2004 BMW 320i M sport pack Help

[Markjcollins]

Hey all,

Today I bought the before mentioned car and I'm very satisfied. They are busy doing change of ownership, roadworthy etc at the moment so I should have the car before Friday.

So I'm quite interested in what the M sport pack actually provides and I haven't been able to find anything on google. I assume it's just cosmetic with the M symbol being everywhere you look, the sports seats, the body kit and lowered sport suspension. Are there any performance upgrades?

I've also been looking around to do some minor changes here and there to improve performance etc does anyone know of anything cheap and effective I could do?

I hear changing the intake valve (cone? not sure) and changing the intake filter will make sure the car give maximum KW output by increasing the pressure of air pumped into the cylinder and making it cooler and cleaner.

I'm also thinking about getting a medium window tint but I'm not too sure on the prices for that.

I also assume (from what I've heard) that changing the exhaust to a freeflow muffler will improve the sound of the car as well as the performance but once again I'm not 100% sure on my information or the cost of such a change.

Does anybody know how much theses specifics will cost and where to buy them or get them installed at a pretty low cost? My aim is to spend as little money as possible to get this done (the car's price raped the contents of my wallet as well the actual wallet itself but I'm sure I have a grand or 2 hiding in a bank account somewhere.)

Thanks a million,

Mark.

 

[Shake&Bake]

Hi there.

I've got the 320d with the same specs.
As far as I can tell, the M is cosmetic and my car is lowered a bit, but not sure if that's part of the package or if the previous owner dropped it himself.

adamr is quite clued up on these things and a few others here too, so you should get a more detailed response.

For more info, try the following link: http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/forums.php and drop a thread in there or ask the admin "freerider" (he also has a 320i e46) or anyone else on the forum really.

If you're in CT you'll find a thread in the regional forums for Western Cape about our meet at SMG Canal Walk tomorrow evening and would be sure to get more information.

I just recently joined the BMWFanatics forums and am really pleased to say that the chaps are quite helpful and informative.

But you'll surely find the same welcoming and informative feeling here from the responses I'm sure you'll get a bit later

 

[adamr]

sport tuned suspension
steering wheel is different
///M logo door sills
the aero kit
Mag wheels
sport seats
A different sportier gear knob
///M3 style boot spoiler

 

[Shake&Bake]

sport tuned suspension
steering wheel is different
///M logo door sills
the aero kit
Mag wheels
sport seats
A different sportier gear knob
///M3 style boot spoiler

Ja, that's what I said :shrugs: :erm:

 

[thedutchman]

i'm also interested to know what a free flow muffler does except for a few extra db's. And is it the same as to just take a grinder, cut the muffler out and weld an extra piece of pipe to it for the tale pipe ?

 

[UtterNutter]

Apart from the obvious cosmetic differences:

Lower, stiffer suspension;
Short-throw gear lever;
Rear diffuser;
Air cooling ducts for front disk brakes;
Sportier seat with better side support;
Wider rear tyres (and different aspect ratio) compared to the front i.e. different sized tyres front and back 225/45 17 for front, 245/40 17 for rear.

And yes, the car does handle better due to the above, but you have to absolutely MANHANDLE a standard E46 and then an M Sports package E46 to actually notice the difference.

 

[adamr]

free muffler can make a very small improvement in performance so does an air filter. IMO just do the air filter ... you might get improved performance but def will get better fuel economy (used a K&N air filter in my E46 M3 at the time, no improved performance but def better fuel economy)

 

[Markjcollins]

Oh one more thing, Im currently burning CD's for my car (only recieving it tomorrow from the AA for roadworthy stuff etc etc) but I'm not quite sure whether I should be burning regular CD's with a possible maximum of about 20 songs or MP3's CD's where as I could burn several hundreds of songs to one CD.

Does anyone know if a 2004 E46 supports mp3's?

 

[Fazda]

Erm....does it not matter that you might be screwing with the cat if you fiddle with the exhaust....or does that not matter once you own a BM?

 

[Markjcollins]

Well it's out of motorplan already and I really don't think I'm just going to somma grab a screwdriver and mangle my beautiful car. Ill get it put in professionally (I'm not from Boxburg lol)

 

[Chewy]

I have a 2004 318i and it comes with a 6 cd shuttle that plays only cds. My shuttle doesnt read cd-rw's, but normal copied discs work just fine. As for fiddling with the exhaust, I spoke to the ppl at powerflow and when u change it, your computer is going to kick out errors as there are cats in the pipe.

 

[Fazda]

I have a 2004 318i and it comes with a 6 cd shuttle that plays only cds. My shuttle doesnt read cd-rw's, but normal copied discs work just fine. As for fiddling with the exhaust, I spoke to the ppl at powerflow and when u change it, your computer is going to kick out errors as there are cats in the pipe.

I rest my case................

 

[Markjcollins]

Sigh so that means remapping the firmware right? Forget it then. Well I tested it out mp3's CD's don't work at all and it also doesn't like burnt CD's guess ill have to get an aux cable put in or something

 

[Shake&Bake]

That's a shame.
I got lucky & I can burn mp3's & listen to it in the car.
Thinking of doing a DIY AUX out jippo with my car.

 

[Chewy]

Sigh so that means remapping the firmware right? Forget it then. Well I tested it out mp3's CD's don't work at all and it also doesn't like burnt CD's guess ill have to get an aux cable put in or something

You can always put a piggyback chip on which means that the original ecu is not touched. As for the burnt cd's, did you use normal cd-r and not cd-rw? Mine wouldnt work with rw's but I have had no problem with cd-r's in the shuttle. The head unit however doesnt like the copied discs at all.