E46 M3 Project
Discussion
The bonnet catches and release latch were showing some signs of rust, so they were sanded and repainted.
Refitted.
I also removed the standard induction system ready for the CSL airbox. Here's the standard engine bay.
Intake system removed.
The standard parts are actually very heavy. The CSL airbox feels like it weighs at most one third of these standard M3 parts.
Refitted.
I also removed the standard induction system ready for the CSL airbox. Here's the standard engine bay.
Intake system removed.
The standard parts are actually very heavy. The CSL airbox feels like it weighs at most one third of these standard M3 parts.
CSL dispstick and guide tube (top). The standard tube can apparently be bent to clear the airbox, but I had a go and couldn't achieve a satisfactory result that left the guide tube mounted securely.
CSL specific vaccum line & check valve and oil breather.
Silenced inlet duct (left) and unsilenced front bumper duct (right).
Temperature sensor.
The M3 slam panel inlet duct has an additional section on the end that pushes onto the standard airbox. This is no longer required so I cut it off.
The silenced inlet route on the CSL is operative when the inake flap is closed. The route services no purpose other than to minimise intake noise at low RPM condition when out of sport mode. I want to hear the intake sing all the time so in my case the silenced intake is just a source of undesirable hot air from the engine bay. Although I did buy the ducting to plumb in the silenced route I decided against using it, so I cut off the silenced duct flange, and sealed with plastic and a foil-backed Butul covering.
I'm still waiting for the air filter at the moment, but the airbox is in place nonetheless.
I have removed the ECU and sent it away to have the following work done:
- Conversion to CSL spec, but minus the flap actuation hardware, and with deletion of codes for non-operational flap
- Manual gearbox conversion on CSL software
- Retention of my current VIN and build date etc.
- SMG Shift Lights adapted for manual gearbox
- Top Speed Governor Removal
- Disable post-cat o2 sensors
- Sport Button Memory
- Permanent Dyno mode
The remaining sections of high gloss Shadowline arrived and are now fitted.
CSL specific vaccum line & check valve and oil breather.
Silenced inlet duct (left) and unsilenced front bumper duct (right).
Temperature sensor.
The M3 slam panel inlet duct has an additional section on the end that pushes onto the standard airbox. This is no longer required so I cut it off.
The silenced inlet route on the CSL is operative when the inake flap is closed. The route services no purpose other than to minimise intake noise at low RPM condition when out of sport mode. I want to hear the intake sing all the time so in my case the silenced intake is just a source of undesirable hot air from the engine bay. Although I did buy the ducting to plumb in the silenced route I decided against using it, so I cut off the silenced duct flange, and sealed with plastic and a foil-backed Butul covering.
I'm still waiting for the air filter at the moment, but the airbox is in place nonetheless.
I have removed the ECU and sent it away to have the following work done:
- Conversion to CSL spec, but minus the flap actuation hardware, and with deletion of codes for non-operational flap
- Manual gearbox conversion on CSL software
- Retention of my current VIN and build date etc.
- SMG Shift Lights adapted for manual gearbox
- Top Speed Governor Removal
- Disable post-cat o2 sensors
- Sport Button Memory
- Permanent Dyno mode
The remaining sections of high gloss Shadowline arrived and are now fitted.
Max M4X WW said:
All looks great, love all the details.
Have you physically removed the flap then? Always wondered what this was for, is it just for noise? Would it be closed with the ignition off on a standard CSL?
What are the benefits of having the car in Dyno mode permanently?
Thanks Max. Yes, I have removed the flap. It's there purely to control intake noise by closing off the main aperture fed from the front bumper hole, and forcing the inlet air via a much smaller route that starts with a 700mm length of silenced duct. Have you physically removed the flap then? Always wondered what this was for, is it just for noise? Would it be closed with the ignition off on a standard CSL?
What are the benefits of having the car in Dyno mode permanently?
The following photos are probably clearer than my explanation.
Main inlet tract
Silenced tract.
Dyno mode is a convenience thing to make mapping work a little easier. I don't think I'll be on the dyno any more than the first time for a setup and map, but I thought I may as well get the modification coded in whilst the ECU work was being done.
benny.c said:
I looked at using the CSL dipstick (and housing tube) when I fitted my carbon airbox, but as I understand it the standard M3 ECU can't be reprogrammed to replicate the CSL electronic oil reading on the dash. That means removing the airbox to dip the oil or have you found away around this?
