95' Nissan Micra k11 1.0 16v

[squareflops]

Had this for a few weeks now but not really had a chance to write anything up about it. It's looking like I'm hanging onto it and have some questions so this thread could be useful

Background is; I've taken the m3 off the road for the winter, It's going to live in the garage until the weather, well turns bad and then turns good again. The replacement is as stated, a lovely little k11 Micra. I'd gone to Neath from Cardiff with the original intention of picking up a quite tidy looking Suzuki Ignis .. GL maybe? The trader selling it assured me that it was all functional and in good condition. I get there and can barely pull off as the clutch was slipping

"the clutch is dead mate" said I, "yea it's gone but it's only £80 to fix it all in.." fking penis

So my mate and I who had driven me there sat in Mcdonalds for breakfast me feeling slightly dejected, he turns his phone to show me a little red Micra in Bridgend. Seemed tidy, a 12 month MOT, not much of a write up but price was about right.

It's an early model, totally base spec with black bumpers and no PAS. lovely Gave the guy a call, a young lad who was using it to commute back and forth to Bristol, he being the 2nd owner after an older lady. The car has 117k miles on it and not a scrap of service history at all, nothing more than one key and a handshake

The interior is almost as new, no weird smells and not a scag or tear on any of the interior trim or cloth. Mechanically it's not as rosy, the clutch feels very fragile and the CV joints play quite the tune when on more than about 50% lock. None of these things are a particular problem or expensive to fix but will be a full weekends work to change them over no doubt.

The only other issues are the heater only working on full blast setting, a matter of changing the heater solenoid card and a blown bulb in the dash cluster so the left side of the speedo doesn't illuminate. All things I can live with for now. The shell is very solid, my guess would be it's spent some of its life garaged, the front cross panel is in good condition also.

The touches I like are the original dealer plates, a local car it seems, the original Blaupunkpt stereo replete with 'tone' control, that's staying. The interior is sparse and grey, I love its simplicity. The twin spoke steering wheel is also a favorite.

Its first wash





















period correct security precautions







Since these photos were taken I've received and fitted some genuine grey Nissan mats front and rear in the cabin, they look great and will save wear on the carpets. No doubt they'll be seen on here at some point.

Plans:

Not overly sure yet. The urge to start making it perfect is strong but I must remember my goal of buying something a) i don't care about and b) something I spend as close to £0.00 on as possible. I've already failed at a. I'm quite taken with it.

Initially I'm going to be giving it a service tomorrow consisting of:
engine oil/filter
spark plugs
fuel filter
brake system bleed

Mid term will be replacement of clutch and driveshafts.

After that, do I keep it standard or turn it into a little pretend road rally car I don't plan on doing events so the rally conversion wouldn't have to be major, but something like this



would be super rad.

All depends on my job in the next 12 months really..

So that's her, will be having a paint correction tomorrow along with the service tomorrow as although it's predominantly red it has been effected by tree sap and road grime so I'll see what I can do with it. Over all though I'm really pleased with it, It's surprisingly quiet and comfortable. It's ride is similar to my NB2.5 MX5 in as much as it soaks up bumps and floats over speed humps etc. The unassisted steering is heavy but engaging. High speed cornering on the mismatched 155/70/13" tyres is terrifying; and hilarious all in one go, I love the Micra

Edited by squareflops on Saturday 8th October 12:48

[anonymous-user]

Utterly brilliant. Love it.

[DelicaL400]

Why not do some road rallies or autosolos in it? Minimal mods needed, cheap fun.

[davepoth]

Lovely little cars. The engine loves revs, and will go about 10mph higher in any gear than you think it should.

[Spinakerr]

Fantastic, looks to be a solid winter hack. Excellent stereo find - for an easy upgrade track down a K11 parcel shelf with the inbuilt speakers. Worthwhile original part, and not expensive.

If the front cross member is in good order you should notify Nissan that they got it right on one K11 - they may purchase it from you for research!

The heater fix you know, how are the pointless heatshields underneath (the source of all rattling, ever) and the gear linkage?

[squareflops]

cheers all

Delica - I could well do. the context for the road rally stuff is me and the boys are quite involved in Welsh RR'ing, a few have been competitive this year and we'll be attending the Powys Lanes on 5th Nov and Cilwendeg on the 26th etc etc so that's where the influence comes from. Time will tell but would be more 12 Cars I'd be doing initially, doubt I'd get an entry on the Twilight just yet ha.

