Sam's Micra(s)

[Gng4T9R]

So this is my first post here, despite having spent most of the last week browsing threads. I guess this also doubles as my "Hi, I'm new here" post.
It has been almost a week now since I caved in and finally got myself a K11 Micra, and honestly, I wish I'd done it sooner.
It was kind of an accident that I got it really. I had just moved house, and went to tell my insurer about it, only to find out that they were going to cancel my policy on my old car in 7 days, unless I payed them the princely sum of £256.31! The insult to injury is that I've moved 5 minutes away from where I used to live. My previous, a '51 reg Hyundai Accent 1.3 (which is still sat on my drive), only had 3 weeks of MOT left, and I'm pretty sure it'll take several hundred pounds to get it through. Aside from the fact that the clutch needs doing soon, the flywheel needs skimming, the head gasket is going, it uses oil, pulls hard to the left, rattles like nobody's business, and has a virtually non-existent hand brake, it only gets 20mpg. 20. It's a bloody 1.3l and it gets 20mpg.
So I made the decision, contacted a nice man on gumtree, and two days later, had myself a 1.0l 1999 K11 Micra Inspiration, with just shy of 77k on the clock. Plus it has a genuine Nissan roof rack (which let's be fair, makes the whole thing totally worth it). It cost me all of £300, but, by changing to the Micra on my insurance, it brought the total cost I had to pay down to only £100! Adding to this the £50 difference in tax, it basically only cost me £100, which ain't half bad.

First impressions (I got it on Monday, it's now Friday evening) are great. Like I said, I wish I had gotten one sooner. It drives amazingly, corners great, feels faster than it is, is a great size, has a roof rack, and gets between 45 and 50mpg, which considering that I'll soon be commuting 35 miles to work per day, is a big improvement over my last.
Don't get me wrong, she (it feels weird referring to a car as "it") needs work. The drivers side wing is dented in, the bonnet has been jumped on at some point, the rear sills need wire brushing and Hammerite-ing, she pulls slightly to the left (but not nearly as much as my last car), and the key is worn so thin I feel like if I look at it funny it'll snap. Oh and the classic turning-to-powder crossmember is ever present. But other than that, sweet as a nut.

I've got some time off before I start my new job, so I'm gonna spend the next few weeks getting her up to scratch. I'll post what I get up to here.
(I've attatched the ad photos for some sort of continuity. Plus, I totally forgot to take photos before I started working on her. Oops)

Once again,
Hi, I'm new here.

 

[LiamC]

So this is my first post here, despite having spent most of the last week browsing threads. I guess this also doubles as my "Hi, I'm new here" post.
It has been almost a week now since I caved in and finally got myself a K11 Micra, and honestly, I wish I'd done it sooner.
It was kind of an accident that I got it really. I had just moved house, and went to tell my insurer about it, only to find out that they were going to cancel my policy on my old car in 7 days, unless I payed them the princely sum of £256.31! The insult to injury is that I've moved 5 minutes away from where I used to live. My previous, a '51 reg Hyundai Accent 1.3 (which is still sat on my drive), only had 3 weeks of MOT left, and I'm pretty sure it'll take several hundred pounds to get it through. Aside from the fact that the clutch needs doing soon, the flywheel needs skimming, the head gasket is going, it uses oil, pulls hard to the left, rattles like nobody's business, and has a virtually non-existent hand brake, it only gets 20mpg. 20. It's a bloody 1.3l and it gets 20mpg.
So I made the decision, contacted a nice man on gumtree, and two days later, had myself a 1.0l 1999 K11 Micra Inspiration, with just shy of 77k on the clock. Plus it has a genuine Nissan roof rack (which let's be fair, makes the whole thing totally worth it). It cost me all of £300, but, by changing to the Micra on my insurance, it brought the total cost I had to pay down to only £100! Adding to this the £50 difference in tax, it basically only cost me £100, which ain't half bad.

First impressions (I got it on Monday, it's now Friday evening) are great. Like I said, I wish I had gotten one sooner. It drives amazingly, corners great, feels faster than it is, is a great size, has a roof rack, and gets between 45 and 50mpg, which considering that I'll soon be commuting 35 miles to work per day, is a big improvement over my last.
Don't get me wrong, she (it feels weird referring to a car as "it") needs work. The drivers side wing is dented in, the bonnet has been jumped on at some point, the rear sills need wire brushing and Hammerite-ing, she pulls slightly to the left (but not nearly as much as my last car), and the key is worn so thin I feel like if I look at it funny it'll snap. Oh and the classic turning-to-powder crossmember is ever present. But other than that, sweet as a nut.

