7 series BMW with M1 engine?
BMW produced the BMW 745i SA in South Africa from 1984 to 1987. However, this was only offered in South Africa. But how did this come about and what is the reason for it?
Now the 3.3 liter engine of the BMW 745i E23 with 252 hp, which was offered in Europe, had the turbocharger on the right side of the engine block, as is well known, but this is not suitable for countries with left-hand traffic, as the steering column is located there conditionally could not get past the flange-mounted turbocharger.
Countries like Great Britain therefore simply left out the 745i E23.
Not so with those responsible at the Rosslyn plant, north of Johannesburg in South Africa. For them, “leaving out” the model was not an alternative. They therefore simply transported the high-speed M88 engine with 286 hp from the legendary BMW M1 instead of the 3.3 liter with 252 hp in the 7 Series, and the 745i SA was born. However, this led there 290 hp with 3435 ccm and accelerated the 745i SA from 0 to 100 in 7 seconds and reached 236 km / h at its top. The maximum torque was 340 Nm which was reached at 4500 rpm. The Kugekfischer injection system has already been replaced there by the more modern Bosch Motronic, which has resulted in an additional 4 hp.
The 745i SA also got wider rims than its brother, as you can see in the picture above.
In contrast to its European brother, the BMW 745i SA did not have an ashtray in front of the shift gate.
BMW had built a total of 209 units of which only 17 had a manual Gtrak 5-speed gearbox.
