So I purchased the 2004 MSM that was listed for sale over the last few months from hmrknocker, great guy who has built one hell of a car. I had initially held off, as did others as the description made it sound like it was 100% track only, but it turns out this is truly a dual purpose machine. Shane delivered it on Friday afternoon along with two sets of R-comps, tons of consumables and all the street equipment. I drove if once we had it off the trailer and was quite shocked at the performance.
I spent yesterday pulling the hard top and working on getting it back to street condition so we can get it Maryland inspected. They would probably frown on the Kirkey seat, racing harnesses and lack of a door panel.
So yesterday I got my wife to go for a ride with me. I figured that was a "one and done" as she normally hates my cars. Turns out she likes driving in it and finds it more comfortable than any our previous Miatas. Must be the comfy seats, as the suspension on this car is serious. So you can drive around in this car and you would never know how truly fast it. It is completely a sleeper as Shane said it was built to be. Exhaust is not loud, car just looks like a really nice NB.
So when I drive this without my wife, it is completely different experience. This thing is a 4-wheeled sport bike. It is truly necessary to take it to a track to get the complete experience as a few seconds of boost and you are hitting triple digits. So I will be looking for the next FATT at Summit Point to get my feet wet as this car was built to race. Shane warned me that the stock wheels and Michelin Sport Pilots are no match for the power of the car but that on the Toyo RR's it really shines. Can't wait to try it.
This will be more of a ownership experience and less of a build, as Shane has started sending me the build sheet details of what is on the car. Let's just say the engine build sheet alone is 4 pages of the FM catalog and their expertise in building a hot motor that is built to handle boost. Everything has been done, engine, transmission, diff ratio change to 3.6 (solves the gearing issues of the original MSM), suspension is amazing.
So my first project is to get the car ready for the strict Maryland inspection. This means the seat, seatbelt, visors and other stuff needs to all be in place and working properly. This meant the kirkey seat and 5 point harnesses all need to be removed and the original seat reinstalled. Inspection is scheduled for Thursday so yesterday I finished pulling everything.
Turns out that to install the Kirkey low enough, they had made brackets to bolt to the front stock location, but for the rear, the original mounts were removed and the seat was bolted directly to the floor. So the options were to build a spacer from the floor and drill a new hole for a longer bolt for the rear seat mounts, or go pull the correct mounts from my parts car.
Good thing I had a car to pull these from as I doubt they are available. I'll leave the mounting points for the harnesses in place for a future track day, but this will let me put it all back together properly. Had it surrounded with 5 wet towels while welding them in and filling the previous seat holes.
I'll build a bracket for the rear of the Kirkley that bolts to the stock locations so it can be bolted in and out as needed. But that is a future project.....
What does this have for an ECU? The stock ECU is the biggest letdown on theses cars IMO.
The car has the FM MAZDASPEED GARRETT TURBO CONVERSION KIT running a Hydra with many hours spent on the tune. I have to admit it is really good as the car idles well, works with the AC on and all the normal things that normally don't work well with an aftermarket ECU. Of course with boost, it is perfect. I got the build book this week, made 306 HP at 6752 RPM and 275 lb-ft of torque at 12 PSI. It is tuned for as much as 16 PSI.
Spent the weekend with the MSM, with two trips up to the Carlisle Import show so around 300+ miles in two days. So for Maryland inspection, had to install the street equipment, seats, door panels, window washer bottle, license plate lights and the stock seats and seatbelts. With all that back it the car, it is quite reasonable to drive on the street, the race suspension is fine, most of my cars ride similar so not a big deal to me. Seat are comfortable, but you definitely sit "on" rather than "in" an NB seat.
First of all, this car is a total rocket ship. 6th gear is around 3500 at 80+ with another 3500 just waiting under your foot, no need to shift. Car definitely deserves some track time as it just is too much for my license to survive. Handling is perfectly balanced, easy to control and braking is just as good. Shane built one hell of an MSM. Not a bunch of improvements that I can make to this beast except to keep it happy and enjoy it along the way.
The final piece will be the FM Butterfly brace. It came with the package uninstalled and is the 2nd generation version, so I will get this installed this fall and from what I have read, the difference can be felt, so will be interesting to do a before and after on the same roads to see the difference.
