MyE28.com

In 2010, I purchased a 1987 535is from Brian Witcowski in South Carolina with the intention of using it as my daily driver. Over the past 8 years, my
son and I have converted the car to a 745i Turbo system after rebuilding the engine with Ireland Engineering forged pistons, proper cam, Head rebuild by VAC, custom intake manifold, intercooler, piping and 3" custom stainless exhaust system. The engine is using a modern programable ECU and custom wiring harness. The engine has recorded 330 HP with modest boost and should generate more power when the boost is increased. The car drives like no other 535 I have owned or driven. Better than an M5. I will post pictures of the car and engine bay when I figure out how to do this.

Here are some photos. ECU is a Link Atom using 2 fuel outputs and distributor, same as the Motronic.

Looks nice. A lot of engine work and such, but did you have the KKK turbo rebuilt with TCD internals for more modern performance? Looks like a lot of work that's been done!

Nice work.
Any noise from the rubber bushing between the exhaust and the rear subframe?
How did you get the wastegate to fit? I couldn't get mine to fit.

Thanks tshultz. It's a stock M106 K27 now. I have a spare gtx3576 and gtx3582 which we can use in the future but for now we just wanted to get it running similar to how a B6 ran back in the day! I think the 3576 with a 1.01 housing would be perfect for this cylinder head...excited to implement it at some point. It's still on stock rods but has coated rod bearings and Ross pistons. I think 350whp is the most I'd want to run on the rods.

demetk, no noise as of yet. I've done similar setups on a lot of street cars in the past without issues. There are Bellows isolating the front section and rear muffler section which are mounted in a more solid way.
I had to trim the gussets that runs from the spring perch to the frame rail. I figured with a tower brace in there it wouldn't be an issue. If it is an issue, I guess I could run a tube from the tower down forward or after of the gate.

Looks great! I'm sure we all appreciate how much work that represents.

That’s an interesting intake design.

Fab work looks nice. Two thumbs up.

Looks awesome. The stock k27 is a real disservice to such a great build. I don't know how you squeezed 330rwhp out of the 46mm compressor wheel.

George wrote:That’s an interesting intake design.

Fab work looks nice. Two thumbs up.

It's a Lehmann design dual plenum. I've made a number of them but this is the first 6 cyl. I'm excited to get it back on the Dyno.

240rsMaxi wrote:

George wrote:That’s an interesting intake design.

Fab work looks nice. Two thumbs up.

It's a Lehmann design dual plenum. I've made a number of them but this is the first 6 cyl. I'm excited to get it back on the Dyno.

I'm curious on details of design/flow/functionality/theory on the intake. Can you elaborate? It's not a short runner, so I'd imagine this one retains low end torque like the stock manifold.

we need someone to make a manifold for the m30 we need one so bad
they all fall on their face about 6k

1977 BMW 3.0 CSL Alpina Tribute Car

In August 2019, I purchased the 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL Group 2 track car that was auctioned on BAT in December 2018. The car did not meet the reserve price, but I was finally able to track down the owner in Florida.

This is one of very few period correct racing CSL Batmobile replicas in this country. Mechanically the car was in excellent shape with a European M88 24 valve race prepared engine with a Metric Mechanic rally head, cams, and competition pistons and connecting rods which had been recently rebuilt by the original owner. My son has installed a modern LIFE RACING computer control system, individual coils, and a modern dash display for track use, as well as building a custom wiring harness for the car. He has also fabricated a custom twin pipe side exhaust system replicating the system in the 1975 Sebring winning factory prepared BMW 3.0 CSL models, which provides the sound unique to these competition models. The car already had a Euro competition exhaust manifold which has been ceramic coated by Swain Technologies.

When I purchased the car in Florida, it was immediately apparent that the paint and decals were 15 years old and very tired, but the body was totally rust free and had an excellent roll cage. I have repainted the car dark green to replicate the unique 1977 Gosser Beer BMW Alpina CSL race car with appropriate Alpina decals. The car has BBS two piece wheels, 10.5 x 17 in front and 12.5 x 18 in the rear. I have fitted Toyo R888R race tires for track use at Watkins Glen and Lime Rock. I have also installed an OMP full containment race seat and a Schroth six point harness, as well as a new fire suppression system and Fuel Safe fuel cell. The car had a competition duel pump fuel delivery system.

