Sunbeam Section 3: first Impression’s, Thoughts and opinions

[amiao]

this is the first im hearing the cats cause drone. I have the SSV1 system and my cats bring the overall rasp and drone down. I guess im a bit confused now...

It depends on the setup. For myself personally I initially had a stock US section 1 with my CSL headers on my SZCA muffler and it was incredibly loud. Once I put the catted euro section 1 on it reduced drone and a lot of volume. But with the Sunbeam it’s like the opposite effect. It really depends on the setup.

[discoelk]

No sarcasm here but I'm surprised that anyone can discern differences in tone with a straight pipe in section 3.

[simplem3]

I’m currently running:
- euro headers
- euro catted sec 1
- stock sec 2
- Valvetronic section 3

All I hear is rasp. Rasp at its finest. I hate rasp! If I ever sell my E46 it’ll be because of my hate of the rasp. 😂

I just ordered Supersprint Resonated sec 2 x-pipe to see how that goes. I saw in an older thread someone saying that a resonated section 2 will eliminate or atleast significantly reduce rasp.🤞🏽

[amiao]

There are specific resonators you can weld in to your section 2 that will allegedly eliminate rasp.

[simplem3]

There are specific resonators you can weld in to your section 2 that will allegedly eliminate rasp.

yeah I did that to my section 1 pre euro setup. It Was okay. This time I went with a known good since I’m still getting familiar with the euro setup and how to best get the sound that I want.

[bavarian3]

what i'd like to hear and may experiment with:
catless headers
sunbeam/equal length section 1 with cats
stock section 2
pick your fav fucboi muffler

the question is how much the equal length aspect of the section 1 does relative to the resonators

[discoelk]

https://youtube.com/shorts/xfDVvbM_I...ZK-QQS2iYFBZoO stock muffler but basically what you're after.

[amiao]

yeah I did that to my section 1 pre euro setup. It Was okay. This time I went with a known good since I’m still getting familiar with the euro setup and how to best get the sound that I want.

For what it’s worth, I really do enjoy my SCZA muffler on my Euro setup. Makes a good noise without upsetting the neighbors, it’s a bit soft for what I want after a few years of having it. If my sunbeam configuration doesn’t work out I’ll likely just revert back to that setup.

[davidinnyc]

I’m not an OG by any stretch but I’ve tried A TON of different setups on three different M3s in the last three years…

I’ve decided that a debaffled stock Section 3 is the best sound for what I’m trying to achieve: a shrill metallic chainsaw rasp when the car is opening up, some nice gurgle/popping when letting off the accelerator from 8K RPM, and virtually no drone and no annoying exhaust tone under 4K when putting around town.

I have a BNIB Sunbeam Section 3 sitting in the garage and I will very likely never install it because I know what to expect. Maybe I’m getting old, but I just cannot for the life of me drive around with exhaust rumbles when I’m doing 25-40 MPH around town. That eliminates anything that effectively acts as a straight pipe in Section 3 (Sunbeam, GruppeM, Valvetronic, Rogue El Diablo). It’s just too loud for me.

I will say the most recent setup I’ve been running is SS stepped V1, straight SS Section 1, straight SS Section 2, and a debaffled CSL Section 3 and it’s exactly what I’ve described above.

The best audio for me was the CSL Section 2 - it just amplified any pops or audio in a great way.

[bavarian3]

https://youtube.com/shorts/xfDVvbM_I...ZK-QQS2iYFBZoO stock muffler but basically what you're after.

Thanks for the link. Based on this the equal length configuration does rather little on its own, at least for rasp.

[bavarian3]

I’m not an OG by any stretch but I’ve tried A TON of different setups on three different M3s in the last three years…

I’ve decided that a debaffled stock Section 3 is the best sound for what I’m trying to achieve: a shrill metallic chainsaw rasp when the car is opening up, some nice gurgle/popping when letting off the accelerator from 8K RPM, and virtually no drone and no annoying exhaust tone under 4K when putting around town.

I have a BNIB Sunbeam Section 3 sitting in the garage and I will very likely never install it because I know what to expect. Maybe I’m getting old, but I just cannot for the life of me drive around with exhaust rumbles when I’m doing 25-40 MPH around town. That eliminates anything that effectively acts as a straight pipe in Section 3 (Sunbeam, GruppeM, Valvetronic, Rogue El Diablo). It’s just too loud for me.

I will say the most recent setup I’ve been running is SS stepped V1, straight SS Section 1, straight SS Section 2, and a debaffled CSL Section 3 and it’s exactly what I’ve described above.

The best audio for me was the CSL Section 2 - it just amplified any pops or audio in a great way.

You have me curious about this debaffled setup. Might need to get a second box to try this out. If only it would remove some weight too..

[davidinnyc]

You have me curious about this debaffled setup. Might need to get a second box to try this out. If only it would remove some weight too..

There’s a lot of stuff I’ve been working on behind the scenes… debaffling a bunch of stock section 3s is one of them!

[Dave092]

Although I don't currently own anything from Sunbeam I've been interested for some time due to people on Instagram that own them. I don't think many of these guys frequent the forum (could be wrong, who knows). I recommend you guys check out @jjjaacoobbb on Instagram. In my opinion he has the best sounding e46 I've heard to date and as far as I know he was the one that really made Sunbeam popular recently. He has a pinned story explaining his exhaust theory/set up going over everything he runs with their exhaust options.

[discoelk]

Thanks for the link. Based on this the equal length configuration does rather little on its own, at least for rasp.

Yeah I was surprised how little difference it made. It's smoother IRL but pretty similar to an OE euro car. I'm going to build another one with 2.5in metallic cats and tie the pipes together to eliminate some resonance.

[Sharocks]

I said this on Facebook and I'll say it again, you'd be spending over 2k to make your M3 sound like a VQ.

Car already sounds bad, spending money to sound bad is stupid.