Yet another carbed CG13 K10

[Mad the Mike]

'ello lads. First post on this excellent board, so I should introduce myself a little before we continue with the Micra. My name's Mike, a 23-year-old guy from Poland. I first stumbled upon MSC back in 2013 when researching my options of upgrading the suspension and wheels. I remember finding a bunch of great project threads that planted the seed of a swap idea, though it wasn't really possible back then for me, as I didn't really have anything in the way of room, tools, skills, knowledge, nor did I know anyone that could help me. That's the introduction, the story will continue once the Micra is introduced.

Here's the subject of the thread in her current state. '92 Nissan Micra K10 1.0 LX 3-door. Bought new from a Nissan dealership in Poland by friends of my family, then bought by my grandfather a few years later. I remember being picked up from the kindergarten in this car, been driven around quite a bit in it as a kid. Fast forward to December 2011, when I got my licence, Micra was sitting mostly unused because of my grandfather's deteriorated health due to a stroke. I was kinda skeptical at first (c'mon, it's an old Micra), but she grew on me massively over the years.

Here's probably the oldest picture I have, summer of 2012 moving houses with my family. Back's super low as the shocks were dead and there's 100kg+ of books in there. She's had the original hubcaps, though one was lost back in time and the paint was flaking heavily, so I took them off. Got my hands on two extras just recently in case I ever need them. The body was in a pretty good shape except for the sills which were damaged at some point and pretty much gone by the time I had them replaced.

Summer of 2013. Bunch of stuff was done. New Kayaba gas shocks with Lesjöfors -30mm springs all around, 14" alloys with 185/55 tyres which improved the handling tremendously, broken front parking lights were replaced. Had the sills done along with a few other bodywork issues. Probably her best looks at that point, bar the faded center pillar which I've repainted myself some time later. I've spent most of the 2014 on exchange studies in Finland (took the Micra with me of course), so there wasn't much opportunity to do anything and 2015 was mostly me being busy with trying to finish uni and other stuff, hoping I could somehow try the swap once I'm done with that.

Mid-2015 is when the swap slowly started becoming something more than just a plan. I accidentally made friends with two guys who were participating in amateur rallies, wrenched on cars a lot and had a pretty decent rented shed as well as a good supply of tools. I did hang out there for a while helping with some minor stuff, then got overwhelmed with uni stuff and eventually came back at the beginning of 2016 and started helping with a car they were building for a client. We talked about the Micra, I mentioned the swap idea, they were a bit skeptical at first, but eventually we worked stuff out and search for the donor had begun.

Finally, in March a suitable specimen was found. I bought a complete 3/4 of a rather high-spec 1.3 '95 K11 (electric windows, power steering, ABS and all that; no AC sadly) with a running engine. Why 3/4? Well, let the clue be that it cost me a whopping 65£, go wild with your guesses. More to come soon.

Edit: Oh great, the photos only work in the editor. Attempting fix.
Edit 2: Fixed. Apparently the IMG tags don't work with Dropbox links for some reason. Gonna use puush for the time being

 

[Mad the Mike]

Nobody? Oh well, guess the K10 section is even quiter than it looks. Looks like I gotta double post. Anyways, more stuff that's happened until now:

Why 3/4 of a K11? Well...

...she wasn't in the greatest of shapes. Apparently bunch of guys were hooning around on an abandoned airfield and suddenly two of them have found themselves going for a head-on crash. Fortunately the one driving the Micra pulled on the handbrake turning the car around, leaving her with an intact front I could use to upgrade mine. The rear right quarter has almost disintegrated on impact, largely due to nonexistent sills, which were naught but rusted out holes. Lifting the back of the car was quite the challenge. Entire bodywork seemed to be composed of 50% rust, 30% plaster, 15% steel and some 5% paintwork on top. Not that I would be needing it for anything.

After stripping most of the front and freeing up the engine, we hauled the car to my friends' shed where the engine was removed in less than 2 hours and I spent the next few afternoons slowly pulling all the potentially useful bits off the shell. I kept the entire front end, steering, suspension, hubs, radiator, brake system, rear axle (going for a disc swap, since this was an ABS model) along with a bunch of interior junk, the complete loom, you name it, I kept it. Once that was done we took the empty shell (not really, we dumped some junk inside to even out the missing weight) to the scrapyard, leaving me with a lot of stuff to prepare for the swap.

The engine was taken apart, degreased, cleaned, wirebrushed, sanded and cleaned again in preparation for painting. All the sealing stuff will be replaced while I'm at it, to save myself pointless fussing about later on.
Several extra parts were purchased in the meantime: Rover K-series 4-2 exhaust manifold, CG10 flywheel, CBR600 F2 carbs (came with the airbox base and trumpets for ~30£ only, neat) and a spare gauge cluster.

