Steve Dinan is back with CarBahn Autoworks

[Brasko]

Dinan 2.0

[nick3753]

Originally Posted by SDPLV

So...what all can be done if you got a S65?

https://carbahnautoworks.com/product...-bored-engine/

[JsL]

Originally Posted by FaRKle!

Forum organized dyno day ?

I'm down for that.

[SDPLV]

Originally Posted by nick3753

https://carbahnautoworks.com/product...-bored-engine/

4.7L

https://carbahnautoworks.com/product...e-racing-cams/

[msan]

Those stroker prices don't mention if you need to give them a working engine also. Curious if that's the case?

[CP911]

How did this make news? Been seeing the "Steve Dinan is back" CarBahn Autoworks ad in the BMW CCA Roundel magazine for several months now.

[SeanWRT]

It seems M2 is one of their ongoing projects. Curious what that would be.

[mKilgore]

Awesome to hear! Thanks for posting and looking forward to hearing what all comes out of the shop.

[twism]

That shop and all the toys inside look amazing!

[FSociety]

Originally Posted by Brasko

Dinan 2.0

Originally Posted by SeanWRT

It seems M2 is one of their ongoing projects. Curious what that would be.

curious as well

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by TRZ06

Yep. Basically off loading a business in the red heading for bankruptcy.

Restarting with no debt.

Shitty practices and I have no respect for it

Racing is an expensive venture.

[The__J__Factor]

Originally Posted by TRZ06

Yep. Basically off loading a business in the red heading for bankruptcy.

Restarting with no debt.

Shitty practices and I have no respect for it

You don't think the buyers would have seen the books and then agreed on a price that suited their evaluation?

The Dinan name and bmw connection is valuable in itself and obviously the buyers thought they could continue/improve/grow the business they were buying.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by The__J__Factor

You don't think the buyers would have seen the books and then agreed on a price that suited their evaluation?

The Dinan name and bmw connection is valuable in itself and obviously the buyers thought they could continue/improve/grow the business they were buying.

+1

It was probably a combination of things. Tuning has become a commodity product and OE's are offering their own performance products via after-sales.

In addition he wanted to concentrate on racing and it's unfortunate that the arrangement didn't work out for him.

At Dinans age (64??) I would hate to have to start from scratch. Hopefully this is some sort of "semi-retirement" thing.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by e92ben

Dinan moving focus to Audi/vag cars. Interested to see what or when carbahn will be releasing parts wise. Not the catchiest name but sure is exciting.

I wonder what it is about BMW that is causing them to move away? Funny if it were warranty claims.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by F32Fleet

+1

It was probably a combination of things. Tuning has become a commodity product and OE's are offering their own performance products via after-sales.

In addition he wanted to concentrate on racing and it's unfortunate that the arrangement didn't work out for him.

At Dinans age (64??) I would hate to have to start from scratch. Hopefully this is some sort of "semi-retirement" thing.

Exactly. Dinan's departure from the company he founded could just be as simple as he wanted to do something different. I don't know the specifics around the company's structure. But when companies get to a certain size and there are board members, Cxx positions, etc, founders of said company find themselves no longer in sync with how the management wants to run the company. My example of Bob Carver is just that example.

Originally Posted by F32Fleet

I wonder what it is about BMW that is causing them to move away? Funny if it were warranty claims.

Could be a number of things. Doesn't necessarily have to be something bad. GM used to have a tight partnership with SLP Engineering to the point there were specific models sold through GM distribution with their parts already installed on new cars sold at dealerships. That partnership has long been terminated.

[TRZ06]

Originally Posted by The__J__Factor

You don't think the buyers would have seen the books and then agreed on a price that suited their evaluation?

The Dinan name and bmw connection is valuable in itself and obviously the buyers thought they could continue/improve/grow the business they were buying.

And how many vendors got shafted and had to take a loss in bad debt??

It's a shitty practice.

[Stash21]

Originally Posted by TRZ06

And how many vendors got shafted and had to take a loss in bad debt??

It's a shitty practice.

Originally Posted by TRZ06

And how many vendors got shafted and had to take a loss in bad debt??

It's a shitty practice.

Presumably if the company sold is still trading then those vendor's contracts are being honoured and therefore no one got shafted.

[romemmy]

Carbahn rebuilt my S65 engine bottom end for me, and inspected/rebuilt the heads for me too (I did the final assembly mating the heads to the block, but they did all the work on the bottom end - bored/honed the the cylinders, installed pistons, rods, crank, bearings, etc). They also disassembled and rebuilt my heads with new seals, 5-angle valve job, pressure checks, etc. They even balanced my crank for me (they measured it without me even asking and found it was way out of balance, so they are very thorough!).

Drew (shop manager) handled my needs perfectly, and when I did the final assembly there were absolutely no issues (they also did the work very quickly). The engine fired up first time after I installed it, and has been going strong ever since. Did a full day at Laguna pushing it pretty hard, and it performed perfectly. Mine is supercharged so pushing 600HP at the crank (510HP at the wheels), and I went with CP Carillo rods, CP Carillo coated pistons, stock crank, BE bearings, VAC coated mains, and more. They sealed the bedplate for me too, with zero leaks.

I would highly recommend them for engine building. I haven't had the chance to use them for anything else, but if their care and precision in engine building is anything to go by, then their other shop services should be equally impressive.

Robert @ BE Bearings also helped me immensely with the build, and he was the one that actually arranged for Carbahn to work on my build, so many thanks (and my recommendation) to him too.

Thanks!

S.

[NorthernDancer]

That garage is too clean; they really can't be doing actual work in there, can they?

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by NorthernDancer

That garage is too clean; they really can't be doing actual work in there, can they?

Yes they can. The indie shop who did my S2 tune is almost as clean. It's all about the shop manager/owner making it a priority to keep the service bays clean. This indie shop has been in business for many many years. I first set foot into their service bays back when a car audio shop I bought stuff from shared a service bay with them; way before I had any aspirations of buying a BMW.

Also, a friend of mine had his own shop which was kept clean. Not as clean as the CarBahn bays but he was a one man show with three service bays. He was meticulous about wiping down all of his tools he would use on a particular job.

[Staszek]

Originally Posted by TRZ06

And how many vendors got shafted and had to take a loss in bad debt??

It's a shitty practice.

He didn't actually go bankrupt. I would agree with you if he went bankrupt to avoid debt then started out somewhere else. That is a shitty practice and you see that all too often.

That is not the case, in fact what he did would protect the vendors whether he was in debt or not. Any company buying Dinan (unless they are dumb) would do full do diligence on the books and the debt would be assumed at the sale, or taken out of the proceeds that went with the sale.

So all in all everyone made out ok, if it was a bad deal for the buyers thats their fault for not doing their homework.

[MilehighM3]

Originally Posted by e92ben

Dinan moving focus to Audi/vag cars. Interested to see what or when carbahn will be releasing parts wise. Not the catchiest name but sure is exciting.

This is not true. They same company that purchased Dinan also acquired APR last year. Dinan is actually looking to develop the F series flash tuning which is part of the move and business acquisition with APR. they're more up to date on the newer ECM variants and flashing so look for something to replace the piggyback offerings in the next ~6 months.