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      07-19-2022, 03:52 PM   #595
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nah dude View Post
Hey man, love the build! Do you by any chance have the part number for the euro tail lights?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/18269092993...53.m1438.l2649

I purchased this set through ebay and it works perfectly
just needed to re-order the wires
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      07-19-2022, 04:53 PM   #596
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nah dude View Post
hey man, love the build! Do you by any chance have the part number for the euro tail lights?
63217289425
63217289426

Quote:
Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox View Post
https://www.ebay.com/itm/18269092993...53.m1438.l2649

I purchased this set through ebay and it works perfectly
just needed to re-order the wires
re-pinning should only be required if it is on Pre-LCI. That's the place I ordered from too before the price and shipping hikes too.
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Last edited by derbo; 07-19-2022 at 06:46 PM..
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      07-19-2022, 10:42 PM   #597
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Quote:
Originally Posted by derbo View Post
re-pinning should only be required if it is on Pre-LCI. That's the place I ordered from too before the price and shipping hikes too.
Oh yes ... My car is pre LCI so I needed to re pin


I'm starting to look at suspension options as I near 100k miles
08 e90 with stock suspension
Edc
I don't think I will miss edc ... Or will I?

What are my top 3 options for 99% street use?
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      07-19-2022, 11:06 PM   #598
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Quote:
Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox View Post
Oh yes ... My car is pre LCI so I needed to re pin


I'm starting to look at suspension options as I near 100k miles
08 e90 with stock suspension
Edc
I don't think I will miss edc ... Or will I?

What are my top 3 options for 99% street use?
While I do miss the versatility of EDC, the settings didn't feel dramatically different enough. It made it harder to justify the limitations of aftermarket options just for the sake of the button.


What are you looking for in a street use suspension? Comfort? Handling? do you like to tinker with height/dampers? height?
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      07-19-2022, 11:12 PM   #599
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Quote:
Originally Posted by derbo View Post
While I do miss the versatility of EDC, the settings didn't feel dramatically different enough. It made it harder to justify the limitations of aftermarket options just for the sake of the button.


What are you looking for in a street use suspension? Comfort? Handling? do you like to tinker with height/dampers? height?
Balance comfort and handling
I can handle a bit stiffer ride but I am just commuting around so I don't demand too much from the car
I wouldn't mind a slight drop from stock height

I don't want to tinker around too much
Unless if I miraculously start getting the wife's blessing to go out with the boys for drives or even track days ... But with our second baby I don't see that happening anytime soon
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      07-19-2022, 11:47 PM   #600
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Quote:
Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by derbo View Post
While I do miss the versatility of EDC, the settings didn't feel dramatically different enough. It made it harder to justify the limitations of aftermarket options just for the sake of the button.


What are you looking for in a street use suspension? Comfort? Handling? do you like to tinker with height/dampers? height?
Balance comfort and handling
I can handle a bit stiffer ride but I am just commuting around so I don't demand too much from the car
I wouldn't mind a slight drop from stock height

I don't want to tinker around too much
Unless if I miraculously start getting the wife's blessing to go out with the boys for drives or even track days ... But with our second baby I don't see that happening anytime soon
EDC is useless — not worth keeping imo.

Öhlins sound perfect for you. More comfortable than OE, able to lower the car as much as you'd ever want.
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      07-20-2022, 09:12 AM   #601
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 911r View Post
EDC is useless — not worth keeping imo.

Öhlins sound perfect for you. More comfortable than OE, able to lower the car as much as you'd ever want.
Which ohlins
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      07-20-2022, 09:53 AM   #602
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Quote:
Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by 911r View Post
EDC is useless — not worth keeping imo.

Öhlins sound perfect for you. More comfortable than OE, able to lower the car as much as you'd ever want.
Which ohlins
Quote:
Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by 911r View Post
EDC is useless — not worth keeping imo.

