Area 52

From far away!

2010-02-02T18:23:00.000Z

We've had people from all over England coming to the Playdays....and even Mark has flown over from Ireland twice to join in the fun.

January 30th saw our furthest travelled visitor: Thomas (AKA The Doctor) who travelled all the way from the Netherlands in his Toyota Chaser to take part in the Playday. A 1,200km round trip!

He's quite a camera shy kinda guy but I did manage to get a few snaps of him at the unit.

In the background here, cleaning the 2 post lift (he's not afraid of getting stuck in!)

Here he is checking up on me cleaning some pistons. Quality control is a good attribute of his

Laughing at Mark & Ryan 'pimping' in the Hustler

...and overseeing the installation of the chain on the 2 post lift

It was great to have you over Thomas, thank you for coming such a long way to join in...and please come back whenever you can - I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say that you are always welcome at Area 52. :D

We have heat!!!

2010-02-01T18:22:00.001Z

After a number of ~~very chilly~~ sub-zero Playdays, Alan turned up to the last one with a custom made woodburner.

Made out of an old 47 litre gas bottle, the burner has a really neatly hinged door with a handle fashioned from Alan's old, broken Land Rover steering box. Complete with baffle made out of the centre of a steel wheel, damper made out of more of the steering box and a base from the remnants of the old wheel (used for the baffle)

Seen in a previous post were Ian, Steve and Dave cutting a large hole in the wall - this was for the chimney flue to exit.

After getting the burner alight outside to burn off the exterior paint, it was carried in (still alight and red hot!) where Alan quickly set about welding up the flue...with smoke & heat pouring off the burner. That's hardcore! Ryan lent a helping hand.

Welding on the flue

Nearly there

Enjoying the novelty of warmth - the wood burner seemed to be the source of much congregating all night

A bit later some shelves were added to keep cups of tea nice & warm. You can also see the A52 detailing that Alan added as he was making it

Huge thanks must go to Alan for the construction of this awesome bit of kit. Also to Ryan for supplying the flue...and everyone else for helping to get it fitted and supplying wood to keep us warm.

If you would like Alan to make you a wood burner, he can make them to order and can be contacted through Retro Rides here: Grunty's PM

Area 52's youngest visitor

2010-01-31T17:28:00.000Z

So far at Area 52 we have had Lucie (Chris's little girl), Molly (Tim's little girl) and Edward (Phil's little boy) but during Playday 6 we were very lucky to be introduced to William - Si's little boy who was born less than a week earlier!

It's going to take a lot to beat that and I am pretty certain that William's visit will not be a one off? If Si has anything to do with it, the first words out of William's mouth will be "pass me the 10mm ratchet"

Without further ado, here is the little fella enjoying the cosiness of the snug

We're all looking forward to having you back again soon young man.

Playday 6: Sorry for the delay!

2010-01-30T17:05:00.053Z

Well Playday 6 was a bit of a last minute affair that turned out to be an awesome weekend!

Lots done on the unit which has all gone to make it a much more usable space. Many thanks go to those who came along and mucked in. A great effort from everyone.

Mark & Sean fit the waste pipe for the sink in the snug. At last we can use the sink properly!

Ben cuts the feet of the 2 post lift to allow them to swing back properly

Adrian & Phil run the 3-phase electrics to the lift....awesome work chaps!

Ian, Steve and Dave work on drilling big holes in the wall

Morgs, Phil & Mark modify the doors to fit properly

All the time, Tim is outside keeping the troops fed from the Car-B-Q with burgurs and sausages

After all the work is done everyone kicks back for more of a social - chatting & drinking (essential A52 ingredients!)

As the evening wore on, lots of this kind of thing started happening

More to come in the next installements...including: Heat, Youngest, Furthest, Lifted, Food etc....

Then & Now

2010-01-29T10:46:00.000Z

How times have changed!

Here is quick snapshot of how the unit looked within a week of signing the lease:

10 months later, it's a different story. SO much has changed and a lot of it is not obvious from this picture:

We now have full length, full height racking across the back wall,a two post lift (yet to be wired up), a large sand blasting cabinet, parts washer, full length workbench (20+ ft), large compressor, welder....plus the addition of BBQ and hot running water.

