Saturday 13 December 2008

What do you want to know about the Nissan NX?

Well, I'm back in full-on enthusiastic mode after the local auto-electrician (Grimwoods in Peterborough), managed to fix my alternator for £30 - and despite the fact it was likely to take a few days, it was ready to pick up in one!

So there's going to be a fair bit of work to be done on the NX, despite the absolutely horrible weather in the UK at the moment - but I don't just want to write about how I washed the car and discovered a slight leak in the door rubber if it's not helping anyone.

So what would you most like to read, see, hear etc about the NX? More details on the car and how it was developed? More specific guides to general tasks? Specific tasks? Bodykits? Tuning?

If I can't help, I'm sure members of the NX forum will be able to help (link on the right)

Friday 28 November 2008

Don't rush to buy or replace a faulty alternator

Well, having traced my electrical problem to the alternator after charging the battery and managing to run it until flat, I started pricing up a replacement.

Turns out a standard Nissan alternator for the Nissan NX 1.6 carb engine is £190. Not good.
Local garage offered to get one and fit it for about the same.
Local autofactor cost about the same, but then added a surcharge to put it over £200 and more than a new original part!
And an auto-electrician said he'd have a look and suggested he might be able to find a replacement for £60.


In the end I thought the difference was worth taking a chance and went with the auto-electrician. And although he said it would take a while, he phoned me back with a couple of hours, for a cost of £30!

So once I've fitted it, I may have saved myself £160! It's always worth staying calm and thinking about your options, particularly if a part may just be repairable and it won't compromise your safety.

Sunday 23 November 2008

One lesson I've learnt about Nissan in car entertainment

It's probably obvious to anyone more sensible than me, but it was only the combination of an electrical fault and the Haynes manual that made me realise something rather important.

I've bought a 15-year-old car secondhand. The manual is long gone, and more importantly, so is the security code for the original radio. And that's the security code you need if you disconnect the battery for any reason.


Crap.

Thursday 13 November 2008

We're losing all our power...

I knew it was a bad idea to book a holiday and leave my beloved NX alone for a week.

But I thought it would be because I'd have cleaning and other work to do when I got back - not that it was spiteful enough to break down on me two days before I went away!

The symptoms suggest the alternator, as the dashboard lights started to dim on my penultimate commute home before the vacation. I was fooled for a moment when I had to park and grab some shopping, as I thought it might not start again, but everything seemed fine after it fired up first time.

And then I got to within 2 minutes of my house, and it started lurching, everything went dim, and with a whimper it cut out. Cue 15 minutes of pushing the car in the evening rain onto my driveway - at least I know the NX is surprisingly light.

Annoyingly the English winter means I have to wait till this weekend to get under the bonnet to trace the fault, but at least it gives me an excuse to get some work done. I just hope it isn't raining, and I don't need to jack the car up. Mainly because I've got a sloping driveway - and trying to jack up a lowered NX is a bit of a challenge at the best of times!

Tuesday 21 October 2008

The best car in a movie?

Even though it doesn't feature a single Nissan 100 NX..(harumph), I'm still enjoying seeing what happens with Car Magazine's vote for 'The Greatest Car in Film History'.

The good thing is that it's open to other suggestions - so the lack of titles like American Grafitti and Taxi, and the lack of cars like the stars of The Fast and the Furious, and Initial D can be rectified...

I'm tempted to try and get everyone to vote for the Toyota AE86 Trueno...it might not be a Nissan, but at least it's a cool Japanese car...:)

Sunday 12 October 2008

My unloved NX...

I've been quite rubbish, and not really done anything with the NX - in fact I'm finding it hard to find time to even wash it at the moment!

But I've had some encouragement - in the last few days I've seen not one, but two Nissan NXs driving around the local area. Both look standard, but both also looked far cleaner and more loved than mine at the moment - a definite incentive to get the sponges and car shampoo out!

It seemed weird to see such as unusual car twice in one week - but the benefit of owning a car like mine is that you tend to spot any other owners instantly - which you wouldn't in a more normal car!

