One happy new micra owner

Hello all, I have recently bought a 95 5 door micra in turquoise (the lunch box) as a new daily and somthing else to play with. I am enjoying this car so much that I wanted to share it and what I have been doing with some other fans.

I have always had a thing for 4 door luxury cars. But after owning a couple of cheap one's (Nissan cedric, lexus sc400, bmw 5 series) I got sick of the high running cost's and general price to fix things. So I did a 180 and went back to a simple, cheap, small car. As my first car was a Datsun that I still have.

The micra I got was really cheap, no air con or powersteer and had a few problems. But has been great fun to play with and drive. Most of the stuff has just been fixing it. Timing chain kit, major service, driveshafts, kyb shocks, full clean and degrease, painted rocker cover black, Nardi personal steering wheel, X-force muffler, 13x6 csa mags, heaps of little bits and peices. Getting four new tyres on saturday.

Yes I have been busy with it over the 2 months I've had it. And have more I want to do. So i'll start a thread for the car. And upload some pics when i'm on my laptop.

Cheers for reading. A new micra fan.

Welcome mate, micras are very surprising, Spacious, economical, handle great with the right gear and can be a lot of fun to drive. Good choice

Thanks for the reply, i agree with all of that. Except the handling isent as good as i hoped, But it does have 3 differant brand tyres ( all the same size) So i reckon thats not helping. And like you said with the right gear. For the traffic light grand prix it's a bit of a surprise. And i still cant get over how little fuel it uses. I Forgot to say, This website was very helpful in both buying a micra and also for idears and how to's. Here's a pic of my nissan's.

Well I might as well add to this post as work is still slooow. A bit more of the back story on my micra. I had only just made the decion to spend 2 to 3 G on a clean low k 3 door micra, or starlet of the same era to be honest. Then not even a week later this one popped up. Not what I was looking for but as work was slow and the price was right. I just grabbed it.

The pervious owner had changed the oil, but went with stuff like aftermarket tail lights (If anyone keen for them let me know as I had put the factory one's back in, as there is a small problem with the aftermarket lights). A cheap and nasty steering wheel, giant red wheel nuts, But some good stuff like a cd player, Central locking and it had the mags on it.

It had done 230,000K's so timing chain was first (as it was noisy too) all new fuilds/filters/belts and an engine flush. I paid a mechanic to do all this as the timing chain seamed a bit beyond my knowlage.
Next was the driveshafts, shocks and grease some stuff. Getting the front struts apart was fun. I got stuck and had to get my dad's help. We only had spring clamps, so we put the bottom of the clamps on the bottom spring hat. So we could compress them enough, then rattle gunned the top nut off. But it was all worth it as now it rides heaps better, doesent bottom out through spoon drains or speed bumps and has noticeable less pitch when cornering. Just not happy with the tyres now. But thats getting sorted plus an alignment.
Next I have started "ricing" it, With the muffler, steering wheel, and 6x9 speakers.

My future plans are. First is tint, Paint the hatch as it looks like someone has poured brake fulid on it. Then get some micra stickers made as it only has the 16 value one's on the doors And the Nissan badges front and rear. Opions welcome. Brakes don't know if I will go the N14 pulsar 1.6 or just redo the stock ones, Clutch going excedy hd, this job doesent look fun. Good non broken front bumper, headlights and front right guard (It's had a small accident and been very poorly repaired). Then the icing on the cake, lower it with some half decent 14inch jap wheels.

Now some pics.

more.

more.

more.

Very tidy!

Thanks BigJohn. I like to pick colour combo's for my cars. And I thought black was a good opposing colour to the bright green.

Got my new tyres and alignment yesterday. Everthing came out pretty good, except the toe in the rear is 2mm out. But thats nothing to worry about. So I headed for the hills last night in the micra. Was good for a laugh but some what of a surprise at the same time. It now has very little understeer unless you start to really poke it. And uphills if you keep it reving hard, which isent hard with the gearing. It pulls fairly good for the amount of torque it makes. But like I had read on here, the brakes dont last long.

