Frequently Asked Questions
What oil does the Nissan Pao use? How much power does the Pao have? How much are they worth? Hopefully we can answer all of your questions in this FAQ page.

What is that thing?

This question is mostly joking, but it is the most frequently asked question I get about this car. Well the answer, it's a 1989 Nissan Pao. A little two-door hatch back with a whole lot of attitude.

What oil does it take?

10W-40 is what I use and it's worked great. You can find it on the parts page right here

How do I change the oil?

It's a fairly straightforward process that Dream Factory in France actually made a video about right here I've also put the proper filter on the parts page as well

Can you swap the engine?

Because the car is so unique and there aren't that many of them you don't see a lot of these, however a few Nissan Pao engine swaps have happened. The easiest swap available is swapping an engine from the sister car the Nissan Figaro, or the March Superturbo the MA09ERT. This is essentially a bolt on swap for automatic Pao's. However there are other options, a few people have done CG13 from a Nissan Micra this is a good option because of it's weight and because it's of the same family as the Pao and therefore an easier swap. Some people have gotten more extreme with these swaps and gone as far as an SR20DET which is a lot of power for such a little car.

If you're seriously considering a swap you need to look into finding a donor vehicle. The MA0ERT is an elusive creature. I've only heard rumor that you can find them in Malaysia, and it seems there aren't a lot of quality ones out there. If you're in the EU or UK this process may be easier as there is a plethora of Micra's available. In the US it gets more complicated as you may need to import a car just to get all the parts from. This gets more difficult as Micra's aren't legal in the US.

How fast do they go?

It varies depending on the condition of the Pao. I personally have gotten mine to a peak of about 70mph with a lot of wobbles. It was very exciting. I will say because of how small and light the car is, it does feel fairly nimble but there is not a lot of power.

My Pao beeps when I go over 110kph can I turn that off?

Behind the speedometer you'll find the beeper, you'll have to just unplug the cable that it's connected to.

My Pao is leaking mysterious fluid what is it?

The Pao's have a tendency to leak, from what I've seen/heard it's often power steering fluid. The pump's are pretty old and sometimes the seal becomes a little loose. A lot of people have used stop leak and that has solved the problem. I've added a bottle of stop-leak that I've used to fix this on the parts page

How much is the Nissan Pao worth?

Like any car the price varies, when I bought mine it had about 60,000 miles on it and already had a lot of  work done to it (fender flares, power windows, new head unit, new carb, radiator, and vacuum hoses) and it was about $9500. You can find them for much cheaper than that, but with a lot more miles. From what I've seen on average in the United States they go for around $8-10k.