Best E34 M5 Ever??

[BigMac]

I have seen the light!

Tonight, in my local bar, I bumped into a chef with a BMW key fob. Hello, says I, what sort of BMW have you? An M5 he says, with twin turbos and special exhaust, puts out 386HP and does 0 - 60mph in under 4 seconds. No way, I thought, a new M5 has 400Hp anyway, give or take 5%; with twin turbos, it should do much more. Besides, under 4 seconds 0 - 60mph is truly unrealistic. It must be the drink talking (he had had a few, as had I).

To cut a long story short, I went outside for a look at this car. A late E34, with side indicators, complete leather interior, including roof; sun roof, electric everything. Would you believe electric head rests in the back seats? How about electric side and rear window blinds? Immobiliser, satellite, radar detector, etc. I popped the hood, and the engine was as clean as a whistle. Start her up, put your hand on the block above the cylinder heads, and it was cool! The back wheels were I believe 265, front 245, throwing star alloys.

Immaculate condition, inside and out. Apparently, this car belonged to an Egyptian Queen. I noted the VIN No. on the bonnet, underneath the wipers, and another identity number on a plate inside the drivers door frame.

What a machine - the owner offered me the keys, but at midnight after quite a few drinks, I thought it wiser to wait for another day.
The owner is a chef at a local establishment, so I will return for another look, and hopefully test drive.

Arabian queen, no less. A fitting car for such an owner, wouldn't you say?

[IvanDias]

Originally posted by BigMac
..M5 he says, with twin turbos and special exhaust, puts out 386HP....

Hi,

If you add two turbochargers to an M5, and power goes to 386hp from 315/340 stock, then something is wrong.

Either;

1.
The car is not an M5, it is an Alpina B10 BiTurbo at 360Bhp stock plus whatever has been "tweaked".

2.
There are two Turbos, but they are running an ultra light boost as the compression ratio is still up near 10/10.5:1 because it has not had all the new pistons etc to bring it down to 7/8:1 that the engine requires to turbo/supercharge.

3.
The compression has been lowered and someone really has done a twin-turbo S38B36/38 engine, but to be honest, it does not seem to have been worth it.

4.
There are no turbos, it is all BS.

...put your hand on the block above the cylinder heads..

What block was it? Arrrgghhh!! M5 3.6/3.8? Alpina? M30 ?

...noted the VIN No. on the bonnet, underneath the wipers, and another identity number on a plate inside the drivers door frame...

E34 M5s have a Vin number that starts WBS to denote a MSport built car, all other non M cars start WBA. This is a quick way to check if the M5 is really a M5! You said you noted it, so what did it start with?

The normal places are near the wiper as you know, plus a black plate to one side of the engine bay, normally in front of the strut top and before the lights, recessed on the side.

Some (non-UK?) cars, eg Canada and US, have the vin stamped on most of the body panels, but can be akward to get to.

There is not normally the vin number on a plate on the drivers side door area, but the tyre pressure information plate does have M5 written on it.

Alpinas do have a plate near there if memory serves, and another near the gearstick.

and does 0 - 60mph in under 4 seconds. ...

Only if geared for 100Mph !! LOL.
Somewhere I saw posted an excel spreadsheet that you entered all the specs of a cars weight/power/gearing etc and it told you te power and torque required to hit various targets.
Even without that, I think this was the beer talking. Too heavy, not enough traction, not enough power. Try either a McLaren F1 engine or Gods Gearbox for sub 4 sec 0-60.

...Arabian queen, no less. A fitting car for such an owner, wouldn't you say?

Yes, a most intriguing automobile. Definately a car fit for a Queen.

Is there any chance of a photo or ten, and pretty please a shot of the engine, because this one sounds a bit special.



Ivan.

[Alan Archer]

So were the TURBO's in the bottom of the beer glasses
then ??




Can you get a photo of this car ?


Alan.

[klunk]

you COULD fit a couple of turbos, to lift low to mid range torque, using controlled low boost, and a stock compression ratio, which would give it a hell of a thump lower down before a modest top end power hike.

IF done would improve performance figures dramatically, i saw quoted

3.6l 0 - 100 = 15.5 secs.

3.8l 0 - 100 = 13.6 secs,

almost 2 secs difference with only 25 hp and 30 ish lbft extra.

IF DONE imagine the torque increase WOW.

COULD BE DONE!!!!!

if not it bloody well should be done

Mmmmm maybe a vortech supercharger !!!!

klunk.

[BigMac]

OK, so we both had had a few drinks...him a bit more than me! He originally said it was anew M5, so maybe he doesn't know much about cars...except, he's from Aberdeen (Scotland), where he says his dad owns a BMW garage. In fact, he says he saw the car advertised on the internet, and his dad told him to get it; he claims to have paid only 2 million pesetas for it (way less than £10,000), and that after he had all the papers, some Arab agents tried to buy it back from him for more than twice what he paid. He claims he had the twin turbos fitted, together with an exhaust system that cost £1,000, but couldn't reliably say what it was.

The car is definitely an M5, but not the 1996 model he originally said it was...'cos they stopped producing them in 1995. It's also not one of the special editions, as the paintwork was black all over, not two-tone. He also said it had only done 26,000 Kilometres, but when I switched on the engine, I'm sure the reading said 178,000. But I may have been mistaken, or maybe he meant he had put a new engine in it. Certainly the engine looked superb.

