Technical Weight savings, accesory deletes, etc

[Panzerfaust]

I searched for one for about a week and contacted a couple fabricators, even posted in a thread here about getting one developed, but decided to go this route. Down to about 8 or 10lbs from 22.
View attachment 30110View attachment 30111

Is that just a cut up factory crash bar or one from another vehicle or country? There was a discussion on FB about whether the M3 crash bar would fit a 135 and someone mentioned an how there is apparently a couple different styles due to safety standards which was talked about in an old thread on another forum.

Apparently the OP of that post went on the hunt for an M3 bar for his 335 and didnt have much luck or was cost prohibited, but found out that the European spec crash bar was a good ~10lbs or so lighter than the US spec bar. If so getting a source for one of those and then doing some cutting might be the best move overall if not going with a tubular bar.

I think someone like @Hydra Performance might be able to look into and/or confirm that for us and possibly even source it? I do think my shops fabricator could easily make a simple one or at least use the fitting/adapter pieces for mounting and weld some tube to it but out of curiosity I'd like to know if there really are weight differences.

 

[Davidwarren]

I just had my crash bar off to mount a splitter and it was shockingly light.

 

[Panzerfaust]

Yeah, I think the stock one is still only ~30lbs iirc but it's in a good spot to drop weight and it all adds up, especially the stuff up front where its hardest to drop weight.

I messaged my friend who owns a shop and asked about getting a tubular one made and he said it should be no problem. Waiting on quotes of steel vs chromoly from the fabricator.

 

[sirdaft1]

I think @Terry@BMS has an aluminum one on his 135?

@sirdaft1 has one. Maybe he can comment on weight savings? I've seen it in person, it's noice. Pic taken from another forum.

View attachment 30056

We haven’t weighed them side by side but the tubular bar would be quite a bit less. We did the tubular bar for several reasons including allowing us to build supports for the front splitter and to have more room to build ducting to the FMIC and radiator. Weight savings was a tertiary reason for the change. Since that pic ^^^ we’ be also removed the upper core support and have made that into a tubular structure as well.

Side note: it was mentioned that some are looking at the carbon fiber m3 bumper bar. FWIW if we were just looking at weight savings we absolutely would have gone this direction. The carbon fiber front bumper bar is what they ran on the WTCC 320si racecars and is a nice piece. The part # is 51117900763. Interestingly enough there is a damaged (how bad?? Hard to tell) CF bumper bar on eBay right now...

BMW E90 E92 M3 OEM Front Bumper Support Carrier Reinforcement Bar 51117900763 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for BMW E90 E92 M3 OEM Front Bumper Support Carrier Reinforcement Bar 51117900763 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

rover.ebay.com

 

[Davidwarren]

We haven’t weighed them side by side but the tubular bar would be quite a bit less. We did the tubular bar for several reasons including allowing us to build supports for the front splitter and to have more room to build ducting to the FMIC and radiator. Weight savings was a tertiary reason for the change. Since that pic ^^^ we’ be also removed the upper core support and have made that into a tubular structure as well.

Side note: it was mentioned that some are looking at the carbon fiber m3 bumper bar. FWIW if we were just looking at weight savings we absolutely would have gone this direction. The carbon fiber front bumper bar is what they ran on the WTCC 320si racecars and is a nice piece. The part # is 51117900763. Interestingly enough there is a damaged (how bad?? Hard to tell) CF bumper bar on eBay right now...

BMW E90 E92 M3 OEM Front Bumper Support Carrier Reinforcement Bar 51117900763 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for BMW E90 E92 M3 OEM Front Bumper Support Carrier Reinforcement Bar 51117900763 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

rover.ebay.com

I looked at that. Looks like the connection between the support and the mount face is FUBAR'd. I passed.

 

[bantam]

I searched for one for about a week and contacted a couple fabricators, even posted in a thread here about getting one developed, but decided to go this route. Down to about 8 or 10lbs from 22.
View attachment 30110View attachment 30111

Yikes, but I guess it’s all good if you don’t crash. Those giant cuts out of the rectangle columns that bolt to the rail are a little concerning.

Tubular one would be nice, but the liability involved in a shop actually making those and listing them for sale would be too high to tolerate (in my opinion)

 

[sirdaft1]

I looked at that. Looks like the connection between the support and the mount face is FUBAR'd. I passed.

