My lil' Micra Build

[WarwickB_07]

Last year I picked up my first car! A 1997 Nissan Micra vibe 1.0

It had 31,000 miles on it and NO rust! It was also 1 owner from new. It had been sitting for around 3 years though.
I got it for £350 as a non runner, although I didn't think it would be a major issue as it had been well looked after.

After towing it home I got right to diagnosing the issue. It turned over but wouldn't start so I tried using some starter fluid and it started first try. This made me think it would be a fuel pump failure.

I was right. After removing the pump, I plugged it in to test it and it didn't work. I ordered a new one and once fitted it ran pretty good for not being serviced in a while. The pump also came with a fuel sender unit which was nice. I then drained the stale fuel filled with bits of dirt etc and replaced it with a tank of fresh fuel.
After that I did a service including:
Oil change.
Oil filter replacement.
Fuel filter replacement.
Sparkplugs replaced.

I deep cleaned the car inside and out as it had been sitting for a while.

I also have my old fuel sender unit for sale here. Feel free to make an offer.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[WarwickB_07]

I knew the brakes needed replacing as they were performing very badly, so I took the wheels off to have a look.

I wasn't too sure how bad brakes should look tbh, but I replaced them anyway.
I took it for a test drive after fitting the new ones and they definitely felt a lot better

 

[WarwickB_07]

First mod. Wheels!
I came across a set of these used 15" BK 166 wheels finished in bronze.

I thought the style and colour of these would go great with my car. The tyres were also in great condition so I picked these up for an awesome deal.

They did require some tuner nuts to fit them. And here they are on the car

Definitely still needs lowering though

 

[WarwickB_07]

Bought an MSC sticker because why not

 

[WarwickB_07]

After looking around for lowering options I came across these Vogtland 35mm lowering springs which I bought. These also came with brand new front and rear shocks which was great as mine were very old and bouncy.

I then got to work fitting them which was easier than expected

Here are the results and some before and afters:

This is where I'm currently up to on my Micra build. Stay tuned for a lot more

 

[WarwickB_07]

I decided to spruce up my engine bay today.
I started off by removing the rocker cover and sanded off all the dirt that was very stuck!

A sand blaster sure would have been useful
I used a gloss black engine enamel paint from Halfords:

After painting I sanded all the raised letters down to metal.
All back together:

 

[WarwickB_07]

Gave the calipers a coat of black paint today
I used the same enamel paint as I used on the rocker cover.

 

[WarwickB_07]

I fitted a sportex backbox to the Micra today.

It's not the loudest exhaust but still sounds pretty good.

I used some standard exhaust repair sealer on the join.

 

[WarwickB_07]

Painted the drum brakes gloss black today

I need to get the car fully resprayed and quite a few dents fixed so if anybody knows a cheap body shop lmk.