Super S "build" from Denmark

[Karsten]

Car:
K11 Super S

Build philosophy:
1. Anything added has to be the same weight or lower.
2. If something adds power it can deviate from 1.
3. If something adds "stiffness" it can deviate from 1.
4. If something adds "durability" it can deviate from 1
5. If something is added in 2, 3 and 4 that adds weight then that weight should be removed from somewhere else.

I will be trying to stick with this simple philosphy for the car, but it will be evaluated on a case by case basis. The overall plan is to build a sleeper, the more stock it looks the better, within limits, for example alloys will be added.

Weight score (compared to stock weight): + 7.05 kg.


So far:
Rocker cover painted red, I tell myself it helps make oil spills easier to clean up.
March cup holder in center console.
Towing eye and cover painted.
Clarion headunit and iso cabling fixed (still missing a USB socket to put in the glovebox).
Clear side indicators.
OE A-pillar tweeter trims.
Crunch amp and speakers.

Planned, short run:
Door sill protectors
OE Mudflaps
OE Boot door slam protector
OE Boot liner
Lightweight rims, currently searching for some OZ Superleggera's or similar weight in 7x15/6x15 or 7x14*

Biggest item in the short run is redoing rustproofing, My plan is to strip the bottom and reseal and paint it with KBS Rustseal and Blacktop and all of the hard to reach spots other places will get a shot with Eastwood Internal Frame Coating.

Polishing, stonechip and "key mark" repair.


Planned, long run:
Uprating brakes, springs, bushes, braces, etc.
Engine tuning, most likely programmable ECU and ITB, new intake and exhaust.

 

[Karsten]

Getting the Super S:
As stated in my intro post I have had some experience servicing a K11, so last fall after starting af the university, again, I found myself in need of a Micra, both to drive and to baby, so nothing less than a Super S would do, I spent some time scouting mobile.de for the right one, and it showed up in Berlin, Germany:

'93 Super S, 135.000 km, disc brakes all around.

Two previous owners, a doctor and his mother, she passed away and the car was for sale, mostly been driving in and around Berlin the last 15 years.

So me and my girlfriend drove down and got it a saturday, started early and was back the same evening, I drove the Super S back some 800 km's and did not notice anything bad at all, didn't use oil, coolant, etc.

Only rusty bits I've noticed and changed is the rear panels in front of the rear wheels, the front cross member isn't, which is odd, might have been changed before I don't know. All in all a good car.

 

[Karsten]

Getting rear ended:
So I got the car to Denmark, fix the corrosion of the rear side panels and I get rear ended sitting at a round a bout waiting to drive into it, 68 year old lady drives into me claiming she didn't see me, I'm the pround owner of a "Stealth Super S" it seems.

Saved by my spare wheel, it was wedged into the wheel well, so it had absorbed some of the impact. Luckily her insurance did cover it so it was fixed at a Nissan dealership in town, good as new, only thing different is that my Micra sticker is a darker shade of silver now.

 

[Karsten]

26. August 2014:
Looking pretty since I even washed it for you guys.

Front shot.

Newly painted bootlid and rear bumper does stand out a bit, also the darker silver Micra sticker doesn't.

Looking at this picture I really need to to get some clear indicators fitted, german emissions sticker in front window, was of course in the car when I got it, saved me 8 euro

Red rocker cover, totally to make oil spills easier to clean up! Also I need to clean that engine compartment, if only my girlfriend was this dirty.

So far standard Super S trim, but that's actually very well equipped, especially considering the age of the car.

Camera lens cover not included! I really like the seat belt retainers, both the ones on the seat but also at the side of the backrests.

 

[Ulrich C]

That's a really nice Super S Karsten! Congrats on your find.

 

[Karsten]

Thanks Ulrich, it took some searching and I might have overpayed a bit, but danish import tax was next to nothing so it was still cheap

 

[MaxK11C]

Looks good, can't wait to see it progress.

 

[Karsten]

Rust proofing:
Has anyone here used:
http://www.frost.co.uk/eastwood-internal-frame-coating-with-spray-nozzle.html
http://www.kbs-coatings.com/rustseal-directions.html
http://www.kbs-coatings.com/blacktop-directions.html

And what are your thoughts about it?

I'm planning to seal all of the hard to reach places with the Eastwood stuff and strip at reseal/paint the bottom and most out of sight places with the KBS products.

 

[Karsten]

My pretties

Clear side indicators, small mod with huge impact.


Stainless steel rocker cover bolts, because the standards ones suck.

 

[Karsten]

Crimpflex, soldering iron and the smell of burned flesh, more to come!

 

[Ulrich C]

Oh. Stainless bolts. Nice!
Had gold colored titanium bolts on my old Fiat.... Mmmm, black rocker cover with golden titanium bolts....
Could be a great little project.

Will save you a gram or two as well.

