Which csl airbox to buy?

[COVID-19]

Nice, you had been waiting for some time if I remember correctly. The same thing happened with my Karb. box and misaligned bolt holes on an OEM snorkel. I had to break out the dremel on the airbox, that was quite nerve wracking.

I didn’t want to mess with it specially since I waited basically 8 months. Will be selling sometime next year and will be going w/ karb and oem snorkel but removing the flap.

[Cubieman]

Nice, you had been waiting for some time if I remember correctly. The same thing happened with my Karb. box and misaligned bolt holes on an OEM snorkel. I had to break out the dremel on the airbox, that was quite nerve wracking.

[Syfon]

Finally!!
I received my snorkel a few weeks ago, and it didn’t fit. Bolts did not line up but was able to get at least two in. If you look at my airbox it looks like the mouth is sideways even when you look straight at the snorkel you can tell it’s sideways.

Sorry to hear about that

I opted to go without the snorkel.

[COVID-19]

Awaiting delivery of my Streamline CSL airbox. Should be here any day now...

Finally!!
I received my snorkel a few weeks ago, and it didn’t fit. Bolts did not line up but was able to get at least two in. If you look at my airbox it looks like the mouth is sideways even when you look straight at the snorkel you can tell it’s sideways.

[Syfon]

Awaiting delivery of my Streamline CSL airbox. Should be here any day now...

[Slideways]

I didn't mention it but I have a MAP sensor... I got a CSL-spec DME and TTFS MAP Sensor setup... so its not a MAP vs Alpha-N situation for me its just tuning that not appropriate for my specific setup. custom work needs custom tuning and at the moment I just have a canned tune so im only getting 80-90% of the power and driveability I should be...

PCS did a fantastic job sorting out a car previously mapped by another tuner and that was just PCS's pre-calibrated tune for the setup. Try and contact him again.

[STAATS]

I tried to go this route initially back when the CSL rail was available, but could never get a hold of PC and I don't think Hassan was as involved as it sounds like he is now. I went with Kassel for much the same reason even though they were a bit of a newer "player" in the space.

https://www.kasselperformance.com/product-category/e46/

Order the MAP conversion kit, sent them my DME, and it all came back promptly and worked straight away. I went with their performance tune also. I don't have a ton of miles on it yet but have been satisfied so far.

As far as driveability, that's precisely what I was trying to avoid with the MAP conversion rather than the Alpha-N from Evolve. Driving around normally I don't notice any issues probably 90-95% of the time. The only thing is at moderate throttle and moderate RPM, say in the 3-4k range, it feels like there's a steep ramp up in power, like it's too binary and there's torque left to be had. It may be the performance tune from Kassel is a bit "immature" as low RPM partial throttle areas of the map are the toughest and most time consuming to get right. Or it may be not having a flap on the evolve box. Or it may be both.

It's not really a problem, the car doesn't stumble or anything, it's just something I noticed as "different" once I did the conversion.

I didn't mention it but I have a MAP sensor... I got a CSL-spec DME and TTFS MAP Sensor setup... so its not a MAP vs Alpha-N situation for me its just tuning that not appropriate for my specific setup. custom work needs custom tuning and at the moment I just have a canned tune so im only getting 80-90% of the power and driveability I should be...

[tnord]

I got an Evolve Box... mainly bcoz I was lazy and at the time I just wanted it to come with the OE bits I needed and a Tune so i could get going straight away... Arguably there is better value in a Karb box getting the OE bits you need yourself and getting a better tune from Paul Claude or Hassan,,, I will soon need to get a custom Paul Claude or HTE tune as I am not happy with the canned tune I got but it did allow me to get going with the extensive mods I had straight away instead of trying to run a stock CSL tune so I don't regret it in any way. I am still incredibly happy with my Evolve box/purchase and its kinda cool to know it was based on an original Race Box... if you want the more original street / flap setup then obvs Karb is the way to go but the Evolve box is well and truly proven so if you want the race style and look its still a great buy IMHO

I tried to go this route initially back when the CSL rail was available, but could never get a hold of PC and I don't think Hassan was as involved as it sounds like he is now. I went with Kassel for much the same reason even though they were a bit of a newer "player" in the space.

https://www.kasselperformance.com/product-category/e46/

Order the MAP conversion kit, sent them my DME, and it all came back promptly and worked straight away. I went with their performance tune also. I don't have a ton of miles on it yet but have been satisfied so far.

As far as driveability, that's precisely what I was trying to avoid with the MAP conversion rather than the Alpha-N from Evolve. Driving around normally I don't notice any issues probably 90-95% of the time. The only thing is at moderate throttle and moderate RPM, say in the 3-4k range, it feels like there's a steep ramp up in power, like it's too binary and there's torque left to be had. It may be the performance tune from Kassel is a bit "immature" as low RPM partial throttle areas of the map are the toughest and most time consuming to get right. Or it may be not having a flap on the evolve box. Or it may be both.

It's not really a problem, the car doesn't stumble or anything, it's just something I noticed as "different" once I did the conversion.

[Drewrivera]

Anyone ever try to connect gruppe M ram air into csl intake manifold? 🤔🤔🤔. Probably don't fit that easy but was just wondering if it was a possiblity or if anyone tested that out. Nice video Trojan. Cool driving...

[sc_tr0jan_m3]

got some engine bay recording of my karbonius setup on the track. i realized there's so many crappy CSL intake videos and decided to try to make one that does a decent job of it.

[ac427]

I've been given the impression that the OE design is now outdated in the sense that Karbonius and other companies (TMS) have either improved upon or changed the design for better airflow. There doesn't seem to be any hard dyno data comparing, though, which is unfortunate. But I don't see the point in spending the insane amount of money on an OE box when the cheaper options are designed to make better power and look every bit as good (at least in Karb's case).

You are right but how many thousands of hours on the dyno did BMW do to perfect the design versus the time spent by Karbonius. Even if the Karbonius one flows more it will be next to bugger all.

I would buy the Karbonius one if i was buying one today but sadly it didn't exist when wanted one, so i went OE.

[Drewrivera]

Off topic in no one crazy about the gruppe m ram intake anymore? Does it not bring out power like the csl?

[[email protected]]

I have an m3 with the karbonius airbox and one with the Geoff Steele airbox. They essentially sound the same to me however the Geoff Steele box might sound ever so slightly louder. I like the appearance of the karbonius box slightly more however it was also more expensive.

[heinzboehmer]

Well this has me intrigued. Just reached out to them asking about this. We'll see if I get a response.

[usdmej]

So whatever it is they did was specifically done so that your DME would work with the state computers? Did they say anything more about that?

that was what i specifically asked for, they were aware of PC tuning, and had no interest in meddling with his work.

i would say the results are confounding because the ECU initially didn't read after i was up and running after their work. i went back to the smog station after getting the tip about turning the car off and on again while plugged in and then it worked. i never tried that method pre-Kassel ECU mod so we'll never know what actually did the trick. i guess i could experiment by switching back and forth but frankly i've spent enough of my damn time trying to get the car smogged