I've got some time off before I start my new job, so I'm gonna spend the next few weeks getting her up to scratch. I'll post what I get up to here.
(I've attatched the ad photos for some sort of continuity. Plus, I totally forgot to take photos before I started working on her. Oops)

Once again,
Hi, I'm new here.
View attachment 56290

Welcome. Completely worth buying the car for the roof rack if nothing else.

Shouldn't be hard or expensive to find silver panels in a scrapyard.

 

[Gng4T9R]

Thanks Liam

Okay so first update
It turns out that the roof rack is every bit as functional as I had hoped it'd be. I've been using it to carry pallets home from the garden center because, at the grand price of £1 each, 4 pallets is a damn slight cheaper than a shop bought bed frame (and a **** load comfier than a mattress on the floor).

Also had a second key cut. I had intended on getting a genuine Nissan blank and having it cut and coded, but everywhere I went said they either couldn't guarantee the transponder chip, or the integrity of the key. So i settled and got one from Timpsons'.
Also got round to doing a coolant flush, as the old stuff had long passed its best before date.
Did a bit of cleaning while the hood was up. Biological washing detergent is great for engine bay crap. Managed to chip the headlight by dropping a screwdriver on it. I somehow managed to pick one of the coldest days in a while to do the wettest job on the to do list.

Tried fixing the sunroof, as I found that the handle does nothing other than spinning. Took the glass off and fiddled with the mechanism until the runners were free, but the handle still just spins. Was it meant to be attached by a wire?

Fuel economy wise, doing great. Not even at a quarter of the way through the tank, and already at 130 miles.

 

[MaxK11C]

Looking good, gotta love a functional car.

 

[plmval]

Thanks Liam

Okay so first update
It turns out that the roof rack is every bit as functional as I had hoped it'd be. I've been using it to carry pallets home from the garden center because, at the grand price of £1 each, 4 pallets is a damn slight cheaper than a shop bought bed frame (and a #### load comfier than a mattress on the floor).

View attachment 56291

Also had a second key cut. I had intended on getting a genuine Nissan blank and having it cut and coded, but everywhere I went said they either couldn't guarantee the transponder chip, or the integrity of the key. So i settled and got one from Timpsons'.
Also got round to doing a coolant flush, as the old stuff had long passed its best before date.
Did a bit of cleaning while the hood was up. Biological washing detergent is great for engine bay crap. Managed to chip the headlight by dropping a screwdriver on it. I somehow managed to pick one of the coldest days in a while to do the wettest job on the to do list.
View attachment 56292
View attachment 56293
View attachment 56294

Tried fixing the sunroof, as I found that the handle does nothing other than spinning. Took the glass off and fiddled with the mechanism until the runners were free, but the handle still just spins. Was it meant to be attached by a wire?

Fuel economy wise, doing great. Not even at a quarter of the way through the tank, and already at 130 miles.

Looks & sounds all good a for basic get to work & general runabout, exactly my kind of “bangernomics” low cost motoring.

May suggest I would quickly seal the headlight crack with glue/silicone to prevent water ingress?

Micra K11 “bangernomics”; - motoring’s best kept secret.

Reference: http://bangernomics.editboard.com/t125-nissan-micra-k11-is-up-there-with-the-minor

How to value a banger that is old enough to vote:

Reference: http://bangernomics.tripod.com/bangval.htm

Good luck.

 

[Gng4T9R]

So, update
As I've had time off work, I thought I'd better sort out the crossmember. I had a poke around, and the whole thing was... A hole

I ended up getting a whole front panel from eBay for £10 more than it would have been for just the crossmember, and considering I needed a new bonnet latch strut, seemed to make sense.

