Why we bought a JDM import Nissan Figaro (+ buyers guide) // The Late Brake Show

I'm Johnny Smith, also known as a car pervert, and I welcome you with open arms and sharing open source software on this episode's breaking news

show

. I'm going to tell you about this car, this is my wife and I's dream car. I

bought

it as a complete surprise about 13 years ago and a lot of people have asked me why I haven't done an episode to date, but today we're going to do it and walk you through the car. explains why we own it, what we like about it, what we don't like and then it will end up somewhere very special, hopefully a new lease on life, that was a shot, it wasn't me, welcome to my car, my car , this is your dream. car, isn't it?

That's why we have it because we've had it for a long time. I was trying to think more than 12 years because it's older than our children, it's older than our marriage and it's older than our children, yes, we were. She was living, she will be with me when the rest of you are gone. Her relationship with Fig began as she began after a big night out in London, of course it did. Big Night Out, a great session passed by one on the way. I was actually at home and everyone else kept passing by and I just stood there and took a lot of pictures and drew on him and the camera pictures threw him, yeah, like very old camera phone pictures, first camera pictures early, camera phone photos, yes, I met you a couple. for years well, actually I already knew you, I've known you for years at that point, but um, but I wasn't in love with you, we got together, you totally were, yeah, and then, um, we got together and I told you about him. car that I

show

ed you showed you pictures, yes, of the car and probably other pictures too, but pictures of the car and then, um, you

bought

me one to get me out of a hole, it was a great birthday, I'm not going to say what, because then you I'll know how old I am B, the big birthday came and went and he didn't do anything and he was annoying and he was in the dog house for a long time and that's how he got himself out of the hole that I I mean, let's be honest, it's a very good way to get out of a hole.

You know, one day I came home from work and said, "Ask me." I think he just asked me to come and help him lift something or move something. We walked into the garage and she was just there, she was just there, yeah, and then he just handed me the keys and said, you know it's yours, which was lovely and very emotional and I was flabbergasted, that's how it works. history. Well, I bought you one as a total surprise because I know you really like them. I hadn't started working on 5th gear long and thought I had enough money to buy one, it probably wasn't a new one, a new one at the time. it was about six or 7000 pounds, you didn't think it was worth a penny, no, I probably didn't, so I thought I'd buy one that's pretty good and I could, um, I could make it a little better.

We, as you used it, I think it's very

import

ant, if you're going to have an older car, to have a connection with it, it has to do things for you every time you spend time in it, if it doesn't do things right. You know what I mean too To be fair, I'm not very dressed up today. You know, I look like a vomited jungle scene. Oh, you look at yourself, it looks like you are going to run a bar in shamany, yes, but with a jungle element, so, however, when I normally dry the fig, which is mainly in spring summer, yes, I feel that I always dress up for her, do you always wear a little jewelry? put on some lipstick, make sure my hair is okay.

You just know what makes you want to do that, of course you have to do it, you can't get out of this car looking like a part of what you have to achieve. Outside of this car, you know, well done, all the little problems that I've had with this car, which are mainly in the engine, all go away when I know that you drive it and you still have a pain in your face and you still love it. It's CU, if you didn't already love it I'd have a damn ad. I love it. Kids love it.

You would not do that. Just to be perfectly clear. Do you understand the concept of a gift? I'm serious. Because probably throughout this whole movie you keep talking like you basically know you could actually do it. Yeah, we couldn't, we couldn't sell this car. I might sell this car because last time I checked, it's actually in my name. your name say your name well imagine the scene 1989 Tokyo Motor Show Japan is in the midst of a great relationship with the world of classic automobiles. Many classic cars are exported from the United States, Great Britain and Europe.

Two Japanese Nissan collectors introduced this at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show. Auto Show to spark interest, I mean, spark potential interest, um and then two years

late

r they did it and they only made it in 1991, they were just going to make 8,000 of them, but the interest was so great that they decided to extend production. for 12,000 to make 20,000 in total, but there were so many people who wanted it that in the end they had a lottery system, so you had to choose your name from a Japanese bowler Tom. I don't know how to get just one. a guy, well, he could just be a guy with a big sag, you know, and that's how you got a figure.

