1 year ago I bought EAS's "E46 M3 stage 1 intake charge kit", the kit arrived and installation was easy. The macht schnell filter was of the oiled type and fit OK but not as good as the OEM. Still I was sure I was doing an improvement to my cars intake efficiency :tsk:
Slowly over time my car lost power under 3k rpms, had very rough startup on a cold engine (sitting overnight), and throttle response/accuracy was dulled. I didn't notice this since it developed slowly over time, still I was sure my intake was less restrictive so it "must be better" for the car.
Fast forward to last week, after reading so much about problems with oil based intake air filters causing startup issues I decided to swap my OEM air filter back in.
First impressions were holy crap!:yikes: The car starts up effortlessly and has a nice smooth idle. No "bucking" of the rpm's up/down as it fights to maintain a smooth idle! It never ran so smooth, I was convinced. Now after driving the car for a week I have noticed other improvements too. Firstly the accuracy of the throttle has improved greatly. Shifting between gears is now effortless to produce a nice smooth shift. Before I had to put much more effort into a smooth shift :thumbsup:. Even more, power under 3k rpm's has improved greatly, before it felt "dead" it kinda just sat there till it got to 3k rpm's now it hauls ass! I've also done several runs to redline (which I did on a regular basis with the macht schnell) to see if the top end has lost its oomph and it feels just as great as before.
FYI I'm still running the EAS intake boot from their kit but am now considering reverting that back to stock too!
When I bought the EAS stage 1 kit I thought I was improving my cars intake, in the end it made it much worse in several areas. I purposely didn't buy a whole new aftermarket intake (AFE, K&N, etc) after hearing how they all LOSE power, hence the decision to mod the stock box with EAS's kit. In the end I believe the stock airbox is the best setup for the E46 M3. :thumbsup:
Slowly over time my car lost power under 3k rpms, had very rough startup on a cold engine (sitting overnight), and throttle response/accuracy was dulled. I didn't notice this since it developed slowly over time, still I was sure my intake was less restrictive so it "must be better" for the car.
Fast forward to last week, after reading so much about problems with oil based intake air filters causing startup issues I decided to swap my OEM air filter back in.
First impressions were holy crap!:yikes: The car starts up effortlessly and has a nice smooth idle. No "bucking" of the rpm's up/down as it fights to maintain a smooth idle! It never ran so smooth, I was convinced. Now after driving the car for a week I have noticed other improvements too. Firstly the accuracy of the throttle has improved greatly. Shifting between gears is now effortless to produce a nice smooth shift. Before I had to put much more effort into a smooth shift :thumbsup:. Even more, power under 3k rpm's has improved greatly, before it felt "dead" it kinda just sat there till it got to 3k rpm's now it hauls ass! I've also done several runs to redline (which I did on a regular basis with the macht schnell) to see if the top end has lost its oomph and it feels just as great as before.
FYI I'm still running the EAS intake boot from their kit but am now considering reverting that back to stock too!
When I bought the EAS stage 1 kit I thought I was improving my cars intake, in the end it made it much worse in several areas. I purposely didn't buy a whole new aftermarket intake (AFE, K&N, etc) after hearing how they all LOSE power, hence the decision to mod the stock box with EAS's kit. In the end I believe the stock airbox is the best setup for the E46 M3. :thumbsup:
