ALPINA B8 4,6(e-36)

This is a very interesting car and certainly one of the most special cars ever built by Alpina. One of the fastest too because it has a 4,6 litre V8 under the hood. A V8 in a 3-series!! BMW had already tried to put a V8 in the 3-series, but that didn´t succeed. But as you see, Alpina succeeded. But the body had to undergo 42 modifications before the V8 could fit in. These changes are made at the BMW factory before they send the body to Alpina. And the engine isn´t mounted as usual from below, Alpina had to install it from above to make things fit. The production began in April 1995 and ended in 1998. A total of 221 cars were built. The rarest of the B8 4,6 is the convertible with only 23 made. Alpina did also build a B8 4,0 with 313 bhp, but only 5 cars were manufactured and all were sold in Japan.

Engine/Gearbox

The engine is based on BMW´s 4,0 litre V8 from 540i. The biggest difference between the standard engine and Alpina´s engine is the displacement. But the BMW V8 engine has alusil-coated bores so you can´t just overbore the block, you have to cast a new one. So BMW casts new blocks especially for Alpina. Other changes include higher compression Mahle pistons, changed valve timing and a reprogrammed Motronic system. A new sump is also fitted beacuse the V8 is too deep so the usual sump didn´t fit. The new sump is very shallow over most of it´s length, but has a very deep part at the front. But the standard oil pump wouldn´t fit into it, so Alpina has had it´s own pump made by Ari, the camera maker. A new exhaust-system and new catalysts are also fitted. The Alpina engine produces 333 bhp, 7 bhp less than the B10 because the B8 has a different exhaust-manifold, and has a torque of 470 Nm. At only 1000 rpm the engine produces 350 Nm, that is the maximum torque of a M3 Evo.The B8 was only available with a six-speed manual gearbox made by Getrag.

Suspension/Brakes/Wheels

The B8 has the same suspension as the B3 3,2 with Bilstein gas-pressure units at front and and gas-pressure shocks at rear. Read more about the suspension in the B3 3,2 section. The only difference is that the B8 has ASC+T. The brakes are uprated with custom-made Lucas discs at front gripped by special callipers and the rear brakes are from the M3. Ventilated all-around of course. The car rides on beautiful 17in Alpina wheels with Michelin tires. 235/40 at front and 265/35 at rear.

Interior/Exterior

The interior changes include a hand-sewn leather-rimmed steering wheel, a shift-knob made of wood, luxury wood "Rüster Maser" interior, Alpina upholstery, anthracite cloth with asymmetric blue/green stripes, Recaro sport seats and new instruments, blue with red needles. The exterior changes are not many, a new front spoiler, the wheels and the no-cost option Alpina deco-set in gold or silver. There is also an optional rear spoiler.

Performance

This is a very fast car. Alpina claims a 0-100 km/h time of 5,6 seconds and a top speed of over 280 km/h. The in-gear acceleration is much better than the M3´s.

Pictures