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willisterm
Guest
I've just inherited a K10 Nissan Micra, I think its a 1.0 LS, 1985. Its got about 60k on the clock, and has been sat in the bottom of my girlfriends garage for about 6 years now.
Spent all this weekend working on it, trying to get it ready for MOT, and its taken ages, breaks were seized, battery was dead, radiator filled with rust, bumper missing some bolts, and a load of other little things.
I was surprised with the little thing though. The idea was, that if we couldn’t get it running, it was going to be scrap, and at first, it looked like that’s all it had destined for it. But, after a new battery, two new spark leads, 3 litres of oil and a long time manually cranking the engine, I got her to actually start up. This is the first time I’ve actually done any work on a car before, and I was really surprised at how simple the engine is.
Had to have all the wheel’s off, and checked out the front and rear breaks, and if it passes the MOT, that the next thing to be changed, as they are above the minimum, but only just.
The car needs a bit of coaxing to start, need to put the gas on for a bit, or it won’t turn over, and if the engine is cold it cuts out while idling, but I’m pretty sure that that’s just a timing issue, and should be fixable.
The plan for the car is, if it passes its MOT, or if it fails with under £200 worth of work needed, it’ll be kept, and then I’ll put it through a full service, which should pick up any other problems.
I’m interested to know what I should be looking out for, with a car this old, and about how long people think it could last, if treated well, as I’m willing to put in some money to do some modding and tuning, but I’m not going to pour good money after bad, if the car is likely to give up the ghost in a short while.
I’ve seen some of the things that can be done to the K10 Micra, and it seems like a simple engine, something that even a beginner like me can get my head around. I’ve got my eye on getting some body work done, alloys, and fitting a central locking kit, and I also want to do some work on the engine, to get a bit more power or economy, depending on my mood. What do you think would be good mods to do? The lpg gas conversion interests me, too.
Anyway, any hints/tips/comments would be muchly appreciated, and I’m planning on getting some pictures done during the week, though its nothing special.
Willisterman
Spent all this weekend working on it, trying to get it ready for MOT, and its taken ages, breaks were seized, battery was dead, radiator filled with rust, bumper missing some bolts, and a load of other little things.
I was surprised with the little thing though. The idea was, that if we couldn’t get it running, it was going to be scrap, and at first, it looked like that’s all it had destined for it. But, after a new battery, two new spark leads, 3 litres of oil and a long time manually cranking the engine, I got her to actually start up. This is the first time I’ve actually done any work on a car before, and I was really surprised at how simple the engine is.
Had to have all the wheel’s off, and checked out the front and rear breaks, and if it passes the MOT, that the next thing to be changed, as they are above the minimum, but only just.
The car needs a bit of coaxing to start, need to put the gas on for a bit, or it won’t turn over, and if the engine is cold it cuts out while idling, but I’m pretty sure that that’s just a timing issue, and should be fixable.
The plan for the car is, if it passes its MOT, or if it fails with under £200 worth of work needed, it’ll be kept, and then I’ll put it through a full service, which should pick up any other problems.
I’m interested to know what I should be looking out for, with a car this old, and about how long people think it could last, if treated well, as I’m willing to put in some money to do some modding and tuning, but I’m not going to pour good money after bad, if the car is likely to give up the ghost in a short while.
I’ve seen some of the things that can be done to the K10 Micra, and it seems like a simple engine, something that even a beginner like me can get my head around. I’ve got my eye on getting some body work done, alloys, and fitting a central locking kit, and I also want to do some work on the engine, to get a bit more power or economy, depending on my mood. What do you think would be good mods to do? The lpg gas conversion interests me, too.
Anyway, any hints/tips/comments would be muchly appreciated, and I’m planning on getting some pictures done during the week, though its nothing special.
Willisterman
but yeah, better safe than sorry! It'l cost alot more to fix if the belt snaps than replacing the belt on it's own
