A free K11 Micra 1.0

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Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

215 months

Saturday 11th March 2017
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bigandclever said:
Six Fiend said:
AWG said:
Premium 95! Where would one buy this?

Loved my old Micra, served our family well. 197,000 miles before it's end.

Great thread.
You mean the Power Maxed?

All over the place. I bought a 5 litre concentrate in Halfords. £14.99 these days. It's fab stuff, lots of good reviews on Detailing World and from my friendly local detailer smile.
I think he means the fuel rating in the fuel filler. But then 95ron is available all over the place too, so I might be confused smile
Oh you're so, er, well, yes I hadn't spotted that biggrin Doh!

Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

215 months

Sunday 19th March 2017
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An interesting experience as a "Bus wker!" resulted in Mr Toad being collected and coming home. This means I can tinker a little at a time with access to all my tools and things in the man shed.

First job was the aerial mount. Hard cracked rubber and corrosion so rubber cut off, a quick clean up and a coat of black Hammerite before being resealed to the roof with some silicone sealant. Goes on white, dries clear. It was that or buy another one, lower the roof lining, not be able to get it to fit quite the same etc...

Sunroof had various flaking bits around the main body and the panel itself so again the loose bits removed and then repainted with Hammerite.

Driver's door mirror casing was broken having been repaired previously when Mr Toad was rudely assaulted. I got a bit Super Vet and screwed a flat plate to it. It doesn't fold now but at least it doesn't rattle. Better than shelling out £15.

Washer nozzles - I hate the buggers. Rear one removed and soaked in distilled vinegar resulted in a part success before the needle I was using to adjust it snapped off in it. It's also spewing water back into the car so a replacement is on order - £12.

One of the front nozzles has also quit but I've found a pair of universal fit nozzles for £5.98. Beats £20 each if they fit. Might need a bit of jiggery pokery but that's part of other fun!

I've had a quote for the sill repair. The preferred garage now has houses built on it so I'm having to shop around. Another place quoted £150 -180ish. At the top price the car would stand me in at around £280 and shouldn't need anything else spent until the MoT in July. I'll hunt around though.

I decided to check the bulbs in the speedo etc. as it all seemed a bit dark at night. An easy job which was free as I managed to cannibalise some spare bulbs from a loopy VW Passat I owned 11 years ago. The dash pod is held in by 2 screws. Pop that off and 3 more screws release the instruments with just one connector to unplug. The bulbs are easy to take out. All but one were blown. That was the easy bit. The pod removal revealed much more dirt and a little more coke and stickiness!

It seemed sensible to take the perspex front off to clean it properly. At this point the temp gauge needle got knocked and went awry. Best check the mechanism behind. Easy enough, just pop the back off. The missing screw should have been warning that someone ham fisted had been in there before.

As I popped the back off, the speedo gears popped out as the housing wasn't secured. Cue one spring and 3 gears on the table and an hour of fiddling to put it all back only to find it didn't work. Strip and repeat over the next 30 mins. Finally all back together the speedo needle now has a 5 second shudder when the ignition is turned on or off. However, it works and the dash seems to light up correctly!

I gave the windows a quick clean and hung up a proper air freshener (no, not a feu orange!) so I can pretend I still drive a big leathery lounge biggrin

The washer jets for the front arrived and work nicely. However they didn't fit securely. A dab of silicone sealant has seen to that.











A quick one of the fleet...


Spinakerr

1,180 posts

145 months

Sunday 19th March 2017
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Great work. Common sense and sensible fixes are always the answer to K11 issues. Can't wait to see the glorious Decepticon green restored.

I'm definitely going to follow your example in cleaning the speedo perspex, although I really want a version with a rev counter at the same time. Hmmm.

Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

215 months

Monday 20th March 2017
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Spinakerr said:
Great work. Common sense and sensible fixes are always the answer to K11 issues. Can't wait to see the glorious Decepticon green restored.

I'm definitely going to follow your example in cleaning the speedo perspex, although I really want a version with a rev counter at the same time. Hmmm.
Cheap and sturdy my fixes smile

Speedo perspex pops off without removing the clocks. Just take the shroud off and it then unclips.

Washer jet on the rear arrived today so that's now sorted.

Time for some quick service items:

Air filter:



Plugs:



Fuel filter, some brown tinted fuel came out of the lower section:



With those done the engine runs far more smoothly although I do appear to have lost the massage seat function at idle (it was a tad lumpy / vibey)

Next up came the pollen filter. These are well hidden on the K11 and to do the correct way is pain in the arse. Being as it's 19yrs old I took the direct route used by many owners. Pop glovebox out (two clips twist and pull) to reveal a plastic wall in the way:



Cut down far left dotted line and bend plastic back revealing housing:



Unscrew cover and pull out the filthiest filter I have ever seen, and I've cleaned out a few 5-series E34s in my time:



Throw a bracket and two self tappers at it:



Ask previous owner if she'd like her sock back (it was behind the glovebox):



There we are, clean enough to use, everything working and all serviced apart from the oil & filter change which will have to wait as my rotator cuff is somewhat demolished and crawling under cars is a no-no. The oil on the dipstick is still a good colour as is that in the filler cap.

Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

215 months

Friday 1st December 2017
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Time to bring this thread up to date!

I've spent a lot of my time being rather poorly so the "restoration" took from March until July and Mr Toad was duly sold to a friend who gave it to his son as his first car. He wanted something to learnt to drive and learn to work on. I can't do much myself now so can point and let him use my tools to service it etc.

The sill was welded for the MoT and one bulb had blown above the number plate (the only thing I forgot to check). Apart from that the result was clean enough. I had flogged the old manky alloys with their MoT fail tyres and bought some steelies before having new tyres and wheel trims.

The sunroof mechanism got stuck open. A quick strip of the handle showed that to be the fault rather than the complicated bits.

The battery connections kept popping off the posts. Terminal collets sorted that out.

The stereo was binned and replaced with a bargain £25 unit with aux-in which worked surprisingly well.

Here in all its £642.32 12 month MoT glory the completed Mr Toad:











These are great little cars to work on, yes the front cross members and the sills will rust but easily welded for not much and the rest is pretty sturdy.


Edited by Six Fiend on Friday 1st December 15:47

molineux1980

1,200 posts

219 months

Friday 1st December 2017
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Good thread, worthy little car and hope you're on the mend soon.

ph9

221 posts

94 months

Friday 1st December 2017
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It's looking really good - you've made a big difference! Your elbow grease has paid dividends!

I was given a 2001 Yaris, and have been enjoying running around in that. It also looks quite good now that it's been washed. Although it passed its MOT, I've been told that its underside isn't in the best condition, so I'm not sure how much longer it will last before rust claims it.

MajorMantra

1,299 posts

112 months

Friday 1st December 2017
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Very satisfying read. Good effort!

Six Fiend

Original Poster:

6,067 posts

215 months

Saturday 2nd December 2017
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Thanks for the kind comments. Sadly I won't be getting better as my illness is progressive and blighting me with more complications as the years go by.

The 540 and the Micra were both a bit of a last hurrah and huge fun. For now I shall hibernate, maybe clean up the tools over winter and see what next summer brings. Rather than getting oily I'd like to spend some time visiting car museums and shows and seeing other people's hard work!