Yes, as above my ECU is being converted to CSL spec with additional features and at the same time altered to suit the manual gearbox. I will have the oil level reading in the instrument cluster.benny.c said:
I thought I read somewhere that you need a CSL instrument cluster too? There is lots of threads on the US forums where folk have got the gauge to appear but not actually read anything. As you say, bending the dipstick pipe isn't the ideal solution.
The CSL cluster is identical to all facelift M3 clusters down to the 'M Track' mode LED/warning light - which I have yet to code in. People have hit issues trying to port the oil level display to a regular S54 file on the MSS54HP ECU, but I'm going for the CSL version in its entirety as I don't like the pseudo Alpha-N implementation on the standard ECU.It's only a matter of time though before the oil level is available on the standard MSS54HP.
benny.c said:
I see. So a full CSL conversion of the ECU will work, but trying to tweak only certain elements of the normal M3 code won't. Reading the US forums it seems like folk have been trying to get it work (without full CSL conversion) for ages. I'll have to stay with my bent dipstick for a while longer 
Yes, you got it. Out of interest how do you find your map? Do you have a flat spot or any hesitance lower down?On average the E46 M3 makes 320bhp at the flywheel; they are all well under the quoted figure, whereas CSL's are about on target. With all the modifications I am making i.e. cams, exhaust, intake, CSL software, and a remap, I will consider myself lucky if I achieve more than 370.
On average the E46 M3 makes 320bhp at the flywheel; they are all well under the quoted figure, whereas CSL's are about on target. With all the modifications I am making i.e. cams, exhaust, intake, CSL software, and a remap, I will consider myself lucky if I achieve more than 370.
Standard exhaust system removed. This took a couple of hours due to limited access and removal of the under trays etc. The system is obscenely heavy, so much so that the car sits noticeably higher without it fitted!
And on to the reason for removing the standard exhaust: to see exactly why the Supersprint V1 manifolds aren't advertised for RHD cars. The reason I bought the V1's over the RHD suitable V2's is detailed http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=39... - if you don't want to read that, the answer is another 6bhp gain from a set of components already proven to make up to 15bhp.
Here are the V1's next to the standard manifolds.
From start to finish it took 4.5 hours. I was expecting it to be a lot worse given what I'd read online, but it was very straight-forward. Note the blood on the oil feed pipe in the following photo - wrapped knuckles aplenty!
So, what did I find? Well, it's not a case of the manifolds being of a similar design to OEM and the additional diameter impeding on space, they are simply not designed with the standard - quite bulky - RHD steering shaft in mind, which is the bottom shaft in the photo below. The pivot points on the standard shaft are at each end i.e. the rack and the column protruding through the bulkhead.
Here's a photo from under the car showing what I'm up against. The rack spigot can be seen in the lower left of the photo and the column shaft in the upper right.
After some thought - and grovelling around on my back under the car! - I came up with the following layout for a custom steering shaft. The blue circles represent the new positions of the UJs.
I dismantled the standard shaft to experiment with the UJs but found they are far too bulky for this application. Tomorrow I will start looking at alternative UJs and buy in some Hexagonal bar stock to start mocking up the new layout.
On average the E46 M3 makes 320bhp at the flywheel; they are all well under the quoted figure, whereas CSL's are about on target. With all the modifications I am making i.e. cams, exhaust, intake, CSL software, and a remap, I will consider myself lucky if I achieve more than 370.
Standard exhaust system removed. This took a couple of hours due to limited access and removal of the under trays etc. The system is obscenely heavy, so much so that the car sits noticeably higher without it fitted!
And on to the reason for removing the standard exhaust: to see exactly why the Supersprint V1 manifolds aren't advertised for RHD cars. The reason I bought the V1's over the RHD suitable V2's is detailed http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=39... - if you don't want to read that, the answer is another 6bhp gain from a set of components already proven to make up to 15bhp.
Here are the V1's next to the standard manifolds.
From start to finish it took 4.5 hours. I was expecting it to be a lot worse given what I'd read online, but it was very straight-forward. Note the blood on the oil feed pipe in the following photo - wrapped knuckles aplenty!
So, what did I find? Well, it's not a case of the manifolds being of a similar design to OEM and the additional diameter impeding on space, they are simply not designed with the standard - quite bulky - RHD steering shaft in mind, which is the bottom shaft in the photo below. The pivot points on the standard shaft are at each end i.e. the rack and the column protruding through the bulkhead.
