Finally Taken The Plunge

[Rsarin]

A few of you may know,i used to drive a supercharged IS200 which i keep alongside my M3,well last month i sold the charger and put the IS back to std,mostly cos id got used to the power and was looking for more which the IS just couldnt give me without mega bucks.I then decided to sell the IS,but soon realised it would not be financially worthwhile for me to let go of a 2002 luxury car with every possible convenience for under £7k,so i decided to keep it and leave it std.

I then decided to look into my options regarding more power.My thoughts went from chucking the M3 for a RS6/TVR/EVO,after looking and test driving all these cars i was still undecided and must say none of them apart from the audi were built very well,the evo just smelt of plastic and had an awful interior.The best and cheapest option that presented itself was a supercharger from ESS,simpsons motorsport in gloucester are fitting it.Anyway i put a deposit down and will be fitted and running in less than 2 weeks.The kit im going for is from ESS they are absolutely amazing and after having a go of a car that was pushing 510hp i realised that by adding the charger the car leaped into the supercar leauge.The kit im going for will first push 460hp 344lb-ft @ 5 psi and then i will be going for the 6 psi upgrade.The final power will be 510hp 380lb-ft @ 6 psi.This is the most reliable and user friendly kit ESS do,and i wont stretch beyond their advice,but there is a guy at simpsons going for 700hp+ on his CSL GTR which will be competing in some series i cant remember,anyway ill keep you posted with pics of the install and dyno graphs etc.this is the kit im getting from simpsons,btw check them out,they are an awesome tuner to use and they have tons of race experience.

http://www.simpsonmotorsport.co.uk/bmw-tun...&product=49

[Fargo]

nice one, gota admit, M3 or M5 would be my only choice of beemer if i had to, nice to see that your adding a s/c, might even be able to beat a few of us supra now eh..lol

[lee_iceman]

You don't do things by halves do you mate :)

This is going to be an awesome machine mate, can't wait for a passenger lap round the ring in it ;)

[Rsarin]

yes mate ive driven the 510hp M3 already and the power just comes from nowhere.The thing that scares me is that every gear change from 1-4 at 8000rpm,the wheels spin and the car side steps a little,there is so much power going through the rear wheels that apparently the only downside of the conversion is that tyres become a monthly consumable if all the power is unleashed on a daily basis.It will be done finished in two weeks mate,so you can give it a blast yourself before we hit the ring in it.

[Dave-Ellen]

wicked.................get some extra underpants ...............

[lee_iceman]

2 weeks, you don't hang around either :)

That would be sweet mate, I loved driving it in Germany in its standard form, just hope it doesn't change my mind from the 250 :)

[Rsarin]

Mate the 250 is current and classy,the M3 is old and ugly,its only advantage over the 250 is its power,but as far as the rest of the car is concerned it isnt as good as a 250,i especially love the auto box with the flappy paddles in the 250,its very refined.

[Dave-Ellen]

you need a is350..................compressor

[Rsarin]

hi dave, i do like those cars and ive seen some nice footage of a few in the states with some serious power,how is your import coming along,is it here yet?reason i am charging the car is cos its old now and im not worried about it going bang,however if i owned a warrantied 250/350 i wouldnt want to touch it with mods,just cos im a scaredy cat.

[sparkystav]

Can't wait to see this at the ring next year mate, sound fantastic.

Stav

[trooper00]

Dude! that thing will go like the proverbial poop off a shovel :)

[DJ Wozza]

Raj you are being power greedy mate

I think it will have enough horsepower now to get round the ring

with me in the passenger seat @ Easter (hint hint)

[Unregistered_User]

Hey there Raj,

Wow, really chuffed to read this - can't wait to see the final power output and your reaction to it!

All the best with it and will be keeping my eyes locked :)

Jamie

[Vyker]

*blinks*....

Wow!

[Rsarin]

thanks guys,im really looking forward to it,ill make sure to post pics etc soon.

[Dave-Ellen]

hi dave, i do like those cars and ive seen some nice footage of a few in the states with some serious power,how is your import coming along,is it here yet?reason i am charging the car is cos its old now and im not worried about it going bang,however if i owned a warrantied 250/350 i wouldnt want to touch it with mods,just cos im a scaredy cat.

nearly done................

the aluminium blocks mean conservative boost with the IS350...........will see how she goes when i get it here.........think 358 bhp will be OK for a start ......................

