Although Bavarian Machine Specialties started business in a small building in 1980 on the north side of Houston we moved into our centrally located building in the heart of Houston in 1988. Since then our building has been updated into an automotive shop, added to and is now in the middle of the 4th stage of a renovation project that will complete a separate Machine Shop, a separate Welding and Fabrication area, and finally a separate and much needed chassis Dynamometer room. The following pictures are a few random shots of the shop and from behind the scenes.
A view of the main shop
the front parking area and front of the shop
A view of part of the main building, the back building and the east parking lot
the waiting room
the front office where John offers some of his poignant advice
the always busy but efficient service area
Kirk performs some service work on a very clean Z8
A newly machined E34 M5 head sits assembled and ready to be installed. The head was warped due to overheating but was straightened in our commercial oven bolted to a straightening Jig, then the head was resurfaced (clean up pass), all valve guides were replaced (instead of the expense of installing oversize valves) and a 5 angle carbide cut was performed on the valve seats. The head was also final tested on our Flow bench for accuracy and flow rate balance. All work was performed in-house.
Dan and Casey discuss the stainless steel braided fuel hose requirements on an S54 race motor
One of the race car projects built during 06’. Dan fits out the engine compartment. Note the custom cage (designed and built in-house) and the CSL carbon fiber roof.
custom pulley arrangement on an S54 track motor
Dan works on the SMG clutch hydraulics of an E46 M3 race car. Note the Performance Friction brakes designed to meet Grand American Racing specs.
A view of the busy shop through the cage of a race car
Mike installs the instrument cluster and finishes the wiring for a track car.
An X5 automatic transmission in the disassembly area during the beginning stages of disassembly. This transmission would not operate in reverse but rather than replace the entire transmission the problem was diagnosed as a failed ‘F hub” piston. In addition to replacing the failed part the remainder of the transmission was checked and rebuilt at a substantial savings to the customer.
Kirk performs a thorough 120k service on a 05 X3! We must see this guy every 2 months for service because of how many miles he racks up but the car has been totally reliable and should remain so for the next 120,000 miles.
A nice simple and fun track car sits ready to go out for its’ next weekend romp at the track.
The head and valvetrain of an S54 engine layed out in the assembly room awaiting the completion of the bottom end.
The assembly room where Mike puts the finishing touches on an S54 SCCA runoff motor. Note the S38 M5 motor in the back round in the middle of it’s build out.
Mike finishes setting the cam timing on a customers M20 motor. Note that all of the venerable M20 engine variants from 76’ thru 93 used a timing belt.
A finished S54 long block race motor ready for the next race. This motor was picked up and stored as a spare for when it was needed at the SCCA runoffs in 06’.
Sergio Tig welds the heat exchanger for an M Roadster with an intercooled supercharger system.
Kirk performs an “in between” oil change on a new 335ci. This customer recognizes the value of an accelerated maintenance schedule instead of just following the SIS because he knows he will own the car past the warranty period. Note the proper oil canister tool that only fits this canister, as opposed to the quick lube place that uses a pair of channel-locks on the plastic cap.
A freshly rebuilt M62 engine sits on the stand in the assembly room. This engine is from a 03’ 540i that developed an engine knock due to excessively worn rod bearings. Oil starvation or a lack of oil was the suspected reason for such an un-typical problem. Note the ultra clean parts on this engine; they are not new just thoroughly cleaned. We have a variety of machines dedicated to cleaning parts such as 3 different pressure washing machines, several media blasters, an ultrasonic cleaning machine and a final rinse cabinet.
A view of a rare engine that is part of a 74 2002 Tii restoration project we completed in 04”. This car required a tremendous attention to detail and is built with a number of Tii Turbo parts and Alpina parts.
This is one of those cars that BMW never built; an E34 with a Hartge 6.0 liter M70 V12 engine stuffed into the engine compartment. We spent a number of hours working out the kinks on this one… but what a ride!
Dan in the middle of installing a radar system on a 06’ 650ci