We Moved!

We are taking this week to do some of the tedious work required to keep our shop going smoothly. Basic maintenance type of stuff, like organizing bolts and washers.... Lots of fun!

Also, I've been working on getting our website up to spec with a new look. We decided to move the blog to the homepage of reggiesmotorworks.com so you can easily access the news and information we bestow upon the world (wide web) each week! So, check it out!

REGGIESMOTORWORKS.COM

Cars, cars, and more cars!

The Mecum Auto Auction had plenty of eye candy on display at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on May 13-17. Building after building was lined with hot rods, classic cars, and everything in between. Here are a few that caught our eye.

It would be fun to show up to a driving school in this, especially if you were to tell your instructor "This is my first time doing a school, but I'm awesome at drifting"!

This RV was self-proclaimed "Better than Prevost!"

After the cars ran through the auction block, they had some neon signs available.

Tragically, Mr. Goodwrench has been laid off due to GM cut-backs, so the dealer no longer needed this sign:

We had our eye on this double-sided, lighted gem...but it sold for a little more than we were willing to pay.

It may be hard to see, but check out the grenade gear shift knob!

This display drew plenty of attention. Velvet ropes surrounded the area, as well as some security guards.

Pretty price tag!

It is rare to see this many REAL Shelby cars in one place. On Saturday, two of the Cobra roadsters were marked 1,300,000 - no sale (reserve not met). On Sunday one of these was marked "SOLD"....

This is a 1991 Callaway Speedster, which was #8 of 10 403hp super Corvettes

Now this is what happens when two late 70's corvettes have too much to drink....

After cruising the many buildings, we watched the end of the car auctions and some of the neon sign auctions before calling it a night.

RMW's BMW at IMS

Wednesday, May 20th was Community Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was also Reggie's birthday! And so we thought it would be fun to take the Baur out for a victory lap around the infamous track. Although the speed limit for this event was 30mph, we only clocked about 10mph, following the drivers in front of us. It really allowed us to take in the scenery and get a little bit of a glimpse of what the Indy drivers see at 230mph!

After our victory lap, we checked out some older race cars that were on display in pit row.

Walking through Gasoline Alley, we saw Scott Dixon signing autographs for some lucky fans.

What every race car driver wants to claim - the BorgWarner trophy!

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Name That Tool!

Happy Friday!

We've got a little quiz for you called Name That Tool! If you know the name and function of this tool, please leave your answer in the comments for this post! Good Luck!

Thanks for playing Name That Tool!
Have a great weekend!

One Clean Cabriolet, check!

Two things are certain: (1) It's Friday! and (2) Today's subject is finally ready for some spring and summer roadtrips! It's me, Stephanie, writing again for the blog. After spending a couple of days at the Reggie's Motorworks Spa, it has been kept under our roof due to this rainy spell we've endured. According to tomorrow's forecast, it should be safe to deliver it to its owner, Sean. Finally! As you've witnessed over the past several weeks, Sean's cabrio has come such a long way since we first met her. It's time for a trip down memory lane...sit back, relax, and read on... If you would like a little review first, that's fine, take a look here, here, here, here, and here, then come back to this post for the grand finale.

Long, long ago, Reggie's first shop was in Lawrence, Indiana, in a pole barn occupied by various heating and air conditioning equipment and supplies, a few limousines, and other stuff that the owner had accumulated over the years. Reggie knew the owner through his previous career in the cellular industry. Another friend of Reggie knew he worked on ol' BMW's and gave him a call: a white convertible was on its way to the crusher, did he want to look at it? Reggie had another good friend, Sean, whom he thought might be interested in this car, even though it would need a little work. Ahem, make that a lot of work. Sean said "Yeah, that would be cool." So a deal was made that sealed the fate of this hunk of metal, destined to be just that...only crushed to tiny bits and pieces of metal. Plus, the car only had roughly 86,000 miles on the odometer. The car was towed to Reggie's shop. I remember looking at it thinking this was going to be quite a project. An expensive project at that! I mean, the seats and dash were covered in dirt, dust, and grime, just crumbling away. Trash and debris was strewn about the interior. The top was shredded. As for the paint, I could barely tell the car was supposed to be white. Then Reggie cleaned and buffed just a small section of the hood. Wow! There actually was a nice, clean car hidden underneath! Sean saw its potential too, more so than I did, thank goodness, and he was excited to add this car to his collection. Unfortunately, we don't have any photos in our archives of the car when she was unloaded from the tow truck. The ones we do have were taken once it was cleaned up a bit. The white pole barn in the background is where this all began. You'll notice too that the hood was bent - until Reggie fixed it!

The cabrio became driveable and somewhat presentable. Sean knew that one day he would want to get the interior back in shape, and take care of a few other odds and ends on the car. A couple years went by, and the cabrio was ok, but just not satisfactory. Not even close. Once winter hit, Sean brought his car back to the shop for her makeover. The carpets have been professionally cleaned, check! The seats have been treated with Leatherique's Rejuvenator Oil and Pristine Clean, check! The driver's seat was reconstructed from a white leather seat, re-dyed with Leatherique's Cardinal Red dye, check! And, the seat heater was reinstalled, check! The passenger seat was reconstructed as well from a donor seat with better leather and foam, check! The rust on the driver's side rear quarter panel was removed, repainted, renewed, check! The air-conditioning system has been updated and fully recharged, ready to battle the summer heat, check! The rust in the battery tray and under the grille was remedied and repainted, check! And, of course, this cabrio was treated to some pampering, a la Reggie's Motorworks Spa, check!

