Introduction + My K11

Hi all

My name is Daniel and I’ve been a Micra owner for about 6 months now… I bought this ’96 K11 Micra off a friend, who purchased it off a forum member you may know – ‘2’.

Although I was a little sceptical of this car at first when I purchased it, the mighty micra has brought me many hours of enjoyment in driving, tracking and modifying it!

Pics and specs:

1996 Nissan K11 Micra LX



Super-S front bar w/ driving lights, Series 2 front grille, Aspect FRP wide fenders, towhook, shaved side mouldings, single wiper… and a custom matt tungsten paint job! Sparco bonnet pins on order



East Bear rear diffuser, Super March LED tails, badges and rear wiper removed



Spitfire leads, NGK plugs, Odyssey light battery, Whiteline tower bar, custom cold air intake w/ pod filter & cold air duct, Exedy clutch, Jun 4.3kg flywheel



The left grill actually works quite well, as part of it is an opening for my cold air duct, and the other part is to cool the header…



Set up is Hurricane 4-2-1 header + flexi pipe + hi flow cat + 2 inch mandrel bend system + 3 inch dumpy tail muffler. It's quiet loud especially from inside, but I've grown to become quite fond of the raspy note.



Lightweight Weds Sport TC-05 14 x 6.5 (+20 offset) wheels wrapped in Toyo Proxes R888 semi slicks, black APX nuts, full Pulsar N15 1.6 brake upgrade, Motul RBF600 dot 5.1 fluid



Stripping out the interior – removing carpet, centre console, air con, climate controls, stereo, speakers, some sound deadening (not all yet), and everything behind the dash



Nardi classic wheel + boss kit, D1 quick release, APX Ti knob, Billet short shift, bucket seat, amber illuminated dials, Defi VSD display, Nardi pedals on order



Mu secret HID hi/lo kit 6000K with Super-S driving lights hooked up!



(Old pic with Micra DBA discs) Suspension set-up includes; Racing Gear JTC N1 Dampers, Whiteline gear (front & rear sway, castor/anti lift kit, panhard rod, bump stop kit, rear trailing arm, tower bar)

COMING SOON



Tomei Poncams 256degree in/ex and also a piggyback ECU (Apexi AFC Neo). The engine was cracked open to inspect condition of the head before cams were installed, looks like I will need to order a new hydraulic tensioner before we install cams…

Will be looking at respraying the car next year inside out in matt black, will need to take out engine and will also do a wire tuck!

Call me sissy but the car has become pretty unbearable driving on a daily basis now because the suspension is so stiff, inside is so loud due to the lack of sound proofing, and there is no comforts whatsoever… I think I may need to buy another daily driver soon and just leave this as a toy.

Having said that, I love the car and plan to keep it as long as I can! Stay tuned for more updates and thanks for looking…

Thanks to member nsm (nick), IS Motor Racing and brother Nathan for helping me with all the work.

Cheers
Daniel

Mod list as of 30/1/2008

Engine

CG13DE (tuned at 108hp @ 6500RPM)
Splitfire twin core leads (blue)
NGK Iridium IX spark plugs
Nissan GA15 185cc fuel injectors
Tomei Poncam IN/EX 256 deg 8.35mm lift
Odyssey PC680 light battery
Castrol EDGE Super Syn 0w40

Drivetrain

Billet short shifter kit
Exedy heavy duty clutch
JUN 4.3kg lightweight flywheel

Electronics

Apexi AFC Neo (tuned by Indy @ IS Motor Racing)
Defi VSD

Intake & Exhaust

Custom intake (polished metal intake arm, SAAS pod filter, breather filter, cold air feed)
Nissan GA15 50mm throttle body w/ bypass valve
Custom exhaust (4-2-1 header, flexi, hi flow cat, 2” mandrel bent piping, 3” dumpy muffler, sprayed black)

Suspension

Racing Gear JTC N1 Damper (F 6kg/R 4kg)
Whiteline heavy duty front swaybar
Whiteline adjustable rear swaybar
Whiteline castor/anti-lift kit
Whiteline adjustable panhard rod
Whiteline shorter bump stop kit
Whiteline adjustable rear trailing arm
Whiteline front tower bar

Wheel & Tire

Weds Sport TC-05 wheels (14 X 6.5 +20, super white)
Toyo Proxes R888 semi slicks (185/60/14)
APX lightweight wheel nuts (black)

Brakes

Nissan Pulsar N15 complete front brake setup (calipers, discs, pads)
MOTUL RBF600 dot 5.1 fluid

