Blog: K11 - Uniraid 2018.

[micra_uniraid]

Hi guys, first off thanks for welcoming us in, my name's Tom.
My friend and I are from Spain and we are university students signed up for the 2018 Uniraid rally. We have just bought ourselves a 1.3 K11!

For those who do not know, the Uniraid rally is an offroad adventure through various different stages in Marocco (including previous Dakar stages). Rules are: 1.3L or smaller engine size, must be uni students to take part, 2WD (front or back) and the car has to be over 20 years old.
Apart from taking part in the various stages and challenges we will be delivering charity aid (clothing and school supplies among other things) to the remote villages we come across on the planned out routes.

This is going to be our build thread for anybody interested and we'll also follow up during our 10 day trip in Africa.

We are looking for some advice on the rally prep side of our car. I've been through the first 7 pages in the K11 motosport forum and found alot on road rally/racing prep but little on offroad/trail/desert. We plan on stripping the car, getting it in perfect running order with all new serviceable items (we are not planning on getting stuck in the middle of the desert!) and preparing it for the terrain we will be going through.

Any initial general advice guys and girls?
What "upgrades" could we pick up on the cheap ?

We need reliability and handling more than power upgrades, although any helpful tips are welcome!
Until next time amigos!

EDIT: Could someone tell me how to correctly upload photos from photobucket please? I copy the URL provided from photobuckets site but it shows up as an error in my post.

EDIT 2: Worked it out! This is the first pic we took. Here's Antonio chuffed happy with the new car.

 

[SuperUno]

Read back through my blog, if my rally car can survive Wales Rally GB it can handle most things...

www.mattendean.co.uk

 

[Shaned]

That sounds like a lot of fun, I reckon you've chosen a great car for the job.....I look forward to seeing your progress.....you'll find loads of info on here regarding mods and stuff, the search function will be your best friend

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[micra_uniraid]

Cheers for the replies guys, we will be getting the micra on the ramp sometime next week to get an idea what we are starting with.
After looking around, I can't believe how cheap parts are for our cars!

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[micra_uniraid]

So we've have had the car on the ramp and given it a good look over.
We have got some oil leaks although nothing major. Top suspension struts need changing, both bottom ball joints and general servicing maintenance.
We've been down the local scrappy and found some 240sx seats that i'm hoping will fit, full rear brake assembly (axle included) and front almera 1.6gx brakes.

An led light bar, led rear light and single cylinder compressor (twin if budget allows) have been picked out on the web.

We came across a problem with tyre sizing. We would like to increase ground clearance without compromising stability and there aren't many all-terrain/offroad tyres that come in suitable sizes. Can anyone help is on this?

 

[SuperUno]

You can't increase ride height via the tyres without compromising stability.... Either increase ride height via the suspension or accept the loss of stability. There are lots of 13" rally tyres which will suit what you need, and is the easiest way to do it.

 

[micra_uniraid]

You can't increase ride height via the tyres without compromising stability.... Either increase ride height via the suspension or accept the loss of stability. There are lots of 13" rally tyres which will suit what you need, and is the easiest way to do it.

Of course SuperUno, everything is a compromise . By not compromising ride height, I meant not making the car completely unstable. To gain ground clearance we are going to have to sacrifice stability, so we are looking for the happy medium for where we plan to drive.
We have found some cheap offroad tyres in 155/80R13 (price is a big factor in our student/budget rally). This would give us a slight gain in ride height. Everything else I have found is 4x4 tyres as of R15.

How do Micras fare in general regarding offroad ground clearance? I've seen the back axle sits pretty low.

 

[SuperUno]

That tyre size will be fine. never had issues with the rear axle and clearance. Get a good sump guard fitted, along with guards on the brakes/fuel lines and off you go.

 

[micra_uniraid]

Ok guys, so it has been a while since we last updated this build. It is safe to say that things have finally kicked off!
On the administration and sponsorship side of things we have been able to get a few sponsors up until now to help us out with costs. Two local companies have jumped on the wagon to print out our portfolios and vinyl the Micra once painted. We've also got two automotive spares companies donating parts...etc (one more performance/competition inclined).

Mecanically not a lot has happenend as we are deciding with our parts guys exactly what bits we need. we have stripped most of the interior of the Micra to give it a good clean and have started to remove the sound deadening.
Down the scrapyard we managed to pick up a pair of Nissan 200sx seats to replace the Micras old ones, front callipers and calliper clasps off of a 100nx, offroad lights and good spare wheel.

Removing the interior.

Beginning to remove sound deadening (unfortunately we didn't have any dry ice at the time).

 

[micra_uniraid]

Quick update!
Some of the parts should be here by the end of this week. We've agreed to sign a massive sponsor to the team so we are chuffed about that. It means that the K11 can be propery set up without having to rub pennies together.
We were interviewed by Murcia's main newspaper La Verdad and will have a tv appearance filmed before the end of the month. That should help make local companies and media aware of the project. Here's a photo of the news clipping where they interviewed my partner in crime Antonio (due to him being from Murcia), unfortunately it is in spanish.


Changing the subject. I was looking at clutch kits this afternoon as our current one is shot. We plan on doing intake, manifold, exhaust and remap on the Micra to gain that little bit extra (95bhp+ would be good). Will a standard 1.3, 180mm LUK clutch kit be sufficient for the small power increase, or should we spurlge on something "performance"? We also plan on fitting the 1.0 gearbox and I hope it is not going to have to much of a short ratio for the 400mile motorway trip to the ferry.

 

[SuperUno]

Standard LUK clutch will be fine.

 

[MaxWheeler]

Gearbox sizes and clutch sizes don't vary wildly from car to car and even with the greater power output you'll probably find the exact same clutch will also be standard on vehicles with twice as much hp from the factory. LUK are good solid kits. Will be fine I think...

 

[micra_uniraid]

Pics of some of the bits we have already sourced:

I need some advice on suspension if anyone can lend a hand. The problem we have is that we don't know what to go with. I can pick up standard shocks brand new cheap and we can take a couple of spares with us should we need to replace them, but I've been told by a few people that standards will probably fail at some point along the way due to the excessive work they do.
Another option is Avo's rally coilover setup but this is now going to the other extreme and blowing a big hole in our budget.
We're looking for something in the middle, a solid uprated shock that can withstand more than factory spec, but isn't so far above our need like the Avo kit.
We seen bilstein do their standard spec shock absorber that's supposedly better built but I'm not convinced tbh.
Any help is very much appreciated.

 

[micra_uniraid]

Rear brakes are now completely reconditioned. Front brake caliper repair kit should be turning up tomorrow. Today we painted the floorpan/interior to give it a cleaner look.

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[micra_uniraid]

Over this weekend the engine and gearbox were removed, engine bay prepared for cleaning and given a jet wash. I started to sand blast some parts to prepare for paint.

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[micra_uniraid]

Now the parts i have been waiting on have arrived, I've started to strip the engine and start the rebuild. Apart from having 20 odd years of gunk in it and corroded coolant pipes, its not too bad.

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[micra_uniraid]

Once the head was off we could inspect it and the cylinders/pistons thoroughly. It looks like the pistons have been moving slightly horizontally in the cylinders so we thought it best to send the block off the machine shop along with the head.

On the exterior side of things, the car is ready to be painted tomorrow.

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