Garage Renovation: The Floor

When we moved into our first house last year, I was more excited about owning a garage than the rest of the house :-).  The garage was nothing special, but after years in apartments, I was thrilled to have it.

The floor was dusty when we moved in, and I thought no problem; I'll sweep it.  When I swept it and it was still dusty, I thought no problem; I'll hose it out.  When I hosed it out and it was still dusty, I learned that it would always be a bit dusty unless I specifically addressed the problem.  Our car interiors are black, so having light colored dust on our shoes every time we get in the car was not something I wanted to live with.

I did a ton of reading, mostly on http://allgaragefloors.com/ and the Garage Journal forum, and here's what I eventually decided to do.

A "Racing" Helmet

My six-month old unfortunately developed a woefully lopsided head (positional plagiocephaly) and the doctor prescribed a head molding helmet, aka DOC band.  Given the price of this piece of plastic, it only made sense to adorn it with Porsche logos. ;-)

Review: Concrete Oil Stain Removers

When we moved into our first house, I decided to tackle coating the garage floor.  Unfortunately, the previous owners and I had vehicles leaking oil that had already stained the cement.  Many small oil spots and a few large oil spills littered the garage floor.

I tried three different oil-stain removers:

1. Pour'N'Restore
2. Pull It Out 
3. Rejuvenate Concrete and Paver Stain Remover

Cars of CES

Last week work sent me to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).  While I worked most of the time, I escaped for a bit and found a few special automobiles.  I guess I'm not the only geek that loves cars :-)B-).

Ken Block's Ford "Fiesta ST"  - He was on hand too...

DFW 993 Meet - January 2014

A simple request to hear some modified 993 exhausts led to quite a 993 meet in Dallas this January...and I missed it.  Fortunately my sister and brother-in-law drove Ella over took some photos for me.

The whole story can be found in this Rennlist post:  http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/993-forum/785079-looking-for-fister-users-in-dallas-north-dallas-area.html, but here's the short summary:

1. Dallas rennlist forum member rsabeebe wants to hear some exhaust setups
2. Area 993 enthusiasts get excited and join-in...nearly 30 of us
3. A raffle gets started
4. An ice storm covers North Texas, event gets postponed
5. New date selected when I'm out of town :-(, but at least now Darin from FD Motorsports can fly in.
6. More that 30 993's show up at RAC in Addison

Click past the break for some photos.

Photoshoot, July 2013

It took an ice storm in December for me to get time to process photos taken in July, but that's what happens when a future Porsche driver is added to the family...

One of My Favorite Ella Pictures

Click past the jump for additional shots.

Porsche 993 AC Compressor Replacement

As mentioned in this previous post, Ella's AC compressor was suspected of leaking r-134a refrigerant and needed to be replaced.  The repair quote from the mechanic was absolutely ridiculous, so I felt free to buy tools and equipment as well as the parts. :-D

For an excellent how-to article, check-out http://www.pcarworkshop.com/index.php/993_-_A/C_Evaporator_Replace.  Although the title says "evaporator" replace, it also covers the compressor and the receiver/dryer.  Rather than re-create the DIY here, I made a few small contributions to the article on pcarworkshop. Ella even makes a cameo appearance!

In this post, I will cover some of the special circumstances and considerations from my install.