The unit is almost there and the next playday (PlayDay 6) will hopefully see the last few jobs finished to get the unit properly up & running. Fingers crossed.

Thanks must go to all the people that have come along and helped over the past months...and to those who have contributed things to the unit. Without you, this place would still be a plain shell with a few cars in it.

More space for Area 52

2010-01-28T10:23:00.000Z

With the attendance at playdays growing with each successive one and more kit/equipment arriving all the time, space at Area 52 is getting increasingly tight.

Luckily we have a temporary solution with thanks to one of the other guys who rents a space in the unit.

Pete (a stonemason/sculptor) rents the space at the opposite side to my space. He uses it to produce stone sculptures - here he is making some large stone benches for a civic space up in Liverpool:

For the past few months he hasn't used the space and recently he announced that he will be working over in Prague for the next six months. I asked if it would be OK to use his space temporarily while he was away. He was fine with this as long as we cleared his stuff neatly into a corner and tried to pay something towards his rent.

Morgs, Ryan and Jimmy came along to lend a hand moving all his tools, clearing all his stone rubble into a corner and sweeping up all the mounds of stone dust that had built up

This shot was taken half way through after clearing all the tools and equipment into a corner - I should have taken a 'before' shot....it was a real mess!

Thirsty work shifting so much stone, rubble and dust....not to mention how dusty the air got with all the sweeping!

It took the four of us a good few hours to clear the space and get it cleaner (less dusty) but at last, we had some extra space

It didn't take long to start filling the space though! The recent aquisition of two Hustlers plus Morgs' MR2 meant we had half filled the space before the evening was through!

It did, however, leave a good amount of space down at the other end ready for the playday on the 30th where we would hopefully get the 2 post lift finally up & running.

The biggest problem to come is when I have to give the space back to Pete - I had better not get too used to having it.

Hot water....at last!!

2010-01-27T09:55:00.000Z

Finally, the unit has hot water. HOORAH!!

It may seem such a stupid thing to make such a song & dance over, but anyone who has ever tried to wash dirty, oily hands in the Area 52 'washroom' during the winter months will no doubt remember the ice cold water which makes the simple job of cleaning such a torturous ordeal!

As we all know, hot water helps shift oil better, but it also makes it such a more pleasant experience after a long day playing on cars.

The new water heating half way through fitting:

Fitted and wired up

WORKING! Such a small step, such a massive benefit!

This also coincides with getting the sink in the 'snug' fitted & plumbed in with a water heater and proper drainage (thanks to Mark & Sean for running the waste pipe) so we now also have somewhere to wash all the tea cups etc...

Even more hot water!

These two modifications to the unit make spending any time down there so much more comfortable. Clean tea cups, clean hands.....BLISS!

'General' Stickers

2010-01-26T14:29:00.001Z

Since designing the original Area 52 stickers, I have had many requests from people to sell them so that they could put one on their car. The original idea was that anyone visiting Area 52 got an 'Authorized Personel' sticker (one black, one white) as a token of being part of the whole A52 thing.

This will not change, the 'Authorized' stickers will remain a free item given to visitors to the unit.

To try and meet the requests of people who have not yet had the opportunity to visit the unit, but would like to have an Area 52 sticker, I have just designed a 'General' sticker that can now be bought. The aim for this is twofold: 1) So that people can have a sticker without having to have been to the unit (although anyone is always welcome) 2) To raise more money for the A52 fund.

Here is the new 'General' Area 52 sticker:

As with the mugs, 100% of the money raised from sticker sales will go towards the ongoing costs of the unit (electricity, BBQ gas, tea/coffee etc...) as well as building a fund to buy more kit & equipment.

The stickers are only available in matt black or matt white (just like the 'Authorized' versions) and are 155x55mm in size.

The cost of each sticker is £2.00 and postage is free on any order of two or more stickers (50p p&p for single sticker). There is no limit to the number of stickers ordered in either colour.

The outer border can be removed easily if you want to make your sticker look a little bit different, or want to make it a little bit smaller.

If you would like to order any stickers, please PM me details on RetroRides and I will get back to you with payment details etc....

