The E65 7 Series is infamous for being horrifically unreliable. Tell a BMW enthusiast that you’re thinking for buying an E65 and they’ll tell you to run for your life. Not only were E65s unreliable, they were expensive to maintain. So you can imagine that the E65 ALPINA B7 would be even worse, as it’s more complex and has rarer parts. However, it’s fun to watch someone else go through the trouble of rebuilding and maintaining one, especially when they’re as good as Sreten from M539 Restorations.
In this video, we get to see an update on his E65 ALPINA B7 and it’s a car that I wish I had the funds and courage to work on. As unreliable as it might be, it’s an awesome car that’s incredibly desirable, especially in this spec. He had the car repainted in Azurite Black Metallic, which was a factory Individual E65 7 Series color and it looks fantastic. It’s said to be the predecessor to Carbon Black but I think it looks better, as there’s more blue in it.
Under the hood of the E65 B7 is an ALPINA-tuned N62 BMW V8 engine that’s been heavily modified. In typical ALPINA fashion, the engine was essentially stripped down, given new pistons, a new intake manifold, and a new exhaust, to name just a few modifications. However, the biggest difference between the ALPINA B7 and a standard V8 7 Series is the former’s supercharger, which helped bumped power to 500 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque.
As for Sreten’s ALPINA B7, the supercharger was toast and required a rebuild. ALPINA offered to help rebuild it but instead sent him an entirely new one, presumably because parts to rebuild a two-decade old supercharger weren’t readily available. So after his new supercharger was installed, his engine was likely restored to at least close to its original 500 horsepower figure.
Once it’s all back together, he gives it a cold start and it sounds great. As per usual with ALPINA V8s, it’s silky smooth and purs at idle but has a deep growl as it revs. It’s a great sounding engine and one that every BMW enthusiast would love to use on a daily basis. And because of its supercharger, all of its grunt is available all of the time, with no lag.
There are several more repairs in this video, replacing to both the suspension and transmission components. So if you want to see what it’s like to restore an old ALPIN B7, this is the video to watch.