A fair few things have happened over the past few months so here goes..
Finally got the spare engine fully stripped and packed away for now; I shall never strip an engine on my kitchen floor again! The turbo build for this engine will be on hold until I have sorted the car itself out which is the going concern (more on this later).
I also Finished my Masters in Swansea so I am back in London for good now, providing I can find a job it means I can start to spend some money on getting the Micra back in shape. I decided to sell the Vectra as it was becoming boring and I couldn't justify the £450 needed to replace the clutch, I got £650 for it, which I didnt think was too bad as I only paid £700.
It was a bit of a shame to let it go as I put quite a bit of effort into it, although it definitely taught me a lot as its far more complicated to work on than a K11 and has given me much more confidence in doing work myself! The two things I learnt the most from was removing, stripping and rebuilding the turbo (which is harder than it sounds as the turbo is tucked in a super tight space down the back of the engine). I did this as one of the turbo bolts on the manifold had sheared off inside the manifold, creating a blow as the turbo was only being held on by two of the three bolts. I drilled and retapped a new stud which solved this. It took me two nights working in the freezing cold rain with only a phone light to get the turbo and manifold out!
And here is the turbo
Reinstalled back in the super tight space I was talking about!
I also refurbished the wheels and brakes, which I thought went well for a first attempt, especially considering the amount of filling required and that I left the tyres on.
Before:
After: (I know these pics are of different wheels but believe me when I say that all of them were kerbed just as badly haha, the previous owner clearly didn't know how to park)
I'd also polished it and given it a somewhat stealth look with a colour coded front grille and fly eyes kit. I also debadged the rear.
So anyway, enough with the boring Vectra stuff!
Literally the day I sold the Vectra I travelled to my mums to pick up the K11. It was like christmas come early! Adrian flux actually reduced my premium from £750 on the Vectra to £500 for the Micra with all mods declared- strange considering the renewal for my Micra that Adrian Flux gave was originally £1000 hmmm...
Picked up the car and drove it from Swindon to London with no problems and had it MOTd and Taxed that evening
needed the broken exhaust welding to pass which cost the grand sum of £25, other than that it passed with flying colours
I forgot how awesome driving a Micra is, its so much fun and much more involving than a modern car with power steering and drivers assistance
Its amazing how much more you can feel the road..
I decided to buy my own set of axle stands and a low profile trolley jack from Halfords, not bad for £55 all in (I think their internet prices are still at that if anyone is interested - £10 per pair of stands and £35 for the jack - worth every penny imo).
Decided to tackle my first real Micra DIY today by replacing the clutch on my girlfriends K11 (Mikey Mk 1). I followed the advice on the MSC and managed to get the clutch out without removing the driveshafts following the advice of Frank in a comment on the thread
(Thanks! Without knowing this was possible I would've been stuck as the axle bolt on the NSF wheel was siezed solid). After some gentle persuasion the gearbox came off and I got the clutch out, there was nothing left of it!
This is how the car sits now, pending the arrival of its new clutch (Exedy clutch kit for £30 from carpartsforless) which should arrive tomorrow.
The axle stand wasnt actually placed there btw, I put the stand under the rear wishbone joint, works quite well (again advice on here)
I closed the bell housing back up to the engine to keep it out the way for now, it drops quite a bit even with the shafts in..
The only downside of leaving the shafts in is that it is a tight fit to get the clutch in and out, I doubt an alignment tool will fit in... I'll soon find out.
Unfortunately upon arriving at my girlfriends house in the morning to do the work I caught the exhausts secondary cat flange on the lip of the driveway as I reversed in (its steep to get into) and dragged the whole system to the front of the car by about an inch and a half
Needless to say it rattles horribly now every time I turn or accelerate. Nothing seems to be damaged funilly enough, although something has definitely bent, I'm guessing it's the downpipe.
As I'll probably be using public transport to get to work every day (that's central London for you) I am now going to take the Micra back off the road and fully rebuild its undercarriage in preparation for the summer. I am in contact with Matt Humphris who will hopefully be supplying most of the parts for the rebuild.
The rear axle will be wirebrushed and repainted as it is rather corroded (as are most of the components) and fitted with a disc conversion kit. All of the anti roll bars will be uprated with uprated bushings, Nismo trailing arm bushes will be fitted. I am thinking of fitting a set of adjustable platform SPAX dampers with a 50mm drop, although I am also considering alternatives (such as Andy's (H701) coilovers, which seems to be reasonably priced. The rest of the undercarriage components (wishbones / drop links will also be replaced with new items as they are relatively cheap and it seems like the perfect time to do it).
Whilst the undercarriage is empty I am going to fit a new exhaust, I have decided to go with a stainless steel Janspeed 4 branch manifold and the corresponding 2" bore cat back system. I am planning on keeping an NA setup for my trip to the Outer Hebrides (Harris and Lewis) in the summer. I'd be a bit scared to go that far afield without a properly tested and dialled in turbo system..
I'll keep this page updated as work progresses, in the mean time however I will be selling my wheel / tyre setup as I am planning on running wider / sticker tyres. Keep an eye out on the buy/sell page
.
All the best,
Calum
