,
The kit's easy-to-follow instructions make the installation a snap. The whole process took less than thirty minutes the first time out, and our engine bay still looks remarkably original to boot.
This may appear to be another excuse to show you another dyno graph, but what we’re showing you here is not just how far we’ve come, but also where we hope to be. That's right, our next goal is to reach the stock performance level of the ever-impressive S65 4.0-liter V8 found in the E90/E92 BMW M3 (green).
The blue line shows where Project E46 M3 started and the red indicates where we are today. Fortunately we got a good tach signal in the last couple of runs to show you torque. What's exciting is you may notice we’re a little closer to the V8's torque than our once-stock E46 M3 3.2-liter. In fact, on average, Project E46 M3's 3.2-liter torque output equals the 4.0-liter V8's from 4000-6500 RPM!
Looking at horsepower tells the story a little better. While we've closed the gap considerably from 3000-6400 RPM, we’re going to have free up around 30whp up top. But the fact we’re up nearly 40whp over stock (a 14% improvement!) from essentially an engine-back exhaust, intake, software and pulleys is motivating.
If I could point out a drawback experienced each day with this full, engine-back exhaust system, it’s the noise level. Call me old, but right now this car is just a bit too loud for me—at least at wide-open throttle. Don't get me wrong, the tone of it at high RPM sounds great. But I'd still like it at a lower decibel level.
With the Corsa cat-back and stock headers and cats in place, the sound level was perfect. That said, I'm not willing to sacrifice the power gain by going back to a stock header. I knew what I was getting into before testing, having had testing experience with a near-identical setup recently. So, our plan is to quiet the car down without sacrificing any power so we can have our cake and eat it too. We also have other upgrades waiting to be installed on this bad boy, so stay tuned!
SOURCES:
BAVARIAN AUTOSPORT
CORSA PERFORMANCE
EUROPEAN AUTO SOURCE
EPIC MOTORSPORTS
FABSPEED MOTORSPORTS
MODIFIED BY KC
RADIUM ENGINEERING
SWAIN TECH COATINGS
VAC MOTORSPORTS
