Jag put a V12 into their straight-6 E-type in the 70s; long engines go easily into straight-6 engine bays, and if it's a V10 or V8, even better. I want to see (and hear!) this happen.
it's as long, caus a V12 also has 6 cyl in line, and since both rows are connected on the same crank, and tilted outwards, it shouldn't be a lot wider either
There's a few guys running around the US race tracks running BMW F1 Race heads (from their famed hugely powerful turbo cars) in heavily modified 2002's and some e30 m3's.
As far as fitment of a "big" motor...c'mon guys, How can you be a member of a car forum and actually ask the question "how does it fit?" Guys have shoved BMW v12's in e30's successfully.
I know Jag designed one of their cars in the late 70's to not fit a V engine, fearing they would be forced to use the Rover v8. They still managed to fit their v12 in it.
I doubt a rinky dink/compact F1 v8 or v10 would be an issue in a BMW chassis.
F1 engines are only designed to last 2 races. Which means that the engine would blow in about 16 hours of use assuming it was rebuilt after it was used.
Seems like a impractical thing to be doing considering that the amount of time required to swap the engine in and wire everything up probably took longer then the engines life span.
Right...well a modern F1 engine can be lifted by one person. The V8s probably only weight about 70kg now if that. With regards engine life....if you turn them down to 15-16,000 rpm they'll last a very, very long time. There is a Gould hilclimbe car running an Arrows-HART V10 from 2002 that revs to 15k and they reckon they can get an entire season out of it between rebuilds. I'd hazzard a guess at maybe a rebuild every 6months depending on the use and if someone has the money to buy a V8 Cossy engine then I'm sure they can afford the rebuild.
As for the reality of it....hard to say. It's not beyond possibility as Cosworth very sadly no longer have a car to supply next year so it's possible they'd sell an engine from this year to a private buyer as they're going to want to get some money back.
I know Jag designed one of their cars in the late 70's to not fit a V engine, fearing they would be forced to use the Rover v8. They still managed to fit their v12 in it.