So to sum it up, now that my micra goes close too like it did when it came for the factory. It feels like a happy little car, and for a cheap fwd a to b car is a bit of fun. Now to finish the cosmetic stuff and hope it serves me well over the next couple off years while I save for my next bigger and better car (an r32 gts4 4 door)


PS I hope this helps at least one person or gives them an idear in someway, as some off the other threads have helped me.

Cheers a new micra fan.

Small update: When i did the struts, i found the right side is missing the trust seat. Dont know where this has gone as it was a factory sturt. Anyway as i could not find a wrecker that would just sell the bit. I had to buy the whole sturt. So i ended up ordering one through nissan, now to play the waiting game.

And theres a random bearing noise coming from the engine bay (Not inside the engine). Probly just a guide or somthing. Havent looked at it yet. other from that still runs and drives great. Just like sorting out all the little noises.

And I just had to see what a 15" SSR xr4 looked like on a micra ;)

Also now tinted in legal (For my state) 38% all round.

Some nice progress there :)

I like reading people's build updates and seeing pics slowly transforming the cars.

Small update: got my sturt thing only took 2 weeks, happy with that. There also only plastic so probly got broken when it had the crash.

Found out the bearing noise is the water pump. Thats on the list now. But not coursing any problems so it can wait.

Almost bought some interga type r wheels, untill I found they where 4x114.

Spend $16.80 on some seat covers(in black and grey like the wheel), floor mats and parker globes at an autobarn sale.

Found out it was a country car and serviced by nissan to 140,000k's. Bonus.

And also found out that gts4 skyline's are rubbish in stock form. The gts-t's are way better.

Parts update: Just orderd new front lower arm front bushes and the whiteline caster kit. And paint (in spay cans) for the hatch. Also going to do somthing differant with the micra sticker on the hatch after I paint it.

This is probly where i'll stop as I had a 2G budget to buy and fix this car, that I have gone over and still am going to need a clutch as some point. It's ok unless you drive like a dickhead. And only if I can get them really cheap front bumper, right guard and lights.

Also need to do the brake pads and that bearing noise has stopped again hopefully for good this time. It comes and goes.
had to this too as it's funny to me. Got pulled over by the police for doing 110 in a 100 zone, up a hill in an overtaking lane going passed a truck, yes seriously. Guess they got pick on in high school.

Well been heaps busy with work, bought a puppy and keeping the girlfriend happy. But I did make some progress today. Had a day off and so did my brother (yay 4 day weekend for me). So we got stuck into the micra and fitted most off the parts I had. Also missed out on some 14inch Wed sports wheels that where $50 because one had a decent but fixable dent dam.

We started with the new lower control arm front bushes. Managed to get the old bushes out in the vice with a socket on one side and a bolt on the other. The strong flex bushes fitted, once I made them the right size on the bench grinder. Then fitted the whiteline caster kit when we put it back together, set em for maximum caster and pushed the left arm towards the outside and the right to the inside. Drives much nicer now but havent taken it out for a decent test yet. Also after watching a Hot Version i'm now waiting on some camber bolts then an aligment.

We also fitted some good headlights thanks to kovertk11, took my Narva Artic glodes out the Datsun and fixed my leaky washer bottle.

Next will be paint the hatch and black strips. Also rethinking the buget do I get some 14inch wheels and tyres, 1.6 pulsar brakes, new disks and lowerd springs and increase my limit or do I leave it hmmm.

How much difference did the castor kit make rebel?!

Obviously I'm chasing more traction so if they can help I'm gonna get some!

Plattsy: In my opinion It dident make any difference to the traction or torque steer. What it did do was give me noticabley more but not majorly better, steering response and turn in. Like on a 100k road corners marked at 60 I would lift off for, now I can comfortably sit at 100.

With traction, in my opinion I would be spending my money on tyres and a lsd. My Datsun only makes around 80rwkw (but 190nm and is super responsive) I have a open + locked diff and 14's with road tyres + 15's with semi slicks. With the locked + semi's I can flat shift and jump on the power like half round corners, but try and do this with the open + road's and I have ended up frying it into 3rd :) . So it's like apples to oranges.

Confession time: I was thinking about selling/swapping the micra for something else as I have a new job and have to drive on a 110k highway to get to work (it's really good until you get to a hill). But after looking around and getting a lecture from my dad, and he's a 4wd/Holden person. I'm going to keep it for good as a runabout.

