engine and drivetrain 1966 BMW 1800 TI Alpina

[69coronet440]

Just a recap on my first post:

My wife’s grandfather was stationed in Germany in the 60’s and purchased a 1966 BMW 1800TI in 1965. As soon as the car was purchased it was taken to Burkard Bovensiepen of Alpina where the engine was disassembled. The pistons, rods, and crank were balanced, head work was done to bump up the compression and flow. Burkard also replaced the Solex carburetors with Webbers and the 4 speed transmission with a 5 speed which was also disassembled to remove any burrs from the gears. I think some suspension work and brake work was also done by Alpina.

The car was raced in Germany by my wife’s grandfather for a few years then brought back to the US. The car had blown a head gasket before coming to the US. A US, BMW "specialist" milled the head but this made to much compression and the problem was never resolved.

His plan was to race the car in the US but couldn’t get it class certified because of the low production numbers. At this point (Late 60’s, early 70’s) the car was stored. It was moved a few times but now sits in an open sided covered shed at my mother-in-law's house. The motor and transmission were never put back in the car after the head work was done. They are stored in a crate in the garage.

I saw the car about a year ago, there is some surface rust but the entire car is intact, (other than the engine being in the garage). My mother-in-law has all the documentation for the car, her father was very good about keeping records. He was visiting last week and all this information was him telling me about the history of the car. My mother-in-law had been keeping the car because she knew it meant a lot to her father but he recently told her to sell it/get rid of it so she has offered to sign the title over to my wife and I.

My wife talked with her mother again today to confirm she was okay with us taking over the car, she is ecstatic about us bringing this car back to life. Her plan was always to have the car restored but years went by and she never had the opportunity to do so.

All that being said I will be going to pick the car up this weekend. Once I get it home I will remove everything from the trunk, inventory, and photo document all parts and paperwork. I have been told there is additional Alpina documentation I haven’t seen. I will also make copies of all the paperwork.

We are planning a trip to visit her grandfather; I want to document all the history of the car that he can tell me. He has trophies and photos from his racing days in Germany that would be a great addition to the history of the car.

I will get more photos up this weekend but here are a few of the ones I posted earlier.

[markmac]

send me an email when you have a moment

mark.mcclell at gmail dot com

[69coronet440]

send me an email when you have a moment

mark.mcclell at gmail dot com

Email sent.

[tiitouring02]

Coronet,

Congratulations! This is the sort of "barn find" that most of the people on this board only dream of. So cool that the car will be resurected remain in the family. Im sure there are very few original Alpina 1800 TI's left in the world. It might be worth contacting Alpina to see if they have any records to tell how many were originally produced, who knows maybe they have information on your car!

http://www.alpina-automobiles.com/en/alpina-contact/alpina.html

Best of luck with the project!

Cheers,

Martin

[rey949]

This would be an awesome post for Markmac's blog.

Allot of history on that Blog and if we could get some NK representation there it would be awesome!!

We are all excited to see what you do, and document for your car.

Thanks!

Rey

[69coronet440]

After a LONG weekend the car is finally at her new home. The good condition of the body and undercarriage really surprised me. When the car was stored, plastic was laid under it so that may have been its saving grace. The motor will definitely need some work. The pistons and oil pan were removed years ago so the bores will need at minimum a honing, possible boring. The crank is still in but will need to be cleaned up, rod journals may need to be turned also. The pistons, rods, head, cam, rockers, and carburetors were all wrapped in oily news paper in the trunk so there in remarkably good condition. There were loads of extra parts in the trunk, gasket kits, carb rebuild kits, points, condensers, brake pads, air cleaners, bulbs, fuses, and some other things I’m not familiar with. The trunk floor looks amazing, spare tire with a perfect rim and even the jack and tire iron in its original location.

I think with a little buffing the body will clean up nice, there are a few small dents here and there and a few areas of rust that will need attention but it’s not bad. The front passenger door handle was broken during shipping years ago but it looks like an easy fix. I didn’t have time to photo everything this weekend but that is my next step. Here are a few pics when she got home, motor, and a few parts.

