Did Alpina change the V8 in the F10/F11 B5 (and other Alpinas?) when BMW changed it in BMWs?

[rs10]

I understand the 4.4 liter V8 in the F10 and F11 B5, and probably other Alpinas, was a version of the engine in the BM# 550i. The BMW 550i and at least one other BMW switched from the N63 engine to the N63tu. With the 550i, it was with the facelift / LCI change, starting in model year '14. Does anyone know if the Alpina B5 (and any other, contemporary 4.4 liter V8 Alpinas) made the same switch, and if so, when?

Thanks for any insight into this!

[Grumpyjohn1957]

Have a look here, you might gleen some information.

https://thealpinaregister.com/forums/vi ... ts#p207655

Potted history of the N63 below.
First generation of the N63 engine (N63B44O0) was produced from 2008 to 2014, and was used in models such as the 550i, 650i, 750i, X5 xDrive50i and X6 xDrive50i.
The second generation of the N63TU engine (N63B44O1) was produced from 2014 to 2019 and was used in models such as the F01/F02 750i, F07 550i GT, F10 550i, F15 X5, F16 X6, F06/F12/F13 650i.
A technical update N63TU2 (N63B44O2) arrived in 2016 and was used in the G11/G12 750i and in the G30/G31 M550i (possibly not in the F1x cars)
In 2018, a new update: N63TU3 (N63B44M3) powered the G05 X5 and G07 X7. The last update is called the N63B44T3 (N63TU3) and powers the following models:
• 2018– G14/G15/G16 M850i xDrive
• 2019-2022; G11/G12 750i/750Li sDrive/xDrive
• 2020-2023; G30/G31 M550i xDrive
• 2020-2023; G05 X5 M50i
• 2020-2023; G06 X6 M50i
• 2020-2022; G07 X7 M50i
• 2021– G14/G15/G16 Alpina B8 Gran Coupe
• 2022– Land Rover Range Rover (L460)
• 2022– Land Rover Range Rover Sport (L461)
In G series cars built up to September 2018 the engine is based on that of the 550i/750i using the TU2 (I think my 2021 replacement engine is the TU3 variant) Exactly what engine mods Alpina make I cannot be definitive, pistons, turbos, air intake parts and some exhaust parts show as Alpina only part numbers. Chasing BMW part numbers back using realloem shows the bulk of engine components are derived from the 550i – but not all!
I can’t answer your F series car question definitely. Hopefully the potted history above might give a clue. Alpina seem to bring out their models some months after a bmw model launch. The last of the F series cars where I’ve actually looked appear to have the same engine as early G series.
I maybe wrong, someone here will surely know the definitive answer!

[rs10]

Thanks, very helpful!

I opened the F10/11 parts lists on the link you posted and found that for the original F10/11 B5, the base engine was the "N63B44A (O0)", whereas the post LCI version, it was the "N63B44B (O1)". So it seems the post facelift car did indeed switch to a version of the N63tu (for which the long name is apparently N63B44O1).

I also found a set of Alpina engine model codes for F10 and F11 B5s:
--the original F10/11 used the 500 bhp M1 engine
--the post LCI version used the 532 bhp M1/1 engine from 2012 to 2014 (I believe this means starting model-year '13 - that's sooner than the BMW F10/F11 switched, but other BMWs did switch model-year '13.)
--then from 2015, the edition 50 and the 2016-on model year B5's used the 591 bhp M2/2 engine

As with the N63Btu, the valvetronic system was also added to the M1/1 (the first post LCI / facelift engine).