• Please only use these forums for blogs, they are not a discussion forum

Micra 1.3 - full restoration

M

Marky

Hey guys,

the name is Mark, been bobbing around here for a while and I thought I'd introduce myself and share some stuff I've been up to lately.
We bought a second micra automatic as a runaround in town, I really like the cvt.
So again I bought a crappy car, busted CV joints, nasty paint, rust all over it, huge holes in the sills, cracked bumper and so on..., hope I'll learn now to never buy a car like that.

Well after a long trip I drove it 400km's, after 200 I hit a pothole and got 2 flat tires, which didn't bother me cause I had a set of wheels in the trunk, buttt I had no jack. Sooo I drove it 10 more km's when a nice guy (drives rally) offered me a helping hand, after that I thought we will make it, but just about 50km's before the finish the brushes on the CVT failed..., so I got on a bus and wen't for it the next day with new brushes.
Really an epic trip.

First thing I wanted to replace the knackered CV joints, ofc they sent me the wrong ones and the old were already out (I usually cut them out with a grinder), so I couldn't drive on it so I decided to repair some stuff...wish it was just some stuff.

I'll post up some pics of my progress, hope you'll like it and hope you can share some input and probably some useful mods I can do while am at the process of restoring this little bastard :p

How it looked like..

Sn%edmek%20016.jpg


Rusty as hell, the rear axle was a pain in the botty to get out, all of the bolts were rusted and siezed, so angle grinder. Did lots of patch work on the floor, under the tank, trunk...

Sn%edmek%20032.jpg


I used rustoleum on the bottom, removed most of the rust with a brush and then vinegar water to have it rust free as possible.
Then I went over to the sills, and damn that was a pain in the botty but rather than making exact panels on the inner sills I went with a 10 by 3 square bar, well two 5x3, they had no 10x3.

Sn%edmek%20033.jpg


So wham a permanent solution for those sills.
And patch work...

Sn%edmek%20037.jpg


Sn%edmek%20039.jpg


Sn%edmek%20040.jpg


used a lot of seamsealer, rustoleum primer and rubber underbody coating

Sn%edmek%20009.jpg


So that should last a while, then I went on with the bodywork.

Sn%edmek%20046.jpg


I got some repair panels on the sills, but they are ment to go over the old ones, wtf??...so I had to pound them a little and use loads of bondo.

Sn%edmek%20051.jpg


And a lick of paint...

Sn%edmek%20065.jpg


Sn%edmek%20067.jpg


Later I'll post up some pics of the suspension I'm currently working on.
Hope you like the build :)

Mark.
 
Thanks for the comments guys, I'd like to repair and save all those micras but that's a little time consuming.

I'm currently back in Slovakia, used to work in Exeter 2 years ago. I specialize in nissan's, did a full restoration on a 100nx a couple of other cars, still got a S14a, d21 pickup and z32 waiting to get fixed, so loads and loads of work.

Finished the rear suspension
Sn%edmek%20014.jpg


upgraded the panhard

Sn%edmek%20006.jpg


today I'm going to finish the front suspension, just received Nismo bushes on the front and I hope I'll have it on wheels till the end of the week.
This is the current state :)

Sn%edmek%20008.jpg


Mark.
 
Wow what a transformation, well done and welcome to the club! :)

Did you have a Rover 45 when you were over here by any chance? ;) Did you take it with you? Hehe :)

The vehicle details for Y736 EJO are:
Date of Liability 01 08 2008
Date of First Registration 20 06 2001
Year of Manufacture 2001
Cylinder Capacity (cc) 1796cc
CO2 Emissions 174g/Km
Fuel Type PETROL
Export Marker Y
Vehicle Status Unlicensed
Vehicle Colour BLUE
Vehicle Type Approval M1
 
maybe one day I'll fix a car in a week like in the tv shows :D

@James: Was a friends rover 45 he left me the number plates as decoration in my garage, nice cars ****ty engines.
 
I'm glad you like the work, rarely someone restores these cars since they aren't that rare and worthwhile but I couldn't say no to that poor little fella :)

Here are a couple of pics of the sill "upgrade", thinking it might stiffen the chassis a bit, interested on how it will handle on the road.

Sn%edmek%20034.jpg


Sn%edmek%20036.jpg


Sn%edmek%20035.jpg


almost a perfect fit, the floor panel ain't straight along the chassis so I had to do 3 cuts and welds, the angles pretty much fit. The whole bar is seam welded on the front where the fender is screwed and on the rear where the rear lower arm is, plus lots of spot welds on the floor pan, better safe than sorry :p

Later I'm going to weld up some strut bars for the front and rear.
Any other places you guys reckon I should stiffen up the car ? Don't intend to go on a track or what :) but I liked how it handled before I started this build so I'm thinking it can get better with some minor improvements.