The engine is not my favorite thing. You see those four cars that Nissan made around the same time, be1 the poo o pow and the es. all the chargers were naturally aspirated, so they decided to put in a ma10 ET which is Turbo, so it's a 987 CC 8 valve turbo and it's unnecessarily complicated and annoying, like all pretty women, they're unnecessarily annoying and complicated, no, you said it, I didn't say anything. Well, they're his capes, aren't they? What I love about the Figo is that it's actually a very good idea, it's an exotic body on a fairly mundane powertrain because the micro is the ultimate, just get in, close the door, you don't care and it'll just work if it only had the micro, the real micro engine, but it has the micro, everything else, it's an older car now and things are going wrong and the parts are getting more and more obsolete and you know that irritates Johnny a lot and he blesses him.

In fact, he put a lot of time and effort into this car just to keep it on the road. He loves to clean it. It's a little strange and the pervert loves to clean it. And of course, when he tells you that you don't understand, don't do it. Don't get it dirty like he just told me, so don't get it dirty, don't get it dirty, he wants me to get it dirty because then he can clean it up. They are all the same, all automatic, all right-hand drive. all pretty, very pretty externally lovely and this is internally, wait a minute, she's pretty inside and out, she actually is, and this japanese obsession with

late

80's early type of classic cars and retro stuff 90s echoes this because they tried to make it look like a 1950s British or European car, um, and that's why, strangely, you don't see any Nissan badges.

It has this lovely little Art Deco shape, like a clamshell shape, which extends over many parts of the car, it says Figo and it says Nissan in letters about a centimeter long and on the back of the chrome number plates Sur it says Nissan again by about a centimeter, so it's just a subtle figure like a submarine. I love the fact that when you reverse it it sounds like it's a garbage can. Lor or something huge like you, I know, but it's not right, there are two things: Lor's beeping for other people, right? This is a beep for you, beep, beep.

I forgot to mention to viewers that the turbo timer is from the 90s, oh that's right. Did you know? It's a really

import

ant thing to mention because that scares the Pi people. The number of times I turned this car off it came out and of course it's still synchronized and the engine is running yeah and people literally just have it. You followed me to stop and you told me that you left your car running, you left your car to car and I was like, okay, okay, no, actually you did, but they don't believe that I. Am I okay with that or do they know that no, no, you need to go back, mostly Men, I'm actually just going to say that a lot of people are really interested in the idea of ​​having a fig, but they're scared because they don't know. what to look for, so I thought I'd put up a couple of Pearls of Wisdom of a buyer's

guide

if you want to get into this feature.

Remember there are many in the UK but many of them are not kept in the garage and actually rust. the biggest enemy so let's take a quick look first things first bumpers bumpers are still available believe it or not as New Old Stock items but they are not cheap and this has New Old Stock bumpers now which are very thin They rot very easily and dent easily They are three pieces and the middle sections are the cheapest to buy the corner sections because they take the most beating. um they're worth more and these are probably around 200 and something quid each so keep that in mind if it's I've got a good set of bumpers.

It probably costs over £600. The car is worth 700 pounds. These are just plastic screwed on. You won't have any problems with these. Moldings are practically obsolete on a figure, so you'll have to buy them. second hand figuro trim there are a lot of second hand cars that are being broken down for spare parts because many of these cars have succumbed to rust over the years so it's a good thing these hubcaps are called polo mint hubcaps and they are two pieces, chrome. The drill bit is separate from these. These white pieces are actually quite rare. They cost between £70 and £80 to purchase so if they are cracked or damaged keep that in mind the suspension,

brake

s and steering are pretty much micro so nothing like that.

It really is expensive, but if you need a steering rack you can get a new steering rack for around £300. This is probably the most rust-prone part of the figure, the rear quarter panel, the rear arch, and where the floor panel meets the sill basically here. I had this car when I bought it. Rust was starting to appear on the rear arch. He had a pair of rear archers. You can get panels for them now. Finally, um, and this part of the frame has a huge piece of chrome on it. ornament that you want to look behind, ready or there to see if it hides any grot.

There is a small chrome end cap that goes on the end of these. We don't have them, they've fallen off, they're impossible to find, so if you ever find any of those, take care of them, glue them on or something and on the other side where the fuel filler cap is they tend to rot inside the fuel filler cap. fill with fuel and you will start to bubble, so look carefully there is inside. Probably the party piece of the figurine, they are beautiful leather tube seats, everything like I said before, all the instrumentation is custom made for this car so as a result much of it is obsolete.