All the stuff I took off the engine was prepared for painting as well. Bolts were given a bath in some rust remover, got them nice and clean. Meanwhile I found a pair of used-but-new boot lid springs, so it won't be hitting me on the head anymore, along with two original hubcaps and a spare dizzy, about 35£ in total.

Oh dammit, I just got called in to work 30 mins early. Welp, gonna post the rest when I'm back.

Edit: Got back from work, here's what was left out in the rush:

You might now be wondering what the spare gauge cluster was for. Well, since I want to have a tachometer and the Super S ones aren't really available (found one on eBay in Denmark for 90€), I decided to go the DIY way. Ordered a cheap Chinese external tacho off AliExpress for ~12£ with a scale that matches the Super S one, hoping I could fit it's internals into the factory cluster.

The tacho, taken apart. Held together by just a couple of screws. Luckily both the shift-light and the adjustment knob connect to the PCB by wires, meaning I can reposition them easily.

Fortunately the drive part could be separated from the PCB, allowing it to fit in the cluster without any major cutting. Two holes drilled to mount it, third one to screw the PCB on the outside.

I scanned the original faces and used them to vector the outlines, which were then laser cut from milky plexiglas (here still with the protective film on). I also used the scans to reproduced the whole gauge design, with photo references to recreate the tachometer.

The designs were then cut in vinyl, which I had to weed out and transfer to the face plates.

The result so far. I still have to fabricate the tachometer needle and paint all four, most likely gonna go for orange. Yep, the normally unused light between the handbrake and battery charge light is gonna be the shift-light. The icon will change though, I came up with a better one and have to redo that part as it ended up too much to the right anyway.

That's all there is so far. More updates as progress is made. Thanks for checking out the thread!

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[Fujiwara-Ben]

Loving the progress so far! and i really love what you have done with the instrument cluster Can't wait to see some more updates! haha

 

[Mad the Mike]

Progress!

Finally got some time with my friends on Monday and started painting stuff.

Engine getting primed

The accompanying bits primed

And some of them painted black already. The remaining ones will have another colour on them, or be a mix of the two. Either way, some more masking is needed.

Hoping to get all the extra sanding done tomorrow and to have all of the above painted by the end of the week so that reassembly can start. Hoping between the pictures I took and a service manual I have enough reference to do it correctly.

 

[Mad the Mike]

As it always seems to be, there were some delays, but finally we got the engine and remaining bits painted and I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. Slowly started reassembly yesterday and realizing I might not have taken enough reference photos. Oh well...

The valve cover still needs to have the lettering sanded back to bare metal. That, however, has to wait as the black paint has peeled from the bottom lip in a few spots and needs a light repaint. Either I did not sand enough or some oil remains were soaked up by the primer. Nothing major though and I'm really happy about my masking job.

Some of the remaining bits and pieces.

The objective for now is to replace the oil seals, gaskets, etc. and assemble as much of it back together as possible before starting the actual swapping part and fabricating the manifolds.

 

[Fujiwara-Ben]

Wow, your engine looks amazing! Can't wait to see it in the K10

 

[Mad the Mike]

PROGRESS FINALLY

So yeah, the engine was partially reassembled and then work was halted due to several cars my friends had to wrap up before Micra could be parked in the to have the engine and all the other bits pulled out. At long last, today I could get her in and started the preparations. So far I took off the front bumper and the plastic covers to get access to the crossmember which needs to be repaired. That will be done by a professional tomorrow, in his garage, so I couldn't take anything else apart before going there. Instead, I took apart the front suspension I took off the K11. Now, pictures:

The engine as it stands now

1.0 flywheel, new LUK clutch and diaphragm. Will probably have to make it a hybrid at some point.

RIP crossmember

​

Fug, that's crusty. Might be a good opportunity to practice bodywork repairs before I decide to get a new pair.

K11 arms and hubs. New bearings direly needed. Also, facelift ABS 1.6 Almera N15 calipers, to go with 252mm vented disks (preface/non-ABS were 247mm), for when I go competitive driving. Bye-bye brake fade. Note: Primera P10 calipers will not fit, mounting holes too close together. I learned the hard way.

Also, I figured out a setup to record timelapse videos with my phone, along with a custom tripod mount powered by zipties, so I'm recording everything and once I get some more footage, I'll probably put it together and upload that as well.

