Thankfully the heat and humidity have subsided a bit this past week.  It’s a beautiful sunny day here at Reggie’s Motorworks…which should turn into a perfect evening for tonight’s Cruise-In!  We’ll have the tent set up, as well as the corn hole boards.  We’ll be welcoming the crew from Enthusiast Apparel , and they love cars just as much as we do.  Check out their website for some cool enthusiast gear!  We hope you can join us!  And remember to vote for us for the IndyChannel.com’s A-List for Best Repair shop in the Indianapolis area!

Remember this 1986 325es from a few posts ago? The one with some rust that would need to be removed while replacing the differential and rusted brake lines and installing the rear shock tower brace?

Well…the rust damage was a bit more than we anticipated, unfortunately.  So, the owner is opting to find a better shell to house all of the goodies from his car.

Looking in through where the headlights used to be:

These parts are now on the sidelines patiently waiting to be reinstalled:

*Note: This photo is added just newlfor kicks…I really love flare, and it just happened to be streaming across the newly homeless parts, and I just couldn’t help myself! *

Back to business…we were discussing rust.  Here is some rust in and around the passenger side rear wheel well.  Not good.

Even with cool sun flare shining on this section of rust along the rocker panel, it’s still unacceptable.  The rust, that is.  Unacceptable!

The holes along the rest of the rocker panel have also rusted out.  Body skirts had been installed and the installation holes were not properly sealed.  And. therefore, rust had a perfect way to make its ugly appearance yet again!

And, finally, the original rust issue can be seen here.  See the daylight steaming through the metal?  And the traces of rust around the edge of the wheel well?  I told you it wasn’t good!

After weighing his options, the owner has decided to find a better shell, rather than removing all of the rust.  In fact, Reggie is meeting him right now to look at a potential winner…also an ‘86 325…in – you guessed it! – alpinweiss!  What are the odds?!  We love a story with a happy ending!  But actually, we’ve only just begun with this project, and we couldn’t be more excited about it! For now, let’s see the removal of the engine and transmission!

The engine was strapped to the cart to keep it from tipping one way or another as the shell was slowly hoisted upward.

The Beast is free!

Stay tuned for much more on this exciting project!

Have a great weekend!

We’ve been rockin’ and rollin’ here at the shop the past several weeks.  And, I must admit, we’re a bit behind on blogging everything that we’d love to blog about…so hopefully today’s post will attempt to get us a little bit caught up.

You  may have seen this Miata at the Open House…

Well, she had been in our shop for a few weeks awaiting a new head gasket, due to the fact that oil got into the coolant.  Never a good thing!

We ended up rebuilding the cylinder head, which we always do once the gasket is compromised. Here it is after we got it back from the machine shop.  A big thank you to Stewart Engines, who helped us with this project!

Engine without the head:

New cylinder head in place:

And after getting all buttoned up, Matt, also the owner of a 1989 325ix, was happy to pick it up and ride off into the sunshine!

The day after our Open House, we headed to the Central Indiana Vintage Vehicle car show at Forest Park.  It was a perfectly beautiful day with some perfectly beautiful cars.

And so many adorable 4 legged animals!  Especially Georgia, the boxer!  Hi Georgia!

What a great day for a car show!  Here’s a look at what caught my eye.

Hi Sean and Nick!

Want to see more?  Visit our full gallery here!

I know this post is a long one, but I promised I’d get back on track with all that’s going on here!  This next story is a bit of a sad one…well, not “The Notebook“-sad, but almost…  So the other day, Reggie was going to work on the A/C in the Baur, when this was discovered:

A very rusty battery box. I told you this was a sad story!

And what makes it so sad is that Reggie had hoped to get the A/C working to enjoy over the holiday weekend.  Well, not so much the A/C as just cruising in the Baur in the beautiful weather that’s in the forecast.  Needless to say, the Baur will have the entire holiday weekend off.  But alas!  There is some good news amidst all this doom and gloom!  With the help of this tool and a few other grinding wheels…

…this rusty hunk o’ junk is outta there!

And his little friend too!

After the rust removal:

And soon enough, this new rust-free battery box will have a new home, and all will be right with the world.

It’s Friday afternoon, and you know what that means…It’s time for the Cruise-In!  We had a great turn out last week, and can’t wait to meet up with everyone this evening!  Have a Happy & Safe 4th of July!

Tags: 318i Baur TC, battery box, Baur, cylinder head, engine, Forest Park car show, Miata, Reggie's Motorworks, RMW, RMW Cruise-In Fridays, rust, Stewart Engines

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow, Saturday, January 30th, for our Huge Winter Clearance Sale!

We will be gathering in our heated shop to share the passion for these classics with our customers and fellow local BMW enthusiasts. We are offering 50-90% off our current used parts inventory!  So drive on over, get out of the cold, meet with fellow enthusiasts, and score some great deals on the parts you need for your Bimmer!

REGGIE’S MOTORWORKS

411 W. Main St., Westfield, IN 46074

Refreshments will be provided.

10am to 3pm

e30 BMW 325 318 325ic 325is 325e 325ix e28 e21 2002 Bimmer

A few quick updates on our 2002 project (you can find out more about our ‘02 by clicking on 2002, 2002 project, etc. in the ‘tags’ on our homepage):

This is the engine out of the 1973 2002 that we picked up in February 2009 in St. Louis.  Once it’s rebuilt, this engine will most likely be the heart of our 2002.   As it “stands”, the compression is bad in cylinder #2, which is most likely from a stuck valve in the cylinder head.

Nice, clean aluminum engine parts.

Reggie scrapes some grease and grime from the lower timing cover.

Before and After:  The upper timing cover has been cleaned and polished in both photos.

And, as you can see, both the upper and lower timing cover look pretty nice after some buffing with a brass wire wheel.

Reggie holds these newly brushed timing covers in front of the engine…yes, this is going to be nice!

And here we have the oil pan and timing chain.  This timing chain will be replaced before it makes its home in the ‘02.

This old beast is out of the 1971 2002, which, according to the casting numbers, came from a ‘69.  It’s a running motor and potentially for sale.

Looking for a stellar 7-series to add to your collection?

We’ve got the perfect one for you!  Click here!

If you would like to view this beauty in person, please call us at 317.804.9313.

Have a great weekend!

We made some noise, ok, a TON of noise, this week at the shop!  Bruce, our fellow enthusiast who has been volunteering here at the shop, needed some sheet metal from this sterlingsilber-metallic 1990 325i automatic.  It turns out that the sheet metal he needed was in a rather precarious place.  Take a look:

Side view of the back end, looking into what was once the trunk:

Bruce brought in his plasma cutter. These were inspection holes to see the condition of the inner wheel well before the “big cuts” above.

A closer look inside…poor ol’ interior!

And then just a few moments later…

Last year, Reggie fabricated the rolling cart, which, as you can see, comes in quite handy when moving a vehicle without wheels.

This is a good running (slightly smokey) engine out of the 1970 ‘02 – it’s for sale!  Any takers?

Reggie is currently working on a 1988 325 for a new e30 inductee…It’s getting new Boge front struts and a new Eberspacher exhaust. Here’s the view from underneath:

This is really a nice find for the new owner. After the struts and exhaust, the car will be another solid e30!

Stay tuned…we’ll soon be featuring a 1987 325is for sale – one heck of a nice car!