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The mighty Micra Trike automatic is having a test run soon.

trike micra

trike micra

After more hours and money than I wanted to spend on it the automatic conversion of my Trike is nearly complete.
The original K11 1.0 engine was packed off to do some racing somewhere and the low mileage 1.3 automatic has been fitted. This is along with a complete front end rebuild to allow 2 to be comfortable and new controls. Marrying bike and car controls was a big learning curve with many issues overcome by ingenuity and ignorance rather than knowledge.
Working on a wiring loom that was fitted just to get it running by someone that didn’t have a clue hasn’t helped as it has been chopped around a bit ( both original front end loom and car loom) and NOTHING has been labelled.
This is what it looked like.
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And here are a couple of shots from in the garage this morning. Note the idiot light cluster between the gauges, one of the original warning lights on the speedo acts as the low fuel warning light.
Unlike all of your Micra’s the aircon works off the right hand, the moe you wind it open the cooler it gets ?.
Anyone else think there micra is only worth a couple of hundred pounds, think again. Get the welder out and turn it into a £4000 cruiser.
FCA365B3-8950-4354-8C69-E27F655F2026.jpeg
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Bloody thing is fighting me all the way. Advice to all, get someone to do it start to finish or do all of it yourself. Wiring, wanting to fit battery lights to it.
At least the tow bar electrics work.
 
i'm still really interested on how this turns out

Post a 0-60 when you get it running nice, I bet the thing flys. That's quite a big engine for a bike, My dad used to have a gsx 1400 which flew, but struggled to put the power down and I doubt he ever got a chance to go wide open throttle. Spent most of it's life anchored to a hook sunk in concrete in the back garden tbh. But no such issues with this, still fairly light, won't rev as high but will make up for it in grunt
 
It’s on 14” wheels at the moment, going to go back to 13” ones as we are towing with it.
When I rode it back to mine it kept up with my wife’s car going up hill from a roundabout without breaking a sweat, it didn’t have a speedo then so she was only going at 70 and driving at legal speeds.
Don’t know what the acceleration is going to be like with the cvt gearbox but it surprised a few people with the 1L manual in it.
 
trike micra said:
It’s on 14” wheels at the moment, going to go back to 13” ones as we are towing with it.
When I rode it back to mine it kept up with my wife’s car going up hill from a roundabout without breaking a sweat, it didn’t have a speedo then so she was only going at 70 and driving at legal speeds.
Don’t know what the acceleration is going to be like with the cvt gearbox but it surprised a few people with the 1L manual in it.
Click to expand...
Is it one of those with the go-faster button on the side of the gear lever? They're not too bad - probably easier than trying to shift it manually anyway, need all your focus on keeping it in a straight line lol
 
MattInARedMicra said:
Is it one of those with the go-faster button on the side of the gear lever? They're not too bad - probably easier than trying to shift it manually anyway, need all your focus on keeping it in a straight line lol
Click to expand...
No, it’s a standard cvt box. Gearchange is adapted to come up through the dummy tank at the front using a couple of jag auto cables at the moment, going to get a single run cable made up are some point.
The only reason I have persevered is that it’s a good stable chassis, it oversteers instead of under steers which is unusual for a trike. Yes I did drift it with the manual ?
 
Thought I had issues with the gearbox today, it started to move when the throttle opened but didn’t go.
After much swearing and pushing it back in the garage, removing the top cover I found the throttle cable set up needs a spring to allow the micro switch to operate properly.
Thank god I’m a hoarder, found a suitable spring in the house and will be fitting it tomorrow.
Test run tomorrow morning and hopefully take the other half out in the afternoon.
 
Well the first ride out went well, a lot quicker than the 1L manual setup. High motorway speeds without thinking (oops), steering is heavier with the seats further forwards so longer forks will be getting sorted.
Anyone with a rusty micra, get some steel and have a go. It’s more fun than the car.
 
