The NIssan Figaro Shop

Engine Magazine Article

Take a look below at one of the latest articles from the Figaro Owners Club – Our own Toby Brooks is as always the Author of the popular ‘Figaro Masterclass’
This detailed award winning magazine is free once you join the club!! Below is just a snippet!!
FIGARO MASTERCLASS

Over the last 10 years or so it’s slowly become more and more common for Nissan Figaro engines to fail. Sadly they don’t need much of an impact from a faulty cooling system or low/contaminated oil to cause the pistons to melt.

The aluminium parts that the engines are made of doesn’t corrode, they are also lightweight however the downside is that as they get older they become weak and don’t withstand heat as well.

Overheating is the most common cause of failure however we do see lots of other reasons, sometimes it’s simply age. The other thing is to make sure you servicing is up to date and the oil and filters are clean, you can see the blocked mesh in one of the images here, the dirty oil in this car caused huge damage.

We really pride ourselves in the research and development time we put into our engine building. The difference between a rebuilt engine that’s not finished to a high level and a rebuilt engine that’s been done well is vast.
It affects the time the engine lasts, the sound, the power, the fuel consumption, the overall cosmetic appearance and much more.

To give you an overview of what’s involved I’ll start with the point the donor engine is stripped down, a donor engine is always required to create a reconditioned unit, for its engine casing.

 

The damaged engine block is stripped down, measured, cleaned and tested for tolerance. Then the parts are sent out and re machined. This means all the surfaces are ground back, we use specifications that are more accurate than the ones Nissan used when the engines were created. This is whats referred to as a ‘blueprinted’ engine and means it’s as accurate as possible. The measurements are accurate to 0.001 of a mm.

 

Once the machine work is done it’s a case of collecting up all the parts and then measuring them again. Engine building is certainly defined by the phrase ‘measure twice fit once’.

 

Each part needs to be cleaned before assembly. Every part needs to be either re machined or replaced. As a rule I would say that all high friction areas are replaced with brand new parts, anything that’s made of rubber is replaced brand new and the casings and connecting parts are re machined.

It affects the time the engine lasts, the sound, the power, the fuel consumption, the overall cosmetic appearance and much more.

An engine is built up a bit like a cake, starting with a base and then working upwards from there with layers. The icing on the top is the brilliant red cover, with its Turbo Nissan script.

We always re paint these and they really set off the engine in a great way.

Once the engine is assembled it’s a case of fitting and running it. Once it’s been run it ideally needs to be road tested and then tuned. Plus at least one more oil change.
The first few hundred miles with a new engine are known as ‘run in’ and the new engine needs to be treated with care, once this time passes and the car gets a further oil change the engine should be bedded in and ready for normal use.

It’s a detailed process but is one of those areas you can’t deviate from the correct techniques.

It’s always an absolute please to see another Figaro drive away from the shop with a new engine, we know thats another one kept on the road.

With numbers in the UK dwindling it’s really important to look after the cars we still have.

Other Articles

Join our newsletter

Sign up to save on cars, get discounts on parts and information about shows and events…