Öhlins sound perfect for you. More comfortable than OE, able to lower the car as much as you'd ever want.
Which ohlins
If the car is purely street driven, and you don't care about getting more than ~-2 degrees of front camber, this is what I'd get:

https://3dmmotorsport.com/collection...suspension-kit
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      07-20-2022, 10:10 AM   #603
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Quote:
Originally Posted by XKxRome0ox View Post
Which ohlins
Ohlins RT sounds like the right choice.

The one 911r linked is just a preassembled one with stock refreshed top hats.

In your shoes, I would get the off-the-shelf Ohlins RT, add a vorschlag camber kit and poly rear top mounts.
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      11-23-2022, 12:27 PM   #604
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Fall 2022

It’s been awhile. Since my last post, I basically haven’t done anything.


Sonoma Raceway 2022-11-20


Good ole Sears Point. 30minutes away from home, highly technical track that is very rewarding with little to no runoff for mistakes. There are only a few places where you can readjust and the rest of the course is all rhythm. Many of the corners chain together and one mistake early on, hurts almost half the lap.

This marked the first time using caliper temp stickers. From what I’ve read online, my calipers are doing okay. They better be considering it is almost Winter and ambient temps were in the low 60s!



This also marked the first time I’ve actually used the RE71R beyond the first session. They offer a lot of grip compared to heat-cycled RS4s! I still didn’t get comfortable to even reach the limit of these tires yet. Hopefully next time around!

I ended up running 4 sessions, 2nd session gathered my personal best at 1:56.62 with a lot of room. I hope I can come back soon as I was driving pretty sloppy to get that time.

Overall, it was fun to meet new folks, and having the 3 garage slots together with friends was a fun day. I definitely enjoyed it.

## Media







Winter’s plan

The game plan for winter is suspension! I hope to swap springs 450/800 sometime in December and get the suspension re-valved if that doesn’t solve my weird freeway bumps while being supple for backroad driving.

## Suspension
This is a long rabbit hole I’ve been everywhere with. The car feels wonderful on 600/900 on track but it gets a litle rough on the streets of SF and back roads. Even with the current dampers, it feels like it is not handling the high amplitude/low frequency bumps.

The plan is to try out 450/800 springs, and if that still feels odd, ship back the MCS 2WNR dampers back to MCS for a piston update and re-valving.


On another note, I still have these parts laying around now too. Been lagging on those solid subframe bushings, its been 2 years.

The "pile" of parts is slightly growing
  • Slon VANOS covers
  • Bimmerworld Solid Subframe bushings
  • BMW Motorsports 4.10 FD —Thanks to Jordan!
  • Misc pieces for 2.25in ID to 60mm ID Swift springs
  • new GC rear spring perch rod for running 8" length springs
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      04-28-2023, 05:04 PM   #605
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Spring 2023

As we enter 1 month of Spring 2023, I have done absolutely nothing with the car since the last post. Weather in California has been odd to say the least and traveling with my wife has taken priority the last few months.

Well that didn’t go as winter plan intended

My initial winter plan was to get the suspension overhaul done between my previous post and now.

# Recap
  • Switch to roughly 450/800 spring rates.
  • readjust damper tuning to match new spring rates
  • send in MCS dampers for rebuild as we approach 5yrs/15k miles.

Timing pushed things back and here we are now. At least there has been progress as I ordered Swift 8k/14k springs for my car in the middle of March. I hope to change the springs sometime in May.



Fidgety

In the past, I have toyed with the idea of a M performance exhaust on my car. I didn't want to buy new but if one ever pop up locally in the classifieds, I planned on getting it. In late March, when @Sam notified me that a used M performance exhaust v2 was for sale locally, I immediately hopped on it.

I know what you are thinking: “But Derbo, you already have a Supersprint F1 race exhaust and it passes 90dB Laguna Seca! Why are are you switching an already perfect exhaust?”

