New DME for CSL Airbox?

[bmwMpower1]

When doing the CSL Airbox conversion would it make sense to buy a completely new DME or are there really no advantages to that? I'm the type that likes to keep all stock parts just in case and would be willing to pay the premium for a complete MSS54HP DME. Does this even make sense or can an MSS54HP DME be used for MAF all the same?

If there is a case for having a new DME where would I even get one? I thought Kassel or TTFS used to offer sending these out without returning a "core" unit, but don't see that offered anymore.

Please feel free to merge this with the comprehensive CSL intake thread, but I couldn't find it on here.

[M3_Dust]

Bro, you're doing a csl airbox!? That's like the most baller mod you can do on an E46 M3.

[rbg]

Here I had some discussion related to this: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/s...=7280#post7280

[Steve]

Are you planning to use the flap? If so, a separate DME could make sense but if not, I would just use your current DME.

[heinzboehmer]

What year is your car? If you have an HP DME just reflash that if you don't want a flap. If you want a flap you can add the necessary components to your DME. More info here:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/special-interests/coding-tuning/2509-converting-an-mss54-hp-into-an-mss54hp-csl-h-bridge

[ATB88]

Kassel does still sell stock MSS54HP units that you don't have to give any core return for. I got one from him for $389.

But be warned re: Kassel. It took him 5 whole weeks to get it to me and for a while it seemed like I wouldn't get it at all: ordered on Jan 15 with overnight shipping, spoke to Jim on the phone about it. Jim was very knowledgeable and helpful with my questions, and said he'd get it out to me ASAP. It never shipped and after that I called once per week to ask about it and he always said he's got it right there just has to finish it and get it out the door to me and that it'll definitely be shipped in a day or two. After about 4 weeks of this I start getting someone else on the phone who tells me "yeah I don't know what to tell you, I can refund you if you want, or I can try and get him to ship it out but idk how long it'll take", which was pretty baffling to me. At this point they'd had my money for a month and seemed completely indifferent about whether or not they'd ever get around to shipping my DME, which was just a stock unit with my VIN written to it. It eventually shipped out Feb 19, and they refunded me the amount that I paid for "overnight shipping". But the fact that they really just didn't seem to give a shit about ever completing the order over a 5 week period was very frustrating and surprising for a company that I'd heard great things about.

[Cubieman]

That's disconcerting, I am planning on getting a CSL DME from them and was hoping for a bit of support if things didn't quite work right off the bat.

[nextelbuddy]

Kassel does still sell stock MSS54HP units that you don't have to give any core return for. I got one from him for $389.

But be warned re: Kassel. It took him 5 whole weeks to get it to me and for a while it seemed like I wouldn't get it at all: ordered on Jan 15 with overnight shipping, spoke to Jim on the phone about it. Jim was very knowledgeable and helpful with my questions, and said he'd get it out to me ASAP. It never shipped and after that I called once per week to ask about it and he always said he's got it right there just has to finish it and get it out the door to me and that it'll definitely be shipped in a day or two. After about 4 weeks of this I start getting someone else on the phone who tells me "yeah I don't know what to tell you, I can refund you if you want, or I can try and get him to ship it out but idk how long it'll take", which was pretty baffling to me. At this point they'd had my money for a month and seemed completely indifferent about whether or not they'd ever get around to shipping my DME, which was just a stock unit with my VIN written to it. It eventually shipped out Feb 19, and they refunded me the amount that I paid for "overnight shipping". But the fact that they really just didn't seem to give a shit about ever completing the order over a 5 week period was very frustrating and surprising for a company that I'd heard great things about.

because they outsource their DME work and the people they outsource to get overwhelmed and backed up and stop replying to kassel in which kassel goes "welp i dunno" stinks they get put ito oa bind like that which in turn gives customers a bad taste.

[///M3_MD]

because they outsource their DME work and the people they outsource to get overwhelmed and backed up and stop replying to kassel in which kassel goes "welp i dunno" stinks they get put ito oa bind like that which in turn gives customers a bad taste.

Yeah, I was gonna chime in with the same thought. If it were in his control it wouldn't have been an issue. I deal with them in person and have yet to have any issues. Good crew of people in house. For anyone in the Mid-Atlantic, going to the shop is an experience in and of itself given the car collection. Check them out once social distancing orders get relaxed.

[ATB88]

because they outsource their DME work and the people they outsource to get overwhelmed and backed up and stop replying to kassel in which kassel goes "welp i dunno" stinks they get put ito oa bind like that which in turn gives customers a bad taste.

