what's new and why does nobody talk about it?

[CMF_TicTac]

I have been a member of this micra forum for 2 years now. And I loved my micra, my lil white 2 door formally known as tictac was destroyed but because of my love for the little nissan as soon as my insurance fixed me up I didn't hesitate to buy another one.

I will most probably sound hipercritical as I do not post a lot but everytime I do get access to the net (yeah its sad I do not have the internet) it seems that the all the little micra around australia are breakin down. Sure this is a resource site but ithis site used to motivate me to do stuff to my micra.

Its just after browsing honda, suzuki and all the other compact car sites they talk bout their rides with a passion and are excited to talk bout wats new with their number 1 mode of transport.

 

[CMF_TicTac]

In saying what I just said I wish to tell the tale of how the humble lil micra chanded my life.

In early 2005 I decided it was time to let go of my 1988 n13 pulsar, although a great car it had a damn lot a k's. All my mates expected a honda or a turb import but after months of research through this site I decided to give the micra a go. At first my friend thought I'd lost it and gave me a lot of crap for drivin a 1.3l bubble car, I felt like I may have well gone and bought a mazda 121.

After countless weekends around the twistie roads in the mountains round the sunshine coast they quickly came round. They were a lil confused how a small 1.3l bubble car could keep up with their high compression vtecs. I loved the looks on their faces.

 

[CMF_deNs]

There's no way I'd be seen driving a 121, that's for sure. I actually really liked your old one - don't see to many white micras around and I always thought yours was a good example.

I can't say much about how the site used to be as i've only been here since Oct '06 but a lot of the threads popping up seem to often just be about fixes and whatnot. It happens though, and i'm taking a wild guess here but I'd take a guess at saying this place is a lot less active than it used to be, which is a shame.

However, perseverance is the key

---dens

 

[CMF_TicTac]

My favourite day of all is when I time trialed a gt starlet over the quarter. I don't know what it was but they didi not know how my na 1.3 could come within half a second of their turbo. And that was not just one fluke test.

I finally got the car just the way I liked it, looked hot went well and within a split second a moron in his fat ass camry slammed into the back of me doin like 70km/hr. Totally twisted the chasis. it even started to bend in the roof.

Yeah I was upset, this man destroyed my piece of art and aparently its all becaused he sneased.

So after recovering from the severe whiplash I was straight up lookin lookin for another miccy, I didn't even contemplate buyin anythin else. Now after havin this for a few months I think it bout time I started gettin into it. I have done small things like transfering induction and stereo. Soon will be guages, exhaust, suspension, wheels and a whole lot more. I have given it enough time to build a trust with the car now its time to change a few things.

I have had a lot of memorable moments with my micras and I'm sure cisco feels the same. I would love to hear some great stories of why other members chose a micra over the massive vehicle selection available and what you have gone through to get to where you are

 

[CMF_deNs]

Being my first car, I had to look for something practical as a daily for me to commute back and forth from TAFE/Work. My first focus was for an R31 Silhouette, but with the realisation that I'd be paying more than i'd like for fuel - I went to look for something smaller after looking at a few R31's.

The next focus was AE82/92 corollas. Through a mate I found a guy selling a white AE82. Was nice but it was pretty rough in parts. Wasn't quite prepared to pay what he was asking for an '86 AE82 Hatch..

After looking at some more AE92's, a mate of mine who was helping me search came across some micras for sale on CarSales. I liked it from the minute I saw it. I called up the first one - a white LX, but it'd been sold a couple of days earlier. Then there was a green LX going for sale, but it was in Geelong. My mate convinced me to call him, even though it was quite a while away. Called up the guy, arranged to see it that saturday. Roughly a 2 hour drive there. Didn't have my P's at that stage so my mate was the test driver. Very clean and only issues were some door damage and bonnet stone chips. Paid the deposit and organised to pick it up 2 days later. Enough said really. Got my P's the day I picked it up, drove the thing all the way home.

Never did I expect that it would be such a fun an addictive car After suspension, brake, intake, sound and various other changes; I can't think of any other car I'd rather drive. I'm completely serious. Well, maybe a boosted micra. Driving evade just once round the block on low boost has made me want turbo so badly ever since.

I wouldn't hesitate to get another micra should something happen to this one.

Well that's my thoroughly boring story...

---dens

 

[CMF_Geoff W]

Great Idea Tictac. I only vaguely remember seeing you around here before. But I'll be sure to look up your member profile to jog my memory.

