Polarbears Garage.

So in this thread I plan to document the progress of my Micra mostly with pictures.

So, without furthur ado here's the first shots of my Micra.


http://img195.imageshack.us/i/13112009ed.jpg/
This is the first photo I took, just finished the paper work and drove it home, 10 minutes to get ready and get to work :P


http://img5.imageshack.us/i/17112009i.jpg/
Pulled the grill and front bumper, getting them cut and plastic welded.

Future plans include getting some extractors and a new exhaust (I'm looking around at prices now), replace the air intake, remove the bumpstrips, a new paintjob (most likely the championship yellow that swift sports are), a new stereo with 2 12" subs, black and yellow interior, new door cards, clean up the rims and probably paint them black, fit my double sided taped on spoiler.

Got the grill and bumper back. Not entirely happy with the quality but it will look great once it's all painted up. Painting the car and the interior recolouring should be next week. I hope the paint I put on the dash plastics doesn't peel.

did u add felx aid to the paint when u painted the dash plastics

flex aid sorry

I haven't actually done it yet, looking into paints now. Would I need any sort of flex aid stuff if I was using the interior plastics paint stuff that I spotted at super cheap auto?

Also Gibson, the edit button is your friend.

flex/plastic primer...

thankx mate yeah you will because the plastics are let say in the sun and they are expanding and contracting as the car cools down and heats up inside and i have seen heaps of people spray there plastics without using flex/primer and after like 6mths or less the paint is cracking becasue they haven't used it

Alright I'll remember to get some. I think the guy who is doing my car is getting some plastic primer and also flex additive so we can spray some of the plastics in my car with the same paint as the car. Dunno what I'll do for the black bits, get some paint he can put the additive into as well...?

good luck with the build will be watchin!

Got started working on the paint today.
Also it was something like 35 degrees C out today...

http://img97.imageshack.us/i/24112009q.jpg/

http://img413.imageshack.us/i/24112009002.jpg/
Door panels and trim off.


http://img301.imageshack.us/i/24112009003.jpg/

There goes the number plates and tail lights


http://img685.imageshack.us/i/24112009004.jpg/

http://img97.imageshack.us/i/24112009005.jpg/
Pulled my bumpstrips and found rust underneath :( Nothing a bit of grinding and some bog can't fix :P


http://img692.imageshack.us/i/24112009006.jpg/

http://img301.imageshack.us/i/24112009007.jpg/
Filling the bumper (front and back)
Removed the stickers too


http://img688.imageshack.us/i/24112009008.jpg/

http://img413.imageshack.us/i/24112009012.jpg/
Almost ready...

Plan was to get the bog primered and ready for the final sand before spraying. Should be spraying it on Friday.

looks good! why not shave the wiper and the lock from the rear? i did that to mine aswell. nice work so far :)

I like having a wiper there (when it actually rains) and it doesn't detract too much from the overall look, also because the car is going to be uber bright yellow the wiper/window will break up the yellow a bit. Also my black spoiler :P

Polarbear, so you're painting this yourself? or having a shop do it? If you are doing it yourself/ have done it before, any tips you feel like sharing for someone doing it soon for the first time?

I have a mate who has experience and is doing it for me, I'm assisting. I can try to give you some tips based on what I've figured out so far?

Get a big enough space, you might need to have the doors open AND have room to walk around them. We are doing my micra in a 6mX6m tent/gazebo thing (carpet on the floor when we get round to painting to stop dirt coming up into the paint). A big shed would be better.
Use decent tools, we've already burnt out an old sander and had to go get a couple of new ones. :P
Umm, be aware the compressor will be noisy.
Make sure you sand it all down properly else the new paint won't stick properly and you will have problems with it flaking in the future.
Mask it properly, if you leave a bit of the black rubber showing and get that painted it's better then masking over the body and having bits around your seals not painted.
Set up some ventilation and run it all the time you're working. We have a old big toolbox with a fan sucking air outside through a pipe. Sheets cover the front of the toolbox where the air comes in to catch the particles. It catches the dust/paint and you can just change the sheets when it gets too much on it.

Oh and make sure you keep track of the screws and plugs and bits so you know where to put it all back.

This is all just observation or simple-ish logic though...

Polarbear, I understand if you're on a tight budget why you'd maybe tape up the rubber around the windshield and hatch window. They'd be hard to remove without cracking, and probably need them professionally fitted again.