Exterior

Backyard job flat tungsten paint
Auto Shop Aspect FRP wide fenders
East Bear rear bumper
Micra Super-S front bar w/ driving lights
Micra Series 2 front grille
Super March LED tail lights
Mu Secret HID Hi/Lo 6000k
MTEC Titanium single wiper
PRtechnology front towhook (red)
Sparco bonnet pins (red)
JDM March Cup windshield banner (red)
Vitaloni vintage side mirrors w/ Nissan OEM mirror covers (all matt black)
Misc (rear wiper deleted, badges removed, side mouldings shaved, colour coded license plate garnish, rear guards lipped, aerial removed)

Interior

Nardi classic steering wheel 360mm
Nardi aluminium pedals
D1 quick release w/ Carfit bosskit
APX titanium shift knob
Safety Way wide rear view mirror
Micra Series 2 door trims
No brand bucket seat
Misc (fully stripped interior, amber illuminated dials, custom mount for AFC Neo, carbon fibre instrument block off)

its funny how hard it is to have a car that does it all, you always have to comprimise one way or another

but mate, that paint colour is just awesome!!

wouldn't mind a set of your door trims either!

AS I recall "2" had the car stripped a bit as well. Lightness was his thing. Used to have a carbon fiber or black bonnett.

Mychael

wow.... i had a look at buying this car off the owner before 2. his name was jing... didnt like the lack of powersteering though!!

jeez alots been done to it since then . basically all it was was just the suspension, interior and wheels. no engine mods. looks good now though!!!! i loved the quick release steering wheel haha. hope to see you round the streets of sydney! or is it guna just be a track car?

smidge WROTE:

"its funny how hard it is to have a car that does it all, you always have to comprimise one way or another<BR><BR>but mate, that paint colour is just awesome!!<BR><BR>wouldn't mind a set of your door trims either!

Click to expand...

smidge... if i remember right. jing said that it was actualy a holden paint which a mate of his sprayed with left overs from his car! ha

this pic is what inspired me to buy the car in the first place! looks f**king sick

that, and kristians white bad boy bonnet, turbo, kitted micra from the UK, are the two FATTEST micra's in existance

it was a pic of kristians that made me want one, and this pic would have the same effect

i REALLY like that colour! has also made me want a super S bar now, i thought i was immune to those thoughts but that just looks awesome

the guards are a nice effect too

Thanks for your comments everyone...

Tris, yeah I bought this one off Jing, and you should see it around Sydney as it is my daily though I might look for another daily as this one is getting really harsh.

The paint job is really quiet shocking lol. Looks good from a distance, then when you come close up it feels like sandpaper... But it is one of the more defining characteristics of the car. Next year I may want to spray her matt black inside out.

smidge WROTE:

"that, and kristians white bad boy bonnet, turbo, kitted micra from the UK, are the two FATTEST micra's in existance<BR><BR>it was a pic of kristians that made me want one, and this pic would have the same effect<BR><BR>i REALLY like that colour! has also made me want a super S bar now, i thought i was immune to those thoughts but that just looks awesome<BR><BR>the guards are a nice effect too

Click to expand...

dont know about the fastest.... i had a test drive and it didnt seem all that much faster than mine. i agree its fast around the track though!! due to suspension upgrades. i think jing took it around the track and did a time something like 1.5 sec slower than his type r!! thats pretty impressive for a little go-cart!!

daniel i noticed that too... it was very harsh to drive around. almost like it has wooden blocks as shocks! but definately a compromise for handling!

tris

Tris, I think smidge said 'fattest' not fastest hahaha, mine's hardly either!

So that's where that car went Was always a fan of that colour. Please whatever you do, don't spray it matte black. A gloss version of that colour would look so much better (and also attract less attention from unwanted folk).

You don't run those semi's all the time do you? Who damaged the bottom left of the front bumper? Hehe..

---dens

hey Dens, that damage is me being careless hahaha... I don't mind running semi slicks on the road, I'm quite fond of the music they produce, grip is outstanding and they're super safe in the wet (these ones are, really). My previous MX-5 has the same tires on the street too... Because the cars are so light, it barely puts any wear on them.

The paint job is really quiet shocking lol. Looks good from a distance, then when you come close up it feels like sandpaper... But it is one of the more defining characteristics of the car. Next year I may want to spray her matt black inside out.

Click to expand...

I am surprised no one on these micra forums has performed a $50 roller paint job yet ... I've done it to my MX5 and will eventually be doing it to the micra if I ever get her onto the road ... ^_^

You can check out my roller job on the MX5 here:

http://aus-cartalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=27374

Nice I saw someone else use marine paint on their MX-5 applied with a roller - That was black in that instance though and I can't remember where I saw it. Getting black looking nice is insane, and yours looks pretty nice there too.

