E 46 M 3 Upgrades / Lose Some Lard ??
Discussion
So what's available ? Ie Exhausts, De Cat ? Can they be de restricted ? the air filter, suspension, wheels etc.
These cars are very lardy, the weight is very noticable . i have Just bought another colour interior for my one to replace the Original black interior and I just can't beleive how heavy the Original electric seats are. What's a good replacement seat ? I'm looking at Recaros , maybe the Pole Position .
These cars are very lardy, the weight is very noticable . i have Just bought another colour interior for my one to replace the Original black interior and I just can't beleive how heavy the Original electric seats are. What's a good replacement seat ? I'm looking at Recaros , maybe the Pole Position .
Finally did a few long runs over the w end and im Very pleased with my manual box, late 03 example.
Im still not sure what Options she is fitted with, but reverse parking sensors and Zenon H lamps i think. CD Player, no sat nav.
I have started to fit a complete Red interior, as i just dont like black interiors, as they are far too gloomy in a coupe. The Red seats etc really set off the Carbon Black exterior.
Though a high ( Motorway ) miles car, she has been Very well maintained by just 2 previous, discerning owners and she drives like new.
Shes running on Contis all round, which im very impressed with particularly in the rain. My M3 is Probably the best handling, front engined r w drive car that i have yet driven, the steering feel and response is near perfect,the sound under acceleration is gorgeous, driving position is good.
However, there are some things that im not so sure about.
The fuel consumption is frankly appa1ling, you can almost see the gauge needle dropping and even sitting at a steady 60 on the motorway, she cant even be doing high 20s to the gallon. ( Anyone any ideas ? )
1st gear is too short, i think it would be a better car with just 5 speeds.
Far too many toys, ie the electric opening rear 1/4 windows, the heater controls are fiddly to use and i would have prefered no sunroof as the sliding blind is broken
Performance however isnt as good as i had expected, probably due to the weight, the M3 IS Far too heavy, im looking at ways to lighten it. The seats for example weigh a ton ( well it seemed like it ) So some decent drivers Bucket seat is planned.
Im still not sure what Options she is fitted with, but reverse parking sensors and Zenon H lamps i think. CD Player, no sat nav.
I have started to fit a complete Red interior, as i just dont like black interiors, as they are far too gloomy in a coupe. The Red seats etc really set off the Carbon Black exterior.
Though a high ( Motorway ) miles car, she has been Very well maintained by just 2 previous, discerning owners and she drives like new.
Shes running on Contis all round, which im very impressed with particularly in the rain. My M3 is Probably the best handling, front engined r w drive car that i have yet driven, the steering feel and response is near perfect,the sound under acceleration is gorgeous, driving position is good.
However, there are some things that im not so sure about.
The fuel consumption is frankly appa1ling, you can almost see the gauge needle dropping and even sitting at a steady 60 on the motorway, she cant even be doing high 20s to the gallon. ( Anyone any ideas ? )
1st gear is too short, i think it would be a better car with just 5 speeds.
Far too many toys, ie the electric opening rear 1/4 windows, the heater controls are fiddly to use and i would have prefered no sunroof as the sliding blind is broken
Performance however isnt as good as i had expected, probably due to the weight, the M3 IS Far too heavy, im looking at ways to lighten it. The seats for example weigh a ton ( well it seemed like it ) So some decent drivers Bucket seat is planned.
Possibly not the way you're looking at going, as it won't make any real difference to weight or performance, but a carbon airbox & Alpha-N is the best upgrade you can give your M3 IMO. Certainly won't help your fuel consumption either now that I come to think of it, but worth it for the noise
neutral 3 said:
Thanks for the reply Leins, an air box mod is something I will look into.
Re the fuel consumption, it's far worse than I expected and worse than my Griff 500. Can the M 3 be decatted ? As this made a big diference to the Griff and several other cars in both economy and power.
I'm sure it can, but sounds a bit drastic for extra fuel consumption. I struggle to see 20MPG in my CSL, but then it's not a daily driver so rarely sits on motorways, plus any weight difference is probably offset by a more aggressive map anywayRe the fuel consumption, it's far worse than I expected and worse than my Griff 500. Can the M 3 be decatted ? As this made a big diference to the Griff and several other cars in both economy and power.
As you said yourself, swapping the seats out for something lightweight is a good start. I completely agree on the electronics front, far too many in ///M cars these days IMO, but that's a whole different topic
Edited by Leins on Thursday 3rd January 00:30
Yes, Re electronics , what a great shame that BMW chose to load the E 46 M 3 up with so much heavy electrickery. Im still laughing over the electric opening rear side windows, what a joke !
If only they had built it along similar lines to the E30 M3 ( what an awesome drivers car they are , but unfortunately now out of my price range ) and made the E46 more hard core.
I spent a few houres today cleaning up the rest of the red interior im fitting and just can't beleive the weight of the front and rear door cards and the rear seats.
