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

 

are the shocks grey?

sounds like stock MSM suspension

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

 

Red swaybars will be aftermarket.

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

 

stock MSM sways are red

 

Hmm, news to me. I stand corrected.

 

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

 

yeah, you have stock suspension

 

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

 

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.

 

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!

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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!

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

Thanks, snookums.

 

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

 

lol

n00bs