So stage 2 begins ;)

So continuing on with my list I've started on the body. And I'm not qualified in anyway so don't take this as a guide.

The rust wasn't so bad once I took to it with the wire wheel, no holes. I used a rust deoxidiser/remover and super etch primer to try and seal it off. Then sandable primer and bog, repeated till I was happy.

Removed the black strips on the side. The caramel wheel worked a treat just hoping a buff will hide the colour difference.

Picking up some dba rotors (stock), bendix pads, New shoes, a pod filter and some other random bits today.

How it's coming along needs a little more work. I'm going try and blend it in then paint the front half of the roof, not just the patch.

And my pod filter/hard pipe (haven't found out what happens at 88mph yet)

Looks like you're taking all the right steps with that rust repair.
You can try blend the paint but you will have much more success painting the whole of the roof, front to back and between the strips. Paint will almost never be exactly the same shade and even the same tin of paint can give different shades depending on the angle of the panel, how much catalyst, temp, etc so use panel gaps and body lines, rub strips etc to hide the transition from old to new paint.

And please keep a witness outside of the vehicle with a camera just in case 88mph does get a result and you don't make it back.
Oh and don't let the bacon catch you.

Thanks for your input. Thinking about it that's going to be a better option. As I'm painting the hatch and like you said the paint won't 100% match, I'll try my best when I buff it. So all the New paint will be in a strip.

Lol will do. And that's legal in S.A. as it doesent effect the emission control crap.

I did rust repairs for a few years. I didn't do the painting but did everything up till primer. something as simple as a swage line can hide the transition from old to new paint if the colour is very close.
If you try to blend mid panel you are going to chase your tail so to speak. However it's possible to hide it on narrow panels like A pillars. Plus k11's are getting on in age so fresh paint cannot be a bad thing.

Keep us posted with pics, i'm keen to see your progress.

Also... the pod filter and hard pipe, are they micra specific part you've ordered?
I've got a box of steel and aluminium intercooler piping and silicone joins from various skylines... got me thinking I might rig something similar.

Thanks, the prep is the hard part.
Yer I made up the pod setup myself. So go for it as I reckon it made a small difference and sounds cool.

Today's progress. Finished taking the black strips off, smoothed out the rust patch a little more, got most off the peeling paint of the hatch then ran out off steam for today.

Also here's the last good pic I took of the car as a comparison for when I'm finished as I'm changing a couple of little things.

Hatch so far.

No door strips and my puppy Rex.

Today's progress so far, spent most of my time doing more sanding and taping up.

I used the rust stuff and etch primer on the bare metal parts of the hatch. Ruffed back the good paint with 240 and used scuff pad on the plastic trims.

Now it's primer filter and more sanding till I'm happy, I'll use 240 then 400 on the last coat.

Then paint/clear coat.

And hatch now.

Lots of progress! !
Prep work is very time consuming but it is the key to a good final result.

looking really good man!

Dam prep work, I thought the rust was going to be the hard part. The hatch has been a nightmare with feathering the old paint out, scratches some from using 80 grit and there was a dent that had been bogged up.

But I got through it today and tomorrow I'll check everything and paint wooo. I'm excited but nervous as I haven't done a repair this size before. I've fixed a rust patch or painted a panel with mixed results.

Also ordered some custom plates, so next post will be my last as I'll start a New thread as the plate name.

Pic from around lunch time.

Painted. I'll do the clear coat later on in the arvo and then unmasking. I also missed a couple of little bits, but as it has a couple of scratches and dents this doesent bother me as long as the paint cones out half decent.

Looking good! Do you have all pro spray equipment to do this?

Hell yeah! Looking really good.

Cheers, nah just doing it all with spray cans.

And here's the big reveal, it looks better in the pic. The roof came out crap as its a little rough and slightly flatter than the hatch. And there's a couple of small imperfections but overall I'm happy with it. Now to paint the wheels, tow hooks maybe the mudflaps and get my decals made.

That's fricken great! Awesome job man!

Ok I haven't forgotten about this post, just been busy and had a couple of delays like my stickers never got made so now i'm waiting for another company to make em. Paint the wheels still a bit more polishing and finsh the New tint job.

Here's a teaser pic.

Little more progress.