E46 M3 Valvetronic Designs Section 3

[davidinnyc]

Starting this thread since I've made the purchase for this exhaust. I confirmed with the company that all piping is at least 2.5" internal diameter with a much larger collection pipe. I'll take measurements of my own for confirmation, but will share video clips with the forum.

The ULTIMATE E46 M3 Sound Compilation (youtube.com)

David

[9kracing]

I confirmed with the company that all piping is at least 2.5" internal diameter

That's not entirely accurate.

[davidinnyc]

That's not entirely accurate.

Hmmm... I asked them at least 3 times to confirm that internal diameters were at least 2.5" throughout and they were pretty resolute. Let me see if I can get actual diagrams.

David

[9kracing]

Maybe they changed it?

That was a few months ago.

[davidinnyc]

Maybe they changed it?

That was a few months ago.

I'll get an answer one way or another - I shared your screenshot with them and haven't heard back yet. I told them to hold on shipping until they could confirm with their development team and/or design team.

David

[jpy1980]

Didn’t you just buy a dinan exhaust?! Congrats on the valvetronics exhaust. Definitely sounds wild esp with a catless exhaust!

[davidinnyc]

Didn’t you just buy a dinan exhaust?! Congrats on the valvetronics exhaust. Definitely sounds wild esp with a catless exhaust!

I actually have two Dinan exhausts... one that's basically brand new and a second that I'm polishing tips on. Eisenmann Race is sitting in the garage but will probably be up for sale soon.

[jpy1980]

I actually have two Dinan exhausts... one that's basically brand new and a second that I'm polishing tips on. Eisenmann Race is sitting in the garage but will probably be up for sale soon.

Wowsers! You are the exhaust king!

so you had 3 dinan exhausts? You just sold one right?

[davidinnyc]

Correct - I actually think Tbonem3 is the exhaust king from what I've read. I am picking up an Active Autowerke Gen 3 exhaust, too. I just want to swap around and find the right sound but want them all to be 2.5".

[davidinnyc]

From the founder:

“it’s 2.5 then into 3.0”

[davidinnyc]

9kracing you were still right. I showed them your screenshot and they were adamant that the minimum piping size was 2.5". I received the exhaust on May 21 messaged them the next day stating that the exhaust was simply not 2.5" (63.5MM) as they had indicated, which was the reason I had purchased this to begin with and had confirmed with them to be the case.

Just for everyone that might be contemplating the exhaust, I mocked up what the inlet piping looks like. The bell mouth is wide enough to accept 2.5" piping, but there is an immediate "neck down" into <60MM where there are welds. Looking at how this is designed, it looks like the inlet bell mouths were welded AFTER sliding the flanges on the lower pipe area and that's why there's a weld. The unfortunate part of all this is that the first piece of piping that is welded to the second pipe isn't smoothed out or filed down; rather, it protrudes beyond the weld and has a very sharp edge (the red lines) and creates this little cavity of space on around the weld.

My conversation with customer service was lukewarm, to say the least. I told them that it wasn't a true 2.5" exhaust because it immediately necks down, but the response was that they might have misunderstood what I was asking. I suggested they add language to their product description indicating that this really isn't 2.5" or to add a little more information and they felt comfortable with their current description which simply states that it connects to all Section 2 piping.

I told them that I might consider having this recut to support a true 2.5" inlet diameter all the way through and they offered to potentially pay 50% of the cost.

Finally, the exhaust that was sent to me has bolt on exhaust tips which are 3.5" in diameter and just wasn't what I was expecting given their images are all of a Section 3 with smaller tips (this is what I wanted).

I'm debating a full refund and trying the Turner valved exhaust since it's a true 2.5" exhaust and includes a mated Section 2 for less than this system.

David

[davidinnyc]

Photos for reference.








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[9kracing]

Sigh. I had a feeling. They probably get that question all the time and lose sales, so now they've just started lying to people to sell stock.

Unfortunate.

Not to mention, I've heard fitment is also spotty. Ultimately between the neck-down and the fitment, I personally decided to pass.

But, from what I've seen and heard it's made well, and sounds good. I'd imagine you probably won't lose power, but a true 2.5" would always be best.

[davidinnyc]

I just sent them a quotation on cutting and rewelding true 2.5" piping through to the collector just before the vacuum. Let's see if they decide to pay for the work! It's only ~$220, but honestly after I was told by two people that it was "at least" 2.5" piping throughout, I'd argue this is a very easy cost to bear so I don't return the entire thing.

David

[Tbonem3]

FYI when discussing exh piping, it's OD you're talking about not ID.