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MrMigs Micra - 'Wheels'

Right so, i've been here a little while posting here and there but i've not showed anyone the micra at all yet, i've also left a warning on one of my earlier threads saying i talk alot so if this drags on forgive me,

I'm currently a full time student, passed my test on the 25th of august this year and my pass plus this tuesday and now my folks have passed on their lovely 11 year old micra to me (FACELIFT!).

A bit about the car itself, its the facelift shape, fire red, no front fogs, chrome/shiny upper grill outlining, full set of mudguards, all completely stock and untouched and now the good part...no pas, aircon, abs, electric windows, central locking, apserlutely nothing, just a plain car, the way i like it!.

Condition of the car, generally quite good, outer body is great, couple of bruises here and there, some deep ones but can slowly be sorted out, front crossmember looks like its getting a fair bit rusty, as does the majority of the underside of the car (Rears worse then front) and the sills look like they'l need a good sorting out.

Enough paragraphs of talk! whats planned for the car? not much really, although i want to get it reconditioned as much as i can back to factory/stock, want to sort the rust out desperately and to iron out any current problems (Odd clicking, tweeting alternator belts, naff rear tyres.)

Whats first on the list? a good clean, give it a good wash and wax all by hand, and then moved on to hoovering the inside like crazy (Its 11 years old and has had to sport 3 young kids ;) ) a good wipe over and polish.

The result?

From This,

dity.jpg


dirtya.jpg


I laughed when i spotted something on the second image ;).

To This,

wheelsmicra1.jpg


(Now you know why they call it fire red eh..)

wheelsmicra2.jpg


And last of all, 1 beauty shot ;).

wheelsmicra3.jpg


I'll get some of the stock interior tommorow, its looking quite bright and fresh now also!

At the moment i'm having a problem with my left headlight seal, the lights condensed up :( also the glass was broken for the rear window a couple of months back so now the rear middle light isn't fitted properly and keeps tapping the glass (Annoying.)

And the only other problem really is a ticking dizzy? (I think)

But other then that i'll start cleaning the car up (Underside and engine bay) and its quite dirty and keep you guys informed with progress, will get signed up to MSC when i get some cash too (Real membership ;) )

Cheers,
Migs
 
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MrMigs08
Yeah its not bad for being completely stock to be honest (Very good nissan wheels i'd say, although they are surely quite heavy.) they are scuffed around the outside but i might be able to smooth them down and have them resprayed, i was maybe thinking of a nice white repaint on the wheels, not to go over the top with spraying, but keep it quite original :).
 
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MrMigs08
I was certainly thinking of the r-reg, maybe by 30mm? I'll have some photoshop jobs up by tonight hopefully, rear drums are quite rusty too, need a good grind down ;) and the front calipers, i've started cleaning up the engine bay except one think i've noticed is that the air filter plastic is...(Contaminated?) some white/yellow stuff keeps recoating it when i clean hehe, more pictures to come soon!

The only gripe i've got with lowering it is the brake fluid compensator, some people have said it can sometimes kick in (And without abs my wheels could lock), know much about this?

10 year old air filter needs replacing, so i'm gonna order a march/k11 air filter oem as i think the stock filter does a fairly good job.
 

solarice

Ex. Club Member
you'll be fine with the rear bias for a 35mm drop, you can adjust it easy enough anyway. Only becomes slightly more difficult the lower you go, but even then its not a big headache. :)
 
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MrMigs08
If i replace the springs with say a set of 35mm dropped gmax springs will i have to concider anything else? (Will the panhard rod be effected at all?)
 

r-reg-sr

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Site Supporter
as far as explained to me bout abs system is that you hit the pedal as hard as you can and the abs does the braking for you in hard breaking situation-so your not actualy breaking the abs is-so your only breaking yourself at lower breaking force
always test breaks for emergency breaking - breaking under stress of hard turns----when springs have been changed/alterd

EDIT- stops breaks locking up -
 

solarice

Ex. Club Member
panhard will shift the axle over a little bit, nothing that should cause major problems though. You could i suppose bend the original to match it to the drop or of course buy an adjustable.
 
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MrMigs08
Hit a fense today, i wana know verdict of my front left (when sat in car) bumper, i want to know if i should take it tol body shop or bend it back, sand, prime, paint?

picture to come!
 
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MrMigs08
Theres a whole in the coolant tank now too reg :/ just gna wait for rain to stop :(

the top of the tank slightly collapsed, its very weak right now, garage advised to use electrical tape temporarily but theres plastic inside of the tank too now :(
 
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MrMigs08
Yeah the mechanic says he used to drive micra :D he says the tank should be ok since it doesnt pressurise, just worried about the piece of plastic fell in the tank :S its size is small enough to fit through some of the piping (if that helps lol) im quite worried but i dont think coolant flows that fast so the plastic shldnt get sucked out

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4371/20100916002.jpg

car pic 1
 

frank

Club Member
i doubt if any bits of plastic will get through the little return valve in the radcap fwn and i binned my expansion/catch tank years ago (and i run with a 1 inch airspace in the top of the rad)
and you should be able to pop the dent out of your wing and then polish most of the scuffmarks out eh :grinning:
 
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MrMigs08
Right so progress report, spent a whole day on the pannel today, and admittedly it didn't go well at all! :( (I lose 3 bolt/nut heads, 1 which i think collects the side pannel to engine support and 2 which connect side pannel to sil, but i think the sill ones are more important because right next to the engine bay support screw/nut, there is the connection to the bumper, as well as the main headlight supporting it.)