Drilled out most of the spotwelds with with a couple of cobalt drill bits, then used a cheapy £20 Argos angle grinder to finish it off
(The grinder is actually really solid for the money)

There really wasn't much left of the crossmember
Don't seem to have any photos of putting the new one on. Biggest chore was navigating it past the steering fluid cooling pipe. Ended up clamping the hoses and disconnecting it.
The new front end is bolted on (I drilled more holes and bolted), and I don't know if it's just placebo effect or something, but even with a bolted on front end, the car feels a lot more solid.

Also ended up sorting the headlight... Because I drilled the bugger. £18 for a second hand one shipped over night isn't too bad though
Plan is to weld the frame together in a few months when I finally get round to buying a MIG welder.
Now have to beat the panels in to place a bit though, as eBay front ends never really fit perfectly , and give her an oil change before I start commuting to work next week.

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[plmval]

Looks like it’s well on the way to becoming a labour of love rather than a “Bangernomics” get to work tool that serves you?

 

[Gng4T9R]

Looks like it’s well on the way to becoming a labour of love rather than a “Bangernomics” get to work tool that serves you?

Completely so other than the crossmember, she's basically rust free. So the long-term plan is to find a 1.3l for dirt cheap, and drop it in. A tow hitch would also be good, but having trouble finding one nearby for a decent price ahaha

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[Gng4T9R]

Okay, so a bit of a while since the last update (oops)
So, what's happened since the last update? Two more Micras, is what.
So, T45, or Meredith as she's now known (my girlfriend isn't amused), is still running strong. I've dealt with the rusty sills by means of a wire wheel, Kurust, hammerite, and underseal. It's not the cleanest job in the world, but with a car as nuggety as Meredith, it's not an issue. In terms of performance, she hasn't missed a beat. However, she does now make a nice (rather loud and somewhat alarming) rattling noise. It's either the timing chain (please don't be the timing chain), or the gear stick return spring. I also found out why she was wobbling so much while driving. Oops. Turns out I hit a curb harder than I thought when I was show drifting.
(See, this would be the point where id insert the photo I have of the 'S' shaped wheel, however, both the MSC app, and the mobile website don't want to work properly, so the photos will have to wait until I get home from work tonight)

 

[Gng4T9R]

Now, about the other Micras...

About a month ago, I found an eBay listing for a '99 reg 1.3L GX automatic, not to far from me. It's a 4 door, but it's a higher spec that Meredith (namely, 6 speakers, better seats, central remote locking, boot light, fuel flap popper), and had only done 58K miles. I snapped that up, and the gent selling it very kindly dropped it over to me.
She was flipping grim when I got her, but a quick scrub, and she didn't come up too bad. (Again, this is where I will put a photo when I get home tonight.)
The plan was just to buy a 1.3 manual gearbox, convert it over, sort out the bodywork, and make this my daily driver.
So I began sorting it out. First things first, underseal. Despite the questionable body work, the underneath is amazingly rust free (apart from one bit but I'll get to that).
Both rear wheels off, wire brush on the drill. Apart from the mess and the dust, it's actually quite satisfying to do .
However, I found one rather large bit of rust. The rear drivers side bottom corner by the cabin vent was completely gone. As I can't weld, I went at it the best I could with fiberglass filler. Didn't do too bad of a job if I do say so myself .
It was at this point that I acquired the third Micra.
I was working on the underseal, when someone who lives in my street offered me their Micra, as they were going to scrap it the next day, but saw I had 2 already. 110k miles, '98 reg 998cc manual, with a blown head gasket. She wanted £100 for it, but after I said I would think about it, she said she'd take £80! A no brainer there lol. Drove it round the corner, and parked it on the drive. The body work is better than the other two on the removable panels, and for £80, it has 3 almost new tyres, a new spare tyre, new front brakes 3000 miles ago, and all the parts I need for my manual conversion. Plus, I'm toying with the idea of swapping the 1.0 pistons into the 1.3 engine when I rebuild it for higher compression, however, I've found conflicting information as to whether the pistons will hit on the valves. Anyone know for certain?
This Micra also has a working (sometimes) sunroof mechanism, so that will be getting swapped over lol.

I've been stripping the engine bay of the 1.3, and have got the box and engine out. Just got to separate, and rebuild the engine now.

It all seems so simple and straightforward when written down

I'll add photos when I get back later

 

[MaxK11C]

Look forward to seeing the photos!

