2002 Steel Grey 6spd coupe Daily/Restoration project

[Tbonem3]

The rear was a little low (under 13") even with some extra rubber shims, so I swapped rear springs from my favorite 6.5" GC eibach 550lbs to some QA1 high travel 7" 550lb (both 2.5" ID). I removed the extra rubber shim (only using stock lower spring pad and GC top nylon cone), so the car has now settled at 13.25" rear ride height which gives me a little rake which I like. I also like the car being a little higher since this is my daily.



Took off the front reinforcement plate and cleaned it:



It was missing the oil drain cover, so replaced that:



With that out of the way, I could finish my suspension refresh with OEM FCABs. Originals actually looked ok, might have been replaced at one point, but doubtful.



New. Nothing like fresh FCABs!




Why did I wait to drop the reinforcement plate? Because I wanted to put these in!



Randomly perusing Ebay, I found a used set of Fabspeed headers for $300 lolwut. They had a dent and were kinda dirty, but so what?
All but 1 of the aftermarket headers for our car are replicas of Supersprint's long tube "tubulare" header that was the upgrade for euro or csl guys (before stepped existed). Or they're a rep of euro/csl. IMO, Fabspeeds are the best, truest replica made. Best sound and power. Lightweight, perfect fitment, thin flanges. Just perfect.

Took the strut bar off. Already had the beauty cover off. Undid the SAP and the coolant exp line - I plug the tank and hardline with cork or rubber stoppers so I don't lose much coolant. Heat shields and o2/egt connections and you're ready to remove the manifolds.



Car has been in Socal for 17 of its 20 years, so removal was easy. Only one stud came out with the nut!



Be gone with you. Got new o2s as well. Will reuse EGT.



Precats were done lol



Changed out the CPV O-ring - thanks John! mpower22. Mine wasn't actually leaking, but best time to do it. However, while in there, looking up, I could see oil coming out the Exh CPS, so I'll need to get another o-ring for that.



New Bosch pre cats installed. Capped the post cat bungs.



Catted sect 1. Euro cats got harder to find and more expensive. I wasn't gonna spend $2400 on SS HJS sect 1. I found a listing on ebay from a German company who fabs up 100 & 200 cell metallic race cats in 2.5" piping for Sect 1 for only $400! ($100 shipping)

Link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/23335313314...53.m1438.l2649

Let's check them out!



Initial quality looks nice. Clean welds, everything is straight and smooth. post cat o2 bungs and egt just like factory euro setup. They didn't come with bung caps, however.

Let's look closer:



Cat looks good. They were very clear about the cats being metallic, not ceramic. These are the 200 cell. My goal was to cut the smell almost completely, but retain half of the gains of removing stock cats (400 cell). I also love that they did these in 2.5" (63.5mm) instead of typical 2.25" or 2.365" (60mm) - there's a fair amount of power to be had here - I want to say Hassan demonstrated an 8whp gain here.

All the insides have been smoothed out. Very nice. Overall, very very pleased for $500 spent!



Post cats capped for now since I just passed smog and have 2 years before I need to do anything (not sure of this car's future tbh)



I mentioned EGT earlier. I already installed the sensor in the header location, so I'm capping this location. I couldn't be arsed to extend the egt and o2 wiring down the driver side tranny tunnel since I wasn't bothering with post cat o2s at this time.

Anywho, luckily, I keep things, and have an extra EGT sensor that I could cannibalize to make a bung cap.



The spacer is so the cap doesn't bottom out on the pipe before sealing. The solid, thin piece of metal is used since there's a hole in the sensor's nut.




Headers went in pretty easily. First bank slid on, second took a little effort. Got the sect 1 pipes up, but their increased size caused the tranny cover to make contact.



Just nipped off some of the plastic at the bend:



All done:





All done! Heat shields back in, SAP and exp line back in. Added a little water back to the tank. Removed the post cat o2 plastic holder. If you slide a little nylon washer over the beauty cover studs, you can replicate that plastic sensor cover's thickness so that you don't over tighten the little chrome nuts at the end.

Ah that throaty idle

[loudspeaker69]

How’s the smell vs stock for the cats ?
Has the rasp decreased / increased ?

Also, which header is not based on the SS tubulare version (aside from stepped)?

Great build thus far!

[rbg]

T thank you fit posting all this! Just reading your journal is like almost everything a new owner needs to learn the car, priceless!
Btw Instagram randomly showed me your car and I never looked you up, but was like “wait a minute I know that one”

[Tbonem3]

How’s the smell vs stock for the cats ?
Has the rasp decreased / increased ?

Also, which header is not based on the SS tubulare version (aside from stepped)?

Great build thus far!

Ya sorry, forgot to put my impressions!

So the fabspeeds are incredible. Immediately more power everywhere. Incredibly torquey. No tune. I truly don't remember being this impressed when I did euro headers years ago or even ss stepped v1s in 2017. This car pulls so hard. I dare say it's stronger than my 2004, which is saying something 'cause that car runs like a top. The 2 cars feel equal in power even though this one only has the headers whereas my 2004 has the airbox, stepped, tune, pulleys and is quite a bit lighter. The 2004 did get slower when I went from 20lb 18"s to 24lb 19s, though.

