Please elaborate, how can one get the Alpha Box, has the CSL airbox ever been modified to work on the U.S spec M3?

 

This CSL airbox is $3700

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GENUI...QQcmdZViewItem

"
There exists a carbon fiber airbox for the S54 engine which some German tuners claim will produce more horsepower by virtue of providing a cleaner flow path of air into the inlet trumpets. This German CF airbox is quite similar to the unit that BMW designed for the E46 M3 CSL. The CF airbox is ostensibly intended for use with an Alpha-N type of engine management system but, at least in Germany, has also been adapted for use with a larger MAF (this does require a special air inlet and filter arrangement). This type of airbox should not be considered a "bolt-on" mod. It will absolutely require proper software to work correctly. And unless converting the engine to Alpha-N any gains in power won't be huge, and may in fact be accompanied by a loss of low and mid-range torque. An airbox such as this is ultimately suited to a highly developed race engine. "

Any reports on people getting it to work on U.S cars?

WAIT I THINK I ANSWERED MY OWN QUESTION

Certainly if one were really developing an S54 engine with extensive internal mods such as cams, porting etc., as well as converting to Alpha-N with some aftermarket programmable engine management (Motec, Tec III...), then in this author's opinion incorporating an airbox like this one would be a good idea. However, there is at least one club racer in the U.S. who had very unfavorable results when trying to run a Hamann airbox, which is very similar to the CF unit shown here (the state of development of his engine is not known to me). Thus ultimately, as with so many things, the user will have to try it out and see if it works for them.

 

That box is a knock off, it's located in the middle of Pa for christ sake, not exactly of hot bed of OEM CSL parts lol.

I used to deal w/ a very shady BMW M race team in the ALMS. I have had in my hands perfect knock off CSL air boxs. They sold for $5200 and guess what? they were worthless on US S54's. The Alpha-N SW again would not recognize this new Air box. The shop sold about 15 of them and every one was a fricken mess. You lose about 7 WHP and that is if the car will even start but boy did it look good w/your hood up at a show haha.