Ryan's Hennarot 318is (s54, slicktop conversion, MT2)

[rjmcdermott81]

Doing a little bit of work on the car before RadWOOD Austin this weekend. I've wanted to update the Tach forever and I actually bought this faceplate from Bavrest several years ago but I was too chicken to install it. Recently I contacted Bavrest and e30dad for pricing and while I know they do super high-quality work I couldn't justify the price.

So with that, I figured worst I could do is break the tach which it seems like you can just grab another used one pretty easily. Having now done this here is my assesment of working on these gauges:

• Difficulty: Easy
• Fear factor: High
• Now that I've done this I would do it again in a heartbeat. This is actually relatively easy.

Here are some pictures from the job.





Getting the needle off was the most stressful part. It required a ton of force. I used two flatheads wrapped in tape. You will first feel the entire thing come up as the shaft lifts in the gearbox. At this point the needle will spin freely and you will assume you broke everything. Have no fear - press on! To re-engage the gears you just push it back down which will come in handy later when setting zero.


Old face removed


Hole drilled and needle rest in place. (I scratched the face with the drill and had to touch it up....)


Installed on the tach


Needle back on. This took some finesse. When I removed the needle it seemed like it was set with about -100 rpm to give the needle tension against the stopper


It seems like a no-brainer to polish the plastic while it's off. The clear cover pried off pretty easily.




Back on with a little superglue in a few places


Back in the car


And here it is in action. It's going to take getting used to but having the redline at eye-level will be nice.
[YOUTUBE]Doing a little bit of work on the car before RadWOOD Austin this weekend. I've wanted to update the Tach forever and I actually bought this faceplate from Bavrest several years ago but I was too chicken to install it. Recently I contacted Bavrest and e30dad for pricing and while I know they do super high-quality work I couldn't justify the price.

So with that, I figured worst I could do is break the tach which it seems like you can just grab another used one pretty easily. Having now done this here is my assesment of working on these gauges:

• Difficulty: Easy
• Fear factor: High
• Now that I've done this I would do it again in a heartbeat. This is actually relatively easy.

Here are some pictures from the job.





Getting the needle off was the most stressful part. It required a ton of force. I used two flatheads wrapped in tape. You will first feel the entire thing come up as the shaft lifts in the gearbox. At this point the needle will spin freely and you will assume you broke everything. Have no fear - press on! To re-engage the gears you just push it back down which will come in handy later when setting zero.


Old face removed


Hole drilled and needle rest in place. (I scratched the face with the drill and had to touch it up....)


Installed on the tach


Needle back on. This took some finesse. When I removed the needle it seemed like it was set with about -100 rpm to give the needle tension against the stopper


It seems like a no-brainer to polish the plastic while it's off. The clear cover pried off pretty easily.




Back on with a little superglue in a few places


Back in the car


And here it is in action. It's going to take getting used to but having the redline at eye-level will be nice.

[Staszek]

If you smack an x pipe a foot or shorter from the headers you’ll pick up torque also. No further, I don’t know why bmw stuck their H pipe so far back.

Its the opposite on the S54, if your X Pipe is close to the headers on the S54 it actually loses torque. A few people have done that and the dynos showed the loss, I will see if I can find them, one was on this board.

[moatilliatta]

If you smack an x pipe a foot or shorter from the headers you’ll pick up torque also. No further, I don’t know why bmw stuck their H pipe so far back.

[rjmcdermott81]

Do you have an X pipe? That removes a lot of Rasp.

No x-pipe but I definitely have room for one. The 2.5" sections run a solid 3 feet under the car.

[Staszek]

I'm new to the GoPro game and this was a first go. I used the Go-pro suction cup mount attached to the rear passenger window. It worked pretty good but you can see it move back and forth a bit. Luckily the stabilization calms it all down. It's possible the movement adds to the effect of conveying acceleration?

Next go I would really like to figure out how to mount it in the center of the car. Not sure how to do that without a roll bar but I may try to attach it to the headrest or something.

I've considered wrapping my headers and the pipes from the headers back to see if it removes the rasp - thoughts? Other than that I'm 100% happy, no drone at highway speed.

Do you have an X pipe? That removes a lot of Rasp.

[rjmcdermott81]

My MY, I sure do love the induction noise and Rasp!


Cant tell if you had a very steady human as your camera mount?

