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Catless Headers. Which Tune do I go with?

19K views 68 replies 25 participants last post by  Fiftytwoeighty 
#1 ·
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:

Auto Cotoure Motoring, Fair Lawn, NJ

North East Motorsport, Mahwah, NJ

Rogue Engineering, Upper Saddle River, NJ

If there are other shops please let me know.
 
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#4 ·
Not all tuners are equal.

Bren is getting talked about at this time, but we are yet to see some solid results. Personally I like that their tune includes some SMG tuning.

I went with Evolve Alpha N last year. Evolve have been great with me, there are a couple of things I'd like better but certainly nothing bad.
 
#5 ·
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.
 
#6 ·
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!

More info on our performance tune: http://bpmsport.com/M5Tune.pdf

Please let us know if you have any other questions.
 
#10 ·
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.

Evosport are probably the worst headers for the S85.
Care to elaborate? Too late now. That's like saying the S85 is the worst engine developed by BMW. :Thumbdown:
 
#14 ·
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.
 
#18 ·
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.
 
#20 ·
It's official. Alpha N it is. I cannot wait until next week. I drop the car off on Monday morning. I'll report back when I get the car back.
 
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#23 ·
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.
 
#26 ·
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.
 
#28 ·
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.
 
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#30 ·
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.
 
#31 ·
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.
 
#34 · (Edited)
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.
Your gonna enjoy the smoothness and extra response, its really hard to put into words, but good choice.
 
#37 · (Edited)
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?
 
#43 ·
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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