[pratt]

BMW Car magazine (August 2000, pages 22-26) has an article on a 500 bhp E39 M5. Nowack tuners (Germany) modified the car by first adding to intake hoses and free-flow air filters. Second, they lowered the charge intake pressure by coating the underside of the pancake airbox in reflective material to drop the intake air temp. by 24 degrees (20 bhp gain). Third they added to pairs of race-style exhaust headers with long primaries, which meet collectors just before a pair of free flowing metal catalyst (would this pass emissions testing in U.S.?). They also constucted 80mm diameter outlet pipes. Lastly, the cylinder heads were ported, and valves and seats reprofiled. Performance jumped to 503 bhp at 7700rpm with 465lb of torque at 3400 rpm.

My question is why can't these modifications be done by U.S. tuners (ie. Dinan or Hennessey). Dinan's website states that they can't extract any more hp from the engine, and I believe Hennessey's mods. are only good for 25-50bhp more.

 

[kgodfrey]

Odd that Dinans website states that. The latest Roundel says they are working on a 550-600 hp M5

 

[pratt]

spelling error in original message: seats should read seals

 

[pratt]

Dinan's website, under software upgrades, states there is no more hp to extract from the engine. Given the Roundel statement this must be in regards to software mods only. A 600 bhp E39 would be awesome, and I hope it comes to pass

 

[tfung]

I think they're using a supercharger to get 600hp out of the E39 M5. Can't be done without a supercharger or turbo

 

[alpywhite]

200 HP sounds like about 7-8 pounds of boost...realistic...

 

[pratt]

The impressive thing about Nowacks M5 was that the 100 bhp increase was done without supercharging. The article stated the car was capable of 2oomph and did 0-60mph in 4.5 seconds.

 

[bobafett]

There's a whole thing about the Nowack M5 if you read the journey Gustav took (form the main page of the website). 11 pages, and well worth the read. Full of cool pictures, etc.

--Dan