The sun is shining here today at Reggie’s Motorworks, and we are so glad because tonight is our first official Cruise-In Friday!  We are excited about spending some time with fellow enthusiasts of all makes and models!  We are looking forward to a fun evening, and perhaps a friendly game of corn hole!  Click here for all of the details!

It’s been a busy week here in the shop:

1. Work on 2005 Mini Cooper: Replace front bumper and air deflector; replace fog light; replace front left fender liner, trim and clips; replace front body panel; replace 2 alloy wheels; overhaul left front suspension, including brake rotor, ball joint, strut, and control arm assembly; replace left drive axle shaft assembly; replace left steering tie rod, replace left rocker moulding, and a little paint work.

2. Reinforce subframe in 1991 318is.

3. Replace brake ducting in “Way Fast Whitey,” the 1987 325is track car.

Last week a 2005 Mini Cooper met a curb at a fair rate of speed. ( Here is the full gallery of photos.) Fortunately, no one was injured in this accident.  The passengers were all quite lucky.  In this photo, the wheel was removed as well as the front bumper so we could get a better look underneath.

Reggie and Jordan are also working on reinforcing the subframe in Jordan’s 1991 318is.  Jordan purchased a reinforcement kit from AKG Motorsport.

Here is the original subframe:

And close-ups of the engine mounts that are shot:

Here’s a view of the other side of the same areas:

Jordan’s car is up on the lift for this shot of the reinforced subframe that we provided.  Nice welding!

We hope that “Way Fast” will enjoy his new orange brake ducting!

That’s our week in a nutshell!  We hope you enjoy your weekend, and we hope to see you at tonight’s Reggie’s Motorworks Cruise-In!

All,

First, I want to announce our Spring/Summer Friday night cruise-in. For those of you in the Indianapolis area, we’ll be co-hosting a cruise-in every Friday starting on April 9th.  This will be located here in Westfield at “Park Street Pub” For more information, click HERE.

We hope you have had a great week! Today I want to share a little progress made on a few projects here in the shop. I don’t feel like typing much, so I’m just going to let the pictures do most of the talking.

1. the 1969 ‘02 finally gets to see some attention:

The transmission was filled with some sort of nasty goo vs. the Redline MTL that was supposedly in there:

I finally got around to pulling the engine and cleaning up the engine bay. Now maybe we can pick up some momentum!!

After 2 rounds of de-greasing and pressure washing:

Stephanie mentioned a trailer project last week, but it looks like the photos of the actual rear section of the car didn’t make the cut (no pun intended). Here is what will eventually be a trailer. We still have to decide in what capacity it will be used before we go any further. i.e. BBQ pit, track trailer, tailgating trailer, cargo etc. If someone out there wants it built to suit your personal desires, give me a call and we can talk!

I picked up the remains of an e28 535i parts car today, along with some 2002 sheet metal. Surprisingly, the 2002 rear shock towers are in good shape! Let me know if you need them!

I Love this picture. It makes me want to low-ride an e28:)

We hope everyone has a great and safe weekend! We hope to see our local friends on Friday April 9th for our cruise-in!

I realize our amount of snow is nothing compared to those of you to our east/northeast, but it still puts a damper on things around the shop.

Right now I have an e30 on a trailer, behind a truck, stashed at a local restaurant until our lot becomes clear enough to bring it back. Our lot is covered in slush, and every car that comes in the shop creates a lake….That’s what I get for keeping it above 32 degrees in here!

Enough ranting, we are taking tomorrow (Friday the 19th) off to celebrate Stephanie’s birthday, so I am blogging a day early! We are going out in search of a cool vintage tandem bike tomorrow, that she would like to have as a photo prop. Heck, she may even get me to take a spin on it when it gets warm out!

In BMW news, we found a new owner for the 733i, and it looks like we have a customer interested in buying AND having us refurbish the ‘86 535i that is in our “for sale” section!

From FOR SALE: 1983 BMW 733i

From Silver 535i

We also took a few hours last Saturday and went to our local “World of Wheels” car show, which is about the biggest indoor custom/classic car show in the area (that I know of). There weren’t any BMW’s to speak of this year, but there were some really cool cars. To my surprise, car customizing legend “Gene Winfield” was chopping a top live for people to watch.

Needless to say, I found some inspiration and motivation at the show…..hopefully I will get back on that ‘02 soon!!

We hope all is well with you and yours, and have a safe and happy weekend!!

I got a call late last week from a local teacher that just bought a “new” 1992 325ic, and wanted to know if I may be able to take a look at it.

“Of course I can!!”

