K11 first car project

[mattspry1]

May 23, 2023 7:27:28 GMT peteh1969 said:

That looks very nice subtle and not "look at me look what I had for Christmas" the reverloutions in black make the biggest difference.

Pete

thanks man I'm trying to keep thing as tasteful as possible, not easy mind but itll be worth it in the end I'm sure.

[mattspry1]

Right, here we go, I'm starting to worry I'm sounding like a broken record. No mods, again, no real news, again. But ive got my test a week friday, so hopefully ill be able to post some pretty pics of the car in a location a bit more idyllic than the ptch of gravel outside my house. Insurance is going to be close to 3 grand, which is about the cheapest quotes ive been getting since the start of the year so thats not so bad and i can just about afford it monthly.

I know this isnt the stuff you people want to see, and i know its boring so i can only apologise for that, and I'm just trying to be as true to life as possible. Patience my friends.

Gave the car a full wash inside and out and noticed that where id had my magnetic l plate on the bonnet it had caused a bit of lacquer peel bit strange but not exactly worrying when u consider the state of my front bumper’s paint.





Probably a very boring read this one, but ill leave you with my very retro nissan btcc sticker, cheers.

[jonsey]

Good luck with the test

[mattspry1]

May 25, 2023 3:40:29 GMT jonsey said:

Good luck with the test

thanks man

[mattspry1]

Evening sports fans, been almost a month since the last post, about time i chuck a little post up. Got some good news, passes my test 👍. The racing beans been runnin sweet and in the two weeks since i passed ive done about 1200 miles in it. Being as low as it is i think ive bashed a few speedbumps too many and the day after i passed the fuel gauge packed in leaving me and my mate thinking we were stranded in the middle of nowhere with no petrol, £30 of petrol later and it still read empty so that was a fuss over nothing. Luckily ive calculated the mpg since brimming it (34 which isnt too bad considering the way ive been driving it) and ive been using the trip meter to know when to fill up until i get round to fixing the issue. I believe its an issue with the fuel sender float being wonky or broken as apparently the rally boys have the same issue after rough stages. I also did a single wiper “conversion” (very loose use of the term conversion) by taking off the drivers side wiper and rotating the passenger side one slightly.





drove it in the rain and it worked perfectly fine and from my research it should just about pass an mot. However a very nice policeman disagreed with me and told me to put it back on, but he did agree it looked cool and said that he sees me about in the car quite often so i think ill just leave the two on now. Hardly heartbreaking to have better safety in the rain i suppose. Almost knackered the clutch after trying to do a burnout and forgetting i had left it in fifth not first, but i got away with it, no slipping to be reported (lesson learned). No complaints about the car itself other than the lack of aircon which is slowly killing me in this heatwave and the fact i might need some physical therapy for my back by next year thanks to my lovely prosport suspension. Also chucked my new rear plate on.


















as you can see the old bolt holes (those awful curse word one way security shitter bolts) had gone a bit scabby so i gave them a little sand and some nitromors before “painting” them with an old touchup stick, hardly a pretty job but its hidden behind the plate so i don't really care. 

Me and a mate of mine whos also got a k11 have been arranging a trip down to see a man called andrew french (hes like the pablo escobar of micra parts) for some bits as hes got a prefacelift flame red car for breaking so hopefully by the end of this week or some time next week ill have a prefacelift front end! Ive also been trawling throuhh sites like buyee and crooober looking for interesting stuff and ive found these dtm/ group a style mirrors made for k11s so ive ordered a set of them because i don't fancy trying to make a diy setup with e30 ones from ebay. Something tells me they are just generic ones that have been listed as for a k11 but if thats the case then Ill get hold of set of standard micra mirrors and use the bases to mate these ones too.




I'm also after a set of standard micra mudflaps, think they could look quite cool on mine, so if anyone has a set to sell or knows someone who does please get in touch. Thats all for now, heres a pic of her up the top of afan valley with my butty luke making another cameo, i think hes got a bit of a thing for sunroofs😂

[jonsey]

Congrats on the test!

[mattspry1]

Found a ford today, no not that kind of ford. Be a waste not to take a few pics.

[duggers]

So how does your insurance hammer you for all the mods?
I remember my daughter getting her first car on the road and the cost was criminal although less than a boy of the same age (all to do with testosterone!) Insurannce was twice the cost of the car.

