Transmission shop in Seattle area

e9Leveque

e9Leveque

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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.
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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!
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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...
 
An update:
The primary recommendations I got were for Midnight Motorsport and Vintage Racing. I talked for a while with Byron Sanborn at Vintsge Racing. It’s clear that they know these cars, they know the transmissions, and he and I traded some notes on my current situation. Based on the condition of the transmission (it looks quite good externally, has been checked by the seller before shipping it to me, etc) as well as the potential cost for a tear down ($500-800 depending), he basically echoed Pete in saying “I think I would just put it in as is. It’s not leaking, it’s coming from a reliable source, and if you have an issue, you clearly know how to remove it and at that point spending the money will be worth it to you”. In their estimation the likelihood of that coming to pass would be low.
I do think that Don is correct, especially from a guy in his situation - if one of us is paying him to perform a rebuild, it’s on him to ensure that the car he delivers is rock-solid. I’m willing to have something that is 95% chance good and 5% chance I’m back in a year changing out the transmission, and in the meantime use that money for other things on the car.
But wanted to follow-up since based on my discussions I could endorse either of these places as somewhere to take your car in Seattle.
I should add as another option that when checking out an MG for a friend being advertised on BaT, I had gone to the Shop - it’s a high-end car storage place/restuarant/hangout etc - since the car was being stored there. They have one in Houston and one in Dallas. A little bit of a gimmick, store your rarity amongst all the others and can work on it there, etc, but sure, it’s neat to check out and if you can afford to store your car there it’s beautiful. BUT, while there I had spoken with master mechanic Guy who was actively working on a beautiful 1968 BMW 1600GT. It was clear that he knows his stuff. Even non-members can get service there, but I don’t know if it’s much more expensive than other options. But one to consider.
 
e9Leveque said:
An update:
The primary recommendations I got were for Midnight Motorsport and Vintage Racing. I talked for a while with Byron Sanborn at Vintsge Racing. It’s clear that they know these cars, they know the transmissions, and he and I traded some notes on my current situation. Based on the condition of the transmission (it looks quite good externally, has been checked by the seller before shipping it to me, etc) as well as the potential cost for a tear down ($500-800 depending), he basically echoed Pete in saying “I think I would just put it in as is. It’s not leaking, it’s coming from a reliable source, and if you have an issue, you clearly know how to remove it and at that point spending the money will be worth it to you”. In their estimation the likelihood of that coming to pass would be low.
I do think that Don is correct, especially from a guy in his situation - if one of us is paying him to perform a rebuild, it’s on him to ensure that the car he delivers is rock-solid. I’m willing to have something that is 95% chance good and 5% chance I’m back in a year changing out the transmission, and in the meantime use that money for other things on the car.
But wanted to follow-up since based on my discussions I could endorse either of these places as somewhere to take your car in Seattle.
I should add as another option that when checking out an MG for a friend being advertised on BaT, I had gone to the Shop - it’s a high-end car storage place/restuarant/hangout etc - since the car was being stored there. They have one in Houston and one in Dallas. A little bit of a gimmick, store your rarity amongst all the others and can work on it there, etc, but sure, it’s neat to check out and if you can afford to store your car there it’s beautiful. BUT, while there I had spoken with master mechanic Guy who was actively working on a beautiful 1968 BMW 1600GT. It was clear that he knows his stuff. Even non-members can get service there, but I don’t know if it’s much more expensive than other options. But one to consider.
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Byron at Vintage. Is that the shop in Redmond off of Willows? I've been meaning to swing by there sometime since I live just up the hill a few minutes North. I Also meant to recommend RaceCraft in Woodinville! They are caretakers of Luigi on the forum I believe. I would often send customers there for their Z cars that they wanted to go full racecar on when I was still working on Z's for a living. Glad you had a good experience and a good plan of action.
 
I put my 5 speed in after having it sitting in storage at my house for about three years, and before that it was sitting in storage for at least 20 (likely more) years. The outside was clean as can be, still had cosmoline covering most of it. The guy I bought it from got it from a wrecking yard in the late 80's and had it sitting in a warehouse waiting for an abandoned project.

I decided not to send it to a shop, but did pick up a complete set of seals, front, rear and shifter seals and replaced all of those before installing it. I used good Redline oil in the transmission and ran it for about 500 miles and then drained it and refilled again.

When I installed it I did decide to upgrade the shifter to a UUC short shifter and am very happy with the result.
 
I am following exactly your lead. I have all new seals - man, what a bear trying to get a list of every single one and then get them all ordered, felt like herding cats. I also have upgraded the shifter with a short shift kit from @halboyles at 2002sonly and the redline is sitting on the garage floor waiting to be installed. I decided to delay my installation by a week or two and have the entire underside dry ice blasted while the transmission is out since it gives access to areas that would otherwise be blocked.
 
e9Leveque said:
I am following exactly your lead. I have all new seals - man, what a bear trying to get a list of every single one and then get them all ordered, felt like herding cats. I also have upgraded the shifter with a short shift kit from @halboyles at 2002sonly and the redline is sitting on the garage floor waiting to be installed. I decided to delay my installation by a week or two and have the entire underside dry ice blasted while the transmission is out since it gives access to areas that would otherwise be blocked.
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Are you using the guys up in Mukilteo for the dry ice blasting or another local company? I've been wanting to get this done while everything is apart!
 
It's a guy I found on the Avants facebook group, goes by Affordable Dry Ice Blasting - I guess the name says it all. He sounded very reasonable on the phone, runs this out of his garage with lift and equipment. $1500 for underside and all 4 wheels wells, would be an additional $500 for engine bay which we will decide upon once he has a chance to see the car. Since the car isn't driveable at the moment (no transmission!), I'll either arrange a tow through Hagerty or he has a car carrier he was willing to lend me at no cost. I'll let you know once it's done but reviews were good, price seemed reasonable and he was friendly and informative.
 
e9Leveque said:
It's a guy I found on the Avants facebook group, goes by Affordable Dry Ice Blasting - I guess the name says it all. He sounded very reasonable on the phone, runs this out of his garage with lift and equipment. $1500 for underside and all 4 wheels wells, would be an additional $500 for engine bay which we will decide upon once he has a chance to see the car. Since the car isn't driveable at the moment (no transmission!), I'll either arrange a tow through Hagerty or he has a car carrier he was willing to lend me at no cost. I'll let you know once it's done but reviews were good, price seemed reasonable and he was friendly and informative.
Click to expand...
Thank you! The guys in Mukilteo were Cryomode I believe and they wanted something like $3200+tax for underside, wheels, engine bay.
 
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