There are a couple of reasons in no particular order:
  • Weight. At 30lbs or so, this is surprisingly 12lbs lighter than the SS F1 race exhaust and 19lbs lighter than stock. I did not expect that large of a difference compared to the SS F1 Race but Inconel appears to be light as hell!
  • Materials. The material used on the MPE intrigued me. Inconel is unique alloy and the titanium tips are a nice touch too.
  • MSRP. While at one point the dealers were selling at $2300, it is back to the original $4500 again. Buying this used meant I would be paying less than half which I appreciated.
  • Volume. While the SS F1 Race is quieter than majority exhausts for our cars, I disliked the cold start drone as well as drone when under load below 2500RPM. The MPE volume in comparison to what I remember of my OEM 4pipe mod but a little quieter. There is just no drone with the MPE where my OEM 4pipe did have a little more volume and drone under low RPM and load. The MPE provides a different tone without drone. The lack of volume is unfortunately, but I think the benefits of that outweigh the lack of volume at my stage in life haha. I’ll be one of the quietest cars on track since the SS F1 exhaust was already quiet as hell.
  • THE TIPS. This is the most important reason: it has four more ///M badges. as @richbot said, this is best badge/dollar ratio in adding additional +5hp badges.

# Installation
As with axle back installs, having a Lisle rubber hanger remover came in clutch in saving a lot of headache removing the rubber hangers. No fussing with fitment, it just fits perfectly with tips in the right spot.

# Impressions
Volume: Stock like but honestly I don't remember what stock sounds like. Cold start isn’t droning, and no drone at all. The volume above 4500rpm seems similar to stock and while it might not be as loud as I would have like, I value the volume for cold starts/low rpm more than that. Volume is a touch low for helmet use but induction noise is all there for knowing where in the RPM I am at.

As it stands right now, I'm still indifferent about which exhaust to keep. I love the usability of the MPE but I rarely drive the car on the street. The OEM+ factor does play a role and it does have fancy +20HP ///M badges haha. I'm leaning towards selling the SS F1 Race exhaust but suspect I'll hold onto both for a little bit until needed.

#Media


Here is what it sounds like on the track at 130mph to 82-83mph.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/piRex782VHs

Thunderhill Cyclone 2024-04-24 CFRA


The CFRA 2023 season kicks off with a Monday Thunderhill! One could guess why there was low car count. It ended up being 11 cars per run group. Not bad at all!

My primary focus for this track day: to have fun and build back up confidence at the limit! This marks the second day on RE71R old stock from Tirerack and it's still a trip to me. I'm still finding where the limits are and trying to weed through the mental roadblocks. I think I'm overbraking, not enough speed around corners and on the throttle too slow or too early. But at the end of the day, I'm just working my way back to pre-fall-2020 Derek speeds and hopefully steadily improving to break past that too. Either way had fun!

Temperature at 80F ambient, it was good enough to have time without dying in heat. I managed to scare up a 2:07:279 and I know there is plenty more to gain. Thank you to slcook54 dparm Ximian for additional analysis after watching my POTD video.

#Misc
I did manage to lost my front left driver felt panel due to a slight miscalculation of Turn 8. I'm debating if I want to order a metal under tray or just buying a left felt panel and moving on.

#Media







What lies ahead this year


#Priority One
448/784lbs spring swap.
Alignment
Damper tuning will be reset and will require plenty of testing to gain the optimal street and track damper settings.


https://motoiq.com/how-to-adjust-you...stable-shocks/
Mr. Mike has happily shown his rule of thumb: Run the most compression with no ill effects and with the least amount of rebound also with no ill effects.

# Priority Two
Maintenance may come as well and I may order gray VC from Deansbimmer and do the slon VANOS covers.
After that, lets start looking into my rim setup and finally subframe/final drive situation.

