Tyler's 04 slicktop 6spd Silvergrey MCS/Brembo/CSL/Karbonius/Nogaros/Supersprint

[Tbonem3]

Not very many updates these days, but here's a big one. I've been jealous of people putting recent Karbonius parts on their cars, seeing how dedicated Karb has been to perfecting their products. I have a slicktop, so no need for their CF roof. I have an OE CSL boot, so no need for theirs, but I had been mulling over "upgrading" to their CSL airbox.

I've had an Evolve box for 5 years, and they've been very enjoyable years no doubt, but Evolve stopped making improvements, moving on to other platforms. The box was also showing its age, clear coat failing, epoxy showing some cracks, some of it even crumbling at the edges a little. I was worried about the long term health of the box and my car.

For these reasons, I decided to remove the Evolve box and buy a Karbonius one. I decided on their "race" version as I loved the CAI style "trunk." I don't care to recreate a CSL down to the last detail, and I'm not shy of aftermarket parts obviously.

The euro dropping to parity with the u.s. dollar made my decision even easier. I ordered it beginning of August, and it took almost 10 weeks to get to me!

The waiting is the hardest part - Petty



While waiting, I knew I needed an OE CSL air filter by BMC (don't get the Karb pipercross one, it fails. The foam ITG has been fine, but I preferred OE this time). I ordered from Schmeidmann - best price



But this one came with no red oil. I've always seen them oiled, including the hi-flow filter for regular m3. I think there was even a thread here about it.



Finally, it arrives (in perfect shape, and after surprise $65 DHL duty fee)



I'm like a kid on Christmas (even though I've already had a nice airbox for years!) That's the irresistibility of Karbonius.



WOW. The Evolve box was premium, but this is a-whole-nother level. Like it was made by robots. You immediately feel like you got more than your money's worth.




I love all the little details, and how they keep perfecting this box. Feels great to have their latest and greatest!



Unfortunately, it wasn't 100% perfect. One of the holes didn't line up perfectly over the nut for the connection of the 2 large pieces. I had to ream the hole out towards the edge just a little.



Easy enough.



And then one other thing that surprised me: it seemed counter to Karb's philosophy/level of quality to not include some sort of soft washer to go under the allen head bolts, so I added my own little rubber washers.




Time to install! Haven't driven the car in weeks 😭



Luckily, since I'm just switching boxes, the install will be quick and easy, with no tuning/wiring type work at all. I simply need to block off the Karb IAT port and secure my (E34 M5) IAT some where in the intake path. Pics next time!

[0-60motorsports]

Looks great but CSLs fo Life.....Or BBS LM/CH LOL

[Tbonem3]

Thanks Brian, I could easily rock LMs or LM-Rs or CHs (and of course the CSL) on these cars, it looks amazing, but I just came to hate the way the car rode.

Here are some pics of swapping wheels, and installing the arc8s/mps4s. First, is a comparison pic of CSL against arc8 against latest batch of AG M359s (E90):




The finish on the AGs is surprisingly close to the CSLs, I'm impressed. The arc*s aren't too bad color-wise, but the orange peel is quite bad. Only noticeable up close and when the wheel is clean, though.

CSLs sold to a local enthusiast I've known for a while for his IB comp. Last shot of them:



Borrowed my friend's truck to take the arc8s to the tire shop. Always fun having brand new wheels AND tires!



Added the still-new center caps that I had from the CSL wheels:



The goal was to not need spacers or to at least use the very small ones so the wheel is still on the factory hub. I can never feel the 3/5mm spacers, but I always seem to feel the 12mm+.

I tired 5mm in the rear, but it rubbed due to the mps4s being so wide:




Had to drop down to 3mm, and it *just* cleared. I won't shave/pull/roll fenders, I just want to go as wide as it will allow, so 3mm it is. (I have studs)

Up front, unfortunately (I wasn't expecting this) it needed 5mm minimum to clear the chunky 996 caliper. 12mm spacers were a bit silly, so sticking with 5mm.

*fitment note* - factory wheels have a larger chamfer on the wheel bore than aftermarket. So an aftermarket wheel like arc8 or my AGs, will have more material still sitting on the car's hub even with a 5mm spacer. Safety is not a concern. Even the larger chamfer with factory wheels is "just ok" with about 2-3mm of contact. These arc8s look to have more like 3-4mm (assuming hub is 10-11mm).






Initial impressions - My "stance philosophy" is that the car looks better on 19s, lowered as much as you can (while retaining enough travel), but on 18", I like the car to have a little more tire gap and a little more rake - I like the more aggressive look and I think it goes well the more aggressive/meatier tires.

