Kong’s E46 M3 Track to Street Car Journal

[SQ13]

March 2023
Torqued the valve cover hardware properly, which felt very satisfying for some reason. Then I pulled the air rail and the fuel rail to replace the injectors. The o-rings on the air rail connectors were replaced a few years ago, so I didn’t replace them. Removing and installing the fuel rail was a bit difficult bc I had a hard time getting the electrical harness for the cylinder 6 injector to get out of the way.

It probably wasn’t necessary, but I removed the plastic washer and o-ring from the Bosch 62431 injectors, and installed an OE o-ring in the stock location. The rail lined up perfectly..no modifications needed.


I also replaced the slave cylinder bc I was getting a squeaking sound coming from the transmission every time I depressed the clutch. I had recently replaced the slave, but the rod for it came out while I was installing it (into the bellhousing 😭). Figured it replace it again just to be safe.

Then, I attempted to do an oil change. Before I go on, some context is needed. After the flooding, I sent the car to ABR Houston to look over the car, and they changed the fluids. A year later, I was replacing the oil level sensor and learned that the oil drain threads were stripped due to improper install by ABR. They said they could fix it by installing a time sert, and this worked for a couple of oil changes.

However, the insert came out today. I always undertorqued the drain plug to prevent stripping, then after the repair, to prevent the insert from coming out. I am extremely pissed that a shop’s incompetence has led to my oil pan being fucked, and will look into having the oil pan replaced with a new one at ABR’s expense.


Swapped out the CSF oil cooler for a new OE oil cooler. I forgot how heavy the CSF cooler is oof!


So now, all I have left to do is find a drain plug that fits in the oil pan, pick up ICV hoses and install, and finally install the CSL airbox. I have an appointment at Mayco for a dyno tune with Hassan at noon on Wednesday. I’m pretty hopeful I can have the car up and running the night before.

[maupineda]

March 2023
Torqued the valve cover hardware properly, which felt very satisfying for some reason. Then I pulled the air rail and the fuel rail to replace the injectors. The o-rings on the air rail connectors were replaced a few years ago, so I didn’t replace them. Removing and installing the fuel rail was a bit difficult bc I had a hard time getting the electrical harness for the cylinder 6 injector to get out of the way.

It probably wasn’t necessary, but I removed the plastic washer and o-ring from the Bosch 62431 injectors, and installed an OE o-ring in the stock location. The rail lined up perfectly..no modifications needed.

[/ATTACH]

Though the new injectors are very similar, the new ones (Bosch 62431) will seat offset (higher and further away from the combustion chamber) from the OE ones, even if the spray pattern is the same, since you are chaning in injection stream start point it may affect the filling of the chamber, do you know if anyone has tried theses before, or your are being the first person to test these out? it will be interesting to confirm they would work seamlessly and does not affect operation and/or performance. Injector position, spary pattern, and flow are for sure key characteristics to achieve proper filling of the combustion chamber.

[SQ13]

Though the new injectors are very similar, the new ones (Bosch 62431) will seat offset (higher and further away from the combustion chamber) from the OE ones, even if the spray pattern is the same, since you are chaning in injection stream start point it may affect the filling of the chamber, do you know if anyone has tried theses before, or your are being the first person to test these out? it will be interesting to confirm they would work seamlessly and does not affect operation and/or performance. Injector position, spary pattern, and flow are for sure key characteristics to achieve proper filling of the combustion chamber.

I noticed the offset is different last night, so I’m not sure how the fuel rail lined up with the two mounting tabs. I learned about the injectors thru ZiMMie, who said he only had to adjust flow rate via tune. He also changed the lower o-ring position like I did.

Honestly, this is way outside my knowledge base, so I’m hoping it works fine for me, just like it did for ZiMMie.

[maupineda]

Very cool to have more data points for the S54 community. Looking forward to the results

[SQ13]

The fake time sert thing is M16x1.5, and I was able to find a part number for a Subaru drain plug in M16x1.5. Cost $8 from the dealership. Problem is, my car is an 01 and the circular cover is very close to the drain hole, so I wasn’t able to install the Subaru plug. Reinstalled the fake time sert and will have to deal with a little seeping until I can unfuck this.


Overpriced ICV hoses installed.


And finally, the airbox is in. 😍


I’ll need to buy a plastic cover for the valve cover to make the engine bay look proper.


Partial bin sent to Hassan. Once I get back a baseline tune that’ll allow the car to safely run with the injectors, I’ll be able to see if the car actually turns on after everything I just did lol. Dyno tune in about six hours.

[SQ13]

Once again, amazing service by HassanEido. He is patient with my excessive dumb questions, super helpful, and very accommodating. Also, shoutout to Mayco Automotive Performance in Houston for working me in for a one hour dyno rental on a busy day.

Hassan sent over a rich tune so the car could run safely with the 386cc injectors. Got the car on the dyno and did some diagnostics to dial in the AFR, then two redline runs later found the sweet spot at 331 WHP/248 TQ. I was being too optimistic and hoping for around 340 WHP, but Hassan said it would be around 330 (and he was right, of course).

This Karb Race airbox with OE filter sounds much better and louder than the standard Karb airbox with Karb snorkel and ITG foam filter on my blue car. So intoxicating. Also glad that the Bosch 62431 injectors work just fine without any additional parts needed for fitment/clearance, aside from the OE lower o-rings which might not even be necessary. maupineda I think you’ll appreciate this update.

