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The Test Pipes gave us an average 17 lb/ft of torque gain across the entire RPM band with a maximum gain of 24 whp at 6,300rpm, and 26 lb/ft of torque gain at a very low 2,900rpm!When we first fired up the car with the Macht Schnell “Bypass Track Pipes” installed, I was expecting to get a deep bellowing sound but to my surprise, at start-up and idle, the exhaust was no different from stock. Even after revving the motor to 3-4,000rpm, it remained quiet and about the same as stock. The cabin noise from inside the car was virtually unchanged both cruising around town and highway driving. Even at full throttle in the mid-range didn’t seem much louder than stock but I was surprised to hear my cameraman say the car sounded awesome when following me to Roush Yates.
I was pleased that the car was quiet but was honestly a little disappointed that it wasn’t any louder. All of this disappointment was quickly eradicated when I rolled down the windows and gave the motor a big stab of throttle. At 5,000+rpm the exhaust rapped to life with a racy sound that’s akin to the Grand-Am Continental Tire M3 racecars that I have driven and usually race against (which sound awesome). I don’t want to go down the endless discussion of “sounding like an F1 car”, but the car does sound badass. This sound was not apparent from inside the car with the windows up.
If you’ve never heard the sound of a Grand-Am GS-class M3, the test pipes on our Project E90 M3 now has a similar note, which has more of a F355 or uncorked V10 M5 pitch to it than the rasp of the E46 M3. On a side note, I hate the word “Rasp” which has gained a popular and negative connotation in the BMW community, stemming from the ‘tinny’/buzzing sound of the E46 M3’s exhaust, which the S65’s V8 does NOT have any of.I’m not sure if the comments online about this setup being ‘too loud’ were in regards to the noise outside the car, but from inside the cabin there is zero drone at any rpm, and the exhaust is as quiet as stock at everything but high load near redline. The exhaust is far from loud, at WOT it screams yet remains refined without being significantly louder than stock at all other times. From inside the car you can now actually hear something other than the predominant induction noise when driving the car hard. The sound of the exhaust greatly compliments the intake noise with a nice pitch at high rpm that is sporty, yet streetable and could easily pass as OEM in terms of sound quality and volume. With the secondary cats remaining in place, there is no noticeable difference in smell either inside or outside the car.
The combination of the ESS tune and Macht Schnell “Bypass Track Pipes” netted us an impressive 42 whp increase over stock with a peak gain of 51 whp and 42 lb-ft of torque at 6,300rpm. Where the stock car made 337 whp at 8,200rpm, this combo makes the same power at 6,500rpm and keeps increasing all the way to redline. Another way to look at it is the car makes as much power as our cammed E36 M3 with the TMS Stage 3 M50 Intake Manifold at a low 4,700rpm with a lot more torque.
The torque curve of our 4.0L V8 remains impressively flat all the way to redline. This is a true testament to the engineering that has gone into the S65 from the factory. Both the ESS Tune and the Macht Schnell “Bypass Track Pipes” bump the torque curve up by roughly equal amounts each, creating a smooth, linear power curve that perfectly matches OEM.When trying to extract more power from the M3’s S65 V8 engine, as well as improving the sound without losing the car’s streetability, the Macht Schnell “Bypass Track Pipes” are by far the best bang for the buck you can get. It truly is the best of both worlds. Requiring only two cuts to the factory mid-pipe, it’s also relatively easy to install. This is a seriously good option for those who want the performance of a full exhaust but the sound of OEM with a nice sporty balance to it when you’re revving it out, which the stock system lacked from the factory. The addition of the EAS 80mm Exhaust Tips were a great cost-effective way to compliment the looks of our car to better match the performance and sound improvements that we have made. At this point, it’s hard to see a need for a costly aftermarket muffler or X-pipe which will have more compromises in streetability for very small gains in performance. Stay tuned to see what we do next to our Project E90 M3.
SOURCES
Macht Schnell “Bypass Track Pipes”
