[tfung]

I just had a pretty wild idea... I wonder if any of the German tuners like ACS or Hamann has done a E46 conversion and dropped in an M5 engine. I remember seeing Hamann having a V12 in the old E36, so I think it should be possible to fit an V8 into the E46.
The weight of the aluminum V8 should not be that much heavier than iron block I6.
Anyone care to comment on the feasibility of the end-product? I personally think that the car would have the nimble handling characteristics of the E46 while having the power and smoothness of the M5 engine.

 

[alpywhite]

...already been DONE, my friend...

http://www.hartge.de/english/3er_coupe/3er_coupe.html

Alps

 

[bobafett]

Weight, err, wait. There's no loss of weight here? What's the 0-60 time being limited by. It's the same as the M5, which doesn't make a WHOLE lot of sense. Im sure the weight diff b/w the M5 and the E46 isn't huge, but it should be SOMETING, esp. if Hartge is using lighter wheels, etc.

--Dan

 

[MAH]

Speaking of lighter wheels. It appears to me that when I changed the wheels out that the car seems to have a bit more punch than before. It already had a very good kick, but now it is even better! I have not timed it yet, but I will very soon.

What do you know, better looking wheels(IMHO), easier to keep clean, they don't show the dust as easily and are lighter in weight for better acceleration. COOL

They are the AC Schnitzer type III two piece wheels.

 

[Tom]

Bobafett, 0-100 kph (not 0-60 mph) time of 4.7 sec in european standards is not the same as the M5. Remember that here in Europe 0-100 kph official time of the M5 is 5.3 SEC.
So that's 0.6 sec better.

In another words, this E46 would perform a 4.2 sec in US standards.

 

[JEM]

Comment #1: I've seen various 'official' numbers floating around, some numbers say 0-60 in 4.8sec and some say 0-100kph in 5.3sec, it certainly does not take half a second to get the extra 2mph, so one tends to think different pieces of the organization are pitching different numbers for differing reasons.

Comment #2: I'm not sure what the difference in wheel weight is between the OEMs and the Schnitzers, I can't imagine the OEM wheels being crappy-Neeper-aftermarket heavy.

But yes, reducing the rotating mass can result in considerably more torque getting to the road, I've seen dyno tests where a 15lb reduction in wheel/tire weight resulted in a 20HP increase in dyno-measured HP.

 

[dave]

Torque=I*a; Where I is the rotational inertia and a is the angular acceleration (should be alpha, but I couldn't find the greek font). Reducing wheel mass does not increase the torque, it can increase the angular acceleration by reducing the rotating mass.