I have done these in time for people to be able to order along with any mugs they wish to buy.

Project car mock-up: 14" - whaddya think??

2010-01-25T23:44:00.000Z

Down at the unit this evening with Morgs and Ryan, we decided to take a few minutes to itch a scratch I've had about how the Huslter 'group build' project carwould look on some 14 inch 70's style rims.

With a jack holding up the rear and some blocks of wood under the front (health & safety meh!) the wheels were offered up. Due to a PCD way off that of the Mini hubs, the wheels had some good poke going on where they were resting against the protruding studs....but the look certainly seemed to suit the little buggy...

7" wide but on the end of the already extended studs, this little car could easily pull off 8" wide at the front and 9" at the rear. Good times.

The biggest problem will be the clearance of the rear wheels against the subframe/trailing arm mounts. Nothing that can't be sorted though.

This project is going to be a very exciting one and the end result should be a very interesting and original vehicle. I can't wait until the weekend!!!!

AX Authentique

2010-01-25T15:55:00.000Z

Area 52 currently has a new car tucked up behind the big blue steel doors....my little Citroen AX GT Mk1.

It's only there for a short period of time because I am selling it.

So why the blog entry? Because any cool car (large or small from any country) that makes it into the unit will get a mention one way or another.

Also because it has been an amazing little parts collector for the unit....travelling all over the UK gathering bits like the parts washer, welder, welding gas and even most of the hand tools, so in many ways Area 52 owes a lot to this little French pocket rocket.

The full advert for the car can be found HERE on Retro Rides. It is for sale for £650 which is a very good price for one of these (backed up by comments on RR)

I will certainly miss the little thing, it has been a great, fun car to own. They are getting very rare now in original, unmodified form so this car will hopefully appeal to an enthusiast who won't go sticking a Saxo VTS engine in there....

Playday dates: Get your diaries ready!

2010-01-24T22:08:00.000Z

You heard it here first, these are the dates for the next few months Playdays:

January - 30th: Preparing the unit
February - 20th: Fibreglassing workshop
March - 20th: Intro to welding workshop
April - 10th: 'Special' welding workshop (* see below)
April -29th ('the' tour): Details to be confirmed (**see below)
May 15th - Project Car

These are now set and have been posted up so that you can book them in your diaries.
All future playdays will involve work on the project car on the Sundays (if you're up for it....you're more than welcome to tinker on your own car if you need?). This is so that we can have the focus on a specific activity on the Saturday daytime.

* This 'Special' welding workshop is limited to 20 people. Details of how to put your name down will be posted in February.

** This is the 'Area 52 on Tour' weekend and will mean taking Friday 30th April off work. Leaving Bristol on Thursday 29th in the evening approx 8pm giving you time to get to A52 from work. If travelling from afar, you might need to leave work early on the Thursday? We will be returning on Monday 3rd May which is the Bank Holiday Monday. Details of this event will be posted up in February.

BBQ @ Area 52

2010-01-23T00:42:00.000Z

Some of the banter about food on the Areas 52 thread on Retro Rides has got me all hungry and dying to get my teeth into a juicy fat BBQ'd steak.

The playday next Saturday will see the arrival of the CarBQ, built by Ian (BiAS) and now owned by Tim (Brat Man), to aid with the cooking duties. To accompany this, Matt (Stealthstylz) is bringing along a copious amount of steak. Good times.

It seemed like the perfect opportunity to reflect on some shots of BBQ'ing at previous playdays:

The BBQ is at the very heart of everything we do down at Area 52. It keeps us all going, all day...late into the night and first thing the next morning. It warms our hands on those bitter winter days (no heating at the unit) and it is as much a part of the whole playday experience as the people themselves.

Burger anyone??

