They’re big(gish) in volume, but not profitable in dollars. Lots of also-ran products which results in low margins to move the volume.
It seems like I read somewhere that a lot of Nissan’s volume comes from fleet sales, i.e. selling to car rental companies. Which results in even lower margins since those companies are getting some pretty substantial volume discounts.
I don’t rent cars very often, but anecdotally it does seem like a lot of rental cars are Nissans nowadays.
More boring DYI stuff, but I finally finished a project this week and feel like telling someone.
After our month long RV-ing trip in October, we decided to change some things.
First was to upgrade our fuel capacity enough to avoid stops during travel days. We added an aluminum auxiliary tank in the truck’s bed.
Second was to add a sufficient inverter generator to power our fifth-wheel camper off-grid. It mounts on a rear rack, with quick-disconnect tie-in to the camper’s propane system, and is removeable for storage. Due to this, our bed crane must lift a much heavier load with a longer “reach” (300% increase in moment-arm). The original small rectangular base of the crane cannot hold this.
A welding shop expanded the crane’s base with c-channel extensions tied to steel plate bracing beneath the bed. My “design requirements” were that all the above are bolted on, and removeable in the future.
A snapshot of the result. It ain’t pretty but it works. The C-channel extensions are welded to the original base, with plate steel welded to brace the rear on a strong section of the bed. The angled extension to the right allows us to place really heavy loads in the (previously unreachable) right-front portion of the bed. Everything’s bolted to a steel framework anchored beneath the bed.
The aluminum aux tank is just ahead of the fifth wheel hitch. Added bonus is that I can now lift the entire fifth-wheel hitch out as a single unit, without disassembling it (it weighs nearly 200 lbs.).
Wow, that’s really nice. Just curious… how much did the shop charge you for the custom welding? There have been times I have needed something similar, but had no idea of whom to go to, or what it might cost.
$500 even. Old shop in the old part of town. They did all the work, including removing the original base, removing the spare tire (to install the plates underneath), drilling, painting and reinstalling everything.
My wife and I installed the aux tank ourselves, since it was only drilling and bolting (and repeated shouting from underneath the truck: “Not that bolt! The other one!”). 
That’s dirt cheap for everything they did. Even if (I think) I could do it myself, not sure I’d mess it with if a pro could do it for that.
Another place to buy new cars:
Only Hyundai for now–and only in a few cities.
I just got back from a long holiday road trip, driving about 4,000 miles round trip. We took my wife’s new car, a Mazda CX-50. Top trim level because my wife wanted the ventilated seats (which are great). And the turbo engine as well. This car is an absolute pleasure to drive. But the nice surprise for me was the usefulness of the heads up display (HUD), especially since the blind spot monitor shows an indicator on the HUD, as well as the lights in the mirrors. Now that I am back to driving my truck, I really miss the HUD.
On the other hand, I have decided that Android Auto was designed by Gen Z programmers who don’t actually drive cars.
In a move that has left drivers both frustrated and bewildered, Stellantis has introduced full-screen pop-up ads on its infotainment systems. Specifically, Jeep owners have reported being bombarded with advertisements for Mopar’s extended warranty service. The kicker? These ads appear every time the vehicle comes to a stop.
Imagine pulling up to a red light, checking your GPS for directions, and suddenly, the entire screen is hijacked by an ad. That’s the reality for some Stellantis owners. Instead of seamless functionality, drivers are now forced to manually close out of ads just to access basic vehicle function.
The wave of the future!
Bumping this thread because I finally got around to this…
Turned out to be a bigger project than I thought, and I just finished it.
Those hitch cargo carriers aren’t very sturdy, nor are they secured firmly enough (from movement) for anything heavy. Significant mods were necessary to safely hold a large generator. I also wanted to add secure locking and all-weather capability.
With a lot of help and expertise, we removed all the original frame/drawbars/etc. from the carrier and welded much thicker supports. Built a rectangular “tray” about 3 inches tall fitted to my generator to hold it firmly, and welded all this to new frame/drawbar.
Here’s the base frame after the first set of mods and painting.
We shortened the moment arm considerably, bringing up right next to the bumper. Originally, this carrier extended 2 feet behind the camper.
Using crane as now it’s too heavy to lift.
For additional stability, I added outboard drawbars on each end, to secure the rack from rotational and side-to-side motion. All 3 are visible here, in between the bumper and the rack.
I mounted an exhaust fan and the demand regulator for the propane. The left side is the “cool” side, where all the connections are. The right side is the “hot” side, where the exhaust and hot air from the generator are sent.
Following two pics are everything connected and running.
Some really skilled guys at a local machine shop made a locking aluminum cover for me.
Final product, all closed up and humming quietly. It’s a super quiet inverter generator, and the box quiets it even more.
Sorry for the long post, but I’m pretty jazzed about this. So far, it’s run for hours without getting the aluminum top hot, and can power everything in the camper including the main A/C. And it can do so in any weather.
