Immaculate low mileage 2004 Silver Grey CSL Inspired Build

[eXpensiveGears]

Avedis Love the build, following as I'm in CA as well (Bay Area) and wondering what your solution is for passing smog with the carbon airbox. I have an 06 SG/Black ZCP as well and putting together the "list" for the OEM+/CSL build.

[bavarian3]

Amazing work on the seats! These really look the best on this platform imo.

[nyc951]

This picture really shows how perfect your interior is, especially for the driver. And to top it off, the steering wheel trim is simple but so proper. It reminds me of the steering wheels on the 997gt3 but yours is even better.

[Avedis]

Avedis Love the build, following as I'm in CA as well (Bay Area) and wondering what your solution is for passing smog with the carbon airbox. I have an 06 SG/Black ZCP as well and putting together the "list" for the OEM+/CSL build.

Thank you! I have been in the BMW world for about 20 years now and I have never really had any real hurdles with smog. There are so many options, none of which I have ever tried, as that would be unlawful...

Few that I am aware of:

• Montana LLC registration, register the car once for the rest of its life for around $150, pay to maintain your LLC.
• Register the car in CA, but in a rural county with no smog requirements (you can Google the counties, recently found out about this from a forum member)
• High friends in low places, for example a person at the smog shop, a contact at the actual DMV itself
• Revert back to stock for smog, then reinstall CSL components.

If you want to use my build sheet as a starting point, i'd be happy to share my Google sheet with you. It is essentially an excel sheet with the part name, part numbers, cost, links, etc.

Amazing work on the seats! These really look the best on this platform imo.

Thanks! They legitimately look like they were made for this car. Following your build as well, great work.

This picture really shows how perfect your interior is, especially for the driver. And to top it off, the steering wheel trim is simple but so proper. It reminds me of the steering wheels on the 997gt3 but yours is even better.

Appreciate the comments. This is really what I was going for all along. Streamlined, driver focused, no distractions. Really happy with how the interior turned out.

[liam821]

Wow! Beautiful work, your attention to detail is incredible. Picking the matte carbon for all the door cards and interior bits was next level, and came out amazing. Side note, I wish my garage was THAT clean.

[Avedis]

My shipment from Karbonius came about a month earlier than expected. I had some free time this weekend which gave me an opportunity to install the Karbonius strut brace.




The strut brace is a replica of the BMW Performance part, so going into it, I knew that I would have to make some changes in the engine bay. What I hadn’t anticipated was just how much improvement could be made to BMW’s installation instructions, and some damages left by a previous owner. Let’s just say the whole project took far longer than the 1 hour estimate in BMW’s official installation instructions. Standby for the world's longest strut brace install.

First the factory strut brace was removed. I immediately noticed the passenger’s side base was cracked. I initially chalked it up to being a cast part, but then I started to consider a possible collision that wasn’t disclosed to me. I checked diligently around the base and edges of the strut tower and there was absolutely no signs of a collision or repair.





However, on the top of the strut tower I found some distortion next to the front hole. I measured out the distance between the damage and the opening. Based on the distance and shape of the damage, it was immediately apparent that someone, at some point, had installed the strut mount in a rotated position. This caused the alignment pin to protrude up and into the underside of the strut tower. It was left that way long enough for it to do some minor distortion to the strut tower and crack the strut brace mount. As you could imagine, finding damage, even minor, on a car in this condition was really frustrating. Even more frustrating was how basic and preventable this error was.



I mocked up the new Karbonius strut brace and it was obvious that if I didn’t level the distortion, the base wouldn't fit right and I would risk damage. I decided to move along with the project and take care of the strut tower at the very end. First, the battery terminal and hood sensor were removed so that they could be modified.


BMW provides diagrams which show the areas of the mounts that need to be removed.


First was the rough cut, then the edges were cleaned up with sandpaper and a file.





I checked my work on the car and realized that the cuts that BMW recommended were not only too complex, but left a ton of unnecessary material on. I went back and simplified things by making a few additional cuts. I also bored out a tunnel so that the battery terminal wires fit better. I’m not sure why BMW chose to cut the mounts that way.



Next the wiring for the hood sensor / anti theft system needed to be cut and extended. Wires were cut, new wires were soldered on, heat shrink applied, then wrapped with electrical tape. BMW’s instructions state to run the wires through a hole/grommet near the strut tower. The Karbonius kit did not include the grommet and I thought of a better and near invisible way that I could route the wires. I chose to extend the wires longer than recommended, then route them underneath the rubber seal and to the sensor.