Ghetto wheel arch rolling

2010-01-22T00:17:00.000Z

RTLKYuubi (AKA Ryan) from Retro Rides popped in to Area 52 on Weds night for a cuppa and a chat. While he was there we decided to break out the wheel arch rolling device and get busy on his car ready for when he lowers it:

1) Bring one Micra along to Area 52

2) Park amongst the surrounding retro wonders

3) Stand back and admire your £100 'hi-rider' Micra

4) Despite the massive altitude, assess how much scrubbage

is occuring on the wider rubber/fully laden interface

5) Take one length of 3" tube (thick walled) and align with rear of arch

6) Get assistant to drive back & forth while you admire

your incredible Uri Geller metal bending technique

7) Get car on flatter surface to allow greater use of 'the force'

8) Now that you've mastered the technique, get started on the other side

9) To achieve the perfect finish, get assistant tobounce joyfully on rear

bumper while you watch your arches roll back toan ideal position

Clearance: Acheived.

Technique: Aprroved.

Stickers

2010-01-21T12:24:00.001Z

Not for sale (and never will be) - the Area 52 stickers are only given to people who visit the unit. They are free and there is a choice of matt white or matt black.

I ran out of the initial batch just after Playday II, so made some more last night. Quite a few people have visited the unit since I ran out, so most of these will be reserved for those who have not yet had any. Obviously with more & more visitors due over the forthcoming Playdays, I need to make sure I keep a stock in at all times.

They are most commonly found on peoples cars. A few examples are Mark's Senator, Chris' Golf and Morgs' Fiesta:

....but they can often be found in other places as well:

There is also a 'Ltd Edition' version of the sticker that was only given out to people who attended the first ever Playday in Sept 09.

"....and how would you like yours?"

2010-01-20T15:36:00.001Z

Literally hot off the press, here are the official Area 52 mugs. Personalised with your own 'brew details' so that you get your cuppa just how you like it.

There are three reasons for producing these:

1) 100% of all profits from the sale of the mugs goes towards the Area 52 fund to buy more kit, equipment & materials
2) So that you have your own personal mug - no more wondering who last drank out of it
3) So that anyone can make you a cuppa and you know it should come to you how you prefer it

Each mug is individually printed by myself.

The mugs cost £6.00 each and I take nothing out except the material costs. The rest of the money goes to the Area 52 project fund. By buying one you not only get a unique item (to keep down at the unit for playdays or to keep at home as a souvenir....or both) but you also support the expansion of the unit which benefits everyone. If you want your mug posted as opposed to collecting from Area 52, postage is £3.50 per mug.

If you would like to order a mug or two, please PM me details on Retro Rides and I will get back to you with payment details etc....

EXTRA PLAYDAY!! 30th/31st January

2010-01-19T23:16:00.000Z

Because there is a 6 week gap between the last playday (6th Jan) and the next one (20th Feb) I have decided to fit in an 'extra' one in order to try and finish off all the jobs on the unit.

Saturday 30th January will be the next playday and very soon (Weds) I'll be putting up a list of all the jobs to complete along with a list of all the things we need to try and source for the day (tools/materials)

In the meantime, here are some more shots of the last playday:

Area 52 group project car #1

2010-01-18T16:51:00.001Z

Yep, you heard it right.....here is the official unveiling of the first Area 52 ‘group build’ project car.

Some people already know about the car, a few photos have crept out onto Retro Rides, but this is the first time proper details have been published about the cars role down at the unit.

It’s a Hustler Sport which is the open-top low-slung variant of the Hustler Mini based kit car. This particular one is properly registered as a Hustler (as has just been confirmed by the DVLA) and is tax exempt. You can read up more about the Hustler range of cars from this website: Hustler Kit Car Page

Here is the car being collected from its previous owner in Hertfordshire last week

The car is now at Area 52 where it will become the focus of the group build playdays very soon. It has not been driven since approx 1988 and therefore will need completely pulling apart and rebuilding.

All the lower bodywork is missing but with the fibreglassing playday on the 20^th February and another Hustler with complete bodywork (see pic at bottom), making moulds and new bodywork should not only be straightforward, but also a good learning experience.

The rest of the car is pretty much original Mini running gear/subframes with a lower and upper box section frame sandwiching the fibreglass ‘tub’ which makes up the intererior. All fairly simple to work on and restore hopefully?

The Hustler 6 which will donate its bodywork for making moulds

Wheels on and looking sweet!

2010-01-17T09:43:00.000Z

The wheels are finally fitted to the Rascal, suspension height has been set and I am very happy.

