[j.f.leonard]

Hey, I'm new to the forum and really, I'm new to BMWs as well. I used to build trucks instead. Anyway, I have a 2006 325i and I put the Magnaflow 12148 muffler on it. It turns out it sounds nice, but is not as loud as I'd like it. I'm in NC so I cant do a muffler delete (illegal), and I'm 17 so I cant pay for the $1,000 PE. I've seen resonator deletes replaced with X pipe, secondary cat deletes or catless midpipes, and catless downpipes. Which would be the best option to take the sound from the magnaflow muffler and basically amplify it? I have done plenty of research but I just can't find exactly what I'm looking for. I'm open to other options as well. I'm also a fan of the pops and crackles on deceleration. Thanks in advance!

(Attached is a pic of my car)

[atmosphericM]

Hey man, welcome to the forum.

First of all, I really suggest you try searching. Search from within this subforum (N/A engines) near the top-right of the screen for more specific results. This topic has been covered a ton here lately. Or just scroll through a few pages of threads and you'll see what I mean.

To quickly advise, do what is referred to as a "secondary cat delete." You can either have a muffler shop just cut them out and weld in pipes, or you can buy fancy pipes then cut your exhaust in two spots and install them yourself. Choice is up to you. It's the mod you want. Trust me.

aFe and SuperSprint make the aftermarket pipes. But a muffler shop will be easier and cheaper.

[j.f.leonard]

atmosphericM, thanks for the response. I actually went this morning and got my secondaries taken out and I do think its what I wanted as it makes my car a little louder as a whole and gives it a deeper idle tone. Eventually I may do high flow catted down pipes since the secondary cats didn't add any pops/ gurgles but over all I'm happy with it.

[rjahl]

You joined the E90 group at a very good time. If you pay attention, you can reap the rewords from several generous people who have shared their efforts to the community.

There are several very low cost modifications you can do to really improve your cars performance.

In the order of cost, cheapest to most expensive;

3 stage intake manifold swap and free 330 tunes made available by BimmerLabs. More HP, torque and meaner intake sounds. Essentially turns you motor into a 330. 255HP at the crank vs your current 215.

If you have ZF automatic, upgrade to the 330 tune. It's free and manages the extra torque from the 3 stage manifold better. BimmerLabs also has a tune that activates you active gear display in D and sport.

MILVs add intake valve lift but require a custom tune to work correctly.

Headers and tune, if you don't worry about vehicle inspections.



Can't arrange these by cost;

Lesser gains can be found with a noisy exhaust, plenty of threads and opinions available on this topic.

Intakes/filters and such, same deal plenty of opinions.

Swapping rear differentials, we have a long post covering this topic. Automatics have taller gears in the diff. Some love it.

Dig through the forums and have fun

[j.f.leonard]

rjahl, thanks for the welcoming. I'll have to look into the tune, it sounds like a good mod. Ive been looking at a couple intakes and i know they give a few HP but do they change the sound of your car? Ive heard people say after installing an intake their car has a different tone but i cant justify why that is.

[Noir]

Originally Posted by j.f.leonard

rjahl, thanks for the welcoming. I'll have to look into the tune, it sounds like a good mod. Ive been looking at a couple intakes and i know they give a few HP but do they change the sound of your car? Ive heard people say after installing an intake their car has a different tone but i cant justify why that is.

In my adventures, I got the euro intake (ease of access to the air filter.) and an afe dry filter + Rev Motoring Silicone Hose/Elbow that replaced the hard/rigid plastic tubing that links the airbox to the throttle body. Definitely had a change in sound (you just hear the air pouring in, so to speak)! Different strokes for different folks. Theres a few threads about particular intakes.


Anyways, welcome!
As stated above, great timing!

[j.f.leonard]

Noir, Im not sure how to quote through the mobile app yet so bare with me. Anyway, I've heard of the euro intake and I've heard all good things except that they have a high price tag. So, I've been looking at cheaper ones like an AFE or Injen thats less than $450 or so. But, I have also seen people do a charcoal filter delete or a K&N drop in filter (supposed to increase flow by 60%) so before I do anything, I'll be sure to use the search bar first this time! I'm also interested in the air scoops from ECS Tuning so if any of you have experience with those, I'm all ears!

Thanks again for all of the greetings/ welcomings!

