MyE28.com

I just discovered the V16 Goldfish engine from the E32 Prototype in the late 80s:



And also on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_Goldfish_V16

Am I the only one here who just figured this one out? Or am I late to the party. Or is it a hoax? Only seemed mentioned in one other post:

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?p=731863







Beamter- please move to Eye Candy if you think I mis-classed.

Couple more resources:

Actual scan of 6 page article in March 2009 BMWCar

Blog Post on BMWBlog

They coulda just stretched the nose a bit before iL's meant more rear seat legroom... people mighta bought into it.

i have seen it in the background of a few bmw museum pictures and videos, one of my favorite projects id like to think someone said "lets add a few more holes to this and see what happens"

408hp would have been quite impressive back in 1988...

Paging bmw4aaron!

Something for after the v12 swap??

slammin_e28 wrote:Paging bmw4aaron!

Something for after the v12 swap??

I am only doing a V12 swap just to do it. With the engines available these days, a 6cyl can do what a M70 12 cyl can do...and some. I feel if I did a swap like that, people (myself included) would ask "Why?" and I would have no good answer.

A V12 with a couple of snails could easily do what that 16cyl could do back then and would probably have cost a fraction of what they put into R&D for a 16cyl. I'm glad that car/engine was the only one made. What a waste.

Plus the only thing that would handle that engine would be a auto and that would be a damn shame.

bmw4aaron wrote:... Plus the only thing that would handle that engine would be a auto and that would be a damn shame.

I see three pedals in the brochure. They even talk about taking the 6-Speed Manual from the 8-series in the brochure. I also love the E23 Airbag in the steering wheel.

That thing begs to be in a low slung front mid-engined two seater.

Imagine a stretched Sebring MX with that under the hood.

A man can dream, I guess.

dj

rmiddendorf wrote:

bmw4aaron wrote:... Plus the only thing that would handle that engine would be a auto and that would be a damn shame.

I see three pedals in the brochure. They even talk about taking the 6-Speed Manual from the 8-series in the brochure. I also love the E23 Airbag in the steering wheel.

interesting....

Fron the Wiki:

Later it was installed in a modified long-based BMW 7-series (E32) and was mated with the 6-speed manual gearbox taken from BMW 8-series (E31

I just uncovered this as well and found it super interesting BMW did this. I like thinking about the engineers who worked on this. All the secret skunkwerks projects (including the ones I'm running right now ) I've been involved had really fun team cultures.

Yep, really cool engine/car.

Love the old prototypes! The old e23 745i prototype is also super cool.

In the beginning it was not intended as a Turbo car (m102/m106) but rather with an 4.5l v8. Made by mating to m10 engines, roughly explained

Probably would have been a touch better than the V8 Truimph put in the Stag.

The only 16 cylinder engine I have any desire to own is the one in the Cizeta.

cek wrote:I just uncovered this as well and found it super interesting BMW did this. I like thinking about the engineers who worked on this. All the secret skunkwerks projects (including the ones I'm running right now ) I've been involved had really fun team cultures.

For whatever reason, this makes me think of the Z3 based M Roadster. I've always imagined members of that Product Team really looked forward to coming in to work each day. That is based on absolutely no knowledge of course, but I like the idea of it.

The few times I was placed as Product Manager over a skunk works type project, upper management was never able to keep expectations in check - frustrating. The day-to-day was fantastic; it seemed to bring out the best in everyone involved.

There was an article in Roundel or Bimmer a couple of years ago that featured it.

Couple of years later BMW built another V16. But never went to production. Rowan Atkinson has one.

Cactus wrote:The only 16 cylinder engine I have any desire to own is the one in the Cizeta.

I have ridden in a Cizeta. And though it is underpowered by today's standards it sang like nothing else. The resonance of the exhaust form 16 cyliders was pretty amazing. Claudio Zampoli (sp) lives near by and has produced 3 or so cars locally on special commissions. He is now specializing in rebuilding vintage Lamborghini engines. He used to frequent cars n coffee with a red Marauder. What a symphony!!!

kzolee wrote:Couple of years later BMW built another V16. But never went to production. Rowan Atkinson has one.

In 2007 RR unveiled the "100EX" Ex stood for experimental not prototype indicating that their car workes and was not a model. It was a 2 door convertible later called a Phantom Drophead. It looked nothing like the V12 in the Phantom.

OcCoupe wrote:

Cactus wrote:The only 16 cylinder engine I have any desire to own is the one in the Cizeta.

I have ridden in a Cizeta. And though it is underpowered by today's standards it sang like nothing else. The resonance of the exhaust form 16 cyliders was pretty amazing. Claudio Zampoli (sp) lives near by and has produced 3 or so cars locally on special commissions. He is now specializing in rebuilding vintage Lamborghini engines. He used to frequent cars n coffee with a red Marauder. What a symphony!!!

It was more powerful than the Diablo till they came out with the 6.0L engine. It was always heavier than the Diablo, though. Who cares? You don't go racing in these things anyway, you show off and have a good time.

Maybe California isn't so bad if he lives there...