The "pile" of parts is slightly growing
  • Slon VANOS covers
  • Bimmerworld Solid Subframe bushings
  • BMW Motorsports 4.10 FD —Thanks to Jordan!
  • Misc pieces for 2.25in ID to 60mm ID Swift springs
  • new GC rear spring perch rod for running 8" length springs
  • Swift 6" 60mm ID 8Kg/mm front springs
  • Swift 8" 60mm ID 14Kg/mm rear springs
  • BBS GT4 staggered set for street.




Thanks for reading, and till next time!

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      07-24-2023, 09:14 PM   #606
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Summer 2023

As we head in middle of summer, time for an update!

In the previous post, I forgot to mention I had a little slip up at Turn 8 at Thunderhill. I was a little antsy and turned a tad too early into the turn. Unfortunately, I was committed and past the apex is just a concrete drop resulting in a fun loud noise and a hop. I got lucky with the aftermath damage but I managed to destroy my under tray and bend 2 of my wheels. I ordered two new Titan7 wheels after they were reported to be 1 minor bend and 1 trashed. The minor bend one will end up being a spare. Since it was time for an alignment check, this was a perfect opportunity to get going on my suspension changes going.



Minor changes ahead


## Suspension changes
Here we are, finally installing a set of springs. I have a few objectives here. The first and foremost was to soften the car but still stiffer than my original 400/700 lb/in setup. The other was moving the ratio closer back to flat ride a bit as the car felt odd on freeway overpass junction bumps, etc at high vehicle speeds. The ride quality left a lot of confidence off the table.


  • 8KG/mm 6" free length and 14KG/mm 8" free length springs
  • 2.5" hyperco helper springs
  • new standard length Ground control rear weight jack rods to accommodate 8" springs. (Previously cut them to accommodate 9" springs)

Overall, the install was uneventful as it was simply a spring and threaded rod swap.







Alignment at VT Motorworks. I opted for about -3/-2 F/R camber, 0 toe up front and minimal toe in the rear, 0.05'. It is a mild alignment and should help with turn in while keeping it fairly stable at high speeds compared to a toe out front alignment. Initial impressions are this is the sweet spot for a "Dual Duty" spring rate. It's just stiff enough for track use for 3-4 events /year but still tolerable on the road. I'm loving it so far! I think I found a dampening setup that will work and mitigating the large oscillations when going over overpass junctions bumps at over 70mph. In turn, this will also help stabilize the car at high speed uneven surfaces on track days! Win win!

Of course when I come home from the shop, car goes lights up on the dash; a bad rear wheel sensor. After an initial check, I'm pretty sure the other rear side failed compared to the original one that failed last time around.



##Tray
So because of my 2 wheel offroad excursion, I also decided to get a Pinnacle Motorsports under tray.

Pros: I like the better ground clearance and lightweight metal tray.
Cons: I don't like how all these metal trays seem to buckle the front bumper and even leaves an odd gap in the middle.

For now this will do, perhaps I'll think of something to fab up the gap as I dont have a lip to cover the hole up or maybe look into the turner motorsports one. That one looks like it addresses my cons about this piece but additional money.




2023-07-19 Sunwise VIP Laguna Seca Day

Thanks to my wife's new purchase, I was fortunate enough to be part of a VIP track day held by one of the local dealership groups Sunwise. They own 3 BMW dealerships in the area and invited clients to a rally/track day.


FCPEuro coming in hot with some replacement fluids right before the track day.


My wife's new M4 (which goes us the invite) and my M3 filling up for the Rally at Costco Gas baby!



The day before, we had a rally down to Monterey with the group of BMWs invited. It was fun but traffic put a hinder on the overall fun. If I were to do this again next year, I will skip the rally part.

slcook54 also joined in on the fun, it was good times!






The goal of the day was to tune my suspension and get a feel for how fast this new repaved track felt like. The initial street settings 9R/8C, 8R/5C settings felt pretty good and I added about 3 more clicks of compression in the rear. Since the private day had us running at the top of the hour, I felt like we had plenty of time to test! I didn't expect to reach the suspension settings so quickly.