Here's a photo from under the car showing what I'm up against. The rack spigot can be seen in the lower left of the photo and the column shaft in the upper right.
After some thought - and grovelling around on my back under the car! - I came up with the following layout for a custom steering shaft. The blue circles represent the new positions of the UJs.
I dismantled the standard shaft to experiment with the UJs but found they are far too bulky for this application. Tomorrow I will start looking at alternative UJs and buy in some Hexagonal bar stock to start mocking up the new layout.
Gibbo205 said:
All three cars were run in 5th, whereas in hindsight we believe they should of being run in 4th maybe as 6th is not a true gear but an overdrive, is that true?
Still three cars, same testing method, same day, the cars with mod had a clear advantage, irrelevent if the dyno was over-reading.
Based on what I've learnt from looking into the S54 I think the dyno was optimistic to the tune of 25bhp, so using that as correctional factor leaves 355 for the modified car - which is good - and 320 for the standard car, which is about what I'd expect.Still three cars, same testing method, same day, the cars with mod had a clear advantage, irrelevent if the dyno was over-reading.
It's worth noting that standard S54's output anywhere from 315bhp to 335bhp, so it's quite probable you started out towards the higher end of the standard output range.
ezakimak said:
So what you are trying to say, is dyno the car with the new exhaust system to see if its worth the effort of swapping the steering shaft before you go through the headache.
i thought that i read some pages back about the standard steering shaft with the guibo being removed when the Z4MC rack was fitted, yet it looks like the standard M3 shaft is still there.
The gains from what I'm doing have been proven many time over the years. +45 bhp average gain and and a transformation of the driving experience.i thought that i read some pages back about the standard steering shaft with the guibo being removed when the Z4MC rack was fitted, yet it looks like the standard M3 shaft is still there.
WRT the Z4M shaft:
mwstewart]img said:
The M3 has a rubber steering Giubo in the UJ linkage that's purpose is to absorb kickback through the wheel, which it does well, however it is at the expense of steering feel. I had read elsewhere on the internet that the solid Z4M coupler is a straight swap, but like a lot of things I read on on the internet, it was incorrect! The spline locating flats on the Z4 part are in completely different orientation to that on the M3.
The above is why the standard shaft and guibo were still on my car.hondansx said:
Interesting read about the exhaust mods. I had a CSL a few years ago now and I remember BMSport used my car in a test which was shown in a BMW magazine; i had a Supersprint centre pipe and my car got a better result than another CSL with a full system. As as a result, BMSport then actively talked people out of going for cat back systems.
I was under the impression that Thorney Motorsport supplied RHD Supersprint manifolds; or was it a one off batch?
Regardless, chasing power in a M3 makes no sense to me! In modern terms, it's still not going to be especially quick. CSL airbox is the key step for me; it's all about the noise!
Anyway, the car looks great and nice to see genuine parts being used.
Thanks. The modifications are going to make the difference between performance that feels pretty average and performance that starts to feel interesting. The RHD specific Supersprint 'V2' manifolds are 6bhp down on the LHD 'V1' version I have here, which is considerable in NA terms. It is really only the Supersprint parts that are proven to produce the desired results, and their manifolds, cats, and centre section are a well proven 20bhp upgrade which is why remain revered and the best exhaust for the S54/E46. I was under the impression that Thorney Motorsport supplied RHD Supersprint manifolds; or was it a one off batch?
Regardless, chasing power in a M3 makes no sense to me! In modern terms, it's still not going to be especially quick. CSL airbox is the key step for me; it's all about the noise!
Anyway, the car looks great and nice to see genuine parts being used.
FYI SS R&D showed that there are zero gains from changing the rear silencer on the E46 M3, except for noise - if that's your thing; the only gains are from the manifolds, cats, and centre section. If your car was compared to another Supersprint equipped car that had the centre and rear silencer, than I would expect the results to be identical. If the other car had a non-SS exhaust, I would almost certainly expect the results to be worse.
Captainawesome said:
This is quite funny, we both bought nearly identical (smg v's manual) cars a few weeks apart.
I've got the carbon box and supersprint lightweight exhaust on order for mine, hopefully be here soon, Also added depo indicators, a panasonic head unit which has a colour change function which I bought purely so it would match the rest of the interior lighting, carbon kidney grilles and a full carbon cube interior kit. I did have CSL wheels and bootlid (copies) but took them off and went back to OEM. I'm up to 50,000 miles now.....guessing yours is nowhere near that. Unfortunately going to be losing my licence for a while soon (damn the S54) sop while she is off the road a set of APs will be fitted up front as despite uprated pad,discs and fluid they still fade very quickly under hard use.