I'm new to the GoPro game and this was a first go. I used the Go-pro suction cup mount attached to the rear passenger window. It worked pretty good but you can see it move back and forth a bit. Luckily the stabilization calms it all down. It's possible the movement adds to the effect of conveying acceleration?

Next go I would really like to figure out how to mount it in the center of the car. Not sure how to do that without a roll bar but I may try to attach it to the headrest or something.

I've considered wrapping my headers and the pipes from the headers back to see if it removes the rasp - thoughts? Other than that I'm 100% happy, no drone at highway speed.

[Staszek]

My MY, I sure do love the induction noise and Rasp!

S54's are hard to keep quiet.

Need to Compile a S54 exhaust thread with sounds clips.


Every time I see an s54 in the engine bay I kick myself for not pulling my S50 yet.


Cant tell if you had a very steady human as your camera mount?

Still have great sound, I just didnt want a loud drone at idle and on the highway.

I have a few, on my thread.

Love hearing Ryan's it sounds soo good!

[moatilliatta]

My MY, I sure do love the induction noise and Rasp!

S54's are hard to keep quiet.

Need to Compile a S54 exhaust thread with sounds clips.


Every time I see an s54 in the engine bay I kick myself for not pulling my S50 yet.


Cant tell if you had a very steady human as your camera mount?

[Staszek]

This is my second go at the exhaust. Originally Tyler at Arc Asylum built and shipped me a full exhaust and the welds were a thing of beauty but it was a too loud and the cat didn't do enough to make me happy. I want a car that smells like I don't hate the planet. I'll try to get an underside pic but here is a quick rundown:
- Stock e46m3 headers modified by having the cats removed and v-bands attached (arc asylum)
- 2.5" pipes running parallel back to behind the front seat (arc asylum)
- 2 x 2.5" to 2.5" merge pipe with v-bands on front and back (arc asylum)
- Off the shelf cat
- Flowmaster resonatorr
- Flowmaster muffler (2.5" in and 2 x 2" out I think)

There is some rasp between 2500 and 3500 rpm but I think a big part of that is the s54 and the headers. That is the only thing I would like to change but it also makes it sound really nasty when you get on it.

All in all, it's not loud when driving normally but when you get on it people know there is something hiding under the hood.

Interesting to hear you didnt like Arc's exhaust. I truly considered that but I didnt want a very loud exhaust, it was a big concern. Since he didnt have sound clips I passed.

I am using N54 inline Cats after the headers (Status Gruppe) in using a stock E46 section one. I kept mine dual 2.25 in all the way back with an X pipe after the cats before the E36 M3.exhaust. Probably heavier than it should be but I like the sound and it helps balance out the weight of the S54.

[rjmcdermott81]

That sounds great. Any details on the exhaust configuration?

This is my second go at the exhaust. Originally Tyler at Arc Asylum built and shipped me a full exhaust and the welds were a thing of beauty but it was a too loud and the cat didn't do enough to make me happy. I want a car that smells like I don't hate the planet. I'll try to get an underside pic but here is a quick rundown:
- Stock e46m3 headers modified by having the cats removed and v-bands attached (arc asylum)
- 2.5" pipes running parallel back to behind the front seat (arc asylum)
- 2 x 2.5" to 2.5" merge pipe with v-bands on front and back (arc asylum)
- Off the shelf cat
- Flowmaster resonatorr
- Flowmaster muffler (2.5" in and 2 x 2" out I think)

There is some rasp between 2500 and 3500 rpm but I think a big part of that is the s54 and the headers. That is the only thing I would like to change but it also makes it sound really nasty when you get on it.

All in all, it's not loud when driving normally but when you get on it people know there is something hiding under the hood.

[R3VM3UP]

That sounds great. Any details on the exhaust configuration?

[mike.bmw]

That sounds really really really nice. I've found from taking in-car HPDE video that it doesn't usually convey speed or acceleration well. Your video looks pretty quick so I can't even imagine what it must be like in person!

[rjmcdermott81]

On another note. I finally got off my butt and made a driving video. I'm driving it a bit like a ninny - granny shifting, not double clutching like I should.... Keep in mind this is a 7k rpm tach and the redline is actually 8k. Car is really gelling nowadays.

[rjmcdermott81]

Yea we're going to need that project here too...

I'm documenting it much more detail and I'll definitely post a build thread as soon as I get over the first major hump. I'm toying around with timelapse video on the gopro. Wish I would have done this for may paint job.... Also, you can see that I got my little helper a welding mask so he can be in there with me.

[2mAn]

Yea we're going to need that project here too...