[rick100]

I decided to create a new fresh thread about all the mods I ve done to my car the past 2-3 weeks. Some of you probably already read my other thread. I have been driving these mods for close to a week ( except charcoal and k & n filter)

I did not do everything at the sametime so I ll divided in two sections I guess

1) AA headers , AA offroad tune , 3 stage intake -
Pros|
Power- Biggest difference , the car pulls harder all across the rpm range. After 4500 K the car just screams and it pulls harder . It is not a mustang gt type of pull though , but you def feel it

2) Sound- I have been driving it for a week and put over 250 miles , it is quieter than what I expected , it sounds louder sure but it 's not day and night difference . I tried it with windows down and up .

3 ) price- As stated before everything including labor came down to 1800 us dollars , not bad for the amount of gain I felt . Definitely worth it if you find your 328 to be boring

Cons
1) I ll be honest , the throttle response is a bit off , even after putting over 200 miles the car felt like it was lacking something. I m not even talking about acceleration because it is there. It just felt like I was missing something . Smoothness may be the right word. I m very picky though

Now the the remaining mods . I went to my mechanic to do the euro intake mod , well somewhat , we basically deleted the charcoal filter and added a K & N drop in filter

This was probably the mod that I was very hesitant to do , it seems like a lot of people like the k & n filters and a lot of them hate it. I read tons of information on both side of the stories. I spend too much time trying to decide ( plus my wife was on ass about doing more stuff to this car)
Finally I decided to man up and pull the trigger, I mean I ve gone this far may as well go one step further

Pros
1) Throttle response improvement , as soon as I left the shop and put my gas to the pedal I can feel the throttle response , I had the biggest smile in my face as this is what I was missing ! . I really did not care about gaining HP ( maybe I did , who knows) but I care about improving the throttle response as I felt the car did not feel quite ride. Now the car feels right !
2) Power improvement: Its hard to tell , the feels faster as the throttle response improved tremendously . My mechanic said he measured 4 whp gained on another 328 he did before.
3) sound - The car sounds mean now , angry , which is good. I can feel the intake kicking in at around 3000 rpm for a little bit , then again at 5000 rpm.
It sounds like a sports car. Now here is the part I have to get used to , at around 140 kph ( 85 mph) on the highway the car revs at 3000 rpm which is where the intake starts to sound mean , so if I m cruising in the highway the car sounds louder. Its not too loud but I have to get used to it .
4) Price - 100 $ parts and labor , best mod for the money

I'm done with mods for now , the car is where I picture it will be .

I also did some cosmetics mod , which I will be posting end of next week , once the car has been detailed and everything installed

[W37V]

Originally Posted by rick100

Cons
1) I ll be honest , the throttle response is a bit off , even after putting over 200 miles the car felt like it was lacking something. I m not even talking about acceleration because it is there. It just felt like I was missing something . Smoothness may be the right word.

It's going to the more than just 200 miles for everything to smooth out.

Hesitation will eventually go away. Mine took almost 1000 miles to completely sort itself out.

[Mike.]

I'm surprised you felt that much of a difference with the k&n filter

[Eagle1oh7]

Get an exhaust to finish it off!

[rick100]

Originally Posted by Mike.

I'm surprised you felt that much of a difference with the k&n filter

big difference in throttle response. With the headers and 3 stage intake the power was there but it felt choppy , its not as smooth as I would've expected. I drove the car over 200 miles and although it got better , it was not really right.

It was fun if I pressed the gas hard or even half hard , but for normal driving it felt a bit choppy. It is hard to explain

But with the K & N filter and charcoal delete the power delivery is very smooth , very linear , throttle response is there.

Im not even talking about power increase or anything like that, maybe there was a power increase but that could also be related to the sound improvement ( placebo effect). My tuner said he was able to measre 4 whp increase on another car with same set up . So even if there was a small increase I don't think I can feel it.

Someone has to drive it before and after to feel the difference , Im glad I did .

[rick100]

Originally Posted by Eagle1oh7

Get an exhaust to finish it off!

it is on the loud side for me right now , specially because I was used to it being very quiet. If I was younger I would do it , right now I m on the fence

[rick100]

Originally Posted by W37V

It's going to the more than just 200 miles for everything to smooth out.

Hesitation will eventually go away. Mine took almost 1000 miles to completely sort itself out.

