Hello from the UK!

[Adam Mortimer]

Hello Ecomodder denizens,


I'm a recent arrival in a rural part of the UK, and I am the proud young owner of a slightly dented white 1998 Nissan Micra, with a widowmaking 54 horsepower on tap.


Here it is, in front of a strange little bit of Canadian territory in England.

The Micra's only vice in my eyes is its motorway performance - there's a lot of wind noise and the engine needs to put in a lot of work once you hit 50mph and up. I think improving this is definitely doable - my first thought is that the rear of the car should be less steeply raked downwards to keep the flow attached longer, an imitation Kammback might be in order?


I think on the front, the grille could be covered up at least partially with little noticeable loss in cooling. The Micra has two separate inlets for air on the front, one is probably enough for the tiny 1-liter CG10DE engine.

I'd also like to delete the boxy wing mirrors and fit cameras with fairings, but in the UK I'm pretty sure that's not a legal possibility yet. One day, perhaps!

I would love to hear from anyone else who owns a K11 and has tried some mods out, it's a great spartan little car and I'd like to hang onto mine. I've no clue what the Cd is and that would be a place to start!

Aside from my Micra, I am interested in history and aeronautical engineering, and before COVID-19 threw us all for a loop I spent some time gliding as well.

Any suggestions for potential aerodynamic optimisations, are more than welcome! Let me know what you think of my plans thus far!

[Daox]

Welcome to the site Adam. Its nice to see cars we can't get here in the US! I look forward to seeing what you come up with for the car.

[Adam Mortimer]

Originally Posted by Daox

Welcome to the site Adam. Its nice to see cars we can't get here in the US! I look forward to seeing what you come up with for the car.

Thanks Daox! I know the US market doesn't seem to look as favourably on really tiny cars as the European one. A car that I think would have translated perfectly into the US market is the first car I ever drove, a Nissan 1400 pickup.
Absolute joy to drive because of how nuts-and-bolts basic it was, and still compact and usable day to day. A RWD 1.4l pickup truck!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Are you South African? On a sidenote, I remember seeing a Nissan 1400 Bakkie exactly like that in Uruguay 7 years ago.

[Adam Mortimer]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Are you South African? On a sidenote, I remember seeing a Nissan 1400 Bakkie exactly like that in Uruguay 7 years ago.

I am indeed from SA! The 1400s are ubiquitous back home. Didn't know they sold it in Uruguay, either!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Adam Mortimer

Didn't know they sold it in Uruguay, either!

Neither did I until seeing one near the border.


Not sure if they were assembled locally like it was done in Ecuador from CKD kits.

When it comes to the Nissan Micra K11, a handful were privately imported to Brazil, including one with the 1.3L engine which I used to see once in a while near the house of an uncle of my grandmother.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

So, how did you adjust to the seemingly-underpowered Micra?

[freebeard]

Any suggestions for potential aerodynamic optimisations, are more than welcome! Let me know what you think of my plans thus far!

The wind noise might be ameliorated by replacing the weather stripping in the door windows. You could probe around with a stethoscope. A layer of Dynamat or similar on the floor wouldn't add much weight.

The overall shape is similar to the Geo Metro that is so popular here (I succumbed to peer pressure and got one myself. ) Look at the front apron and engine undertray. If you close that up you should see better crosswind performance and noise suppression. Consistent with engine cooling, of course.

All you need at the back is a separation edge/boxed cavity. Changing the angle (a Kammback extension), ....maybe. I'd be looking for rear fender skirts. Turnpike cruiser style to extend the separation edge..

[Adam Mortimer]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

So, how did you adjust to the seemingly-underpowered Micra?

Hullo again! I have adjusted pretty well. The engine is much happier to rev than I previously thought, and it can maintain pretty good motorway speed (normally about 65mph) without getting too noisy. The bulk of the noise at high speeds actually comes from the wind and tyres. I don't think it helps that the body is relatively thin metal and probably lacks noise insulation (Not a high spec car, after all)!

In the long term, I would like to swap in a 1.3l engine, which is a very easy thing to do, little to no modification required, and only requires finding a good unit. That will mean lower RPM's at highway speed and better overall economy and performance. But as I'm not really using any motorways at the moment and won't be until at least March... not high on my priority list!

[Adam Mortimer]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The wind noise might be ameliorated by replacing the weather stripping in the door windows. You could probe around with a stethoscope. A layer of Dynamat or similar on the floor wouldn't add much weight.

Hullo Freebeard! I'm definitely going to go probing for the source of the noise, the weather strips are in good condition but some extra padding to dampen everything can't hurt!

I see those Metros often here as Suzuki Swifts... Very cheerful and tough little cars, there's one near me that went to Mongolia and back as part of a big rally!

An undertray is on my list. The engine runs very cold stock, it barely warms up in the winter chill and so an undertray would probably improve not just its aerodynamics, but also keep it warm and safe from road salt in the winter! I need to poach some Coroplast from signboards and set to making one.

As for a rear fender skirt... well, I got a 3d printer for Christmas so I can fabricate nice curved parts very easily. So those skirts for my rear arches, which have MASSIVE gaps 'tween wheel and arch, are aeromod numbero uno on my list. I'll post them in a separate thread for the Micra once they're printed out. Thanks for all your advice, it's nice to get suggestions