of the cars in the last 2 bays painted and its worse under the last bay.. unfortunately that is the Cobra bay. Now I am faced with stripping the paint and starting over... or tiling the while thing!

chill

Unique 289FIA
Southern 396 Stroker