 

[Karsten]

I'm shopping around for a lighter battery at the moment, there's a few kilos to be saved there. "Sadly" I have already planned what they'll be used for.

 

[Paul Smith]

Matt Humphris sells them

 

[Karsten]

Matt Humphris sells them

Yeah, but I'd like to avoid shipping it to Denmark, I'll prolly go with a Varta Silver Dynamic, and save a 1-2 kilos, that's enough for now, I'll need a new battery when I get to the engine part anyways, so this will be ok for some years.

 

[Ulrich C]

So, spill the beans. What are you going to use the extra weight for? That CGA 101 hp engine you were talking about?

 

[Karsten]

Well, there's that. But it's also strut braces, larger brakes and some cabling, other speakers and such.. boring answer I know

 

[Karsten]

Headunit:
I got a nice deal on a Clarion CZ500E, which is last years model, so I picked it up for less than 100 pounds, I love saving money.

Typical installation of the Pioneer cassette player, some of those crimp connectors where so loose that the wires got pulled out of them just by touching them.


Cutting, soldering and heatshrink with glue.. I'm so happy I can even look past the horrible burn blisters all over my body.

 

[Ulrich C]

Aiii! You got a cup holder.
Original equipment?

 

[Karsten]

Aiii! You got a cup holder.
Original equipment?

Nah, it's a March cupholder, got it on ebay from Japan, it doesn't fit 100%, the bottom part of it isn't hidden, but it's ok, and damn nice to have, will hold both the smaller red bull cans and the ½ bottles.

 

[Karsten]

And yay appearently a CZ500E headunit weighs 200 grams less than oldschool brick panasonic cassette player

 

[Karsten]

So what are you doing in your weekend?

Uhm.. flushing my car and replacing it's fluids..


Since I'm changing coolant I figured that I migth as well put in a new thermostat.

Coolant is long life ethylene glycol, 50/50 water mix, premixed, small bottle is cooling system cleaner.

 

[Karsten]

Coolant, thermostat, oil, oilfilter and new plugs, Bosch Super 4's I got from a wealthy benefactor aka Ulrich C , already took the car for a drive no problems so far, seems I did most of the things right

 

[Karsten]

So after 400 km om motorways this weekend I have spotted some hesitation under full throttle at around 4000-4500 rpms, going to switch to NGK plugs again and see if I can reproduce it, if not I might be seeing some of the same issues Ulrich was seeing.

 

[Karsten]

Whoops before I forget.. 160 km/hour for around an hour and coolant temp gauge shows a rock solid temp at around 2/5th, flushing coolant and using ethylene glycol seems a succes

 

[Ulrich C]

So after 400 km om motorways this weekend I have spotted some hesitation under full throttle at around 4000-4500 rpms, going to switch to NGK plugs again and see if I can reproduce it, if not I might be seeing some of the same issues Ulrich was seeing.

I've seen so many mixed opinions on the Super 4's that my conclusion is that they're just not a very consistent quality or something like that.
The design is probably OK, but too big tolerances in production or lack of quality control...

I actually tried a set in our old '99 1.0 GX also, and noticed an even bigger lack of response, and a terrible hesitation and jerking from low revs. Just remembered now...(getting close to 40)...

 

[Karsten]

Regapped and refitted the old NGK's... seeing a pattern here?

Also I seem to have a hole in my exhaust.. now I have to figure out if I want to go OE or do stainless steel already..

 

[Karsten]

Digital AMP, weighs in at 1.7 kg, and size.. well that's a 330 ml coke bottle besides it.

My plan is to place it somewhere inside center console.

This is one of the things where I deviate a bit from my design scheme, I will still find the weight and shed it somewhere else, but since the car is a daily driver I crave better quality than the standard installed stereo system, it will all be build so it looks OE, using all the OE covers and there wont be a huge bass in the trunk.

 

[Karsten]

5 mm2 kobber speaker cable.

Connectors and cable for making my own RCA cables, that will keep them nice and short and I can make these cheaper than buying low end premade ones, that and I love the smell of burning flesh.. erm.. yeah.



Awaiting more stuff in the mail.

 

[Karsten]

Also bought a pillar tweeter covers from SirChris, they need a quick cleanup and they're ready to be mounted.

 

[Karsten]

I can physically fit that Crunch amp above the ECU, but I figured it will get too hot, even though it's supposed to run at 84% efficiency, so it's going under the passenger seat instead. Now to figure out how to make a nice bracket to mount it there.

 

[Karsten]

Just changed the cable opening the fuel filler and bootlid.. I guess 20 years is an ok life expectancy for a cable.

Atm my audio plans is on a slight hold, while I procrastinate over what speakers to buy.. everything else is sorted. I guess I will start with the stuff I can do without speakers while I decide on speakers.

 

[Karsten]

Going to be spending my weekend changing the exhaust, cat back, this became an issue before I had hoped, so I'll just install some OE pipes, I can't be arsed tigging together a stainless system now.