Spinakerr - Yea have been trying to track down a speaker'd rear shelf! no joy as yet but will keep my eye on eBay. Well, I say the front x member is good, from the top of the engine bay it visually looks great which is better than some I've seen. Don't jinx me now . I haven't heard a single rattle from underneath, I'm still to get it up on axle stands with 4 wheels off to have a proper look around but all seems ship shape. Gear linkage is smooth and direct, dare I say it's more communicative and feel-some than the m3 the bm feels as though it's mounted on a sea of rubber whereas this is quite - snicky is the wrong word but def nicer to run through the gears in.

Well update - I'll post what it is in the morning, but it's Micra related!

p.s. does anyone know how many splines my driveshafts should have on the gearbox side? 21 or 24? how the hell do I find out?

[danllama]

You'v made me want one! Does it go well?

[squareflops]

It goes very well dan a little better today after its service.

All went pretty easily and got to have a better look at the car, didn't throw up any nasty surprises, the cross member does indeed appear to be slightly more rustsome than I had hoped but oh well..

We serviced my red one and my mates green one this afternoon, no troubles whatsoever, lovely little cars to work on

First my mates



we did identical work with the same service items for both cars











said cross member corrosion









think my fuel filter was rustier though!





replaced with a nice new Bosch item

Looking underneath and all looks good, nice and clean



and even the same dampers on the rear as I had on my e92 330i M Sport



Now, only the very sharpest eagle eyed among you will have noticed, that there are actually 2 red Micras on the driveway. So, introducing ....... another red Micra



There's one thing you should know. Last time I uploaded pictures it was a cute little red number with grey trim and black mirrors, and although it looks like the same car today, it is in fact an entirely different cute little red number, with completely different black mirrors! (no gold spangles on either)

This one is the wifes. Whereas mine is quite high mileage with no history; this one is the direct opposite. facelift so has actual features like PAS, intermittent wipers, a sunroof! not only that but it has 25 thousand and 58 miles on it from new and 10, 10! TEN service stamps in the book, 8 of them Nissan being main dealer, that's more than my m3 on 130k - amazing. It is like new, it's so much stiffer (relative term) than mine in every way, the handling, the brakes, the action of the indications and light stalks, it really does feel like the day it drove off the line. This is great because although both cars are old, the wife cannot afford to have an unreliable car, this is now her daily and shes on call 24 hours a day at least once a week. Whereas me, if my clutch burns out - no biggie.

The CVT auto box is great too it sounds kind of broken to begin with but you soon get used to the constant revs

pre wash, as I picked it up







that auto selector though



even came with half a tank of fuel (confirmed when the ignition is turned on)









first wash



It does have it's fair share of cobwebs and dead leaves collected in crevasses etc but that'll be removed in time

So there we go, doubt I'll do many updates on the CVT as it's not that kind of project. May be interesting to see though, and not bad for £575

[ChrisR99]

Love it!

More updates on both please, lovely to see old run of the mill cars being cared for.

[DUMBO100]

I used to work for Nissan and sold shed loads of these, great little cars. I sold one to the president of the Bowling Club and then all of her friends wanted them. I got my first speeding ticket in a black 1.0 si

[Jellyfish]

Great stuff. I owned a K11 for 4 years almost exactly the same as yours. Mine on an M plate and 5 door, but was the same colour, same poverty spec (all the better for it), even the same Blaupunkt that I put an iPod adaptor into the cassette slot and had good tunes thereafter!

Paid £500 for it with 65,000 miles and left it parked up in the UK for long periods as I lived overseas. I used to jump in it and start it on the key every time even after it had stood for as long as 6 months at a time. Took it on many long runs including 2 Great Yarmouth to Bristol jaunts and back, once with 4 of us and squashy bag luggage for a 4 day break in it.

The only problems it had were a blown fuse for the headlights and the black trim on the rear above the numberplate cracked. That was down to the hatch struts being tired and needing to yank on the piece of trim a bit too hard to open the tailgate... We did smell a mild 'cooking' smell from it on one run. After finding one of the missus' jumpers in an overnight bag with a scorch mark on it and the bootmat with the same mark, we traced the problem to a hole in the top pf the silencer, right under the boot floor where the bag had been! After that, we called the car 'The Micra-wave'

Then the time we were leaving Bristol , just got onto the M4 and a rear tire blew at 70mph. It took a chunk out of the rear bumper and necessitated pulling everything out of the boot to get at the spare. Of course, it was dark and raining as it always is when these things happen.

Of all the cars I have owned, it was probably the most enjoyable, least stressful drive as well as being ultra reliable. In the end it needed front member work, a new windscreen (large crack) and a new steering lock (as it had been broken into) to pass the MOT, so instead I sold it on for £240. Bloody MOT requirements...