Here’s what looks like a good one on one of the FB groups...

 

[Panzerfaust]

So I decided yesterday was a good day to really get my car all in on her diet. I still have some more obvious and less intrusive things I need to pull like the shitty noise damping foam under the hood and trunk carpeting/wheel well parts but figured this would motivate me to do it all and do it quicker.

Overall, I definitely think it was worth it. I can feel a difference much more than I expected to, and the folding back seats are very heavy. I didnt get a chance to weigh anything but I'd have to assume the backrests are no less than 75-80lbs alone.

Only downside was that theres no guides on how to remove folding rear seats in an e92 anywhere online that I saw, theres a long PITA bolt that runs through a bracket and into both seats on the e92 and finding that out was the longest part lol.

 

[Cheezy]

Yikes, but I guess it’s all good if you don’t crash. Those giant cuts out of the rectangle columns that bolt to the rail are a little concerning.

Tubular one would be nice, but the liability involved in a shop actually making those and listing them for sale would be too high to tolerate (in my opinion)

Yeah this bar is totally trash if anything contacts it, but then again, with the value of the car... if any kind of collision occurs then I expect it to be totalled. The car also isn't daily driven. But they're called accidents for a reason!

 

[matreyia]

We haven’t weighed them side by side but the tubular bar would be quite a bit less. We did the tubular bar for several reasons including allowing us to build supports for the front splitter and to have more room to build ducting to the FMIC and radiator. Weight savings was a tertiary reason for the change. Since that pic ^^^ we’ be also removed the upper core support and have made that into a tubular structure as well.

Side note: it was mentioned that some are looking at the carbon fiber m3 bumper bar. FWIW if we were just looking at weight savings we absolutely would have gone this direction. The carbon fiber front bumper bar is what they ran on the WTCC 320si racecars and is a nice piece. The part # is 51117900763. Interestingly enough there is a damaged (how bad?? Hard to tell) CF bumper bar on eBay right now...

BMW E90 E92 M3 OEM Front Bumper Support Carrier Reinforcement Bar 51117900763 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for BMW E90 E92 M3 OEM Front Bumper Support Carrier Reinforcement Bar 51117900763 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

rover.ebay.com

Curse anyone who tries to sell defective things to others in pursuit of a buck. That this person is even trying to sell this shows his disregard for his fellow humans.

 

[bantam]

I removed and weighed the stock exhaust (downpipes to tailpipe) for an E90 today and measured 77.8lbs excluding a couple of muffler clamps and hangers.

My "customish" single 3.5" exhaust with a catalytic converter and race type muffler is guestimated to weigh ~30 lbs, so there's a solid 45 lbs to be dropped from the exhaust, I just hope it's not too loud.

 

[Panzerfaust]

I removed and weighed the stock exhaust (downpipes to tailpipe) for an E90 today and measured 77.8lbs excluding a couple of muffler clamps and hangers.

My "customish" single 3.5" exhaust with a catalytic converter and race type muffler is guestimated to weigh ~30 lbs, so there's a solid 45 lbs to be dropped from the exhaust, I just hope it's not too loud.

Exhaust is the one mod I really havent done anything with yet but really need to. I really want to run some custom side-dump exhaust but dont know how practical itd be for a car that sees the street several months a year

 

[bantam]

As an update, the exhaust weighs ~33.4 with a Moroso Spiralflow muffler and a magnaflow 59920 catalytic converter....interested to see how awful it sounds. The muffler selection in this size is not particularly great, it seems to be either truck mufflers or race mufflers.

 

[Panzerfaust]

I know it all comes down to personal preference with exhaust, but to me it sounds like you shouldnt have an overly loud or too raspy exhaust note with both a cat and a muffler in place. Yes itll obviously be significantly louder than stock, but you have as much or more noise damping in there than some OTS kits I think.

Then again I'm one of the weirdos who thinks a straight piped N54 sounds decent as long as you go up in pipe size, where most people think it sounds like shit if theres no resonator or muffler. I know it's a different beast altogether, but when I had my LS3 I ran long tube headers to a full dual 4" exhaust with no muffler or cats and fell in love with the sound and aggressiveness to the point where idgaf about drone on my cars any more as long as they scream at WOT and sound aggressive the majority of the time.

