Three e30 nuts set up a shop one day...

[Luis325]

Wow great shop guys!!! Sexy cars!

[4drPwr]

Our partner had an aftermarket glass moonroof installed on his E30. Work's pretty good actually. I'll see if I can get a few shots of his moonroof posted so you guys can take a closer look.

I'd be interested to see pictures of that. I have a glass moonroof as well but it's simply a replacement for the stock steel panel, and an independent sliding headliner piece made from the stock one. I wasn't aware there was a second type.

[Killacortes]

Wish I could have visited this shop when I was there! Maybe in December :)

[TehPilot]

No worries buddy, I totally understand where you're coming from. I believe this could be a car culture difference of shops in other parts of the world over car shops here. I've seen many shops in the USA where clients aren't allowed to go near the shop floor and they really can't see what's happening behind it's closed doors. Over here in the Philippines, it's sadly fairly common for shady business to happen behind closed doors of car shop floors. Unethical mechanics would sometimes swap parts from customer cars, play around in with their radios, purposely damage parts so clients will be forced to pay for more repairs, etc. Believe me, I've had this happen to myself on many occasions in the past in many shops.

So when my partners and I decided to open our own shop, we figured the best way to combat this problem is to offer transparency. Transparency with our clients where they can see our mechanics work on their cars to give them the peace of mind that we're taking good care of their cars. This also gives the opportunity for clients to see their cars being worked on and whats happening without them having to get close to the cars. Client's getting up close and personal to their cars and the shop floor also is a very common occurrence with car shops here, especially among enthusiast car owners where they really consider their cars as their "babies".

True this transparency doesn't give us much wiggle room from the shop's end to make any mistakes, etc but it's a trade off that we find is well worth it, well received with our clients and set us apart from the other regular shops in town. Furthermore, the open transparency policy forces us to make sure we make less mistakes on our work, keeps our mechanics on their toes and thus leads to better quality throughout the board for the customer. Better quality translates to less mistakes, which means happier customer and in the end, makes us happier as well. So for us, we see it a win win for everyone. :)

Excellent business ethic.

[thealbert]

What's with the extra pod in the ceiling of the 4dr MT1? Different headliner adapted to fit or something?

Our partner had an aftermarket glass moonroof installed on his E30. Work's pretty good actually. I'll see if I can get a few shots of his moonroof posted so you guys can take a closer look.

[thealbert]

Foust looks sunburned lol ^

I love this. I can only dream that my shop will be this clean and orderly in the future. Great work, I now want to come down there to check it out. Please keep adding photos!

He probably was at the beach relaxing a few days before. We got awesome beaches here.

Thank for the kind words, we will surely be posting more pictures! :)

[4drPwr]

What's with the extra pod in the ceiling of the 4dr MT1? Different headliner adapted to fit or something?

[thealbert]

I saw the build thread on thealbert's car. I have never seen such a no-holds-barred restoration on an e30. That car is new.

Thanks! Where did you see the build thread? I don't think I've ever posted anything about it yet here on R3V limited. I was waiting for the car to be totally done before I post anything about it. I'm currently working on a auto to manual tranny swap right now. :)

[thealbert]

I wasn't saying that what you guys do in the shop is shady/incorrect/etc, and sorry if it came off that way. But I have worked in a shop with glass windows into the waiting room before, and if a customer even sees you drop a wrench or swear they're instantly worried and think you're not qualified and are going to fuck up their car. It's a "what they don't see they won't complain about" thing. Again, not saying you're doing anything wrong.

No worries buddy, I totally understand where you're coming from. I believe this could be a car culture difference of shops in other parts of the world over car shops here. I've seen many shops in the USA where clients aren't allowed to go near the shop floor and they really can't see what's happening behind it's closed doors. Over here in the Philippines, it's sadly fairly common for shady business to happen behind closed doors of car shop floors. Unethical mechanics would sometimes swap parts from customer cars, play around in with their radios, purposely damage parts so clients will be forced to pay for more repairs, etc. Believe me, I've had this happen to myself on many occasions in the past in many shops.

So when my partners and I decided to open our own shop, we figured the best way to combat this problem is to offer transparency. Transparency with our clients where they can see our mechanics work on their cars to give them the peace of mind that we're taking good care of their cars. This also gives the opportunity for clients to see their cars being worked on and whats happening without them having to get close to the cars. Client's getting up close and personal to their cars and the shop floor also is a very common occurrence with car shops here, especially among enthusiast car owners where they really consider their cars as their "babies".

True this transparency doesn't give us much wiggle room from the shop's end to make any mistakes, etc but it's a trade off that we find is well worth it, well received with our clients and set us apart from the other regular shops in town. Furthermore, the open transparency policy forces us to make sure we make less mistakes on our work, keeps our mechanics on their toes and thus leads to better quality throughout the board for the customer. Better quality translates to less mistakes, which means happier customer and in the end, makes us happier as well. So for us, we see it a win win for everyone. :)

[craiggroves91]

That would be soooo awesome to have a shop like that!

[egye30]

amazing stuff! its too bad we don't have a shop like this here in Canada.. I literally drive 350 kms one way to go see my mechanic, because its the only guy im comfortable having work on my car, people here know so little about e30s. Good luck with the shop

[Nick_S]

Wow that shop is cleaner than most people's houses.

[E30SPDFRK]

I wasn't saying that what you guys do in the shop is shady/incorrect/etc, and sorry if it came off that way. But I have worked in a shop with glass windows into the waiting room before, and if a customer even sees you drop a wrench or swear they're instantly worried and think you're not qualified and are going to fuck up their car. It's a "what they don't see they won't complain about" thing. Again, not saying you're doing anything wrong.

[Kershaw]

wow that looks awesome! congrats.

[mikeedler]

beautiful shop!!!!! congrats on the place- looks perfect. There are alot of BOSCH service places over here too. Gotta be a huge overhead to run a place like that. best of luck with it, really wishing you guys the best.