 

[Gng4T9R]

Anyone know how to add photos when editing a post using the MSC app? I'm half convicted I'm just destined to have problems trying to post photos, as both the desktop and mobile website just hang on infinitely loading my uploaded photos, and I can't find how to add photos to already made posts on the app...

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[fuzzy-hair-man]

I'm toying with the idea of swapping the 1.0 pistons into the 1.3 engine when I rebuild it for higher compression, however, I've found conflicting information as to whether the pistons will hit on the valves. Anyone know for certain?

Well I hope not! I'm building one now!

Frank's built a couple with CG10DE pistons and then moved on to the corsa pistons, I was advised to up the compression ratio using CG10DE pistons rather than taking material off the head and block because it will avoid issues like requiring a shorter timing chain. This was by someone very well placed to know and has built many.
The valves are on an angle towards the head so the outside of the piston is IMO the bit that is more likely to connect with a valve. If you were to skim the head or deck the block you are also bringing the piston and valves closer together but also in the region where they are closest. So I'd guess for the same compression ratio your less likely to have valves touch pistons with the CG10DE pistons than without.

 

[frank]

the p2v clearance is the same with either piston

 

[Gng4T9R]

Well I hope not! I'm building one now!

Frank's built a couple with CG10DE pistons and then moved on to the corsa pistons, I was advised to up the compression ratio using CG10DE pistons rather than taking material off the head and block because it will avoid issues like requiring a shorter timing chain. This was by someone very well placed to know and has built many.
The valves are on an angle towards the head so the outside of the piston is IMO the bit that is more likely to connect with a valve. If you were to skim the head or deck the block you are also bringing the piston and valves closer together but also in the region where they are closest. So I'd guess for the same compression ratio your less likely to have valves touch pistons with the CG10DE pistons than without.

Well that settles it then! I'll be ordering an engine crane for next weekend, so I'll get both engines out and get swapping.
Turns out now that not even my desktop wants to play nicely with MSC lol, so I still can't upload pictures. I think I'm just going to host them somewhere and link to them

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[Gng4T9R]

the p2v clearance is the same with either piston

Awesome. Bit of a noobie question here (I mean, I'm flying by the seat of my pants for this whole thing. Never dabbled in engine rebuilds before lol), when changing the pistons, will I need new piston rings? Or can I get away with honing (?) the 1.3 head and hoping they bed in? I was looking at getting new rings, but I can't seem to find them for sale anywhere.
With taking out the wrist pins, they're press fit aren't they? I'll probably take both sets of pistons and rods to a machine shop and get them to swap the rods and reassemble them. That way I have a set of 1.0 pistons on 1.3 rods, and 1.3 pistons on 1.0 rods, which I'll probably rebuild in the 1.0 block when I've got it skimmed, and eventually do a low compression build to turbo.

The beauty of having 3 micras is I have not only a parts donor car, but a reference for putting it all back together lol

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[Gng4T9R]

Look forward to seeing the photos!

I'm looking forward to being able to add them lol
MSC just doesn't like me ahaha

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[frank]

Awesome. Bit of a noobie question here (I mean, I'm flying by the seat of my pants for this whole thing. Never dabbled in engine rebuilds before lol), when changing the pistons, will I need new piston rings? Or can I get away with honing (?) the 1.3 head and hoping they bed in? I was looking at getting new rings, but I can't seem to find them for sale anywhere.
With taking out the wrist pins, they're press fit aren't they? I'll probably take both sets of pistons and rods to a machine shop and get them to swap the rods and reassemble them. That way I have a set of 1.0 pistons on 1.3 rods, and 1.3 pistons on 1.0 rods, which I'll probably rebuild in the 1.0 block when I've got it skimmed, and eventually do a low compression build to turbo.

The beauty of having 3 micras is I have not only a parts donor car, but a reference for putting it all back together lol

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i always reused the rings, but its very hard to get the oil control rings to scrape properly after they have been disturbed
the pressure is exerted from the back of those 3 piece rings via the expander ring, and the little steps on the expander ring that push the oil control rings against the bore wear unevenly.
and a bit of heat on the rods help a lot when swapping pins

 

[Gng4T9R]

i always reused the rings, but its very hard to get the oil control rings to scrape properly after they have been disturbed
the pressure is exerted from the back of those 3 piece rings via the expander ring, and the little steps on the expander ring that push the oil control rings against the bore wear unevenly.
and a bit of heat on the rods help a lot when swapping pins

View attachment 56890

Assuming I could do it without breaking them, would swapping the piston rings over as well help avoid any issues, or would it cause more problems that it's worth? ie, the rings from the 1.3 pistons onto the 1.0 pistons, so the rings are in their original cylinders (If that made any sense)? Or would I face too many issues trying to align them up so they sit as they did on the old pistons?
Any clue where I could get new rings from?

