Apartment people where do you work on your rides?

I did search with my thumbs on TJJ app.
Looks like I am moving to Sou Cal and renting my home out. Never been an apartment dweller with a project - what do you guys do?
I have two projects and think that renting storage near work is the option but it seems that most places don't allow repairs/ projects.

 

It's been about 30 years ago, but did 2 engine swaps in the apt parking lot. Probably couldnt do that today though.

 

Don't know about SoCal, but here in Houston, you can't or aren't supposed to even change your oil in an apartment complex. Plus, I'd be careful keeping a project of any worth in an apartment parking lot.

 

You just asked the $1,000,000 question. My wife wants us to move to the other coast and there's no way we can afford a house anytime soon and I'm trying to think what it would be like to try to build a car from an apartment.
All signs point to suck and a 99% chance of aint gonna happen. I'll be interested in the answers though.

 

Very unlikely your going to be able to. Even the storage unit thing is out of the question. What area of So Cal are you looking at?

 

I dont know why people arent buying houses ,Rent is almost the same,,,,,

 

That's what banks used to say. Look at 'em now. Now, renting a house, that would be a good option. Depending on the OP's financial situation.

 

Very true statement. That did not even enter my mind. You can buy cheaper right now as compared to renting in LA and OC

 

you can rent an industrial space...or why not a house with a garage and one acre? i have one avail for 1k in hesperia.....

 

Ik a few guys who had that problem and they went and rented shop so they all could pool there resources togethr and afford a place to keep there stuff secure. Arent there some car clubs who do this aswell?

 

I am renting 2 of the garages in my apartment complex, one I park my pickup in, the other has my '52 ford in it with most of my tools. My garages dont even have electricty in them, but the neighbor with the garage next to the ford pays for the car plug in pole to be energized and we run extension cords over if I we need to run small tools. I am in no way chopping the top or anything that extensive, but basic maintenace is no problem. I have gone as far as replacing the clutch in the ford, Ive replaced the head gasket in my OT work beater, rebuilt the engine on a generator I got too cheap to pass up, even built brackets for things welding with the oxy/acetelyne cuz I cant plug in the stick welder. Would I like to have a better shop? You're damn right I would, but in the mean time I make do with what I have, and know that I will hopefully be looking for my own place with a decent shop within the next few years.

 

years ago I lived in the upstairs apt. in a house. after a year or so the downstairs heighbor moved out and the owner needed someone to take over the yard maintinance,(mowing and etc.) I already had one space in the onsite 2car garage so I made a deal with him to mow,trim,clean up,trim bushes& etc. for exclusive use of the garage. did several paint jobs,engine swaps and so forth in there. I had become friends with a couple of the neighbors so no one bitched about the noise or fumes and all went well.

 

Time to become a bike guy, they can roll right into a first floor apartment living room!

 

That's no kiddin'. I lost a nice non-running OT muscle-car that way years ago...towed away. I think the apt. manager scammed me. Protect your shit.

 

Get a apt. With garage or rent a storage unit and work on it there


Sent from chick's iPad using TJJ

 

in the neighbors stall

 

I usedto live in one and worked in the street w/ an extension cord! :O
it wasnt a main road of course. I even did a front beam swap on a VW bus, i kept it w/out a front beam laying on 3 whels per side for a week, until the police came and told me if it wasnt all one piece by the next day they would tow it away! i wondered how..
lucky for me the new beam was ready and only needed montin.
I also welded and did all kinda shit, my neighbours hated me, but fuck it!
i WOULDNT DO IT NOW...

 

Yes siree I lost my 59 coronet to an ahole just lie that...I hope he chokes on a bag of d!ks.

 

Good answer: I own a house to which I've added an extra garage which is excluded from the lease to my tenant. That's where I keep the Morris and the bits of Model A I've collected.

True answer: I don't find the time to get to the house, and I don't have the money to do anything there, so it's all theoretical at this stage. I can do design work anywhere

 

i used to park and work on my scoot in the apartment..

for some reason i kept getting evicted and losing my deposits..