The car immediately felt better, but the tires were new, so they still had the mold release agent on them. I didn't want to judge the car too much yet, so I just added some miles over the last 2 weeks.

2nd impressions - I raised the car 1/8" up front to 13+3/8ths & then a little more, like 3/16ths to 13+1/8th in the rear - so a little higher and more rake. I was ok with losing a little bit of camber and gaining a little toe in up front because I already had plenty of camber and a little less will fill out the wheel well better. My last alignment was neutral toe up front, so now I have a little toe in which is fine (tho I prefer a little toe out). In the rear, I did turn out my lower control arms a half turn to give back some of the lost camber and to maintain my toe-in which you want for stability.

Once I'm happy with everything, then I probably should get an alignment just to fine tune any discrepancies.

The other change was something I had been thinking about for a little bit. I had gone from 325lb front springs to 400lb, but I kept my hotchkis bar at the medium setting. Once on these arc8s, the car did become more playful, but that exacerbated the push that I had been noticing on canyon runs. So, I moved the endlinks from the middle to the lighter (further out) hole in the hotchkis. The least aggressive setting is still a bit stiffer than the stock bar.

Car raised a little with rake:



WOW! Unbelievable grip now that the car is allowed to roll a little more. And the tires have about 200 miles on them now. Car feels AMAZING. Can't wait to hit the canyons again now.


Obviously not as nice as CSLs, but they still look the part. The car being better is most important.

[Casa de Mesa]

Car looking stunning as ever, Tyler. I too love the CSL wheels - hell who doesn't?! I really love the BBS LMs in 19". I think that wheel on our car is nearly perfection. But the ride difference between 19s and 18s is significant. Keep us posted on your impressions of the ARC8s.

Great photography too, BTW.

[Tbonem3]

I was on a canyon jaunt the other day, and I finally had had enough of the heavy, narrow 19" wheels. I had already been contemplating how I could keep the CSL wheels, esp since they're NLA, but with now having an E90 that I wanted to get new wheels for, I decided it was time to sell them.

It's been a very fun 2 years with them, esp since I had just started getting into photography when I bought them (and started an IG account). Getting the CSL boot was my first big "dream" for the car, but the CSL wheels were the other "dream" or goal I had for the car because of my car being silver grey, and having the CSL looking rear end and most importantly, believing that they are the best 19" wheel ever made (at least as far as design/finish).

However, as many know, 19s just ruin every aspect of the car besides looks. And because I've been on a weightloss/performance path with this car, it especially didn't make sense. So, recently, I sold them and was able to buy new flow formed M359s and tires for the E90 and then 9x10" 18" acr8s with MPS4S for the E46.

Borrowed a friend's stock 18s for the car to sit on for a week:



Few of my favorite pics of the car with CSLs in 2022:



Pics of the ARC8s (since no one's ever seen them) coming soon...

[Tbonem3]

My in laws got me the official Cobra Nogaro lumbar support.




It works great, but I don't love the nutsack sticking out

[Tbonem3]

Thank you!

OP updated with mods list

[Mike0032]

Sounds great. Car looks beautiful as always.

[Tbonem3]

https://youtu.be/JrnzNqEPzj8

[Tbonem3]

Getting ready for 2022 now. No big plans, I still have a rear seat delete to get to, but am just doing a maintenance polish and seal with Mother's CMX protocol to get the car to its glossiest.

This is CMX polish with green (light polish) CSS pad, then CMX sio2/tio2 "ceramic" sealant applied.



First meet of the year for me (end of Jan), in Malibu




I missed having some exhaust noise too much, and put the OM SCORZA muffler back on. Kind of a shame, because I got the stocker perfect with the lemans tips, but oh well. The tips on the the og scorza are already perfect. Just needed a little polish.





I got some videos I'll have to upload to youtube and link here. Car sounds so good. I think it was a little too much last time, being catless, but with the HJS cats now, it sounds so good. The HJS cats do calm it just a tiny bit, but not that much. The HJS are not "stuffy" sounding like most cats.

[0-60motorsports]

if it's for the v1 stepped like me, it's 2.5" or 63.5mm o.d.

it is, Thank you buddy. looking at the prices might have to invest in a new set of pipes from SS. Might wait for a good sale this year.

[Tbonem3]

if it's for the v1 stepped like me, it's 2.5" or 63.5mm o.d.