Cheers,
Mark
 
h701micra said:
Yup :)
Click to expand...
Excellent, thanks mate :) I'll put it on my to-do list.

anywayz, the rear suspension is mounted. Still need to fiddle with some details on the suspension and stuff so tomorrow it should be on all 4 wheels and I can start buffing the paint to make it shine.

coils were painted white
Sn%edmek%20115.jpg


I even added a 2nd coat of polyurethane paint on the new KYB shocks, as much as I like putting oem spec parts, the paint on them ain't that much strong and can get chipped off pretty easily. I also spray pained the top mounting part on the rear shocks mainly because of this happening to them after time.

Sn%edmek%20117.jpg


and here are the front, got new metal bearings cause the old plastic ones were worn out and smashed.

Sn%edmek%20118.jpg


Any idea where I could find dust covers on the front shocks? or what to use instead of them, the old ones are ripped :(
 
pollyp said:
front covers made here
http://micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/page-19#post-446325
dsc03980b.jpg


and rear covers here
http://micra.org.uk/threads/pollymobiles-rebuild.35251/page-24#post-454436
dsc04631v.jpg
Click to expand...

nice :)
I couldn't find similar material so I used dust covers from a spare almera steering rack.

I'll make some pics but while in the process of compressing the front springs I kinda got a bit mad cause the crappy screw type spring compressor couldn't compress them enough to put the top on, the springs started warping. So the new paint got scraped and while releasing the spring shot out and almost hit me :p
Kinda wondering why did they put such long springs there.
 
Well been working hard, so I got some updates, and a couple of pics. Happy that it's going smooth and I can actually see it being done soon.

Fitted the shocks

Sn%edmek%20120.jpg


Fuel lines mounted, had to fabricate new strips that hold the gas tank and lots and lots of small stuff that needed a lick of paint.

Sn%edmek%20121.jpg


And painted the rocker cover, still needs clear coat

Sn%edmek%20124.jpg


Sooooo it's on wheels at last, front and rear suspension all assembled. Started wet sanding the paint and buffing it up, tomorrow hopefully the interior is going back in.
Would have never thought that a little micra can be such a pain in the rear...worst rear suspension I have ever worked on, period.

Tomorrow I'll make some more pics, now enjoying a nice cold beer :cool:
 
Well a couple of update pics, had to focus on other stuff so not much has been done lately.
Got it on wheels, gonna go for a much finer polish compound, hope it's gonna look good.

Sn%edmek%20132.jpg


and some engine cleaning in the process, just going to re-seal everything and we are going to get another one for a full rebuild and probably some mild upgrades.

Sn%edmek%20131.jpg


Sn%edmek%20127.jpg


Plus some nice alloys, thinking either keeping them as they are or paint the inner part gold, thoughts? :)
Oh and a nismo backbox on it's way from japan :)
 
h701micra said:
With polished lip?
Click to expand...
that would look awesome :) think I'm gonna go for it

can't wait to get it all done and start on some performance upgrades, the fun part :p

one more thing, after I installed nismo bushes all round and tightened them the teeth snap to the mounting point so they can't turn which makes me question if I should tighten them with the car sitting on wheels with the full weight or with the suspension lifted.
Still don't have the engine in but with the new kyb shocks fitted, it felt kinda stiff for a standard suspension, I loosened the transverse link and it got a bit better, to me it seems logical to tighten the bush with the full weight on the suspension in a "calm" position to allow it to flex while the suspension moves up and down. But correct me if I'm wrong :)
First time I have seen these kind of bushes on a nissan :confused:

ooor I had really knackered struts and it should be so stiff :D
 
is this for front lower arm bushes lads? if so there supposed to be tightened when the car is sat on the wheels
 
Belly93 said:
is this for front lower arm bushes lads? if so there supposed to be tightened when the car is sat on the wheels
Click to expand...

yup, thanks for the confirmation :)

been really busy lately on other work so not much has been done, going to put the engine back in this weekend. Seems there is going to be a problem with the alloys since the center hole is smaller than on the hub, thought I could fix it with a 10mm spacer but I guess I'll need longer studs as well. Hopefully no more issues will show up.
 
Stani1029 said:
Get the wheels machined?
Click to expand...
yup thought about that, don''t know where yet. I didn't buy hubcentric spacers yet cause I am not sure about how much I want them to poke out, just went with 10mm regular spacers so the alloys would fit, still waiting for the studs :confused:

I'll make loads of update pics in the end of the weekend :)
 

Similar threads

Jonny Whitty
94 Super S Restoration
Replies
20
Views
5K
Kefke
Kefke
superls
SuperLS's K11 1.3 SR Blog
Replies
46
Views
8K
superls
superls
A51jeremy
1.3 Red Mist
Replies
9
Views
2K
A51jeremy
A51jeremy
Speedle
Restoration continues
Replies
18
Views
2K
Speedle
Speedle
SarUK
My K11 1.3 Micra Twister
Replies
4
Views
2K
nissan boy
nissan boy
Back
Top