[Noir]

Originally Posted by j.f.leonard

Noir, Im not sure how to quote through the mobile app yet so bare with me. Anyway, I've heard of the euro intake and I've heard all good things except that they have a high price tag. So, I've been looking at cheaper ones like an AFE or Injen thats less than $450 or so. But, I have also seen people do a charcoal filter delete or a K&N drop in filter (supposed to increase flow by 60%) so before I do anything, I'll be sure to use the search bar first this time! I'm also interested in the air scoops from ECS Tuning so if any of you have experience with those, I'm all ears!

Thanks again for all of the greetings/ welcomings!

Yeah I definitely hear you on the price tag
Man. you're a week too late, I let all the stuff I said up there, go for less than that. Would've loved to have helped you. Them air scoops definitely get air in there... but not hyped up to what they try to be. Aesthetically pleasing, sure. But even so, wouldnt spend the coin, in my opinion... Theres a thread somewhere in here that goes a bit more into detail.

[j.f.leonard]

Alright cool. Well I'll see what I can come up with and if I need anymore help I'll make a different topic. Thanks guys

[atmosphericM]

If you drive hard you will get more of the cracks and pops. I suppose it's also possible that the OE center muffler (often referred to as a resonator) subdues the pops a bunch - but I'd be surprised if that's the case. I have stock headers (with cats), stock secondary cats, and a PE muffler/mid-pipe, and I get a fair bit of pops and cracks. The only real difference is that the PE deletes the center muffler. Who knows?

Also, if you're on a tight budget, you can't beat simply deleting the charcoal filter and replacing the stock hose with a silicone one. For the $60 you'll get around 10 hp. If you do want to go with another intake box, the most proven ones are both expensive (euro or aFe Stage 2 SEALED), unless you can find them used. I paid very little for my euro intake. Personally, I'd skip the scoops. In my eyes, their only redeeming trait is that they look kinda cool. To each his own, though.

[rjahl]

Originally Posted by j.f.leonard

rjahl, thanks for the welcoming. I'll have to look into the tune, it sounds like a good mod. Ive been looking at a couple intakes and i know they give a few HP but do they change the sound of your car? Ive heard people say after installing an intake their car has a different tone but i cant justify why that is.

Just to clear, there are two topics here. One being the BMW three stage intake manifold fitted to several versions of the N52. The other are just filter boxes and hose runs to the manifold.

By far, the best performance impact you can make on your 325 is the three stage manifold swap and Tune. You can easily research the manifold, there must by 1,000,000 posts about them. The tune Bummerlabs provides simply let's your car use the manifold correctly via a BMW tune. No jacked up timing or fuel mixtures. It's a real 330 tune from BMW modified to run in you 325.

If you want to take thing further, the three stage manifold will only enhance the other mods.

Enjoy the journey.

[F30NFifty5]

Originally Posted by rjahl

Just to clear, there are two topics here. One being the BMW three stage intake manifold fitted to several versions of the N52. The other are just filter boxes and hose runs to the manifold.

By far, the best performance impact you can make on your 325 is the three stage manifold swap and Tune. You can easily research the manifold, there must by 1,000,000 posts about them. The tune Bummerlabs provides simply let's your car use the manifold correctly via a BMW tune. No jacked up timing or fuel mixtures. It's a real 330 tune from BMW modified to run in you 325.

If you want to take thing further, the three stage manifold will only enhance the other mods.

Enjoy the journey.

Sorry to revive an older thread but my f30 n55 has been at BMW for 2 months waiting on some parts. So in the meantime ive been driving my e90 n52 which we all know makes no real power. as I've been doing my research to somehow improve performance on my n52 I saw your last comment. just to be clear, you think Id see more gains with the 3 stage intake and tune rather than lets say Roundelwork headers? not trying to make it a race car; and although i love the e90, its just so boring to drive this automatic 3.0

[rjahl]

Originally Posted by F30NFifty5

Sorry to revive an older thread but my f30 n55 has been at BMW for 2 months waiting on some parts. So in the meantime ive been driving my e90 n52 which we all know makes no real power. as I've been doing my research to somehow improve performance on my n52 I saw your last comment. just to be clear, you think Id see more gains with the 3 stage intake and tune rather than lets say Roundelwork headers? not trying to make it a race car; and although i love the e90, its just so boring to drive this automatic 3.0

Actually I did not even consider the headers. They might make more power than the 3IM upgrade, don't think a have seen a dyno to prove one way or the other.

I can say that value wise, the 3IM can't be beat. Maybe $300 for a used manifold , 3 hours of your time, A free tune from Bimmerlabs should be worth 40HP at the crank for a 325. Best yet, it will not set off any alarms at the smog station.

