I’m a bit of a forced induction junkie. I’ve worked my way through a couple of turbocharged Japanese wagons, am obsessed with positive displacement blowers, can often be found on YouTube watching forced induction compilations and I’ve also been fortunate enough to drive a number of big power, turbo and supercharged BMWs over the years. Unfortunately, I haven’t got the money to go splashing out on supercharging for myself but there are plenty of folks out there who can, and do, like Mandeep Heer. Mandeep’s car first caught my eye at the DC13 show, thanks to a combination of Frozen grey paint, black wheels and 1M-look bumper plus some natty blue highlights making it stand out from the crowd. When I got chatting to Mandeep and the word “supercharged” was uttered, the car’s destiny to feature in these pages was pretty much sealed. “I bought the car brand-new in 2011,” Mandeep begins, “in Frozen grey (which is the best colour in my opinion) and with the Competition package.
I’ve had about 28 cars now and I love them – I’ve had a Renault 5 GT Turbo and a G60 Corrado, 3.0 and 3.2 E36 M3s, a Phoenix yellow ACS E46, an E46 Cab, a Cayman S and I bought a 997 911 C4S because when the E92 M3 came out I wasn’t a fan. But it grew on me and I ended up buying one. I went along to Bimmerflex ’11 with it stock and thought I would have a good car. I didn’t and started buying parts the next day. I had planned to keep the car stock but I then ended up having a lot of work done in just six months.
“I started off with getting some carbon parts from MStyle and lowering the car. Then I decided to splash out on an Akrapovic exhaust followed by the six-pot AP Racing brakes, with four-pots at the back, the MStyle 1M front bumper and an Evolve Stage 2 remap for more power. This is a must-have with the X-pipe, it totally transforms the car and I’d recommend it to anybody with an E92 M3. I changed the wheels for a set of 20” 360 Forged alloys but the drive was horrific and I realised that I actually didn’t like them – they looked American and made the car look too done up, so I had my Competition wheels painted black and went back on those. The extra inch made a big difference to how the car feels out on the road and it drives much better now. I then got a Technocraft carbon intake and some BMW Performance seats along with carbon mirrors and a carbon spoiler. I wanted the car to have an Estoril theme so I had some parts finished in Estoril blue – I had a blue plenum before and I’ve got blue vents and blue callipers too.”
While it doesn’t take much to make an M3 look good, it takes a lot to make one stand out, and Mandeep has achieved that without going overboard. The Frozen grey paint is a good start and a great choice – the matt metallic finish looks fantastic and is arguably one of the best colours for the E92, really bringing out all the subtle curves in its design and it makes the car look so different when compared to a traditional paint finish. The black wheels look the part and the CSL-style design of the Competition alloys suits the E92 perfectly, but here it’s that 1Mlook front bumper that really makes the difference; the angles, edges and intakes giving the front end an even more aggressive look that pumps the whole car up and I love the air filter visible through the nearside opening. Mandeep’s paid attention to the details and while the idea of Estoril highlights might not appeal, in the metal they look great and that flash of colour is a welcome addition among the black and grey colours that dominate the car. There’s plenty of carbon too, such as the door mirrors, grille surrounds and bonnet vents. At the rear the carbon continues, with a spoiler and meaty valance from which the quad exhausts protrude, but take a closer look and you’ll see not the name of Akrapovic stamped on the tips but Evolve, so what gives? “The Akrapovic exhaust sounded exotic but it wasn’t loud enough for me, so I changed it for Evolve’s E-Tronic exhaust.”
This full system, which includes the Evolve X-pipe, features a pair of wirelesslycontrolled valves, operated by a keyfob, which enable you to change the noise level from mild to wild at the push of a button. The transformation really is incredible and with the valves closed it sounds good, but not massively louder than stock, just the right volume level for day-to-day driving and early morning starts. But with the valves open, everything changes and not only does the volume get cranked up to 11, the exhaust note becomes ferocious, this incredible, hard-edged V8 roar that sounds sensational. It’s intoxicating stuff and the beauty of it is that you can enjoy it when you’re in the mood but don’t have to endure it when you’re not. The interior is dominated by those seriously sexy seats, which feel as good to sit in as they look, accompanied by a steering wheel trimmed in matching Alcantara. There’s also a trio of gauges set ahead of the gear selector for fuel pressure, boost and oil pressure.
At this point Mandeep was really enjoying his car and took it on a number of foreign jaunts including the Four Nations Tour in July 2012 and the Alpine Run, both organised by Track & Tour Events. However, he was also tempted by the idea of more power and so decided to speak to Evolve about its supercharger kit. The kit has received plenty of column inches in PBMW but any excuse to talk about it in detail is a good one. Mandeep went for the E600 600hp kit, with the only difference between the three differing states of tune being boost pressure, the fundamental elements of the kit remaining the same. At the heart of the package is the Rotrex C38-91 supercharger, with a flow rate of 1100CFM, running 6-6.7psi, which features a self-contained lubrication system with a separate oil cooler.
The supercharger comes with dual CNC-machined billet aluminium diverter valves along with a high flow Evolve filtration system, eight uprated Bosch fuel injectors and a large front mounted intercooler. It’s a comprehensive and seriously well put together package and we’ve seen what it’s capable of when we pitted Evolve’s own demonstrator against an F13 M6. But, surprisingly, when I ask Mandeep about the kit his reaction isn’t what I’m expecting: “I’ve peaked with the supercharger,” he says, “and to be honest it’s too fast for me as a daily driver in London. The kit is incredible and the performance is absolutely amazing, it’s so fast when you floor it, but it’s just a bit too fast for where I
tend to use it.
I actually preferred the car when it had the Stage 2 remap, it was amazing, I could really enjoy the performance and hang on to the gears. I just caught the modding bug and I wanted to have the supercharger for my next trip but at least I’ve done it.” So, now that he’s been there, done the supercharged E92 M3 thing and got the T-shirt, what’s next for Mandeep and his car? “I’m going to keep it for now,” he says, “and am thinking of taking it back to standard for the time being and then next year I’ll make a decision about what to do. My next car will be down to funds – I feel like maybe an R8 or a most likely a 911 Turbo, but I might still want an M car, I’ll have to see how I feel. ”Mandeep may end up taking a break from M cars but, as he said himself, at least he’s had a supercharged M3, the sort of car most of us dream of owning. Even if his next car isn’t a BMW, I get the feeling he’s not done with Bavaria’s finest just yet.
#bmw #m3 #e92 #bmwperformance #tuning #bmwtuning
Thanks BMW Performance for this amazing article.
