K11 Micra Junior Rally Car

[JZZ30]

Bought this for my lad to do the Junior Scottish Rally championship this year (he's 14) - More details here regarding the ongoing running costs etc. of such a move - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

His youtube upload of the car running on a test day - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8mjlIjFpss - hopefully we'll see him getting faster as the months roll by.

Starting this thread in the hope of getting help and advice in keeping the car running on a budget with our minimal knowledge!

Here's the car as we bought it at the end of December last year. Junior 1000 Rally Spec





Fitted with: -
Cross diagonal cage with door bars
Lifeline plumbed Fire extinguisher (plus hand held) Dated to 2019
GAZ competition suspension all round
Ashley 2" Exhaust
Green Filter Induction Kit
PowerVAMP racing battery
Mintex m1144 front pads
Brake and Fuel lines routed inside the car
Alloy Sump and kevlar tank guards














A day spent stripping off the vinyl: -



Suitably dirty yesterday after a training session at Knockhill: -




We currently have an issue with the idle - I'll post a bit more on that later.

[JZZ30]

As mentioned in the first post, we are having problems with the car cutting out.

A few weeks ago, the idle was all over the place. Sometimes really high, sometimes normal but mostly low and cutting out when stopping. I changed the idle control valve and it has improved the situation, but not cured the stalling.

Car seems to run fine initially, but when fully warm, it's still cutting out when you come to a stop.

Any ideas or hints at what I should be looking at?

• The car came with various used spares. Throttle body was in the box of spares, I suppose the idle control valve I replaced could still be faulty?

[HustleRussell]

Try running the engine with the MAF sensor disconnected

[LewG]

Top work that man, looks to be a handy little driver. Had a K10 Micra as my first car and still miss the simplicity of the thing, with a bit of stupidity and bravery that thing could be zipped down country lanes at daft speeds, with 988ccs of pure power you learn how to keep the momentum too
Hopefully you'll get the running issues sorted soon enough, at least parts are cheap and there's loads of second hand stuff about.

[LouD86]

Running issues sound like the solenoid in the throttle body. I killed two on my old Micra, but a good replacement sorts it straight out.

[hkz286]

nice, I've had about 5 k11s so far, is it the cg10de or cg13de engine?

try reflowing the solder joints on the throttle body? they age and crack and lead to symptoms as you describe.

Also check the distributor cap, they have a tendency to eat through the contacts

also note, you can make just shy of 100bhp with an upgraded manifold, exhaust and intake on the cg13de motor.

[JZZ30]

HustleRussell said:

Try running the engine with the MAF sensor disconnected

Thanks, I'll give it a try and report back.

LouD86 said:

Running issues sound like the solenoid in the throttle body. I killed two on my old Micra, but a good replacement sorts it straight out.

I seem to have 3 parts bolted on to the throttle body - MAF, Idle control and throttle position sensor. Are you referring to one of these or something else?

hkz286 said:

nice, I've had about 5 k11s so far, is it the cg10de or cg13de engine?

try reflowing the solder joints on the throttle body? they age and crack and lead to symptoms as you describe.

Also check the distributor cap, they have a tendency to eat through the contacts

Thanks for the reply. it's the 1.0l engine (all the Juniors are restricted to 1 litre cars)

It's also the newer coil pack engine.

[JZZ30]

LewG said:

Top work that man, looks to be a handy little driver. Had a K10 Micra as my first car and still miss the simplicity of the thing, with a bit of stupidity and bravery that thing could be zipped down country lanes at daft speeds, with 988ccs of pure power you learn how to keep the momentum too
Hopefully you'll get the running issues sorted soon enough, at least parts are cheap and there's loads of second hand stuff about.

Thanks, it's been great fun so far.

Parts are plentiful and cheap! We are currently looking for another set of wheels and trying to come up with a list of spares to fill the van with. Thinking about it, I might as well just try and get hold of another car - MOT failure or something (rust really kills them) for £150?

