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Originally Posted by radiofrequency
I've always loved the 8 Series, the styling never seems to date and it's always a treat to see a well cared for vehicle of this vintage. It's hard to believe that this car was still running with the air filter in that condition! Great job on the steering wheel - and there is nothing like Leatherique to bring back leather from the dead. I second the suggestion to fit a period correct radio. Please keep posting your updates, it's a treat for all of us here.
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I thought one of my first changes would be swapping out the radio but the current head unit has blue tooth and a few other things that have been awesome on longer road trips. I hate the look of it but love the utility.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dackelone
Here are my 8 Series (two)stories...
We had Warren Brown from the Washington Post come speak to our car club back in 1990ish(in DC area). He told of how BMW AG flew him(and a bunch of other press guys) to Munich to test drive the new 850i. They got to drive some prototypes, but they had someone from BMW sitting shotgun. He drove the car on the Autobahn for an hour or so and was blown away at the car's performance. It was top in class. Then when they got back to HQ... the BMW engineer.... was so embarrassed that he forgot to show them the new sound system in the car! They apparently drove the whole hour or so with no tunes playing. THIS is what German cars are all about. Warren said he really did not see the point of having a radio in such a car. The Performance was why you were buying it!
Also soon at the 8er came out.... I was friend's with the guys over at AutoThority Performance(in Fairfax, Va).... one of the first companies to produce performance "chips" (software) for BMW's and Porsche. By that time they had already done the entire Porsche lineup and most of the BMW's. The 850i would be their crown. I remember the guys telling me a funny story how when they had the 8er on the dyno... plotting out the data... all of a sudden at 110 mph... ALL the windows started to "roll up" on their own! They had their data cables and a helper leaning inside the car when this happened! They told me it almost took his head off! lol Looking back now we all get a chuckle out of it. The 8er was the first BMW to use a CAS system where the car's wiring harness would send signals to the windows, the door locks, and other controls(etc)... all using the same wires. A ECU would prioritize the signals. Well... one of the things that ecu does is roll up all the windows at 110 mph! lol 
I believe it was BMW intention to make/call the 850i project an M8. Thats why the 12 cylinder engine actually has a ///M embossed on it. And why the other 8 Series have ///M brake calipers. But at the final development BMW's board got cold feet. Hence no M8. They did build a one off M8 to compete with the F40, but it never happened either.
The BMW board killing off a model at the final stages has happened again in BMW history. I believe the 135i also had this fate(why the BMW Performance line was created out of some of the parts designed for the baby ///M project. Later the guys in Garching would tackle this project again on their own "free time".  Also the "Z4 sDrive 35is" was another car meant to be a ///M but never was. This is also why the 1M ended up with the Z4's engine... bc it had already gone thru some tweaking by M over the basic N54 engine.  |
Awesome story
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Originally Posted by Dinan_Engineering
Congrats on an excellent find first off. The 8 series is a special breed of car. Finding one in the condition you did and restoring it back to its former glory is impressive and awesome. Hopefully you will enjoy the car for many years as its always a treat when you run across one on the road or at a show.
The Powerdyne supercharger experiment lasted about a year across the various supercharger platforms. When they worked, they worked great. The problem was consistency and reliability. No Powerdyne SC made the same power it seemed and they were notorious for breaking down. So much so that I would be surprised there are more than 50 of the Powerdyne SC's out in the field. Most were replaced by Vortech systems and ultimately the Powerdyne program shifted to a Vortech program. That said, when they worked, the Powerdyne SC was actually a more powerful SC than the Vortech.
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I am scared to do anything with the SC since it is running great. I would love to swap to a Vortech. Need to figure that out. Thanks for the kind words.