They say that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing. That mantra applies pretty well to this wild EU spec BMW M3 E46 with a massive, all-American Viper V-10 engine stuffed under the hood. I hesitate to say it’s “under” the hood because there’s a huge rectangle cut out of the hood to fit this engine and let it breathe. Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen an M3 E46 powered by a V-10.
Not satisfied with the 3.2-liter S54B32 inline-six engine which makes 338 horsepower and 269 foot-pounds of torque that came standard in this M3, the guys at Sulava Racing Team in Georgia (the country, not the state) decided it needed more cylinders and more power.
We reached out to Sulava Racing Team and confirmed the donor engine is from a third-generation Dodge Viper SRT-10 Roadster. It’s an 8.3-liter V-10 that makes 510 hp and 535 foot-pounds of torque. The T-56 six-speed manual transmission also comes from a Viper. The engine appears to be unmodified with the only major mechanical modification to this M3 being the engine swap itself.
The body of the car has been heavily modified to accommodate the new power plant. There’s the panel cut out of the hood and a widebody kit to fit all the necessary tire in the car without having them stick out too far. It also gets custom front- and rear- spoilers to help keep all of that power on the road, a green paint job, and exhaust coming out of the back of the car rather than the sides like on a Viper.
With all of that extra weight up front and unwieldy power, one could argue that the Viper V-10 makes this M3 worse, not better. But it’s an M3 with a V-10. It’s not about practicality or refinement. It’s about doing something crazy so you can say that you did it.
