e46nonm.com is a blog started on the idea of sharing information learned through the hardships of owning an e46. The e46 non-M is chosen by people for a number of reasons: lack of money to afford an M, or insurance concerns or because of looks (instead of making the wiser performance-oriented purchase of an e36 m). Often, it seems, e46 owners change their intentions for their cars, perhaps because of depreciation, or because you love it so much and have done so much to it- “why not make this fast instead of getting something else?” Well,whatever your reasons, we have found it is possible, within reason, to make the e46 non m quick.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to make an e46 handle well. But if you don’t know what direction to take when modifying your car, we hope to help you achieve the right compromise between comfort and agility and keeping in mind the car’s purpose, if you’re replacing any suspension components.

In naturally aspirated form, it is possible to be faster than a stock e46 M off the line and keep up with it till nearing the end of a 1/4 mile run. In boosted form, we’re pioneering and testing the limits of the m52tu/m54. As far as we have found, the fastest non M trap is by a certain Activ3two8 that hits 111mph in the quarter. If you have gone faster, please contact me with a vid or time slip, preferably, both.

In the United States, in full weight form, I have found that a 13.621@100.49 is possible from a 330ci with cams, hedders, a tune, a lightweight flywheel, some lightweight wheels, and 3.38 diff in a manual car. The world record is held by a Canadian in Prince Edward Island with 12.858@103.95. If you have run faster in naturally aspirated form, please email me immediately.

Now, we’re fully aware that our cars are not the fastest e46 non-Ms in the US, but we do have the two fastest e46 non-Ms stateside that have been track tested. And there are a couple of NA guys stateside, that I’m sure are quicker, but they have not run their cars in the 1/4, and if they have, they haven’t documented it, nor claimed it. We realize that there are plenty of people whom couldn’t care less about drag racing, they just want power on the streets for their everyday driving. Like so many Corvette owners. And naturally aspirated, I’m not as quick as an unmodified ‘Vette, unless going back to the C4. And this is so because I’m not fast NA, without a significant amount of money you can’t be that fast NA (except for nitrous, which is cheating). Most reasonable solution: 272/256 schricks, but I don’t believe in putting these in a stock motor. And there are TS3 ESS guys running around, faster than David, but we haven’t heard of a single pass down the quarter by any of those guys stateside. And before they do, I think we’ll be faster anyway. We’re definitely not done modding.

If you have a general question, please feel free to post it here. Between David and I, hopefully we can help or find someone else who can.

-Julio, bluejeansonfire@e46nonm.com