If you’re reading this, I think there’s a good chance you have at least one V12-engined car in your ‘Top 10’ list.
My dream collection wouldn’t be complete without a Lamborghini Miura SV, a Mercedes-Benz SL70 AMG and an Alpina B12 Coupé. I’d also have a Mercedes-AMG S65 as a daily and a Ferrari Enzo to abuse on track.
Though I think the most achievable ‘dream’ V12 of mine is an older Aston Martin DBS, in black, with a manual gearbox – but I digress. V12s are aspirational engines, and they’ve always been expensive as a result. But at least there was variety back in the day.
Do you want a new car with a V12 under the bonnet? Well, unless you’ve got several hundred thousand dollars to spend on a Ferrari 12Cilindri or Lamborghini Revuelto, it ain’t happening, chief.
So what do you do when you want a V12, but you don’t want to spend brick-and-mortar money on a car – and you want it to be fun? Well, if your name is Mantas Lekavičius, you take someone’s half-baked project and turn it into a Bavarian muscle car that never existed: the E34 BMW 544i.
“I wanted an old car as a daily, and that’s why I bought this,” Mantas recalls. “I’d been looking for E34s on Facebook Marketplace when some guy offered me this car. It was a clean example with no rust but it had chopped-up arches – he was planning overfenders – and unpainted panels. The V12 was already swapped in, but it was wired up like an old tractor with a MegaSquirt ECU, and nothing worked. I got it home with six cylinders!” Mantas laughs. “He just wanted a cheap drift car.”
Mantas makes a living as a BMW electronics specialist, so if someone needs to undo someone’s BMW-related wiring mess, he’s the man for the job.
The E38 750i’s M73B54 V12 engine isn’t the gutsiest from the factory, being a fairly simple dual-camshaft unit producing just shy of 300hp. While the engine was out of the car, Mantas injected some new life into it.
The V12 is now running a custom fuel rail with Ferrari injectors and a flex-fuel sensor for E85, as well as twin VW VR6 coil packs in custom housings. A custom cold air intake setup with K&N filters and a custom intake manifold bridge help the V12 to breathe easily. Cooling is taken care of with an uprated radiator running twin Dodge Hellcat electric fans on top of the larger-diameter coolant system hoses. Even the alternator belt tensioner is bespoke, as the OEM item couldn’t handle the speed at which the V12 now builds revs. The MegaSquirt ECU is gone, as is every sign that the previous wiring job ever existed. A motorsport-grade loom has neatened up the engine bay to no end, while MaxxECU PRO management controls the V12 – with two additional wideband sensors for good measure.
This M73 now produces 365hp and 540Nm of torque – a roughly 20% gain in power without any major hardware additions. For an M73, I have to say that’s a healthy jump. It also sounds unlike any BMW I’ve ever heard, thanks to its custom exhaust system. Power is transmitted via a 5-speed gearbox and shortened driveshaft to an E32 750i rear end, including the subframe and big-case LSD.
The E34 sits on a set of E60 Bilstein coilovers, which have been adapted to suit. There are polyurethane bushes throughout, and E38 4-piston Brembo brakes for additional stopping power.
Not wanting to build on a half-assed attempt, Mantas proceeded to gut the shell entirely to rebuild the E34 from scratch. The bodywork was in desperate need of attention, so while the engine was out, he got to work tidying the 5 Series up.
Bolt-on flares didn’t suit the spirit of the build, so the cut wheel arches were instead turned into custom metal flares. A bare metal respray in the car’s factory shade of red was in order too, but it’s the rare details that Mantas is particularly proud of.
The headlights aren’t tinted; they’re Hella yellow headlights – meaning that’s yellow glass, while at the back of the car are an über rare set of Hella smoked taillights. The boot spoiler is a modified E30 M-Tech item, and the bonnet is fibreglass to counter some of the V12’s additional weight.
An AC Schnitzer-style front bumper addition gives the E34 a more defined chin and ties in with the three-piece splits custom made from a set of Alutec AC Schnitzer-style monoblocks with Radinox stainless steel lips.
Inside Mantas’s E34 is a fully re-trimmed interior in saddle brown leather, with a period-correct Blaupunkt head unit now gutted and rewired for Bluetooth and better audio quality. Mantas is very proud to be from Kaunas, Lithuania, and he got his hands on a 1990s pack of ‘Kaunas’ cigarettes as a decoration – which just so happens to match the paint colour.
“The main idea of the build was a luxury sports car. I drive it a lot, about 20,000 kilometres every year – taking it on track and top-speed runs on the weekend,” Mantas says, fondly. “Its v-max is 305km/h.”
“My favourite things about the car are the brutality of the way it revs, the fact that max torque comes in at 2,500rpm, and that it sounds like an old F1 V12. I can cruise comfortably in it wherever I want to go, and I even take it on camping trips!”
This E34 is a remarkable car, and not just because it’s a 5 Series with a V12 stuffed in the nose. It seems to do everything well, and Mantas isn’t afraid to use it hard come rain, shine – or in this case, snow.
Lithuanian car culture is very much off the radar. A door has opened here, and I can’t wait to show you what’s inside over the summer. Keep your eyes peeled, folks.
Mario Christou
Instagram: mcwpn, mariochristou.world
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