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You are right it no longer looks factory now that it has the new TopCat (Burmese) "logo" all over the front spoiler!


Or are you making an offer for the (other) TopCat???

Fame at Last!

Apparently Herman features in June's edition of Classic Cars- which comes out any time soon! Hopefully good PR for the E21.....?

told this by one of the few Manx Classic Competitors to get here from UK before the storms cancelled the Seacat Ferries etc today (he gets his copy via subscription hence before newstands)

Nice! Not sure if the magazine is easy to locate in Holland otherwise I'm up for a scan in the Articles section

I attach below my letter printed in Classic Car magazine June 2012 edition
have become less reticent about copyright- given that I wrote the letter!



KR

I have already commented at length upon the 2012 Manx Classic

Going well until I broke a driveshaft on the Governors Sprint event on day 1!
Anyway herewith the Aricle in Total BMW July 2012 edition by Paul Hardiamn- who is a chum.
This was the same edition that featured Mark's MIB so well

Herman Update update!
I was talking to "Fritz" off whom I seem to be getting more and more bits and he told me that the 3.5 was the best engine BMW ever made and that he could easily extract another 40 bhp

Well I offered him a plane ticket from Gloucester and a ringside seat at Manx Grand Prix and he has been working his magic on Herman.

Wow what a difference, and he has found some very useful info on Herman as well.
The most important discovery is that IT HAS THE ORIGINAL 2.8 ALPINA ENGINE BLOCK from the car (god bless European TUV regs) onto which has been dropped the cylindar head from a B9- so we don't know for sure the engine size- other than it clearly has been bored out more than 2.8. This is the most difficult and perhaps proper way to modify the Alpina- in UK we would be tempted to drop in a complete new modern engine since we are not bound by the TUV regs on modifications that are particularly strict in Switzerland.
It has the complete Motronic 1.2 from a M535i- rather than the Pierburg and Hartig set up that the B6 came with originally

I will post some photos shortly

Anway Fritz brought along an 061 ECU togther with a Group A chip fitted a one way pcv between brake servo and manifold and hooked this up to a 027 Airflow meter
What a difference- this has completely transformed Herman
Great power, no lumpy start up, and huge torque- feels measurably quicker - sadly we have have no rolling road here- but I aim to get her on the drag strip to see the improvement
The old ECU is a VERY interesting item
it is a 013 for a Motronic 1.1 for a B9 E28 3.5 1984 and later- Fritz thinks it is "Kat ready" for swiss Alpinas. The outside has an Alpina sticker- and inside half the mother board has been replaced by Alpina (different colour) and has a removable chip (I will find the number) Fritz tells me that this unit is VERY valuable for an Alpina B9 wanting originality and ability.

Other jobs he has suggested (to help me beat that sequentially equipped MK1 Escort at next year's Manx Classic ) will be a tubular manifold (another 30 bhp!) onto the original Alpina boxes and set up, as well as E28 M535i engine mounts to replace the e34 ones- that is why it hits things at the front-too low!

Fritz works his magic on Big Red today- and now the cylindar head has been changed (good Griffin item with all the Hartge stuff added) you can see where the old head had cracked! More anon on this in Hartge section etc................

Only problem I do have is that he is quite taken by Manx Classic himself and may well turn up in something himself (which would give Herman a good run for its money) have offered him a bed etc for the event
He has said that Herman is one of the best engineered cars he has ever come across- which is a relief from my perspective!

Nice to read, and all good news!

BTW note that Alpina only fitted the Pierburg DL fuel system and the Dr Hartig ignition on the early cars. Later versions did have Motronic fitted. And also, because of the limited reliability, many Pierburg/Hartig cars were converted to Motronic at some point by dealerships. I spoke to a guy with a E12 B7 some time ago and he had the Pierburg system overhauled through Alpina for originality reasons. Believe he told me for the cost of that alone you could buy an Alpina car

TopCat wrote: I was talking to "Fritz"

Who's Fritz?

Rich Hearn of "Fritz Bits"
http://www.fritzsbits.co.uk/

Brilliant guy

"Well let's do this then. And you're meeting up with Richard from Fritz's? Say hi from me!"

Dear J
Rich sends you his regards!
he is off to see some of Steve's chums all of whom rally E30s today