Perhaps I have been spoilt with minimalist TVRs , but I'm dreading an encounter with a 996 ( let alone a 997 ) in a straight line.
If only they had built it along similar lines to the E30 M3 ( what an awesome drivers car they are , but unfortunately now out of my price range ) and made the E46 more hard core.
I spent a few houres today cleaning up the rest of the red interior im fitting and just can't beleive the weight of the front and rear door cards and the rear seats.
Perhaps I have been spoilt with minimalist TVRs , but I'm dreading an encounter with a 996 ( let alone a 997 ) in a straight line.
As i once owned a 500HC TVR , which i happend to tweak with de cats , triple throttle bodys ,flowed manifold , longer duration cam , uprates shoxs , brembo 4 pot calipers , nitrons etc etc ,
at the same time owned a lancia evo 2 which had some tweaks too,
i found myself in the position as i was getting older for a car or cars that were more reliable , and more creature comforts and easy to drive day to day .
So i purchased a 18 month old E46 M3 back in 2004(which i still have today), then after the wow factor of the electric toys wore off i though this cars fills very slow and lacking in "real" low down power.
The thing is my TVR was producing (checked on a few dynos) around 340lbft at 1800-2000rpm and stayed above 300lbft to nearly the rev limit all in a car which weights just over 1000kg
the M3 is not ever going to get near those torque figures even at peak torque way up in the rev range and weights around 1650kg
I am slightly guessing the above figures as i cant be bother to look them up for absolute.
The torque is what makes a car accelerate , and i think you are going to find it hard to compare after owning a TVR with a 5 litre V8 towing along a plastic body.
whats my other car along side the M3 , a tvr tuscan with lightly modified 4 litre , and even this fills more softer and easier to drive than the 500HC but more powerful and exciting to drive than the M3
The 500HC wanted to kill me when pushed hard the tuscan does not.
My M3 has now had around 20k of mods incluiding stage 2 supercharger and full race cat exhaust.
And it still fills planted and slowish or should i say controllable and safe to use with far more power,but it has real speed when used.
The tuscan feels faster but the real speed over same grounds are much slower.
A fast feeling car does not always means its a fast car like wise a slow feeling car does mean it is slow.
kelly
at the same time owned a lancia evo 2 which had some tweaks too,
i found myself in the position as i was getting older for a car or cars that were more reliable , and more creature comforts and easy to drive day to day .
So i purchased a 18 month old E46 M3 back in 2004(which i still have today), then after the wow factor of the electric toys wore off i though this cars fills very slow and lacking in "real" low down power.
The thing is my TVR was producing (checked on a few dynos) around 340lbft at 1800-2000rpm and stayed above 300lbft to nearly the rev limit all in a car which weights just over 1000kg
the M3 is not ever going to get near those torque figures even at peak torque way up in the rev range and weights around 1650kg
I am slightly guessing the above figures as i cant be bother to look them up for absolute.
The torque is what makes a car accelerate , and i think you are going to find it hard to compare after owning a TVR with a 5 litre V8 towing along a plastic body.
whats my other car along side the M3 , a tvr tuscan with lightly modified 4 litre , and even this fills more softer and easier to drive than the 500HC but more powerful and exciting to drive than the M3
The 500HC wanted to kill me when pushed hard the tuscan does not.
My M3 has now had around 20k of mods incluiding stage 2 supercharger and full race cat exhaust.
And it still fills planted and slowish or should i say controllable and safe to use with far more power,but it has real speed when used.
The tuscan feels faster but the real speed over same grounds are much slower.
A fast feeling car does not always means its a fast car like wise a slow feeling car does mean it is slow.
kelly
Aren't the seats in the E46 M3 fitted with pressure sensors that tell the car whether to bother deploying airbags if you crash? I guess if you don't crash then it's no bother.
In my E46 M3 I removed all the sound deadening from beneath the rear seats and carpet. I think it was only 20kg worth, but it allowed the exhaust noise to get into the car more, which sounded fantastic.
I think the car is one of the best handling cars I've driven, I felt it was uncrashable such were the angles of slip you could get away with.
I'd recommend adjusting the geometry slightly though. I had mine set as close to CSL settings as the standard suspension would allow and it made the car far more neutral and turn in was very good, though still some way off lower, lighter sports cars.
Re fuel consumption, at a steady 58mph mine used to report 36mpg. Normal mixed driving saw around 23mpg. Cruising at 80ish it did around 29mpg.
The car was my daily driver and it combined comfort and practicality beautifully. Once the geo was set up well, it provided the perfect balance for me and on the daily commute it was very rare to find anything faster on the road (unless I was in the wrong gear). It's not the fastest thing out there, but it's the mix of what it does and it's tremendous handling that makes it so appealing.