The numbers I wrote down (in the dark) were : WBS - D91020B404001 (The VIN number from next to the wipers). The other number was on the car frame, where the drivers door shuts: BSH 0910 206 K04. It was dark, so I can't swear to the numbers, but it's clear it is an M5.

Anyhow, since the owner works just along the road, I will pop in and see if I can get a closer look, a test drive, and some photos (though I don't have a digital camera, so it might not be too easy).

Electric rear headrests!

[JetBoy]

I thought for a moment that the car was a B10 biturbo - in Spain !! -. The car you are talking is probably a 100% stock M5 ( except wheels ). I know a lot of Bmw owners that blablabla but then you find that everything is false.

And yes the vin number says it is an M5 ! wow

[IvanDias]

Who on earth does twin turbos for an M5 (apart from me and soft toys ) ???

£1000 barely buys a stock BMW exhaust, so I suspect that custom made headers for the turbo plumbing would be around this.



mmm.... "can`t reliably say what it is."

Well, if I had literally a one-off supercar like this purports to be, then I`d damn well remember what I did to it, no matter how many Vodkas!!

Well;

Two turbos take a 211 BHP 535i and spawn a fire-snorting monster like the 360 BHP Alpina B10 BiTurbo.

Two turbos on this car turn a 340 BHP 1995 3.8 M5 into err... a 386 BHP M5.


Sounds like your friend likes a drink, and definately was given a bottle or two by the turbo salesman to get him to sign up for this "conversion".

Two Turbos. 23hp each. Doh !! LOL.

178,000? Miles?
Better start saving for the timing chain maintenance...



Ivan.

[BigMac]

Another few drinks last night..but at least we started from relatively sober at the bar / restaurant where he works.

The history: Apparently, and he has all the original paperwork, the car was ordered directly to BMW in Germany, by an Egyptian prince, in 1992. It was to be fully loaded with every possible extra. It was not built/delivered until 1994. The owner says that it even had leather footstools in the back, and that the original carpet was amazingly thick (he indicated over an inch with his finger and thumb), but he replaced it. All the seats are electric, he says even the back seats are adjustable. This one also has the ski bak, and some sort of parking aid that helps you park and avoid kerbs.

The mileage: The digital display I saw is not M5 stock. The owner says that the oil temperature gauge was faulty, along with one or two other minor diplay faults, so he had it replaced - but the one he has now is also faulty. He claims to have all the garage invoices etc. to prove the real mileage.

He had the turbos fitted here in Marbella, privately by an ex BMW mechanic, and claims to have about 12 or 16 photos of the job being done. I explained to him that 386HP seems to be very little increase for twin turbos. He says the first turbo kicks in at lower revs, and the second one at about 5000 revs. It 'twitches' a bit when the second one kicks in, due to some less than perfect adjustment to the engine management software. He also claims that you cannot fully utilise the second turbo until 3rd gear, otherwise the car would simply spin around!

BTW, I got the wheel sizes wrong - he says they are 285 on the back, 265 front.

The pistons are made from stainless steel. It takes a while for the 4-ringed piston heads to warm up, sufficient for the tight fit they are. He claims that the engine does not burn oil at all. He had these new pistons fitted when the turbo job was done.

The exhaust he can't remember the name of it, only that it cost £1,000. He offered to show me it - his garage is equpped to be able to inspect it. He did describe where all the pipes went, but I've forgotten.

I then queried him on his speed claims. He admitted he had never officialy timed a sprint. He does however claim to have raced, and beaten, an E39 M5.

He can adjust the front suspension settings from his on-board computer. He has sat. nav as well. The only thing he doesn't have is little televisions in the front headrests, for the passengers - but he is considering having them fitted!

The electric blinds system turns all windows (except front windscreen) jet black in 2 seconds.

I only saw the car in action briefly, as we drove to my local pub in the pueblo - he screamed by me and the car in front in a fairly dodgy manouvre as we approached the blind bend into the village. Luckily, he has upgraded brakes, each back wheel has two disks.

I will be getting a test drive soon! He has also just purchased another M5 from the police pound, where it has been sitting for the last two years. He has offered it to me at a very agreeable price...so good in fact, that even an unemployed estranged family man like me is seriously considering it.

Any other questions you would like me to ask? I know you want photos, so I'll do my best to get some.

[IvanDias]

No, I`m not waving the you-know-what flag yet, but it is now sitting by the computer.

I am now officially ignoring this thread until I see a few decent photos of this car, and also some of an abandoned M5 that was kept in a pound for two years.

[JetBoy]

Calm down Ivan !

I know BigMac from other posts and I have no doubts about what he is saying. Another diferent story is what the owner of that car says.

[IvanDias]

Originally posted by JetBoy
I know BigMac from other posts and I have no doubts about what he is saying. Another diferent story is what the owner of that car says.

No offence intended to BigMac at all.


This is cruel but amusing...

[Calgary3.6]

Hmmm...


The pistons are made from stainless steel.


each back wheel has two disks.

Pictures please!!!

Anthony

[raymondw]

Hello BigMac,

Stainless steel piston's ?#@@^&!^& How on earth would you make them? Cast, CNC?

Regardless of the production problems, it would be dumb also. They are much heavier than forged Aluminium pistons and will not perform well. Also, a steel piston on a cast iron cylinderwall will play havoc with the cylinderwalls. This is asking for trouble. This will not work at all.

The story of outperforming an E39 M5 is something I don't believe either. I am sorry to say, but like Ivan I simply believe this is just some cafe ferry-tale.

Oh BTW: How is your M5 doing. I have not heard from you for a long time.

Take care,

RAymond