[0-60motorsports]

Here's one for sale:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/classifieds/members-parts-for-sale-wtb/e46/153342-supersprint-exhaust-v1-12mm-spacers-dinan-front-strut-bar

You can go on Turner or ECS's website to get the SS part #. I don't recall.

Hey T i was thinking of welding in some HJS cats into my SS catless 044012, would you happen to know the size of the pipes?

[Tbonem3]

could I get the part number for hJS cats plz?

I fed up from the smell of exhaust

Here's one for sale:

https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/classifieds/members-parts-for-sale-wtb/e46/153342-supersprint-exhaust-v1-12mm-spacers-dinan-front-strut-bar

You can go on Turner or ECS's website to get the SS part #. I don't recall.

[Rudbari]

When the last Supersprint groupbuy started up, I contemplated the idea of getting the best cats (HJS) so that I would no longer have to swap headers/sect 1 every 2 years for CA SMOG. I also contemplated just having some cheap cats welded into my straight pipes, but I wanted top quality and HJS cats barely lose any power. The retail price of the HJS is eye watering, but the GB discount was hefty enough, I pulled the trigger.

Despite the groupbuy taking a while, and issues with QC both in the manufacture and shipping of items, mine arrived in perfect condition, just in time for me to swap them in for my smog test that was due in a few weeks.


Beauts

Car up - I had noticed the giubo (OE, replaced in 2014-40k ago) had some new cracks forming, so I bought a new one (FCP warranty) ahead of time since you have to drop sect 1/2 to access D/S.


SS "S" pipes out



One of my other goals on this job, was to extend my muffler out a it more, especially (mostly) on the right side, to even the tips out. You can see how uneven it was, below. Yes, my tips are adjustable, but the factory metal piping that my tips attach to, are very short and there's no more room for me to bring the tips out further. (Only an issue with CSL diffuser)



Next, dropped v-brace and sect 2



Need to drop heatshield in order to reach CSB. Have to loosen CSB to push D/S back enough to get giubo out. You can access giubo without dropping sect 2 and heatshield, but then you're stuck.



You can see cracks on the giubo. Made it almost 40k of hard driving.



Giubo removed. Inspected the shift linkage. I had done it all recently enough, though, so still well lubed and everything looking as it should. (pictured is UUC DSSR & RE tranny bushes)



40k giubo vs. new. You can buy the cheaper Febi brand, and in the package will be a factory SGF. Save yourself like $100. (also pictured is a factory corteco centering bush that wasn't actually needed [don't waste your time/$])



Don't forget to push the CSB forward when torqueing, before you finish up.



Put copper paste on the new SS hardware and the O2s. O2s (post-cat) were replaced like 7 years ago for when I was passing smog with the euro headers/cat setup. Didn't use them with my v1s, so these are still pretty new.



New pipes ready to go in:



New gaskets:



Before installing the sect 1, I routed the O2 plugs through a hole in the heatshield (made when I had euro cats) and run along the tunnel, driver side



Hello



Once the pipes are installed, I pulled the O2 plus as far forward as possible, to meet the harnesses that need to be run behind the airbox and down tranny/clutch line area (already done in 2014). They'll reach a bit past the tranny brace. It's actually a good area for them to meet the harnesses as there are already some clips for the wiring of the tranny sensors.



Before removal, I had marked (sharpie) where the S pipes settle on the header outlets. I wanted to install the new pipes about 3/16-1/4" further back:



I also shimmed the passenger side hanger with some rubber blocks. This helped push this side out a little more.



Here's the end result:




For me, this is perfect. While I miss having some more exhaust noise sometimes, I don't think I'll touch this setup now that I have it exactly how I want. I'll put a muffler on my other M3 to enjoy those sounds.



In the wild:




Impressions: Shit, the cats eliminated all the drone and rasp 😭 Bright side - the airbox is even "louder." Power-wise, I've always noticed an increase in responsiveness when going catless, then a bit less when I would swap back. I have to say, these HJS are incredible. No perceivable loss at all, and zero smell, I mean zero. Seems like even less than stock, from memory.

Overall, the engine/exhaust sound is a little too calm for my tastes (I like a little drone and overall raspy nature). The airbox is the shining star, and that makes up for it.

in a perfect world, I'd have an electronically controlled "dump" installed at the end of sect 2, and open it up as desired. Maybe one day.

Next up is swapping the airbox back to stock, stock tune, and getting a smog test. We'll see if the cat/o2 monitors go green 🤞

could I get the part number for hJS cats plz?

I fed up from the smell of exhaust