After a long and patient wait, my UUC Rasp-X pipe finally arrived at Automotive Specialists and so began a long frustrating installation that was "smoking hot" (I'll explain the double-entendre later) at the end! Both the rasp-x pipe and kelleners exhaust look beautiful- shiny and clean.
Back in March I brought back my Kelleners exhaust with me from my trip to France, Italy, and Switerland. Yes, Kelleners is a German outfit so if you're wondering how I got them without making a trip to Dinslaken the answer is: I had the pipes shipped to my in-laws in France.
Anyway, I already had the UUC evo3 SSK and the Kelleners pipes and I waited to have everything installed at the sametime. Because the rasp-x pipe and the exhaust are bolt-on parts, I was concerned that the item that would take the longest to install would be the short shifter- boy, was I wrong!
Mr. Matson and TCM put the M3 on the lift and removed the OEM pipes and then proceeded with the install of the SSK. TC told me it would be much easier to get the short shifter installed when the resonator pipe was removed because it would allow for the lowering of the transmission, if need be, to facilitate the install of the ssk. Sure enough, the SSK was installed quickly and nearly effortlessly!
At this point I was getting really excited at the prospect of having my new pipes put on and the M3 back on the road!
I'm thinking 30 or 45 minutes more and- POW!- I'm zipping around blasting cars off the highway (within legal limits of course)!
The rasp-x pipe comes in two pieces; one half attaches to the cats and the half attaches to the exhaust with the free ends mating to each other. Here is where the problem began.
The idea was attach the cats side half first, then mate the two halves, then attach the kelleners to the exhaust side of the rasp-x, bolt the exhaust to the car, adjust the alignment of the quad pipes, and then replace the supporting braces/shields and viola! A mean sounding M3 cab is born.
As it turns out, when mating the two halves of the rasp-x pipe the diameter of the female end was not large enough to insert the male end. LOL. Maybe it's because the female end had a "headache"...LOLOLOL. Sorry, I digress...
Anyway Mr. Matson said a pipe expander would do the trick (LOLOLOL) and of we went to have that done. As it turns out the mechanic with the pipe expander said because the rasp-x pipe is made of stainless steel, he was concerned the expander would cause cracking along the side of pipe and if that happened the pipe would be ruined.
Man, I just about lost it. After the long wait, it appeared that I wasn't going to be able to have the rasp-x pipe put on. Apparently the issue wasn't so much the diameter, but the shape of the mating ends. We postulated the pipe ends were oval in shape when they were cut and the manufacturer didn't double check to see if the ends would mate/fit properly.
So the pipes were a bit oval and didn't match up correctly. Samething happened with the ends that attach to the exhaust. With the exhaust end I tried to force the OEM gasket onto the rasp-x pipe and in doing so I broke the gasket!
Boy I felt like an IDIOT!!!
By this time the parts department from the local BMW dealerships were all closed and the local auto store didn't have anything that would fit. So I had to wait until morning to have the install completed.
In the end, Mr. Matson was able to make everything fit by using very large pliers to gently reshape the oval ends into a more round configuration and thus allowing everything to fit!
So now everything is on and ready to go! I started her up and went on a test drive and let me tell you something; that raspy sound our US spec M3s have is now GONE!!!
The rasp-x pipe was worth the wait, the hassel, and the cost!!! I would do it all over again!!! IMO every e46 M3 owner should get this!
And the kelleners? It is fantastic!!! What a night and day difference that exhaust makes. THe sounds is deep and mean. So far I've put about 100 miles since the install and today I'm driving down to NYC, for one a night, and that will further break-in the exhaust. After only 50 miles, I was able to set off my first car alarm in an underground garage! Sweet.
Well that's it folks. Special thanks to TC and Mr. Matson of Automotive Specialists for doing a fantastic job on the install!
POW!
ALX
PS:
I nearly forgot to mention that after my initial test drive the M3 had copious amounts of white smoke coming out of the exhaust. I thought it was just some excess oil or the car was running rich....but as it turns out, it was a fire! Apparently there must have been some paper or packaging material in either the rasp-x pipe or the kelleners that we missed! LOLOL! It was a cool effect while it lasted, but I believe I've managed to burn out the rest of whatever was in my pipes!
. I am happy so see that the fire has subsided and that you will not be choking any more motorcyclists
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