Blue Monster - 1995 Nissan Micra Super S

BACKGROUND [30 July 2006]

I purchased this car in basic turbocharged form in early 2003. I picked the car up for a bargain price, however the quality of the turbocharger conversion left a lot to be desired. Prior to its turbocharger conversion, the original owner had the car featured in Fast Fours magazine due to it making a claimed 70kw at the wheels from a set of 4-1 extractors combined with a basic pod filter cold air intake duct.

I had plans for a whole pile of upgrades and improvements and so got to work on getting the car exactly how I wanted it to be setup.

It has been a long road, with two of the past three years seeing the car off the road undergoing key improvements and maintenance. The car has certainly taught me patience. But when I drive it, I am satisfied in knowing that everything has been done to the highest level of quality, plus I'm driving a car that has been built to my exact specifications and liking. Virtually all of the mechanicals in the entire car have been enhanced, upgraded or replaced.

I have always tried to aim for a really clean, factory-on-steroids kind of theme to modification. I enjoy a smooth, refined and practical vehicle that has more than enough power on tap for any occasion, can stop in an instant and can fling around corners like there is no tomorrow, safely. It must have all this but still be fairly fuel efficient and stay reasonably unsuspected to avoid unwanted attention. The car needs to feel like an extension of the body - i.e. go go go, stop and turn just as quickly as you can think those thoughts. Retaining factory refinement and safety were also two big goals of mine - harshness, rattles or any compromise to safety are not acceptable.

TIMELINE

• The car is sold :( [30 July 2006]
• The micra is driving really well and very balanced AND POWERFUL! Enjoying it immensely [18 July 2006]
• New T28BB turbo, brand new exhaust and major engine re-map, now generating 143.7kw @ wheels [Early 2006]
• Visited Japan to find ultra rare VLSD gearbox, driveshafts and B-Crews coil-over suspension [Most of 2005]
• Destruction of the standard gearbox [4 Oct 2004]
• Painstakingly long engine rebuild progress [28 Sep 2003 - 23 Sep 2004]
• Purchased the car for a bargain price, in basic turboarcharged form, producing 98kw @ wheels [April 2003]

FINAL SPECIFICATIONS at time of sale

Engine Hardware

• Japanese import CG13DE engine
• O-ringed block
• 1mm custom aluminium head gasket
• PAR custom billet rods (2mm shortened) and ARP bolts
• SPS custom forged pistons (2mm lengthened crown) dished to lower compression to 8.2:1
• High flowed polished head
• JUN lightweight flywheel (4.3Kg one piece forged chromoly)
• Custom side-entry plenum
• Hitachi throttle body
• Nippon Denso 440cc/min top-feed fuel injectors (from 1989 Toyota Supra 3.0L turbo)
• MOTEC custom fuel rail
• Walbro 550hp fuel pump
• Magnecor 8mm blue silicon ignition leads
• NGK Iridium spark plugs
• Oversized 28mm single core alloy K&J radiator
• Odyssey compact deep cycle battery remote mounted under passenger seat
• Custom alloy air/oil separator with K&N mini air filter
• Custom PCV valve attached to cam cover exit lug
• Garrett OEM T28BB turbocharger (from JDM S15 Silvia)
• Custom alloy intercooler (Bar and plate - 300 x 280 x 76 - 2.5 Inch outlets)
• Custom alloy inlet pipework
• Microtech MT8 ECU
• Turbosmart Type 1 atmospheric blow off valve
• Turbosmart sleeper series dual stage boost controller
• Custom HPC coated turbo exhaust manifold
• Custom HPC coated double-dump turbo exit pipe
• Custom HPC coated 3" engine pipe
• Custom 2.5" mandrel bent stainless steel exhaust with 2 foot twin-chamber truck muffler and stainless steel cannon resonator back box and concealed 2.5" steel dump pipe

Suspension

• B-Crews Racing front height-adjustable coil-over units (5kg spring rate)
• B-Crews Racing rear height-adjustable spring platforms and racing shock absorbers (4kg spring rate)
• Whiteline 22mm front swaybar and urethane bushes
• Whiteline 20mm adjustable rear swaybar, urethane bushes and custom drop links
• Whiteline adjustable rear panhard rod and urethane bushes
• Whiteline adjustable front camber bolts (1 degree negative setting for street use)
• Whiteline castor anti-lift kit and urethane bushes
• Whiteline front strut tower brace
• Whiteline front lower control brace
• Whiteline adjustable rear trailing arms and urethane bushes

Misceallaneous

• Legally registered as a 2 seater Nissan Van (commercial vehicle) with GVM=1700kg.
• Rear windscreen wiper unit removed

Drivetrain

• JDM March k11 RS5F31V VLSD gearbox and driveshafts
• LUK 190mm pressure plate and exedy heavy duty full face friction plate
• B-Crews alloy engine damper

Brakes

• N15 Pulsar SSS AD22VF front calipers and 258mm x 26mm RDA rotors
• RDA rear rotors
• QFM pads front and rear

Wheels / Tyres

• Konig Helium Bronze 15" x 6.5" (4.9Kg each)
• 195/45/15 tyres

Exterior Aesthetics

• metallic blue paint - slight variation to factory colour
• DEPO crystal headlights
• Red/clear rear lights
• 1997 series 2 k11 front grille
• Tinted windows
• MTEC titanium windscreen wipers (black)
• Colour-coded door handles and number plate cover
• Clear side blinkers

Interior Aesthetics

• Silver sprayed gauge cluster surround
• AutoMeter boost gauge - dash mounted
• AutoMeter mixture gauge - dash mounted
• Japanese k11 factory pop-out compact cup holder
• Custom trim and carpet in entire rear of car with rear seats removed
• Custom anti-slip mat on dash surface and in under-column console
• Rear seats and buckles removed - custom rear cargo tray

Electronics / Gadgetry

• Central locking / keyless entry / alarm
• Blitz turbo timer
• Pioneer DEHP5750MP CD/MP3 head unit
• Alpine DDDrive front splits (50W RMS, external crossovers, Jaycar response tweeters)
• Jaycar response 4x50W power amp