I often visit there looking for people selling watanabe's

---dens

Hi all, just a quick update



New mirrors (Vintage style mounted onto Nissan blank mirror cover), Nardi pedals



Front view of mirrors, and Nissan March Cup windshield banner, thanks to Jing!



Roof lining removed

Have just ordered, GA15 throttle body and GA16 fuel injectors, install pics to come this weekend

Happy new year all

Daniel

Where'd you order the TB and injectors from?

Nardi wheel looks nice, not sold on the pedals though

---dens

Hey dens, ordered the TB and injectors from Pulsar parts in SA.

I wasn't to sure on the pedals either after I fitted them, but its so much easier to heel-toe now because the accel pedal is higher up and closer to the brake, so it's a keeper.

hey what tubing is that, that you are using as the intake for the airfilter?? looks like the tubing you get out of tumble dryers???

Pretty much, it's just flexible air con duct tubing lol

sodaniel WROTE:

"Hey dens, ordered the TB and injectors from Pulsar parts in SA.

I wasn't to sure on the pedals either after I fitted them, but its so much easier to heel-toe now because the accel pedal is higher up and closer to the brake, so it's a keeper.

Click to expand...

Heh, fair enough. How much was the TB, if you don't mind me asking.

Also with that air ducting - wouldn't it be more effective if you had the tubing going all around the filter rather than just through the front of the filter?

---dens

TB was $170 ex delivery

Wouldn't it be great if the tubing was big enough to fit around the whole filter eh? The filter is cone shaped so it goes in again at the top, i doubt you would feel much difference anyway on this car, not even on the butt dyno

Update!

Pics of the throttle body install found here:

https://micra.org.uk/cmf/message/31629

Ahh the Micra is really giving me some grief this week!

First, the injectors didn't fit (https://micra.org.uk/cmf/message/31630), then I find a leak in my exhaust (dodgy welds), and then the throttle cable breaks, making the idle very irratic... I was sitting at the lights driving home idling at 2000rpm!! So need to get a new throttle cable now...

Excelent project that you have!!!

ok quick update...

GA15 throttle body
GA15 fuel injectors (185cc)
idle raised to 900rpm
Sparco pins

Whats bad...
CV shaft is shagged, won't be here till end of the month

new pics:

tough little car mate! makes me wanna take the micra to the track so bad haha

I'll let you know the next time I go, in case you wanna join, you should, its awesome being out there! Even in a micra hahaha

hey mate, how do you find the toyo's? i'm gona get some semi's very soon once my wheels arive, but don't know which to get, i've driven on the bridgestone semi's.. re55 i think? they stick like **** to a blanket, but $$$. how much you get the toyo's for? and what size are you running?

probably my fave aussie micra. love it

Turbo... got toyos from a mate who has a direct connection with them. His name is Yonas from www.jdmyard.com get in touch with him

Had them for 7 months now, they are 185/60/14 bought for $205 each fitted and balanced (but in sydney)

The toyos are great to use on the street, and they are fairly soft so it doesn't take long for them to warm up compared to other semis... very nice in dry and wet... I suspect they should last around 15,000-20,000kms with occassional track days. It's a fairly streetable tire, compared with Yokohama Advan AO48 185/55/14 which I had before ($240 a pop), which are really stiff and also produce a really unbearable road noise haha...

cheers aaron!

awesome... yeah, i got a similar price for the toyo's up here, but in 15's, was interested to know what tyre size you were running, cause i' running 6.5" wide aswell. sounds like they might be the go then specially if they last that long!

What type of wheels did you get? 14 or 15 inch?? I like to use 14 inch, lighter and also the tires are cheaper! Hahaha although the tire selection is limited. It depends how you are using them really, I am pretty hard on them, but this is the 2nd set i've had (1st on the MX-5, same size... lasted 13,000ks with track days), I give them a belting, but the car is so light, puts hardly any wear on it... But Toyo R888 is a very street friendly semi slick, so not sure how others are like!

Here is a quick photochop of how I want it to look like:



Matt black paint inside + outside, depo black head lamps, no driving lights and their pouches cut...

nice. i got some grams light 57c's 15x6.5... 14's are lighter.... but they look so small!

Wow,I love gram lights! Let us no when you get em mate so i can come check them out?

yeah... they're goin on my new micra... sssshhhhhhh

I have a set of 25mm spacer for the front... ahh I really want to put it on just for looks lol but it's pumping out of my front guard too much

I need more aggressive offset to get the look I want...