Well you could say that Micras were bred into me in a way. My mum and dad bought one from the dealership. It's a blue 95 SLX. It still resides in their garage. Funny how everytime they think about getting rid of it. They find a reason not to. So this is the car I learnt to drive manual in. Let me tell you after getting outta the 85 Tarago DX (with awesome 18R motor factory stroked to 2 litres) with a measly 350k km on the clock ( did I mention auto!!!!) A little Micra feels like a rocket ship

I did my p's test in it and passed first go. Thank goodness for that cause 6 months later the 'new' 3 year rule came in. So I grew to love the driving aspect of the standard on stilts Micra with featherweight power steer, unhampered by aircon though.

As time went on and I had drives of many other mate's cars etc, I really couldn't go past the Micra as an overall fun package. It went, stopped and handled respectibly. Also to tell you the truth I had always admired the Super S from the moment I saw it in the Nissan brochure that mum and dad brought home with them after signing the deal.

I then went on to have my first car ( a Nissan/Datsun Bluebird which I never drove due to it being given to me with a blown head gasket) and then a Brand new (cough cough) Daewoo (cough) Matiz!!! (cough - dont buy one, ever!) which was sold after 2 years of problem plauged, 3 sets of gearbox synchros and 40000km of motoring.

I sold it flat out to a used car dealer and used the money ($6000) for a purchase the fabled Super S just a week later.

I'd gone from a 2002 model to a 1995 model and this was the best ever move I have made. And the last as far as a nice car for myself goes.

Soon came the obligitory exhaust and K&N panel filter, along with suitably silenced (previously critical) mates after blats around the town.

Then came the suspension. That was done with the excuse that the shocks needed replacing! I went a little silly there, spending 2500 on that. But I have never looked back.

Now with my car well and truly on it's way to a turbo conversion, with freshish paint and every other aspect of the car pretty much molested to my liking I can honestly say that I'm living my dreams.

So there you have it, you stick with your goals, despite all the critics and hurdles and with the help of the best people in your life, you too can make a Micra truly your own. It is a sickness and illness that I am truly happy to have.

Micra on

 

[CMF_TicTac]

Thanks deNs and geoff. It awesome to hear how the mighty micra came into your life.

Its funny how it goes, yeah just a few simple changes, that's wat I said bout my last micra. And once you start you find it hard to stop, once your finished with one project its not hard to find something new to change. And it keeps goin and goin.

 

[CMF_mipcar]

Remember also TicTac, that as the cars are ageing and building up the k's. Repair and maintenance become bigger issues.
I've nearly always has small cars, coming up from the "real" minis, so the Micra was a natural progression.
I did not see it as anything special, just a nice small car. It's grown on me and I've never owned a modern car for as long as I've kept my Micra.
I've generally turned cars over at 5yrs 200,000k's. The Micra is 12 yrs and 302,000k.!. It's also only one of 3 that I've owned.
Long drives, Canberra and back in a day, following the truckies on the Hume and sitting on 130k's for 2hrs straight.
Carrying my dogs, towing my boat, the Micra does it all.

Mychael

 

[smidge]

to be honest, one of the reasons i find this forum hard to get around is the fact its not the phpBB setup like most other places, its a bit less familiar, harder to post externally linked pics and no notifications means you have to keep checking back... also the fact alot of pics are missing is sad too...

that said, i love my micra! its my daily driver and doesn't miss a beat, and the funny part is, after getting out of my 160kwatw twin turbo legacy on the weekend, monday morning doesn't feel slow at all! with a decent set of wheels and tyres it just transforms the car and it is unbelievably good on petrol too

 

[CMF_Yom]

Mine's in the bad books at the moment because its costing me money

First serious money I've actually had to spend on it though which is good I guess (just bearings and bushings).

I drive my micra proudly. I've had more fun with it in 2 years than I thought possible. Its taught me so much about so many things. I've seen some of the most beautiful places in australia with it. I've had it loaded up with literally no room to spare.. lots of weight. And I've driven it in some extreme conditions - sleet cold and blisteringly hot temperatures (driving past 'tough' holden commodores and toyota camrys which weren't starting or had overheated going up a mountain range).

Its never let me down. I can honestly say I would not be worried about driving it around Australia. I have 100% trust in it and somehow, despite it being a lump of metal, it looks after me.

I can't go a day without thinking about how much I enjoy it despite its flaws.

Just thinking about it almost brings a tear to my eyes lol.