 

[Karsten]

And installed.. I had to drill out the old bolts of the cat, with the amount of surface rust on them (threads where gone) I'm pretty surprised how sturdy they where when I drilled them current exhaust bits should hold until I build the new engine

 

[Karsten]

Well it seems my procastination has payed off, the local car audio store was celebrating it's 15 anniversary, so I got two sets of Crunch brand speakers with 60% off

Tweeter and midranges for the front and 6x9 fulltones for the back.

Using all the OE mounting and trim + the a pillars with tweeters I got of SirChris, I should get a nice stealth install with some added sound quality and I have the weekend off.. so it's hopefully going in this weekend.

Wires will be cut, burns will be had and pictures will be posted!

 

[Karsten]

Car stereo, part 1:

I started by gluing in a piece of wood, this will serve as a "testbed" for the placement of the amp under the passenger seat, if this placement proves to work I will manufacture some kind alu mounting plate instead.


While the glue was drying and pumping some iron, I started stripping the OE speakers from the parcel shelf.


Standard paper cones that's 20 years old, needs to go



After some cutting and grinding of both the parcel shelf and the black plastic frame the new units can be fitted.


And stealthed.

 

[Karsten]

Oh yeah, heavier speakers, wires, etc added to the weight lost from gutting the parcel shelf and speaker frames adds up to around 2 kg increase in weight, more fat to come tomorrow.

 

[Karsten]

Forgot to get some pictures of the rest of the process, I totally blame my own lazyness since the phone was left inside I will get some pictures up of the finished and basically unchanged interior.

All in all I added 4.9 more kilo's in wires, amp and speakers.

 

[Karsten]

It's been so long that I even thought this thread was dead.

Spring brings better weather so working on the car is more fun.

Just added Bilstein dampers.. to the boot lid

Also new NGK plugs and stock airfilter.

I got exams comming up in June, but after that I'm rebuilding the calipers front and rear and changing outside CV joints.

 

[Andy5077]

Hi Karsten nice project thanks for sharing have always liked the Super S!

Cheers
Andy

 

[Karsten]

Did both outside CV joints today, one was starting to make noise, so changed both.

 

[Karsten]

So I kind of got the hots for old style rally gravel wheels.. like these:



I'm thinking 7x15 ET 35/40 and painting them matte black, slap some 195/45R15 on..

But has anyone seen them with a centerbore above 59?

 

[Karsten]

It has begun.. again.

Finally have some "me" time, spent most of the vacation on the garden and house.. but now it's Micra time!

Got some cheapo OZ 7X15 with Goodridge G force profiler 195/50 fitted, as quick fix to my steelie allergy, I am still on the lookout for something else, but I couldn't turn down this offer, basically they where cheaper than buying a new set of tires to the 13 inch steelies, the weight we don't talk about as they are not a permanent addition

And yeah.. not lowered at all, rocking that 4x4 look

More to come in the next few weeks, eagerly awaiting DHL to bring me goodies from lands far and near!

 

[Karsten]

Some of my stuff got here.. so here's a little teaser for what I'll be doing over the weekend.

 

[Karsten]

Disassembly:

Before picture:

Ye olde cling wrap on the brake fluid resevoir trick:

I'm pretty sure brake fluid isn't supposed to have the same consistency as mayo

All in all it was fairly straigth forward to remove them, only had to cut one bolt that was seized and head was rounded.

 

[Karsten]

Your standard used brake hardware:

Blasted!

Rust eater applied, turns any leftover rust into iron sulfide, very handy:

 

[Karsten]

Gold because of the bling-factor.. erm.. nah.. just because gold fits the greenish color of the car better, it's cool but understated 8)

Makeshift painting booth ftw, some wood and a cardboard box = no damn cleanup!

 

[Karsten]

A clean hole is a nice hole, cleaned up all holes and threads:

Lubing it up..

And sliding it in!

Lots of stuff being put into holes tonight

Those smalle bubbles are from the rust eater, I wasn't tidy enough with it

A thing of beauty, all new screws and nipple

 

[Karsten]

Watching paint dry.. I decided to paint the metal mounting braket where the brake hos meets the brake line.. so waiting for that to dry before I can install:

Refurbished caliper of awesomeness with guide(tm), EBC Green Stuff pads and Brembo Max discs.

Watching paint dry is boring :/

 

[Karsten]

And done.. I'm pretty ok with this result.. now for the rear axle.

I will probably be upgrading the front brakes at some point in the future, but at least now I will have more or less the best braking I can get from stock brakes, so I have some time to decide on what option I will go for. At the moment I'm leaning towards the OE ventilated discs from the late K11's as this will still be street legal in Denmark, this will not give me an noticable upgrade in braking power but will help with fading alot.

 

[MaxK11C]

Love the attention to detail, good work