 

[Mad the Mike]

Okay, a quick text update post:

Micra is getting a fresh new crossmember, sturdy enough to have an armour plate mounted to it down the road, which should be done tomorrow. Also means that I can have the front engine mount positioned as needed, hopefully using the K11 one, since the K10 ones are no longer available anywhere and the rubber bushings are long dead obviously.
Forgot to mention in the previous post that I lucked out and got my hands on a K10 rear ARB along with the two rods it attaches to, meaning it saves me the hassle of trying to fit a K11 rear ARB.
Also, quick question, since I'm not entirely sure about the issue. I'll be using the K10 5-speed box which is the same that was used in preface 1.0 K11 and K10 driveshafts. Will that work with preface K11 1.3 ABS hubs/hub carriers, or do I need those off a preface 1.0 K11? The 1.3 look different and have bigger splines IIRC, yes?

 

[karlj]

You'll need pre 1.0 the 1.3 is larger

 

[Fujiwara-Ben]

You won't be able to use the MA 5 speed with CG13 hubs. Reason being that the splines in the hubs are bigger so the K10 driveshafts won't fit

 

[frank]

the hub splines are the same tho

 

[Fujiwara-Ben]

the hub splines are the same tho

Are they?! Allways though it was the hubs and the box that had different shaft splines

 

[frank]

Are they?! Allways though it was the hubs and the box that had different shaft splines

aye different diff spline on the preface 1.0 ben, here,s me fitting a k10 shaft to mine (the green c/v one)

 

[Mad the Mike]

Ok, so I pulled out the driveshafts and they do fit the CG13 hubs. Yay! Also, that means another update post is due.

First of all, here's a pic of the aforementioned crossmember:

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Also, I went from this:

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To this:

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Yep, seems I've gone past the point of no return. No way but forward and all that. Some major rust behind the wiper motor (quite usual I think) and minor rust everywhere. About as cruddy as you'd expect from almost 25 years of use.

Took the gearbox off the MA10 and test-bolted it to the CG13 for the purpose of figuring out the engine mounts. Turns out the MA uses smaller diameter mounting bolts and the CG ones weren't in the box they should be in. D'oh.

​

Also somewhere in the meantime I whipped up a quick shop to see how my ideas for touching up the problem areas on the body would look. I'm pretty sure Ben will recognise the inspiration Black space between the taillights stolen from pork.

That's all there is now. Hoping I can have the mounts and all done by the end of the week so that I can clean up the bay. As soon as it's repainted, I can finally start putting stuff back together for a change.

​

 

[Mad the Mike]

Some more progress (or lack thereof)

So, with the engine and box test-bolted together I applied them to the engine bay to see how stuff fits in there.
The pulleys are pretty close to the frame, especially the power steering pump one, as it sits behind the engine and about 0.5 cm away from where the frame branches down to control arm mounts. Also meant there was not enough room for the right hand side engine mount. As in the CG13 mount that bolts to the engine wouldn't fit in the bracket that goes on the body.
One thing that will be done to fix it is the gearbox side mount rubber bushing. The dead K10 one was replaced with one I pulled from the K11, which has the inner sleeve offset from the center and we pushed it in rather randomly. So once I replace that, I can push it rotated to bring the gearbox as high up and to the left as possible.
The other thing, which I already did was ovalizing the bolt holes. Wasn't too sure about it, but then I remembered Ben used the K10 box, so I checked out his blog to confirm it's the way. Cheers Ben! Those two should shift the engine to the left just about enough to give me some more clearance, while not affecting the driveshafts.
Due to those inconveniences and delays, the welder guy couldn't weld up the mounts today, so I didn't test-fit the engine with the gearbox mount modified. Instead, I drilled out the right hand side bracket off the body instead, as it seems the K11 would take even more modifying to fit and would look kinda silly with an empty mount just sitting there. Slightly worried it will take some hammering on the body to fit. I don't want to hammer on my Micra, having to move the mount is bad enough .

Picture from yesterday. Body mount still in place, the K11 body mount is there for comparison as well. Engine is bolted on two gearbox mounts, side and back. The gearbox side is a tad low as mentioned earlier.

Gonna have a run around town tomorrow to see if I can source new bushes, as all the ones I had on the K10 are dead and hope the welder guy has time. Apologies for incoherent writing, kinda tired.

 

[MaxK11C]

Hi guys just got my first k10 ma12 can some1 tell me where to find the casting number on my cylinder head.
Thanks in advance
Dan

Hi Dan,
Please create a new thread if you wish to ask generic questions.
This keeps blogs clean, tidy and on topic.
Thank you.

 

[Mad the Mike]

Some more progress photos.

Test fitted the radiator, made a bracket for the coolant reservoir and radiator mounts, with K11 radiator bushes as they were a perfect fit for the steel profile I used. Also got all that stuff and engine mounts welded into place.
Now to wait an eternity to find out when the painter is gonna have time so I can clean the engine bay. I hate being held up by stuff not depending on me. Next project, if there ever will be any, I'll just be getting all the tools necessary. Welder, air compressor, spray gun, etc. Not being self-sufficient sucks.
Anyway, photos.