The things I would personally look for and the things I looked at. What I have to know when I bought the car is that they all have air conditioning. Check that the air conditioner is working because even if you don't use it, you want to know if there is a problem with the circuit. Check that the heater and fan motor are working. If the car has trouble starting in park, it's a worn out Little Bush which costs about £4 and I managed to fix it in about 45 minutes under the cars to deal with the shift, the automatic shift linkage, not a big problem, Hey, but it's a notorious problem.

The problem with figuros, the head unit is this awesome custom made thing from Clarion that was designed for Fig. I actually had the upgrade where you send it back to Clarion and they change it to put an MP3 compatibility jack on it and you can also upgrade the speakers. There is a figure-specific speaker. You can buy around £50 for the pair. That upgrade is worth doing for the head units. Approximately 400 pounds. It's expensive, but it's one of the most important aspects of the car if you're looking. in a figurine and it has cup holders, it has an emergency flare in the passenger footwell and it has a parking lever that sticks out of the um like a slightly strange mast looking at the front corner, they are all really desirable period accessories for the car.

Unfortunately, Chopsy doesn't have any of those. You will find these seats luxurious and they are really comfortable. Leather cracks and is often sun damaged. If the hood is left off the car, you can buy leather products to feed them and bring them back, but. If they're beyond redemption, there are plenty of second-hand figures being broken down for parts and you can get a couple of half-decent chairs in another car. I have managed to recover them from the brink of the abyss, I will really lift the rugs. the original carpet sets suffer from stains now the previous owner of this car in Japan or the previous owner was a smoker so the headliner was a little sticky and the carpets are a little stained from moisture.

I think you can dye them. which is quite cost-effective or you can replace the entire set of carpets, which is a big job because you have to take up the entire interior, but what I would say is, above all, check for moisture in the carpet.carpet because moisture inside the car is a sign that it is leaking and that means there is a problem with the roof, drainage holes or fabric top and that could indicate that there is rot underneath. Another very important thing to take into account in a figure are the electric windows. Power windows can be temperamental because the car is getting. old now the driver's side is a OneTouch thing um the buttons are custom made the switches are custom they get very expensive uh the ones on the driver's side particularly uh I've had problems with both of them and there's the One Touch module in here and the combined motor can It cost you £2 and a half 300 for all those parts, so check that the electric windows work and, if you have a figure, use them regularly and if you have the opportunity, take the door.Panel off to improve the speakers in the doors.

Give them a good lubrication while you're there. The whole mechanism makes a big difference. Down there, next to your right knee as you drive, is the fuse box, so it's always good to take a look. around the fuse box for corrosion and stuff like that and like I said before if the carpet feels damp or looks a little stained you want to look up where water has gotten in which leads me to the sunroof. All figures are convertible. The good news is that they do not have an electrical mechanism, it is actually a fairly simple mechanism, so the mechanism rarely fails.

There is a switch down where the left knee is on the driver's seat, which is a solenoid. Lift it up, it's like an old Dicky seat and you'll see there are two latches that are on rods, they should be working, you'll hear them when it comes out, I'm just going to grab it here, so we'll lower the roof here, you can check, check this. to see if there is rust here because it is around the top of the Arches, it is always worth looking there, the top fabric part of the roof is divided into two sections, this is a kind of wrinkled part and this is the solid part and padded around the rear glass window. discolored, you can tell because this is newer than the one they put a new roof on, probably about 10 years ago, now you can install them yourself, they are essentially a DIY kit, but I didn't trust myself and they shrink and I just wanted to stop to get it to sit nice and tall, you can buy the kit probably for around 250 something like 275 quid um and to get it to sit nice it will probably cost another couple of hundred quid, but once it's on and installed it will last a long time and when that is Look up inside these gutters for clogged debris because things that fall from trees get in there, people never clean the drain holes and that can start to rust if you haven't cleaned them and also in these front corners it can rust. the roof, so look for a bubbly roof where moisture just sits and rots.

You see frameless doors, very Japanese specifications, yes, my little switch, thingy, so you have a slide there, you have two latches that are not electric. I feel like I'm on the Wheel of Fortune or something, you know where you're doing that, yes I am, you're showing the prize, yes, how I'm doing it, back up, oh, didn't you want help, oh no, continue , so. No, I think I'm quite capable of lowering my own roof, it goes on and anyway it goes back up and then she gets up, just right, then you have to push it very far down, well, it has a strap, but you never use it.