 

Ha ha - yeah - i saw that photo over on ChopCult as well.

I'm in the same situation. When I lived in apartments it was always difficult. I used a garage-tent for three years and that was fine; I ran a power cord out to a fused power strip. hung lights, etc. Worked decent but wasn't very secure. I was in a smaller town, so no problems. When I moved I rented a one bedroom with a garage for double what I was paying before but oh, well.

Currently I've moved again to a new city where I live on a boat. I've been looking for a workshop space thats affordable for 6 months.

I'd love to buy a house. Anybody want to lend me the deposit?

 

Thirty years ago, I was there. I rented a garage behind a fellow's duplex and my wife at the time and I were pulling down a '48 Ford F1. Nothing like some hammer-work at 9AM on Sunday morning to p*ss off the residents of the duplex. There were limitations, to say the least. What a pain.

Then we bought a house, and then divorced . . . I walked and let her have it all. I sometimes wonder what became of that truck.

 

Ahahah, Cajun, that your place? figgin awesome. w/ a PA and all, i could live and work in a space like that no prblem. serious. Beats the hell out of a haouse w/ a garage all day for me.

 

Its just an example pic man , Ryan draws the line on passed out neked chicks ...

 

This was always tough when I was a renter. In one garden apt complex, I had to work out on the street and luckily it never got past doing a starter. One place I lived in (private house) I was in good with the landlord and could use his driveway & electric when I needed it.

Before that, I went to rent an apartment with a garage (hot damn...) and I was just about to sign the lease when he said, "no working on cars". That killed the deal. I was fortunate that my dad's place was close by and anything involved I did over there.

Bob

 

It'll probably depend on the apartment complex. I think you'll find that none of them "allow" working on cars, or even non-running cars to be sitting around, but you may be able to get away with it, if the complex managers are OK. It's a crap shoot.

When I first moved to Texas, I lived in an apartment complex, and did a whole ton of work on a '67 Chevelle I had... including prepping the whole car for paint, redoing the interior, and swapping the engine. I tried to do it as unobtrusive as possible... went around to the side lot to do the engine swap where people hardly ever parked, and tried to cram everything into one-day sessions so that it looked like a whole car sitting there by the end of the day. That wasn't fun. In fact, saying it completely sucked would be an understatement. The complex security guy flipped out when he saw what I was doing (engine swap), and I thought that was the end of it... but then after talking to the complex manager, she didn't care. She said the only way she'd have a problem with it is if I was irritating other residents and/or people complained. The complex didn't have garages to rent, otherwise I would have gone that route... I'm sure it would have made things easier.

If I had to live in an apartment now, I'd sell my car. I will never go through all that crap again.

~Bob

 

My friend lived in an apartment complex and couldn't do anything on his car. He used to take a ride to the closest Auto Zone or Advance Auto and work on his car in the lot. He's done oil changes, water pumps , even a clutch job and brake jobs. He said that if you do go, make sure it's not one in the better neighborhoods. Spending a lot of time traveling, I used to pull into the same places to change oil, w/pumps, radiators, alternators and other stuff on my cars, or motorcycles. Thier usually cool because you bought your parts their...just don't leave a mess!

 

Our building has a couple of garages. We've got one, but it's full of my DD and a lot of stuff in boxes. Our upstairs neighbour is a German and he only spends a month or so over the end of the year in Cape Town. He keeps an old Citroën DS in his garage, gives it a once-over every year when he's here.

It's a small block of flats, though, too few people for an overly gung-ho body corporate.

 

I have a slightly different angle on the same problem. Besides being in a wheel chair, our home only has a 2 car parking pad...and we have 2 cars. There is a big yard, but it's all the side of a ravine, and on a 30 to 45 degree angle. <sigh>

 

Do what I do, find a good buddy with a shop and a shit load of tools and take up residence