We are currently preparing for the Octavius assembly, and during this process I decided to rrefurbish the core section of our restoration workshop.
The Reason
There are many reasons of the refurbishment, some have been accumulated for a long time, and some are new. They include:
1) The original interior has been dilapidated
The facility dates back more than sixty years, we took it over in 2014 and converted it into a workshop. Due to the imperfections of the building itself, the beautiful workshop did not last long and soon the decor began to age. The workshop was still in decent shape till 2019 but when I left for McPherson College the facility was aging rapidly due to mismanagement.
2) Octavius will be assembled soon
Due to the aging of the interior, we have accumulated a lot of dead ashes inside the building. I think the assembly of Octavius must be done in a decent environment, which will make the procedure more pleasant. Since Octavius was my first car, this job is quite important. When necessary, restoration of atmosphere is also part of the car restoration.
3) Visual tastes have changed
8 years ago I was younger , I like simple and somewhat “cold” colors, the overall workshop is in gray. Now my flavor has changed, I want more humanistic care. Now that the interior is worn out, why not change its style along the way?
4) Children are about to become men
My twin sons will be 3 at the end of this month and it is astounding that my youngest can now recognize major Mercedes models from the 50-90s. It’s still a long time before they can work on the car, but I’d love to let them know what dad’s doing when he’s not around. I’m a bit picky, and I want to impress them.
The Plan
Even with many positive motives, the project was an act of no choice. I have long had plans for a grand new facility, but it may be far away. The current China is still in the stage of public ownership, all land is not privately owned, they are only leased to users without any time commitment. Our shop is located in a marine yard, and since 2020 we have been constantly being informed that all factories in the area could be demolished to build housings, but the authorities seems trapped in financial difficulties after COVID. So quite simply, no one knows how long the investment will last, maybe next year the workshop will be dismantled. Well, I am exaggerating, according to various sources, the facility will not be destroyed in 3 years.
We don’t know the compensation for destroying the facility, so I decided to make limited repairs to the current building. It’s kind of sad, like you open the cylinder head and see the broken gasket, then put the aftermarket gasket back in, because you know that sooner or later someone powerful will take the whole car away. I don’t like temp jobs, but I’m not going to be stupid. So I just calculated that if the facility had only 2 years remaining life, it would be acceptable to spread the cost of the renovation over 24 months and see how much the monthly cost averaged out. I spoke to the construction manager and he thinks my budget is doable and the quality will last 3-5 years.
That budget goes to three parts, starting with the ugliest rotting walls. A rotting wall is on one side, in an area where many cartons used to store parts, the moisture absorbed by the cartons was transferred to the wall. The facility is located on a low terrain, which is not uncommon in this coastal city. After heavy rain, the roots of the walls will be soaked in water. It is difficult to completely solve the water leakage problem without changing the foundation. So for the sake of “cleanliness” I forgo the traditional repair of the walls and cover them with siding, which are waterproof. Although the interior walls will continue to rot, the siding will stick there.
Then there’s the aging floor. Also due to ground subsidence and water accumulation issues, our cement floor has cracked. The cracking is only localized, the broader issue is that 8 years of wear has left the floor looking battered, which has caused so much trouble to clean that it can never be cleaned. I’m a big fan of tiled floors, but they require a level surface that we can’t maintain during ongoing settlement. The solution is traditional, again using epoxy floor paint.
Finally there is the aging device. The original 21 LED spotlights were gone one after another 2-3 years ago. Since I was still in the US at that time, the contractor hastily installed eight 200W spotlights on the wall. They were too bright and would be dazzling due to improper angles. I think I endured it for a long time. Over the past 8 years, some of the facility’s aging has been caused by the lack of proper auxiliary equipment for the staff, such as not having enough wash basins, and splashing water that damaged walls and floors. There are 2 air conditioning systems in the workshop, one of the compressors is beyond repair and needs a new air conditioner. Additionally we will be renovating existing equipment such as repainting all hardware and adding workbenches.
We contract a construction team, and while they were working, my 3 employees didn’t take a break, but sorted everything and repaired equipment. We don’t have a lot to fix, and furloughing people for extended periods of time could hurt them. After discussing with the construction manager, we locked the construction time within 7 days, 2 days for repairing the wall, 4 days for repairing the floor, and an extra day was necessary for the the floor paint to dry.
