The Pao Project : You Design It, We'll Build It!
We love the Nissan Pao, it’s the older brother of the Figaro. We want to make it even cooler, but we need your help to design it.
If you’ve ever dreamed of being a car designer, setting colours, choosing styles and selecting finishings, NOW is your chance to get involved.
Our standard Nissan Pao is going to receive a full restoration – our only criteria is that we’re going to give it a better engine, gearbox and full mechanical upgrade. The rest is up to you. 😎
As the Pao designer, you can get involved by suggesting styles, voting for the final choices and giving us your opinion throughout the process.
Sign up to get updates and links to the survey forms, we dont want you to miss out on putting your own twist on the build.
We need your help at all stages throughout the build.
To start with we are making performance upgrades, we’re fitting a Turbo, a better gearbox and a few other special parts.
Whilst we’re doing it can you help with the colour? We’ve made a few suggestions but feel free to go wild!
Here is an update from the last few days, you can see we’re starting to pull everything apart and discovering what’s involved with the updates we want to make. More coming over the next few days.
Don’t forget to choose a colour……
And join us tomorrow 14:00 BST (16.8.22) on Facebook for more reveals about the modifications….
Preparation for the engine...
Hello guys! So we’e been working away and making some great progress.
You can see we’ve manage to get the engine mocked up in the car, it was a bit of a squeeze but its in😎 (check out our Facebook video for more details on it)
Mat has started to build a wiring loom by blending a Nissan Figaro and Pao loom together. It’s a huge job, as you can see the car is basically a shell. Everything going to work through, all the A/C, clocks etc will still function exactly as they did before. As well as the more advanced parts of the Figaro engine.
Most exciting though is the colours………Midnight purple is in the lead 🤩
We’re closing the vote on Tuesday (23.8.22) and then its straight onto paint 😛lots more amazing upgrades still to come
So…if you want to support midnight purple, or pick your own colour – VOTE NOW
The colour choice...
Guys the votes are in, thanks so much for all you help 🙏
With 48% of the votes you guys chose (drum roll) …..Midnight Purple
We’re going to start putting some paint on tomorrow, stay tuned to see the result.
We cant continue with the build without your help – more options and updates coming…you design it, we’ll build it 😊
Here’s a few more pictures, engine bay will be in the paint oven tomorrow. Look out on social we’ll be back in a few days 🤩
The first paint....
Finally its starting to come together, we’re getting the first of the amazing paint onto the car🤩🤩
Check out the work, and the sparkle👇
Choose your Interior Style..?
Its been a great week for progress guys 🤩
Our next poll is out, help us by choosing the PAO interior please…👇👇👇👇👇
Body Work!
The joy of classic cars is that you never quite know what you’re going to find once you start on a major rebuild….and this week we have had a challenge or two with our Pao project!
Fitting the Figaro engine with other components into the Pao proved trickier than we thought….but we got there in the end as you can see from the photos! The challenge with the engine was that we had to use an entire Figaro wiring loom and cut it in half to blend with the Pao wiring loom. This is because with a Figaro it’s a fuel injection engine and not the carburettor engine of the Pao. The engine change also meant a Figaro radiator had to be fitted to replace the Pao’s original. This required removal and replacement of all the radiator mounts… a true labour of love!
Another issue we encountered was the space available when transferring a Figaro engine into a Pao engine bay. Several of the pipes – including those for air-conditioning and power steering, had to be re-designed in order to fit into the Pao bay. We got there in the end, but our workshop technicians had a busy week!
Old is Gold!
Our next challenge was around the condition of the body given that the Pao is more than 30 years old. We discovered a lot of rust in the wheel well which required cutting out and replacement as you can see…but we are now nearly done with this and so are almost ready for the fantastic Midnight Purple paint you have chosen to go on.
Now, we do need your help to design the interior…..voting only takes a few seconds via the poll link below – so please click now and tell us what you want – Retro, Sporty, Original Pao or Original Figaro?
Pao is Purple
Drumroll…..the Midnight Purple, as chosen by you, is now on the Pao! We hope you love it as much as we do. It looks really fantastic across the curves and lines of the car. The next challenge for us is to start getting the car back together with all the trim and panels perfectly fitted, and then to get the engine conversion finished and running smoothly. Watch out for our next update later this week, where we reveal what interior style you have chosen. Remember – you design it and we’ll build it!
Interior results!
