From the early 2000s into the mid-2010s, the best resource for anyone working on performance cars was the forums. Shops posted how-tos, sold parts, and helped DIYers, and anyone starting a shop had years of documentation to learn from. Then everything moved to Facebook, social media, and Reddit, where a good answer is buried within minutes and nearly impossible to find again.
The MSA Community Forum brings that resource back, built right into My Shop Assist. It works hand in hand with the Global Task List, so questions about labor times and services have a place to live.
Find the Forum
New MSA accounts have Forum on the left-hand navigation bar. The first time you open it, you'll accept the forum rules, and then you're in.
If you've been using MSA a while and don't see it, click the pencil next to the MSA logo, click the plus button, search for Forum, add it, and click the green check. Forum now shows on your navigation bar.
Control who can use it
Forum access is a user permission. Managers have full access. For technicians, go to Users, edit the user, and set Forum to read-only, read and write, or off, depending on how you want your team using it.
Categories
Categories are on the left, with posts inside each one:
- MSA related topics: report bugs and request new features.
- General discussion: anything shop-related.
- Parts suppliers: if you manufacture parts, post them here for every shop on MSA to see. There's no extra charge for selling to other MSA shops.
- Forms and templates: standard operating procedures, inspection forms, and other templates you can pull straight into your shop.
- Euro, JDM, and Domestic: Global Task List discussion by platform.
- Engine builders: discussion by engine.
- Fabrication, manufacturing, and general: questions that aren't tied to a specific car.
- Knowledge Base: every MSA feature article and video.
Share forms, tasks, parts, and project types
Posts can include things from your own shop: parts, tasks, project types, and forms. Other shops can pull them straight into their own MSA account instead of building them from scratch.
For example, the forms and templates section includes a NASA time trial inspection form and a 4G63 engine building form with torque specs and the full short block checklist, from chasing threads to checking the oil galley plug and torquing the oil squirters. Add it to your shop and you have a 4G63 standard operating procedure ready to go. If you'd like a form added as a template, post it or let us know.
Follow what you work on
Click Follow on a category or on a single post. If you're a Miata shop, follow the Miata category and you'll hear about every new post. Followed posts show at the top of the forum home page, and new activity sends a notification to your MSA notifications, so you don't have to keep checking back.
Global Task List questions
Every task on the Global Task List has an Ask button. Clicking it creates a forum post for that task automatically, so discussion about times, methods, and missing services stays attached to the right task.
On your phone
The forum is also in the MSA phone app, so you can check answers and post questions from the shop floor.
Make it yours
The forum is only as good as the shops using it. Ask questions, share what you know, and tell us if you'd like categories added, combined, or reorganized.
Watch the walkthrough above for a full tour of the Community Forum.