MNM3/4

After much discussion I convinced my friend/co-worker to do the S4. It's a '01 Santorin Blue 6 speed. He's only got about 750 miles on it but he has already been bitten by the mod bug.

This Wednesday he's having an MTM chip, Borla exhaust, a K&N filter and a rear sway bar installed. I'm curious as to how fast you guys think his 0-60 will be? His tuner thought about 5.5 sec. Does that sound about right?

By the way, I have a '97 M3 with Dinan Stage II software and CAI. I figure my car is about 0-60 in about 5.5 sec. I'm anxious to do a friendly stoplight race or three with him.

Thanks for the info,
MNM3/4

THE MEROVINGIAN

Stock numbers for the s4 are 5.5-5.7 0-60
With another 60 hp and another 100 lb-ft of torque 5.2 secs or less would probable.

S4iscool

I seriously believe that this car can do sub 5 sec runs.

Innovator

Yea, but for how long?

NASA racer

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/4061/allegro2.jpg">the thing is there are so many variables. It is generally MUCH harder to get a good launch on a car with so much traction and that much torque (upwards of 360ft lbs chipped....measured, dynoed and NOT BS)...it is easy to either bog or light up the clutch.

This is going to make a .5-1.0 second difference in 0-60 simply due to driver.

Now the chips on the M3s do NOT add any power. Despite what your tuner told you, we have a number of M3 owners and I have met and talked to Garret Lim at length and what you got was a slightly bumped redline...you didn't gain ANY power. Also...unless you ducted your "CAI" to the outside air, you're losing power drawing the hot air from the engine bay instead of the cold air from outside the car...yes you may have "baffled" it but unless that seal is air tight you are MORE than likely losing power.

I race in a series with ALOT of M3s...our closest competitor this year has an E36 that he stripped and drives in track events and he had that thing on the dyno and did THREE different exhaust settings and the best he did was MINUS 3 horsepower.

M3s are ALOT like Hondas...they have race-trained engineers milking as much power as is reasonably possible out of an N/A engine and you are NOT likely to see big if ANY increase in HP with the "usual" tweaks. As an example, we put a CAI on our RACING Civic just to measure it and we LOST measurable lap time over the stock airbox with a piece of heater hose ducted to outside the car.

Anyway, back to the S4...if he's a really good driver and he's using good gas he should be in the 5.0-5.5 0-60 range. You should be around 5.5-5.7 stock and you might pick up a fraction with the higher red-line if it saves you having to shift to 3rd (cant remember the gearing on the M3).

He won't see ANY improvement with the K&N and might as well save his money.<ul><li><a href="https://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng18.shtml">https://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng18.shtml</a</li></ul>

GRocky

Sorry. You'll get killed.

Innovator

I've killed many cars that had more overall power then I did. And I'm far from a *great* driver, but I do know how to extract every last drop out of a drive train if I need to.

I look for missed opportunities on the other driver’s part. And I always keep my windows open so I can hear what the other guy is up to.

AaronS4

Raced an M3 w/ Dinan badges, he had exhaust I don't know what else, I beat him every time, I'm stock

MNM3/4

Actually I'm glad to hear that my friend's S4 has such tuning potential. I feel pretty good that I was able to talk him out of the Passat and the BMW 330i because he's really happy so far with his purchase.

Anyway, I very much agree that BMW has extracted about every ounce of power out of the stock set-up. I have the Dinan Stage II software and Dinan CAI. While I don't think the software gave me any power bonus, it raised the rev. limiter, removed the top speed governor, and manages premium fuel and the CAI airflow a little better.

As far as my Dinan CAI, I do believe that added a bit of power. At least it feels like it did. The filter is located near the fog light/brake duct area and brings cold air to the engine via a carbon fiber tube. A metal plate seperates the two areas. Granted, the carbon fiber tube gets hot but overall I seem to feel a gain after about 3000 rpm. At the very least, I love the sound of it.

Thanks for the reply by the way. These discussions are part of what elevate our autos from cars to passions. If we all had the same car, things would be pretty boring.

Later,
MNM3/4

NASA racer

the air IS actually cold...especially if it's "ram air" (some forced air from the speed) then it SHOULD add some performance to a N/A car. As long as the tube doesnt get too hot (or quickly cools down when the car is in motion) it might add something.

The funny thing is in this forum is people assume that it's also true for a turbo but since there is NO evidence that the stock setup is restrictive AND the "boost" (cause after all, it's forced induction under HIGH pressure) can be met, there is NO benefit on a turbo car...and some of the setups I've seen are cone filters sitting out in what might be the hottest engine bay this side of an indy car...that will DEFINITELY not add power.

You guys will find that his car "feels" way faster but driver is going to have a large determination as to the outcome of any "race".