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K11 2001 Sport - Granny to Punany

Thought id finally make a blog to show off my micra and to help other new members as i have learnt a lot about my micra from all the very helpful people on here.

So about 9 months ago i bought a 2001 Micra Sport 1.0, not knowing at the potential these cars have, however it was too good to pass up at the time. Very clean inside and out, next to no rust on crossmembers and sills. So here it is before modding commenced.

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and this is it currently

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First up was removing the bump strips from the sides of the car, costs nothing and makes a huge difference to the appearance of the car.
I used fishing line to saw through the glue before pulling off the strips, then used a heat gun to soften the glue before rubbing it off, then petrol to clean up any sticky remains

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I took off the ugly hub caps next, gave the steels a quick sand and painted them with rustoleum straight to metal paint
I also managed to get some mini hub caps from a member on this site, plenty of people have them kicking about not being used any more, or you can find them on pre facelift micras

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I removed the badges using the same method for the bump strips and also the grills just unclip and pop out, sanded, primed, sprayed and lacquered

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Smoked side repeaters and wind deflectors from ebay. Wind deflectors are straight fit and takes 2 mins, the side repeaters however came with the wrong fitting and required rewiring, bit of a hassle but they turned out well. Also flyeye kit, cheap and quick method of tinting your headlights, i didn't really like the look though and changed them later

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Next up the 1.6 almera air box mod (year 1995-200), £10 from scrappys, £10 flexible cold air feed tubing off ebay (60mm by 1 meter), heat wrap foil from homebase for a few quid and an aluminium trumpet off ebay for a few quid, the trumpet isn't necessary but its a nice bit of bling
Undo the jubilee clip under the box and remove one bolt and its a straight swap, a breather filter is also needed as you can see in the picture, few quid from halfords.

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Headlights Next, after removing from the car stick the headlight in the oven at a low temp for a few minutes, this softens the sealing glue and the light housing can be prised apart, the chrome surrounds then unclip and i sprayed them black and removed the orange indicator cover before placing back in the oven to soften the glue and putting back together, resealing the headlight. New orange indicator bulbs are required if you remove the orange cover.

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Removing as much of the ugly grey plastic as possible is always good so i colour coded the door handles, another small detail that makes a big difference, mask off the surrounding area, sand, primer, spray and lacquer, leaving plenty of time between coats to harden. I used halfords spray cans for this. Sometimes get a bad name but i have found their paint gives a very nice finish if used correctly.

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I got some xenon bulbs and LED side lights from ebay for about 6 quid, they are a nice touch and the LED side lights look very smart. Pictures are just of the LED side lights.

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Next up i got some light tinting spray from ebay for about £5, masked off the reflector as this is a legal requirement. Looks darker than it showed up in the photos.
Also a couple of vinyls from ebay for a few quid
Also resprayed the silver hubcaps black, again halfords spray paint, sand, primer, paint and lacquer. Preparation and patience are key to good results when spraying.

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That is everything i have done to date, for relatively low cost and a big improvement to the car.
I have also got some PI 35mm lowering springs to fit which i haven't got round to doing yet.
Hope this helps some people and you like my micra :D

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Bit of retro styling today :D

Plasti Dip is my new best friend ;)

Mudflaps also on, look nice and make the car appear a bit lower to the ground (thanks to skinner for sending them over)

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thanks a lot mate

used plasti dip, it gives a matt finish but theres a bit of shine off it, no sanding/priming/clear coating required either, just clean it down really well, highly recommend it
 
Not much has been happening, just a new oil filter and fresh oil after doing about 10k since last changed and regular cleaning.

Cant help taking a few pictures at any opertunity though :)

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Hi mate great project and a great read and she is looking good, just wondering have you had any probs with the plastic paint since applying it and what brand was it?

Please keep us updated with pics thanks for sharing! :D

Cheers
Andy :D
 
Nice work! Very clean. Not to keen on the black bits but that's just my personal taste - apart from the headlight mod, definitely doing this on mine, which is the same but blue! I've been planning to colour code the handles as well, looks like the Halfords paint is actually very good so will try the blue :)

How did you go about painting the steelies 2-tone? Loving that!
 
Hi mate great project and a great read and she is looking good, just wondering have you had any probs with the plastic paint since applying it and what brand was it?

Please keep us updated with pics thanks for sharing! :D

Cheers
Andy :D

It's plasti dip, got it from a website called Matt pack as there isn't any stocked locally here, you might be able to find some around you though, very happy with the finish and its holding up well so far, no problems yet and can't see there being any really

Nice work! Very clean. Not to keen on the black bits but that's just my personal taste - apart from the headlight mod, definitely doing this on mine, which is the same but blue! I've been planning to colour code the handles as well, looks like the Halfords paint is actually very good so will try the blue :)

How did you go about painting the steelies 2-tone? Loving that!

Thanks mate, yea the halfords paint is pretty good.

I used a tins of rustoleum straight to metal paint from home base (can probably get it from any hardware store but stay away from hammerite, horrible thick stuff to paint with) just brushed it on so its not a perfect finish but you can't really tell unless you are up close, still neat enough

I personally like the black contrast with the silver but it was between that or colour coding but decided to go for the black as its a bit different
 
So its been a while since ive done anything, mainly because it has been raining non stop

Bit of sun today though so i decided to get rid of the ugly grey sills and spray them matt black

No ugly nissan grey in sight now :D

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Thanks, the wheels really make a big difference and set everything else i've done off nicely!

Based in Northern Ireland, loads of micras here but very few nice ones.
Its also near impossible to get anything bigger than a 1 litre micra which is disappointing, only seen one 1.3 in the past year of owning a micra and it sold before i got a chance to get a look at it.
 
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