balleranonymous

Just picked up an 04 MSM from a private dealer. Handles like a dream, to well in fact I thought for stock suspension... put the car on a rack and have found bilstein shocks and "red" springs with "red" swaybars front and rear with stock endlinks. The car is at a stock ride height and I'm wondering if the springs and sways are stock or aftermarket? Haven't found any markings on the springs or sways

18psi

iTrader: (76)

are the shocks grey?

sounds like stock MSM suspension

wait til you try some ACTUAL baller suspension lol. your brain will explode

Erat

iTrader: (5)

Red swaybars will be aftermarket.

Should be racing beat, or eibach. Not sure what other ones are red.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

stock MSM sways are red

Erat

iTrader: (5)

Hmm, news to me. I stand corrected.

balleranonymous

yes the shocks are grey, springs are red. no rideheight adjustability but the tophats look somewhat adjustable? the top of the strut looks like 2 hex nuts on top of eachother, the bottom one is bigger. I'll try to get some pics up

18psi

iTrader: (76)

yeah, you have stock suspension

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Stock Bilstein MSM shocks are awesome. If you put a little bit stronger springs and adjustable coils then it will be even better.

curly

iTrader: (25)

No adjustability in the top hats. That's just the top hat nut and a locking nut.

You can put a spacer under the top hat to drop the shaft down and gain a little droop travel, don't think the stock suspension will benifit from that.

Leave as is until you truly know what areas of the car need improvement.

balleranonymous

Thanks guys, usually my first mods to a car are suspension oriented but this stock setup is buttery smooth. be ready for some more noob questions from me.. I'm a bimmer guy going Miata ftw!

18psi

iTrader: (76)

or, instead of asking more n00b questions, you can just search and find everything you need

balleranonymous

Honestly I do/will research before I ask, but being new to this whole turbo thing is gonna be quite the learning experience.. which I'm looking forward to! Thanks for your help on my suspension 18psi I'm sure we'll chat again soon

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

The stock ECU behaves a bit strangely with the turbo. It has a weird dip in the middle of the powerband. Switching to a Megasquirt computer from MS Labs (Reverent is a forum sponsor) will give you a bunch more power and driveability with no other real changes.

balleranonymous

I completely agree and have been doing a lot of ECU replacement research, all these guys talking big sh*t on the stock ecu and hell I like it... so obv I'm really excited to see what the megasquirt can do.

Maybe you could lend some advice as to such things like the order of how I should upgrade my car? Is ECU first? what all do I have to do at the same time? New to the whole turbo scene so its a little hard for me to follow all the abbreviations in the build threads but I'm doing my best. Also if this "order of upgrade" topic deserves its own thread let me know where Thanks!

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

Now you're really getting into the noob questions.

do some searching and reading around. You'll learn sooo much more that way. To point you in a couple more helpful directions though...

check out Lazarus/lazfab's build thread. That's a stock MSM drivetrain with a Megasquirt.

There are quite a few of us with MSMs on here. also look at what user Mazduh has done.

google can be a big help with the abbreviations. Not being snarky, for serious.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

The first thing you should do to make a stock MSM not suck hairy ********.

Actually, i'll give you the first TWO things you should do, just because i'm feeling generous.

1) Get rid of that horrific piece of awful **** stock ECU.
2) Ditch the 17" bend/crack-prone boat anchors and get some 15s.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

^congrats on your 5,000th post, you post ***** you.

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

Thanks, snookums.

Monk

iTrader: (3)

You even fit in "hairy ********". Nice touch.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

lol

n00bs