Apparently the car is fuel efficient now lol


Oil pan is dripping oil, so I’m trying to figure out how to temporarily fix it while I look into oil pan replacement. Ordered drain plugs off Amazon that might work, but installing those means I have to drain the 50 mile old oil…

[heinzboehmer]

You can rig a shop vac to the oil fill hole up top and that will keep the oil from coming out the bottom: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKocvM1J33Z/

Drain plug with a hex drive (like the stock one) might help with your clearance issue. The actual part of the gasket for that cover that seals against the pan is also fairly far away from the outside edge, so you can grind the cover down a bit, if that helps with clearance:




I had to grind mine down when I did a timesert on my engine (also early car).


Edit: I guess your other option is to redo the thread repair. Can't remember what size hole the timesert kit makes you drill, but I can measure when I get home.

[SQ13]

You can rig a shop vac to the oil fill hole up top and that will keep the oil from coming out the bottom: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKocvM1J33Z/

Drain plug with a hex drive (like the stock one) might help with your clearance issue. The actual part of the gasket for that cover that seals against the pan is also fairly far away from the outside edge, so you can grind the cover down a bit, if that helps with clearance:




I had to grind mine down when I did a timesert on my engine (also early car).


Edit: I guess your other option is to redo the thread repair. Can't remember what size hole the timesert kit makes you drill, but I can measure when I get home.

I appreciate the info. I actually spoke to George about the shop vac trick, and he doesn’t think it’s possible on the S54. No worries though..I anticipated having to drain fresh oil, so I used the cheaper Audi/Mobil 1 10W60 instead of Castrol 10W60.

It looks like my knockoff time sert is M16x1.5. I ordered a drain plug off Amazon and will attempt to install after delivery today. I think it’s small enough to clear the cover, but if not, I may just grind the cover down as you suggested.

Redoing the repair isn’t an option for me. I never trusted the repair in the first place, and this failure supports that. I’m sure a competent person could permanently repair it, but ABR caused the oil pan damage and ABR’s repair failed. They need to pay for a new oil pan and the labor charge to replace.

[DJAM3]

Any idea what duty cycle the new injectors are at? I'm getting ready to install my race box and wondering if I should go the same route.

[heinzboehmer]

I appreciate the info. I actually spoke to George about the shop vac trick, and he doesn’t think it’s possible on the S54. No worries though..I anticipated having to drain fresh oil, so I used the cheaper Audi/Mobil 1 10W60 instead of Castrol 10W60.

It looks like my knockoff time sert is M16x1.5. I ordered a drain plug off Amazon and will attempt to install after delivery today. I think it’s small enough to clear the cover, but if not, I may just grind the cover down as you suggested.

Redoing the repair isn’t an option for me. I never trusted the repair in the first place, and this failure supports that. I’m sure a competent person could permanently repair it, but ABR caused the oil pan damage and ABR’s repair failed. They need to pay for a new oil pan and the labor charge to replace.

Makes sense. That plug looks like it might work.

Wonder what makes the vacuum trick work on the M54 and not the S54.

[SQ13]

Any idea what duty cycle the new injectors are at? I'm getting ready to install my race box and wondering if I should go the same route.

No idea, as I’m not an expert on this stuff. Is that something I can find using INPA or the Schwaben tool? If so, let me know how to check it.

Edit: Looks like duty cycle = flow rate? I can get that for you once you confirm what kind of conditions you want me to pull the data from (idle, cruising, WOT, etc.).

[SQ13]

The Amazon plug just barely cleared. To install it, I had to painfully drain fresh oil, but I’m happy to report that upon filling the motor up with oil again, there was no leaking or seeping coming from the drain hole for the two hours I monitored before driving.


Made a 140 mile trip with no issues, aside from the noisy tires and suspension which I’ll be addressing soon. Interestingly, the indicated MPG was 34.5 vs 25-26 before the CSL airbox and tune.

[Tbonem3]

What's your exhuast system? I'm assuming the airbox sounds so loud/good because the rest is fairly quiet?

The OP says ss street, but I see ss sport pictured when you got the 2.5" midpipes.

[heinzboehmer]

Made a 140 mile trip with no issues, aside from the noisy tires and suspension which I’ll be addressing soon. Interestingly, the indicated MPG was 34.5 vs 25-26 before the CSL airbox and tune.

Probably related to your new injectors: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/s...umption-change

[SQ13]

What's your exhuast system? I'm assuming the airbox sounds so loud/good because the rest is fairly quiet?

The OP says ss street, but I see ss sport pictured when you got the 2.5" midpipes.

My bad, it’s the Sport muffler. Street is sitting in the garage. SSV1 headers, SSV1 catted sec 1, SS 63.5mm resonated sec 2, and Sport muffler. The airbox overpowers the muffler, and I can’t really hear the exhaust note now. I may swap in the Street muffler to reduce the drone.

The blue car is also quiet (stock exhaust system), so I don’t think it’s the exhaust that’s making the airbox sound louder in the silver car, unless the improved flow affects it. Since I have both Karb airboxes, I will swap the unfiltered portion and foam filter at some point to see if that changes the volume and refinement. Another thing I noticed is that the Race airbox makes a consistent whooshing sound when I’m cruising..maybe due to the larger inlet or some wiring in front of the inlet.