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNN, WHERE DID YOU GET THOSE SEXY TAIL LIGHTS FROM?? IM U.K BASED BTW
CHEERS

tail lights are from eBay!

whats the name of the lights?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Niss...002QQitemZ120210742292QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD2V

that'll take you to them

Good news! The hydraulic tensioner is here now, so my mechanic can go ahead and install the tomei cams!

Car is booked in for tuesday, to install cams + full service + dyno tune using Apexi AFC Neo...

Will let you know how it goes!

awesome let us know a power output

UPDATE

the n/a march has now been dynoed + tuned
(mod list as per first post)

Dropped the car off yesterday morning to Indy @ IS Motor Racing (rockdale) and the car had a full service + Tomei poncams installed + Dyno tune

Results below:



64.5kw @ 6500rpm (at the wheel figure) equivalent to roughly 81kw or 108hp @ engine (calculating at 20% drivetrain loss)
Stock = 55kw or 74hp at engine... which means an increase of roughly 46% from standard.

What can I say, I'm extremely happy with the figures (although not that high, this car was only 55kw @ flywheel standard right???). The dyno graph expresses how the car drives at the moment... it just pulls and pulls and pulls, no flat spots and very linear power delivery. My AFR is also on the spot too, without having to tinker around with fuel pressures.

Basically with Intake, 4-2-1 header, hi flow cat, 2 mandrel bent system, GA15 throttle body, GA15 injectors, cams, light flywheel, light wheels, the car was able to do 60kw @ wheel. But from additional tuning of the piggyback, Indy could manage to squeeze another 4.5kws...

The car idles at standard levels now and sounds SO LUMPY (it's actually very cool), and the mid range is so much meatier now. With such a light chassis, I'm really keen to take it back out to wakefield park now to see what lap times I can get (best was 1:19 by my brother - back when the micra had NO power mods).

Extremely happy with the tune, I recommend IS Motor Racing for anyone in Sydney looking to do more work to their cars, but as for me the search for power will come to a temporary halt for the moment as chasing more ponies is going to cost mega-bucks, which I'm not prepared to dump in.

Would I recommend going this way?? Well if you are chasing HP, seriously do it the turbo route... But I am an N/A maniac and love the sound.

To give you a rough indication of what cost is involved in chasing NA power...

Complete exhaust - $1000
Intake set up - $100
GA15 throttle body - $175
GA15 injectors - $150
Tomei cams - $600
Apexi AFC Neo (piggyback ecu) - $320
total = $2345

not including labour... all up my labour was around $400

So seriously give it some thought before you go down there!

cheers!

Daniel

hmm.. interesting, looks like i've got some competition with my new project those cams do sound ****in awesome on idle! they feel heaps more responsive and crispier to drive too.. congrats on the power... not to bad there! ... probably a few more kw's hiding in there if you could up the ignition timing though

hehe radek focus on your turbo project lol, leave the n/a to me!

I'm sure if I got a better ECU i could get more... but right now with the AFC neo, after tune, run, tune, run, tune etc... coming to the end we were only getting 0.1-0.2kw extra before the last run, until couldn't adjust anything else, so it'll be like squeezing blood from a stone to get more out of the AFC.

I think thats a great gain for around 2.5g's. A stanard micra from memory has around 43kwatw std. So a very good gain concidering,Whats sorta weight you pulling there mate?

hey tony... just doing some numbers and dyno figures...

64.5kw @ the wheels is equivalent to about 80kw @ engine (calculating at 20% drivetrain loss from your numbers of stock micra)

1 kw = 1.34hp (roughly) so its about 108hp at engine...

stock is 55kw/74hp at engine... which means if we take dyno figures for what they are... its an increase of 46% over standard by N/A tuning. So when we look at it like that.. not too shabby eh hehehe...

Weight wise, I haven't had it weighed... but I suspect it would be around the ~720kg bare. there was A LOT taken out, I won't be able to lose more weight unless it gets a CF bonnet or cutting holes in the chassis, which I'm not going to do.

looks awsome...i want it

hey sodaniel, i was thinking about getting the same steering wheel you have. i am using a 320mm momo race at the moment, and i already notice that the indicator is harder to reach. the nardi classic has an 80mm offset, it must be really hard to reach! is this the case? what boss kit are you using?

hey GTR

i don't find it hard to reach at all to be honest! It's a carfit bosskit with D1 quick release, onto the 360mm Nardi Classic.

Were you thinking of the deepcorn version with offset? Below is the difference between offset on 360mm version (left) and 330mm version.



This is mine,

Pic on AFC mounting