After 2 sessions, I even ended up with being in the 1:42s! I was excited and decided to try for a faster lap mid-afternoon when the tank light was just about to trigger. I threw down a 1:41.80 and was stoked. Car felt soft enough to grip while stiff enough to not feel like I was rolling over. Final session, I decided to take out my wife's M4 comp out and did a 1:41.1 without even trying hard..Those cars are so fast.



slcook54 was a celebrity with some of the folks there and pushing some 1:37s borderline 1:36s! I think next time around he is going to hit that and then some!

Post-analysis: what attributes me going from 1:45.680 to 1:41.80?

PS4S vs RE71R
Change spring rates? 400/700 to 448/784
ST60 DTC-60 to APRacing 9660 3.12
Better nut behind the wheel

I would argue that the biggest one is the tires and driving confidence. I hope to continue this trend and fine tune the lap even more next month! I'm very happy with that time as I always felt 1:45 wasn't good enough.


# Spare Diff
As part of the 4.10 upgrade in the future (whenever that may be), I split a stock E92 diff with an E46 buddy of mine. He took the 3.85 and I kept the rest of the parts. I haven't decided what I want to do yet, I suspect I may build a custom ZF LSD that is better for track use but has OEM-like maintenance intervals. This plus solid subframes will be cherry on top to a fun "M3CS".




Cheers!
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      08-16-2023, 12:29 AM   #607
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cool stuff and congrats on your time drop!

just out of curiosity though, I noticed your speedometer only has mph. what's up with that? mine shows mph and kph... how come you made that mod?

anyways, I really enjoyed reading through this thread, great trove of knowledge - been seeing quite a few M3s since moving up to the bay, hopefully I'll see yours around sometime
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      08-16-2023, 09:48 AM   #608
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bipp View Post
cool stuff and congrats on your time drop!

just out of curiosity though, I noticed your speedometer only has mph. what's up with that? mine shows mph and kph... how come you made that mod?

anyways, I really enjoyed reading through this thread, great trove of knowledge - been seeing quite a few M3s since moving up to the bay, hopefully I'll see yours around sometime
Thanks!

The Venoxy gauges are cleaner! Some european market clusters only show Km/h and I thought it looks cleaner without the duality of units.

A new Local! Hopefully see you around!
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      10-23-2023, 11:53 PM   #609
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Coming up!

11/18/2023 CFRA Sonoma Raceway to finish off the year of events for me.

No changes to the car before the track day, but I expect I'll be rebuilding the MCS dampers as we hit 5 year mark and 15k miles. Not to mention there are a good amount of hours on track as well. It's due!
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      10-27-2023, 03:29 PM   #610
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I was cleaning up the wheels and realized I'm missing a hubcentric ring for one of them. Guess I'll have to order one. I can't wait to go back to these wheels for street use.
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      11-01-2023, 02:42 PM   #611
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BB5 EC7s will look so good!
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      11-21-2023, 06:18 PM   #612
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Rain in California?!


This past weekend was the last CFRA-hosted HPDE event for the season at Sonoma Raceway! I was hoping to follow my progress from Laguna to here but the weather did not want to participate! It was pouring! It did dry up 2nd to last session but the last session drizzled again.

On the way there was not looking promising.



Plenty of E9xM chassis.



Bridgestone RE71R with at least 20 heat cycles was not having it and there was just too much standing water. The standing water is everywhere. I hope the repave in 2024 fixes a few places for drainage. I opted to put on my TE37 with Continental ECS tires. 3 supervisors in the pic lol.








Overall it was a learning experience in the rain, the first time in extremely wet. It was an anti-climatic way to end the season but I’m happy to continue to next year and onwards.

Winter plans:
I hope to rebuild the MCS 2WNR this winter as it’s been 5yrs/15k with a good amount of track hours in there.

I hope to also purchase parts for the spare LSD and get that going with the solid subframe bushings.

Maintenance items coming up sooner or later: Cooling system, Valve/Vanos covers.

