I'm a car freak chick in my late-30's and have more cars than sense, at present (if you ask my husband, or my neighbors...). I ditched a Cobb-tuned 06 WRX wagon for a 05 Ti Gray MSM this summer. The WRX had potential but it was too fast for the stock suspension, brakes, and wheels/rubber that were on it. It lacked soul for me, too, nor did I need the 4 doors or hatch so I went to the answer you've all known for so long: MIATA.

My brother & I have a history of getting cars the other has or had. He bought a 99 Miata in 2008, supercharged it, and tracked the **** out of it. He bought a Spec Miata & ran SCCA regionals in 2012, then bought a LS3 swapped FD RX7 race car (dude, I know) for the 2013 season, leaving the SM to me to track this past year. I had started tracking my 95 M3 in 2009 and caught the bug bad, spending a lot of time & money on making that car a highly capable track rat, thereby pretty much ruining it for the street. It's currently a garage queen. My brother bought a 11 M3 Sedan for his DD in 2012.

Anywho, I have the MSM, the M3 track car, the 88 4Runner I got in high school (too attached to it to ever sell it), and a 03 Duramax 4x4 tow vehicle. It's pretty bad. They ALL need $ and a little TLC soand it's hard to prioritize. My husband is a mechanic, thankfully, because while I know a lot about cars and adore driving them, I hate working on them. Ew, dirty. Plus, I might break a nail.

Ok, long-winded intro post not withstanding: I LOVE my MSM. It has the known limitations of the terrible factory ECU & teeny turbo + the ridiculous 4.10 gears/6 spd combo but it is just so much f-in fun to drive! It fits me perfectly, and at 5'5", that doesn't happen often. I have plans for it, but the PO did enough of the foundation stuff that it's been a great platform. I bought it already with: AEM intake, manual boost controller, SSK, Scangauge II and Autometer boost/vac gauge, FCM suspension, and a hard top.

Abe (ARTech) is fabbing a full exhaust--2.5" from the stock elbow, back (I got nervous about boost creep & no plans to change the stock turbo out) and I'm excited about how much removing the exhaust restriction will wake the car up. All I've done to the car since I've had it is replace the silly stock intercooler w/ a eBay unit, put on BFG Rivals, & new (blank) rotors.

Future plans/wishes: Boss Frog Clearview single hoop, SL1 Speedsport clutch (brother has it, LOVES it), MSPNP, maybe the 3.63 rear gear. This will remain a street car--I won't do that compromise again. I'll just buy a race car for track/race. My goal for my MSM is that it be a reliably fun canyon carver & DD. I belong to a local Miata group, Bay Area Miata Drivers, and they go out regularly on spirited drives. I want a highly capable spirited driver. I think I'll be happy with 200whp. We'll see

Oh, god, I could go on. Thanks for getting this far...

 

Welcome to the forum! Please post pictures of your rides and all the trophies from Spec Miata. You will be much happier with the MSM when you get rid of the stock ECU.

 

Pictures forthcoming. Trophies, ha! I didn't say I raced w2w...I tracked it, never raced it. I couldn't stomach all the contact that's a given in SM with someone else's car. I wimped out, I'll be honest.

 

No harm there. Preserving the car to run another day while honing your skills is good enough for me. I'm just screwing around with modifications and enjoying track days, myself.

 

Welcome, Shan05. Check out the Miata Gallery and post up some pics!

 

Yes, the pics...if it weren't fer the dang job, I'd have plenty of time fer forumz I'll try to put up more, tonight. On-topic shots, below, to start.

Spec Miata, aka Kermit


MSM, aka Zippy w/crappy cell phone camera