After also trying the 7" wide rear wheels on, Ben & I concluded that the 6" wide rears looked a lot better and a lot more balanced on the car.

New addition to Area 52

2010-01-16T19:49:00.000Z

Tuesday night saw the annual Retro Rides awards night at the Ace Cafe in London. The perfect time to mett up with & catch up with RR & Area 52 regulars.

I decided to tie in the trip with the collection of a new car for Area 52. I picked up Adam early on Tuesday morning and we headed to Tring in Hertfordshire where we collected and loaded the new car onto the trailer I had borrowed.

Next stop, the Ace Cafe for a slap up meal and long overdue catch-up. You can see the new ride on the trailer. A very unusual and very rare kit car called a Hustler 6....a six wheeled mini based car with lots of glass and mad 70's looks. We were the first to arrive at around 4.30pm...and we stayed until about 10.30pm

Jed wasn't allowed inside the Cafe so we stayed outside all night. Adam kindly brought me food & drink which was consumed in the back of the tat collecting Delica - with Jed supervising every bite.

During the night lots & lots of stuff was brought over to take back to Area 52. Loads & LOADS of technical manuals courtesy of Matt Jones, boxes of magazines from Si, JamesP, Steve and Rian...along with various wheels for me and other Area 52 regulars. The hardest job was loading it all.....but the RR collective came good and helped get everything loaded in the back of the empty Hustler and the rear of the Delica.

The turnout was amazing, especially for such a cold night. The best news; I won three awards. Most notably the RR Forum Person of the Year!!! I put this all down to Area 52 and the support given by everyone in keeping it going, so a big thank you must go out to all of you for helping make it happen.

Here's to 2010.....and thank you all again.

PlayDay 5: It was cold!!

2010-01-15T18:09:00.000Z

Saturday 9th/Sunday 10th January was PlayDay 5 down at Area 52.

The turnout was very good considering the cold, the snow and how soon after Christmas it was. Many thanks to Morgs, Ben, James, Adam, Ian, Dave, Jim, Tim, Ryan, Al & Charlotte for coming along and joining in.

Following on from the 100% blog last week I am sorry for Si who couldn't make it along, now leaving Ben & Ian as the original 100% guys!

We didn't get as much done as planned, but then with numbers down and the bitter cold it was not surprising. We did still get a hell of a lot acheived and many thanks must go to all who helped.

Here are some pics which some up the weekend (more will be added when I get chance):

Frozen sink - not ideal for washing your hands!

Ian, Ben & Jim get to work installing the shelving for all the magazines

Dave on fabricating duty

Reclaimed kitchen sink (my old sink) to be going in the snug

Cupboards and water heater installed

James & I pop out for plumbing supplies. Who needs load capacity or heaters??

Tim & Ian put the world to rights....

Snowy Retro's in the yard:

Been away!

2010-01-14T17:49:00.001Z

With being away on Saturday & Sunday for the playday weekender, on the road all day Monday & Tuesday collecting cars and parts, attending the Retro Rides awards ceremony on Tuesday night, arriving late back at the unit and sleeping over...then spending most of Wednesday unloading stuff and moving cars around, I haven't had any time to keep the posts coming!

In the meantime and as an apology, here is a video of the Fugitive having some fun in the snow:

The worst turning circle of any car on the planet, combined with skinny tyres & no weight on the front VS fat, chunky treaded, grippy all terrain tyres on the back meant the car never held a donut for more than 360° and was really hard to get it to go where I wanted.

It was still a lot of fun though.....

Many thanks to Ben for filming (and to James for trying to capture the better run the day before....but failing LOL)

Never far from your mind...

2010-01-09T02:06:00.000Z

Even when the weather is affecting daily life, some things are never far from your mind.

Retro Rides

100%

2010-01-08T01:20:00.037Z

Area 52 has a hardcore set of regulars who have been to most of the playdays so far, but three people in particular have been to every single one of them. I only hope that this level of 100% attendance doesn't set them on a path of obligation for subsequent playdays....although they would be very much missed if they ever weren't able to make it along for one reason or another.

Here is to Ben, Si and Ian.....

