Upgrading a 988cc K10

[janjachnik]

I have a Micra K10 LS. F reg (bout 18 years old i think)

What can i do to get more power. Its ok cruising along a motorway and flat roads but hills kill it.

I just want a cheapish way of increasing the power so the acceleration is a bit better and it will take hills better. I havent really done anything in the way of tuning. Im thinking air filters etc but are they worth it? do they do anything? Any ideas?

 

[Arnold]

Welcome to the club. Have a search mate, loads of info on here about this.

Areas to look at are the inlet & outlet manifolds, very restrictive parts on the K10.

 

[janjachnik]

Just been looking on micrasport.com and was wandering about air filters. Do they increase performance much.

K&N do a basic replaccement air filter to simply replace the old air filter but they also have the induction kit. Which is better?

 

[Arnold]

Neither really makes any difference to be honest. The Induction will make a bit more noise, but that's about it. I've got the K&N replacement element filter in mine, just so i could keep the air pan. You'l need to remove that otherwise.

 

[janjachnik]

If it doesnt make much difference then i dont see the point.

Doesnt seem that there are many low budget solutions for more power. Manifolds are quite expensive. Might spend my money on some new springs. Should improve handling right?

 

[Arnold]

If it doesnt make much difference then i dont see the point.

That's why alot of people give up with K10's and move on to other cars with more tuning capability. I think your best and easiest power gain is actually sticking a 1.2 engine in your car, that's 10bhp extra. You can probably get an 1.2 engine for the same price as the K&N filter, if you look in the right places.

The mounts, gear linkages etc are all the same.

Springs will increase handling yes, but you could also uprate the shocks, and get a rear anti roll bar from the 1.2 K10 aswell. You could also invest in wider performance tyres too! Cant go wrong with Toyo Proxies

 

[SammoHung]

strip the car completely of anything it doesnt need but still be safe and pass MOT declare what you need with insurance & DVLA and costs nothing...may be you can save some Kg's for power to weight ratio..

spare wheel and resundant seats alone are around 50Kg

Crogthomas might be able to give you some tips on maximising returns to cost ratio...he is the KING in this department IMO

gets noisy though

 

[paul_k10_Lx]

dont bother tuning it save your money and look for a better more tuneable car

 

[Fordy]

just get it setup the engine tappets, timing and mixture and idle

for more comfort i recommend you replace all 4 shock absorbers as i can take a guess and say your rear shocks aint rebounding at all and the fronts would be slow to rebound

monroe gas reflex shocks are nice and comfortable when cruising along and it wont lean over as much when turning, for use on lowered springs or standard springs you will get the same gains

 

[janjachnik]

Would these fit a k10 without rubbing? I'm guessing the tyres would need changing.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300101372481

 

[Arnold]

They shoud be fine on a standard suspension setup. You might have a few rubbing issues with the rear passenger one, if you decided to lower the car

 

[lewic]

If you havent done it already then change the spark plugs - made a huge difference in my K10 as they probably hadnt been changed in years.

Put a K&N replacement filter in my K11 and it did absolutely squat!

 

[Mat.T]

Would these fit a k10 without rubbing? I'm guessing the tyres would need changing.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300101372481

excellent choice of wheel, they would look great on a k10.

 

[bobsp16]

strip it all out and come and race with me,,,,thats all id do with a k10..lol