Shops in LA (Westside)

#1

Hi everyone, I am new member here and definitely into the E30… I am coming from NorcalE30.com where I’ve been for a while.

Although I am in South Asia for a little while, my brother is in LA (with his car and mine), and we are looking for shops to do some work for us. We are not looking for any shop, but those supportive to the BMW E30 enthusiast. I have checked around a little on the CCA (LA) site and there appears to be a few that might be good. Our intention is to convert my bro’s Eta to Spec; as well as looking at a starting issue with my '86 325i (MY85, yes the harness has been swapped and i’m using a 173 ecu, it’s looking like the crank sensor needs replacement).

I have parted out several E30s the past few years in SFBay so I have a lot (or possibly all) of the necessary hardware including motor, trans, ECU (173), driveshaft (w/flexdisc/guibo), VDO cluster, and 3.73 lsd. Can anyone can recommend a shop or two for us?

Btw, my bro was racing his Subaru last 9 Oct. at Buttonwillow. It was fun watching you guys and hopefully we can join in at some point. Yes, we did see the oil slick that put everyone behind 30 mins. That’s racing! :ohmy: Fortunately the track turned out ok. Me, I also have an '83 944 so when I return I get to work on that.

Cheers & great to be here,
Denis
’86 325i Euro
’87 325es (bro)
'91 325ic (gave to old GF)

#2

Welcome Denis!

I would contact one of the CI’s from the LA BMW CCA chapter. Darren Young is one of them and knows most of the better shops to use out your way. The SoCal series sponsor, Midnight Oil Motors, has done a ton of work on a host of cars and can handle anything you need, however they are in San Diego. I know it’s a haul, but that’s who I use. There are one or two others in OC as well that are SE30 supporters.

#3

Thanks for your input. Anyone have any ideas for shops in general, not necessarily for a spec car, but an E30? I need to get some work done, at some point and would prefer to utilize a mech who is specialized in our fine German cars.

#4

There is an shop in OC that spencializes in E30’s called E30 Motor Werks. I know that isn’t quite W. LA, but if this guy was within 100mi of me, I’d call myself fortunate. His name is Robert and he posts at e30tech a lot, username Peerless. He also posts here occasionally. He’s on my shortlist of goto guys when I have particularly tricky questions. You can get his contact info from his post in this thread:

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=110174

Tell him I sent you.

#5

thanks guys for your input… I will definitely check out the shops that you mentioned (for spec-related work)… I checked out the BMWCCA online 'zine and will contact a few of the shops/sponsors listed, at least to primarily get my non-track E30 checked out. Cheers…
D.

#6

I met with Robert at his car show this spring where we displayed a couple Spec E30’s for him. His shop is E30 specific. He is capable of doing pretty much everything but paint (im sure he has a source for that too!) He doesnt really do Spec E30 specific stuff but he told me that he was interested in getting involved in it. Im sure he got busy because that was the last I heard from him. Really nice guy, knows his E30s!

If you have SE30 related questions/issues, hit me up im happy to help.

Shawn Meze
SoCal Spec E30 Series Director

#7

Castro’s shop in North Hollywood has been working on both my E30s as well as our Lemons E30 for years and they do fantastic work.

12600 Sherman Way
North Hollywood, CA 91605
Neighborhood: North Hollywood
(818) 765-3606