Ben

Ian

It's thanks to you guys - and all the other regulars & visitors, that Area 52 has evolved into the amazing place it is.

Paul's Bobber

2010-01-07T09:52:00.000Z

My mate Paul is a regular visitor to Area 52. He never stays for long, but he only lives around the corner so likes to pop in whenever he's passing. Usually on his lovely Bobber.

Hidden Gems

2010-01-06T18:56:00.000Z

Yesterday I popped into the tyre place next to Area 52 to finally get the tyres fitted to the remaining Rascal alloys.

The last few times I've been past I've noticed on older Mitsubishi Colt being worked on in one of the fitting bays. It looked like an ongoing 'project' vehicle, so I decided to find out a bit more about it while I was there.

Under the yellow primer it turns out to be a genuine 1987 Colt Turbo. How many of these do you see around nowadays?? A proper slice of rare Japanese eighties hot hatch.

It got a big vote of OOOF from me and also a secret desire to own. So much potential.

Under the hood was the usual turbo 1.6 but the new owners have fitted an intercooler which, according to the owner, has made a significant impact on the performance. This is combined with nothing more than a new air filter, new HT leads and a full service. Traction issues are now the next thing on the agenda.

Some rust to be dealt with on the rear arches but it looks like the owners are going to be doing a decent job of getting the car sorted. Full spray job due once the rust is fixed and traction issues improved. I'll be lending them some of my alloys this coming weekend in a bid to convince them to fit some suitable retro wide wheels.

I'm liking this car a LOT!!

Oh.....and the Rascal Vecs look fantastic with their new tyres fitted. I've now got a choice of 6" or 7" to go on the rear. Happy boy, trial fitment on the wee van sometime this weekend.

Tigran

2010-01-05T00:21:00.000Z

Back in September 09, Tigran visits the unit in his newly aquired 'red oxide' 5 Series.

Visitors are ALWAYS welcome at Area 52 - especially if they drive cool cars. Hope you're paying a visit again sometime soon Tiggs??

Progression

2010-01-04T16:08:00.002Z

With three of four large-ish blog entries so far, I am going to stick up a few short ones to 'balance' things out a bit. The next few entries leading up to the Playday will be some retrospective shots of how Area 52 has developed or some of the people that have paid the unit a visit.

To kick off, here are some before/after shots of the very popular, very cosy 'snug'

Before: 1st week of taking the unit on.

Furniture came free from a house clearance.

After....now looking like a real snug!

(Clockwise from left: Si, Mark, Ian, Mark, Ben & Mark)

Before: Me & Si (the first ever Area 52 visitor)

After: A place where good friend meet and share some banter

(Clockwise from left: James, Si, Ben, Johnny, Mark, Chris & Joe)

All the furniture, the kettle, toaster, microwave, coffee table, rug etc....came free from various houses that I have worked on or had to clear stuff from. All magazines, posters and other car related tat have been kindly donated by various people from Retro Rides/visitors to Area 52. Many thanks :)

The shape of things to come!

2010-01-04T00:38:00.001Z

Can't wait to get some rubber draped on these little beauties!! More info to come......

Sunday Sort-out

2010-01-03T19:45:00.005Z

Well it all started as a day of fail!

Morgs arrived to collect the trailer only to find it blocked in by Kibby (away for the weekend) so it ain't going anywhere for now!Instead he decided to unload the Audi of spare parts and get them stored in the racking and have a general sort-out while he was at it.

Meanwhile I was supposed to be taking the 'Playday 1' project Fiesta over to Yeovil for Ben. Upon arrival I found the a-frame not where it expected it...in fact I couldn't find it at all. Seems to have been locked away/borrowed, so as well as the trailer....the little Fiesta also ain't going anywhere either.

While getting stuff sorted I received a call from my old pal Jo0Lz - he was in the Bristol area (lives somewhere far oop north) and wanted to pop in for a cuppa/chat/catch-up. He arrived an hour later accompanied by his good lady, Sarah, in his FUCT FIAT which he'd bought and taken on the Sacuta Run last year. Great car, great guy and nice to catch up with him after 4 years of "see you real soon" phonecalls!

