It’s tough to imagine an automotive landscape without a BMW 2002 to kick-start the compact sports-sedan movement. BMW’s New Class (or Neue Klasse, should you sprechen sie Deutsch) arrived after a decade of expensive cars no person bought (such as the 507 sports vehicle) and microcars that offered little profit margin (such as the licensed Isetta). The New Class was BMW’s best hope for survival; it arrived in 1962 as a 1,500cc sedan with unit-body construction, fully independent suspension featuring MacPherson struts in front plus a semi-trailing-arm arrangement in the rear, front disc brakes and a SOHC inline Four. It was proof that you could have fun without having to sacrifice passenger room or quality. Remember, BMW did this when TVs were white and black, Kennedy was still president and WWII was only a little more distant on their behalf than 9/11 is for us, though (Fuel injection arrived as an option in 1972, a full decade before most car companies thought about getting out of carburetors altogether.) Put it completely and that may sound like a fairly modern specification.upgrades and models followed slowly as BMW climbed out of its financial hole on the success of the New Class. Various two-doors followed, as did a 1,990cc variant of BMW’s M10 engine; the 2002 model, launched in 1966, sold nearly 850,000 copies alone worldwide in the next decade, out of more than 1.2 million New Class BMWs. The 2002 put BMW around the map and instantly took over as the world prototype for a small, quality-built, technologically-advanced small sedan. For example the ’73 Turbo, (Datsun’s 510 sedan is an excellent case in point.) 2002s were even provided with turbocharged two-liter Fours before. It was Europe’s first turbocharged production car (beating even Saab and Porsche to the punch), good for 170hp from its KKK turbo. So, visiting a blown Four under the hood of a BMW 2002 isn’t unusual. Seeing a Honda engine under that reverse-opening hood, however, is definitely anat the turn from the millennium, Honda gave us the F20C: all-aluminum construction, 11.7: 1 compression, 51-degree valve angle, heat-treated and surface-carburized forged alloy connecting and crank rods, forged aluminum pistons with short skirts, the engine’s five main bearings incorporated into one particular girdle for strength, an 8,300rpm peak as well as ain a car that’s some 700 pounds lighter, as a 2002 is compared to the Honda; suddenly that power gets a lot snappier. Mount a turbo onto the hard-working F20C and suddenly you’re in another stratosphere. With ten pounds of boost, stock internals, stock compression, a stock Honda 6-speed trans and just a handful of tweaks, like larger throttle bodies, fuel rails, an and injectors AEM computer, owner Max Polishchuk (who also owns CAtuned Motorsports, a BMW-friendly shop in Sacramento, CA), claims 404 horsepower at the wheels. And we’re not done, he informs us. Do the math: that’s near enough to five pounds per horsepower for our liking.
But…why a Honda F20C? BMW makes lots of good engines; witness the late-’80s M3’s S14 inline Four. Alternatively, better yet the S65 V8 seen in the last generation of M3s. The answer will be straightforward enough: We have loved BMWs for many years, Max informs us. Even as kids. But we have built Hondas and have had many S2000s. We joked for years about stuffing one into a classic car. The BMW S14 is a great classic racing motor but a pre-owned motor needing a rebuild is right around $3,000. Rebuild parts are very expensive, and a typical rebuild consumes about 40 hours. Accumulate the parts and labor and yes it comes out to beout from the S2000 makes 404whp!
Curiously, the holdup is with the rear, which is currently a stock 3.91-open-geared early ’80s BMW 320i rear that bolts straight into the 2002. We’ve had it up to 500 horsepower, Max says, but the differential was gone after 10 passes. We are at the same time of machining out the internal case diameter to accept heavy-duty internals through the E30 [the 1982-1994 generation of three-series BMW]. That should handle well above 650hp.
It’s such an interesting idea that CAtuned sells a conversion kit with custom-fabricated mounts; they’ve performed three of these operations in-house, including theirs, but have sold a greater number abroad, to Canada, the UK and Germany. Fitting the six-speed Honda ‘box required a newly-fabricated transmission tunnel. And then any time you’re going to start cutting up a unit-body floor, over tripling the horsepower it was actually designed to harness, it’s always a good idea to reinforce things in some places. The subframes were solid, but we did then add support in various spots. There’s a custom strut bar done like a race cage within the trunk; batterya real minimalist creation. The front brakes have 11-inch rotors and Wilwood four-piston calipers now, because there’s not a way the stock rotors can handle that type of power in a panic, but the rear brakes are still drums for the moment. The interior has improved steering and seating (and shifting, obviously, thanks to the new transmission), nevertheless the stereo is a straightforward Pioneer in-dash CD player with Kicker speakers. Those American park-bench bumpers happen to be brought closer to the body in comparison to the thin stock chrome Euro bumpers ever were, but the red paint is deliberately unfinished; the wheels look massive, yet are only 15 inches in diameter (stock wheels and tires on US-spec 2002s were 13-inchers! ). Coilovers and sway bars about the stock chassis architecture are definitely the basis for the suspension. With all the hood down, the slammed stance and bigger rolling stock are the only indications that the isn’t grandpa’s Bimmer.