NA MSP - going the NA route

FunkyBuddha

Tuned by Slick Nick
:
2003 Spicy Orange MSP
So after a bit of debating..and trying to sell the MSP as is, I think I'm going to de-turbo this thing. Go down to NA and have a bit of fun with it.

The suspension is all pretty new, brakes are almost new, etc.

What I have for this :

stock P5 ECU (came out of my old P5)
Haltech E6X
lightweight flywheel

What I would need: (feel free to post what else I'd need to directly swap/tune)

- FSDE full motor
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-
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Will the P5 ECU go into the MSP as a direct swap? What other things would I need to consider?
 
You should take the turbo, manifold, dp, oil/ coolant lines out. Then take off the intercooler and piping.

slap on a header and BAM Na MSP.
 
selling your turbo kit will also leave you with a hunk of change to do some extra na good things such as cams and fsze pistons. fsze pistons, are 180$. then 360 for both intake and exhaust cams and youre picking up some hefty hp since you have that haltech to tune with. i look forward to this
 
Ya..that's the plan.

Is the MSP harness the same as the P5? And do I even need to stick in the P5 ECU or can I just go off the MSP ECU? I'd like to get the car running for now..so the Haltech will be installed down the road.

The plan in the short term:

Take out turbo kit and all turbo related stuff
Take out AC
Get the car running w/ a new FSDE (MSP or P5 ecu?)
 
how much are you going to be selling the turbo stuff for? and how much would you take off if i used an actual mp3 ecu for part of a trade?
 
ya i realised it wouldnt help you any when i remembered you have a stand alone either way ill be looking for a turbo kit soon hopefully
 
youve always had my favorite spicy. it was my background on my phone til i sold it
 
selling your turbo kit will also leave you with a hunk of change to do some extra na good things such as cams and fsze pistons. fsze pistons, are 180$. then 360 for both intake and exhaust cams and youre picking up some hefty hp since you have that haltech to tune with. i look forward to this

Where are you sourcing your pistons from?
 
Ok..here are my options. Just thinking about cost and reliability as well. I'm not going to put the Haltech in right away because I have to think about how I want to tune the car. I just want the car driveable and running with some light modifications for now. I'm more concerned with cost right now but I think I'm leaning towards Option 1. I just wanna know if I can run high compression pistons with the current car ecu or would I have to move to something else?

Option 1
Rebuild current motor - fsze pistons, SR cam gears
P5 or MSP ECU (can i run fsze pistons with these ecu?)
7lb Flywheel
ACT clutch
new pumps
remove AC, remove all turbo stuff
header (suggestions?)
intake (suggestions?)

Option 2
Get a full motor - rebuild that with fsze pistons, cam gears
Everything from above
 
im gonna address all of that lol.

i have heard that SR cam gears are s***. they dont allow for proper adjustment and can seriously hurt your motor. id go with focus's adjustable cam gears.

you can run fsze pistons with either one of those ecu's. the msp ecu will make you run a lot richer though, and the p5 ecu is not tuned for that high of compression. the mp3 ecu would be the best match, but what im trying to say is that you should seriously run the haltech once you install those pistons. there was an fsze ecu in the japanese familias but it was a completely different harness. good luck coming across a fsze ecu, and better luck coming across a harness. if you really wanna spend that much cash on a ecu like that pm focus, he might be able to help. but itd be a lot easier to run a p5 ecu and tune on base values. you could manage a lot safer, better tune that way.

almost all headers act a like. the most important difference would be the pipe style, 4-2-1, or 4-1. 4 -1 is very inexpensive and can be found on ebay. they are a little better for mid range (4000-5500rpm) power but in no way does that mean you have no top end. HKPRO5 made a how to on making a 4-2-1 header from a 626 aftermarket source fit. it would have a better power band from about (4500/5000-7000rpm , presumably). it all depends on your goals.

almost all intakes act the same. the only difference is CAI and SRI. cai gets colder air but has a little less throttle respons. vice versa for the SRI. its all your choice. but where you live i would pick SRI because its cold there already and a much lower chance to pick up water in the intake.

i dont see a point in spending all that cash on a new motor, you have one right now

if youre gonna build it, dont build it without the cams. just saying. they are whats gonna do the most work really (of mechanical parts). the haltech is also a must for this project. if you wanted to buy another part to build, i would recomment a head. mill it 0.010" and have someone port and polish the valves. fairly inexpensive and frees up some power.

hope ive been helping.
 
Definitely some help so far.

I had headers etc before on my old p5. I was just curious as to who's making headers nowadays for the car. Haven't been in the NA scene in a long time. I'm looking at AEM's intake again because it was a good unit from when I had the p5 as well.

What do you mean by "not adjusting properly" w/ the SR cam gears? I had them on my p5 for about a year and they were fine. Adjusted to about 3 degrees advance and there was barely any bottom end power. This was paired with the jspec cams too.


The most concern right now....having the Haltech...what should I let the haltech control and what should I leave to have the stock ecu control?
 

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