This £60 car has done the rounds through Europe. Check out the Facebook pages above ^^

Gotta love a cheap, unloved car that has a great background story and is still in daily use.

Cuppa, chat and lovely catch-up later, Jo0Lz & Sarah head off oop North and I set to work trying to get the unit/racking/workspace a bit more organised ready for the pending playday.

Looking better!

I even managed to get some decluttered space between all the cars, behind the Delica, around the ramp as well as organising all the stuff piled inside the Rascal! Jed (AKA: Area 52 supervisor) approves of the neater workspace

Within a week (if I can lay my hands on the A-frame) this lovely little Fiesta will be delivered to its new home in Yeovil. Most of the Area 52 regulars have a lot of love for this car.

It's going to a good home though and will be staying very much within the Retro Rides/Area 52 community. Good stuff!

PlayDay 5: Details

2010-01-02T18:24:00.006Z

OK - so this is just a copy of the details from the Area 52 thread on Retro Rides, but it keeps everything here together if I start including full details of playdays etc....

PlayDay 5 is just around the corner - Sat 9th and Sun 10th January to be precise. Codename: Ship-Shape & Bristol Fashion

This will be the perfect time to blow away those Christmas blues and get the old Retro Rides mojo back into full boost.....

The mission this time; to get the unit as fully operational as possible. There are loads of jobs that I need to do to make the unit more usable, especially for PlayDays, but with work and other commitments, it'll take me a long, long time to get them all done. I figured, why not use the old adage of 'many hands make light work' and try to use the whole weekender to accomplish all the tasks that would probably take me a good few months on my own.

I hope that this will enable the unit to become more practical and easier to use. I have compiled a list of jobs that need doing and if we can somehow do all of them, then this will be a great acheivement and a massive benefit for the unit and all future PlayDays.

Here is the list - please let me know if there is any particular/specific task you would like to tackle? Please also let me know if there are any specific materials/items you are able to contribute to the weekend?

2 post lift: remove swing out arms and grind out the stops to allow the arms to swing further back (time - couple of hours max)

2 post lift: Remove all panels and clean/degrease the mechanism. Regrease all major parts (time - ?? prob a small team on this one?)

2 post lift: Rub down and prepare all panels and parts of lift for painting. Paint lift in a nice bright shade of red or blue (time - 3-4 hrs with a few people on this)

2 post lift: Refit all panels to lift when dry (time - 2 hrs max)

Sand blaster: Get the sand blaster 'comissioned' and checking all is working well....making a list of any improvements that are needed to get it working any better (time - 2 hrs max)

Lighting/power: Fit new conduit to lighting and adapt trunking to fit new wiring route. Refit all trunking caps to hide wiring in trunking (time - 3-4 hrs with a few people)

Worktops: Cut & fit new wortops to fit along new workbench. These will need cutting to size (circular saw & jigsaw??) along with small cuto-outs at the back for power cables. Brackets will need welding to the workbench to screw the tops down tightly (time - 2-3 hrs with a few people)

Worktops: Mount a vice and a drill to the new worktops. Spreader plates will need to be made to get these securely fitted (time - 2 hrs max)

Welding bench: Make a fold down steel bench cover to allow one part of the workbench to be used as a welding area. A couple of hinges will need to be attached to the wall along with a catch to hold the bench cover up when not in use. Sheet of steel needs to be sourced for this (time - 2 hrs max?)

Shelving: Put up some shelving in the entrance hall area so that the ever growing magazine collection finally has somewhere to be kept. Shelves will need to be well made and very well secured to the walls (time - 2-3hrs max)

Sink & hot water: Rodit kindly donated a weater heater to the unit and Hairnet has very kindly sourced a sink/taps to go with it. I need to source a double kitchen unit to fit the sink & heater into and also find someone to kindly plumb it all in. I have a plan of how/where to route the pipes & waste (time - ???)

Water heater: Having the new sink and water heater in the snug will make washing up a lot LOT nicer....but I'd like to keep the washing of grubby hands confined to the sink in the toilet/washroom. The water heater in there does not work so I need to source a new heater as near to free as possible so that hand washing isn't so unpleasant with the ice cold water (freecycle perhaps??)

