B10 V8: Converting to manual?

[thomas v8]

Alpina answered the question. They didnt produce a manual B10 V8.

The M5 is everything manual the B10 isn't.

[Olly]

I'm surprised that Alpina didn't fit a manual 'box in the first place, and then offer the switchtronic as a (characteristicly expensive) option, given the car's sporting nature. Although I'm sure that internal politics probably intervened to avoid conflicting with the M5 too much.

Still I suppose the Switchtronic was pretty novel at the time and added to the exclusivity, although personally I think it suits drivers that prefer not to (or can't) change gear.

Shame. I think the 4.6V8 power and soundtrack mated with the excellent Alpina ride/ handling combo and a 6 speed manual would be as close to perfect as you could get for the money.

[thomas v8]

I'm surprised that Alpina didn't fit a manual 'box in the first place, and then offer the switchtronic as a (characteristicly expensive) option, given the car's sporting nature. Although I'm sure that internal politics probably intervened to avoid conflicting with the M5 too much.

Still I suppose the Switchtronic was pretty novel at the time and added to the exclusivity, although personally I think it suits drivers that prefer not to (or can't) change gear.

Shame. I think the 4.6V8 power and soundtrack mated with the excellent Alpina ride/ handling combo and a 6 speed manual would be as close to perfect as you could get for the money.

Sounds like you want a M5. You could have a 6 speed manual with a 5 litre engine, with 4 juicy pipes coming out the rear. Believe me changing gear in a M5 is cool but when the day becomes long and you get caught up in a .hit load of traffic, you would have loved to be in the B10 Switch-tronic

[Olly]

I know what you're saying Thomas. An M5 was the original plan, until my car was offered for sale

I see you have owned both: two different cars I know, but how do they compare?

M5 would be the easy way out. But there's so much to like about the Alpina, and I really do like individual stuff, not to mention the odd little project..

Phoning a "man who can" tomorrow for a chat.

[neil]

I preferred my B10 3.3 to my e39 M5

I never quite got over the feeling that the clutch wasn't up to it in the M5 - probably as it needed a new one after only 22k miles.

Apart from that the B10 had spoilt me with proper steering and the recirculating ball on the M5 just felt numb in comparison.

The M5 is a hell of a car but never truely won me over like the B10 (albeit 3.3) did

[thomas v8]

I preferred my B10 3.3 to my e39 M5

I never quite got over the feeling that the clutch wasn't up to it in the M5 - probably as it needed a new one after only 22k miles.

Apart from that the B10 had spoilt me with proper steering and the recirculating ball on the M5 just felt numb in comparison.

The M5 is a hell of a car but never truely won me over like the B10 (albeit 3.3) did

I Have to agree with you Neil. The m5 never done it for me, nothing like the b10 does. Apart from the obvious e;g manual , auto, the whole experiance is different. At the end of the day its just a matter of what you want from a car. In a nut shell the m5 is raw, sporty, and needs to be taken buy the scruff of the neck to achieve it true potential.. Where as
the B10 is so refined, and just glides along without any strain, but with the touch of a button can be a true BEAST. I think you know which i prefer

[simon13]

M5's are an animal and one of the M power engines with some locked up BHP in them. Exhaust manifolds,100 cell cats and remaps get some more ponies out. I know that the flywheel on them is a massive 23kgs. This is stupid heavy. If you could get one in there half the weight it would make a massive difference on the road i'm sure.

It's strange as this engine makes 80bhp per litre roughly and we know bmw can get over 100 per litre on V10's and straight 6's so you know the power is in that lump somewhere to say get 90 per litre.

Olly make sure when you talk to your man about the conversion a lightened flywheel is mentioned. There won't be any downsides, and it's a myth about losing torque and all the other rubbish banded about them

I'd love a B10 manual, go for it!

[Olly]

Done a little research now. The conversion is entirely possible, and the general concensus would be to have 2 complete cars side by side and use a 540i as a parts bin until the Alpina is finished, and then turn the rest of the 540i into cash by breaking it.

Apparently the oily bits should would be fine, with work needed in fitting clutch, flywheel, gearbox, trim, pedal box, propshaft, and probably final drive. But the ECU work would be a headache, and probably be costly and potentially unreliable.

The cost is only money, and £2-3k should sort it. But it was agreed that it would probably be easier and a lot more cost effective to just tweak a couple of grand's worth of 540i and turn it into a bullshit Alpina, rather than carve up a good B10. The finished car would be worth nothing more than a bona fide B10v8 anyway, and to be honest, I had a little thrash coming home last night and am getting used to the Swithtronic more and more.

Still like the idea though. Maybe it's viable once the B10 is worth only a couple of grand and a 540i is buttons (so probably the end of the year then ), when I would probably have a go at it myself in the garage. We will see. And in any case, I've a couple of projects to finish first...

[Simonal]

Probably a good idea.

Although I know that switchtronic is a different concept it only takes a quick intercity blast to realise the great benefit of the system.

Where you get to enjoy the flexability of having an auto in the traffic jam but when the road clears then it is back to play time and then you have almost as much control as a manual

[Chas]

Shame. I think the 4.6V8 power and soundtrack mated with the excellent Alpina ride/ handling combo and a 6 speed manual would be as close to perfect as you could get for the money.

This does exist, but it's in an E36 shell and is LHD only However you can get it in coupe, saloon or Touring versions...

[neil]

lol Chaz - I never thought of that ! I only bl**dy drive one !

it's available in cab form too !

[ramius665]

Resurrecting this thread as my introduction to the Forum.

I have a 1999 B10 V8 Touring (#171) that will become a manual transmission next week. The switchtronic transmission started to die and if I was going to spend a couple grand in repair costs, I decided I wanted a proper row-your-own feeling to go with it.

With the exception of the transmission itself and the driveshaft, everything else is new from BMW. More expensive than going with used bits, but also guarantees it will last well into the future. Unfortunately the transmissions have become quite rare compared to even a few years ago so sourcing one proved to be a bit difficult. Otherwise, every other part is readily available in BMW's parts system.

As mentioned above, the only complications come from the Alpina-specific computers. I was able to find a tuner in the U.S. with deep experience tuning E39s and after remotely providing him with my Alpina DME tuning file, received a modified 540i tune with the Alpina fuel and ignition maps. With the DME tuning solved, the coding for the other modules is straightforward, and the mechanical conversion is equally uncomplicated.

[AG]

Also to add the obvious, how would any conversion affect the cars value when complete? Negative or positive when you look at the demographic and type of person who typically buy these cars.

[ramius665]

I think the value at this point is relative to the prospective owner. If I could have found a B10 V8 Touring with a stick, I would have bought it, all other things being equal. I’ll be importing this car back to the U.S. soon, and it will likely be the first B10 V8 Touring in the States so the value is debatable.

If I were a prospective buyer, I would be more concerned with the work quality and the approach of the techs who did the conversion. It’s the small things that demonstrate a proper approach, like using proper new wiring with correct BMW terminals instead of cutting and crimping existing wiring. I’ll be replacing the transmission wiring harness with the factory manual harness as well, so this will be as close to perfect as possible.

At the end of the day, these cars are around 25 years old, they’ve depreciated as much as they are going to, and the survivors are going to increase in value as long as they’re drivable. I’ve watched the same thing in the Porsche arena with similarly vintage cars, and the market has gotten crazy.

[simon13]

Is it a right hand drive car your taking over? Theres alot more 6 speed boxes in america than UK!