If you really want to kick it up with your Auto, pretty sure you have a ZF, I can swing something by Hass and set you up with something I've written to spice those up. I good tranny tune makes a huge difference to the fun factor. Those slow and sloppy 2-3 shifts made me puke.

[hassmaschine]

Headers *might* make more power (by themselves, I doubt that), but the 3 stage is a far easier installation, uses all OEM parts, causes no errors and will pass emissions in 50 states.

Seems like a no brainier to me. Of course, the combination of headers and the manifold will make even more power, but personally I never thought it was worth the trouble - and I can bend the N52 DME to my will as I please.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

Headers *might* make more power (by themselves, I doubt that), but the 3 stage is a far easier installation, uses all OEM parts, causes no errors and will pass emissions in 50 states.

Seems like a no brainier to me. Of course, the combination of headers and the manifold will make even more power, but personally I never thought it was worth the trouble - and I can bend the N52 DME to my will as I please.

Agreed, the 3 stage manifold + tune is the best bang for the buck.


hass I have the N51, so I already have the 3 stage. Which tune would be best? From research it seems the only one I can find is the AA tune. Car is stock besides a Euro intake box and eventually a Magnaflow muffler.

[F30NFifty5]

Originally Posted by j.f.leonard

atmosphericM, thanks for the response. I actually went this morning and got my secondaries taken out and I do think its what I wanted as it makes my car a little louder as a whole and gives it a deeper idle tone. Eventually I may do high flow catted down pipes since the secondary cats didn't add any pops/ gurgles but over all I'm happy with it.

Did you notice any power gains up top with the secondary cat deletes?
or any power loss in low end power ? Removing my secondaries on Friday

[j.f.leonard]

Originally Posted by F30NFifty5

Did you notice any power gains up top with the secondary cat deletes?
or any power loss in low end power ? Removing my secondaries on Friday

Hi I just noticed this forum had been active again so Im a little late but I love my secondary delete. I definitely think it opens up the top end a good bit.

[gT-BMW]

Originally Posted by F30NFifty5

Sorry to revive an older thread but my f30 n55 has been at BMW for 2 months waiting on some parts. So in the meantime ive been driving my e90 n52 which we all know makes no real power. as I've been doing my research to somehow improve performance on my n52 I saw your last comment. just to be clear, you think Id see more gains with the 3 stage intake and tune rather than lets say Roundelwork headers? not trying to make it a race car; and although i love the e90, its just so boring to drive this automatic 3.0

i also recommend 3im swap with BL tune over the headers. I did AA headers swap first and it did increase hp but it was mostly top end. quickly got used to that small boost in power couldnt feel it anymore. the 3im swap with bl made a big difference in low end mid range power im quite happy with it. but now i have a disa valve failure and its sooooo expensive to replace more than what i pay for the manifold

[F30NFifty5]

Originally Posted by gT-BMW

i also recommend 3im swap with BL tune over the headers. I did AA headers swap first and it did increase hp but it was mostly top end. quickly got used to that small boost in power couldnt feel it anymore. the 3im swap with bl made a big difference in low end mid range power im quite happy with it. but now i have a disa valve failure and its sooooo expensive to replace more than what i pay for the manifold

how do you know that one failed? code popped up? and if so what program are you using to read codes?

[vbgagnon]

Originally Posted by rjahl

If you really want to kick it up with your Auto, pretty sure you have a ZF, I can swing something by Hass and set you up with something I've written to spice those up. I good tranny tune makes a huge difference to the fun factor. Those slow and sloppy 2-3 shifts made me puke.

Is this a possibility? The auto trans shifts so slow!

[rjahl]

Originally Posted by vbgagnon

Is this a possibility? The auto trans shifts so slow!

Ya, ZF is easy to fix.

Only hick-up I have is the kombi in some of the older cars does not like to display the active gear in D or Sport mode. That's a simple switch in the Tune, either you can turn it in or you can't.

The only remedy is to swap the Kombi with a newer unit.

[vbgagnon]

Originally Posted by rjahl

Ya, ZF is easy to fix.

Only hick-up I have is the kombi in some of the older cars does not like to display the active gear in D or Sport mode. That's a simple switch in the Tune, either you can turn it in or you can't.

The only remedy is to swap the Kombi with a newer unit.

I am new to this tuning stuff… I’ve always had old POS cars! So forgive the stupid questions. I can live without seeing what gear I’m in in sport mode! How would I go about getting this tune into my car?