P Plate Micra Lover

Hey guys i just registered after reading a lot of the posts and articles about the k11's on the forum. I'm just about to take over my dads old k11 1.3L 96 micra as a first car. Ever since i started driving I've become more interested in cars and have expanded my knowledge from virtually nothing to a pretty sound base lol. The car is completely stock but i hope to add the following mods (take into the fact that i want to keep my insurance and that i have a low budget :D)
- New Spark plugs
- Replace the stock air filter with just a K&N panel filter (paper only)
- Remove the throttle body mesh (heard it gives a small gain lol)
- 2'exhaust from first cat with a high flow muffler

I plan to do the throttle body resoldering cuz the car feels rough at idle and has lost some low range torque. I'm a bit cautious however cause i carnt seem to remove the parts.. they just wont budge. and what does it mean at the end when it says reheat the joints..
Anyways i'm proud to join the micra site cuz it's just a great car and does any1 know how much torque or power gains i will make with those mods.. (if any)? :D

Don't laugh too much about the mesh. Hopefully you'll give each mod a measured assessment of the before and after performance of each mod as you do them.

A frankspeed cast manifold mod is also something you should consider.

A couple of notes if replacing exhaust from the first cat back -> The cat converter mounted to the stock headers uses a special joint with a pretty unique gasket that I wouldn't be all to sure that most exhaust places would fit for you. In most cases people either replace the stock headers + first cat with a set of extractors, or get a system made up from the 2nd cat converter in the middle of the car, back.

I wouldn't be removing the throttlebody mesh in a hurry - it's there for a reason and personally I'd leave it there because the AFM is right behind it.

K&N filter is a bit of a wank in my eyes because while flashing the name K&N around in a supercheap might make everyone bow down to you in fear of the awesomeness of the brand-name filter, unless you're modding the airbox to get better air feed from elsewhere, you're unlikely to see any benefit.

A general service (fluids, filters, etc.), resolding of the T/B if you're experiencing symptoms described in the article and plugs is probably not a bad place to start to familiarise yourself with the car, so I'd start there :)

Welcome.

1275: It'd probably easier for him to just buy a set of hurricane extractors, rather than stuffing around welding cast iron :P

---dens

1275: It'd probably easier for him to just buy a set of hurricane extractors, rather than stuffing around welding cast iron :P

I'd agree, here in the UK it seems that the 1st cat is more or less essential for passing the emisions test at MOT time every year.

Have you got a link to the Hurricane manifold please?

My car is running a treat without the mesh.

New high tension leads to the sparks plugs can sometimes help. My green car still has he originals and runs fine but the Red car showed a big improvement by fitting new leads. They were expensive though.

Mychael

Most people purchase the hurricane manifold through Nick (nsm) on the forums, and I don't actually have a picture readily accessible at the moment unfortunately.

I didn't say the car wouldn't run ok without the mesh, just that there are a few suggestions as to why it's there and why it might be a better idea to just leave the mesh as is - the most convincing one so far being that it removes air turbulence when the air goes through the AFM so the air can be accurately measured when passing though it.

---dens

actually,sodaniel had a pic of the set i sold him posted on here somewhere...


nick...

Hey guys thanks for the quick replies.
I was expecting a lot of lols when i listed my intended mods :D

Haha anyway 1275 i will remember to test the car after each mod to find out if it actually made a difference or not. deNs thanks for the advice. Seeing that it would be hard to find someone to install the exhaust from the 1st cat while leaving the stock headers means I'll probably just stick to your second suggestion and make it from the second cat although i probably wouldn't see as much an increase in performance?

The main reason I'm trying to stick with the stock extractors is because insurance companies frown badly once they see you've got a set of aftermarket extractors and might make you pay a bit more.

And yeah i know what you mean with the K&N panel filter.. its just that i thought i might get a decent filter if i was going to remove the throttle body mesh.

And about making a better air intake.. i dont really like the two designs i've seen on here because the first one although is sucking in quality cool air is a bit low to the ground and i could have trouble going over speed bumps or gutters etc. The second one has the intake going right over the engine to the front which i dont like because it could be absorbing the hot air rising from the engine although i could be wrong.