Hopefully I'll get out and give the NX some cleaning this week - I'm using Autoglym car products at the moment, so I'll let you know how they perform...

Saturday 27 September 2008

Upgrading the brakes on a Nissan 100 NX

I've finally started to make a bit of a difference to the performance and reliability of my Nissan NX, but loaning it to my girlfriend indicated I might need to change priorities.
Being used to a more modern car, she came back complaining about the lack of braking, and insinuating that my performance car is some kind of 'deathtrap'.

Having had a look on the expert 100NX Club forum, it appears that larger front discs may be a good answer, as well as replacing and maintaining the standard set-up. The larger AV22F calipers from a Nissan Sunny GTI/GTIR, Almera GTI and Primera SRi should do the job.

I'm just compiling the parts, and I'll let you know how I get on. Setp-by-step instructions are on the club forum, but you need to be a registered member. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures as I try to follow them.

Sunday 21 September 2008

Keep your bootlid up with 100NX boot struts on a budget

There are several parts which can fail and lead to irritation more than rear danger on the Nissan 100 NX.

Two of these parts are the boot struts which can begin to struggle to raise the boot and standard parcel shelf after 10 years - let alone if you've put a bigger pair of speakers in the shelf!

Well, it turns out you can get a re-gassed pair of genuine Nissan tailgate struts from 100nx.co.uk for less than the price of one new part from Nissan (look under Parts for Sale on the site). Get a pair for £50 plus £7.50 postage and packing (presumably just in the UK). Plus a £20 surcharge that you'll get returned if you send your old struts (so they have more to refurbish and keep the supply going).

Sunday 7 September 2008

Put the spark back with a Distribution Cap for £6

I'm slowly starting to make some changes to the car, and narrow down the causes of it stuttering at about 3-4,000rpm.

Although one of the likely causes is the carb, it makes sense to check and overhaul some of the other possibly reasons. And with new HT leads, and the spark plugs checked, next on the list was the distributor.

It looks as if the original Nissan distributor was still in place 15 years later, and it was definitely starting to show it's age! And being a weekend, the nearby Nissan dealership parts department was obviously shut by the time we'd got to the stage of needing a replacement.

So it was off to the local 'motor factors', and stockists of an almost infinite supply of anything and everything. I was expecting quite a large bill, but after comparing catalogues and specifications on a range of distributor caps, and putting them next to the original (Top Tip: Remember to take original parts with you if possible - makes it a lot easier to find a similar alternative!), we settled on what we thought was the right part.

It cost a whopping £6!

And since fitting it, the problem hasn't vanished completely, but it's a lot, lot better. The car starts more easily, picks up from low revs in a much better manner, and has only stuttered in really cold and damp weather.

And that's for a total cost of £6. In fact, the car really doesn't owe me that much in spares so far. I should really have kept a closer record, but it roughly stands at a jubilee clip (And an RAC call out), a distributor cap,four exhaust mounts and fitting (£24), a Haynes manual, and lots of cleaning products!

So £30 for spares and labour, about £14 for the manual, and some shampoo. Not too shabby!

If you've got a 1.6 carb Nissan 100 NX, the most 'cost effective' distributor cap, and the one that I have, comes from Commercial Ignition, Catalogue Number XD243.

Sunday 31 August 2008

Nissan 100 NX 1.6 litre specifications, top speed and 0-60 time

I'm slowly collecting all the stats I can find for the Nissan 100 NX, NX Coupe, 1600 and 2000 NXs, starting with the manual geared 1.6:

Length 4140 mm
Width 1676 mm
Engine Size 1597 cc
0-60 mph 10.8 s
Power Output 102 bhp
Top Speed 121 mph
MPG 40
Insurance Group 11

12 months UK road tax is currently £185.
6 months UK road tax is £101.75.

Tuesday 26 August 2008

Spotted another NX on the road today...

Turns out that maybe I'm not as unusual as I thought in owning a Nissan 100 NX.

