Kyle_MSM

I'm Kyle, nice to meet you guys!

I've been ingesting an insane amount of youtube videos and forum threads for the last several months learning about the different generations, mods, and maintenance on miatas. I never really knew about the MSM for some reason but I've had an s13 coupe and gen 2 MR2 in the past. I'm in CA so building a turbo miata legally seemed harder/more expensive than just grabbing an MSM to see what it's all about.

Anyway, picked up an 04 MSM this weekend. It has 69.5k miles but had a rear bumper replaced/resprayed and the wheels have more curb rash than my liking. It put it in my price range and I want a fun car to drive, not something I'm going to regret putting miles on. It's genuinely fun, more than I was expecting having experienced other JDM type cars from the same era. I'll follow the photos with my growing list of questions.

Kyle_MSM

Now for some beginner questions!

1. Manual says 10w-30 but saw a different spec in a FM video, any opinions on that? Any brand recs or is Mobil 1 fine?

2. I've read the MSM radiator is different and more expensive, is this $89 MSM radiator on carparts that is marked $488 msrp legit? The original plastic one is turning color and the car was a little on the warm side (right of 1oclock on the temp gauge) after running it through some hard accelerations during the test drive. It was dead on 12oclock while blasting the heater the rest of the drive. Should I just be getting a nice aluminum radiator instead?

3. 70-75mph shimmy. My brother and I thought it was just the road on the test drive, that's how subtle it is. After noticing it again on the drive back home, I went through that mph range with a heavy acceleration to see if it was worse but it seemed to disappear. I'm ignorant on this one but does that seem driveshaft/axle/hub related? I'll drive it again after the oil change and do some more experimenting.

Thank you guys in advance, these are 3 things I want to tackle ASAP.

Kyle_MSM

Went to FM's website and asked the guy in their chat. He said he would ask the rest of the crew and get an opinion, they all say 10w-40 for the MSM.

I just ordered a FM radiator to get it over with. I would like to improve my driving skills by doing some autoX in the summer so I figured I might as well be 1 step ahead of any potential overheating issues.

Would love to get some input on the shimmy at 70-75mph. Any opinions on things to check would be very welcome!

douginjenison

iTrader: (1)

1. 30 or 40 is fine -

• SAE 10W-30 motor oil: -25°C (-13°F) to 30°C (86°F)
• SAE 10W-40 motor oil: -25°C (-13°F) to 40°C (104°F)

so depends where in CA you are…

Get a quality racing oil - Redline/Royal Purple/Brad Penn/Driven/etc. Mobil 1 is a compromised oil designed for cars under warranty. Also ignore people that recommend a diesel oil for your gasoline engine.

3. Hunter Road force balancing - use the Hunter Website to find a local shop that has this machine. Miata’s are very sensitive to balancing- A standard balancer is not always effective for Miata’s. A shimmy in the 60-70 mph range is pretty common.

ozbrock

In the decade+ I've owned my MSM I've come to learn the buy once cry once approach to repairs or modifications will go a long way if you plan to keep the car for a long time and want it to perform well and be reliable on track or at autocross. I like to support both 949 Racing and Flyin' Miata for parts, and both are the most knowledgable in the game if you have questions on setup or any advice really. Good choice with the FM radiator.

For the shimmy I'd start with checking the balance on your wheels/tires and go from there. I would recommend ultimately ditching the 17's for some 15x8's with 205 tires, 15x9's with 225 tires, or 15x10's with 245 tires depending on how much grip you're looking for with autocross.

Check out Mazda-speed.com - Index The forum is no longer active, but theres lots of good MSM info archived there.

Kyle_MSM

Did an oil change and FM radiator install this weekend. Reaching the oil filter was a decent amount of effort, I learned a lot for next time.

As mentioned in my previous post, the radiator was turning color. I reached out to FM's chat to ask them if their radiator was a straight "drop-in" replacement for OEM and the guy said "yea, pretty much". It wasn't. I had to cut up my OEM fan shroud to fit the hoses and drain plug. I had to file down flange/bracket on the AC condenser (passenger side) so it didn't crush the fins on the radiator. Although it was time consuming, it was fun to figure out how to make the puzzle fit. I need to close up some gaps to ensure air flows through the radiator better but I took my fiance for some fun driving Sunday after finishing the job Saturday night and temp needle was stable the whole day.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback and input. I spent too much time wrenching and watching football to get to a wheel balancer this weekend, that is next on the to-do list.

Z_WAAAAAZ

Ahh yes, I also remember getting ready for a 20 minute radiator install when I got my SuperMiata radiator haha. Totally feel you on the puzzle aspect, though. Kinda annoying having to cut the shrouding but it's so satisfying once you finish that final cut that allows everything to fit perfectly. Good stuff, looks like you caught your radiator right in time.

Regarding your highway-speed shimmy. Check the PPF height adjustment as well. Common cause of NVH at that speed and lots of documentation on the interwebs about it.