This BMW E46 Drag Car Has Chevy Big Block Power And It's Here To Whoop Your Butt
Leave it to an American hot rodder to take a German personal luxury sports coupe and turn it into a straight-line acceleration monster powered entirely by screaming bald eagles. While this car would have left a factory in Bavaria 22 years ago powered by a comparatively diminutive inline six-cylinder engine, it is now packing 468 cubic inches of pure American rat motor. Oh, and every inch of leather-covered luxury has been jettisoned in favor of a tubbed rear end, an 8.50-second-legal roll cage, and aluminum sheeting. According to the seller the whole kit and caboodle weighs just 2,500 pounds.
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So they chucked a thousand pounds and trebled the horsepower? Yeah, that’ll do the trick.
Image: eBay
The seller says this car is a brand new build and has only completed seven passes of test and tune running. It’s been NHRA certified legal down to 8.5 seconds, though the seller calls it solidly a “nine-second car” on the three-foot-tall printed information board that comes with the car.
Here’s the full rundown of what makes the car so fast:
Car was built with only the best and only weighs 2500lbs. Full Alston tube chassis, rack/pinion steering, tublar A arms, with front Vario Shocks, 4 link, 9inch rearend with 456 gears, Strange axles and Alden adjustable rear shocks. Custom made carbon fiber hood with pro scope. Full tig welded mild steel cage, Kirkey seat, removeable Grant race steering wheel. Full electronics are new, including line lock. TCI Outlaw shifter.
468 full roller motor, J&E14:1 pistons, Eagle SIR I beam rods, Comp Solid 744 lift, GM HP Heads. Ported Super Victor Intake Manifold, Holly Dominator Carb, MSD Ignition Dist, Pro Coil, 7AL-2Box/3 Step. 6000 RPM 8inch stall converter, TCI Trans Brake. Titanium Valve body for Power Glide with Outlaw Shifter.
Image: eBay
The car retains its factory-fitted lights and signals, and the un-branded title means it’s still technically street legal if you’re brave enough. I’d certainly give it a shot a couple times, but it probably isn’t very comfortable, and with big wrinkle-wall slicks on the back and skinnies up front, it’s probably not the safest thing to be on the road in case of a rainshower. Thankfully the car is in Arizona—because of course it is—so there’s little risk of that.
This is obviously a pretty seriously built car, and it seems as though no expense was spared. The seller is asking $30,000 for this monster, and that might well be a very inexpensive way to go nines in the quarter mile. If you’re the kind of person who wants a very fast BMW that can’t really turn or stop well, check it out over on eBay for more photos.
Image: eBay
OK, so there isn’t very much BMW 325ci left in this thing, but it sure looks the part. And wouldn’t it just be cool to show up to a BMWCCA event just to see the looks on their faces? I can definitely get down with that.