Homecoming: 1987 BMW 325

It’s almost the middle of May…where does the time go?!  If you’ve signed up to receive our Newsletter, you may have read about our Annual Open House coming up on Saturday, June 18th.  You may have also read about our trip to The Vintage.  If you’re interested in going and are on the fence about it, we highly recommend taking the drive to North Carolina!  We had such a fun time, met many cool people, and, of course, saw hundreds of amazing BMWs!  We’ve practically got our bags packed already!  Also, we’re now stocking Eyeball Arms, which are high-performance control arm bushings for e30’s, e36’s, and e46’s.  Now that we’ve wrapped up a little housekeeping, let’s get on to what’s been happening this week here in the shop.
We just got the 1987 BMW 325 back from the paint shop the other day, and now it’s being put back together.  She’ll get cleaned up, shined up, and will be ready to get picked up later today!

The hood and passenger side fender have new paint:

In case you need a refresher, this is what she looked like when she first arrived here at the shop:

After John’s body work and rust repairs, plus new paint on the hood, passenger side front fender, passenger side rocker panel, driver side rear door, valence, and tail panel (since we repaired rust around the license plate lights):

Before (with a little work done):

After:

Here, only the rocker panel had been repaired and repainted:

Before paint – John removed rust on the tail panel around the lights for the license plate:

After:

Before:

After:

For an overview of the rust removal and body work, please feel free to watch the slideshow here.

Reggie and Jordan have been putting the ’87 325 back together:

Reggie applied matching pin-striping on the panels that had been repainted.  After finishing up a few last items on the list and a little spa treatment, this schwarz bimmer will be ready for its owner later today!

We’re so excited for the owner to see the car in person!

Jason gets this week’s award for being the most flexible while working on 1997 BMW 318ti:

On the list for this bimmer: Replace starter, flush coolant, top off differential fluid, replace one side of the front suspension, diagnose brake pad sensor issue, pump out old fuel, diagnose the A/C system, and remove and replace passenger side sway bar mount.

We’ve finally diagnosed a choking under acceleration issue with this 1984 BMW 325e.  The solution?  A oxygen sensor!

We’ve been looking forward to this 1968 BMW 2002 coming into the shop for some body work, including repairing rear end damage, removing and replacing the trunk floor pan and the right quarter panel.  All body work will be done by drilling factory spot welds.  The replacement panels will be plug welded in the factory spot weld locations.  We’ll also be removing and replacing the fully dressed engine with all accessories attached.  By the time I arrived at the shop, John had already gone to work on it!

Now, I know what you’re thinking…it looks pretty easy to just cut off a panel here and there…but trust me, I’ve watched John at work, and it is quite a detailed, meticulous undertaking!

Ben, the ’02’s proud owner, may want to cover his eyes for the next image…Actually, he’s already seen some of these photos, and, as I understand, it was quite shocking for him to see his ‘baby’ in such a state!  Never fear!  She’s in good hands here at the ‘spa’.  😉

This poor girl had been in an accident years ago, and the frame is in need of some repair.  John to the rescue!

The owner has had replacement panels for some time.  Once John removed the damaged metal, he began aligning and fitting the replacements:

Once John was happy with how the replacement panels fit, he pulled them off to begin treating the rust before installing the panels permanently.

These areas are treated with rust encapsulator before applying weld-thru primer:

Once he applies the weld-thru primer, John will be able to start welding the metal “puzzle pieces” back together.  John is a master at solving metal puzzles, as he so appropriately calls such projects.  Stay tuned as we get this vintage beauty back on the road!  Have a great weekend!