[mattspry1]

Jun 22, 2023 19:48:07 GMT duggers said:

So how does your insurance hammer you for all the mods?
I remember my daughter getting her first car on the road and the cost was criminal although less than a boy of the same age (all to do with testosterone!) Insurannce was twice the cost of the car.

About £2500, wheels and suspension declared, 500 down and then 200 a month for 10 months.

[Davey]

Jul 22, 2023 22:08:34 GMT mattspry1 said:

Jun 22, 2023 19:48:07 GMT duggers said:

So how does your insurance hammer you for all the mods?
I remember my daughter getting her first car on the road and the cost was criminal although less than a boy of the same age (all to do with testosterone!) Insurannce was twice the cost of the car.

About £2500, wheels and suspension declared, 500 down and then 200 a month for 10 months.

How is Micra life?

That's almost identical to mine when i was 17. Amazed its not had a huge change in the last 15 years.... How is it 15 years since i was driving my Micra...

[ducklooker]

I prefer the red bumper simply because it visually lowers the rear, matching the sides etc while the black bumper makes it look stumpy, comparitivly, if you get me???
Neat wee car.

[mattspry1]

Forgot about this thread once again, I've made some nice changes since my last post.

I've finally prefacelift swapped the car, the colour doesn't match exactly but I think a good cut and polish could fix that. my euro car parts front bumper (they sell some right dogsh*t) is too wide so when mounted the middle sags down as its pushed inwards. I'm going to try and pull it up with some help from a heat gun and if that fails I've got a genuine bumper I can paint black. the car also has a phase 2 grille on it at the moment but I'm going to swap to the phase 1 grille I've got at some point.



I'm no longer running the corsa b coilovers, they destroyed my top mounts (the drivers side strut even fell out at one point) so I was back to standard shock with a nice set of progressive lowering springs from Matt Humphries. they are very comfortable and handle well but I do fancy a set of BC Racing coilovers as the arch gap isnt great especially on the back. Id also like to switch to 14s with a higher offset as the 13s don't cope well with deep bumps and the low offset does cause some bump steer.

Another big upgrade was ditching the bus pattern seats for a set of prefacelift march seats, they look a lot smarter and are quite a bit comfier. call me dull but its probably my favorite upgrade so far, the rear bench is split folding too which could come in handy. I drove all the way to surrey with a friend to pick them up, nearly 300 miles there and back and well worth it too.



Another nice little change was removing the intake piping that runs from behind the headlight to the airbox, yes I know my engines ingesting slightly warmer air, but I've noticed that the drop off in power in the last few hundred rpm of second and third is gone, and, more importantly, it makes a fun noise. some other little bits I've got include a nylon gear knob (much nicer in the hand than the standard unit) and some fake Nismo floor mats. I've also got a set of cool parcel shelf speakers, proper J style and only 25 quid for the pair brand new on ebay, I don't care if they sound curse word, I'm sure they'll look mint.

The car itself has been running really well with very little issues. k11s have a reputation for being reliable and i found out just how tough they really are recently. I had been helping a friend work on his car and decided to go for a drive after leaving his place. it was all going well until I hit a flood at close to 70mph. the road was so flooded that, in the dark, I couldn't even see the other side of it. the car hit the water so hard the back end came off the ground and the car must've gone a goof 20 feet on the front two wheels alone. Once the car stopped I immediately threw it into reverse and managed to get it out all whilst cringing at the noises it was making. once I got it out it was idling like Dom Toretto's 69 charger and I was all alone, late at night, in the middle of nowhere, with no tools. I made a few calls but no one could come to help so I removed the air filter, dried off everything i could and went through a 3 hour ordeal of trying to start the car and move it without it immediately dying when I touched the throttle pedal. I soon figured out that the exhaust was full of water and was causing too much back pressure for the car to run. I pushed it through a 3 point turn and half a mile back the way I came until I reached the nearest downhill. I bump started the car and it just about ran as long as I kept the revs high. about 2 or three miles of misfiring and other horrendous noises later I pulled over and the car was running like a clock, so much so that I assumed it had cut out again. I spent the drive home after that with a big gay grin on my face haha. go do that in your mk7 fiesta. since then I've loved the car more than ever. that little CG10 should be dead but it refused to give up and it got me home. good car.

future plans are to 1.3 swap it and fit an AMR500 supercharger. I've recently dropped out of 6th form as I was sick of it and it wasn't worth it for me as I'm starting an apprenticeship this september. This means that I'm now working full time and have a lot more money coming in that I can spend on the micra. I'll make an update next time I do something to the car, but I'll leave u with these pics from my little exploration mission up in the Brecon Beacons on Sunday, cheers.