After yet another test fit, I found that the diameter of the strut mount alignment pin was slightly too big to fit through the base of the Karbonius strut brace. The alignment pin was removed, put into the cordless drill, then sanded down to fit.


Just to be safe and not risk additional damage, I jacked up the car and dropped the strut down. I checked on the topside of the strut mount just to make sure that there wasn't anything still there. Once I confirmed it was clear, I used a combination of 2x4 and hammer to massage the metal back flush. I suppose a "massage" is a nice way to put it. The fix itself was actually a pretty quick and painless process. After a little bit of touch up paint, it was looking pretty good.


You'd think that at this point, i'd surely be done. Unfortunately not. I am working on a solution for better mounting hardware and caps for a more OE look. A few orders need to be placed, so for now I will leave on the hardware from Karbonius. If you made it this far, here are the semi-finished photos, and a teaser of what's to come next.

[karter16]

Based on the distance and shape of the damage, it was immediately apparent that someone, at some point, had installed the strut mount in a rotated position. This caused the alignment pin to protrude up and into the underside of the strut tower. It was left that way long enough for it to do some minor distortion to the strut tower and crack the strut brace mount. As you could imagine, finding damage, even minor, on a car in this condition was really frustrating. Even more frustrating was how basic and preventable this error was.

How infuriating - I have not dissimilar damage to my LH side tower, mine was caused by BMW themselves though -_- (that was a fun conversation for their service manager). Very frustrating, but great job tiding it up - the strut bar looks great!

[eXpensiveGears]

Thank you! I have been in the BMW world for about 20 years now and I have never really had any real hurdles with smog. There are so many options, none of which I have ever tried, as that would be unlawful...

Few that I am aware of:

• Montana LLC registration, register the car once for the rest of its life for around $150, pay to maintain your LLC.
• Register the car in CA, but in a rural county with no smog requirements (you can Google the counties, recently found out about this from a forum member)
• High friends in low places, for example a person at the smog shop, a contact at the actual DMV itself
• Revert back to stock for smog, then reinstall CSL components.

If you want to use my build sheet as a starting point, i'd be happy to share my Google sheet with you. It is essentially an excel sheet with the part name, part numbers, cost, links, etc.

Thanks for the detailed reply and yes! Would love to take a look at the google sheet!

[Avedis]

This car is the first time I’ve taken on a build project with kids, and I’m finding it really interesting. With young kids, projects seem to take 10x longer, but the final product has been 2x better than when I didn’t have kids. In general, I only have an hour or so a day to work on any given project. What this means is that the sessions are far more premeditated, and I never get to work on the project long enough to get frustrated and force things through. I have no expectation that I’m going to finish the project that day, so I just chip away in short focused sessions.

The CSL intake is a good sized project, so I broke it down to phases.

Phase 1 was removal of the factory components.


Once I got the factory intake components removed, I took the time to clean the area. Rather than introduce water, soaps and degreasers into the sensitive areas, I opted to lift the dirt and grime out with wipes, towels and my oversized gun cleaning q-tips. I dedicated a full hour to cleaning everything I could reach, including the throttle bodies.





Phase 2 was modification of the engine bay. First I cut the radiator shroud down 3/4in to make room for the oversized intake. I wet sanded and polished the cut edge for a factory look.



Next I rotated the dipstick around to clear the intake. I pulled the rubber spacer off of the old air shut off valve, which would no longer be used anyways. I tried a couple different dipstick locations recommended by forum members, but wasn’t really happy with any of them. I left the dipstick near the wiring harness mounted on the strut tower for now, but I will likely go with a CSL dipstick in the near future.




With that complete, I moved onto the MAP sensor, which turned out to be a whole project in itself. For this conversion I utilized COVID-19 kit. First, the vacuum line was cut.



MAP sensor valve was installed. Rather than use the generic clamps that came with the kit, I opted for genuine BMW vacuum line clamps for a factory look.





Next up was the MAP sensor wiring. I ran the wires through the factory grommet into the ECU box. The wires were supposed to be tapped into the DME wiring harness with splicing clamps and spade connectors. I’m personally not a fan of this method and wanted a more factory look. Here you can see the wires as provided were too short for my method. I do want to point out that there is nothing wrong with COVID-19 kit, we’re really lucky that we have someone in house offering this solution, I just chose to make some changes.