Interesting. Are you certain they outsource just straightforward coding? I don't see why they would need to, it's pretty easy to get the right software running and I don't see any reason they wouldn't be doing that kind of stuff themselves. I didn't even ask for any fancy coding, I asked for a stock DME with stock software on it, and my VIN coded to it. I would have been happy to flash the DME and code the VIN in myself if they had been able to just send me a stock DME. But they didn't say they were waiting on this or waiting on that, Jim kept saying it'll go out to fedex first thing tomorrow and it just never did. The guy who I was dealing with on the phone after the first month of dealing with Jim made it sound like it was a matter of Jim himself sitting down and doing it rather than being a matter of waiting for an outsourcer to do it and get it back to them. In any case, I think it was handled pretty poorly in terms of both communication and showing any degree of concern whatsoever for the customer.

That's disconcerting, I am planning on getting a CSL DME from them and was hoping for a bit of support if things didn't quite work right off the bat.

For what it's worth: the times that I did speak to Jim directly on the phone about technical stuff, he was great and extremely helpful. Spent a good amount of time on the phone with me answering questions. So from that standpoint I have confidence that they would be great in terms of offering support. I just had a poor experience trying to get them to ship my actual DME.

[Cubieman]

Good to know, I talked with Jim yesterday for a bit and he was quite willing to discuss my project at length and was extremely helpful. I hope your unfortunate experience was a one off, no excuse for stuff like that.

[bmwMpower1]

Are you planning to use the flap? If so, a separate DME could make sense but if not, I would just use your current DME.

Don't really plan to use flap. Based on what I've heard it's prone to failure and I thought OEM parts were NLA.

What year is your car? If you have an HP DME just reflash that if you don't want a flap. If you want a flap you can add the necessary components to your DME. More info here:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/s...p-csl-h-bridge

My car is 2006 so that should mean I have an HP DME?

Kassel does still sell stock MSS54HP units that you don't have to give any core return for. I got one from him for $389.

But be warned re: Kassel. It took him 5 whole weeks to get it to me and for a while it seemed like I wouldn't get it at all: ordered on Jan 15 with overnight shipping, spoke to Jim on the phone about it. Jim was very knowledgeable and helpful with my questions, and said he'd get it out to me ASAP. It never shipped and after that I called once per week to ask about it and he always said he's got it right there just has to finish it and get it out the door to me and that it'll definitely be shipped in a day or two. After about 4 weeks of this I start getting someone else on the phone who tells me "yeah I don't know what to tell you, I can refund you if you want, or I can try and get him to ship it out but idk how long it'll take", which was pretty baffling to me. At this point they'd had my money for a month and seemed completely indifferent about whether or not they'd ever get around to shipping my DME, which was just a stock unit with my VIN written to it. It eventually shipped out Feb 19, and they refunded me the amount that I paid for "overnight shipping". But the fact that they really just didn't seem to give a shit about ever completing the order over a 5 week period was very frustrating and surprising for a company that I'd heard great things about.

Wow quite a bit cheaper than I remember so that's promising. It seems like these smaller shops often run into issues like that. Whether it be TTFS or Kassel, it seems like both are good at their core.

[ATB88]

Good to know, I talked with Jim yesterday for a bit and he was quite willing to discuss my project at length and was extremely helpful. I hope your unfortunate experience was a one off, no excuse for stuff like that.

Yeah by all other accounts Jim seems like a good and very helpful dude. Also hope this was a one off, but thought I'd share the experience just in case it isn't. Given the price and quality of work I wasn't warning that people should avoid using Kassel, but more to order ahead if they want their DME in the next month.

Don't really plan to use flap. Based on what I've heard it's prone to failure and I thought OEM parts were NLA.



My car is 2006 so that should mean I have an HP DME?



Wow quite a bit cheaper than I remember so that's promising. It seems like these smaller shops often run into issues like that. Whether it be TTFS or Kassel, it seems like both are good at their core.

Yes your car has an HP DME. If you're not installing the flap, then your current DME is all you need. You just need to load easily available modified CSL software on it when you install your box. Then you'll also want to get a tune. You only need a new DME or to get your current DME modified by Kassel if you want to run a flap. Mind you the price was just for a bone stock HP DME. Price goes up with modifications like H-bridge to run a flap, or various programming options, tune, etc. But yeah I thought it was a good price compared to other vendors on ebay that seemed way sketchier, which is why I was patient in seeing the transaction through.

[heinzboehmer]

My car is 2006 so that should mean I have an HP DME?

Yup, you have an HP DME. You don't even have to take the DME out of the car if you buy this tool and follow the instructions on the page: http://www.msstuning.com/mssflasher.html

[terra]

Yup, you have an HP DME. You don't even have to take the DME out of the car if you buy this tool and follow the instructions on the page: http://www.msstuning.com/mssflasher.html

Since he has an 06 and therefore no alternator wire wired up, it might be worth flashing my version with the built in CAN-bus alternator code.

See attached bin. The built in tune is just a stock CSL tune, you'll still need to make whatever modifications you normally would to that.

I should probably make a thread that has the files for the normal CSL bootloader too.