E46 BMW- A Guide to Tuning and Modifying
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TechTranscript
00:00Okay, so you just bought yourself an E46 BMW.
00:08It's 10 years old, it's probably got really high mileage and you're thinking, sweet, I
00:11bought it for 5,000 bucks, I'm going to turn it into a drift monster.
00:15Great, I'm going to tell you how to do that while still saving face in the online community
00:19so you don't take any heat from the veterans who've been tuning these cars for years.
00:23Here's a few things to get you going tuning your first BMW.
00:28Okay, so I've been where you are before.
00:34It's your first BMW, you've got tons of money for mods, you're ready to start going at it.
00:38Good, have fun.
00:40I'm here to tell you though that you probably should do some maintenance first.
00:44Some people might argue that BMWs are unreliable.
00:46That might be the case, but they certainly are robust.
00:49If you take care of them, they might outlast you.
00:51I just heard of a BMW that went up to 500,000 miles.
00:55That's a long time on the original block.
00:57If you think you're going to put a chintzy spoiler and a set of $500 coilovers on a BMW
01:02that hasn't had a cooling system refresh or had the valve cover gasket changed, that's
01:07kind of like putting freshly grated parmesan and hand-picked basil on Chef Boyardee.
01:18Before you drop a thousand bucks on a new set of BBS alloys, you should at least do
01:22the following.
01:23Your cooling expansion tank is probably going to pop soon.
01:27Replace it.
01:28You should do the water pump.
01:29You should probably do the thermostat while you're at it.
01:31The valve cover gasket is probably all cracked and is leaking oil.
01:35The oil filter housing gasket is probably all cracked and is leaking oil.
01:39And the intake system.
01:41Probably replace your air filter.
01:43Going in throttle body?
01:44Clean it out.
01:45Diesel valve?
01:46Clean it out.
01:47Clean it out.
01:48It's expensive, I know.
01:50In the drivetrain, your flex disc is probably all cracked and worn.
01:54Replace it.
01:55Center support bearing?
01:57Probably worn out.
01:58Replace it.
01:59Change the fluid in both your differential and your transmission.
02:03Probably needs to be replaced.
02:04Do a lot of research on what to use.
02:06Change the engine oil.
02:07Frequently.
02:08Often.
02:09Especially if you're driving it on the track.
02:11I would recommend...
02:12You know what?
02:13I'm not even going to recommend oil because everyone's going to disagree with me no matter
02:15what I say.
02:16I use Mobil 1.
02:17Sorry to those who don't.
02:19Okay?
02:20I know it sounds like a lot, and it is.
02:23Maintaining a BMW is a lot more expensive than maintaining a Honda or whatever else
02:27you might buy.
02:28But, in my opinion, it's worth it.
02:29If you do it properly, just keeping a well-maintained BMW is a very satisfying endeavor.
02:35Even if you don't tune it.
02:36It's up to you.
02:37Okay, this recommendation is very important.
02:46Please do this.
02:47You're going to get a lot of heat from the community if you don't.
02:51Use the search function, either in Google or the search function within a forum, or
02:56the search function on a Facebook group.
02:59Guaranteed.
03:00Almost 100% guaranteed.
03:01If you have a question about performance, modifications, maintenance, someone else has
03:05had the same question as you, and it's been answered by 62 people in incredible detail,
03:10and there's probably a 14-page DIY on how to do it yourself.
03:13Okay, so before you walk onto a forum and say, hey, does anyone make headers for a car?
03:19That's going to sound like walking into a grocery store and saying, hey, do you guys
03:21sell food?
03:22So make sure you do some reading, do some research, at least Google it.
03:26I guarantee somebody else has asked the same question as you.
03:30Okay?
03:31There's a huge knowledge base of information out there for BMWs.
03:35Use the community to your advantage.
03:36When you're ready to contribute, give back.
03:43You might be thinking, well, this sounds a little bit annoying.
03:46All I want to do is tune my BMW, and you're telling me I have to do all this maintenance
03:49first.
03:50Well, it is a little bit annoying, to be honest, but that's the reality of it.
03:53It's about to get worse.
03:55If you're actually truly concerned with performance, you're concerned about lap times, autocross,
03:59time trials, whatever, or real racing, whatever it is, unfortunately, this is the hierarchy
04:05of performance modifications.
04:06It goes like this, driver, so you need to get better yourself, spend some time on the
04:11track in your stock E46, tires, I know, who cares, right?
04:16They're just black and they're rubber and they go on the road, makes a big difference.
04:20Suspension and brakes, before you even bother with the engine, make sure your suspension
04:24is refreshed, make sure you've got a good set of track pads, then power.
04:29Sorry, I'll go into power next, okay?
04:32So that's the hierarchy of performance modifications to actually make a difference for you as a
04:37driver, for turning out lap times, racing, whatever it is you do.
04:44Okay, starting to rain, I'm going to go quickly.
04:48We're finally on to power modifications.
04:50So I don't buy the whole, whoa, if you want a more powerful BMW, you should have bought
04:53an M3 or you should have bought a 330.
04:55No, you know what?
04:57Tuning one of these is very rewarding and it's very exciting to do.
05:00I have a 325, all right?
05:02Bringing it up to the power level of a 330 might seem pointless to some, but to me, it's
05:06very valuable, okay?
05:08I enjoy doing it.
05:09So right off the bat, unless you go forced induction, I'm talking a supercharger, $6,000,
05:15you're looking at headers, okay?
05:16You're going to get 15, 20 horsepower, arguably, up and down with headers.
05:20The problem is, unless you want to kill Bandy, you're going to have to put some catalytic
05:24converters in because the catalytic converters are in the headers, depending on your emissions
05:27regulations and where you are.
05:28Holy, it's really raining now.
05:30Okay, put the bag over the camera.
05:32You have to do an aftermarket exhaust system so that you can still meet emissions regulations.
05:39After that, some people say a cold air intake is going to give you a few horsepower.
05:42Nah, not really, who cares?
05:44Use the stock air box and put a fresh air filter in it.
05:47It's very well-tuned from the BMW factory.
05:50You can put a hot diff in, so you can get a 3.46 diff or a 3.38.
05:55If you have a manual, it probably came with a 3.15.
05:59That's going to make a big difference.
06:00If you're really concerned about handling, getting the power down, limited slip differential.
06:04That's a whole new video, okay?
06:06So those are a few things really quickly right off the bat that you can do.
06:10Any of those things are going to be coupled with an ECU tune or some sort of software
06:14tune.
06:15That's a really good idea too.
06:16You can raise the rev limiter.
06:18You can change the top speed, whether you're ever going to be able to reach it.
06:22There's not that much you can do, but honestly, every single little step that you take is
06:25pretty rewarding.
06:26Okay, it's really raining now.
06:27I'm going to go.
06:28See you guys later.