Question: Which Micra for Rallying/F1000/Road

[mikeday199]

Hey up everyone!
New to the forum, been lurking about for a month or so!

Decided to go down the small FWD route, been autotesting and other bits in a E36 320i BMW but sort of hit a wall as to; not powerful enough to be succesful, too big to autotest etc!
So i'm now wondering, which age and spec Micra do I try to find for road driving, road rallying, autotest/gymkhana and eventually F1000 ones funds/experience allow?

I've seen a lot of posts about things like dizzy cap mods and other bits on older cars, so is it better I get an older model and restore it? I've got some welding skills and other preparation skills so rust/rot isn't too much of an issue. I plan on stripping it out so interior condition etc isn't an issue either.

Would love to be able to drive it on the motorway (not too fussed about comfort) to a rally, compete then drive it home. I'm on a limited budget so corners need to be cut and work needs to be done myself where possible/competition legal.

Also, what about the ability to strip it of all accesories (heaters, fog lights, radios etc) and wire up my own light loom/rally dash board? Do Micra's cope well with this, can a custom loom be made of is it a major job?

Thanks in advanced for all your input and looking forward to showing a micra off eventually! (Y)

 

[mikeday199]

Also, I'm really keen to fit things like throttle bodies etc to the car to extract the maximum power from the car whilst sticking to F1000 regulations or parts that are easily swapped to put back to F1000 regs.
So if anyone has any info on doing this to a older K11 (Think i have convinced myself I want an older one now) please let me know!

 

[frank]

best to go for a pre-nats one eh mike, and kev (machi san) knows what wires you need to connect to get it running from scratch

 

[mikeday199]

best to go for a pre-nats one eh mike, and kev (machi san) knows what wires you need to connect to get it running from scratch

Pre-nats?

 

[karlj]

Up to late 95 I believe

 

[mattjo]

Try and get a non sunroof model too oh and 3 door :laugh:

 

[Dan Franke]

Try and get a non sunroof model too oh and 3 door :laugh:

Goes without saying. :glare:

 

[karlj]

Good luck on not getting a non sun roof.... don't think I've ever seen one on uk roads :down:

 

[Dan Franke]

Mines non sunroof :grinning:

 

[mattjo]

Think the more basic models had no sunroofs?? Should be a good few out there would of thought

 

[Dan Franke]

Think the more basic models had no sunroofs?? Should be a good few out there would of thought

Such as the 'L' models

 

[Craig]

Don't get too seduced by the pre 1995 ones unless it is a 1.3 as you will not be able to put rear swaybars on without a bit of a faff, your best bet is to find a 1.3 with a dead engine, drop a nice cheap 1l engine box and hubs in and you're away

Ta

 

[mikeday199]

Ok, a pre '95 one it is. What is nats then?

I will do my best to find one without a sunroof however i would probably weld over it if i have no choice.
And yeh, 3 door goes without saying =)

What am I doing to a 1.0 to improve performance and acceleration then?
What am I getting these throttle bodies from? How do Micra's do with lightened fly wheels? Can rear disks be fitted cheaply? Other bits like that I'm keen to know =)

Cheers
Mike

 

[karlj]

Aww when ever I looked all I found was with sunroof :down:

 

[mattjo]

Ok, a pre '95 one it is. What is nats then?

I will do my best to find one without a sunroof however i would probably weld over it if i have no choice.
And yeh, 3 door goes without saying =)

What am I doing to a 1.0 to improve performance and acceleration then?
What am I getting these throttle bodies from? How do Micra's do with lightened fly wheels? Can rear disks be fitted cheaply? Other bits like that I'm keen to know =)

Cheers
Mike

Be careful if you want to do F1000 lightened flywheels etc are not permitted

 

[mikeday199]

Excellent, I shall print off all the regulations before I start to do anything.
Give us some inspiration, what would be the first thing to do to the Micra when i buy it? What would people say is the most highly rated modification to them?

 

[mattjo]

Strip it, remove sound deadening etc, depends how far you want to go, some people completley strip the car and paint the whole car, others just do inside. Mods wise, suspension is key the good thing about the micras is that are plently of off the shelf parts for them, with the msa safety equipment (cage, seats, belts etc) buy the best you can afford but i would highly recommend using 6 point belts over 4 point.

 

[Guy]

NATS - Nissan Anti Theft System .

 

[chickenwaahoo]

Don't bother with rear discs, more hassle than its worth and handbrake is rubbish on rear discs.
Try and find one with power steering too, it makes a big difference if you decide to put a LSD in.

 

[mikeday199]

Don't get too seduced by the pre 1995 ones unless it is a 1.3 as you will not be able to put rear swaybars on without a bit of a faff, your best bet is to find a 1.3 with a dead engine, drop a nice cheap 1l engine box and hubs in and you're away

Ta

Okie dokie, what is defined as a "faff"? More or less than a few hours work?

Don't bother with rear discs, more hassle than its worth and handbrake is rubbish on rear discs.
Try and find one with power steering too, it makes a big difference if you decide to put a LSD in.

Oh, is that a general consensus of micra owner that rear disk's are bad? What about the Humphris conversion kit?

How hard is powersteering to retrofit if I don't get one?

 

[frank]

Okie dokie, what is defined as a "faff"? More or less than a few hours work?



Oh, is that a general consensus of micra owner that rear disk's are bad? What about the Humphris conversion kit?

How hard is powersteering to retrofit if I don't get one?

you would have to weld the brackets to the chassis and axle mike, p/a/s retrofit is a straight forward swap, +1 on the discs avoid, and i would go for the coilpack 1.0 personally (depending on regs)

 

[Suze]

Good to see someone else wanting to drive to and from events :grinning:

My rally car is a non sunroof, as is my old one. Bit of searching and we found them fine. It's fine on motorways etc just slightly noisier inside etc.

 

[Shaun]

+1 on the discs avoid,

+2 i have discs all round and the stopping power is nowhere near the same compared to rear drums. :glare:

 

[mikeday199]

Sorry to dig this one back up, im currently looking to buy a micra ASAP but the budget is a bit stretched, if I got a sunroof model and welded a panel over, filled and sprayed would it have a noticeable difference from that of a non sunroof model? In handling, rigidity etc?

 

[frank]

there are a lot of stiffeners in the sunroof models mike, if you,re gonna fit a cage i would cut the lot out and skin it with alloy personally

 

[Tobymicrarally]

on my f1000 micra i have ventalated disks on the front and mintex pads with 100nx callipers and standard on the back

 

[JonnyP]

One more thing to bear in mind, they are slowly moving the regs in line with Rally First, especially with regards to lightening the cars, so be careful. Engine, gearbox, ECU must be standard also. Next year it will become illegal in F1000 to use lightened doors/bonnets/boots for example.

Our Micra has:
Fully welded in custom made cage
Stainless steel micra kit car exhaust
Bilstein suspension
Electronic fire extinguisher system
Lovely carbon fibre Prodrive seats that we have to bin at the end of this year due to age regs

Regarding an earlier post about sway bars, our car was undriveable on the Billies with a rear sway bar fitted in all but the driest of conditions - it was just too stiff. Now we are competing on gravel we have both front and rear bars removed.

Also I know of several who run with simple plated sunroofs with no ill effects.