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[frank]

Assuming I could do it without breaking them, would swapping the piston rings over as well help avoid any issues, or would it cause more problems that it's worth? ie, the rings from the 1.3 pistons onto the 1.0 pistons, so the rings are in their original cylinders (If that made any sense)? Or would I face too many issues trying to align them up so they sit as they did on the old pistons?
Any clue where I could get new rings from?

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you wont break them, its these little steps that push against the inside of the rings, the top and bottom ring has to be pushed equally, but if you disturb partworn rings you get more pressure on either the upper or lower one.
we had the same problem with the kart engines where i used to work, and we always ordered the older style 1 piece rings instead

 

[Gng4T9R]

you wont break them, its these little steps that push against the inside of the rings, the top and bottom ring has to be pushed equally, but if you disturb partworn rings you get more pressure on either the upper or lower one.
we had the same problem with the kart engines where i used to work, and we always ordered the older style 1 piece rings instead

View attachment 56892

So would I be best off leaving the rings on the pistons and not trying to keep the rings and cyninders paired? The only reason I'm concerned with keeping the rings is I can't seem to find new ones online for the 1.0 pistons (or even the 1.3 for that matter). Am I missing somewhere really obvious to get them from?
Assuming I keep the 1.0 rings on their respective pistons and swap them, am I right in thinking I'll still have to hone the cylinders and do a break in procedure?
Really appreciate your help by the way. I've never done bottom end engine stuff before.

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[frank]

So would I be best off leaving the rings on the pistons and not trying to keep the rings and cyninders paired? The only reason I'm concerned with keeping the rings is I can't seem to find new ones online for the 1.0 pistons (or even the 1.3 for that matter). Am I missing somewhere really obvious to get them from?
Assuming I keep the 1.0 rings on their respective pistons and swap them, am I right in thinking I'll still have to hone the cylinders and do a break in procedure?
Really appreciate your help by the way. I've never done bottom end engine stuff before.

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you may be ok if you made sure not to turn the oil control rings at all, but they tend to be coked up with carbon tho,
and humphris oxford, or main dealers i guess, bear in mind the post 2000 coilpack rings are different tho

 

[Gng4T9R]

So Meredith decided to throw a tantrum today and blew her tail light fuse, and then every replacement I put in.
Something is earthing somewhere it shouldn't.
Didn't have time to fix her tonight, so I've jankily bridged it with some wire and electrical tape

Apparently I can actually posts photos in new replies now, but only from the MSC app

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[Gng4T9R]

Scored a set of rev clocks off of eBay for stupidly cheap
They were part of a lot with an ECU and ignition barrel, but I managed to persuade the guy to split the lot

Installed them in Meredith for the time being, as it's not like the odometer reading is even nearly accurate. Meredith was on just shy of 80k, the project car is shy of 60k, and even the donor car is on 110k
I swapped the lenses over as Meredith's one was cleaner.

Time to go for a drive and see just how much she redlines

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[MaxK11C]

Nice score. I always found it interesting to go from a non rev counter to a rev counter, and match what I knew as the sound of the engine to the actual revs!

 

[Gng4T9R]

The revs clocks are a right laugh

Got an engine crane on order so I can get this engine build underway. To my absolute horror though, it's being delivered by Yodel so the likelihood is it it'll mysteriously be "lost" in transit so we'll see what happens lol

I've kinda ended up with a time deadline, as Meredith's MOT expires beginning of July, and I've got a horrible feeling she's going to need work.
This leaves me with a deadline to get Myrtle (can't decide on the name for this one, but Myrtle seems to work) finished, broken in, and MOTd, or face having to be spending time and money on two cars at once.
Myrtle's MOT runs out mid June, so I might be faced with trying to break in an engine, in a car that isn't allowed on the road

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