[Rsarin]

thats interesting Dave.When i was considering my options,one of my thoughts was to sell the IS200 and get a 300 instead.A friend in the states passed on this info to me regarding an is300 conversion,i thought it represented good value for money and a few persons ive spoken to online have this kit fitted and its supposedly awesome.I was wondering are there many options for the 350?

http://www.vortechsuperchargers.com/produc...&cat_key=15

[Gord]

WoW Raj, will be nice to see when done mate :D

[Anees]

WOW Raj! Sounds like its gonna be a monster! :D

You probably know this but Roy at CA Automotve has a M3 Supercharged to 525BHP and he also sells the kits etc

http://www.ca-at.co.uk/

He seems to specialise in this area and can be contacted on the Evotechnik forum (but you probably know that too........)

With all this power are you going to do anything to the suspension too?

[Rsarin]

hey Gord,welcome back,how was portugal mate?

Hi Anees, Thanks for that,yeah ive been in contact with Roy and a few of the nice chaps down at CA,and yes youre right they are pretty good and experienced in the S/C scene.They are selling the kits at the same price as Simpsons,the people im actually getting it from.The only reason im not using them is cos Anthony and Julian at Simpsons are friends of mine now and are closer to home for me.

The mods im going for are ESS VT460 charger @ 5PSI 460bhp /340lb-ft

ESS VT460 upgrade @ 6PSI 510bhp /360lb-ft

ESS SMG SOFTWARE(for quicker changes in S5/S6)

TURNER MS TOP MOUNTS(to run more camber up front)

TURNER MS LIMITING KIT

TUNRNER MS BRAKE COOL DUCTS

CSL REAR TRAILING ARM BUSHES

CSL WISHBONE BUSHES

PF DISCS ALL ROUND

PF PADS ALL ROUND

GOODRIDGE HOSES

AP 5.1 RACE FLUID

UUC LIGHT FLY/CLUTCH ASSEMBLY

thats about it for now,ill need some AP's or brembo's,but im not paying £2.5k,im on the look out for used ones,hopefully the car will handle well with the above mods,if not ill have to go for an intrax/moton kit,but that is next level and ill try my best to avoid going down that route,cos its just soooo expensive.

[Dave-Ellen]

hey Gord,welcome back,how was portugal mate?

Hi Anees, Thanks for that,yeah ive been in contact with Roy and a few of the nice chaps down at CA,and yes youre right they are pretty good and experienced in the S/C scene.They are selling the kits at the same price as Simpsons,the people im actually getting it from.The only reason im not using them is cos Anthony and Julian at Simpsons are friends of mine now and are closer to home for me.

The mods im going for are ESS VT460 charger @ 5PSI 460bhp /340lb-ft

ESS VT460 upgrade @ 6PSI 510bhp /360lb-ft

ESS SMG SOFTWARE(for quicker changes in S5/S6)

TURNER MS TOP MOUNTS(to run more camber up front)

TURNER MS LIMITING KIT

TUNRNER MS BRAKE COOL DUCTS

CSL REAR TRAILING ARM BUSHES

CSL WISHBONE BUSHES

PF DISCS ALL ROUND

PF PADS ALL ROUND

GOODRIDGE HOSES

AP 5.1 RACE FLUID

UUC LIGHT FLY/CLUTCH ASSEMBLY

thats about it for now,ill need some AP's or brembo's,but im not paying £2.5k,im on the look out for used ones,hopefully the car will handle well with the above mods,if not ill have to go for an intrax/moton kit,but that is next level and ill try my best to avoid going down that route,cos its just soooo expensive.

Sounds good Raj.

Words of caution .........I had an enquiry from a chap with a 3.2m BMW coupe for a rotrex s/c. After a few emails his decided not to as his BMW specialist said he'd need lower comp pistons and uprated rods as the motor was on the edge.

This COULD have been the garage trying to steer him away from my £7k conversion no their N/A route (inlet/exhaust manifold etc) not sure of the veracity of the info from the other workshop but you may want to double check the risks if any.

[Anees]

Thats quite a list ;)

Wouldn't you be better going for the Powerflex bushes rather then CSL bushes?