Wires were extended



Then the wires were spliced inline, heat shrunk, and put back into the wiring harness.




This is the end result. Those of you familiar with the ECU box will appreciate how factory this looks.



ECU box cover back on, then the MAP sensor wiring received some split wiring loom protection. While I was here, the new air shutoff valve was installed.

[Avedis]

Phase 4 and 5 was modification, preparation and installation of the CSL intake. First, all the components were ceramic coated. I again used the gloss ceramic coating on top of the matte clear coat to achieve a satin like finish. I already covered this process in detail in the CSL door panel install, so I won’t be going over it again here. Just wanted to share some photos of these glorious trumpets.




Next I installed heinzboehmer 3D printed secondary air hole plug, a really well designed part. The factory rubber standoffs were also transferred over.




I then applied a self adhesive floor protection covering to the top of the intake to protect it during installation. With a gloss clear coat, you can afford to scratch it because it can be wet sanded and polished out. With my matte clear coat, one scratch would mean the entire air box would need to be refinished. I took no chances on this one. I then installed the factory boots utilizing genuine BMW boot clamps (not pictured). The intake got its first mock up.



Next I installed a genuine BMW CSL filter, followed by heinzboehmer bushings on the lower alignment pegs. Note that these are his older V1 designs and he was generous enough to send me his V2 which are even better. The bushings help to dampen rattling of the two halves of the intake. I find it amazing that forum members seem to know the products better than the actual companies who manufacture them.



Plug and play MAF to IAT sensor conversion was installed. Getting this thing in California was ridiculous. I had to buy it through Turner/ECS's eBay store, ship it to a friend in Nebraska, then pay my friend to ship it back to me. California.......



Second half of the intake was installed.


In order to secure the factory clamps easier, I removed the air rail (not pictured). Then the clamps were secured with the proper tool. Finished photo of the clamps, so clean.



Phase 6 was the finishing touches. First I needed to apply the BMW M Power decal. I initially followed the measurements of the original CSL placement. What I found was that this placement was not designed around the BMW Performance style strut bar I had recently installed. I ended up moving the decal to better suit the strut bar.



A very satisfying peel off.



Almost there



Everything was nearly back together and looked absolutely incredible.







Surely, you noticed that the snorkel is missing. Phase 7 was a little bit out of order. I had misplaced my hardware for the snorkel, so I had to wait for the replacements to be delivered. I found some nice socket cap M6 bolts that matched the Karbonius hardware well. The Mile End CSL front bumper installation won't be happening for a while, so I made a temporary front bumper intake tube. I got this idea from jbfrancis3 who posted a DIY on this exact modification.

First I removed the fender liner and pulled the intake tube off of the brake duct. I then cut off 1in of the flexible to make room for the extra long snorkel.



The flared/flexible section was then snapped back onto the base


Next, I took my heat gun and heated the flared section until it was malleable. Once the plastic was soft enough, I forced the triangular portion of the snorkel into the intake tube. This changed the shape of the flared section from a circle to a triangle, creating a nice tight seal around the snorkel.




Final piece of the puzzle was to reattach the intake tube to the brake duct, then reinstall the fender liner.



Project complete! I don't mean to sound cheesy, but it was a little bit surreal. If you are anything like me, you've probably watched every video on YouTube that includes a CSL intake. I have been watching videos on it for so long that in a way, it became so legendary. Seeing it in person, installed on my own car, was kind of like meeting and hanging out with your favorite professional athlete, driver, actor, or whatever else you are into.

[0-60motorsports]

Looks amazing

[CrisSilberGrau]

Stunning, envious of how clean everything is. Very well done, will refer back to some of this.

[AWE46M3]

This build thread is making my brain tingle - thanks for sharing your progress. Love the pics of the MAP sensor install - very helpful to have those for anyone commissioning a shop to the the work.

[karter16]

but I will likely go with a CSL dipstick in the near future.

FYI - the CSL dipstick tube appears to be pending a manufacturing run. I ordered mine at the beginning of June and have been given a November delivery estimate. Might be worth looking around for anyone who has one on the shelf if you want it sooner.

[D-O]

Looks fantastic. Does the strut tower brace make full contact with the strut towers, or does it have just the three raised spots that contact the strut tower?