Test fit:

Mounts:

Close-up:

Not as pretty as Bias's, prettier than Pork's. Still, the uglier part will be hidden under the washer reservoir, which somehow still fits in its original position.

 

[Mad the Mike]

Small update on cleaning the engine bay.

Wirebrushed most of the rust spots away, blew out all the detritus with compressed air, cleaned off most of the underbody sealant which was where it should not be and scraped most of the seam seals. Looking a lot cleaner already. Also, took some of the heater matrix off so that I can take the insulation off the firewall when the seams will be spot welded.

 

[Mad the Mike]

More slow progress.

Most of the bay was spot welded, remainder will be done once I take off the steering rack. Also sprayed all the bare metal with epoxy primer.

 

[cgten]

Following this!

 

[Mad the Mike]

Update! Finally got the engine bay finished.

Primed

Wet sanded

And painted. SHINY!

Also had one of the fenders sorted out in the meantime

Also, guess I better clean this crud up now as well

Now to finish cleaning up the gearbox and paint it, put the engine back in the bay and start doing stuff like the suspension mods and reassembly.

 

[Mad the Mike]

Right, guess it's about time to post an update on what happened since the last one.

First and most important, as it caused a major delay. Mistakes were made in regards to the engine bay repaint. Turns out, if you want to protect your new paintjob from being scratched by the bonnet being laid on top of it, you shouldn't use cloth to cover it. Especially if the car will be parked outside. Especially in humid weather. Especially if the humidity is due to rainy autumn weather. Long story short, the paint bubbled in multiple spots due to moisture soaking into the fresh coat and that necessitated a repaint of half the bay. Hurrah. Which, in turn was done a month later.

Now for the positive stuff. In the meantime I finished cleaning up the bonnet, which took half a roll of paper towel and about a litre of nitro solvent, no pics of that atm, but looks tons better. The gearbox was cleaned, primed and painted too.

The box was then mated to the engine and the whole thing was dumped in the engine bay. After the repaint we hauled the car back to my place so that it could stand in the cramped yet warm and cosy garage, enabling me to wrench whenever I feel like it. She stood like that for a while and then I slowly began to continue work.
Raised the front on jack stands and disassembled the entire suspension and steering. Test fitted the K11 rack to see what needs to be done to make it work. Elongated the bolt holes in brackets to make them fit K10 bolt spacing. Took off the pedal box and steering column to figure out how to mate K10 column to K11 rack.
Photo shows the K11 column. Seems pretty simple really, just need to press out the U-joint and shorten the lower part by 3 cm. There's still enough spline left for the rack side joint. This makes it fit between K10 upper column and the rack. Just a simple swap and shortening, no welding needed.

Wishbone balljoints were replaced with K11 items to fit K11 hub carriers, so I can use the much larger Almera brakes. Still have to clean and paint them. Also, once the car is assembled and back in my friend's shed they'll be drilled for the arb. Meanwhile I cleaned up and painted several assorted bits and started putting stuff back in the engine bay.

Not much room to work with, but still better than out in the elements.

Took me a while to figure out the headlamp brackets.

Gotta take one fan out to make room for the alternator and exhaust. Still, there's plenty enough cooling. Fluid tanks have yet to be cleaned, Wanted to see how they look in place.

Custom coolant tank bracket. Still gotta make two for the radiator.

The K11 rack and brackets, yet to be neatened up.

Also some time ago had flanges laser cut from 10 mm steel. Got two sets in case we mess something up.

Also today I cleaned up the loom and stuffed it back in the engine bay for now. Eventually I want to hide it, but for now I need to know what goes where and which bits will be unnecessary.

On the agenda for the near future is:

• replacing the hub bearings
• painting the wishbones and hub carriers
• refurbishing and painting brake calipers
• painting the gearbox side mount and installing the bushing (that's why the engine is slightly skewed at the moment)
• getting the steering column mod done so I can put the interior back together
• modding the K11 battery shelf and painting it
• assembling the front suspension and putting Micra back on her wheels
• cleaning/painting/assembling rest of the accesories

After that it's back to my friends shed to fit the arbs, try to swap K11 discs in the rear, get manifolds, exhaust, fuel and ignition systems sorted and whatever thousand other things will surface.

Now, since I'm gonna need a fuel pump, I'm considering an external one from an older carbed engine, something like a Volvo 740 for example. What fuel pressure/other parameters am I looking for with the CBR 600 carbs?

 

[pork]

Only a couple of psi on those carbs, looking good!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mad the Mike]

Yesss, my thread finally got noticed by Pork!

