today's trip to work was more fun than normal!!! i see a black supra TT a couple cars ahead of me on the very north end of dale mabry. (long stretches with no lights) after the light turns green and it spreads out, i get to where i can pass him. as i do so,, whoop,, there it is,, the tell tale sign of a race insuing... the smoke out of the talepipes as i go to pass. it was so funny,, he gave it all it had, but i was in the "magic" zone of 4th gear and 4k rpms.... i thought,, it's not going to happen today buddy,,, you aint going to beat an m3 on this day. he tried, but i just walked off and smoked him . i was laughing so hard cause i knew he was going "What the crap???" i had run it up to 140 in like nothing flat... (i like this little cold snap we had this week) and i slowed back down. we waved as he took the expressway,,,, he was still wondering what the heck just happened... i loved that feeling so much,, i grinned hugely all the way to work,,,, i even was laughing and smiling on the way home thinking about writing about it on here. :-)
i can see it now... all over town, porsche turbo and supra TT folks are ordering new clutches because they think there's are slipping.....lol how else could the plain m3 spank them so badly??? i

you just don't have any competition out there. Next time ask these guys how quiet your car is, ;) CYA>PM3

Man how i love that turboed M3- so sexy, so fast :) no one's got a chance

pablo,,,
for real,,it is quiet. even when i loosen the muffler flange bolts and it opens it up some,, it is still only about the same as a stock mustgang gt. but all capped up,, it really is superquiet. i can hear the whistle of the turbo (like you hear on 18 wheelers as they go through the gears) and the air rushing through the filter. it can't get much quieter than that!!!
ok here's my theory on what happens to the sound waves...
first the the air is rushing out of the cylinders with such a high velocity cause of the speed of the air coming in behind it and the speed of the piston travel,, then all of a sudden,, it's chopped into little pieces by the fan blades of the turbine blades on the exhuast side of the turbo. it just atomises the sound.... lol it turns into sound vapor and can't be heard by human ears....
in reality though,, the turbo does chop up the sound waves and acts like a super duper muffler.
i do wonder what it sounds like in the other car as i pass them.
oh,, and i asked some of my corvette buddies that were in the croud of hundreds at the airstrip drag race day what my car sounded like and they said they couldn't even hear it. all they could hear was the cars that i was spanking, like this GTO:

Originally posted by tampaturbom3
1) i can hear the whistle of the turbo (like you hear on 18 wheelers as they go through the gears) and the air rushing through the filter. it can't get much quieter than that!!!

2)i do wonder what it sounds like in the other car as i pass them.

3)oh,, and i asked some of my corvette buddies that were in the croud of hundreds at the airstrip drag race day what my car sounded like and they said they couldn't even hear it. all they could hear was the cars that i was spanking, like this GTO:


1)yes I agree with you, from the interior all you hear is the whining of the turbo..you won't hear the exhaust. engine sounds even quieter sometimes too, yes (especially when compared to NA cars with intakes)...

2) now that's what I am talking about: what it's like from inside the other car when you're passing s/he...I am assuming you hadn't seen this video yet?:

http://www.technikonline.com/bryce_dyno_t2k.mpeg

I know it's got more power than yours, but even half the sound of that is pretty damn crazy, and from what I remember from Larry's Turbo M3(OBD1 3.2L stage2+/Gen2)..inside the car it was super quiet. Then he finally got to hear his car from outside and was amazed..."vrrooooommmmBRRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPP!"

3) My guess is either something is different with your exhaust (although I rememeber you saying you had no cats) or it's just because of the absence of any echoing: In neighborhoods or streets, there is lots of echoing of the sound due to the buildings, and most importantly, the other guy's car, who will be VERY close to you in the next lane. On an air strip, well, I can imagine it would be different, plus the people are not moving along side of you. I never said it's real loud as you pass by, but being right next to it as it rips its peak boost/HP (ie next lane over) is something you're going to have to experience, if you trust someone else with your car) and then let me know what you thought, ;) CYA>PM3

PS, that 500 bhp Supra that tore me a new one in my 97 over a year ago sounded EXACTLY like my friend's car in Miami..probably because it's the 3.0-liter, inline-6 thing with turbo..a HUGE rush of air "BRAAAAAPPPP!" and then lot's of "PPPPPPP!!!!!!" from the external wastegate or something going bananas..it's a real MEAN sound I tell ya! so I don't know...I really want to hear what yours is like.