Some new pictures, modifications and a new finish...

Well I thought I'd take some pictures while the car was reasonably clean today just to show you all whats been happening with little charlotte over the past few weeks.

Quite a change from 6 months ago I must say!

changes:

-Now sits on Apexi sports springs, rather than King lows. The front sits quite low I think due to the shagged suspension top hat things - I have rebuilt some and they are going to be installed tomorrow hopefully.
-Now rides on Black Racing (made by 5Zigen) 8 spoke alloy wheels, 14"x6". They weigh 4.5kg each. Is shod with Falken ZE512 185/55R14 tyres. Lots of sidewall flex but they stick like glue compared to the Nexen N2000's she used to be shod with.
-Re-worked air intake. Now positioned in a higher air pressure area, shorter pipe. This area of the engine bay always seems somewhat cooler than the rest of the engine bay so I decided to stap the pipe into it. There's been a noticeable improvement in throttle response and the induction note is quite impressive inside the cabin.
-I cut the paint back a bit and worked zymol wax into it. As you can see the results were fantastic. No more swirls and a lovely deep reflective almost wet look to the paint. Feels so smooth too.
-Black mesh to protect radiator and aircon condensor from stones.
-A crapload more stonechips than when i got her.
-Sun guard tint, 32% because I'm naughty.

Pictures

mesh

air intake

how smooth does that paint look

wish the rear would sit lower though

Check out the reflections. mmm

excuse the dust!

When it gets wet the water has this awesome beading action as well. the dust just comes staight off with a bit of water pressure. 120psi from the water pressure cleaner and I dont even have to use soap.. its awesome

one last picture of the now awesome paint finish. :P

I dont think it came up too bad for what is pretty much 10yr old micra paint heh

Need better camera. Car looks much better in the flesh

Great work there!!!

looking good

Excelent super s!!!

Hi Yom, looking good !. Very nice wheels, where did you find them ?.

Sunflower motors.

Last set he had in stock though.

The mx5 guys are a great bunch. All of them really friendly and easy going!

Yeah ... Sunny at Sunflower's a great guy - he hooked up the air-con bits for my MX5.

They're based at Slacks Creek and they have a website somewhere.

BR rims look good - got a set on my starlet too ... light as :)

www.sunflowermotors.com.au

he has a set of 2 piece black racing 8 spokes in stock, 15" at the moment but they're FUGLY and weigh 6.5kg each. Hardly worth it.

MX5 plus at stafford are good too - richard has some 15" panasport 5 spoke rims in stock with a bit of damage for only $200. They're not exactly light but I dont believe they're overly heavy either. He also has some 14" watanabe in stock right now. He's in the yellow pages if you want his number.

Mate it is looking really smick. Looks like a car straight off the showroom floor. A credit to you no worries.
Let us in on how you got that shine. You could squeeze pimples/blackheads looking into that.

3 layers of zymol's premium wax (the new carbon blend - longer lasting and a harder set comapred to previous products) and a perfectly flat and claybar'ed surface is the trick.

My paint was especially hard as despite its clean and overall nice and shiney look the clear coat is actually knackered from the automatic carwash things. Lots of long straight lines in the paint cause by those horrible big rotating bristles. It was even harder to work with as I had to keep in mind how thin the micra's clearcoat is.

I found quite a few areas when using the claybar where the clear coat was starting to fail, mainly in areas where the paint has been chipped slightly. Basically your typical micra paint issues. Sometimes I wish I had bought a red or a white micra... Have to polish them more often but no darn clearcoat to delaminate on you.

So in certain light conditions you can still see plenty of light swirls and a few traces of the lines in the paint but honestly I wasn't going to risk using a harder compound buffing pad just to get out a few swirls. I definately can't justify spending money on a respray for this vehicle either, so I figured I'd just live with what I've got.

As long as I keep a nice layer of hard wearing wax on it I should be right.


I have considered some paintless dent removal but I can't be stuffed. Its developed quite a few dings courtesy of mongrel uni students up here and I know if I get them popped out they'll be back within 3 months anyway. There's only 2 dings on the passenger side that really tick me off anyway.

I am really enjoying the car again now.But the lack of support from the driver's seat is worrying me. Its actually starting to get on my nerves having to brace on the door and passenger seat to hold myself in around corners - plus the lack of lower back support is really irritating.

Seems my complaints about the seats are well founded.

Few hundred $$$ later after some physio appointments it seems the micra is contribuing to some back problems.

Performance modifications on hold - time to reconsider my seating.

My red one has a clear coat - I know because I can see it peeling off!

Thats weird! Red cars don't usually have a clearcoat.

I love how you know its got one though. :P