So after almost being hauled off for scrap, after all the poking, prodding, welding, cutting, grinding, painting, and cleaning, this cabrio is a true survivor! She's ready to shine, and will no doubt turn some heads on the road very soon, especially with her Euro smilies. Right now, she's got about 93,000 miles clocked, and we're sure she's bound for many, many more. We thought it would be very fitting and fun to get some proper photos of this pretty cabriolet...finally! Without further adieu...I am happy to present this 1988 BMW 325i in all her Alpine weiss glory!

We're very excited to get the keys to this great car back in her driver's hands. Sean has seen the car's progress, but seeing it totally done and ready to hit the pavement will be the icing on the cake. I'm thinking he may have to fight his wife and daughter to drive it first! Well, ok, his wife Kristen is allowed to drive, but Mason will have to wait 16 more years! Be sure to check it out at our Open House on Saturday, June 20th!

Cut, Grind, Weld, Paint: All in a day's work

Welcome back to another Friday edition of Reggie's Motorworks Blog! Today's entry is coming to you from my perspective, as Reggie's wife, Stephanie. Hopefully what this post lacks in technical detail and graphic design will be made up by way of illustration. Let's take a closer look at the work Reggie's completed so far on the now infamous Alpine weiss cabriolet.

As you may recall, last week's blog left off right here. Unfortunately, rust had its way with this poor section of metal.

Reggie gets his cutting wheel out and lets the sparks fly when removing this rotten area.



Next he smoothes the edges of the rectangular void. Please remember to wear your safety glasses at all times! You'll see there is a little rust behind this area, and Reggie will address this in just a moment.

Here are the various tools used for this portion of the project. Sounds like a day at the dentist, only much louder!

To make sure that pesky rust doesn't find its way back, Reggie paints on some rust treatment. This area is prepped inside and from behind the quarter panel as well.

So now that there is a piece of this cabrio missing, proper replacement metal must be used to make it whole again. As luck would have it, we had this donor door ready and willing to help. Well, as willing as any inanimate object can be. No matter what the case, this 320i door was going to give up a piece of itself to help out a fellow Bimmer. (Yes, I did just have to ask Reggie the model of this door. I'm still learning!)

The rest was pretty easy as far as I could tell. Reggie traced the old rusty piece to get the perfect size pattern for the new patch.

Then I stood back a good distance while he used the handy cutting wheel to send sparks flying.

Now that the rust treatment is pretty well dry back on the cabrio, Reggie can get the newly cut patch lined up and ready to weld in place.

While the patch was being held in place for a moment, Reggie sprayed some self-etching primer in the battery tray and just under the grille area on the front of the car.

Now back to the patch repair while the self-etching primer has a chance to thoroughly dry.
These magnets proved to be quite useful in holding the patch in place as Reggie welded it on to the rest of the car. He first did some tack welds, just enough to be able to remove the magnets and continue welding.






Note: Reggie wears his welding helmet to prevent damage to his vision. It's also important to protect your eyes while photographing such things. I got the camera focused on the area, closed my eyes, and gave Reggie the ok to proceed. As soon as I heard sparks, I pressed the shutter several times.

The surface of the newly patched area was a little bumpy after welding. So all Reggie needed to do was smoothe it out with the grinder. More sparks!

There are a few little valleys that could stand to be filled in. Reggie mixes up some Bondo. This cabrio needed just a little bit of help getting back on track to a smoother, paint-ready surface.

The Bondo was applied to the front and side area of the quarter panel. It doesn't take Bondo long to get set up. It's ready for sanding after about 15 minutes or less. Amazing!

Once the area was satisfactorily sanded, Reggie masked off the area and was one step closer to spraying some paint. Note that there's really not much Bondo left after sanding. Like I said, there were just a few valleys that needed to be filled in. He rolls back the masking tape in a few layers to prevent getting a distinct line when painting. This will help to blend the fresh, new paint with the 21 year old paint. Below the area is masked off and sprayed with self-etching primer.

It's time for the respirator! Reggie mixes up the lovely Alpine weiss paint, along with the proper amount of reducer. Stir it up!




This mixture gets poured through a filter into the jar.

We put a drop cloth over the entire car to prevent any unwanted overspray.

Next Reggie got to work spraying the battery tray under the bonnet, followed by the area under the grille, and then the new area on the quarter panel. Anyone see a pattern here?

And we're back at the driver's side quarter panel, ready for paint.

After just a light sanding to blend the old with the new, the paint looked pretty darn good! Movin' right along!

All that's left to do now is mix up the clearcoat and lay it on. The following photo was taken from the safety of our office. This stuff not only smells horrible (in my opinion!), but it's not advised to be without a respirator when using it or being near it. You guessed it, a shiny round of clearcoat for the battery tray, the area beneath the grille, and, of course, the now invisible patch on the quarter panel.

And here it is...the moment we've all been waiting for...drum roll, please!

Reggie did one heck of a job, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his lucky wife. It really does look great, and I'm so excited to reveal the finished cabrio in a future post! The paint was allowed to cure overnight, and will be ready the next phase. This cabrio will enjoy a relaxing day at the Reggie's Motorworks Spa, with complete detail included. Maybe even a frosty libation with one of those cute little umbrellas too. Ok, now I'm getting carried away. But I do like the idea of a day at the spa...