First I saw a red one in nice condition on the way to work this morning, and then I found out someone from the 100NX Club Forum is in the same town (With a far more modded car than mine!).

Nice to see some others avoiding the perils of rust...

Saturday 23 August 2008

The evolution of my NX continues

I've been incredibly busy recently, but it's given me time to come up with a realistic plan for the NX.

I'm never going to have a show-winning concours conditions car all the time I use it as a daily driver, and don't have access to a garage.

I can, however, have a car which is fairly quick and reliable, increasingly unusual, and shaped to my tastes.

So I'm planning some changes shortly. The first plan is to see if I can cure the problems with the NX running rough under acceleration by sorting the stock Nissin carb. If that fails, then it's time for a Weber.

Then after that, it's about tackling any rust, and also starting to unleash the free power of any car, by getting it as light as possible...

Just have to hope it stops raining for a couple of days....

Tuesday 12 August 2008

Some Nissan NX goodies, including t-shirts

I've been playing around with a website called Squidoo, which allows you to create simple pages around your favourite topics.

So of course, I chose the mighty NX. And in the process discovered some cool Nissan t-shirts etc. See them all for yourself, here.

Monday 11 August 2008

Nissan 100NX problems...

Well, it hasn't all been smooth running - hence the delay in posting.

First problem was during a day out. Went to town for the day, and just as I pulled into a filtering lane for the multi-storey car park, I noticed steam coming from the bonnet. And of course, there was no way to get out of the line of cars...
By the time I made it inside and found somewhere to stop, there was a bang as the lower radiator hose shot off and sprayed coolant across the floor of the car park.

My RAC membership came in handy, as I didn't fancy trying to find gallons of water and a jubilee clip on a Saturday afternoon. Next day we filled the radiator back up with coolant and it's been fine since.


As opposed to the loud thumping noise from underneath the car. Withing the space of the day it had started tapping, turned into a thud, and ended up undriveable. A trip to the local garage diagnosed the problem as an exhaust mount, which was sorted for free - and the NX was booked back in for all of them to be replaced - which has now been done...

In the meantime I'm working on a shopping list...

Boot light cover.
Passenger side door handle shield.
Handbrake gaiter
Front left headlight
Front left foglight surround.

For starters!

Monday 28 July 2008

Why I love my Nissan 100NX

Because even with petrol prices at £1.16 a litre, I can fill up a full tank for about £40.

Assuming the fuel gauge is in any way accurate, of course.)

I wonder how you'd test the accuracy without getting yourself stranded by the side of the road?

In other news I'm also putting together a shopping list of parts I'll need. Starting with the interior, and a passenger door handle shield, a cover for the light in the boot, and a gaiter for the handbrake.

Saturday 31 May 2008

Insuring a modified car...covering the Nissan 100 NX

I managed to ignore all the wise advice I've ever read or heard about car insurance, and instead of planning ahead to phone numerous companies, I left it to the last minute.

I thought all the constant advertising for insurance comparison websites might mean they would save time, but it seems the combination of a modified car, and a non-UK driver (my partner has a full European licence), meant that I only got one or two quotes at the end of the process, and Tesco Compare managed to bring me about 15 companies that all refused to quote me!

More annoyingly, when I phoned a couple of the firms listed, it turned out they were happy to give me a reasonable quote!

In the end it came down to a choice between my current insurer - Direct Line -, and a policy sourced through Adrian Flux. The financial difference was only about £25, but the Adrian Flux option was far more suitable to someone modifying a car - cosmetic upgrades won't increase my premium, and performance upgrades are calculated on a percentage increase based on the performance increase.

Mind you, as the Nissan is 15 years old, and as powerful as a slight breeze, I can probably fit a nitrous bottle, and it would only boost things back to the level it left the factory!

Right...off to tackle some rust, and finally give the carpets a good clean. I'm debating whether to just get some shiny new car mats, or go the whole hog and fit a custom aluminium floor. I think it'll depend on what horrors might be lurking under the carpet!

