Hot Micras
Within our community of micra enthusiasts, occasionally you stumble across a really exceptional vehicle where the owner has gone all out to create something special. This page is dedicated to these hot micras.
Is your micra slightly different?
Done any decent performance mods?
Then please Contact Cisco's Micra Files with all the details.
Note: Unfortunately I can't post every micra that has a bolt-on body kit or a sports exhaust. I'm looking for performance oriented cars that really stand out from the pack.
Coming soon: Autech "Mid 11" mid-engined, rear wheel drive SR20DE k11 micra.
"White Knight": Supercharged 1995 k11 micra LX - Tasmania, Australia
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After finishing his turbocharged micra project, "Family Hack" from Tasmania was hungry for a real challenge - to assemble the world's first known supercharged k11 micra!
Back he went to his local guru mechanic to discuss the new project. From this point onwards an attitude of "why not?" and "anything can be done" saw the mighty White Knight become a reality - and a reliable one at that!
Initially the biggest mission was to craft up the custom work-of-art exhaust manifold - that done, the car ran a basic 6psi and even at this stage, the results were very pleasing. The car sounded the part and there was very usable grunt on tap from virtually any RPM. During the melbourne micra meet dyno day, White Knight was found to be running dangerously lean. The car was rolled off the dyno, and this was the perfect excuse for phase II of modifications to commence.
The car is now running a heartier 10psi thanks to the custom made Datrats alloy main drive pulley.
The leap from the initial 6psi up to 10psi gave the car yet another dramatic increase in grunt.
The workmanship seen here that has gone into the entire conversion is excellent. The pipework is brilliant and fits the remaining space in the engine bay perfectly.
The custom ground Datrats high-lift cams give the car some more top end. These also gave the car a lumpier idle. Low-down power although compromised theoretically by fitting high-lift cams, was not noticable whatsoever thanks to the supercharger pumping through 10psi from idle through to redline.
After these latest phase II improvements, the car was ran on a dynamometer in Hobart and pumped out a muscular 96.7kw at the front wheels. This peak power figure is more than double what a bog stock micra chruns out - but the real amusing part is that White Knight was making factory power at a ridiculous 2700rpm. How's that for drivability? Give this car to your mum to do the shopping in - no lag to figure out, just plant the hammer and away you go, regardless of RPM. That's the beauty of White Knight.
News is that White Knight still has a few more tricks up its sleeve, stay tuned for some further tinkering around in coming months..
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Aaron: Turbocharged k11 - Melbourne, Australia
The Aaron micra turbo dream is now a reality and the results are very pleasing. The car provides immense driving pleasure and surprises many vehicles in and around Melbourne.
There were some early tuning issues with getting the G-Reddy E-manage to modify the factory signals enough, however some clever adjustments and tweaks were made and the car runs very well and reliably.
A figure of around 80+kw at the front wheels was registered on a conservative dyno, Aaron is now keen to run the car on a popular dyno-dynamics dyno to get a more universal reading. What really matters though is how hard the car pulls - and that's something only the owner can appreciate.
Traction is a problem in first gear with this much power on tap, hence the planned Nismo LSD installation sometime down the track. However, take it easy in first gear and be careful in 2nd and Aaron is off the line out-shooting most cars which are considered "pretty quick". Aaron even had an E36 BMW M3 owner comment "What have you got in that thing mate?". The M3 still won the race, but it was pretty close. The shock on the M3 owner's face would have been priceless after he thought that he would have lost the micra way back!
Currently Aaron peaks at about 5psi and reaches full boost at about 5000rpm which might be considered slightly laggy. The suspected culpurate is either a sticky wastegate actuator or the T25G turbo being slightly larger than a normal T25. This problem along with a decent boost increase to 10psi and some other upgrades are on the "to do extremely soon" list and the results should be brilliant.
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REVERB: Turbocharged k11 - Melbourne, Australia
Reverb made 98.1kw at the front wheels on a dynodynamics dyno in Melbourne running 10psi. This was after melting his original engine and sourcing a new one. There were some minor tuning issues with the first engine apparently but also it was suspected that the first engine was not quite right in the first place. This is probably the best thing that could have happened, because now the car is very powerful indeed and has the reliability to match.
The car runs a Garrett GT25 ball bearing turbocharger and lovely custom made front mount intercooler. An inline Bosch fuel pump was installed in the engine bay to suck harder from the tank while the factory injectors were high-flowed.
Reverb also suffers from traction problems in the lower gears as well, but is it any wonder?? With careful driving and a sensible approach reverb will smoke a lot of "faster" considered cars once its off the line. The lightweight of the micra and reverb's decent tyres make the launch still quite reasonable.
Reverb has also focused a lot on aesthetics and in making a truly unique looking micra. The car has clear side blinkers, japanese 2000 model march rear light clusters and M3-style mirrors - very impressive.
This car also has some heritage, its previous owner (who I used to know through this web site) won the MOMO wheels on a Fast Fours and Rotaries competition and the car appeared in one of their retail videos! The car was taken over as "REVERB" and taken to the next level.
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"Family Hack": Turbocharged 1995 k11 micra SLX - Tasmania, Australia
This is one to really watch out for! "Family Hack" from Tasmania is a sterling piece of custom work featuring a Garrett T25 turbocharger running 10psi boost all on factory internals. Detonation is not a concern thanks to the ex-mazda rx7 top-mount intercooler which was also responsible for providing a nice power boost compared to the car's original non-intercooled form. The intercooler is also placed on rubber mounts so there is no risk of vibration or cracked pipes.. Extra fuel is managed by a Haltech computer hooked up to a throttle-body mounted 5th injector. "Family Hack" offers plenty of punch and provides a thrill of a drive to the person lucky enough to be behind the wheel! The pipework is brilliant and keeps the engine bay very tidy and clutter-free indeed.
And yes, the question everyone is asking.. Yes the car has completely factory internals, the head has never been removed from this engine and it runs smoothly and reliably and has done so for many months as a daily driver. This just proves how strong the CG13DE engine is in factory form. The car also features a JUN lightweight flywheel which weighs in at 4.3Kg compared to the factory 10kg item, this really helped the engine wind up swiftly and feel "more like a revvy honda engine".
The car puts its power down efficiently with the assistance of the Whiteline anti-lift kit and its wider than factory rubber. Pulling up is also an ease with the beefed up pulsar brakes which provide fade-free braking on the street. Family Hack sits very flat around the corners thanks to its uprated Whiteline swaybars.
A very handy gauge cluster set has also made its way onto the dashboard reading Boost, oil pressure and air/fuel ratio.
Watch out all you boring tasmanian 6 cyl and V8 owners. This car will gobble you up for breakfast!!
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Here's some modified micra's from UK magazines. Click here to see.