No hesitation for me , maybe 100 rpm drop twice after the k&n filter, adaptations were reset so that helped

[Volasko]

Rick100 any chance I could come check out your setup in person? If you go to RMP you can't be too far from me. PM's don't work so let me know through here or shoot me an email adamvolasko at hotmail.com

[raleighBahn]

It's probably the combination of making it breathe easier on both sides. You can put the 3IM and headers in, but that that charcoal filter is a bottleneck. I haven't seen that much rug since Miss April 1977.

[Eagle1oh7]

Originally Posted by rick100

it is on the loud side for me right now , specially because I was used to it being very quiet. If I was younger I would do it , right now I m on the fence

From everybody that runs headers with an exhaust, it's pretty loud when delete secondary cats without running a resonator. As long as there's a resonator it should keep the sound down to a reasonable level.

[rick100]

just came back from 1000 mile trip. Car was good , I m guessing the headers , intake , tune are fully adapt now , the car pulls hard

I have one small concern though , sometimes when I pull in my driveway or some parking spots and open the door I can smell the exhaust a little bit , like a burn type of smell, not too strong but enough for me to noticed

I had the car parked and my wife reving it and I dont smell anything hardcore coming from the exhaust. No smell in the cabin with windows open or closed and me cruising down pushing the car. I had my wife drive behind me and she does not smell anything. I was also driving my wife's suv while my wife drove the bmw in front of me , I was only able to smell the exhaust a little bit when she redline the car, which I m guessing it is normal ( not sure?)

I also tried to see if the smell ( when I pulled in my driveway) was coming from under the hood or car and nothing

I m debating whether I have an exhaust leak , or the wind is just blowing towards the front of the car when I pulled in , or it is just normal .

Maybe the guys with headers can chime in and tell me if their headers smell a little bit when the pull into a parking spot and open the door. It is not a fuel smell , its like a dirty exhaust type of smell

[Mike.]

Originally Posted by rick100

just came back from 1000 mile trip. Car was good , I m guessing the headers , intake , tune are fully adapt now , the car pulls hard

I have one small concern though , sometimes when I pull in my driveway or some parking spots and open the door I can smell the exhaust a little bit , like a burn type of smell, not too strong but enough for me to noticed

I had the car parked and my wife reving it and I dont smell anything hardcore coming from the exhaust. No smell in the cabin with windows open or closed and me cruising down pushing the car. I had my wife drive behind me and she does not smell anything. I was also driving my wife's suv while my wife drove the bmw in front of me , I was only able to smell the exhaust a little bit when she redline the car, which I m guessing it is normal ( not sure?)

I also tried to see if the smell ( when I pulled in my driveway) was coming from under the hood or car and nothing

I m debating whether I have an exhaust leak , or the wind is just blowing towards the front of the car when I pulled in , or it is just normal .

Maybe the guys with headers can chime in and tell me if their headers smell a little bit when the pull into a parking spot and open the door. It is not a fuel smell , its like a dirty exhaust type of smell

this happened to me yesterday. Its pretty normal to smell some type of gas smell sometimes--especially idling with the door open.

[W37V]

Dude it's normal. You removed catalytic converters. If you are ever in presence of an older American muscle car, you can smell them for miles almost. Your car is not polluting like them, but it's no longer among the cleanest one out there.

Enjoy your car and don't worry too much. Some smell is fine as long as it's not in the cabin.

If you don't want any smell, put you old headers back on or get afe catted headers.

[rick100]

I don't mine the smell too much , as long as it is normal.

I figured it was going to be a bit more smelly as the primary were deleted, I m also guessing the secondary cats are keeping it from smelling worse.

I worry too much about stuff like this sometimes , making sure it is normal

The car is a much more fun now. I m finding hard to shift above 3000-4000 rpm as the car gets up in speed pretty quick. I may be exaggerating a little bit here but reving the car to 3500-4000 rpm is like red lining the car before all these mods were added. At least it feels like that to me. Once the disa valves open the car just screams.

Never noticed how nice it sounded until yesterday that I was driving behind my car ( wife was driving it).

Only thing I wish was better was the automatic transmission , I feel a tune dedicated to the transmission would be ideal to improve the performance , specially after adding headers, intake ... It's ok for now , but a tranny flash would make it that much better