I'm going for the OEM + look too but not quite as detailed as yours. Your work and attention to detail are stunning. Good job.
Cheers!I've got the carbon box and supersprint lightweight exhaust on order for mine, hopefully be here soon, Also added depo indicators, a panasonic head unit which has a colour change function which I bought purely so it would match the rest of the interior lighting, carbon kidney grilles and a full carbon cube interior kit. I did have CSL wheels and bootlid (copies) but took them off and went back to OEM. I'm up to 50,000 miles now.....guessing yours is nowhere near that. Unfortunately going to be losing my licence for a while soon (damn the S54) sop while she is off the road a set of APs will be fitted up front as despite uprated pad,discs and fluid they still fade very quickly under hard use.
I'm going for the OEM + look too but not quite as detailed as yours. Your work and attention to detail are stunning. Good job.
I remember yours, same mileage too
Mine's just hit 30k, but I've put I've covered a lot more ground in the previous M3's I've owned. This one is a keeper. I'm looking into AP's for mine at the moment actually.ATM said:
I've seen some suspiciously cheap e46 Alcon sets on ebay - I thought they were twice the price of this - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121170065415
I have some AP's on my none-m...
They are seemingly great value for money, and a member on cslregister sells them for even less than advertised in that link you have there! I was considering the Alcons but have read that hey affect pedal travel whereas the APs don't.I have some AP's on my none-m...
The M3 AP kit is based on the CP5575 caliper but AP - and Alcon from what I can tell - don't publish piston sizes and fluid volumes for their vehicle specific kits, so I can't get some real data to compare the two offerings. If the Alcon kit does actually have similar fluid volume to the AP and the reports of a lower pedal are just people who haven't bled the system correctly, then they are unbeatable value.
I have also looked into changing the master cylinder to suit a Porsche caliper conversion. The standard MC is a differential bore 25mm front, 20mm rear, and it's hard to get an increase on that whilst keeping the differential. I found some 7 series MC's that had a 26mm front and 22mm rear, and there's the Porsche 997 GT3 MC which is also a bolt one, but has a fixed 27mm bore. We're into the realms of potentially affecting ABS here so it needs some calculation/thought http://www.bmwtech.ru/pdf/e46/ST034/13%20P1%20Trac...
In short, I suspect the APs are the best suited off the shelf package.
Gibbo205 said:
Love the pedal feel on my alcons, perfect for road and track and insanely powerful.
Thanks, are yours on an E46 M?olly22n said:
I had APs front and rear on my csl with those pagid rs something or other pads.
Totally epic, and always hauled the f
ker in no matter what.
Sounds good!Totally epic, and always hauled the f
ker in no matter what.Minor update.
I bought the correct pliers so I could secure the OEM throttle body clamps.
I've gone for an ITG filter. CSL owners report the filter provides more induction noise than the OEM filter, and having seen the filtered side of a CSL airbox after 30k miles with an ITG fitted I'm happy that filtration is a not detrimentally affected.
Fitted.
I have drawn a blank trying to find an engineer who could machine a steering rack pinion extension with the the correct BMW 17mm diameter 54 splines, so I've started to look at alternatives. I have bought a cheap E36 rack for the bargain price of £15 that I can strip to investigate whether its pinion can be used as the basis of an extension shaft for my rack.
I stripped down the rack and then the pinion assembly. The arrow indicates the part of the pinion I plan to use.
If anyone can point me in the direction of an engineer who can create the correct splines - ideally male and female - please shout!
ATM said:
I've only just bought the car as is. It has some home brew AP twin pots on the rear with M3 front discs. The brake pedal is rock solid and very confidence inspiring initially however I'm not happy with the abs function. It seems to prefer locking up the front driver's side wheel if I press too hard. Then the ABS does nothing. The car feels like it is not slowing down at all once I've locked up the front right. So I want to get it checked. Is this a simple job for any garage or do I need to see a specialist?
Can you please post some photos of the setup? Does the ABS warning light come on and extinguish when you start the car?There's quite possibly both a mechanical and electronic issue.
