I just bought a pair of Evosport longtube, catless headers.
My question is about the tune. Do I need to have a full on tune or is there something that can be done to fool the car into thinking there are cats on the car?
I'm new to this so any help is appreciated.
There are a few reputable shops in the area that I was going to call as well, but I wanted to know what I was getting into before I started calling them.
Also, if anyone knows how many hours labor is typically involved with headers swap, that would be great.
These are the shops local to me that I'll be contacting:
Wouldnt it be best just to get a custom tune? At that point cant he just go to any shop that tunes beemers? Or is it more complicated than that? I need a tune aswell but evolve and all that charge a grip and it aint even custom!
I need to know
I know what companies are out there and I've done my share of trying read most of the posts out there. Evolve seems to be the favorite among the Board, but do I need a tune for this application are can something be done so I don't get a CEL?
I'm not out to win races or have the fastest M5 on the road. I really bought the headers for the sound. Watching YouTube videos is a dangerous sport. LOL. I bought my M5 because of YouTube.
Our Stage II software will take care of the dreaded CEL for exhaust changes. Our tune will also maximize performance without making changes to the factory safeguards set in place by BMW. You will definitely enjoy the Stage II software improvements over the stock software. Our software also includes features like cold-start delete, cold-start rev limit protection, and more!
Your gonna get full use of the power of the headers with a tune, more power then just bolting the headers on.. You wont get the CEL and the car will run correctly, and wont be fooled.
I was just weighing my options. Evolve is on the top of my list. I k now there's already a bump in HP with the headers alone, but I'm sure it's better all around to have the tune in addition to the headers.
One thing that surprised me with my tube (stage 2 evolve alphaN) was how much better it drove. The change in power delivery made it a much better car overall. My initial thought was "why didn't it come this way from the factory?"
To the other question on custom tune... Absolutely an option. And plenty of shops work on Bimmers (and probably Beamers too) but I personally wanted a shop that had hands on and tested experience with the s85. If you find that locally it may be worth a shot. I would be weary of someone that just tunes in general without a deeper understanding of our engine and its management system.
I don't have cat-less headers but that looks like it will be my next mod. I HIGHLY recommend Bren Tuning. I just gained 54.1hp over my baseline numbers with his tune only.
Ok. I decided to go with the Evolve tune. The car will be dropped off this coming Monday at Auto Couture in NJ. It's going to be a long weekend. I can't wait. I'll keep everyone posted and try and post up sound clips.
Damn your gonna have back a whole different beast, alpha n, with the evolve tune for the catless headers.. The throttle response, engine response and power is gonna be a big gain.
We should def meet up after you get her back, ill keep in contact
Do you notice any difference in the way it drives/behaves in the cold or hot weather or does it run consistently in whichever temperature range?
To be honest, I didn't really understand what the difference between a regular tune and AN until Mark fromEvolve explained it to me. I figured I'd go all the way instead of getting a regular tune from them and not being happy. ALpha N is the top of the heap as of right now. It doesn't get better than this unless I go FI.
I always liked Evosport's headers. They pack power and as well as sound. The only downside is the sound change they come with. Evosport headers make the high rev v10 sound like a 7-liter v8. For that particular reason, most people go with straight piping the oem headers or get tubular headers from Sprint or Evolve.
But anyways, good choice on the tune. Other companies are BPM and EuroCharged which I've read a lot about.
Some changes have been made since my last post. I found out that the used Evosport headers had a leak. So with my car being stuck on the lift in the shop, we got in touch with Ryan at RMS and I'm currently awaiting a set of the V band catless headers form him. I'm very thankful for Ryan stepping up with very short notice.
So instead of long tubed I'll just have the de-catted RMS headers along with the Evolve AlphaN tune. I'm not disappointed in this setup at all, just disappointed because I bought a set of damaged headers from a fellow board member who advertised them as the opposite of what I have. But that's something to be discussed between me and the seller.
I'll update as soon as I have more info on the car.
It's mainly a timing issue. I would have to find someone to repair them and then have the shop reinstall them. Also I'd have to see if indeed they are repairable.
If they are repairable, I'll probably have them fixed and try to sell them. As of right now I'm out a considerable amount of money just by buying them and all the labor I have to pay with the shop who installed, then un-installed and now installing the new set.
I'm waiting on my rms headers from Ryan too. He recommended eurocharged to me with his headers so that's what I went with. Don't know how it runs as my m5 has no headers. Just waiting on my rms headers to install to try out the whole package. Your tune should be just fine tho , it has a lot of good reviews.
@Dimm6 & @ 5soko; I'm in North Bergen NJ not too far from GWB. My Beast will be going under the knife for rod bearings and as part of the "while we're in there" syndrome; I'm probably gonna do headers and an Evolve tune. Would love to trade notes on your set ups.
What would you like to know sir :grin
You can go normal evolve 93 octane header tune, once you want a lil something extra, you can go alpha N, get rid of the MAF's and get some extra response and connection to the motor via the pedal.
Cold start delete (i love mine tho), Raising the rpm limiter (im not a fan), removing the top speed limiter (big fan lol) are some of the adjustment to suit your needs you can make to the tune.
I'm using Evolve stage 3 tune for long-tube headers, works great, no warning signs and the idle rpm is still low. Getting my Alpha-N tune next week just for the drive by wire feel.
Thanks for the offer ricKg, I'm getting the tune at a good discount on account of spending a fair chunk on the headers at tune, so I won't really be much out of pocket if I don't like it. Imran is also going to optimise the tune for 98ron as I was running 95ron at the time of the upgrade.
I'm based in Watford, currently in Snowdonia for a short break. Where in London are you?
I'm in Hainault (Essex) about 40 mins from Watford. The car is currently have new injectors, under drive pullies and various other bits being done. I should have it back next week
Im not expecting the pulley to have a major affect on things so i will let you know once its back. The injectors are standard bosch injectors, the car has done 86k so i thought i may aswel change them all out
So what's really the advatage between Evolve standard tune and the Alpha-N. Yes I get that the Alpha-N deletes the MAF's...but what all does that mean? You get a plug for both MAF's and it essentially tuns them off? What is the performance gain in doing this? It looks to be double the price to just have the MAF's turned off. Also does the Alpha-N make passing emissions an issue?
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