So after the accident, i wen't to have the pannel properly buffed at a friend, to my suprise all the marks were removed except the heavy damage to the paintwork (I was really suprised actually.)

Today i spent a whole day getting the pannel off (to be honest i should have taken the front bumper off too, life would have been so much easier) but it seems the years have taken its toll on alot of the screws/nuts infact i dont even know what they're called but there now headless :/.

So first of all, wheel off, then wheel cover? removal (Don't ya just love noobie car folk hey ;) )
All straight forward, easy to remove, had a problem with 1 mud gard screw, nearly completely frayed under the pressure but got it free in the end!!

20100918001.jpg


So heres a picture for kicks with the cover and mud guard off, there was enough mud hidden away in places that i could have filled a plant pot and planted some nice flowers :'), my whole area i was working in was covered with it in the end!!

20100918002.jpg


Also just quickly, is there anything left on my brake pads? Haynes pictures a bit.....grey?

20100918003.jpg


So im trying very hard to get this pannel off, getting loads of grief as i didn't remove anything, just wanted to pannel off, and im doing ok untill towards the end, when the worse possible thing could happen, and i need advice on how to get these out because i cant be driving around with a make shift clamp which is crushing the pannel to the sill!!!

(Below are the headless screw/bolt pictures,someone please give me the right name of them xD)

23099757.png


20100918007.jpg


You can see in the above shot my micra aint doing to well in the rust area also :(.

But in the end i say the results are very promising!! unless i buy a new pannel i will be sanding the damaged paint off, filling it up, smoothing the filler then repainting and hopefully the car will look just like before! aslong as i am patient with it,

20100918008.jpg


Anyway i look forward to your advice and reccomendation guys!

Oh and coolant tanks cracked some more, phoned some scrappies to see if they had any and no! got a major one to check out though :) unless someone can provide me with an ebay link? i've searched for micra coolant tank and res and haven't had much luck lol.
 
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MrMigs08
Ahh, its great having people that know what the hell they're on about haha!

I have to say though, that left front wheel, when i spin the wheel hub, it sounds like the pad is constantly rubbing against it, is it meant to be like that?

Whats a 10mm self tapper? is it a type of screw/head thingy?
 

frank

Club Member
you could check the heat in your wheels after a run (a sticky caliper will create excessive heat)
and the end of the bumpers have 10mm speedbolts in :grinning:
 
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MrMigs08
Hmm me alloy felt warm when i came home after a run, i'll have to do again frank and i'll give you the results tommorow,

Thanks again mate!
 
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MrMigs08
Right frank, both front alloys heat up to the point theyre warm, today is freezing with a fair amount of rain so its definately noticable, back alloys are cool.

Also my brke pedal now sounds....sqeekyish lol as well as when i was turning the steering, it sounded a bit grindy, not in the sense that its metal grinding, but a bit soft, its hard to tell, will have to check the wheels on properly, could just be water though,

Ill see if theres much play on the pedal, i think it randomly dropped a couple of cm earlier this month, just randomly went soft on me.
 
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MrMigs08
Hehe thanks reg, appreciate it, so far the car is seeming ok, still runs like a warhorse, currently scrap yard scavaging (first time, pretty friiikin cool if you ask me,) some o'l nissan motors there, even an old broken down mr2, love them cars haha, about 9 k11s but no k11c, every single one had its coolant tank taken but one had one with broken mounts :( still looking damit!

Also k11's, the wings dont fit me k11c, so many red ones! made me cry that i couldn't use them for me own :( i'm going to keep scavaging around :) hopefully all will go well, keep you guys posted.

On the bright side i've got some more nuts n bolts (for the sill mount) which im quite happy about, just need them drilling out now (Hopefully within the week) but even if i cannot get the original screw end out, i can still use my own nuts on the mount anyway :).

Keep you guys posted (Y).
 
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MrMigs08
HAHAH! Corrected! but you picked up on it that fast that asoon as i click edit you post ! :)

I also need to swap from shell fuel saver as i'm experiencing some pretty fast burn, but it may be that i', still running a black 10 y/o air filter xD
 
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MrMigs08
Right, swapped off fuelsaver thanks to the thread, i'm not getting about possibly 80 miles per 10 pound but thats taking it all the way into the red, went out the other day and found the injectors had siezed! they weren't injecting, was well worried but she woke up in the end!!

(I was getting like 40 miles per 10 pound from shell, could barely go two days lol...)

On the bright side guys, were off scrappy raiding tommorow muahahaha!

