BA_Garage’s Phoenix Build
 

Hi there,
I have been a frequent browser over the years and finally took the plunge and picked up a beat up 04 msm that’s been modified. The intent is to fix her up and turn her into a weekend warrior/track car to compete in ST/TT4. I figured I’d start a build thread to track my progress.

List of mods the day I picked it up:
Oem hardtop
BC Racing Coilovers
3SDM 0.05 15x9 (planning to sell)
stock MSM wheels
sparco sprint seats
zerekfab roll bar and harness bar (do I need a diagonal support for the track?)
ms3pro pnp
innovate wideband gauge
skunk intake manifold
aftermarket body panels (sold them for the most part)

questional upgrades
ebay turbo set up with tubular manifold w/T3 flange (assuming craving), huge eBay turbo, e3 intercooler, crappy 3in hot/cold intercooler piping, and a Spector filter
- debating what to do with this, boost comes on at around 4k and seems to come on quick to 6500 redline. The PO used auto tune from a base msm map.

other parts that came with the car I plan to sell:
lrb doorcards
msm doorcards

Pics from when I picked it up:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dc9492c46.jpeg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6a6bb507d.jpeg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...20ed920e6.jpeg
Massive eBay turbo
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eba166b32.jpeg


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8adf71e21.jpeg
The day I brought it home. Kids were excited until I started it up and they heard the straight pipe exhaust. Then they cried.

PO drove it through salt and sand during the February ice storm on his way up to Arkansas which is why there is so much white under the car.

I have since raised it up to about 4.5 from the pinch welds. The PO had it lowered as far as possible and had the shocks on the softest setting. It rode like trash. I removed all stickers and removed the winged trunk and put on a duckbill trunk that came with the deal.

recently I have been cleaning it out and have it up on jack stands to replace all fluids and consumables.

Looking forward to being a part of the community!

Cheers,
BA

Welcome to the forum! Car looks like it’s out of an early Fast and the Furious movie haha. That is a massive turbo! Is the motor built or stock internals?

Looks like a fun project! What are your plans for the car? Weekend street cruiser, daily driver, track car?

Excited to see what you do with it. Poor msm

- Thanks! It definitely had a F&F vibe when I picked it up, not my style. I am fairly certain the internals are stock, but it has been opened up and tinkered with (not in a good way). The next post I will go over the engine.

- My thoughts exactly, I saw this poor msm on the curb and I had to do something. I want to eventually get it to the track and eventually compete in TT or WtW but would like to just drive it on the street for now. I also want to swap the engine, but its hard to spend the money on a swap kit, drivetrain, and supporting mods when I have a working drivetrain now...

Engine Removal
 

As you can see in the pictures above, the engine was leaking a good amount of oil. The subframe, transmission, and underside had a good coating. To make things even better, the fiberglass heat wrap the previous owner put on it was deteriorating and leaving fiberglass fuzz everywhere in the engine bay. I drove it around a few times and did not like that oil was dripping down onto the exhaust and smoking up the cabin through the torn shifter boot. Also, it would leave droppings all over the garage after driving it. So, I decided to pull the engine and replace all external seals and gaskets, do a once-over, and give it a nice refresh.

This being my first project car, I had never pulled an engine out of a car before. The whole process was a little daunting at first, but as I dug into it I found it enjoyable.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7392fa075.jpeg
Borrowed a friend's hoist and engine stand.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...24486bc56.jpeg
Came out pretty easily.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c9b231eab.jpeg
Labeled all the wires and started to clean the bay some.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...44d390f52.jpeg
Crappy fiberglass wrap that coated the engine and transmission
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2c5c3d166.jpeg
got it on the ground. Ready to split.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...49233f911.jpeg
Got everything labeled for the most part. You probably noticed the cutout of the frame rail… wasn’t happy about that. Guess they had a different eBay turbo kit that needed more room. I will address this later.

Engine on the stand ready for a light tear down. Let’s take a look at this poor msm heart. Definitely seen better days. I did a dry compression test and each cylinder read 150 which was a surprise.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ef8dca1e4.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...90634a67e.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...36d9990c0.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e0c5fc8c7.jpeg
Next I’ll start the disassembly.