[chrismc1977]

It was good fun removing the rev limiter on the earlier cars by taping up the holes in the rotor arm. They happily rev to 7.5k plus!

My old 1.3 SLX would kill contemporary ragged XR2’s & XR3i’s. 75 twin cammed 16v ponies went a long way in something so light!!

[chris4652009]

OP.
What an epic little car

[JZZ30]

HustleRussell said:

Try running the engine with the MAF sensor disconnected

Had the car running for a bit earlier this evening and tried this. Initially it seemed to work, but after 5-10 mins the revs just kept on rising. Plugged the MAF back in and it brings the revs down again, but back to stalling on stopping.

[Matty...]

Sounds like either the idle control valve or MAF.

There is lots you can do to these engines to get good power out of them. I make quite a few parts for these engines to fit them into the classic mini, and just finished a turbo conversion one one. Are there any regulations stopping engine modifications.

[imck]

Would agree with the MAF. Presume it is a Bosch?

I had a similar aged Primera and they were very prone to the MAF causing Stalling or nearly Stalling when slowing.
Usually around 70-100K Miles.
If you decide to replace, try to stick with Bosch. Some of the Aftermarket/Ebay offerings are not great.

The Mrs has had three K11s. Great fun. Must be even better with some decent suspension.
Keep an eye on the Panel the Rad sits on. Very prone to rusting away.

Join the forum https://www.micra.org.uk/
I have not been on there for Years but can see one of the very knowledgeable Guys is still there.
Pretty friendly from what I remember.

[JZZ30]

Matty... said:

Sounds like either the idle control valve or MAF.

There is lots you can do to these engines to get good power out of them. I make quite a few parts for these engines to fit them into the classic mini, and just finished a turbo conversion one one. Are there any regulations stopping engine modifications.

imck said:

Would agree with the MAF. Presume it is a Bosch?

I had a similar aged Primera and they were very prone to the MAF causing Stalling or nearly Stalling when slowing.
Usually around 70-100K Miles.
If you decide to replace, try to stick with Bosch. Some of the Aftermarket/Ebay offerings are not great.

We had the car out at an Autotest yesterday, so a full day of running.

In the morning, I left the MAF disconnected. No stalling, but really high and continually rising idle speed. A blip on the throttle brought the speed down only to then gradually rise again

Plugged it back in for the afternoon runs with largely the same results - high and rising RPM only this time with an occasional stall on stopping and sometimes an uneven idle (like constantly opening and closing the throttle)

Changed the MAF this morning (from the used throttle body that came with the car) - no difference in running. I guess the spare throttle body is maybe because of previous idle issues and is already faulty?

Hopefully going to pick up a spare parts car this week and I'll swap out the throttle body and see what happens. after that I'll try some NEW parts.

imck said:

The Mrs has had three K11s. Great fun. Must be even better with some decent suspension.
Keep an eye on the Panel the Rad sits on. Very prone to rusting away.

Join the forum https://www.micra.org.uk/
I have not been on there for Years but can see one of the very knowledgeable Guys is still there.
Pretty friendly from what I remember.

Front crossmember was replaced for it's MOT, just before I got the car.

Thanks for the Micra forum link. I'll sign up over there.

Some pictures from yesterday

[james_gt3rs]

Another ex Micra owner here, would love to try one with these mods and see how much faster it is.

[JZZ30]

Matty... said:

There is lots you can do to these engines to get good power out of them. I make quite a few parts for these engines to fit them into the classic mini, and just finished a turbo conversion one one. Are there any regulations stopping engine modifications.

Regulations mean leaving the engine and gearbox pretty much standard.

[Usget]

Really want this! Great little toy. Must feel like a rocket ship when you're 14.

[JZZ30]

New Seats, Harnesses (HANS Specific) and Steering wheel fitted today.

[Scalino]

Awesome stuff. I'm properly jealous of your son

[skeeterm5]

Looks great - top dad!