ATM said:
I'll have a look next time I'm at home. I work away all week. Rear brake setup pic
OK thanks. I know the caliper; it is used on he rear of the Elise and some TVR models. It has the same mount spacing as the four pot caliper model which will give you the correct pad depth to fill those discs, which look to me like M3 rear discs, not front.I'm guessing from the colour of your car it's a 330Ci clubsport? If not an individual of some kind. If it is a 330 then someone will have installed the M3 rear handbrake assembly to suit the M3 discs, which is actually smaller than the 330's.
ATM said:
It started out life as an early 325i sport. It then got modified with a poly bushed M3 rear suspension assembly, the brakes you see, some form of coilover suspension setup and a small block chevy engine. Owner's build thread is here - http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/topic.asp?t=104...
Ahh! Blair's old car. It looked like Estoril blue in your pics hence me thinking it was a Clubsport.e21jason said:
Danthe on the e30zoen makes up splines for e30 m50 conversions as seen at the bottom of this page
http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Steer... and here
http://e30s50.blogspot.ae/
Vorshlag do a mod as well
http://www.vorshlag.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_8...
Sorry! I missed this. Thank you very much. I've been in touch and he's going to make what I need http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Steer... and here
http://e30s50.blogspot.ae/
Vorshlag do a mod as well
http://www.vorshlag.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_8...
I have decided to perform a full underbody restoration on the car. Everything will be powder coated, re-plated, and all bushes, bearings, and joints will be replaced with new OEM parts. The car has only covered 30k but doing this now will leave me with a perfect car for a long time, as I only cover 1-2k per year in it.
Reference photos - pre-restoration.
Here's everything stripped from the car ready for the bushes and hubs to be pressed out.
My rear subframe was inspected by BMW on December 16th last year and it was given a clean bill of health. I confirmed the same today which is great.
The car is still within the 10 year goodwill scheme cut-off for remedial work, but there's no way I'd want any kind of major structural surgery on this car.I'll weld on some Redish plates as a precautionary measure before the rear subrame is bolted back on.
Reference photos - pre-restoration.
Here's everything stripped from the car ready for the bushes and hubs to be pressed out.
My rear subframe was inspected by BMW on December 16th last year and it was given a clean bill of health. I confirmed the same today which is great.
The car is still within the 10 year goodwill scheme cut-off for remedial work, but there's no way I'd want any kind of major structural surgery on this car.I'll weld on some Redish plates as a precautionary measure before the rear subrame is bolted back on.
My Dad helped by stripping down the rear subframe. The diff will be sent away to be reconditioned.
I've bought another media interface for the car! This time in the form of Pibus http://pibus.info/. It's a clever device that enables integration of the iBus controls and TV Tuner with a Raspberry Pi computer, which in turn can run the XBMC Media Centre. I quite like the idea of a small embedded Linux device in the boot - there are countless possibilities.
There were one or two small marks on the boot sill trim, so I've bought another one along with the fittings used to secure it.
CSL Microfilter housing top and bottom parts. If you've not felt the weight of these M3 parts before you would be in for a shock; they are incredibly heavy! My theory is that a certain mass is required to provide sound deadening, because not only do these pieces house the Microfilter but they also form part of the engine bulkhead and seal off the area directly behind the centre vents from immediately above the engine and inlet manifold. The weight difference between standard M3 and CSL parts is considerable, but in my case the weight is less of a concern and instead I hope the lighter parts will allow more of the glorious intake noise into the cabin.
Standard M3 - top, CSL - bottom.
"Low density" identification.
Lower section fitted. I can't fit the upper piece until the CSL balance rail/map sensor mount arrives.
I've bought another media interface for the car! This time in the form of Pibus http://pibus.info/. It's a clever device that enables integration of the iBus controls and TV Tuner with a Raspberry Pi computer, which in turn can run the XBMC Media Centre. I quite like the idea of a small embedded Linux device in the boot - there are countless possibilities.
There were one or two small marks on the boot sill trim, so I've bought another one along with the fittings used to secure it.
CSL Microfilter housing top and bottom parts. If you've not felt the weight of these M3 parts before you would be in for a shock; they are incredibly heavy! My theory is that a certain mass is required to provide sound deadening, because not only do these pieces house the Microfilter but they also form part of the engine bulkhead and seal off the area directly behind the centre vents from immediately above the engine and inlet manifold. The weight difference between standard M3 and CSL parts is considerable, but in my case the weight is less of a concern and instead I hope the lighter parts will allow more of the glorious intake noise into the cabin.
Standard M3 - top, CSL - bottom.
"Low density" identification.
Lower section fitted. I can't fit the upper piece until the CSL balance rail/map sensor mount arrives.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff