for those of you who live in an apartment, how do you work on your project car?

it seems most leases specifically state that you can't use the complex for storage to work on a car

i'd imagine at least a few of you live in apartments

where do you store your car and how do you work on it?

 

[raptorWagon]

In my last apartment...it got worked on right where it sat, all I was told, "a little work is alright, just don't go about pulling a whole motor".

Though now I upgraded and renting a house with a 2 car garage and big enough driveway to store a couple.

 

[AnotherNewb]

My apartment in orlando had garages you could also rent. That was great for a while till some douche with a barley decided tospend an hour reving his motor up tuning his carbs, sadly that ended that and garages become only for storage.I used to change my oil after the offices were closed and the maintenance guys had left for the day in the parking lot.

 

[Boostdtalon]

Rent a storage unit if you need a space. I've seen plenty of friends that have done that.

 

most storage units dont allow any maintainence and can make u vacate on the spot for it. which could suck, i would suggest finding a friend with a garage, or look for a place with a garage when your lease is up, or you could look for one now...and see if you can void the lease in the means that you now require facilities that your current location does not have or allow.

 

[bmxkid415]

I have had to do small things in the parking lot of my complex. (installed a clutch pedal assembly, clutch master and a slave cylinder) Anything else I do besides cleaning the car I take it to work. When my clutch blew apart my car lived in a lift for 4 weeks with out a word being said. I guess being a Tech has its benefits when it comes to that. If I had a strictly project car, I would just leave it at the shop out back. As long as "plates" were on it no one would say anything to me

 

[DR1665]

The apartment thing can suck. I'd say the best advice is to get to know some local gearheads who might be down for wrench days at their places. Get a bunch of guys together, drop the car off the night before, then hitch a ride over in the morning and get to it. Seems to me most guys are cool with working on YOUR car at THEIR place, so long is YOU'RE there when THEY need a hand with THEIR car in the future.

Just because we CAN do a lot of this on our own, doesn't mean we HAVE to. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[jmorri15]

most military bases have auto hobby shops on base that military can use and its super cheap, if you live close to one find a guy who you can become friends with and use his hookup

 

Lol I was on the board of my condo association and yet I was the biggest violator. I work on my cars in the parking lot, I wash my cars from the faucet at the end of the building, and my gf comes over with her 3 dogs lol. All the above are violations of the condo rules but screw them thats why I pay that damn condo fee every month. As long as the car is registered and doesnt look like a hazard they dont really care or at least I hope they dont, they use to put green stickers on my car even though they are both registered and insured lol.....

 

[OMFGeofffff]

Living in an apartment SUCKS for working on cars. I wished we woulda found a spot that had garages. Hopefully next spring when my lease is up we'll move. Here's a pic of me helping my buddy/neighbor do a clutch in our parking lot.

 

I've seen many people work on their cars in the apartment parking lot back when I was living there. Like some have mentioned, just as long as you're not out there doing a motor swap, the management people don't really care. But then again, if I was just passing by looking into renting/leasing at that complex, I would be discouraged because that is pretty GHETTO to be wrenching on a car in the parking lot.

 

[boostedinaz]

Quoting DR1665:
The apartment thing can suck. I'd say the best advice is to get to know some local gearheads who might be down for wrench days at their places. Get a bunch of guys together, drop the car off the night before, then hitch a ride over in the morning and get to it. Seems to me most guys are cool with working on YOUR car at THEIR place, so long is YOUR there when THEY need a hand with THEIR car in the future.

Just because we CAN do a lot of this on our own, doesn't mean we HAVE to. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif



This is a great idea. I've had more than a few people over at my place wrenching on cars because they don't have the space.

 

[DR1665]

Likewise!

OMG. Grammar fail. :fixed /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif

 

[Terrance362]

I got a storage building. It is like 135 a month. It is big enough for my car tools 3 sets of wheels and two motors.

 

[fastfalcon94]

I use to rent. I made sure the place I found had a 2 car garage. It was a raised ranch and I had foreign tenants. My friend spun a bearing in his talon and lived half an hour from work with no other ride. I let him sleep on my couch for a month and dropped him off at work every morning. He bought a 1g shortblock and we drilled out his 2g head in the garage. We had the engine out of the car, the head off the block and oil/coolant all over the floor. Out of the 3 years I lived there that is the ONLY time the landlords stopped by and they were not happy lol. Now I own a house and I raised the ceiling of my garage to put a lift in it. A lot of my friends always ask to borrow it. We had a severe thunderstorm warning with hail the other day. Check out this pic

 

^legit

do i even want to know how much that cost ya?

 

[fastfalcon94]

not as much as you think. I do most of the work myself. Everything from engine work, painting, tinting, suspension, re-upholstering etc.. I even merged the wire harness in the suby so I could run an 06 wrx motor. I have about 5k total into the green vr4 on the lift. I restored it from a bare shell. I just keep my eyes peeled on CL. If I see a good deal I'll buy it. I usually try to buy modded cars that don't run right or have problems, then part the mods, get the car running and returned to stock, then sell them. Then I use the money to put into the toys I want to keep.

 

[RedTwo]

Make garage bigger and install hoist.... that might just work! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/worthy.gif

 

[coolclean577]

that is what im ranning into now with my place i cant even clean my car with out getting ticketed. it sucks got all the part to fix it but no place to do it at. dont know when im going to get her running again.

 

[donkeylips]

At my old complex I swapped throttle bodies and ECUs a bunch of times, replaced the clutch slave and that was about it. I just moved into a new place and they have a spot with 2 hoses set up for washing cars which is sweet. I don't think the lease really says anything about working on cars, but the nice thing is that they don't care how many cars we have since there are plenty of spots. I own 5 and plan to keep at least 3 of them in the parking lot, and some people have cars with covers on them.

I also currently have 2 gvr4s, a ggsx, and my talon at my brother's rented house w/garage. Its gonna suck when the lease is up in a couple of months but the basement is perfect for storing parts. The only problem is that the neighbors recently complained and we received 2 violation notices for having an unlicensed mitsubishi and an unlicensed "green dodge"(Talon) in the driveway.