My first BMW was an 1800 TI purchased in Munich in 1965, and I have also owned four 535 models and a 635 over the years. My current 1987 535 has an Alpina B7 turbo system installed by my son with a custom fabricated aluminum long tube intake manifold, a VAC prepared head and Ireland Engineering cam and pistons described in this entry.

Owning a race prepared CSL has been a long term goal since I saw them win the Sebring 12 hour race in 1975, and the purchase of this CSL tribute car is more than I could have hoped for. With 300HP and a curb weight of 2500 pounds, and modern Wilwood disc brakes and Bilstein shocks, this car performs as well as the historic 1975 Group 4 factory prepared BMW CSL models did in the US IMSA series. It is a joy to drive at Watkins Glen and Lime Rock, which I anticipate doing for many more years.

I wanted a 3.0 widebody, when I found my 635 euro.
Back in 74 ( I was 18) I snuck from the paddock into the pits early before the 6 hours of the glen began. I sat quietly on the back wall as crews moved in and setup. I was in the bmw pit, and I sat there as UOP black jackets were piled on the wall beside me (man I was tempted), but I sat there and watched the whole race from the pits. I can remember the batmobiles coming in for fuel and brake pads. I couldn't see that much of the race, but I saw everything that went on in the pits. I've been a bmw and 3.0 fan ever since

The Alpina Gosser Beer 3.0 CSL has always been my favorite. It was the only CSL painted dark green and had the most wins of all CSls when it competed in Europe from 1977 to 1979. The details on my CSL can be found in the BMW E9 Coupe Forum site under the restorations section. You can also find on UTUBE ( under BMW Gosser Beer CSL) a dyno run and a seven minute video of my son doing several fast laps at Watkins Glen last July. The car is set up to allow tuning from a remote location. When we were at Watkins Glen, a professional tuner who is familiar with the M88 engine and the LIFE Racing computer helped my son tune the car between sessions, and they added about 50 horsepower to the engine during the two days.

Marc

Your comment about your experience at the Glen in 1974 brings back memories of my experience at Sebring in 1965. I drove down to Sebring from Boston in an Austin Healey 3000 and spent 5 days at Sebring at age 20 helping the Delmo Johnson Corvette Grand Sport team. This was the race with the torrential downpour and the massive Cobra effort with the Daytona Coupe and the GT40. BMW raced their new 1800TISA in the 4 hour race on Friday and that was where I decided to have a friend buy a 1800TI in Munich for me after I totaled the Healey in June . I should have kept the 1800TI since they are worth a fortune today. Of course, I could also have purchased a Shelby Daytona Coupe for $8,000 or a 250 GTO Ferrari for the same amount in 1966. The CSL has been a dream car in the past year and I am even more impressed today with how well this race car performs. However, it is hard to believe that drivers like Hans Stuck and Brian Redman were able to drive the CSLs for seven of the 12 hours of Sebring or the 24 hours of Daytona and Nurburgring.

Yeah, It's crazy to think buying muscle cars in the 60-70s, would have been a great investment. I have a pic of a 3.0 widebody in my garage for inspiration. I'll go on youtube and check out your car!

My son Bill entered the BMW in the GRIDLIFE time attack event at Lime Rock which had some of the best time attack and drift cars from all over the country including several from California and Texas. The CSL was one of the few vintage cars competing and was the oldest car there. The first day Bill recorded a lap time of 1:02.89 which was without pushing the car. During the first session on the second day the car experienced a broken valve spring and bent valve which ended his competition. Although the main attraction was Asian turbo charged time attack cars and some of the top drift cars running the full Lime Rock track for the first time, the Gosser Beer CSL attracted a great deal of attention from most of the crowd, most of whom had never seen a competition prepared CSL before. We plan to return next year for the GRIDLIFE event. October 1-2 we will trailer the car to Road America in Wisconsin for the BMW Octoberfest event.

GRIDLIFE filmed the entire two day event and it is available on Utube. During the Friday first time attack session, my BMW CSL has an eight minute action video beginning at 58 minutes with video from multiple cameras and drones. Famous photographer Larry Chen and his team spent the two days filming many of the cars and doing video interviews with competitors. He did a 30 minute interview with Bill and me where we discussed the CSL and Larry filmed the car from all angles. It will be on his Utube site soon.