Incase i cannot get what i need, what are the odds of me swapping to earlier k11 headlights and wings? there are so many good condition fire red micras here but just plain k11, not k11c! :S

Cheers fellas!
 

sleeper_ss

Ex. Club Member
Your front wing is easily repairable & could be done on the car..There's a load of how to vids on youtube if you want to have a go.Look into doing it in basecoat & laquer so you get to keep the colour match between the wing & the door..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycw1GKbc5O8
If you've not got the tools to drill the broken wing bolts out you can drill a small hole with a cordless drill & put a self tapping screw through..
 
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MrMigs08
I suppose its rust i worry about, and the lower side of the bumper seems to be bent down (along with the whole corner having uneven surfaces due to my poor straightning attempt),

Today was great success, we got a headlamp in great condition (Y) and a coolant tank wahooo!!!!

The parts came from a green R reg micra which looked to be in great shape, people slowly salvaging the parts from it, pictures of the two new parts will be up soon :).

Thanks for the advice sleeper, i think i should sand it down to bare metal, then use fiberglass filler maybe? to try and completely add the depth back to wing then use filler, snd down smooth, then prime and paint, although it may take time which is why i think if i can aquire a wing, it'l be a straight swap, and i know there is alot of red micra out there, but k11c i can't seem to find! (Only 1 micra in the scrappy i went to today, tommorow i may try the biggest place i'm local to.)
 
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MrMigs08
Another boring post!!

Right so its been a while from the update, i did say i'd show some of the interiors quickly, then maybe you guys have some suggestions what to do, so here are the interiors!!

After a good clean, the k11 can look quite presentable and fresh, even after 11 years!
intrt.jpg


Here is the centre console with JVC head on the unit, i dont know if the unit is stock o_O but it powers the front two stock speakers (No rears but they are planned)
int2h.jpg


Here is the stock seating with the patterns etc
int3.jpg


This one is just a picture of the stock dash, but because all you msc folk have cool dash with rev counters or exterior tachos xD.
http://img440.imageshack.us/i/int1u.jpg/

So still just working to condition the car better and better bit by bit, even the engine bay is slowly being cleaned when i get some time!

For you guys wondering about side pannel, its still the same, it did get pushed out but i didn't have much pictures on it so heres how it stands now, (It still looks so much worse in person hah.)
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/808/pannelz.jpg

And remember my old friend headlamp with the broken seals? Well some two weeks of scrap yard searching (For k11c *Holds fist up*) finally found me a beaut r reg micra with some superb condition parts on it!
12893550.jpg


Like new hey! but also when we were working on the car, it was so stupidly put together, this headlamp alone was held on by plastic tags, no nuts and bolts!?! no wonder when i set light height to 0(max) the lamp turned like it was full beam!!

But now you all bored because im talking too much, well here is some of whats been going on in the past weeks,

First we have more part replacement (Yessss! coolant tank!!) Thank you lovely r reg micra :D
newtankold.jpg


You can see in close, this tank is also structurally weak like my old one, however it is complete so no more leaking!

Next we have some DIY makeshift modding (haha ok it sucks, but there is a notable difference with low end torque, and my inspiration from the EBB project thread haha.)

You have the stock air inlet piping which in turn does not weigh alot however the design is not so bad, it does what it is suppost to, although there are benefits with it off (And on i think too!)

20101003001.jpg

So lets take sound resonance air inlet off here :D

And maybe....
20101003004.jpg

Cut it down and sand it, this becomes a double headed Y shape air intake

20101003005.jpg

Who says you cant have fun with stock internals hey! We were also planning on drilling around the flexible (Straw like, grooves?) but were uncertain if it would help intake air, or just loose air.

20101003006.jpg

Getting ready to mount, you can see i took a fair bit off but this is ok because guess what, another nut head snapped on the AFR when my friend fitted the coolant tank! damit what will i do with all these stupid nut heads!!

Oh yeah almost forgot these
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20101004010.jpg


When i fired her up and hit the accelerator, boy did it sound great, the CG10 seems to have a nice demand for air, and that wooosh you get is insane, i find i can climb slopes or travel at much lower RPM with available on demand torque then i used to, high speed seems to feel the same, i think the CG10 wants some more air so we may look into funneling air into the corner of the engine bay i have used!!

So now i've spoken like idiot, at the moment progress is slow but im clearing up engine bay, looking for new wing, slowly maintaining (Injectors need a clean i think too as i had 1 sieze up last week!! but not while driving :p) and i think sparks, my engine is getting quite rough after oil change a month ago at high rev, and i think it may be (Hopefully down to age of some of the parts) so get them changed with maybe the bosch quad head ones that ebb was playing with xD.

Now its time for MSC help as always, the best kind of help!

The engine breather? possibly filter has oil/black substance (Smelling slightly of petrol) on it, am i meant to be worried? because i dont normally think filters have oil on them haha! what is my cg10 telling me!!

20101004011.jpg


20101004012.jpg


Black ish substance so i'd imagine oil, but i dont know if its good or bad, and can this filter be washed? it seems quite mucky!! or maybe its built to soak up oil o_O.

Thanks for all the help MSC, look forward to replies! (If you still awake after reading :p).
 
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