Since the thread has been bumped anyway, if anyone is interested in an update on my tires, I went with Continental Extreme Contact Sport 02’s. I am happy with them so far.
Great project and thanks for the in-depth write-up. You’re right to be stoked about it.
That looks really nice. It’s hard to tell if the LP regulator is mounted to the rack or not - does it have enough slack to move the generator if you need to access the back door? I’m guessing so.
Regarding the weather, you might want to consider protecting that fan from water from road spray while driving in rain or snow. Maybe mount it higher or add a baffle to block water from from getting in from below. Or alternatively exhaust out of the side rather than the bottom.
Edit: I didn’t consider that you might not have that fan permanently mounted. You could store it inside the camper when driving.
Thanks!
The regulator is mounted permanently, and the extra slack is just me overestimating when I assembled the hose and connections. The door in the picture is access to a shallow set of shelves. The manufacturer made use of some dead space behind the entertainment center by adding shelves and the external door. With the gennie installed, the door can still open enough to extract anything that can fit in there.
The fan’s permanently mounted as well. I think it may be OK there, as I’ve been using it for months with the generator and a soft, fitted bag that came with the original carrier. So far, there seems to be little road grime as the bottom of the carrier is above the lowest point on the camper, and it’s narrower than the wheels. Even in hard rains there seems to be very little grime picked up “inside” the generator rack.
Here was my first attempt at making a usable cover. It didn’t work well and the generator couldn’t be used in bad weather. Also, it had to cool off before closing the top and traveling.
Empty, held in shape with PVC frame
Running, with storage bag crumpled down out of the way. Note exhaust elbow redirecting upward, and fans helping push all the heat up. This was necessary to keep from melting the bag.
Closed up for travel. I covered about 2000 miles with this setup and finally decided it was too fragile and hard to work around. PVC was a poor choice for the frame, as I frequently had to repair it enroute.
This post in the “most interesting car you saw today" thread got me thinking. I didn’t want to derail that thread too much, so here I am.
echoreply notes his 25 year old Suburban has more than doubled in value in the past 8 years. I find this fascinating. I also once owned a Chevy Suburban: a 1986 1500 4x4. It had the 3 rows of bench seats (making it a rare 9 passenger) and the barn-door style rear doors (also rare). It had an aftermarket Edelbrock 4-barrel carb on it and a custom brush guard that a previous owner had made for it. It guzzled gas so bad you could almost hear it trying to suck the dead dinosaurs right out of the ground.
It was a great people hauler and we used it to take our little family everywhere – it was a road tripper’s dream. Well, ok, it was loud and rode hard, but it was better than a minivan any day of the week. I even took my elderly grandmother across 4 states in it and she didn’t have anything negative to say about it of course, she was the living embodiment of the Golden Rule, but I prefer to believe it was the awesomeness of the Suburban that kept her positive. It had the 700R auto transmission and that’s the only thing I didn’t like about it. I wish it had a manual.
Alas, the engine blew on it one day when I was driving to work. Being poor and not having the money to fix it, I sold it to a guy who bought junk for scrap. $600 in 2011. I wish I would’ve kept one of the license plates – SNW365. I used the money to buy a 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix with almost 300k miles. It was reliable, and that’s what mattered.
In good running condition that Suburban would be worth between 5k and 10k today. With the insane popularity that the old box body Chevys have of late, I could probably get more than that for it.
My first vehicle was a 1975 VW bus. It was in excellent shape inside and out: all the sheetmetal was straight and clean, the interior was clean and unmolested, and the heater even worked! It had curtains in the side and back windows – I still remember the design, they had little corn cobs on them, like Marge Simpson’s kitchen curtains – and a Deadhead sticker on the back.
This one also blew the engine. Coming into Portland on I-84, Friday night rush-hour traffic during a torrential rainstorm, and BANG! then some black smoke coming through the dashboard vents and no more running engine. A kind OSP offer stopped and told me I had to get it towed off the freeway shoulder ASAP. Since this was the pre-cell phone era he called the tow truck for me. $107 in folding green to the tow truck driver before he’d load it. He took it the nearest tiny town and left it in the parking lot of some abandoned store. I had to arrange the tow back home, some 4 hours south in I-5. My dad helped with that. Turns out the oil filter had unscrewed itself and the crankcase had immediately gone dry. Not having the money (or time or place or ability) to swap out the engine, I sold it to an old hippie for $300. $300 c. 1998. In running condition that old VW would be worth north of $30k today. Fully restored, and it didn’t need a whole lot to return it back to “new" condition, it would be worth around $50k. To this day my dad maintains that oil filter coming off was my fault, saying that I didn’t tighten it down when I did the previous oil change. Horseshit. It had 2500 miles on that oil change; if I hadn’t tightened it down it would’ve rattled off long before then.