Also, just spend some time doing research and found generic pumps intended for replacing the mechanical ones in old cars. 95 l/h, 0.2 bar (3 psi), 15£ incl. delivery. I think I'll bite. Assuming I can install it in the bay, since this is where mechanical pumps sit.

 

[frank]

aye, lookin good mike we use these type on the gang mowers etc http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-Petro...ffType=OrderSubTotalOffer&_trksid=p5731.m3795

 

[l_jonez]

Don't forget most electric fuel pumps are designed to push fuel rather than pull so ideally need to be close to the tank

 

[Mad the Mike]

Yeah, I did some more digging around and pretty much got the fuel system figured out in my head.

Also, some more progress happened. Fabricated upper radiator brackets, completed the hybrid steering column, cleaned and painted up a few bits and bobs, put some of the coolant hoses in place, etc.

The K11 rack cleaned and partially painted, installed in place, also some shiny cleaned coolant hoses.

The hybrid column as seen from the inside. Was so eager to see if it fits that I forgot to take pics beforehand. Works fine, the lower U-joint just fits in the hole, although I might have pressed the upper U-joint bearings a bit too tight, resulting in slight drag when turning the wheel when it rotates on that axis. Nothing major and rather easily fixed if it turns out to be annoying. Still gotta figure out how to fit the rubber dust boot, preferably the K11 one as it covers the U-joint from both sides.

Radiator brackets hammered out of a piece of junk laying around, which used to be a section of a B-pillar. Really happy with how they follow the front panel. Used K11 rubbers. Sits pretty well, not too tight, not too loose. Cleaned the fluid reservoirs and the loom, which was shoved back into the bay as well.

Interior's slowly taking it's shape back again. Mostly figured out which cables plug where, pretty much only the dashboard needs to be put back in at this point.

At this point I only need to get the hub bearings replaced and paint the carriers and wishbones to be able to put her back down on the wheels.
Also, forgot to mentioned that earlier, but a while ago I had Micra registered to my name, so now she is fully and legally mine. Also managed to hunt down some nice numbers as well. Feels good to finally have all the paperwork sorted out.

 

[MaxK11C]

Excellent to see some progress on this!
Keep it up.

 

[Super ted]

Hey,
this is a really good descriptive thread. I love the care and attention to detail with your build!

Your engine swap is also taking place over the same time period as mine. Looking forward to seeing yours completed.

Although it looks like your k10 is left hand drive. I was going to suggest meeting up. But i live in the uk. Presumably your from somewhere else?

Sent from my D6503 using Micra Sports Club mobile app

 

[Mad the Mike]

Presumably your from somewhere else?

Yeah, I'm from Poland. Would be a bit of a drive for me to meet up, sadly. Unless we chose a spot halfway. Like Nürbürgring perhaps?

Made some good progress since last post. Had the front hub bearings replaced, painted a bunch of stuff, installed some more parts, including the K11 brake pump/servo, clutch cable, ignition coil and bonnet catch. Front shock absorbers had their topmounts, bump stops and covers replaced with K11 bits as they were in much better shape. Also stuffed polyurethane bushes in front wishbones and driveshafts in place and finally dropped the car back on her wheels.

Gave the repainted calipers to a friend to have them refurbished. Found a shop which will customise the high pressure power steering line to remove the sensor which I do not need and also shorten the whole thing to make it neater. While there I found out they have a machine shop, so they'll mod the K10 distributor and machine a collar to center it in the hole as well.

Once that is done, I'll need to piece the cooling system together with all the different hose diameters and I'll be a fuel system and an intake manifold away from being able to start the engine hopefully. And speaking of intake manifolds, since I've never really seen this mentioned: do people fasten their carbs by any other means than just the rubbers connecting them to the inlet tubes? Mine came with the stock clamps and rubbers, which are quite stiff and seem sturdy, but are those actually enough to hold the carbs in place? Would be quite embarassing to drop them on a bump.

Now, the photos:

The painting table

Out in the sunshine on her wheels for the first time in a while. Decided to see how the rims I picked up along with the K11 look, since they had slightly lower profile tyres on.

Engine bay goodness

More engine bay goodness

 

[Mad the Mike]

So much stuff going on recently, I hardly have time to post an update, so this will have to do for now. Calipers fully refurbished, got a set of TRW disks and pads to go in the front, also bought/ordered all the bits I need to finish her enough to be MOTable and capable of participating in a relly next weekend. All the plumbing stuff, switches, relays and a fuse box for the pump, grille lights and such, exhaust heat wrap, brake lines and fittings, fuel lines and filters, stainless steel tubing and bends for the intake manifold, vacuum lines and a ton of other junk I don't readily remember right now.
Car's at a friend's place right now, we're welding up a new stainless 2" exhaust system. Almost everything bar the final muffler is tacked together, just gotta finish it up tomorrow, while I install the brakes and new track rod ends and try to get the toe-in within reasonable limits. Afterwards I'll be visiting another friend to weld up the intake manifold and vacuum balance tank, then gotta put it all together and hope she starts. Hoping to get her started Monday-Tuesday, geometry, new tyres and MOT on Wednesday and then drive around a bit, try to get a feel for the car, etc.

