But I am a sucker for finer details and subtle touches that make this car my own. Scouring the classifieds regularly helped me identify a few goodies that I wished to have on my car.
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MOOO POWAHH BABEH
As soon as I bought the 328i in September, I had decided that I would tune it at some point, preferably as soon as the suspension and brakes were sorted. And thus, the hunt began for a suitable tune for the car.
Initially, I had considered getting the Burger Motorsport JB4 tuning box – a simple plug and play installation that would take all of 15 minutes in my basement.
However, consuming copious volumes of information on the internet opened up my eyes to the benefits as well as the drawbacks of tuning boxes like the JB4.
In conclusion – it’s not a bad option especially if the ECU is locked and the desire for more power is insatiable. But these cars have had their ECUs unlocked for several years now, and when flash tunes are easily available in the market today, that don’t simply trick the ECU into making more power, a traditional remap is the best option.
GT Tunerz was my first choice for a remap. I spoke to the Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi dealers about it, but eventually decided to purchase a BootMod3 licence that gives me access to literally all OTS (off the shelf) tunes on the platform. I would also get an E-Net cable along with the package, essentially allowing me to tune the car myself using a laptop or a phone!
My decision was made easier when Extreme Power House (an aftermarket parts specialist through whom I secured the charge pipes, boost pipe, intercooler and axle-back exhaust) and ProTuningFreaks – the makers of BM3 – listed the licence and complete OTS bundle with a sweet discount as part of their Black Friday sale.
I managed to snag the BM3 Licence and the complete OTS bundle of unlimited tunes, along with an E-Net cable and an iPhone adapter for a song and a half! Just $500 (USD) = under INR 42,000! Unlimited tunes, toggles to control hardware like the exhaust valve and radiator fan, cable, etc. all for just 42k?
However, I decided to postpone tuning the car for a little while as I was still getting accustomed to the car’s stock power, which can be quite overwhelming on city roads, and more than enough for the highways and B-roads.
Not long after purchasing the BM3 licence, I high-tailed it to Speedworks – a tuning and dyno outfit located near the Airport, as they would give me the opportunity to run the car on the dyno and get baseline figures before applying the tune.
After applying the OTS Stage 1 (91 RON) tune, we performed another dyno-run to see the changes the tune has brought to the table – a mistake that we realised only after heading home later that evening.
The charts did not indicate a significant jump in horsepower, or any jump at all! The reason for this is our failure in not giving the ECU any real-world driving time for the purpose of adaptation / calibration.
By the time I got home that evening, my butt-dyno delivered a pretty good reading of the power bump. I wouldn’t call it a significant bump, but the car did feel a whole lot more responsive especially in 2nd gear. A quick look at the dyno-chart would indicate that the power and torque delivery have been smoothened out, making the car feel a whole lot more tractable.
I will be heading back to Speedworks some time this year to apply a Stage 2 tune and the gearbox tune as well (after the GB oil and pan job is done, of course!).
Less is more – the devil is in the details
I did mention earlier that I would not be executing significant cosmetic modifications, at least for the time being.
But I am a sucker for finer details and subtle touches that make this car my own.
Scouring the classifieds regularly helped me identify a few goodies that I wished to have on my car. I spoke to the seller and after much back-and-forth, a parcel containing the following items was shipped to me from the seller’s location in Gurgaon:
The parcel contained (a) an original BMW fire extinguisher with the appropriate mounting bracket and hardware, (b) an OEM passenger footwell net with the necessary hardware kit for installation, and (c) an original BMW jack kit along with a warning reflector.
The fire extinguisher and mounting bracket was not going to be a simple DIY job, as I needed to un-bolt the passenger seat in order to access the mounting points.
With the help of technicians at Carmed, we managed to tackle this job fairly easily.
Also managed to get a bunch of other subtle and interesting items like:
…these aluminium pedals,
…a red start-stop switch,
…these rather cheap-ish looking puddle lights for all doors (they do look much better in person, I must admit),
…replacement black mirror caps (couldn’t find OEM covers for some reason),
…and these standard centre-caps for the wheels (the existing ones have become pretty cruddy – however I have decided to retain the cruddy ones and hold onto the new caps for a little while longer before swapping them out)
Let’s make some noise, again?
As I’d mentioned earlier, I was fairly satisfied with the Active Autowerke axle-back exhaust. While it wasn’t my first option, it did serve the purpose of adding much needed drama to the driving experience.
Patience is a virtue, as they say… but I had none of it when I was placing orders on Extreme Power House. Having been told that my first option for an exhaust – the M Performance Exhaust (an axle back unit that BMW sells as an optional extra) – was not available despite paying an advance for it, I decided that I simply could not wait and started scouring the interwebs for a suitable exhaust system.
There were several brands that offered catback exhausts with valve controllers, for princely sums exceeding 2.5 lakh. One particular exhaust by Frequency Intelligent exhaust systems retailed at an eye-watering 4 lakh!
Tempering my expectations, I continued to look for a well-made exhaust that was within my budget, and that is when I found Active Autowerke’s axle-back system, retailing at just $670!
Side bar:
For those who aren’t in the know, Active Autowerke is a reputable exhaust manufacturer based in the USA, and are popularly known for pioneering the equal-length mid-pipes meant to to be used on the previous generation BMW M3, M4 and the M2.
If I had one of these cars, it would be a no-brainer to get me one of these! Why? Well, the M2/M3/M4 were great cars with fantastic engines, but exhaust notes were not very straight-six-ey from factory. This was primarily due to the unequal lengths of the exhaust pipes after the cat-con. Even the best exhausts from then most decorated exhaust companies like Akrapovic failed to improve the drab exhaust note. In fact, these exhausts would often amplify the unpleasant note, making these upgrades redundant in my books.
And that’s when Active Autowerke came up with a solution – equal-length mid-pipes – that would ultimately transform the exhaust note, making it sound almost like a 2JZ from the old Supra! If there was any exhaust that truly transforms exhaust notes, it would be Active Autowerke’s mid-pipes for the M2/M3/M4. I would in fact leave the back box stock and simply bolt on a pair of resonated equal-length mid-pipes from AA.
But here I am. No M2/M3/M4, but a base-model 3-Series with a 4-cylinder motor, and I had to make do with what was available.
Just when I took delivery of the Active Autowerke axle-back exhaust, I was informed by GTPO that the M Performance Exhaust has become available and I could have it if I wanted!
Since I had already paid an advance for it, I decided to go ahead with it.
Reasons for MPE:
Slightly quieter exhaust note when compared to the Active Autowerke – making it the ideal axle-back system to pair with a catted/catless downpipe.
Utilises the factory valve controller that I can operate using the Sport-Comfort-Eco toggle next to the gear-lever.
A month or so later, the MPE arrived:
…and I had it swapped out immediately:
Factory valve controller:
So, Am I happy with this swap? Well, yes, and no!
Yes, because the MPE is a pretty nice system and I like that it has its own factory valve that can quieten it down especially when I decide to go catless or sport-cat. Also, it is much quieter than I expected it to be. A catted downpipe should help with that!
No.. because I am now down 2.5 lakh instead of just 1-ish, and I have one stock exhaust lying in the store room, one MPE on the car, and an expensive wall-art installation:
Admittedly, it is a gorgeous looking muffler, and if I don’t find any buyers for it despite the low-price I expect, I really don’t mind hanging it up on my wall!
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