[mattspry1]

ughh how do I manage it? 6 months, no updates, what a tool. So what have i done to the car since march? in short not a huge amount, not long after the last post, I finally got my phase 1 front grille painted and on the car, rattle canned with halfords finest, it came out really well and was a great colour match.


The backbox inlet pipe decided to give up around this time aswell, on further inspection a few weeks later it had progressed to the point where there was no physical connection to the backbox at all, a lot of fun but it sounded exactly how you would imagine, I thought id treat her to a Gizfab sports box, lovely bit of kit, mr Gizfab's a wizard when it comes to tig welding. it made a great noise but I couldn't really hear it from inside the car, so i soon ordered the rest of the exhaust up to the manifold link pipe, 2 inch stainless with a single resonator, sounds lovely not too loud but you'll definitely here me coming, I heard the 421 manifolds really make a racket as k11s have a manifold cat as standard, so ill  be picking one up soon.











next was a knight racer Nismo rep spoiler, came attached to a 2nd facelift boot lid that was in better nick than mine, and had the much nicer high level LED 3rd brake light, spent far too long getting the gash tint and stickers off but I got there in the end and it was well worth it once I got my pre-facelift boot handle on, spoilers currently off as the paintjob was shocking so I've redone it (not amazingly, but it'll be a huge improvement), its just waiting for me to clearcoat it and then it can go back on.





I'm not loving the debadge look but stickers are on the way to sort that, and ive got plenty of badges nocking about, ive got a march polka wheel on its way from japan, and a little part to fix the infamous gearstick rattle (if you know you know). also picked up some pop out windows and I'm currently hunting for a 1.3 lump. The cars been as reliable as ever, been to loads of shows up and down the country including both retro rides shows (somehow invited into the late brake show section when i turned up at mallory park, i wouldve washed it if i had known) with no complaints at all. thats about all. I'll provide an update soon (that old chesnut) but for now ill leave you with some random pics of the car (opinions on my photoshop respray would be appreciated). bye bye.

[yoeddynz]

Looking good. Glad to see updates and that the little car is still going strong for ya

[ju4n]

Oii I remember meeting you in Llantwit Fardre, outside Premier a few months ago. Don't know if you remember but I had the blue 5 door. Seen you drive past a few weeks ago too. Found this while looking for wheels as I'm finally starting to mod it.

I reckon if you switch to 175/60s they'll fill the arches nicely and deal with pot holes better, since the diameter will be just a couple mm less than stock. Obvs they won't have the low profile look, but imo beefy tyres look better anyway. I've been using willtheyfit.com to compare wheel and tyre size combos.

P.S: If you're looking to sell the revo reps, I might be interested but I wanna see my k11 on 35mm springs before i decide on wheels

[mattspry1]

Hiya mate i remember, don't think ive seen you about since, i reckon 175/60s are bound to rub on the front, id be better off going for 165 65s, think ill stick w the current setup for a while, it works well enough, in the future ill either go to a set of ns2rs which i think are 185s, and a set of bc coils, that way i can dial in a bit of camber and should be fitting good. Saying that though, I'm fancying a set of ats classics, some wider genuine revolutions. Or maybe some ssr mk2s. But I'm not going to worry about all that for a while yet. Personally if ur only going to drop it 35mm get 14s, theyll fill the arch better, 13s, even with a higher profile than what i run will probably look a bit lost in the arches, and a high profile tire isnt gonna handle amazingly well.

[mattspry1]

Update!
Ill start with the major development first, ive got me hands on a 1300 lump, 45k miles out of a local car in the scrapyard near me, picked it up with out getting the 1.3 ecu, key and barrel (if ur not familiar with micras, you need to change the barrel and key chip for the nats immobiliser sustem when swapping ecus). Ill see hwo she runs on the 1.0 ecu, partly because it saves me a job if it goes well, and partly because if u try and research it then you get mixed opinions on if its ok or not and inwant to find out once and for all, worst case scenario, i take another trip over to the scrapyard.

