Interior cleanup and cracked panels repair

[detach8]

I got this car from a workshop owner and it was filled with grease stains and cracked panels. Started taking the interior apart and brought them home for a wash.

Thought I should share, and maybe make this a documentation of my journey with this car.

Unfortunately due to the tax system here in Singapore (Google "Certificate of Entitlement") this car has only 1.5+yrs of life left, and I'll have to decide by mid-2016 if I want to pay around US$50K for 10 more years of tax to drive this car, or send this ride to the scrapyard.

Removing the trims around the handbrake revealed the original carpet and what it looks like after 18 years (car was mfg. 1996)

Every small piece had to come out, except for the dash and wheel -- I did not have the right skill/tool to remove.

All laid out for cleaning and repairs

Stay tuned...

 

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Bought some fiber tape and epoxy from a local hardware store. The 3M fiber tape is expensive; it's possible to get cheaper ones from RC hobby shops -- they use them to reinforce foam planes. I was just lazy to go all out to buy a $2 roll of tape.

Small strips of fiber tape as reinforcement and a generous amount of epoxy on top to mend the cracks in the panel. It's surprisingly strong.

This is near the hazard light switch -- very common area place for cracks to develop.

And of course the ciggy lighter...

And the area around where the screws meet. My advise is not to over-tighten these screws. They just need to be slightly more than finger tight. If they creak, get some felt tape.

Also used some plastic polish and gave the instrument cluster plastic a good buff.

 

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While removing the door panels I saw two wires running from what I think is the master lock relay. (Look closely right above the speaker there's a pair of green + blue wires)

(FWIW -- I also wrote a short guide on removing the door panel in another thread here http://www.micra.org.uk/threads/speaker-on-drivers-side-of-micra-has-no-sound.61252/)

AND it's running out of the sides of the door like this...

And so I removed the cover beside the accelerator pedal and found this mess. It's an old (disabled) alarm system. Low crime doesn't mean no crime, eh?

This is my pet peeve. I'm a computer engineer and messy cabling drives me absolutely nuts.

The alarm control unit in my hand...

Disconnected the alarm.

You may have also noticed those golden speaker cables in the pics above. They go nowhere. The previous owner probably had some sort of an amp or sub removed prior to selling the car, so I traced the cables and uncovered more horror.

The dreaded twisties with black electrical tape.

It's apparent that an ex-owner (this car had 8 prior owners) switched head units, so the original one was a good job done (with the crimp on bullet connectors in blue), and the replacement was a horrible twist and tape job. I do not like the electrical tapes as they become sticky over time and must release some sort of oil because the wires will also be coated with the sticky mess and lose conductivity.

The speakers also sound weird -- probably out of phase. I need to get home to find some wiring diagrams for the Micra and my JVC headunit.

Disconnected the cables and will be back after a proper soldering job.

 

[MicraPRO]

Looks like a good blog coming along here already, can't believe the laws in Singapore... my eyes were opened after watching "mighty car mods Singapore car scene" your tax system is bonkers!

 

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Here's the wiring chart I made. Ignore the stereo side. I had the Micra side figured out, including polarity. This is after some fair bit of Google-ing.

In case it's too messy to understand: -

• Red+Black Stripe = Constant 12V (+)
  
• Blue+Silver Stripe = Ignition / ACC (+)
  
• Black+Red Stripe = F. Right (-)
• Brown = F. Right (+)
• Black+Silver Stripe = F. Left (-)
• Blue = F. Left (+)

Soldered, heat shrunk and reconnected the wires. One of the connectors was missing so I used my own connector (the one with a transparent sleeve).

Tied up the excess mess

Radio back in place. Sounds much clearer and the cracking noises have stopped.

Also cleaned up the mess in the footwell

Instrument clusters back together -- with shiny clear plastic I polished earlier. It is also interesting to note that I attempted replacing the 4 T10 bulbs in the cluster with LEDs and didn't like how they look -- too dim and I preferred the yellowish tint giving it the classic/original look. This picture was taken in daylight under a shade with the regular bulbs.

Gear shifter, however, did very well with the LED. Was very nice and evenly lit. This pic shows the same T10 LEDs I attempted using for the instrument cluster. I deliberately picked one with an inverted dispersion pattern to prevent hot spots in the cluster. I bought them off eBay for something like 20 pieces for US$3. Granted, it took a while to ship from China but it's crazy cheap.

Lights on, but I took this in daylight so it's not apparent that the letters are illuminated (but they are, and are glowing nice and white)

I need to work on my engine (guzzling petrol like crazy) and I'll be away for a two week+ business trip, so the interior work stops until I return.

 

[detach8]

Looks like a good blog coming along here already, can't believe the laws in Singapore... my eyes were opened after watching "mighty car mods Singapore car scene" your tax system is bonkers!

Well, we don't have a choice really How many cars can you put on a piece of land roughly 50+km wide and 40+km tall with a population of 5 million? Hmm...

 

[detach8]

Ah I forgot to add that the original stereo wiring was messed up... it had the left -ve going to the right speaker and the right -ve going to the left speaker. Not sure how much that matters, but it certainly sounds better now.

 

[funky2nite]

keep up the good micra blog mate! guys like you help me in finding back the love towards my oldie micra, turns 20 next yr :/ but really really needs TLC

 

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I've put the interior parts back together, and spent another 3 hours polishing my headlights. Will try to take a pic of the finished product.

 

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Removed the old felt lining on the top. Notice all the clips here and the screw holes have actually broken off. I never found the bits that broke -- likely broken by the ex-owner(s) and crappy audio install shops. Tip: Don't over-tighten your screws.

Cut a strip off a big piece of adhesive-backed felt that I bought off eBay and re-lined the top.

I got lazy and did not strip off the rest of the old felt, but I added new strips on top of the old, then added some more to the bottom especially around the screw holes. See red arrows.

The felt around the screw holes were not so much to reduce rattles but to prevent excessive pressure when tightening down the screws. Those are the only two screws I have left to hold the entire panel in place so I don't want them to crack.

Also cut out a piece of non-adhesive backed felt I bought from a local women's hobby shop...

And there it goes. Not a perfect fit but... who cares.

I had some extra strips cut out, so applied it on the glovebox but it didn't help. It still gave a cheap clunk when closing. Just made it look expensive LOL.

All back in place.