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

[r4dr]

Tbonem3 which OE BMW spring pad did you use underneath the spring? Going by Obioban's sticky, there are multiple thicknesses.

[Tbonem3]

There's only 1 bottom. It's the top that comes in different thicknesses

[r4dr]

There's only 1 bottom. It's the top that comes in different thicknesses

Well that answers that 😂

[Tbonem3]

September 2019



Not sure what led me down the path to seats, probably just tired of how bad the stock ones are. I have manual seats with no adjustments to lumbar or sides, so I really slide around a lot in the stockers. After seeing the GB on M3f with Ian and HMS, I decided to do it, but didn't need any special work, so just ordered them from another vendor (who drop shipped them from HMS) at 10% off, then got the Bk mounts after seeing Ian's review esp since I have manual seats and LOVE manually sliding forward and back to get in/out of the car. I'm not super tall, but maybe long legs? cause I need to move the seat a lot.

I got the street versions in vinyl. Unfortunately, after ordering, I saw that they changed the standard stitching to white (from black/dark grey)! it looks awful! maybe it matches some old Porsche or MG or something, IDK, but it looks campy (Mariachi - 3 Amigos anyone?). I also saw the guy on M3f with the PY/grey (pristine) had tri color M stitching on his done so I ganked the idea.

I figured I may as well do both the tri stitching and the outer, so I found some nice, German! fabric ink pens:



Battery undone. Stockers out. Cleaned it up a bit.



Bases coming off



Set up for Nogaro



Fitting to Nogaros and BK mounts - don't tighten bolts until the end, keep it loose.



Ready, now zip tying the harness/cable to the rod. I also decided to just buy a cheap dummy plug for the seat electronics/sensor to make the car think someone is in the seat at all times (rather than code it).



In








Wow these seats are amazing! First, the quality is very high. The vinyl is very premium. I don’t regret it at all. The fabric/suede inserts are very nice as well, and very comfortable. I chose the more reclined position, but in all honesty, I wish it would recline a hair more. I’ll probably get used to it, but it feels like I’m sitting straight up. It is a little more difficult to shift and pull the e-brake. You can remedy that by sliding the seat back, but then engaging the clutch all the way becomes difficult. It’ll take a little getting used to. It’s totally worth it though as it literally feels like I’m driving a different car. The car feels hardcore, I don’t move. It’s point and shoot now. The car does the moving, I remain in place – it’s a very powerful feeling. The car is also now about 60lbs lighter! I love it!

I hadn't colored in the COBRA logo, but decided to a bit later:



Close up:



MOAR

[akshon]

Very nice. Looks like factory seats.

[Tbonem3]

Thanks, agreed!

[selm3]

seats look great! who did you order them from?

[Tbonem3]

Thanks! Drop shipped from u.s. supplier HMS. They actually dropped the price a hair and added an even cheaper seat with fabric now.

[0-60motorsports]

September 2019



Not sure what led me down the path to seats, probably just tired of how bad the stock ones are. I have manual seats with no adjustments to lumbar or sides, so I really slide around a lot in the stockers. After seeing the GB on M3f with Ian and HMS, I decided to do it, but didn't need any special work, so just ordered them from another vendor (who drop shipped them from HMS) at 10% off, then got the Bk mounts after seeing Ian's review esp since I have manual seats and LOVE manually sliding forward and back to get in/out of the car. I'm not super tall, but maybe long legs? cause I need to move the seat a lot.

I got the street versions in vinyl. Unfortunately, after ordering, I saw that they changed the standard stitching to white (from black/dark grey)! it looks awful! maybe it matches some old Porsche or MG or something, IDK, but it looks campy (Mariachi - 3 Amigos anyone?). I also saw the guy on M3f with the PY/grey (pristine) had tri color M stitching on his done so I ganked the idea.

I figured I may as well do both the tri stitching and the outer, so I found some nice, German! fabric ink pens:



Battery undone. Stockers out. Cleaned it up a bit.



Bases coming off



Set up for Nogaro



Fitting to Nogaros and BK mounts - don't tighten bolts until the end, keep it loose.



Ready, now zip tying the harness/cable to the rod. I also decided to just buy a cheap dummy plug for the seat electronics/sensor to make the car think someone is in the seat at all times (rather than code it).



In








Wow these seats are amazing! First, the quality is very high. The vinyl is very premium. I don’t regret it at all. The fabric/suede inserts are very nice as well, and very comfortable. I chose the more reclined position, but in all honesty, I wish it would recline a hair more. I’ll probably get used to it, but it feels like I’m sitting straight up. It is a little more difficult to shift and pull the e-brake. You can remedy that by sliding the seat back, but then engaging the clutch all the way becomes difficult. It’ll take a little getting used to. It’s totally worth it though as it literally feels like I’m driving a different car. The car feels hardcore, I don’t move. It’s point and shoot now. The car does the moving, I remain in place – it’s a very powerful feeling. The car is also now about 70lbs lighter! I love it!

I hadn't colored in the COBRA logo, but decided to a bit later:



Close up:



MOAR

Those are stunning.

[Tbonem3]

Thanks Ejaz!

[Tbonem3]

November 2019

I saw that Mrgizmo was selling his SS 2.5" sect 1 (catless), and bought them. I had the same pipes, but with magnaflow 200 cell cats. There was some smell, not much, but still there and i didn't really know how well flowing or quality the magnaflow substrate is, so I decided to go catless and have really good cats welded in at a later time.



The car was a hair louder and raspier afterwards, of course. Hard to say if I felt any power difference, but it did feel more responsive. Stinky-er, of course.

I also was sent a craigslist ad for the new SS dual pipe 2.5" sect2 in Chicago and the guy was willing to ship. It was the unresonated one and the price was strangely low, but I still wanted to try it. The sale went smoothly and it arrived as described! I was very excited!




New OE BMW hangers (x2)




Heat shield swap



The part was slightly used so I just cleaned up the ends that slip into sect 3.




Well, upon start-up the car seemed quieter. Pretty underwhelming. Once the car was warmed up and I started to give it the beans, I was disgusted by the sound All soul and character I was used to (both with euro setup and ss stepped) was gone. It sounded like a big vacuum cleaner, just awful. Way too much drone too (it was the unres ver.).

My advice: get res over non res.

Swapped back to stock immediately. (already sold)

[Tbonem3]

March 2020

More weightloss. Decided to remove my sound system. I don't drive the car much, and when I do, I want to just hear the car.

No pictures, but I do want to show what I did up front. Instead of installing the stock headunit (that wouldn't have worked anyway), i decided to delete it too and put in the OE BMW radio delete. They have a black plastic version and CF a la CSL.



I've been stuffing sound foam (closed cell, very light) into cavities and under the rear bench to reduce in cabin noise. Even though my car's a riot, I still want that luxurious quality inside.

[WOLFN8TR]

Car is looking great! Interesting how the Non Res Sect 2 killed the exhaust sound. I almost went that route as everyone was saying keep the stock Sect 2 which I did. Keep up the good work. 🤙

[Tbonem3]

Thanks Gary! If someone isn't partial to the exhaust note anyway, then I don't think they'd care, esp those who believe the e46 sound is crap. But I got my car to a point where I loved the note, then it got ruined - imo.

[skristedja]

Great progress on my favorite build! And I totally agree on the resonated section 2 comment - stock section 2 for the win.