S62 E30 AWD (Formerly: Fantastic V8 swap candidate)

[The Dark Side of Will]

Extra set of heads, extra set of throttles, extra oil pump and other spares...

You know, just in case I ever have $5200 lying around for a set of Dinan ported throttles or find $5900 in the couch cushions for a Bavarian Solutions cylinder head package.

[CincinnatiFiero]

I'd buy a whole E39 M5 and pocket 6 months of my life. Personally.

[The Dark Side of Will]

It's tempting. They're under $20K...

The used car lot across the street from my parents' house has a C6 ZO6...

[Aaron]

But then you'd look like a huge douche. Because you cannot own a Corvette and not look like a huge douche.

[Atilla the Fun]

But then you'd look like a huge douche. Because you cannot own a Corvette and not look like a huge douche.

Maybe you can't. But my 80-year-old father could.

[Aaron]

No, it is impossible. Every guy driving a Corvette looks like a huge douche.

There are some limitations though. The Corvette must be a C4 or newer, because otherwise it's a classic. Driving a classic Corvette does not make you look like a douche at all. But other than that, it's hopeless, you will look like a huge douche. There's no amount of cylinders, clutches, carbon fiber, or horsepower that can hide that.

[Atilla the Fun]

Like my dad would get in any 'vette not built with chrome bumpers. That means pre-'73.

[jelly2m81]

Damn, glad I sold my Vette, now I don't look like a huge Douche anymore!

[Indy]

Says who?

[The Dark Side of Will]

No, it is impossible. Every guy driving a Corvette looks like a huge douche.

There are some limitations though. The Corvette must be a C4 or newer, because otherwise it's a classic. Driving a classic Corvette does not make you look like a douche at all. But other than that, it's hopeless, you will look like a huge douche. There's no amount of cylinders, clutches, carbon fiber, or horsepower that can hide that.

I'd grab headers, cam and tune and be perfectly OK with being a huge douche having command of 500 RWHP. In a 3100# car that'll outgo the mighty SL65, especially above 155 mph...

[Emc209i]

But then you'd look like a huge douche. Because you cannot own a Corvette and not look like a huge douche.

Maybe you can't. But my 80-year-old father could.

Jesus christ... You're older than I thought... Time to move out?

Huge douche's are in - or was it a turd sammich? Newer Vette's are the way to go; reliable (well engineered), classic good looks, and competitive. I really like the 2010 Gran Sport. But if it were an older C6, I'd rather coin a C5, I prefer curves. Either way, good choice.

[crzyone]

C5 ZO6 here as well. They are cheap to buy these days and huge bang for buck.

[The Dark Side of Will]

what's wrong with being a douche, anyway?

Douches do a good bit of work inside vaginas.

[The Dark Side of Will]

As you can see from this photo:
the valley of your basic BMW M62 V8 is a pretty boring place.

Not so the S62:



Callouts for all the stuff:



The Front:



Callouts for more stuff:

[The Dark Side of Will]

One of the things that impresses me the most about this engine (and BMW M engines in general) is the coolant return metering pipes.

On a conventional SBC, the waterpump pushes coolant into the front of the block. The water flows out the front of the cylinder heads through passages in the intake manifold. With a production manifold, extended time at WOT (ie, racing use) can overheat the engine due to limited circulation to the rear cylinders. Racers frequently drill and tap holes for pipe connections with hose barbs in the intake manifold over the rear cylinder head water outlets in order to improve coolant circulation to the rear cylinders and avoid the problem.

BMW Motorsport engineered good coolant circulation into the engine right off the showroom floor. BMW M engines have different coolant flow patterns than the regular production engines on which they are based.
The Motorsport engines push coolant into the exhaust side of the block, where it flows up to the exhaust side of the cylinder head, across the top of the chamber to the intake side of the head and down to the intake side of the block. With this pattern, the hottest portions of the block and head see the coolant first, leading to more uniform temperatures throughout any one cylinder.
The coolant return metering pipes (my terminology) allow water to flow out of each cylinder equally, ensuring that all cylinders run at the same temperature. This allows a higher state of tune because timing, compression and detonation limits aren't set by the one cylinder that runs hotter than the others.

It also has piston cooling oil jets that operate when oil pressure (a function of RPM) climbs above a specific threshold. It also has valves operated by the DME based on data from the stability control which selectively route one of the oil pump's dual pickups to the outer bank cam cover in high G turns.

In its day it was quite a feat. It's still no slouch.

[CincinnatiFiero]

No, it is impossible. Every guy driving a Corvette looks like a huge douche.

There are some limitations though. The Corvette must be a C4 or newer, because otherwise it's a classic. Driving a classic Corvette does not make you look like a douche at all. But other than that, it's hopeless, you will look like a huge douche. There's no amount of cylinders, clutches, carbon fiber, or horsepower that can hide that.

I'd grab headers, cam and tune and be perfectly OK with being a huge douche having command of 500 RWHP. In a 3100# car that'll outgo the mighty SL65, especially above 155 mph...

Will, you of all people should understand thats such a corvette owners comparison. Have you ever ridden in a Corvette? Have you ever ridden in an SL? Corvettes are a big honking engine strapped to a rail. It works, and its cheap but thats about all it is. The SL65 is a marvel of modern engineering and technology, galactic power, extreme comfort, and unstoppable sex appeal. SL65 would get non-stop poon, the Corvette would pick up hot ex-show girls in their early 50s named Candi with an i, and bleach blonde hair and a "Hustler" T hung over some mexican fake titties. A nearly $200,000 luxury supercar doesn't bare comparing to the working mans sports car brought to you by the people who gave us the Cavalier. Raw numbers on paper isn't really the discussion at hand.

Plus, chip the SL and you can make nearly 900ft/lbs of torque.

This is like the turbo fiero compared to NSX conversation.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Way to miss my A a r o n joke

Ok, the auto-replace is getting old.

[CincinnatiFiero]

Fuck!

Well, on a related note, my friend just sold his '06 SL600 twin turbo V12, essentially a dialed down SL65, but I think its a 5.8L V12 instead of a 6.0L (SL65). He had bigger air/waters, bigger heat exchanger, cat-less down pipes, exhaust, intakes, and a chip and was making quite a bit of power. He had a dyno showing 1000rwhp, but he deemed that wrong. I think the final estimate was around 700wheel. It was faster than a murcielago on the highway pulls. You can pick up an SL600 for like $40k now...

[The Dark Side of Will]

No, it is impossible. Every guy driving a Corvette looks like a huge douche.

There are some limitations though. The Corvette must be a C4 or newer, because otherwise it's a classic.

I dunno about that... the "Hatchback glass" C3's pretty much started the gold chain stereotype. I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those... or any C4 except the ZR1.

Chrome bumper C3's (vertical rear glass) are nice and still have some leftover '60's snazz.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Fuck!

Well, on a related note, my friend just sold his '06 SL600 twin turbo V12, essentially a dialed down SL65, but I think its a 5.8L V12 instead of a 6.0L (SL65). He had bigger air/waters, bigger heat exchanger, cat-less down pipes, exhaust, intakes, and a chip and was making quite a bit of power. He had a dyno showing 1000rwhp, but he deemed that wrong. I think the final estimate was around 700wheel. It was faster than a murcielago on the highway pulls. You can pick up an SL600 for like $40k now...

I started looking up info on Mercedes V12's (thanks for the inspiration ). I didn't realize that the M120 was 6 litres and nearly 400 HP all the way back to '92ish. There's one from a '95 S600SEL for $1800 just a couple of hours away. Unlike the BMW V12, the Mercs are DOHC 4V.