Gonna be a busy week.
Oh also, I started learning CAD last week:

Intake manifold (hoping to make this one up myself)

Air filter mounting plates, speedo drive holder fix (the bolt part snapped at some point), laser cut

Distributor bracket/spacer, laser cut

Exhaust tip (also hoping to make this one up myself, preferably before the manifold to practice)

 

[Mad the Mike]

Quick status update: exhaust done, needs leak testing and heat wrap. Front brakes installed, track rod ends replaced, picked up modded dizzy and hi-pres power steering line. Coolant hoses sorted out, need clamps. Fabricated the intake manifold all by myself. Cut the pipes to size, hammered them out, welded everything up. Hoping it's not too leaky, though there might be a pinhole or two, God knows where. Two runners seem pretty airtight, two others hiss the tiniest bit when blowing into them. Also welded up vac balance tank. Not too pretty, but okay for my first welding ever. Started installing fuel pump. Figured out how to wire up the alternator and radiator fan. I might still be able to get this done on time. Just need the laser cut dizzy spacer/adapter thing and a few maintenance parts.

Pics:

Sexy new brake setup. Just barely fits underneath the 14" rim. Had to take the weights off cause they rubbed on the caliper.

Exhaust bits. Thought we could use manifold downpipe off a Rover, caused a bit of a delay due to miscommunication when buying, then it was decided it's better to make one from scratch. Oh well. Two straight-through mufflers. Connected in two places with clamps for ease of disassembly.

Engine bay with carbs. ****ty past-sundown phone photo.

 

[Mad the Mike]

Okay, so I did not finish the car in time for the rally. Gave up two days before, when I realized that even though I might start the car, there was no way I'd actually get it drivable. Then I had a bit of downtime and eventually hauled Micra back to my place this Thursday.

Wrenched on for a bit on Friday and today, got the vac pipes connected, rest of the temp fuel system, ignition system, spark plugs, etc. Got everything ready for a test start, things seem fine, the starter turns, the fuel pump runs, dash lights, headlights and taillights work. Took the rear wheels off and inspected the drums. Seems the disk brake conversion shouldn't be too hard.

Then, once I put in water in the cooling system (wanna flush it a bit before I put actual coolant in), changed the oil filter and filled the engine with oil I had a go at starting the engine.

And it started...

... a fire on the wrong end of the intake manifold.

Luckily, I did have a fire extinguisher at hand. Unluckily, it was the powder type, which meant a mess everywhere. Even though it did look a bit spooky, the damage is minimal, a few slightly burnt fuel lines, bonnet latch cable and my fighting spirit.

Since it was getting dark and cold I decided to just take the carbs off and drop everything for the day. But then I read about cleaning the powder and apparently it can be corrosive, so I chose to get rid of it asap. Which meant flushing everything down with a garden hose. Also flushed the carbs as much as I could, getting all my clothes wet in the process, because I didn't really care at that point. Took the carbs to my room and set about taking them apart and cleaning what mess was left. Luckily there were only trace amounts of powder on the membranes. The float bowls were clean. Now that I put them back together I regained enough spirit to go back and try again, but it's almost midnight and I'd rather wait till everything dries out anyway.

As for why that happened, I guess I had the timing too advanced and something was wrong with the overflows, causing fuel to spill on the carbs. Then it backfired and things got heated. Since I'd like some pointers here, this is how I went about with setting the ignition and cables:

• Turned the crank till the timing mark pointed to 10 deg BTDC on 1st cylinder
• Took the dizzy cap off and checked the rotor arm position
• Turned it so that one of the contacts was aligned with the rotor arm
• Connected that to cylinder 1 cable
• Went counter-clockwise attaching cables for cylinders 1-3-4-2

Did I mess something up? I know the timing should be 15 deg BTDC at idle, no idea what to go with. Should I just stick with 0 deg? Did I misorder the cables? I'm assuming the carb backfire was caused by ignition with the inlet valves open, though the timing would have to be way more off than just 5-15 degrees, meaning the cylinders fired out of order. However, I'm pretty sure I checked a few times that I did connect them correctly. Would appreciate any suggestions.
Oh, as I was writing this post, I watched a few vids on installing distributors and realized I forgot about one small detail. Four stroke means two revs per cycle. Which means I might have set it at TDC of the exhaust stroke instead of compression. I guess this is where I ****ed up, the timing's 180 degrees off. D'oh.