Somewhere in there I had a 1989 Toyota van. Those vans didn’t even have a name – they were just called the van. It had rear bench seats, rear a/c, and a 5 speed manual transmission. All rare factory options. I have no idea what it would be worth today because that was a rare vehicle when it was new and I cannot find one for sale anywhere to even start guessing as to what it would go for now. It looks like the only ones that were saved were the 4x4 variants which of course have a cult following today. Those variants sell today for more than their original MSRP.
On the other end of the spectrum I had a 1986 Buick LeSabre. That car was by far the absolute biggest piece of garbage I have ever had the displeasure of driving. I gave it to my brother when the transmission began going out on it because even in 2005 it probably wasn’t even worth the scrap value it was such a POS. Knowing my brother, he traded it to someone for $5 worth of free-market pharmaceuticals. I also can’t find one for sale, probably because it wasn’t worth it to literally anyone on earth to save these totally worthless “cars.”
We recently gave away a 2007 Chevy HHR. It had low miles and was in great shape. On a good day, when Kelley was feeling generous, the blue book value was about $2500. It was a great little car, very comfortable while also being quite utilitarian for its size. Heated leather seats, multiple CD changer with both Bluetooth and wired aux input, auto electric windows, multi position electric seats, lumbar control… things that were rare on cars in 2007. The rear seats folded down completely flat and there were a pair of built-in storage compartments, like foot lockers, in the floor between the rear seat and the spare tire well. It had tie-down points around the perimeter of the back cargo area. It was just a damn useful car while being comfortable to drive. Ugly as sin, but I didn’t care about that. My wife drove it for several years then my son drove it for several more years. Both upgraded to bigger vehicles and we simply didn’t need it anymore. We decided giving it away to a young man who needed reliable transportation to and from work was better than selling it for a pittance. I have no idea why the KBB value is so low.
All of this nostalgic rambling is to say that, I find it fascinating how car values ebb and flow over time and that certain vintage vehicles that suddenly become popular, like the box-body Chevy pickups, don’t seem to follow any rational rules. I admit I’d love to have a 70’s era Chevy pickup but that’s because I’d like to have a work truck that I can 1) find parts for and 2) do a lot of the work on myself. Many other, much cheaper vehicles also fit that criteria, so I’m not wedded to that pickup. So… more pondering… last summer my son bought a 2003 F-150. It has the 5.7 V8 with automatic 4x4 and the rear bench seat with rear suicide doors, 6.5 foot bed. He paid $8k for it, much less than if he’d bought a Chevy 4x4 pickup from the 70’s. That F-150, while not exactly a paragon of comfort and luxury, is damn more useful, reliable, and comfortable to drive than an old Chevy. But worth less.
It makes me wonder what I’d do if I was shopping for a vintage/classic/project car and had a budget of, say, $5k. Would I get something useful like an older pickup? Something that I would’ve drooled over as a 17 year old but are mostly jokes today (3rd gen Camaro)? Some quirky deathtrap that nobody else would care about (I’ve always wanted a Yugo)? What doors would doubling the budget open?
Of course, we all know I’d be shopping for a Lancia… something. Anything. But with a $5k budget… not happening. With $10k? Still not happening.
So: is tightening down the filter by hand enough or do people here like to put an oil filter wrench on it to tighten it?
On that note, Hoovie of the Hoovie’s Garage YouTube channel recently rescued a 1988 Voyager from the junkyard. In the video he criticizes modern minivans for being as big as a Suburban.
Tighten it by hand and then give it one very mild ugga-dugga with the filter wrench. That’s all it needs.
I do it by hand, but only if it’s clean and dry, and I’m wearing my work gloves that have rubber on the inside (palm, fingers). If I somehow got oil on it I snug it a bit more with the strap.
My filter is unreachable by most filter wrenches, due to being buried several inches into other engine/steering stuff. So I have to use a 6 inch long square tube with a strap fitted on the end. I wind it up till tight and use a 1/2" drive to make the last twist. Way too much leverage for a filter, so I have to be really careful.
Oil filters have torque specs so the proper way is to tighten it to its recommended torque.
Of course, nobody does that. What I do, what I’ve always done, is to tighten it by hand until it’s finger tight and then add ¼ or ½ of a turn with the wrench.
Edit: or what AD said.
Of course, these days I take it to a shop to have the oil changed.
That VW is the only vehicle that I’ve had problems with the oil filter. On that particular engine the oil filter hung down and inch or two proud of the rest of the engine, essentially behind the driver’s side rear tire. My theory has always been that something got kicked up, hit the oil filter, and jarred it loose enough that it twisted itself off. That’s seems unlikely, but every other scenario is even more unlikely. Oil filters don’t just randomly fall off. Occam’s razor and all that. I had driven that bus from southern Oregon to Kalispell Montana and was on my way back through Oregon when the engine blew. I had had no other problems and was pretty religious about checking my oil level periodically between oil changes – still am, really, even though now I drive a ‘23 Kia with only 50k miles.