Will the standard M3 dampers be to to handling so much power? Blistein coilovers would be great but cost ££££, the Tein Superstreet with EDFC might be worth a look too :)

Raj, you and I have a lot in common now............you are soon to have a SUPERCAR Firebreathing M3 with 5 millons horses

................

..........

.....

I have an M3 rear view mirror :P

[Rsarin]

Hi Dave thanks for the headz up.Ive done a fair bit of research on this conversion to determine who is the best to go to.I spoke to many people including VF engineering,ESS,AA and they all have created great working kits which are renowned world wide.I also managed to speak to one of the engineers at VF and he actually put me in touch with a rival ESS,saying that they probably could help me more,as they are now creating kits starting at 600hp only and they are phasing out their lower power units.This is a vid of the head of VF engineering,explaining a little bit about supercharging an M3 in general,he is a very smart guy,and he told me he has worked closely with ESS,as they are both using the same components to create their respective kits,they both use the Vortech VS2Q supercharger and the same injectors.With regard lower comp pistons(9:5:1),cams etc,they arent required unless you are going for the 700bhp kit,in which case you also need 9000rpm valve springs and an engine bearing kit,total cost £10k.Even if i aim for the 550bhp kit @7psi,its still std internals.

check out the VF video

@anees. :lol:

yeah the M3 dampers wont be happy,but my wallet just cant cope at the moment with too much expense,so i decided to leave that till i can afford it.Ive spoken to a few yanks and they all have ESS superchargers,alot are still on std suspension and havent had problems,though it really does need sorting.As far as the bushes are concerned i may actually go for these as they seem alot better,but ill have to work out which are easier to live with day to day as ive heard some make alot of noise and yes i know alot of e46 owners that use the powerflex,infact i had the same suggestion by someone on bm3w today.

http://www.simpsonmotorsport.co.uk/bmw-tun...&product=24

[Dave-Ellen]

Hi Dave thanks for the headz up.Ive done a fair bit of research on this conversion to determine who is the best to go to.I spoke to many people including VF engineering,ESS,AA and they all have created great working kits which are renowned world wide.I also managed to speak to one of the engineers at VF and he actually put me in touch with a rival ESS,saying that they probably could help me more,as they are now creating kits starting at 600hp only and they are phasing out their lower power units.This is a vid of the head of VF engineering,explaining a little bit about supercharging an M3 in general,he is a very smart guy,and he told me he has worked closely with ESS,as they are both using the same components to create their respective kits,they both use the Vortech VS2Q supercharger and the same injectors.With regard lower comp pistons(9:5:1),cams etc,they arent required unless you are going for the 700bhp kit,in which case you also need 9000rpm valve springs and an engine bearing kit,total cost £10k.Even if i aim for the 550bhp kit @7psi,its still std internals.

check out the VF video

Sounds all good. Maybe the latest generation M3 engine is better than the old one. Reason I say that is the silver M3 I took to the ring in 2006 has had the M3 lump removed and a Supra 2Jz-GTE put in as he can get big numbers more reliably from the Toyota lump.

I'm only passing on what I've been told BTW and am sure it will be a well hard machine !!

[Anees]

@anees. :lol:

yeah the M3 dampers wont be happy,but my wallet just cant cope at the moment with too much expense,so i decided to leave that till i can afford it.Ive spoken to a few yanks and they all have ESS superchargers,alot are still on std suspension and havent had problems,though it really does need sorting.As far as the bushes are concerned i may actually go for these as they seem alot better,but ill have to work out which are easier to live with day to day as ive heard some make alot of noise and yes i know alot of e46 owners that use the powerflex,infact i had the same suggestion by someone on bm3w today.

http://www.simpsonmotorsport.co.uk/bmw-tun...&product=24

£220 :o for a bush? Er...Powerflex are much cheaper and I myself have both the Rear Trailing Arm bushes and the Front Rear wishbone bushes. I , like you was concerned about noise and squeeks but so far I can honestly say I have not noticed any increase in noise. The whole set cost me £70 from CA Automotive. When the bushes were being installed we used LOTS AND LOTS of copper grease and greased any contract point which maybe why I have no squeeks so far. If your not happy with the Powerflex then you could try that mega expensive one you linked too.

Just take it easy until you uprate the suspension ;)