Cant wait to get it in the car, spent an hour or so stripping the cut wiring looms and hoses off tonight. If all goes well ill start the swap this weekend. Ill be running the 1.0 gearbox as its got shorter ratios, so ill be using the 1.0 flywheel (I'm not sure if this is necessary but the 1.0 flywheel is a hell of a lot lighter) and clutch (a new one though of course) and ill swap the crank pulley from the 1.0 engine too (another weight saving).
Ill clean up the 1.3 (not going to bother painting it that can wait until i get the car sprayed), get the 1.0 out clean up the engine bay, slam the 1.3 in, get it running and then paint the head cover off the 1.0 and swap it over once its done.

As if one project wasnt enough, i spotted this little gem down the scrapyard and couldnt say no (impulse buyer). This is my 1992 polo genesis 1.3 breadvan.










Its lived less than a mile from me all its life after being bought new at sinclair VW in bridgend, belonged to a lady and then briefly her son before being sold to the scrapyard. Me and my father have gone halfs on it (£350 each, mint) Its a really honest car low miles, low owners, top of the range too being a genesis (not sure what it has that lesser models don’t, its very basic😂) but it needs a bit of engine work so ill save that for another thread.

In other news, the micra had its first crash, no not a crash, lets call it a racing incident, on thursday night. I couldnt see where i was going down some lane i didnt know, corner crept up on me, i lovked up on mud and went into the hedge on the outside. Snapped the track rod and took a nice chunm out the lip of my wheel. I approached the nearest house in hope of help and before i knew it i had 5 very posh gentleman and a kitted up defender to help get the car out of the road. After that i managed to get hold of a guy i know who does recoveries and he came to get the car home for me. Wouldve been fixed saturday but i ordered the wrong track rod (k12 i think) so ive got the correct one coming tomorrow. Luckily the wheel still holds air too so ive been quite lucky really, just a good job i was driving sensibly when i crashed, given the fog and rain though maybe i shouldve been going slower, hindsights a wonderful thing eh? Micra should be back on the road tomorrow evening.

Gave up painting my spoiler! Got it painted bu a professional and it came out mint, finally got the back stickered and badged up (gonna ditch the silver n get black stickers i reckon, ditch the micra logo too its cute but idk I'm not a fan). Lastly, i managed to find an airbag inflator for my march polka wheel, stroke of luck really, a guy who i buy micra parts off had one for an s15 wheel and we figured out it would fit so now ive got the wheel fitted, much nicer no more throttle grip😂. Next update will probably be next week, thanks for listening to my ramblings. Bye!

[ju4n]

Yeah man I almost got BCs but couldn't justify paying a grand, hopefully someone comes out with lower-end, £300ish coilovers that ship here, cos there's def a market for them.

Not too fussed about filling the arches too well as i like the look of small wheels with high sidewalls and worried abt the extra weight of bigger wheels. I think my car handles alright as is (prolly from front and rear sway bars), but the stock seats don't hold me at all😭😭.

Btw, seen these 4x100 ats classics for a good price but maybe not the size ur looking for, could look sick on the polo too:

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235722401891?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=H3aiNU77TZ6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=wq9innpxs9s&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Edit: sike ive just bought 14" equip 01s and waiting for black friday to get bcs😂

[mattspry1]

sorry mate, seen this too late, listings gone now but ive actually found a k11 on a set and they do look good, however, i think I'm gonna stick with my plan to dished 7j revolutions, could be tempted some ssr mk2s though, love 4 spoke wheels. regarding the coilovers, gizfab do coilovers a bit cheaper than BCs and they used to do a budget coilover too think they weer about £450, both pop up on marketplace now and then, i cant speak for how good or not good they are, but theyve gotta be better than corsa b coilovers haha. and yeah seats aint the best, my march seats are pretty comfy but its a struggle to stay upright.

[ju4n]

Good luck man, finding cool wheels in a good size that fit is tough, especially with marketplace's search engine. Took me weeks to find mine and drove 3hrs for them.

I've been looking for used coils too but don't bother looking for the old £450 gizfab coils, heard theres less than 20 sets out there. I've seen RS-R 60mm springs on ebay for a lot less than Matt Humphries ones, but figured the cost of them + new shocks wouldn't be much less than proper coilovers anyway.

So much hassle tryna find stuff for these cars😂😂