Switching Gears

The heat wave and humidity continue to roll through the shop…alas, that’s summer in the Midwest for you!  It’s been another busy week here at Reggie’s Motorworks, full of in-depth projects, oil changes, new tires, replacing odometer gears, and removing rust, just to name a few.  Today we’ll be taking a closer look at the last two items.
Here’s Jordan dismantling the gauge cluster out of Sean’s 1988 325i cabrio:

4 gears were replaced, 3 of them were already removed before this photo was taken.  The little orangish gear and its brass bushing were cut off.

Removing that little gear can be a bit tricky, so Reggie stepped in…wearing an orange shirt no less!  (No, we did not plan that, but it did work out quite well!)

The new black replacement gear is installed:

This is the cluster before the other 3 gears are installed (this is a MotoMeter cluster, which requires 4 replacement gears total; the VDO units require only 3 replacement gears):

Screws are tightened:

The speedometer assembly is ready to be put back in place:

Then comes the challenge of reinstalling the gauge cluster in the dash.  Jordan informed me that it’s quite a tight space to work in, since the steering wheel is kind of in the way.  And you have to watch out for sharp objects inside the dash.  Whew, I’m glad I’m only photographing this!

Besides replacing odometer gears, Reggie has switched gears from maintenance work to more rust repair.  This time, he’s removing rust from the rear passenger side of this 1988 e30 M3.  Here Reggie is grinding away the surface rust in order to get a better glimpse of the underlying issues.

As for the issue, here it is…our evil enemy, rust.

A section was then cut out to get a more in-depth look:

This car’s owner came by the shop this afternoon to see the progress on his bimmer.  He is pleased to see that the rust is being properly eradicated!

As luck would have it, leftover metal from the Baur’s new battery box fits perfectly in this area!

Reggie removes all traces of rust along the rough edges:

Having all the tools for the job nearby is a must!  This M3 is on our smaller lift, while a 1987 325i cabrio waits on the tall lift for a new (used) gas tank, new subframe bushings, new brake lines front to rear, etc, etc… (Stay tuned for details on that project next week!)

Reggie fabricates a patch panel using some wicked scissors (for lack of a more mechanical and technical term!) and some air shears.  And I do mean wicked in both senses of the word!  (These are tin snips.)

And here are the air shears!  I now have a cool pen holder on my desk thanks to some scraps from this project! 🙂  (Will post a photo of pen holder below)

Old rusty metal, meet your replacement!

As we’ve seen before with rust repair and fabricating custom replacement metal patches (check out more rust repair here, here, and here), there’s a little more to it than just getting the size of the panel correct.  There is often some tweaking and bending necessary to get the proper fitment.

Next, Reggie paints on some rust treatment.  “Destroys Rust!”

We’ll stop there for now…stay tuned for more on this rust repair project!  And as promised, here is a photo of my newest desk accessory while I’m working on the blog!  It’s recycled, it’s functional, and sharp (in more ways than one!), and I love it!  Especially since it shows of my Reggie’s Motorworks pen!

And if you attended our Open House earlier this summer, you saw the custom e30 grill belt buckle I had made for Reggie’s birthday…well, I’ve finally remembered to tell you where I got it!  Fosterweld! I was lucky enough to visit the owner’s shop and see first hand how passionate he is about his business (custom buckles, cuffs, furniture, and more!) – thank you, Chris, for making the coolest belt buckle for my husband!  He absolutely loves it!  Check out his website and blog, you will be amazed!

We’ll be heading over to the Cruise-In soon…we hope to see you there!  Have a great weekend!