Transmission shop in Seattle area

e9Leveque

e9Leveque

Well-Known Member
Site Donor
Messages
233
Reaction score
150
Location
Seattle, WA
I’m appealing to any of the Seattle area folks here. I am going to be installing a five speed transmission and in my discussion with Don, we had discussed me sending this transmission down to California to be checked out, have seals done, etc. by the guy that Don typically uses (Pete). Pete down there knows what he is doing as he has done this work many times for Don and others in California. Obviously there’s a cost to shipping this transmission south and back and given the number of people with similar cars in the area here, I’m wondering if anyone knows of a shop locally that would be able to assess the transmission, update the seals, do any other work that might be necessary. It was checked out by La Jolla Independent before being sent to me, but I think that that was somewhat more of a cursory overview.
 
I don't know of a transmission shop directly, but I know a couple of guys that might.

A call to John McDermott at Car Tender in Seattle might be worth it.
John was a tech at BMW Seattle in the 80's - 90's and then started his own shop (first down in Capital Hill, now they are up on Aurora). I've used him a couple of times over the years and had good luck with him (he has worked on both my E38 as well as E23 - the E23 before it went down to Alameda)

Another option would be to call Ron Ager at NW European in Bellingham. Ron also has tons of experience and opened his own shop several years back.

Good luck
 
Yes I talked to Pete, he is moving to Idaho in May. That’s a bit late for me. We traded photos back and forth and we thought good idea to check locally and have him as a backup. Great guy and once he is in North Fork, Idaho I think he will be a great resource for the PNW.
 
Following.

I haven’t begun to research if there is anyone here in Vancouver up to the task but it sounds like we have similar time lines. I’ll let you know if I find anyone.

If you find anyone local PNW ( between here, Vancouver, and Seattle) that wants to tackle your job but needs the factory tools as listed in the blue book, I have all the tools and would be interested in some kind of trade for help with my 4 speed ZF.
 
How far do you want to take it? There is nothing really that can be done other than replacing seals from the outside. If you want to know how it is, then you have to open it up to check synchro wear, slider wear, see what the bearings feel like
Do you have the bearing removal tools?
Thanks, Rick
 
@stphers I don't have the bearing removal tools and taking on a transmission exploration is outside of my current skillset. Based on a very reasonable recommendation from Don, I figured that it might be worthwhile to have this transmission checked out before I go through the trouble of installing it. It looks good overall and the forum member who sold it to me had La Jolla give it a once-over, but none of the things you suggest (synchro wear, slider wear, etc) have been assessed. Thus the hope of finding someone local who has worked on these transmissions to avoid the shipping cost back and forth to Idaho/California.
@restart I asked on the Avants Seattle forum and have two possibilities, both of which are closed on Mondays. I'll reach out to them tomorrow and let you know what I find out.
 
e9Leveque said:
I’m appealing to any of the Seattle area folks here. I am going to be installing a five speed transmission and in my discussion with Don, we had discussed me sending this transmission down to California to be checked out, have seals done, etc. by the guy that Don typically uses (Pete). Pete down there knows what he is doing as he has done this work many times for Don and others in California. Obviously there’s a cost to shipping this transmission south and back and given the number of people with similar cars in the area here, I’m wondering if anyone knows of a shop locally that would be able to assess the transmission, update the seals, do any other work that might be necessary. It was checked out by La Jolla Independent before being sent to me, but I think that that was somewhat more of a cursory overview.
Click to expand...
It may be worth giving Patrick at Midnight Motorsports in West Seattle a call. He is a great guy and big in the 2002 world here, He has done a couple of auto to manual swap as well as 5 speed swaps on E9s before and gave me a very detailed list of parts/labor from a previous invoice of theirs. He builds engines but I'm not sure about transmissions, he may know a guy though!
 
Pittraider18 said:
It may be worth giving Patrick at Midnight Motorsports in West Seattle a call. He is a great guy and big in the 2002 world here, He has done a couple of auto to manual swap as well as 5 speed swaps on E9s before and gave me a very detailed list of parts/labor from a previous invoice of theirs. He builds engines but I'm not sure about transmissions, he may know a guy though!
Click to expand...
I forgot about Patrick (he came into the 2002 world after I sold mine) - but I do see him around at the various old BMW activities...
Yes, he would be worth a call...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top