I never, ever wear it and then it stretches like that, but yeah, but you never do that. Ian, I don't do that. Simply put, if you're used to seeing the new F 500 convertible, they took the design from this one. It still has a metal roof, but it's like a full length sunroof with a glass rear window that goes Constantine back to this. The strange thing about the figurine is that it basically has two boots and they are both rubbish, the engines are often quite worn out because I have sat in a lot of traffic or the three speed automatic gearbox has a very low ratio so it accelerates quite a bit at highway speeds.

In fact, it doesn't particularly like being at 70, it has been completely rebuilt and my engine started using a lot of oil. and I needed a new turbo, the turbo, is there a new turbo for this car, it costs about 4-500b, plus tune up, you want to check it's ok, the engines, when they need rebuilding, will usually cost around 600something like this or you can get it. a second hand engine from a salvage used car and put it in, but you don't really know the condition of those couple of other things to look at with the M8 10 engine: the engine mounts, the mounts for this car are expensive, three mounts motor.

I think it's about £400 just for the bits of rubber, ridiculous, all the usual things you need to look out for, which is starting the car, making sure the oil light goes off, checking the condition of the oil on the dipstick meter, um. Watch for smoke from the cold and when it's hot and when you use it pretty hard, these are kind of a little Revy engine 75 horsepower, 987 CC, four cylinders, not three, but if you have a problem at idle, it might be the idle control valve. which is a small bolt-on piece down here, about 150 pounds, but I would really have someone take a good look at the engine, the hardest thing to get with engines if you need a complete piston rebuild, the correct low compression pistons that had.

It's a real pain to get those which conclude my Whistle Stop

buyers

guide

for Figo, but it would really be a good idea to join the club, ask questions, there's a good forum and also make sure that rust really is the most expensive EXP killer of the figures. That weird Little ma10 ET motor don't let this put you off, carry on, so what do you like most and what do you dislike most about this thing? I'm obviously referring to its appearance, but if I had to choose, I would choose the interior is your favorite, it's your favorite.

I just love it, love it, love it. I think the interior is amazing and then I don't like it. I would have to say just the fact that it's too slow. The engine is garbage. You know I love her. and I love the way it looks, but the engine is just not acceptable, it's just not acceptable and it's too slow and you know you can't do proper road trips with it, which would be great, so you know, a lot of people have suggested that. we should EV, we should electrify it, you know, and give it a little transplant, so I think it would be perfect, well, I think you should keep that going, okay, stop the C, stop, come on, I'm going for a ride, let's do it, attacks. while the iron is H, okay, oh, can you close that door so I don't eat?

No, no, there's a bottle of prco in the refrigerator. I'll go some way to get home. It is a beautiful day. Just have a nice fall walk. I love you, come on. take you somewhere, let's drive to Bristol, take you and book you in for a heart transplant because that's what you need, find out that's what you're crying out for because you're a lovely car and a forgettable and fundamentally disappointing transmission, it's R time through these Gates is a cool company, a very stealthy company that over the last year or two has made great strides in the world of aftermarket EV conversions and components and that's why I brought this It is listed here because we want this car to be electric.

Now I'm somewhere on the outskirts of Bristol, in the middle of nowhere, on a farm where the best coess businesses are today. This is a place called zero EV and zeroe is a company that specializes in converting regular piston cars into electric vehicles. and selling the components associated with it and there's a guy named Chris who's going to come on the scene right now, right? Chris, yes, this is the way he works. He's professional, right? So I know them for being able to um get power units like Tesla and build modules and things like that tell us what their core business is now uh so the core business now is actually kit development so that's where we're going with full bolt on kits. no modifications to the vehicle so it shows up on a couple of pallets and then bolt on all prefinished pre tested ready to go yeah um and then we also check out the online store and all the parts and support but mostly business , the business is the way we are. focusing right now to allow many other EV stores to open around the world in theory and start offering this because there isn't enough around now when when I came in I didn't reference the fact that the MX5 project was here if you don't . know about this Zero eeve has their own YouTube channel and they have documented the transformation of this piston-powered MX5 into a full EV.