The results of the interior style for the Pao are in! We asked you to choose from Retro, Sporty, Pao Original or Figaro Original styling for the inside…..watch the video to find out which you have chosen!
We are also super excited because some cool new parts for the Pao have started to arrive. In the video you’ll see the new fully adjustable shock absorbers which are both dampening and height adjustable – so by the time we’ve finished with it this Pao will be height adjustable on the road!
We received the Seats
The Retro style seats for the Pao are here! And we’ve been busy…. we’ve now fitted the fully height adjustable suspension with all new top mounts, and put lots of zinc plated details in the engine bay.
The Figaro wiring loom is also now in place which means that the Pao actually now runs – so check out the video to hear it for the first time. The next step for us is to get it back to the body shop and start fitting the panels…the next step for YOU is to choose the seat fabric that you think will work best with the Midnight Purple! Stay tuned for our poll on this in the next few days. Remember, you design it and we’ll build it!
Choose The Fabric!
We need your help once again designing our Pao project!
You’ve chosen the colour, Midnight Purple, you’ve chosen a Retro styling… but what seat fabrics do you think would work best?
Let us know which of these choices you think would work best…..remember, you design it and we’ll build it!
Fabric results!
After receiving a couple
of hundred votes, the fabric you choose for the Pao interior is….. the Purple
& Grey Plaid. Watch the video on the update below to see how FABULOUS
this is going to look with the Midnight Purple paint you choose – good job,
people!
And for all you Pao enthusiasts out there, don’t forget we have now developed a range of Pao parts, all readily available via our online shop.
Thanks so much for all of your help so far. We’ll be back soon with our final question for you budding designers….remember, you design it and we’ll build it!
Choose the wheel!
Hey you lovely Pao designers! We need your help one more time. The final question is…which wheels would you choose? Please vote in the poll from the four options – EG6; Kyusha, Spec 8 or Speciale.
We’ve also been busy this week working on paint for the interior, exterior trim, wing mirrors and dash. Check out what we’ve been up to in the short video and images. It’s all starting to come together, but we need you to vote one last time. Remember, you design it and we’ll build it!
Wheel results and more!
It’s been a busy week in the workshop and we’ve really started pulling it all together with some fantastic exterior finishes on our Pao Project…. We’ve fitted LED projector headlamps, we’ve got a stunning grey stealth look on the grill, mirrors, bumpers and fixings, and the boot is all painted and lacquered. Under the bonnet is looking good as well with both the air flow meter and the air filter custom made.
A huge thank you to everyone that voted in our ‘which wheels?’ poll. We’ve had literally hundreds of votes and you went for the Rota EG6. Check out the video to see what these look like on the car – we are so pleased with your choice….we knew we could trust you to design the perfect Pao!
We’ve got a few more bits to do but we are on the home straight. Back soon with more updates!
Lights and Wheels
It’s been another busy
week on the Pao and it’s starting to look epic. The new wheels are on and
look amazing, the LED front lights are done, plus we’ve added a super cool
lighting bar which really gives it a modern twist. We’ve wired in the
back lights and so the exterior is nearly done…. now it’s over to the
interior! Watch out, we’re nearly there!
It's Now Finished
Happy New Year Pao people. We ran into some delays over the last month on our precious Pao, but we are now back and in full swing.
This week some serious leather craftmanship has been going into the dashboard. We can bid farewell to any vinyl in this beauty. Anthony has also been tirelessly working on fitting the headliner… its all about the detail. Take a look
The Pao, a three-door hatchback, is a beloved JDM vehicle that was created and built by Nissan. First showcased at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1987, it was later released for sale in 1989. Only about 30,000 of these vehicles were built in the Nissan Pike factory, which makes it a rare and unique car, known as one of the ‘Pike cars’. The Pao is part of four cars that were produced together, including the Nissan Figaro, Be-1, and S-Cargo.
Nissan’s vision for the Pao was to design a tiny car that would bring joy to those who enjoy exploring new driving experiences. And indeed, the Pao is an embodiment of that vision, with its retro styling and compact size.
Now, we are excited to offer the opportunity to create a one-off Pao that is truly unique and tailored to your preferences. With our expert team of designers and technicians, we can help you create a custom paint job, upgraded engine, and suspension components that will make your Pao stand out from the rest.
Let’s join together to design a truly exceptional Pao that will bring you joy and delight every time you get behind the wheel. We can’t wait to embark on this exciting journey with you.