Also, god damn, finding a replacement bonnet latch cable is gonna be a bitch. Guess I might hit the local Nissan dealership for a laugh.

And finally, have some photos:

New brake setup under the rim. Snugly fit.

Modded dizzy. The machinist couldn't get the tip off the K11 dizzy, so he whipped up a new one. Also, the centering collar.

Same thing, assembled.

Backlight on the white gauges. Gotta replace a bulb or two, but looks really comfy. Might actually leave the warning lights uncoloured as I like the look.

Hopefully I can sort stuff out tomorrow and get her started.

 

[Mad the Mike]

Yep, timing was off 180, silly me. But, you know what that means?

Yes.

She's alive. ALIIIVE!




Now to take it apart and put back together properly.

 

[wehey]

I like the way you managed to get a photo before putting out the fire.....10/10 for effort

 

[Mad the Mike]

Pahah, why does everyone think that? I had a camera set up to record the first start, got something else recorded instead

 

[Fujiwara-Ben]

Wooo!!! Glad to see it's running and the fire didn't cause to much damage
Been loving your build thread!

 

[Super ted]

How's the build going Mike?

Sent from my SM-G920F using Micra Sports Club mobile app

 

[Mad the Mike]

Slowly, but forward. Got a bunch of minor stuff done over the past month. Took the rear end of the car apart, the fuel tank, axle and links, exhaust and intake and such. Cleaned up and grinded the intake manifold before it gets painted to make it look a bit more presentable, also ground away the lip on the inside where tubes meet the flange to make for slightly smoother flow. Painted up the part of exhaust which will get heat-wrapped and welds to delay corrosion.
Stripped all the drum brake gubbinz and test fitted the calipers with pads and disks to see how they fit and figure out the caliper brackets which I've drawn up already, just need to redo the dizzy bracked since v1 didn't exactly work out and have those laser cut. Had the old bushes pressed out from the links. Also salvaged disk backplates and those little hubcaps which I'm missing on the front from the K11 axle.
Managed to revive the bonnet latch cable after it got fried, painted up some of the previously cut bits, including the air filter backplate and bought some clips and such to put everything together. Also adapted the PAS fluid reservoir bracket to fit the K10.

In other news, a month ago I got a job at a tyre shop/garage as customer service. Pretty nice job consisting mostly of arranging appointments, ordering parts and such. Really good atmosphere and a friendly manager, pay's decent as well. Quite happy with it overall, since I have access to some specialist tools and can order myself parts at super good prices So yeah, less free time to work on stuff, but that also means projects drain money at a slower rate and said money will slowly flow towards my bank account

The exhaust, yet to be wrapped:

Caliper bracket, designed to fit the drum backplate mount.

Carbs with backplate and trumpets:

 

[Mad the Mike]

Got a fair chunk of work done over the weekend, thanks to the finally proper nice weather. Wrapped the exhaust, finished the intake manifold, mounted the PAS tank and remaining hoses along with water pump pulley and drive belt, mounted the fuel pump in a secure spot, removed the remaining manifold studs, cleaned the bay up a bit, neatened up the vac balance tank a little, installed the speedo cable, installed air filter, cleaned stuff up a bit, fitted a rubber bushing where the bonnet support sits since my previous bodge fell out and put some yellow heatshrink on to pretty up the bonnet latch cable. Also bought some stuff for the fuel lines.

 

[plmval]

Mike
I spent half an hour reading your year-long K10 restoration story and admire your long term tenacity and attention to detail work creating value with hopefully more to come?

 

[andre_f_carvalho]

I'm enjoying the project, but what's new about putting discs on the rear axle?

 

[Mad the Mike]

Okay, so I'm not dead, I've just been kinda busy/lazy with stuff, progress is present though, just never had the time nor willpower to write up a post. Been putting off posting those pics for two weeks now, so just have a look and maybe I'll write something up during downtime at work or something. Only elements I'm waiting for right now are a pair of laser cut pieces that connect the caliper to the flange that bolts to the axle as the first version was too short.

Before/after shot of carbs getting cleaned

Shiny old fuel tank

Rear axle with all the yellow goodness

Artsy-ish shot of the above

Fuel setup at the back. From the tank, through a one way valve and a mesh filter to the pump and onwards.

The back, mostly assembled.

Disc brake mount. Originally wanted to use countersunk bolts, but then it turned out the thread in the axle is M10 rather than M8, so the countersink bit I bought just for this was a tad too small and then it turned out the thread is actually M10x1.25 instead os M10x1.5, meaning I I have to use hex bolts and grind them down to fit under the wheel hub.