I was delighted to find that this little cabrio is in really decent condition!  Sure it has a few issues that need straightening out, but all in all it is a very nice e30!

The first order of business was a bumper to bumper inspection, and since there was no maintenance history with the car, we decided to do a timing belt service, coolant flush, new hoses, water pump, front engine oil seals, V-belts, etc. We also replaced a voltage regulator that was causing the headlights to flicker going down the road (this seems to be common with the later “Valeo” alternators).

Here are some photos of the car and the work we performed, courtesy of my wonderful wife Stephanie (www.stewartimagery.com):)!

Don’t forget the new t-belt tensioner spring!!

A previous tech must have forgotten that fancy clip to hold the thermostat-water pump hose in place. This is very common, the hose sits slightly forward and is slowly worn away by the fan. Luckily we caught this one before it burst!!:

Out with the old:

Dirty parts awaiting the parts washer:

Ah, so nice to see a new timing belt, and everything CLEAN!

Don’t forget to come see us one week for tomorrow (Saturday, January 30th)  for our   CLEARANCE SALE!!

Reggie’s Motorworks has decided to thin our shelves down some, in order to make room for new inventory! We want to invite everyone to the shop on Saturday, January 30th to share some great deals with all of our fellow enthusiasts!

This will be the one/only day that I will really bend on our normal BMW parts prices. Come prepared to make cash offers and take things home. If you need large/heavy BMW parts, bring something to haul them off in! My main motivation is creating space, so I will not be willing to hold items.

THIS IS NOT JUST A SALE! It is also a great time for BMW/auto enthusiasts to gather (in a heated building!) and chat about cars, projects, and whatever else we feel like!

Here are some photos of our overtocked shelves:

For those of you who don’t know, we are located in Westfield, IN, which is a northern suburb of Indianapolis. Here is the address:

411 W. Main Street

Westfield, IN 46074

We hope to see everyone there!!

Well, for those of you who don’t know, Steph and I have been in Florida for the last 18 days enjoying some time with my Mother.

We got to do some restoration/modification work, but nothing to do with BMW’s or even cars.

For one, I was able to get a 1969 (As Steph pointed out….it’s the same year as our ‘02!) Johnson 4hp boat engine back up and running after a long siesta. It basically needed some fresh fuel and some lubrication. It was nice for a couple of slow tours out in the bay. Here are some quick camera phone shots of our private sunset tour in the “Dragon Lady” (the boat came with that name:)).

We also were able (mainly Stephanie) to do some creative painting on a new/old dining room set for my Mom. Here are some shots of our chairs, on our last full day in Florida:

We also take a “Fast Cat” boat from Ft. Myers Beach to Key West every year to see one of Stephanie’s Uncles. Here is a shot of her taking photos of the sunset before our return trip:

Now, if our plane can even land in snowy Indianapolis, we will be back in the shop playing with old cars! We know we’ve got some customer cars patiently awaiting some love, and it’ll be good to get back under the hood of a German car.

Take car, and Happy Motoring!

Hello all, Reggie here. This is MY first post. Kipp, my jack-of all trades (web-designer, T-shirt producer, eBay listing writer, and shipping guru) typically handles the blog, along with my wonderful wife/photographer, Stephanie. They have both been taking my experiences in the shop and bringing them to life here on the web.

I want to point out that I am NOT a “trained” professional. I am a former DIY guy that has decided to go “pro” simply meaning that I do this everyday and pay my bills by doing so. The processes I show/describe are ones that I have learned from reading, trying, and believe it or not….watching TV. Most of the projects you see me tackle on this blog are ones that I have done between 0 and 3 times prior. This being said, I can not be responsible for any “less than desired” results if you are using my blog as a how-to guide.

This week I’ve been doing more work on the 1988 325ic that belongs to my good friend Sean. Just a quick bit of history on this car:

I bought this car back in the summer of ‘06 for $300 and a scrap Mercedes-Benz 190e. The poor car was literally on the back of a wrecker on its way to be sold for scrap when my towing guy spotted it. He told the scraper that I may be interested in buying it, so brought it by and a deal was made. I purchased the car on Sean’s Birthday, and he since happened to already have an ‘87 325is track car in the same color combo, it seemed like a sign that he should own it. It had around 86,000 miles on it, but it had sat outside for a long time. We’ve been piecing it back together ever since. We will be calling it done after this last extended stay at RMW, so you will see the final results next week.

For now, we have some rust repair to do!!

Here are the three areas I will be addressing: the battery tray (up front on a convertible)/frame rail, the top of the valance – just under the grille, and the left quarter panel – in front of the wheel and above the rocker.

Read the rest of this entry »