[tjones02]

BMW cranks are known to be very hard and usually only need a polish, even after hundreds of thousands of miles. Unless they were abused that is...

Love that the car has 1800Ti/SA wheels. Too bad it doesn't have Ti/SA seats.

Love to see the details like the extra long velocity stacks on the carbs, and the VERY rare rubber sleeves for the boots. Interesting that the DCOEs are 9's rather than the TiSA 15 front and 16 rear carbs.

That trans does indeed appear to be the early close ratio unit. As far as I understand they were built by Colotti. Parts are nearly non existent. And they are notoriously weak when abused in racing. There is an eBay seller in Germany that has a few parts for sale. He will ship to the US...

http://stores.ebay.de/klein-teile-hinz?_trksid=p4340.l2563

Google Colotti Gearbox GT40 for some history...

I'd love to see pictures of the pistons and combustion chambers.

Congrats again on your find!

[rey949]

I wonder of ALPINA altered the stamp on the engine block? I would like to see a pic of that. What is the bore size? I believe that year should be 84mm? ALPINA may have bored it over.

Can't wait see the rest of the pics as you unpack everything!

So many questions ... What do the combustion chambers look like, are they some top pistons?

What a piece of history!

Keep us posted please!

Rey

[markmac]

In my experience they didn't (alter the stamp on the engine block). No idea what they did with these early cars, however with the o2's they did stamp a 4 digit number into the cylinder head (in the case of my AlpinA A3 cylinder head it was #1292), if they did number this engine and my guess is that they did it is probably a very low number. Somewhere on the block should be the same number stamped in a similar fashion.

www.alpinabmw2002.com

[markmac]

This would be an awesome post for Markmac's blog.

Allot of history on that Blog and if we could get some NK representation there it would be awesome!!

We are all excited to see what you do, and document for your car.

Thanks!

Rey

Rey, not "hatin" on NK's, farthest from the truth, just need some material and some help writing some of the stories. They are not in my wheelhouse of expertise. I would like to get some material going on them at some point. I would probably dedicate a page or two to this vehicle, is very cool for sure.

www.alpinabmw2002.com

[rey949]

Original 2002 Alpina cars are rare as they come, but this car I am sure Very few will ever see another.

Only in pictures....

[69coronet440]

Added a few more pictures. There is a stamp on the head near the 118 but I cant make it out. Numbers on the block and piston are hard to read, with a little cleaning it shouldnt be a problem though.

[markmac]

That one set of numbers appear to be it - the will not be cast, they will be stamped. If you look through your paperwork, there may be a reference to it somewhere. I wasn't able to view the images you had up originally, however if there is a build sheet the engine number will be referenced. This is the link to the ALpinA A4s on my blog, this car has motor number 2088.....

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j8SFJw2fvys/TuFQy349tmI/AAAAAAAADe0/_PzKrHnuiZw/s1600/30.jpg

[tjones02]

That little stamp in front of the 118 on the head is a normal BMW stamp and not Alpina. Alpina may not have been stamping their heads/engines that early on. But, those numbers stamped on your block below/behind the head are not factory and may be Alpina build numbers... The original BMW engine numbers are the same as the car's VIN and are located on a flat part of the block above where the starter goes through... like this.

http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o236/tjones02_bucket/995183_1800TiSA/?action=view&current=HPIM8009.jpg

I'll have to check my pictures/records but those pistons you have appear to be TiSA ones. I don't have a set to compare to but do have many pictures and may have some Mahle specs somewhere... The pistons in Dad's TiSA are Venolia copies of Alpina 12.5:1 hemi dome ones with the combustion chambers opened up to match....

http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o236/tjones02_bucket/995183_1800TiSA/?action=view&current=HPIM8012.jpg

Thanks for sharing the pictures!

Hope This Helps,

[rey949]

Is there a camshaft in the head? Wondering what the numbers are On that camshaft. It must be a full race cam to accommodate those crazy pistons. Definitely higher compression than Ti pistons.

To run 45mm webers as well as those pistons that must have been a hot motor...

Rey