New Member - Awesome Car E46 M3

[CSET 580]

Thanks man, Im sure I will work my way through the forum over the coming months.

I ran Invo's on my last car and have no complaints, in terms of bang for buck I cannot think of a better tyre, They can also be sourced for very reasonable prices if you know where to look. Im currently running Falken FK452's which I love, being directional they are awesome in the wet too. Ive heard good things about the Falken ZE912 tyres aswel.

The guy I bought the car off gave me the K&N kit, I thought I would fit it and see how things went. The truth is a cold air intake will not provide any extra power over stock unless you tune the car with the kit fitted and remap the ECU, that being said unless it makes a 5 -10% increase in power you will never feel the difference. I found that it just made it alot louder. Also K&N filters are meant to be oiled and cleaned regularly. I did not have any of the oil, or couldn't be bothered cleaning it so I bought a brand new panel filter and refitted the factory air box.

In terms of cold air intakes on the car It would be interesting to measure the inlet temperature on a car running the stock air box, then compare it to a Cold air kit. In terms of design the "Heat shield" would actually do very little to deflect heat as it is made out of a conductive material. The factory airbox is plastic, has two air intakes from the front of the car and I honestly believe that this is as good as it will get without doing some serious mods. When you look at where they draw their air from too the stock system draws air in through the grill and next to the fog light, where the pod filter draws hotter air from the engine bay. So my thoughts on it are unless you are fitting a turbo or supercharger there really isn't a need to replace the factory air box.

Check this out for more info on the topic, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCi2yo4UqPI

No I haven't done anything to the clutch, What does removing the factory clutch stop do? is there any threads on this forum about it?

Cheers

Interesting on the intake - unfortunately I didn't dyno mine prior to installing the K&N so I can't really tell if there's any power difference. If there is, it certainly isn't very noticeable to my untrained butt dyno - if anything it seems to rev a bit free'er, however this may be a placebo from all that delicious intake noise.

Google 'clutch stop e46 m3' - it's a well known mod. It reduces the typically large gap from the floor to the bite point. For mine, the clutch now bites almost immediately upon lifting my left foot, rather than playing a guessing game where the bite point is. Oftentimes the standard ones are broken as well (being light plastic) - mine was ok but I read of a fair amount that had split offshore.

Let's avoid the SMG vs. manual debate if we can. Last time it went on for 3 pages.

[E46 Liam 2]

Interesting on the intake - unfortunately I didn't dyno mine prior to installing the K&N so I can't really tell if there's any power difference. If there is, it certainly isn't very noticeable to my untrained butt dyno - if anything it seems to rev a bit free'er, however this may be a placebo from all that delicious intake noise.

Google 'clutch stop e46 m3' - it's a well known mod. It reduces the typically large gap from the floor to the bite point. For mine, the clutch now bites almost immediately upon lifting my left foot, rather than playing a guessing game where the bite point is. Oftentimes the standard ones are broken as well (being light plastic) - mine was ok but I read of a fair amount that had split offshore.

Let's avoid the SMG vs. manual debate if we can. Last time it went on for 3 pages.

Yea they do make some nice intake noise I will give the kit that.

Oh yea the clutch stop sounds like an interesting mod, All depends on your shifting style I guess, I have found that pulsing the gas slightly as you depress the clutch, change gears, then dump the clutch and give it some gas works pretty well. Anyway once Im more tuned to the way the car drives I might have a go at this to see the difference. Sounds like it could be handy for gymkhana's as this is where I have normally found changing gears a bit challenging.

Thanks Paul, I would like to see the difference, and the CSL's are a damn nice car. Maybe Ill end up at the same meet as Tom one day.