Plus its so CHEAP to run. We really are SPOILT by these cars. I shudder to think how people can justify running vehicles which use more than 12L/100km. I can't imagine how I could justify paying for something like that haha.

I honestly don't know how the hell I'm going to be able to sell it. If I do.. I know i'm going to regret it.

 

[CMF_evade]

Well my micra story begins when my mum brought an SLX home one day.

I remember looking at it at first and thinking why did you buy this for..they were tossing up between a mirage and a prelude as well i believe..but they came back with the micra.

took awhile but it grew on me and I found Cisco's first site and found out more about them.

I remember getting a cat-back exhaust put on and it was CVT too..haha..but yeah then I decided to buy my own car..and I got a Super-S.

Can't remember what made me decide to turbo charge it.

I was speaking to a friend who had done turbo conversions as well and I was put in contact with him..and it just went along from there..he made a lot of my parts for me...

It ran with an emanage and 5psi for awhile before I started having stuttering problems..Decided to ditch the emanange and get a full ecu.

Had that installed and while we were tuning it for 7psi the headgasket blew. Off the road for 3 months and I got a japspec engine delivered and swapped in. Again had the tune checked and ran 8psi and put down 92kw.

Car was absolute ball now. I drove the arse off the car and it loved it. eventually lead to a gearbox going. Got another one off craig/esposito from a wreck he had. installed that and then since it had a noisy input shaft..I got another gearbox off another site member and put that in..which was nice and quiet..this also saw a bigger clutch and lightweight flywheel go in.

i remember racing so many people at the lights and the feeling of surprising people was just awesome. so many people were just 'what the hell just happened'

thats what i'll miss about the car..

but yes, to my dismay I had a frontmount installed...since the car runs a map sensor it is more sensitive to changes like that and I never got the car re-tuned..this saw the engine deteriorate and the 4th cylinder is a bit sad now...i did drive the car for about 15000km before it started beign an issue though.

This is when I had enough of fixing the car. If i had the tune checked it would probably be still running today. 2 engines, 3 gearboxes, 2 computers later..

The car made 110kw @ 10psi on that dodgy tune with tons of blowby shooting out of the rocker cover...that was its last run.

So I started stripping it.

My wheels, suspension went to dens.
My whole turbo kit/ecu/everything is going to Tony in QLD

The car itself has sat in my backyard for the last 6 months looking rather sad.

Fuel wise it used to run about 9lt/100km..when you were driving it hard.

Ahh I'll miss that car.

 

[CMF_fred]

I love the micra, nearly clocked 300,000. its ultra reliable and fun. many is the time I can chase down cars (over the twisty bits) much more powerful than me. cars include hsv clubsports, Rx8 and many motorbikes. many people think I a little weird about the micra, when they get in it, they say nice sound, she goes and have a different respect. Its just getting them to understand weight and power thats the trouble. Another reason why its a little quiet on the forum is (in my case) I'm busy with modding and haven't alot to show yet. also, its very interesting reading and accepting input from others and using the info.

 

[smidge]

speaking of micra's and how much you love them... i had a little moment of not loving mine today when in the middle of george st (main st of sydney city!!) my horn button broke and STAYED ON!!

The 30 seconds it takes to realise how to fix it and then find the right fuse for the horn circuits is kinda emabrassing

and least a few sydney siders had a good sense of humour and started beeping along in sympathy hahah

 

[CMF_JKL]

Im in the Pulsar Group and came accross my Micra for just $500. Since I dont have a pulsar at the moment, I thought Id find a Micra group. After finding this community and reading the info and tips, my Micra is now a promotion project for my business. Im a motor dealer and a mechanic. . You cant go past Groups like this for tips and information needed to really get the most out of your car.
Im looking forward to posting the B4 and after pics. Got my Body Kit today too.....