Good times, hope you have plenty of luck with yours

[james_gt3rs]

I liked mine when I had one, but you quickly get frustrated with 60bhp on the motorway!

[squareflops]

Interesting reads guys

Jellyfish said:

'Micra-wave'

made me laugh

Busy day. On hers not mine but it's still a k11 micra so it counts..

Wanted to give it a proper de-gunk and clean so set about doing about 11am. Great weather all day, I fear we won't have many of these days left, i'll miss the summer

Glad I decided to get the wheels off (although that is what I tend to do at the faintest opportunity most times) as the wheel wells were pretty grubby

up it went



again nice and clean underneath



and the cross member is in much better condition on this one also





just the rears to show, indicative of all of them





tried the devils blood SF to soak the mud in the arches, I don't really have anything stronger atm so will have to invest for next time



and after. Not astonishing, wont win Concours d'Elegance but better.





what is astonishing was the amount of mud that collects up in the rear arch lips of cars, I'm never less than impressed by the weight of mud that any car can hold against its body. This was on the off side arch, the near side was much worse; the petrol tank piping was holding I'd say 5 times this amount right up in the arch



with the arches clean I set about cleaning the wheels. Got a bit carried away here but as the rest of the car was going to get pretty well cleaned I thought why stop at the insides of the steelie 13"s so they got cleaned too, Autobrite Direct Very Cherry non acidic wheel solution diluted about 6:1



at about this point in the day my SF lance stopped working. It took me about an hour to find out what had happened, find a guide online to fix the issue and to strip the thing down and clean, a wasted hour but no bother. Don't have a vice atm so was a right potch to get the thing apart without scoring the brass



all cleaned and blown through with compressed air and works better than before now thanks to removing some limescale buildup at the top of the intake fixing

After the arches and the wheels had been done I noticed some quite heavy deposits of leaves and mud in the inner wings just forward of the doors so ran water in until the water leaving the car ran clear and I could no longer see any mud deposits or leaves







bloody mud everwhere

while I was in 'maintenance mode' I greased the door swing catch thingies which were dry so the door operation wasn't nice and smooth, is now. I also oiled the seat runners which were very stiff back and forth so now they slide easily and smoothly.

Gave the interior the once over



looks like something from War Of the Worlds





You'll notice the tape to aux device, works great! £4.00 off Amazon; great little thing

and lastly 'cleaned' the engine bay. Was only on it for about 3 minutes, could have done better but it's fine for now





a coat of Autobrite Direct wax/glaze/polish in one and it looks OK all done. I elected to leave the trims off for now as they don't match, quite like the mad max look on it









knackered now

[ScoobyChris]

Jellyfish said:

After that, we called the car 'The Micra-wave'

Not to be confused with the special edition Micra Wave (ours was M306 CCD) in metallic blue

Chris

[mattyc69]

Used to work with a guy who had been a salesman at Ford and Nissan. When he worked for Ford his bread and butter was selling new fiestas to old dears who had brought in their ten year old fezzas for MOT and they were rotten, worn out and well beyond economical repair almost a guaranteed sale a week, he then moved to Nissan and did not have the same luck!! The micras of this vintage just kept going and going no easy sales anymore.

[HTP99]

The mum in law has an L plate, which she has owned for about 15 years, currently it's sitting on 130,000 miles, it refuses to let her down and has never failed an MOT, sure it's had work done on it, but it just keeps on going.

Edited by HTP99 on Monday 17th October 10:01

[shalmaneser]

I learnt to drive in one of these! I also learnt that they can be provoked into a fair bit of lift off oversteer if you're sufficently rough with them! good times!

Check the bottom of the B-pillar for rust, that's where mine went. It was a late K11, with AC so no PAS, if you turned on the AC the top speed in 5th dropped from 90 to 85!

[mwstewart]

That new red one is a belter. It's putting me in the mood to go out to buy a car.

I think I can see a MIG weld line on your crossmember so I guess whoever repaired it didn't put any rust protection around it, hence why its gone so bad at the end.

[Morningside]

Fantastic brilliant fun cars. We owned a purple one with CVT gearbox and I also had another one with sunroof (cannot remember model). I would scream it in every gear and treated it like st to be honest but the damn thing just would not die.

I am looking for another one for work.

[95 fiesta si]

Good job.

its nice to see even the smallest and under powered cars on PH are getting the love.

I had a 1.0 16v 2002 model in mint green some years back and was a solid reliable little car