In my E46 M3 I removed all the sound deadening from beneath the rear seats and carpet. I think it was only 20kg worth, but it allowed the exhaust noise to get into the car more, which sounded fantastic.
I think the car is one of the best handling cars I've driven, I felt it was uncrashable such were the angles of slip you could get away with.
I'd recommend adjusting the geometry slightly though. I had mine set as close to CSL settings as the standard suspension would allow and it made the car far more neutral and turn in was very good, though still some way off lower, lighter sports cars.
Re fuel consumption, at a steady 58mph mine used to report 36mpg. Normal mixed driving saw around 23mpg. Cruising at 80ish it did around 29mpg.
The car was my daily driver and it combined comfort and practicality beautifully. Once the geo was set up well, it provided the perfect balance for me and on the daily commute it was very rare to find anything faster on the road (unless I was in the wrong gear).
It's not the fastest thing out there, but it's the mix of what it does and it's tremendous handling that makes it so appealing.Edited by bennyboysvuk on Friday 4th January 07:57
kds keltec said:
My M3 has now had around 20k of mods incluiding stage 2 supercharger and full race cat exhaust.
And it still fills planted and slowish or should i say controllable and safe to use with far more power,but it has real speed when used.
The tuscan feels faster but the real speed over same grounds are much slower.
A fast feeling car does not always means its a fast car like wise a slow feeling car does mean it is slow.
I've driven Kelly's Tuscan and been out in his M3 - I can confirm the M3 is very quick indeed, but doesn't feel it (the numbers just keep rising), and the Tuscan is fairly quick and feels very quick!And it still fills planted and slowish or should i say controllable and safe to use with far more power,but it has real speed when used.
The tuscan feels faster but the real speed over same grounds are much slower.
A fast feeling car does not always means its a fast car like wise a slow feeling car does mean it is slow.
The M3's mods are very well done and as such it feels like a standard car, it's just that it's sodding quick. It's not made it undriveable or lumpy, in fact it's a superb conversion.
kds keltec said:
A fast feeling car does not always means its a fast car like wise a slow feeling car does mean it is slow.
kelly
+ this 100%kelly
6 years ago i went from a 4.3 Griffith to an E36 M3 Evo, which i still own. i remember feeling somewhat disappointed that the M3 just didn't feel that fast. But over time i've come to appreciate it can cover the ground very quickly - without feeling like its going to stick you into the nearest ditch!
Yes, the E46 is a bit fatter - i've got an E46 330 and whilst it's no M3, it has enough gagetry to pilot a spacship so i agree loosing some weight, seats, lighter doorcards, undercarpet soundproofing would all help.....but E46's are well built, comfortable, safe and a nice place to sit.
I accept, you might lose out to a 996/7, but when you get to your destination you get out and get all your clobber out of the boot........whilst he has to get one small bag out of the (leaky/dirty) bonnet space area, another bag off his passengers lap and two more small ones off the back seat that have been flying about everywhere clouting him in the back of the head whilst he's been corning like a nutter trying to stay ahead of you......just!It's horses for courses!
I think you're on a hiding to nothing when you're trying to get your e46 to feel lighter.
I wanted my E30 M3 to feel faster so I coincided a few modifications at the same time but the biggest improvement I got was by fitting a 3.64/1 diff - that on its own brought the car to life, add that to 25/30 extra bhp and it felt great.
I'm not 100% on e46s but I'm sure you can get a similar diff which will make it feel so much better.
I wanted my E30 M3 to feel faster so I coincided a few modifications at the same time but the biggest improvement I got was by fitting a 3.64/1 diff - that on its own brought the car to life, add that to 25/30 extra bhp and it felt great.
I'm not 100% on e46s but I'm sure you can get a similar diff which will make it feel so much better.
falkster said:
I think you're on a hiding to nothing when you're trying to get your e46 to feel lighter.
I wanted my E30 M3 to feel faster so I coincided a few modifications at the same time but the biggest improvement I got was by fitting a 3.64/1 diff - that on its own brought the car to life, add that to 25/30 extra bhp and it felt great.
I'm not 100% on e46s but I'm sure you can get a similar diff which will make it feel so much better.
You want the Genuine BMW motorsport rear diff kit "4.10" for a similar feel.I wanted my E30 M3 to feel faster so I coincided a few modifications at the same time but the biggest improvement I got was by fitting a 3.64/1 diff - that on its own brought the car to life, add that to 25/30 extra bhp and it felt great.
I'm not 100% on e46s but I'm sure you can get a similar diff which will make it feel so much better.
ETA: http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-2052-e46-m3-diff...
Edited by jon- on Friday 4th January 17:47
The E46 M3 is no rocket ship but for me it excels in the way in which it delivers the power it has. In 'real world' city driving its lack of torque shows but on A & B roads the rev happy S54 compliments the chassis perfectly. The car has a real 'flow' if you know what I mean. It's the first car I've had which I can't contemplate changing.
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