But it wouldn't be that much work to just wind down the door windows and at least remove the window and door rubber surely? lol I'm pretty picky and know that if I was doing it, even just the slightest bit of overspray on these rubber bits would bug me when its all done. I don't know, you might be able to clean it up after with some thinners or something but yeah. Just a thought.

i agree with daily_ricer, if you do a respray, do it properly and strip the car at least to the easy to remove bits. its much easier to later on add/remove stuff, as its painted everywhere and not comming the old color out if you have a rubber missing somewhere or your fitting different things which have maybe other mountings.

I've pulled most of the rubbers out but I wasn't going to remove more, It getting too hard to keep track of it all... I might see about removing some more later

It has been painted! Now I need to finish up my dash and other plastics... Install my headunit and speakers (subs and amp to come when I have $$) and put it all back together so I can drive it.

Photo's? Ok...
The light from the tent doesn't do it justice, it's such a bright vibrant colour.

http://img7.imageshack.us/i/p1040597s.jpg/

http://img248.imageshack.us/i/p1040598.jpg/

http://img109.imageshack.us/i/p1040600.jpg/

http://img301.imageshack.us/i/p1040602p.jpg/

http://img7.imageshack.us/i/p1040603l.jpg/

looking good polarbear ;)
now buy those carbon aches off moddedmicra
http://www.micra.org.uk/showthread.php?t=35051

frank

I wish, but I'm starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel of funds for the Micra.

Finally got the rest of my dash back, so it was out with the piece of string holding in the head unit and in with a proper bracket.

http://img30.imageshack.us/i/dashc.jpg/

http://img13.imageshack.us/i/instrumentse.jpg/
It also occurs to me that I haven't put up a shot of the grill and front bumper post mods and grill mesh.

http://img194.imageshack.us/i/grillei.jpg/

http://img9.imageshack.us/i/front2v.png/

Looking good m8.

http://img130.imageshack.us/i/subsy.jpg/

Subs :D

ARGH!!!! ARGJHIPEJBUOE*BDE*DXEBDEUEDUEDUDEUDE4INCFRINF IEFKJSDKJSDDJFRGHEFJ DEFNIEFNI

I crashed it :(

sorry to hear that mate, hope your ok? I pranged twice last year, first in my slx, which i managed to fix and still drive then the superS which was written off so i know how u must be feeling.

Thanks guys. It's not that bad a crash and I'll get it fixed. I'm just poor atm and didn't need this extra expense... I'll go take a photo or 2 of the damage.

Gah, forgot to come back and post em.

Thursday morning: YES MY NEW CLUSTER!!

http://img38.imageshack.us/i/tachod.jpg/
Thursday night: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

http://img23.imageshack.us/i/crash1o.jpg/]

http://img34.imageshack.us/i/crash2h.jpg/

http://img5.imageshack.us/i/crash3o.jpg/

http://img696.imageshack.us/i/crash4.jpg/
And now:

http://img136.imageshack.us/i/20022010.jpg/
I also have fixed most of the damage. The grill didn't get replaced and has a tiny crack and some marks on it still and I don't have a condensor fan as the wreckers gave me the wrong one.

Small update without any pictures. I am now in Brisbane for about 6 more weeks, still trying to find a condensor fan that will fit my poor little micra (got a sunburnt arm driving down from Rocky)

I have picked up some pulsar brakes but I probably won't fit them till I'm back in Rocky as I think I'd need some assistance doing it.
I also got some new wheels really really cheap but didn't get a chance to check the stud pattern (damned ebay sellers) So I should check that out... If they won't fit it'll be back onto ebay with them!

nice work !!!top A . i have no patience in painting, pisses my off so hard.

I have begun more work on my interior. I actually meant to start this over 12 months ago.

http://img855.imageshack.us/i/interiorcrocodilealliga.jpg/
I also finally got all the stuff for my new door cards too so I'll be making those in the near future.

very nice...always liked yellow.

I was thinking about redoing the bumpers in black. Partly because I didn't get to modify the replacement front bumper and also there are a couple spots of paint that are cracking and flaking, obviously the flex aid didn't work so well the second time we used it.

Browsing my facebook photos of my Micra I spotted a couple I missed.

I put some stickers on my mirrors about a year ago, then a month or so later I stopped at a red light in front of this and couldn't resist the photo.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/836/micralambo.jpg/

Bought some tail lights from someone on here a ways back. They are great! Replacement on the driver side obviously.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/812/micralights.jpg/


And finally my current project. New door cards! Also fixing the dodgy job of installing the speakers that my mate did.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/546/micradoor.jpg/