engine rebuild ?

Cylinder block -

The main headache with the Nikasil and Alusil bores used in all the BMW V8s is that they cannot be rebored in the way that conventional iron blocks or iron liners can.

Alusil bores can be re-honed if enough of the exposed silicon is left, but for badly scratched or worn bores fitting ductile iron liners is the only cost-effective way of restoring an alusil/nikasil block. For competition work no suitable forged pistons are available to suit the alusil/nikasil bore surfaces so most racers go straight for a liner arrangement.

Some tuners have taken the bores out to 94mm (M5 S62 bore size) but with the added thickness of the liner this leaves a perilously thin amount of crankcase material remaining between the bores.
And the next step up in capacity is to fit the 89mm stroke crank and rods from the S62, but with all the expense it might make more sense just to start with a complete S62 motor...

Pistons for the M60/62 seem hard to get hold of in the uk, in standard design or aftermarked types. Vacmotorsports in Philadelphia has a good range of race-orientated pistons from CP and Wiseco but they are all designed to run in iron (i.e. you need liners).

The original piston part numbers for alusil and nikasil blocks is listed in Mahle's online catalogue but not available from any UK dealers. And if they were available the price would probably be the same as a set of forged pistons.

Parts availability and cost seems to be the main problem with rebuilding and tuning the M60/M62. It's a great engine design, but bearing shells and full gasket sets are expensive, and the availability on some other parts is non-existent.


Fortunately there are a lot of old motors floating around Ebay and scrapyards so 2nd hand parts are plentiful.

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The all-aluminum, 4.4-litre V8 engine, manufactured for Land Rover by BMW, was thoroughly modified for the more rigorous demands of the Range Rover application, to provide safe operation at extreme off-road angles and in water wading, a wide torque band for off-road work and the cooling system and ruggedness required for extended periods of operation at maximum output such as in heavy-duty towing. The crankcase was also substantially strengthened for mounting the fornt differential. The free-revving, 32-valve V8 produced 282 horsepower at 5,400 rpm and generates 325 lbs-ft of torque at 3,600 rpm, substantial increases compared to the larger-displacement V8 it replaced.

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donp38 said:

this sounds horrid.

please don't scrap it. there are people on here who could make good use...

best of luck....

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StuckAgainSteve said:

Can't see any reason why the block couldn't be machined to take traditional cast iron liners - I suspect the problem would be sourcing them!

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