Restoration time itself cannot be compressed, so only tactically shorten the time occupied by moving items. We will only empty half of the workshop up front and continue to empty the other half of the workshop while the panels are being installed. How long the overall move will take is hard to predict and actually requires a fair amount of luck. After everything has been emptied, employees will take inventory, remove all items, make needed equipment, and repair damaged equipment. Workshop’s repair time budget is 10 days.
The Outcome
This is what it looks like when it’s finished, and I want to compare it to both 2015 and a week ago.
The most impressed difference is of course the color. The main color in 2015 was gray. At that time, I liked simplicity, or I didn’t have the ability to understand complex things in color. Now I prefer exotic stuff. I was hoping for pale yellow walls and red brick floors, but the final color combination is highly compromised. First of all the siding is barely available in yellow, the only yellow siding I found was too bright and was told to custom produce, that was an uncertain time frame, I ended up going with slightly yellow wood grain panels. There are not many choices for the color of floor paint either, they are not as colorful as car paint. I chose what I think is the most acceptable.
Compared to the 2015 status, this time we are no longer empty. After 8 years, we have grown into a mature workshop, and we know exactly what and where the facilities should be placed. In 2015 I consulted many well-respected restoration shops and discussed all possible scenarios with my partners, employees, and designed the basic layout, which includes 3 lifts, which has not been changed. My architect friend Sun made the renderings for the workshop.
This layout has proven to be enduring, but there are still a few things that don’t make sense. I didn’t have experience working with many people before this, at peak we grew to 6 employees, the facility didn’t have enough capacity and a lot of equipment was crowded into the workshop. The high-frequency and high-density use of the facility is one of the reasons for accelerated aging. Currently we have 3 employees, which in my opinion is an ideal ecology. When the number of employees doubles, the function of the workshop is greatly challenged, and the management becomes more complicated. If you are a Lamborghini lover, you may have guessed my inspiration in combination with the orange shelves. Well I admit that this is where the inspiration came from, the Lamborghini factory of the last century is in my opinion the most fascinating shop.
The facility has windows on two sides, one of which is mainly garage doors, facing the east. The other side is mainly windows, facing the west. Previously we added a lot of extra shelves on the west and they blocked the sunshine. I must say the northern hemisphere winter sun is exotic, if anything in the world is absolutely fair, you can blessed by the beautiful sun anywhere. Parts of the shelved was moved to the windowless east wall, which used to be a workbench, but because so many cars were restored at the same time, it was used as another shelf.
Another part of the shelves are placed alongside the parking space in an east-west direction, because there are sunshin from both sides of the east and west, and I don’t want to block anything Lord has given. The area between the two lifts used to be my desk. Well then I’m rarely here, why do we need a desk that isn’t being used? Now the original desk is sandwiched between 5 shelves, which can provide more working space for our employees.
The 21 LED spotlights on the roof were adjusted to 80W specifications, and each euqal to 8000lm. They covered the 240 m² workshop, and a diffuser was added to make the light softer. The eight 200w high-power spotlights installed on the wall last time were abandoned. Because of the lift and shelves, I didn’t lower the height of the lighting to use softer LED tubes, which are also more expensive. In the future, LED lamps may be added to the shelves as auxiliary light sources.
Practice has proved that a public workbench is not an ideal solution, which makes it difficult to divide responsibilities and jobs. So 3 more workbenches were added, which we procured raw materials and made by our employees selves. Add to that my ex-desk, one for me and three for three employees, soon my workbench will be full of Octavius parts. There are also 2 movable heavy duty workbenches to accommodate the entire axle and engine.
At this moment Octavius is still on the lift in another room, he has no axles and no engine, therefore he can’t be moved to the core shop and enjoy all this just yet. Yes, only the core area was restored this time, we also have 2 other smaller facilities. To make nice picture for this great moment, I parked a couple of nice cars to the shop. Wow, wish this could last forever. Soon I’ll take the kids on a tour, and they’ll see what dad loves for the first time.