I waited five months for the Amuse Ericsson M480 Titanium exhaust to arrive, and when it did, I didn't have time to dyno test it. Now that SEMA is over, I put aside some time to dyno test the exhaust. Though the horsepower gains are modest, the torque gains are VERY impressive.
Purchase and Installation
Purchased at Bulletproof Automotive, and installed at Auto Talent in Los Angeles. The installation went off without a hitch. At first we thought Ericsson failed to ship a special bracket because m3post user 'Socale92's' exhaust was slightly different. But once we got it up in the air and installed, nothing was missing.
Sound
The sound of the exhaust is throatier than the original. Inside the cockpit, it is still very quiet (just what I wanted). Even though M3Post user 'Socale92' installed his Ericsson M480, mine most likely sounds slightly different because his incorporated Stainless Steel midpipes, and mine was full Titanium.
There is no 'drone' so to speak of. A drone is most likely caused by a resonant frequency in the exhaust. The only such 'drone' appears between 2500-3000 RPMs, and only when the car is under load (even a moderate load). By 3300 RPMs, the 'drone' is completely gone.
Under strong load, the exhaust sounds great, inside and out. Unfortunately I do not have video or sound clips of the exhaust due to the very late time of night we finished the work. And equally unfortunate, due to the car being shipped to Las Vegas for SEMA, I won't have a chance to take any video/sound clips until it returns. Zolti at Auto Talent did take some late night video clips, and hopefully will post them in response to this thread.
Video/Sound Clip
Weight
| Description | OEM BMW (lbs) | Amuse Ericsson M480 (lbs) |
| Center Pipe | 40.0 | |
| Cross Pipe | 9.4 | |
| Center Pipe (Left) | 4.2 | |
| Center Pipe (Right) | 4.3 | |
| Catalytic Converter (Left) | 5.6 | |
| Catalytic Converter (Right) | 5.7 | |
| Muffler | 54.0 | 22.0 |
| Mounting Hardware | 1.4 | 0.5 |
| Total Weight | 95.4 | 51.7 |
Dyno Results
I've built many cars with many performance mods. I've never felt any seat of the pants gain with any mod I've ever done. That is, until this one. To me, there seemed like a noticeable amount of extra power in the upper RPMs. I've already tested two different ECU upgrades (with the Active Autowerke's ECU upgrade installed right now). The AA ECU upgrade already added quite a bit of power to the top end, but with the addition of the Ericsson M480 exhaust, the motor seems to breath much easier, and the power seems noticeably stronger. As it turns out, seat-of-the-pants dynos are deceiving. I seemed to notice the most power in the upper RPMs, but when you look at these dyno results, you'll notice that there is a HUGE amount of torque being generated at the bottom end.
| Date | 2008-11-22 |
| Time | 12:17 PM |
| Temperature | 75 degrees (F) |
| Pressure | 29.885 - 29.889 |
| Humidity | 39.8% - 40.04% |
| SAE Correction | 3.2% - 3.4% |
| Download |
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| Baseline Configuration |
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| Measured Results |
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| Peak Performance Increase |
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| Dyno Database Entry | Click HERE to view this DynoDB entry |
Graphs:
Individual Results:
Torque Gains vs. RPM:
Horsepower Gains vs. RPM:
Comparing Torque to Baseline:
It might be tempting to think that 37 ft/lbs torque increase is a fluke, or that
those results were somehow fabricated. On the dyno, I ran seven different runs
and only selected three for reporting purposes. Above are the torque results of
all seven runs and compared against the torque baseline. From looking at at this
graph above, it should be clear that 37 ft/lbs torque gain at 2500 RPMs is not a
fluke and does not deviate very far from all seven dyno runs.
Pictures
Enjoy...