Rasp is pretty well controlled by the catted 2.5" pipe, but still there. Smell is as expected. There still a bit, but not enough to make anyone think it's catless. Similar to how eurocats smell, though once warm, euro cats (200 cell as well, but higher quality and longer) do a little better job at killing the smell imo.

I'm looking forward to putting the OM scorza on.

The one header that isn't a rep of SS long tube or euro/csl is the ARH, though those appeared much later, well after stepped and customs ones.

[Tbonem3]

T thank you fit posting all this! Just reading your journal is like almost everything a new owner needs to learn the car, priceless!
Btw Instagram randomly showed me your car and I never looked you up, but was like “wait a minute I know that one”

Thanks K! Send me a DM on IG and I'll follow back. I don't know who's who on there that much.

[loudspeaker69]

Any drone once driving with this set up?

Granted the M3 has some very mild drone from the factory (also in the E36, don’t know about the other generations), but just wondering if you noticed any increase with this set up.

[jet_dogg]

Damn that's crazy how it's just as fast. My boy had a factory freak that was faster than any other m3, of course it was stock though because it was 2002.

[Tbonem3]

Any drone once driving with this set up?

Granted the M3 has some very mild drone from the factory (also in the E36, don’t know about the other generations), but just wondering if you noticed any increase with this set up.

No, barely any and what tiny bit there is, is more a characteristic of the sound in general with 2.5" in my experience, more hollow. No rpm specific drone like cruising at 2.3k for ex.

[loudspeaker69]

Curious if your going to use a resonated section 2 ?

I wanted to run a very similar set up (with a resonated section 2), hence I ask.

In my world, I’ll either use the stock exhaust / Section 3 or just the next quietest: Supersprint Street.

[Tbonem3]

Stock sect 2 is resonated. Then there are resonated or unresonated versions of the X pipe and the newer dual 2.5" pipe sect 2s.

I actually really like the stock exh, esp with more aggressive headers/sect 1. SS street is nice, but it's not really much different in weight/volume/sound. Looks nice, ofc. Maybe slightly deeper tone.

[loudspeaker69]

Yes, your right.

I was wondering if you were looking for a different section 2 ?

Does an aftermarket section 2 do a better job of nixing the rasp?

if that’s what your looking for…

[Tbonem3]

I see. Correct, our sect 2 does seem to be a pretty big contributor to rasp. Other S54 engines in other cars, where the midpipes are different, don't seem to make the same rasp.

The best sect 2 to nix rasp, IMO, is the SS (or RE/SGT) x pipe. My friends say the sgt unres sounds the best, but I think SS res (not unres) is good too. I don't know why it's opposite as far as resonators, but that seems to be the way it goes. I have never tried one and kind of want to, we'll see.

The other sect 2 that will kill rasp, is the SS dual pipe 2.5", but it will also kill any soul the exhaust note has left, in my experience. It makes good power, but I'd only use one on a high hp build where you want a quiet exh note, and mostly induction noise up front.

You don't *need* an aftermarket sect 2 to control rasp, however. It can be done with dual resonators or dual cats or both in sect 1. Increasing pipe diameter also kills rasp somewhat, but increases some drone if not accompanied with cats/res.

[loudspeaker69]

The Section 2 RE X pipe isn’t resonated, but it kills rasp?

Interesting that the SS Section 2 (2.5”) will kill any soul for the exhaust.

I don’t think anyone wants drone, but killing the fun in the party ain’t great either!

Nevertheless, since your Section 1 is 2.5,” I presume it forces you to go 2.5” for your section 2, if you go that route?

[Tbonem3]

1. The x pipes' (SS/SGT/RE) shape/routing will kill rasp. It also changes the sound, mostly in a good way. Used to be referred to as a "tuner" sound. One of the greatest WOT videos for this car is long tube headers (SS, in this case), stock sect 1 (small diameter retains loud pitch), SS X pipe (can't remember res or not) then SS race exhaust. Absolutely brutal. Too much for daily though. The H pipe in stock sect 2 seems to create the rasp or at least make it stronger.

2. The way sect 2 mates up with sect 1 means that you can run any brand/size you want. Def don't need 2.5" sect 2 in order to use 2.5" sect 1. The biggest gains in going from 2" diameter to 2.5" happens at the headers, then sect 1, then 2, then 3. Much more important to get a 2.5" sect 1 than sect 2.

[Tbonem3]

Took a break from the steel grey to help my friend clean up his recently acquired 2005 Carbon Black. ImolaM3 already has a 2004 slicktop like me, but I guess me getting another E46 M3 made him jealous 😆

Went and picked up 2005 CB smg with 90k for a stupid low price back in April. The paint wasn't in great condition, though. Don't have lots of pics, so not posting this in the detail section. Just sharing here in this thread as steelgrey makes an appearance. Wash, clay, first step was Griott's correcting cream on an LC CSS orange 5.5" pad, then Turtle wax hybrid solutions polish/sio2 sealant on a lc css green pad. The TW stufff is cheap, but it's pretty damn nice. No great longevity, though.




Doubled its value in one day 🤣

There's silvergrey! You can see the difference spacers make.



Carbon black in the sun is magic

My next entry in this thread will be very intensive paint work on the steelgrey which will hopefully satiate your paint correction hungers created by this bereft post.