 

[bantam]

I know it all comes down to personal preference with exhaust, but to me it sounds like you shouldnt have an overly loud or too raspy exhaust note with both a cat and a muffler in place. Yes itll obviously be significantly louder than stock, but you have as much or more noise damping in there than some OTS kits I think.

Then again I'm one of the weirdos who thinks a straight piped N54 sounds decent as long as you go up in pipe size, where most people think it sounds like shit if theres no resonator or muffler. I know it's a different beast altogether, but when I had my LS3 I ran long tube headers to a full dual 4" exhaust with no muffler or cats and fell in love with the sound and aggressiveness to the point where idgaf about drone on my cars any more as long as they scream at WOT and sound aggressive the majority of the time.

I don't mind hearing a loud exhaust myself, but I like to be able to goose it without drawing any unnecessary attention. I did a little test startup and rev, it seems to sound OK. On another note, I think you probably overestimated the rear seat weights, I removed mine from an E90 today.

E90 items:
Trunk floor: 7.8lbs
Rear seat-lower: 13.4lbs
Rear seat-back: 43 lbs

 

[Panzerfaust]

I don't mind hearing a loud exhaust myself, but I like to be able to goose it without drawing any unnecessary attention. I did a little test startup and rev, it seems to sound OK. On another note, I think you probably overestimated the rear seat weights, I removed mine from an E90 today.

E90 items:
Trunk floor: 7.8lbs
Rear seat-lower: 13.4lbs
Rear seat-back: 43 lbs

That's totally understandable - unwanted attention can definitely be annoying especially when logging etc. Like I said, it's all personal preference imo, either way I hope you like the setup. My car always feels so close to "ready/done" and then I think of all these other things I want to do like a single exhaust lol.

As for the seats, I definitely could've overestimated. I dont know if theres a weight difference in the e92 style folding vs "non-folding" rear seats, but I'm definitely not a gym guy and didnt weigh them so I wouldnt be surprised if I was off. Either way, definitely worth doing and in my case has provided a noticeable improvement in several regards from acceleration to handling feel.

 

[Davidwarren]

I just pulled another 42 lbs out of the middle of my e90 from the rear carpet, speakers, headunit, audio wiring, etc.. Based off of the weight from corner balancing last month, that puts it at 3258.

 

[KevinC39]

The muffler selection in this size is not particularly great, it seems to be either truck mufflers or race mufflers.

You're telling me. I've been wanting to add a muffler to my 3.5" BMR exhaust and there's not much out there at all. It's just way too loud for me.

 

[Panzerfaust]

I just pulled another 42 lbs out of the middle of my e90 from the rear carpet, speakers, headunit, audio wiring, etc.. Based off of the weight from corner balancing last month, that puts it at 3258.

I need to pull the rear carpeting out soon, but from my very brief inspection it looks like I'll have to remove or at least unbolt my front seats (e92) in order to do so and I havent had the desire to do that just yet.

Those of you who've pulled the rear seats and trunk lining: have you made a cover for the seat back area or spare wheel hole? I've been thinking of picking up some galvanized sheet metal from home depot and cutting it for the spare wheel cover since it weighs next to nothing, but since it's so thin I'm worried itll be noisy as hell in combination with my already noisy solid rear shock mount setup.

Also did you take the plastic piece off of the trunk itself where the latch and emergency release handle are? I cant tell if those are necessary for proper trunk operation or just there to look nice.

 

[Davidwarren]

I need to pull the rear carpeting out soon, but from my very brief inspection it looks like I'll have to remove or at least unbolt my front seats (e92) in order to do so and I havent had the desire to do that just yet.

Those of you who've pulled the rear seats and trunk lining: have you made a cover for the seat back area or spare wheel hole? I've been thinking of picking up some galvanized sheet metal from home depot and cutting it for the spare wheel cover since it weighs next to nothing, but since it's so thin I'm worried itll be noisy as hell in combination with my already noisy solid rear shock mount setup.

Also did you take the plastic piece off of the trunk itself where the latch and emergency release handle are? I cant tell if those are necessary for proper trunk operation or just there to look nice.

Yeah, you have to pull the seats and the middle console. It’s actually pretty easy. I don’t have a spare tire, but I did order the hard cap to pull the storage tray. I removed all trim from the trunk and it still works fine.