No video yet but we have done 200 miles so far as the shake down. Unfortunately the fork seals have given out, this is due to them not being what I thought they were and they got overfilled ☹️. Will be sorting them out this week and trying again on Saturday, off to pick up a trailer with it. Another couple of hundred miles in one day.
Will also be making some other changes for comfort reasons and to get park and DS on the gearshift ?.
Question for those in the know, what is the Ds mode? Does it just hold the revs a bit longer?
 
trike micra said:
No video yet but we have done 200 miles so far as the shake down. Unfortunately the fork seals have given out, this is due to them not being what I thought they were and they got overfilled ☹. Will be sorting them out this week and trying again on Saturday, off to pick up a trailer with it. Another couple of hundred miles in one day.
Will also be making some other changes for comfort reasons and to get park and DS on the gearshift ?.
Question for those in the know, what is the Ds mode? Does it just hold the revs a bit longer?
Click to expand...
That's the go-faster button I was talking about

My Dad had a 1.3 k11 micra and I had a go with it. It's a sharpened throttle response and it holds the gears even when you aren't at full throttle. So in a standard automatic setting you can go to approaching the redline in each gear but only if your foot is buried on the floor. But the button holds the gears ready while cruising at a steady speed so that you don't have to wait for the downshift to happen when you push the gas pedal down.

So at between 1/4 to 1/2 throttle in drive without the button, you'd be in 4th gear at 40mph to save fuel for MPG reasons, and then if you wanted to accelerate you'd push the gas pedal down and it'd take a few seconds dropping down to 3rd and then probably to 2nd, switching back up from 2nd to 3rd at around 65.

With the button pushed and at half throttle you'd be in 2nd still at 40mph and it'd be ready to go higher.
 
fork seals done, just lights to re fit and a new front master cylinder tomorrow night and then off to get a trailer on Saturday.
Sounds a lot of work but the bike end is easier to do than car stuff so only an hour and a half of pottering.
Will let you know how Saturday goes, have also got the tyre pressures to sort as it’s all a bit counter intuitive. 36psi in the front, 20-25 psi in the rear.
 
Saturday didn’t happen, bloody brake callipers failed. Still they are 35 years old ?
New front brake system is now fitted and some other odds and ends done. Collecting the trailer this weekend now so fingers crossed.
Other than some bodywork the only thing I would like to do is change the throttle response, is there anything that goes on the throttle body to move it quicker?
 
A quick run to work and back today, think it’s going to do three figures when we go to the Isle of Man later this year ?
Still a few tweaks to do but nothing to drastic. Would like to do something about the throttle movement, making it easier to open up. Adjust the gear shift so all positions are available, and a few cosmetic things.
Should have a couple of pictures when we go out over the weekend.
 
It’s been a while, but I had a lot to do in a short time to get the trike ready for the holiday to the Isle Of Man.
Breaks, welding,moving foot controls, lights and a new engine cover. I was doing 2-3 hours an evening and most weekends 8-10 hour days.
Was it worth it?
BLOODY HELL YES.
275 miles to Liverpool towing a trailer with my bike on it and all our luggage for 2 weeks, slipped up once and thought the traffic had slowed down until I looked at the speedo (85) got up there with a couple of hours spare.
We were the only trike on there along with 300 bikes, lots of comments and photos being taken.
It’s well worth a visit, even if it’s only for doing the mountain road. Without any speed limit it’s strange going past a copper at 80+ on single carriageway ?
My wife has loved it and being disabled doing a lap of the TT course is a big tick off the bucket list.
Will post about it more later but the trike didn’t miss a beat for the 2 weeks and 1000 miles. Even with a trailer with my bike and all the luggage it didn’t feel much slower on acceleration.
 
A couple of pictures of the trike, first one is loaded on the way from Sussex to Liverpool, the second one is at the point of ayre on the island.
Hopefully the video loads of my wife going round the Ramsey hairpin ?
 

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