BMW V8 powered T

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Mykk

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 1, 2018
Messages
84
Location
Prescott Az
Heya guys, here's a few pics of a current project. It's a total sacrilege build, It won't be clean enough to be a hot rod yet not traditional rat as it'll have a german drivetrain, fiberglass body and EFI. For lack of a better description it's a T-bucket I want to build with the means I have available and in my budget

Let's start with the engine, it's what I started building long before I had the idea for a T.

Late 90's BMW 4.4L (M62B44) short block:



Also picked up an early 90's 4.0L (M60B40) to donate it's heads, cams, timing covers (for obd1 sensors) and misc hardware:



Measuring piston height of the 4.4L M62, the pistons sit +.025: above deck and have a slight dish to them. I've measured roughly 4cc of dish.





4.0L heads back from the machine shop for mill & rebuild:





Measured 52cc of chamber volume. Using a 1.74mm MLS head gasket I've calculated roughly 9.6:1 static compression



Setting up cam timings:











Measured a 211° Int & 206° Exh durations @ .1mm, using the cam timing blocks pictured above ICL was 108° and LSA also 108°. I've set the cams up for a 110 ICL° and 112° LSA to help take advantage of the belt driven intake manifold:





The supercharger is an Eaton M112 from a late 90's Jaguar. Using the jaguar water-air intercoolers and injection sitting on adapters to bolt down to the BMW heads.

The supercharger needed minor modification to fit the BMW:









Of course what supercharger wouldn't be complete without nitrous:



 
For the transmission I'm going to use a Getrag 420G 6spd manual from a donor mind 90's BMW 5 series.



Also plan to also use the driveshaft (modified), mounts and as many bit's and components as possible.
 
The rear end will be this mid 70's Jaguar independant rear. It's an 3.31 ratio open carrier. I don't mind the open carrier so much on a light weight vehicle that will have fat rear tires and skinny fronts.



Tooth count ID tag:



Polished Dana44 diff cover fits the salisbury unit:

 
A few body pieces have come in. Speedway Motors standard '23 T body, custom top and a repro '32 Ford grill:



The top will be hindged at the rear to get in and out and even removable.



Of course I couldn't resist:

 
The engine management of choice is a universal opensource D.I.Y. platform called Speeduino. It uses an Arduino Mega2560 controller. The most appealing point is the cost, I put together my complete efi system for sub $300.



I've had the system running on the naturally aspirated BMW v8 in that 90's 5 series and will wire it up and use it on the supercharged v8. Speeduinos builkt in MAP sensor is good up to 21psi of boost



On my previous install I used two waste spark ign coils, an MSD DIS-4 and made ignition leads.



On the new build I'll keep the coil on plug but run two MSD DIS-4's

Speeduino has four injector outputs and four ignition logic outputs (5v), it can directly drive the injectors but needs control modules for the ignition coils. As I also learned, MSD boxes can't trigger on logic 5v and needed a module to changed +5v to triggered ground. Injectors are wired in Semi-sequential and ignition is waste spark

On a V8 to run on 4 channels you pair up the cylinders that are 360° apart. Taking a look at my M62 short block you can see cyl's 1 & 6 (BMW uses Ford cylinder numbering) are at TDC at the same time.



2&8:



....etc. So waste spark wiring would be pairing cyl's 1&6, 2&8, 3&5, 4&7. The Speeduino fires it's four channels in order sequentially so it's up to the end user to match it to the engines firing order. BMW v8's of this era have a firing order 1-5-4-8-6-3-7-2. So Channel 1 would cyls 1&6, Channel 2 - 3&5, Channel 3 - 4&7, Channel 4 - 2&8.

Speeduino uses TunerStudioMS software, same as Megasquirt. But it's a different firmware so it has different control tables. However some of the features translate over like the feature that will build you a base VE map depending on engine specs and then once it's running there is a really cool feature that will tune the VE table (fueling) for you based on wideband O2 input.



You also program the system to recognize the sensors already on the engine and the trigger wheel pattern.

We the tuner also get to choose Speed Density algorithm (MAP vs RPM), Alpha-N (TPS vs RPM) or Imap/Emap that calculates load based on intake manifold pressure vs exhaust pressure. I'm thinking of experimenting with Imap/Emap on the supercharged engine.

Here's a short video of it up and running on the BMW v8 that was in the car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRjPw6jeFoU
 
So your and electrical engineer then Mykk...i'm feeling a little dizzy right now. Awesome tech.

Only to the extent that I need to be to work on cars. Before installing the standalone EFI I taught myself how to read and modify the BMW Bosch Motronic hex code on the EEPROM and make changes to the code to get ignition timing, fueling and peripherals where I wanted them to be. That was one of the more taxing ventures and I was feeling quite accomplished by the end of that journey.









I also have a side biz up here that I read, modify and flash OBDII GM/Chevy tunes. Mostly do alot of Silverados, Corvettes and modern drivetrain transplants into older sheet metal.



In the world of automotive I tend to do things backwards. I had a 2004 Silverado that I built and swapped a carbureted SBC, now that I'm doing a hot rod rat build it's getting EFI euro engine
 
I've been naming project cars for a few years, I had Apollo a SAAB 900SE, Ares is the BMW 540i. Since the new T bucket build uses the drivetrain and parts from Ares I was thinking of the name Osiris; the Eqyptian god of the dead, underworld and rebirth.

Osiris is portrayed with green skin as a symbol of rebirth, so I was thinking of painting the bucket & grill shell in a flat dark military gray/green
 
No, he must be a Code Monkey. Supposedly the BMW code is the hardest auto code to crack. :eek:

Toad

I had no previous code experience. My education is in Automotive tech, I've worked as a wrench in shops. I've managed shops and parts stores, and I've been the service manager of a large shop. Right now, of all things, I've landed in skin care working for a small company bottling the products and pulling & shipping the orders out. It's actually a really good gig and is treating me better then automotive ever had. Cars by far make a better hobby then a career.

I also play bass in so many bands I've lost count. Some well known, most not.
 
Some people just have the talent, without the training.

Hey Mykk, any suggestions for my Ecoboost V6? :)
 
Some people just have the talent, without the training.

Hey Mykk, any suggestions for my Ecoboost V6? :)

I don't have experience with Ford systems, I went on tour through texas in an ecoboost v6 expedition that hauled serious ass even loaded down with the equipment trailer & dudes. I know HPtuners supports ecoboost stuff now so I'd imagine a tuned original ECM would be the way to go.
 

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