The BMW 507 Ultimate Build Thread!!!

[Charley Lillard]

https://www.mecum.com/lots/1081193/1...ource=hs_email

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by Charley Lillard

https://www.mecum.com/lots/1081193/1...ource=hs_email

Yawn. I'm aware of their work. That's just an haphazardly, mass-produced version of Dave's singular masterpiece.

[A12pilot]

Good stuff, Steve!

Going to be interesting to see this go across the block. Incidentally, this is the same 507 that sold at Kissimmee earlier this year.

Cheers
Dave

[A12pilot]

You'd have to come down and stay at the new place next year, Mikey, and help fab up stuff when you aren't knee-deep in COPO stuff!

Indeed, the frame would be a modified Cobra frame. Dimensions are remarkably similar. But nothing else is. Torsion bar suspension (familiar with that from the Mopar genre). Hmmmm..... is there a BMW thread section? Might have to "member ride" it! I'll already have another one going in the Mopar section shortly

Cheers
Dave

[mockingbird812]

Cool project Dave. Go ahead and create a BMW thread - precedence has already been set. Eddie (enio45) forces us to follow his build on his old musty '58 Elena. Your project can't be any more offensive to us sYcers than that!!!!!!!

[Lynn]

Hey Dave:

Between my brother and I we have owned over 60 bimmers over the years, but not one V8. 4, 6 & 12. So, I am far from a BMW V8 expert, but can help a little. BTW, not that many on this site would care, but a BMW car is a "bimmer" and a BMW bike is a "beemer".

Have always loved the 507. It was more expensive new than the Mercedes Gullwing cars (but has not kept up since then price wise). Did not sell that well, and almost bankrupted BMW.

Yes, the 4.0 liters had issues, but it was related to the high sulpher content of US market gasoline in the early 90's. It would eat away at the hard coating applied directly to the cylinder walls. BMW repaired a lot of those engines, even ones that were well past the warranty period. They also changed the composition of the coating either mid 95 or mid 96, and all the later engines are free from that malady.

If you source a decent engine, I would try to get the wiring harness and ecm with it. Nothing to program, and parts are easy to get. Even a very well kept 740i is ridiculously cheap when it is 15 to 20 years old. Even better if you can find one that has been recently hit. Just buy the whole car and you will have everything you need.

I would look for something like 98 to 2004 range.

With that little car, you won't need outrageous power to have fun.
Maybe we can start a new forum for totally non muscle car build threads. You can do this one, Eddie already started on the Ferrari, and I have a tube frame chassis, aluminum body replica of a Ferrari 250 GTO (body is about 80% done) that wil be gettin a Ferrari V12 and 5 speed.

[firstgenaddict]

Originally Posted by Lynn

Hey Dave:

Between my brother and I we have owned over 60 bimmers over the years, but not one V8. 4, 6 & 12. So, I am far from a BMW V8 expert, but can help a little. BTW, not that many on this site would care, but a BMW car is a "bimmer" and a BMW bike is a "beemer".

Have always loved the 507. It was more expensive new than the Mercedes Gullwing cars (but has not kept up since then price wise). Did not sell that well, and almost bankrupted BMW.

Yes, the 4.0 liters had issues, but it was related to the high sulpher content of US market gasoline in the early 90's. It would eat away at the hard coating applied directly to the cylinder walls. BMW repaired a lot of those engines, even ones that were well past the warranty period. They also changed the composition of the coating either mid 95 or mid 96, and all the later engines are free from that malady.

If you source a decent engine, I would try to get the wiring harness and ecm with it. Nothing to program, and parts are easy to get. Even a very well kept 740i is ridiculously cheap when it is 15 to 20 years old. Even better if you can find one that has been recently hit. Just buy the whole car and you will have everything you need.

I would look for something like 98 to 2004 range.

With that little car, you won't need outrageous power to have fun.
Maybe we can start a new forum for totally non muscle car build threads. You can do this one, Eddie already started on the Ferrari, and I have a tube frame chassis, aluminum body replica of a Ferrari 250 GTO (body is about 80% done) that wil be gettin a Ferrari V12 and 5 speed.

oh Boy... where is the GTO thread Lynn?
I love Aluminum bodied sports cars... even more so when they are under the Prancing Horse... What Livery?

However I am looking forward to this...
I thought about doing a 850 with a newer M5 power plant... the 850 weighed entirely too much though, it would need a MAJOR diet.
Then I saw a gray market C55 AMG... Yes... they made them for Europe, the car was under 5k and was running driving and titled registered in South Carolina. 400HP in the C class... I missed the car and then didn't reconsider the BMW project.

[Lynn]

Originally Posted by firstgenaddict

oh Boy... where is the GTO thread Lynn?
I love Aluminum bodied sports cars... even more so when they are under the Prancing Horse... What Livery?

However I am looking forward to this...
I thought about doing a 850 with a newer M5 power plant... the 850 weighed entirely too much though, it would need a MAJOR diet.
Then I saw a gray market C55 AMG... Yes... they made them for Europe, the car was under 5k and was running driving and titled registered in South Carolina. 400HP in the C class... I missed the car and then didn't reconsider the BMW project.

I will start a thread when the time comes. I believe by 2020 I will be starting in earnest. That project is one of the reasons I am rehabbing that old warehouse into a shop. Possibly sooner, but keep finding things to occupy my time. Sorry for the hijack Dave.

I will be following this thread for sure. Had a guy approach me back in the 80s. He wanted to build replica 507s but wanted to use the big six running gear. At the time, BMW was not even producing V8 engines. I passed as I figured it would be hugely expensive, and a very limited market. On the other hand, I think Dave is spot on with this approach.

[markinnaples]

I have owned a few BMWs over the years including a couple E30's, an E28, and currently an E60. I ABSOLUTELY advise against the use of an N62 (4.5L V-8) from the 2000's. I have a 2004 545i that has been a nightmare. The cooling system has a design flaw that causes leakage (massive leakage) due to a cheap plastic coolant pipe that is located in the front of the engine that goes into the lifter valley. There is a fix for this which entails putting in an aluminum sleeve that has had good lasting results and that I'm going to do once I get back home from up north, but honestly, in a car like that I highly doubt you'd want to use an engine with that design. This fix is a DIY $250 but the dealer fix is $2500+. It also has a design flaw where oil leaks out of the alternator bracket gasket, which mine has and that I'm planning on fixing when I do the other fix. Other issues with this engine include valve cover gasket leaks, timing cover leaks, VANOS solenoid o-ring leaks and upper timing cover gasket leak.
See what I mean? Run away, fast and far from the N62.

[The Boss]

I have always thought the 507 was pure sex - the body lines, the curves and the fact that they were completely hand formed and no two were exactly alike.

Would love to see one re-created but might be more fun with a 12.