After that, I'll see how I feel about this car. My mind is in one of those ruts where you want to sell it, but you dont either cause replacing it would be impossible. Maybe I’ll have a decision on what I want to do next time I post. Till next time!
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      02-28-2024, 10:01 PM   #613
derbo
Derbo Tuning
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Is it Spring yet?


## MCS Rebuild
I mentioned in my last post that the MCS dampers were due for a rebuild based on the MCS recommendation of 5yrs/15k intervals. I had concerns about the dampers as the car would feel underdamped on certain large freeway bumps. I wanted the car dampers to perform like it was critically damped not under dampened.

So in the middle of December, I removed my 2WNR dampers from the car, slapped on the stock dampers, and shipped them off to MCS for a rebuild.


After talks about the way the car behaved after bumps, Wyatt@MCS recommended I update to the latest 2021 piston design to achieve a more linear rebound. Since it was already in for service rebuild, this would be the time to do it. MCS service also discovered the front right damper shaft was slightly bent. Good thing I sent them in so that could be replaced! I also purchased bump stops as well since I found it odd that MCS never included them to begin with. Black bump stops look pretty cool!





The rebuilt dampers arrived back in my possession around late Jan after they started servicing it after the New Year's holidays. Before I had time to install the dampers, I digressed into a side project.

Exhaust time

I really can't stop fiddling, huh? While the M Performance exhaust is nothing short of fun for the street, I knew my track experience was too quiet. I stumbled on a "Supersprint" xpipe on the classifieds forum in late Jan and decided to buy it. Digging a little deeper, the xpipe is an evolve pre-production piece. I asked Evolve for more info if they have any more fun details about the xpipe. I do know it has exchanged a few hands here on the forums. Either way, I was stoked to have a supersprint made xpipe to pair with the F1 Race exhaust. It almost felt like the budget full Supersprint exhaust setup as well and it suited my needs better. It used OEM connectors so I could put a stock rear exhaust if needed, and it had 200cpsi cats to reduce the smell more than the Supersprint 100-cell race versions. For me, this seemed like the Goldilocks exhaust setup.









## Installation
Install was pretty straightforward and glad I was able to use a lift to do this! It would've been a pain if it wasn't. I previously was running Alpine stage 1 tune and the benefit was that Alex charges for the initial tune, and additional tuning file requests were free of charge even if it is stage 2. This was the most financial way to prevent a CEL while gaining a bit of power from the xpipe. This reduced the cost overhead to move on to a stage 2 setup.

And before anyone asks, the diff heatsink is indeed damaged. It will be replaced when I upgrade to a 4.1 FD setup.

MCS Damper Impressions

I had one real goal in mind: to ensure large bumps at high vehicle speeds would be critically damped and not underdamped. After setting the dampers to the recommended starting point of 8 rebound, 4 compression, I immediately noticed the car was more compliant but also stiffer. I believe this is due to the more linear damper curve but I don't know enough to make that conclusion. Overall, I am very happy on how the car behaves at high vehicle speeds and working on fine-tuning low vehicle speed, high damper speed bumps. It is in a much better position that it was before the rebuild.

Exhaust Impressions

I can definitely say the BARK is there! The additional volume in the cabin is louder than I would like under 2000RPM but above that, it sounds amazing. I love it so far. Laguna Seca is coming up soon and I hope to get a sound check to see where it is at T5. It's probably one of the quieter xpipe setups but louder than Akra EVO setup.



I added a small soundclip to my instagram. It sounds so good. Couldn't be happier.



I always have pending items and I still haven't done solid subframe or 4.1 Final drive with ZF LSD yet. I'll also look into selling the MPE V2 in the near future.
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IG:ruhrohz_m3
Journal: Link
E9x ZCP Suspension Info: Link
Track Chat Discord: https://discord.gg/VsKbTyqBVj
SF Bay Area: DM For coding services

Last edited by derbo; 02-29-2024 at 08:30 AM..
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