We will start this journey about 20 years ago when there was an 84-85 RX-7 GSL-SE that had gotten donated to my high school autoshop class. I cant recall if we ever got it running however it did spark my interest.
I ended up with a GSL-SE of my own which was later wrecked when I lent it to a friend. He worked at a tire shop and got it straight enough to use it as a driver for a couple years. I ended up purchasing an identical replacement. 
Fast forward a few years and I ended up working for GRM and moving to Florida. After realizing I wasn't a salesman and moving back to insurance work I had bought and sold and not sold several other RX-7s but hung onto that same replacement from when I was 18. That car was feature in the magazine for a megasquirt install. I eventually sold that motor to Nocones for his MG because I wanted to installing a LS. That motor is probably destine for an RX8 now but I digress.
Time marched on and I bounced from one new project to the next most notably a V8 Volvo, F100, RX3, Gambler 500 Kia Sportage(s), Barracuda, a couple V8 miatas, Chump/champ 5.0 Rx7(s), renting a seat with another team (Lincoln then Camaro) and a foreclosure "dream house" purchase.
In no particular order....
Still have the original light blue Rx-7, yellow Rx-7, orange race Rx-7, widebody Rx-7, red Rx-7, Gambler 500 FC Rx-7, several other RX-7s, LS Rx-8 project, F100, Barracuda plus daily drivers and other stuff.
Quite frankly I need to clean out some projects, parts cars etc and am getting tired of working in the driveway. I have been talking about building a shop for 15 years and finally took the plunge.
Decided on a 30x50x16 sidewall red iron building. Living in Florida (hurricanes) and being in the insurance business I've seen the red iron hold up better than wood frame, square metal tubing, or pole barn style buildings and is less expensive than concrete block.
First order of business was removing / having several trees removed as well as having fill brought in. Followed by quite a bit of planning, permitting and more fill. Finally the concrete was poured the last week of December 2020.
I like this thread so far.
After some delays and the incorrect main beams being delivered on Monday the real work began Wednesday and wrapped up Saturday evening. A crew of 5-6 guys working 12 hour days plus the cost of a telehandler rental convinced me that paying for the assembly was worth it.
Given the style of the house the shop is mostly hidden from the street other than glances from the side yard as you drive by. 
This brings it up to speed. Next steps are electric, concrete sealant and finishing the inside.
Bonus link of a time lapse of the construction.
A friend of mine has a youtube channel mostly wherein he restores tools and machinery. He did a video of the construction. Smash that like button or whatever the cool kids say.
https://youtu.be/9dMMxPi8H3w
Diggin' the Big Glass Barracuda
The county wants a retaining wall along the back of the building for runoff purposes. Fortunately I found free blocks off Facebook just need to disassemble the wall for them. Ended up with about 100 of them. At 75lbs a block over two trips, the truck and my back put in quite a bit of work. More hard work to follow digging, leveling and moving them all over again.
That Brown RX7 with orange wheels is awesome.
In reply to OHSCrifle :
That was the original chumpcar replaced by the orange/yellow fender car featuring a real cage. Running 140+ at Daytona with a bolt in 6-point didn't seem like a good idea.
Not much progress other than just hours of digging.
I was hoping to build the retaining wall out near the fence line to have the whole back section raised but zoning had other plans. Can't encroach within 25ft of the canal so I am stuck with about 5-6ft off the back of the building.
Update:
Lots of shoveling, tamping, leveling, stacking more leveling and its done, assuming I pass the upcoming inspection.
I ended up with pavers on top to try to keep it low maintenance since everything turns to weeds in Florida. They were on sale for $1 a piece at Lowes which helped make that decision easier.
Even with the free block I probably have about $500 -$600 in materials plus another $200 in sod.
The sore back and split open finger were free of charge but is healing nicely.
Not a huge update but I did pass the wetlands final.
Spent the last week or so acid etching the floors (two rounds plus spot treatment) in preparation for the floor coating. It's easy but time consuming. Wet, apply acid, scrub, neutralize, scrub, rinse, pressure rinse, pressure washer disk, then final pressure rinse and a final once over in each direction and rinse. Now it's left to dry over the weekend.
I've decided to go with clear SPGX by Amorpoxy.
Before.
After:
Got temporarily distracted by the Gambler 500 last weekend. A friend gave me a Lincoln he ran last year. The trans was full of water and it lost brakes so I did a trans flush, master and line. It didn't want to shift out of first mid afternoon on Saturday. Since he didn't want the car back and I've got no desire to throw a trans in it we ran around the motorcross track and Sunday and ended up tweaking the frame.
Back to the shop a friend and I rolled out the SPGX coating yesterday. It went down pretty even and easily. You are supposed to get 300-400 sq foot from a gallon. I had five gallons for 1500sq foot but ended up thin on the last 100 sq foot with about 5 sq foot bare. I'm ordering one more gallon to touch that area up and do a second coating near the doors and projected working areas.
Great project. Are you going to build a loft inside?
That is part of the plan in the front left corner. I think I am going to at least put in the lift by the main door first so I can determine how much working area is needed.
Finished up the flooring and started on the running electric and water.
Rented a ditch witch to trench. About 250 of electric and roughly 200 for the water. I promptly hit an active water line serving who knows what but fixed that and continued on. The actual ditch witch part took about 3-4 hours. The hand digging about the same.
Ran water to the front and left rear where a sink will eventually live.
Electric conduit laid out. Hopefully service is being run in the next week or two.
Excellent garage project!
Is that my old white GSL-SE sitting next to it?
Thanks! That's a different one I recently grabbed. I actually sold that to friend and last I heard its was in his barn in IL.
Never did figure out that higher rpm miss it had but learned some welding skills with Per patching up the rear inner fenders.
100amp service has been run so I've started to wire up the shop starting with the high bay lights. Lots of up and down sketchy laddders led me to buying a 20+ foot little giant used off FB market place which is much more stable.
Picked up the four off these lights on Amazon prime day at almost half off. Pretty happy with them so far. 
Planning on 20amp outlets on a couple different breakers ever 4-6 feet around the perimeter of the shop. The lights I wired with plugs so there are four plugs at the ceiling and I ran it with 12/3 for drop cords, fans etc.
Then figure out where to run 220v. Planning at least a plug by each door for welders plus drops for where the lift(s) are planned.
Some updates. Mostly finished up the 120v wiring and put in a sink for washing my hands.
Biggest news is I had driveways for each door and a ten foot pad connecting them. Eventually I am planning on a wrap around porch.
Next is actually moving stuff in, eventually a lift running 220 wiring.
Also was given a 2.5 ton AC unit from a friend who was tearing a house down. Hopefully that will keep it relatively temperate in the summer.
Lookin good! A lil update on my a/c - I love it! Gets the inside to a comfortable working temp in about 30 mins. After working inside for an hour or so and stepping outside, I get blasted with the heat and humidity and think to myself, "yeah that a/c is a life saver!" Pretty sure I won't need any spray foam anytime soon.
In reply to Lof8 - Andy :
That's good to hear. Even wiring the outlets at night sitting in a rolling chair I was still pouring sweat.
What does yours get down to? I figured if I could get it down to the mid or low 80s and knock down the humidity it would make a huge difference.
Looks really good!
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