Spray booth: I recently bought a nice extractor. I would like to make some kind of spray booth so that items can be painted well. This will need to be made from some sheet material (ply/steel??) and constructed into a box approx 3' square with an open front and a means of moutning the extractor to the top. I've no further ideas at the moment - this is kind of a 'play it by ear' construction that would compliment the sand blaster....

Parts washer: I have bought a parts washer and this simply needs to find a home in the unit and needs checking/testing once filled with a suitable washing/cleaning liquid

Window: The small window in the corner of the unit is about to fall out. The frame is completely rotten and it needs pulling out and a new frame making. Nothing fancy - just a frame cut out of ply and bonded in would do the trick - with a few sheets of polycarb/perspex bonded to that. As simple as possible is the key - bodges are readily accepted. (time - depends on the level of bodgery??)

That's all I can think of from the top of my head but I will add any more things if I think of them?

The usual PlayDay things apply (most of you know the score by now!) if you haven't been to Area 52 before, please PM me for directions.

PLEASE bring plenty of bedding....better to have too much than get cold during the night. Hot water bottles would probably be a good idea for the Jan sleepover!

Food - it's the usual 'plenty of burgers, bacon, bangers and baps' kind of thing. Bring lots...as those who have attended regularly will testify, the volume of BBQ food eaten is a lot more than you'd think possible! Burgers generally seem to be the popular thing for keeping stomachs happy.

More recently, a lot of people have turned up with nothing and all chipped in a handful of dosh, sending two people down to the local Sainsburys for a 'group buy' of BBQ food, donuts, Doritos and dips.....plus copious amounts of beer ;D This system seems to work well especially for those staying over. Budget for around £10 on food (if staying for the day) or £20 for food & booze if staying over.

Off the top of my head, here is a list of all the things I need to source to make this all happen.....if anyone has anything from this list or knows where to get one for next to nothing, please let me know?

Water heater (the kind that fits to the wall with a long tap/spout that swings over the sink)
Largish sheet of steel (2-3mm thick) Approx 1m x 1m or similar size
Pair of hinges suitable for the welding bench
Kitchen cabinet (need to get size from Hairnets sink - usually either 800mm or 1000mm)
Bright red or blue gloss paint for painting the lift
Perspex/polycarb sheet for the window (I need to get the dimensions for this)
Chuck for the pillar drill that Butterz donated (I need to check the size of this)
Sheet ply/steel to make the spray booth from
Parrafin/cleaner for the parts washer
Various bolts for bolting things to the benches
Consumables like sand paper for rubbing down the lift, paintbrushes, white spirit, heavy grease etc....
Tools for tackling jobs - cordless drills, hammer drill, grinders, sander, jigsaw, circular saw etc.....

Many thanks for taking time to read through all this. Hopefully with a list of specific tasks and materials, the weekend will have a strong focus, allowing lots of progress to be made.

See you all on the 9th/10th

Here we go....

2010-01-01T22:16:00.021Z

Happy new year everybody. :)

Due to the growing success of Area 52 and its playdays for the Retro Rides community, I have taken the plunge and finally entered the world of blogging!

Hopefully this place will act as a useful resource for the A52 regulars to keep track of upcoming events as well as providing details and info for people thinking of coming along to one of the future playdays.

2010 looks like its going to be a fantastic year for Retro Rides and for Area 52.

I will add details of upcoming events very soon, but for now please add the following dates to your diaries:

9th/10th January: Ship Shape & Bristol Fashion. A weekend of getting the unit sorted, organised, set-up and prepared for future playdays.

20th/21st February: Fibreglassing Tutorials. John Dickens (Technical Editor for Complete Kit Car) has agreed to come down to Area 52 to run a fibreglassing demonstration/workshop for anyone interested in learning to fibreglass.

In the meantime, please feel free to sign up and post comments, suggest content and contribute some pics of previous playdays.

I'll start adding the backlog of pics from previous playdays bit by bit. Please be patient - this is a whole new world to me! I have to take it steady.....

Thankyou for tuning in and I look forward to seeing you all at some point down at the unit.