Rapid Transit BMW: Meet an Early 5-Series With a V8 Swap

Basic Beater

“Really, it’s been a sort of rolling laboratory,” Joe explains. He had the project in mind and spent a few years looking for the right donor chassis; he bought this particular example three years ago. Between the low miles, solid body and good interior, it seemed like a promising car.

After taking a detailed look, however, Joe discovered that the maintenance had been neglected. “I don’t think the last owner ever even changed the oil,” he explains. “We trailered it back and began going through it.”

Joe quickly yanked the original engine and transmission to get the planned swap underway. “The only real obstacles were the factory brake booster location and the worm-and-sector steering box,” he explains. “Once the box was replaced with a rack-and-pinion and a smaller brake booster was relocated upward and outward, there was now enough room to fit a big-block Chevy with room to spare.”

While he refers to the big block as a future project, his initial V8 isn’t exactly timid: He went with an all-aluminum, 427-cubic-inch small-block V8 that had originally been built for sprint car racing. Its previous owner was Steve Kinser, 20-time World of Outlaws champion and one of that sport’s biggest stars. Even though the Donovan engine was originally built to run on alcohol, it was redone so the BMW could survive on pump gas. The compression ratio is still a rather high 11.3:1, so the car isn’t exactly a slug.

“I’ve never raced it, but if you step on it, it had better be pointed in the direction you want to go because you’re going to get there really quickly,” Joe adds.

The rear of the car required more work than the front, he explains, as he needed a setup that would handle the huge increase in power. The result is a mix of European parts: a Series I Jaguar XKE differential that’s linked to Porsche 930 CV joints via custom shortened Summers Brothers 300M steel axles.

Joe also reinforced the sheet metal located above the differential, while he notched the trailing arms for increased tire clearance. He can now run wheels as large as 18x10 inches.

Sleeper Hold

Even though Joe has more than doubled the displacement and tripled the available horsepower, the swap actually shaved some 50 pounds off of the nose of the car. “You really can feel the improvements on the steering, braking and balance of the car,” he explains. “Now most of the weight is behind the front wheels, not upon and beyond it.”

And unlike so many hotrods, this BMW is civil. It sports a parking brake that works, while a custom Ron Davis radiator keeps everything cool. A CSR Performance Products electric water pump supplies the reverse-flow cooling system. Unlike traditional small-block V8s, this system feeds the heads first.

Joe’s car does have something in common with most hotrods: It’s still a work in progress. “We would work with a design or concept, put it together, and see how it worked,” he explains. “And if we didn’t like it, we’d do it over. If it worked, we’d take it apart and make it look right.”

The result is a sleeper that even tricks the hardcore BMW fanatics. Thanks to its later-model taillights, fenders and hood plus the Euro-spec bumpers and mirrors, the car looks newer than it is.

The real surprise comes when the hood is raised. “People are often shocked by what’s under the hood,” Joe says, “but no one has said anything negative about it. I think it’s because I used a car no one really cared about for the build. If I’d used a 2800 or 3.0 coupe, it probably wouldn’t be so well received.”