BMW V8 engine

[marksimon]

Does anyone have experiences of or opinions on putting a BMW V8 out of a 540 into a lightweight front engined sportscar?

I have been offered a BMW 540 4.4 engine for approx £600. On the face of it, this engine will offer better performance and reliability than a Rover V8, for not much extra cash.

I am wishing to know the main difficulties associated with attempting to put this engine into a obra type vehicle. Can anyone advise of the best gearbox, or would a Cosworth Borg Warner type 9 suit? Whst bis the best way to arrange the fuelling and ignition - does one use an aftermarket injection and engine management system, or is it possible to adapt the BMW systems?

Any thoughts on using this engine would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Mark

[MOTORMAN377]

First ya have to learn another language, so when you swear at it, poor thing knows what you are saying.

After that it's on with the other bits....and a large supply of relaxers.

[grahambell]

Does anyone have experiences of or opinions on putting a BMW V8 out of a 540 into a lightweight front engined sportscar?

You mean like Morgan have done with the Aero 8?

Works well enough in that. Best gearbox option would be Getrag box as that's what BMW use so bellhousing will be an off the shelf part. As for fuel and ignition - I'd say you'd also need the wiring loom but can't offer any more help or advice on that aspect I'm afraid.

[350matt]

First off check it'll fit most modern 4-cam V8s are prett wide and tall whereas the old rover is actually reasonably compact.
For fuel and sparks I'd fit an aftermarket ECU as all the hardware is already there all you'd have to do is wire it up. If you were to pursue the BMW ECU route then it may cause problems with missing components , ignition key/ switch , gearbox ECU etc etc. So it'd probably be simpler to speak to Emerald, DTA et al and start from scratch.

Matt

[Bodo]

Can anyone advise of the best gearbox, or would a Cosworth Borg Warner type 9 suit?

That's a very nice engine! I've mostly driven automatic gearbox'd cars, but few times it had the 6sp. manual box, which is rare!

The 840i manual appears more powerful to me than than an 850i auto; and it's more economic anyway.

IIRC the BMW engine is fitted to DeTomaso Guara as well:


(Taken from www.carclassic.com/html/CE69.htm )

It's the earlier 4.0 though.

[marksimon]

Thanks for the response guys.
I'm glad to know it is meant to be a good engine.
I've no experience of aftermarket injection, so I suppose those companies such as EMerald may be able to advised.
I know I can get the engine to fit, but I've yet to find the manual gearbox that BMW use and take the necessary measurements to see if it fits. I guess a few phone calls to scrap dealers is what is required.

Regards.

Mark

[rv02oao]

Great Engine! My last 540 did 177,000 miles and was still great when I sold it. Manual gearboxes do wear out though! Have fun, sounds like a good project!