 

[CMF_TicTac]

Thanks all for sharin your lil stories,it been a great read. It good to know everyone s has the passion

 

[CMF_micragirl]

I bought my baby in 1995 brand new, after driving around Brissie in an 89 nissan pulsar with no air con. I drove it to Bega for a run, then back up to Queensland. We then moved to Tassie for a while, then came back up to Queensland. She has been up and down the Hume numerous times, trying to decide where I'll live. I sold her to my brother after 12 years of what I can honestly say has been the most pleasureable driving experience of my life. Apart from tyres and a battery that died after 8 years from new, I spent basically nothing on her. We won't mention the crappy load of fuel from Caltex which destroyed her throttle body, and which Alex so gallantly came to the rescue with a soldered replacement.
My brother drives her now, he's absolutely loving it, she goes from Cessnock down to Gosford twice a day, and up here to Queensland to visit me.
I sold it because I didn't want to go through the dramas of breaking down, expensive parts and inept motor mechanics interpreting her problems with ignorance and lack of qualification. I drive a Suzuki Sport now, its fun, fast and feels like a race car when its wound up, but I have no emotion for it, it's just a car. I loved my micra, you can tell, as I keep coming back to this awesome website, following all the other owners of micras and their improvements. I miss her. Tom, I know how you feel about parting with your car, I was the same, but to be honest, when push comes to shove, it doesn't make sense to keep a car for pure emotional reasons. This will be proven when you get your valuation and weigh it up against all that you have spent. It's sad, but there's heaps of money to be lost when swapping and changing cars. My son spent $9,000 on his beloved BMW last year alone, he finally decided it was time to upgrade, he was offered $500 for it, it is parked outside his house now, he still can't let it go, he pays the rego every 6 months just to keep it on the street.
Nissan didn't know what they had when they produced the K11 Micra, it was underestimated totally by the motoring public. I had been looking at them for around 6 months, for their "cuteness", little did I know when I drove out of the showroom that I was about to embark on a wonderful journey. I don't think I will ever experience that again.

 

[CMF_Yom]

lol I don't want to hear that caroline.



I know my mods are worth nothing to most people.. but it was never about that.

When the time comes and it absolutely has to move on I will have no choice but to let it go for what its really worth.

 

[smidge]

modding cars, especially expensive ones, is a total waste of money and you can only weigh the money against the pleasure it gives you at the time not at resale even one tiny bit

i've lovst over ten grand on my twin turbo subaru with well through out and profession upgrades and repairs and its now owrth 3 grand less than what i paid, and it wont even sell for that... quick way to lose 15 grand huh!

micra on the other hand, cheap to buy, cheap to run, moddable if you want to and no ones crying when it sells for next to nothing in a hew years time

yom i doubt you'll get anywhere close to what you want for it unless someone falls in love with it and wants it reaaaaaly bad

 

[CMF_Yom]

Yeh.. Its a slightly generous "everything has a price" price.

If I absolutely HAD to sell it.. it would be priced quite differently (quite a few good hooker's worth for you and your mates at least).

 

[CMF_tris]

my story is a little different to most. im younger than most of you on the site (still on my reds... for another few weeks) when i got my l's the deal was that i learned on the micra and my add was going to give it to me as he used it just to drive to the station each morning. (hence why it has only got 115k km on the clock and its a 95 model)

i didnt take much notice of how much i loved it untill i got my p's. i had a few friends with much faster and better cars like an sti, liberty rs and integras. so once i got my p's i started hanging out with them driving down at akuna bay, a series of windy roads that are almost deserted late at night.

the micra taught me so many lessons as i tried to keep up with them, i learnt driving skills like heel toe, cornering and from this my passion for the micra started. i looked on the internet and was amazed to see that micras were raced in japan. i started to do some mods. first to come was the MASSIVE spotlights. a bit of a joke as i was going for the rally car look. i got over that and descovered the jdm look and ive since got new wheels and played around with some custom (bunnings job) intake and some new brakes.

my goals in life are to own a turbo micra but i cant see that happening for a while cos im still in school.... for like 2 mths YESS and i dont know **** bout a turbo conversion. hoping to learn some stuff and do my own mechanic jobs to the micra as a project car to learn.

im thankfull for this site, and all the help the guys here have given me. and over my dead body will i ever part with the micra!!!

 

[CMF_Dark Side]

I could like go back to 1963 when I got my drivers licence. No P plates in those days. Pass the driving test and away you went.My love of small cars started with a mini 850cc, learnt many things, went to a Cooper and then the fun really started with a Cooper S.
Since then have always been a small car fan. Many moons passed and with raising a family etc small cars were not on the agenda.Well eventually the time came to return. Found this site in its early days decided the mighty Micra was the way to go and hence spawned White Knight and Family Hack. Happily Family Hack now remains with a good mate in Melbourne and Whitey has gone to who knows where.
I will be away from cars in total for 3/4 years but I will return and I know it will be back into a small modded car most likely a K12. The plans are already being formulated.Both my Micras were the most fun cars I have owned and only the Cooper S came close.
Rock on Micras.