The Shark – E24

I remember the first time I saw this car. I was shocked. I was standing in front of the Big Coupe. One of the greatest cars ever made. This was THE car. This was the real shark. It was so beautiful, and so brutal. I was so happy that I can touch this legend. The perfect BMW. Everything in it this car was saying I am a shark. A real BMW. One brutal monster from Bavaria. Many cars will come and go. Most of them will be forgotten but this piece of Bavarin artwork will remain in the real fans harts.
So this car was brutal, beautiful and looked like THE real BMW. But there was something more astonishing. Something under the surface. The heart of this car. The straight six engine of M635csi also called M6 was developed by BMW Motorsport division. They ware two versions of it for this car. One was M88 and another was S38. These are twin-cam 24 valve six-cylinder inline engines first developed for the legendary M1.

M88 engine was the first and non-catalyst version of the engine with compression ratio of 10.5:1. It has a single-row timing chain and you can find it in the 5-series E28 M5 sedan. This engine produces 286 hp at 6500 rpm with 340Nm or 251 lb/ft of torque reached at 4,500 rpm.

The cleaner version of the engine S38 was introduced in North America and later was offered in other markets in the world. It has duplex (double-row) timing chain and lower compression ratio of 9.8:1 and was designed to work with catalytic converters. This engine produces 256 hp of power according to SAE or 260 hp (DIN) at 6500 rpm and 329Nm or 243 lb/ft torque at 4,500 rpm. The S38 engine has the “BMW M Power” inscription on top of it.