It's still in its final prototype stages, but I'm actually going to do a separate video on driving this car. I'll be patient with me on that soon, but in the meantime it's worth noting that this is a car that was obviously driven like a normal MX5 and zero EV are developing a kit where you can convert it to EV. It is a very similar principle to what I hope happens to Figo. Has it been a while since you've seen a Figo? Luckily, yeah, you're not a fan, so I don't really care about them, they're fine, I'm surprised.

I drove it here, but I'll drive anything Chris, you know me, but what's really really annoying and I'll never miss is the unnecessarily complicated engine, it's turbocharged. I mean, look at him, but I think he might be the ideal candidate. With many of them living in cities, yes, like an electric vehicle and obviously there is enough space here, but there is also a bit of a strange hatch in the back, yes there is, and there is also the fuel tank space as well which is interesting to me. When I bring it like this, what do you look at?

What are the parameters you look at to convert this to e? For us, the first thing is to determine what you want from it, yes, how much range do you want? It's going to be a big thing, how powerful it has to be, yes, and then the budget is another big thing, yes, because they are not the most expensive cars to buy, no, so you end up spending more on electric vehicles than on vehicles. electrical. the car is actually worth yes, you like the F 500 a little. I suppose you consider exactly that kind of thing, as I know you use a lot of Tesla units, for example, do you use units from other manufacturers?

I'm thinking if I wanted to use a Nissan Leaf as a donor And it's a good idea, probably not a bad idea, because you get everything from one vehicle, yes, the only thing with the leaf is the size of the battery, which is large, It's a pretty small car. Yeah, so they're a high voltage system with a pretty big battery, yeah, trying to fit that into this is pretty difficult as far as the motor goes and everything would be ideal. The motor would be to get that battery, yeah, okay, packaged enough to fit in this little vehicle and if it was used as a leaf motor but not leaf batteries, it could just be done, it can be done, yeah, yeah, so we have with the cow, we have different orientations of the way the batteries are packaged. get a smaller number of modules, but the right voltage, yes, so that's another option.

This is the boot. Originally prepared when I previously thought about converting it to EV. I thought about making this a more useful boot. It should be on like a rail. take it out, put stuff in it, push it back in, but it's strange, if you can really call it a trunk, it's not really the engine bay it's the main event, isn't it? I'll leave the convertible. Ro and I will also show you the cabin area to give you an idea. This is one of the most interesting parts of the figure. It is the cabin because everything is custom-made.

They made the whole steering wheel. The gearbox is figure specific. all obsolete now obco, yes, but what I did because I'm a hoarder is that when I bought some parts from salvaged cars over the years, I actually have a spare set of these switches, so if we needed to install any auxiliary switches I've probably got some that we could reuse, maybe it's shiny, obviously you've got these lovely old analogues, these are miles that didn't do, didn't do an mph, a uh, fuel, uh, water temperature and then a clock, I really want to see how do you reuse them to convert from canvas to analog and just change that for engine temperature and state of charge and try to keep everything as standard as possible exactly, yeah that's the space you have to play with so I don't know nothing about it, no, actually, there isn't, I mean, obviously, can there be a transmission tunnel to run cables and stuff like that, but this thing has actually gone 162,000 miles, kilometers oh, a lot for one of these, yeah, When did I buy this? uh we think it was the highest mileage figure in the UK.

One last thing I forgot to ask is that I'm starting to appreciate when people do an EV conversion and they make it look like it's an engine when it's not, you know, aesthetically pleasing. like for example, could you imitate the valve cover or could you, um, could you, yes, no, noare you a fan of that kind of thing, no, just close the hood and have everything safe, and I get it, for a show car, yes, but for I guess our focus is to make sure it's reliable and properly designed and repeatable and then aesthetically you can make parts afterwards, yes, yes, but if you design it to look like an engine, there's a lot of wasted space and a lot more potential that you could have included.

I bet that car, yeah, that takes away from it, you can have it to make it look really nice, you can go 30 miles on it or you have it to make it look a little more boring, but you can get 100 miles out of it, so it's always there is a yes I wouldn't want to have that there with the compromise of losing 30-40 mile range no way very good food for thought possibly thank you very much for watching the late break show if you have enjoyed this or if you have more questions about what a conversion entails like this comment below and if I can't answer it, I know a guy probably could and if you haven't subscribed, subscribe because there will be a couple. from other videos coming very soon based on zero EV, bye