Monday 19 May 2008

A leaking fuel hose - and a lost Nissan 100NX mudflap

Well, the joys of owning a 15-year-old, 1993 Nissan 100 NX have finally turned from the thrill of a new car, to the fun of keeping an automotive antique on the road.

Having completed a 300 mile round trip for work, I got home pretty late on Saturday, and had a bit of a sleepy start to Sunday. Which wasn't helped by the smell of petrol throughout the house, traced to the innocent-looking Nissan parked 2 yards from my front door.

Walking outside I couldn't miss the puddle of petrol, and flipping the bonnet showed a lovely hole in the fuel hose. So of course I took it off to fix it without taking the time to work out whether the fuel pump was gravity fed or not.

It is.

So I then added to the petrol lake, until I'd cut away the offending section and reattached the hose.

I've got some replacement fuel hose now to be fitted within the next day or so.


And then, as I was sweeping some dust around to soak up the excess fuel, I looked under the rear of the car to find that one of the branded 100 NX mudflaps had disappeared at some point. Ruddy typical.

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Good news on the Nissan NX handbrake

I have some good news about the dodgy handbrake on my 93 NX.

I've had to ignore the car for a bit for a huge number of reasons, so the main work done has been to hoover and polish away about 2 tonnes of crap that was filling the interior.

But I've also managed to fix the handbrake - by breaking it! When the gaiter and cover came off in my hands I was a bit fed up - until I suddenly realised that the handbrake itself is fine, and it was the cover and handle causing the problems...

Perfect excuse to see if there's a Nismo replacement available?

Tuesday 22 April 2008

The Nissan parts and spares shopping list grows

Today was fairly sunny, so I took the chance to drag a colleague (and ex-car mechanic) out in the NX for a drive to see what might need some work. It's always good to have a second opinion.

So in addition to replacing the door handle shield my girlfriend managed to dislodge (I suspect it was loosened when the interior was replaced), I now have a little more a shopping list:

  • Nissan 100NX handbrake lever. (the ratchet appears to be knackered and works intermittently)
  • Nissan 100NX front grill/mesh. (Just noticed a big gaping hole in front of the radiator - one big stone and in could be curtain!)
  • Replace cracked front left headlight
  • And possibly the biggie. A replacement carb for the stock Nissan Nikki carb. The car has had a bit of hesitancy since I got it, and I suspected fuel starvation or spark plugs. But the more I read up on the 100NX, the more I realise it's likely to be the carb. Knackers.
  • Oh, and a tax disc holder to replace the BBC local radio station one currently in place...:)
So with a baby on the way, and a busy job, that should be enough for starters!

Sunday 20 April 2008

Classic Nissan timing...

Well, I've found a typically stupid way of celebrating the creation of Nissan NX World.

I took the 100NX shopping with the girlfriend for the first time, as the bootspace is a bit easier than our other car (a Fiat Panda). All went fine, aside from the door handle surround coming off when my girlfriend tried to get out at the supermarket!

And as much as I tried to lay the blame on her to trick her into buying me some new bits, it was probably my fault for not fixing it when I first noticed it - although to be fair, there are some more pressing issues around the handbrake, clutch and timing etc that probably need attention first.

I just hope the weather gets better so I can get some work done...

Saturday 19 April 2008

The start of Nissan NX World

Hello and welcome to the Nissan NX World website, blog and forum - dedicated to the Nissan range of NX cars.

The Nissan NX range was essentially a Nissan B13 Sentra or Sunny with a different bodyshella nd styling, resulting in the Nissan NX1600/2000 (America), the Nissan 100NX (Europe), and the NX Coupe (Japan).

And the reason for starting this resource? Just to compile all the information relating to my new car in one place, and find some like-minded Nissan NX owners. Ultimately building up the best reference for any Nissan NX owner.

And yes, you might have spotted that I'm the proud new owner of a 1993 Nissan 100NX, with the 1.6 carburetted engine, and T-bar roof. It's got a pretty interesting history I'll be sharing soon, along with plenty of pictures.