I'll just familiarize myself with the engine more before i make any big changes though.. thanks for the suggestions guys.. please reply to the better air intake part :D

the stock manifold and 1st cat are,nt that bad imo, and can be improved/modded.
the downpipe is more of a bottleneck, the 1st cat exit hole is 40mm, then the downpipe entry drops to 35mm, then drops even further where it joins the 2nd cat to 30.5mm, where its sleeved, to reinforce around the 2nd cat flange. (sleeve shown in pic, wedged into cat exit)
then the gasses exit the 2nd cat (65mm) and hit a flat plate with a (31mm) hole in the middle.
so..... improvements can be made while keeping it insurance friendly ;)

frank

bypassing the throttlebody water heating and lagging the waterpipe under the inlet manifold, and fitting a heatshield between the mani and block will help to keep the intake temps down

frank

Here's the exhaust manifold

img http://www.micra.com.au/images/technical-articles/hurricaneextractors1.jpg img

"

Most people purchase the hurricane manifold through Nick (nsm) on the forums, and I don't actually have a picture readily accessible at the moment unfortunately.

I didn't say the car wouldn't run ok without the mesh, just that there are a few suggestions as to why it's there and why it might be a better idea to just leave the mesh as is - the most convincing one so far being that it removes air turbulence when the air goes through the AFM so the air can be accurately measured when passing though it.

---dens"

Thanks heaps frank:D
On your second post.. doing a custom intake over the engine shouldnt be to bad if i make a decent heat shield. However i have no idea where throttle body water heater is or where the water pipe is under the manifold LOL.. i'm still trying to figure out where everything is.
I've got a picture of my stock engine.
How do i clean properly clean the engine bay?
Any suggestions/ ideas?
And lol because of the ongoing argument between 1275 and deNs i'm still undecided whether to remove the mesh or not.

Thanks heaps frank:D
On your second post.. doing a custom intake over the engine shouldnt be to bad if i make a decent heat shield. However i have no idea where throttle body water heater is or where the water pipe is under the manifold LOL.. i'm still trying to figure out where everything is.
I've got a picture of my stock engine.
How do i clean properly clean the engine bay?
Any suggestions/ ideas?
And lol because of the ongoing argument between 1275 and deNs i'm still undecided whether to remove the mesh or not.

Thanks heaps frank:D
On your second post.. doing a custom intake over the engine shouldnt be to bad if i make a decent heat shield. However i have no idea where throttle body water heater is or where the water pipe is under the manifold LOL.. i'm still trying to figure out where everything is.
I've got a picture of my stock engine.
How do i clean properly clean the engine bay?
Any suggestions/ ideas?
And lol because of the ongoing argument between 1275 and deNs i'm still undecided whether to remove the mesh or not.

Don't be such a wimp! be brave you know you want to :)

How do u get it so clean?

Just give it a wash and polish, and get your cam cover powder coated.

or VHT engine paint. come in a variety of colours and even crinkle coat for that extra JDM look..

Fuck JDM.. our cars are UKDM for gods sake :P

Also, I don't give a shit whether people remove the mesh or not - i'm just trying to get people to think about exactly why they're doing mods rather than simply saying 'I heard that if you...'. If it works for you, fantastic. I'm not going to push the point further.

---dens

LOL!
ive got the crinkle stuff on my 4age covers, comes up really good!

You crack me up mate ;)

- When I was cleaning up Tic Tac the other weekend I pulled the stock air intake off and pulled out the TB mesh and put the pod filter from White Knight directly onto the TB (no piping to the front for clean air). The induction noise sounds great. Not sure if there is any notable performance gain, cos since I have put the coilovers and WL stuff on it the car is soooo different overall. So my recommendation is if you want your Micra to sound sportier in the cabin then go for it. :)

You can get the same effect by boring some BIG holes in the underside of the airbox as well, mesh is still in place, air filter remains standard and still works, leave the snorkel to the front to throw plod off the scent. Guaranteed to gain at least 2kW just from the noise.

Welcome P Plate Micra driver :).

I would vote against removing the mesh from the throttle body. I am willing to bet money that the purpose of the mesh is to trip the airflow through the throttle body/air flow meter to a fully developed turbulent flow. I am guessing that Nissan designed it this way because accuracy of the readings from the AFM are dependent on the flow being consistently turbulent, which will make the air velocity over the diameter of the AFM roughly the same at all points, whereas a partially laminar flow, as may be the case with no mesh, will be much higher velocity at the centre. Therefore if you remove the mesh then it may affect the AFM readings and hence affect fuel metering and performance/fuel economy in a negative way.

I'd leave it in place also. Think of it this way. Manufacturers are all for saving money and they also have $$$$ to spend on R&D. If the mesh did nothing for performance then to save money I'm sure they would not have fitted it there if it served no purpose.

Mychael