Also had a bit of a break in working on the Micra to attend to whistly turbo and clogged EGR valve on my parent's Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDI. Nearing 300k km on the clock, this is what the intake parts looked like.

 

[andre_f_carvalho]

This axel is what comes in the last models, where normally the engine is 1.2? so in this axel the hub where the bearing does not come out when removing the drumb, correct?

 

[Mad the Mike]

I checked the Haynes manual and yes, this is the later model type (used 1988 onwards) where the wheel hub/bearing assembly is separate from the brake drum. The engine was 1.0, but I think all facelift models had this type.

 

[andre_f_carvalho]

I need one of This for my k10, he is from 1985, so doesn't work..

Sent from my ONE E1003 using Tapatalk

 

[Mad the Mike]

So, this was supposed to be a different post, but as always, everything had to go to ****.

Last weekend I put the remaining brake stuff together, bled the whole system and for the first time since the engine was pulled, she drove a few hundred metres under her own power. Which was nice.

Afterwards I continued to wrap up the wiring for the pump and radiator fan, made a temporary switch panel and got random other details ready to drive to work to get the alignment done and figure out how to connect the handbrake cables. Then, one morning as I was about to go for a test spin, the engine coughed and died and wouldn't start again. After a bunch of thinking I managed to conclude there's no fuel reaching the carbs after I managed to start the engine for a few seconds with brake cleaner. So off came the fuel hose and it turned out fuel is just barely dripping out of it, despite the pump running. After taking the pump out it turned out it wouldn't really suck fuel at any height/distance from a fuel can, unless I actually dipped the suction end in fuel.

So yeah, yesterday I managed to find the right product code to find the same pump in the online catalog of a parts supplier that's on the other side of the street from my workplace, ordered one and drove to pick it up.
The new pump had no problems sucking up fuel, so back on the car it went and I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to synchronise the carbs, which I eventually did, getting a pretty ok idle and nice throttle response.

So, naturally I decided to go for another drive, and well, it was underwhelming. Engine wouldn't rev past 3k (even though it would rev easily past 5k under no load), was dropping on power, until it eventually stalled after about 1km. I managed to starte again with choke and limped back home with it dying twice again. Today I checked and it seemed the pump was only providing 1/4 of it's flow, meaning that with the return line, barely anything was getting to the float chambers, so I crawled yet again under the car, thinking that maybe the mesh filter I placed before the pump was causing too much resistance for the pump.

It seemed a short piece of hose connecting the pump to the line that goes to the engine bay was a bit kinked. So I wanted to take the pump out, to check how well it pumps. Then it turned out one of the treads for the electrical connections came loose from the housing, so when I was trying to undo the nut, I only twisted the connection inside the housing, ripping it off the wire that connected it to one of the motor brushes.

So that's another pump down the drain. And I'm in this weird spot between being ****ing pissed off and wanting to cry. In hindsight maybe I shouldn't have taken the pump apart, but I was hoping it might be salvageable. Not like I could return it, since it had already been installed, and all that. While I can put the insides together, I don't think there's a way I can salvage the aluminum housing.

tl;dr Car still not in driveable condition, first pump I bought shat itself, the replacement got ****ed too, I'm really damn angry/sad. Nothing ever seems to come out right. On the plus side, there might be a ton of intake air leaks for me to worry about if I ever sort out the fuelling issue, also did I mention cylinders 1 and 2 seem not to be firing at idle?

 

[Mad the Mike]

Good news everyone! Micra is in running condition again and I've been driving her around for the past few days without any major issues save for massively rich mixture due to the fuel pump apparently doing it's damnest to make up for the previous two.

So, what's she like, you might ask. Well, the answer is quite simple really...







fast






Really, really damn ****ing fast. Bordering on the scary territory. And obnoxiously loud when you punch it as well. I'm definitely somewhere around 100 hp. Needless to say, I can't wipe a smirk off my face every time I floor the throttle. More to come soon.

 

[Mad the Mike]

Yet another short text update before I leave for a week or so. I almost managed to get the idle mixture decent, but the next day one of the screws fell out at some point, so I'm waiting for a replacement to arrive. Also changed the thermostat to a 89 Celsius one, which helped a bit with the engine underheating.
Also, went to a nice flat stretch of road, to see how well she does 0-100 kph. About nine seconds flat. With the clutch slipping all the way. Guess that means I'm in the 100+bhp range

 

[Fujiwara-Ben]

@Mad the Mike if you suffering from clutch slip, i would highly recommend getting a LUK clutch kit. I had trouble with mine but after changing over to the LUK clutch even before running it in, it now no longer slips