westslope

British Columbia has a Scrap It program. BC doesn't even manufacture vehicles! But we have some nasty air that piles up in the Lower Fraser valley and makes people sick, kills a few on occasion. You can choose to buy a bicycle instead of a new vehicle.

Hmmm. I think I see your point. Unibody then. Unibody chassis is common usage in some parts though I know perfectly that doesn't make it right. How does one refer to the underside of a unibody?

I can tell that you and Kingman have extensively traveled in northern Europe and have some well-grounded strong beliefs on this matter. BTW, do both of you belong to "Let's Turn the USA into a Banana Republic" Party? Are both of you monitoring the fiscal huh, err situation that confronts the US? Do you really believe that US will not raise taxes in the near future?

OK, I dislike raining on your parade..... but I was doing stuff like that in my FWD '87 Sentra wagon. Well, at least up until some really nasty stiff ruts poked the rear right strut through the unibody chassis.

dude, I hate to rain on your party, but..... I do stuff like that on a regular basis here in BC using 4-season mud&snow tires that exhibit lower rolling resistance and better fuel mileage than the typical knobby AT tire. No lift either. Why don't you find an abandoned skidder road with some wet clay on a slope and then show us your stuff.

Lobby your senator and congress rep for high, nordic-level excise/green/carbon taxes on fossil fuels. Cash for clunkers is just one in a long serious of energy policy fumbles that is sabotaging US-based auto manufacturers and impoverishing American citizens.

Are you sure that the 02 sensor has not failed? My pathie ran just fine with a failed 02 sensor. The idle rpms were slightly higher.

Watch for the rust that starts in the seam under the rear seat. Removing the carpet in the luggage compartment is the best way to ascertain damage. Perhaps that is impractical when shopping. Close inspection of the rear frame and wheel wells should give a good indication as to the shape of the chassis. One other thing. Ideally, you want Lady, City Driven. Metrosexual, City Driven is also good. Crawl underneath and look for off-road scratches; you shouldn't find any.

What's that bird song that every owner of a valuable but depreciating asset has heard before? Was it Preventative maintenance is worth its weight in gold ?

UPDATE To repeat the dealer price for the drivers side, rear door molding to replace the badly rusted original was C$94 before tax. I drove to Alpi's Van & Truck on the west side of Abbotsford (southwest British Columbia in the lower Fraser Valley). Was told the part would cost me C$25 (!?!!) because removing it would reduce the potential value of the door. Didn't even have a look. Got back in the pathie and drove to Pick-A-Part (Canada) on the west side of Chiliwack, BC, right beside the Highway #1 (The Trans-Canada). Found an OK part, carefully sought to remove it over an hour to avoid damage. A helpful gentleman helped me remove the window and finally pop it out. In passing, Pick-A-Part is the best organized junkyard I have ever had the privilege of visiting. Everything is grouped. The web-site is surprisngly informative and up to date. There seems to be a good thru-put. Somebody was thinking safey when they designed this yard. Folks are friendly; carts are provided; customers are friendly. My time has some value; despite the longer ride, I'll be heading straight to P-A-P next time I seek a quality, used part. Anyhoooow--sorry for the long digress--I paid my under C$6 for that part and another almost C$4 for some great shape rubber that goes over the dome light driver door switch. Back home, I wired brushed the molding ends that were showing a wee bit of corrosion, wiped it down with 99% rubbing alcohol. Applied rust remover liquid with a toothbrush. Let sit; rinse; reapply. Repeat. Use the skinning blade to poke away at a bit more recessed rust. Dry with paper towel, soft dry clothes, put in oven pre-heated to 200F (with door open). Apply black matte finish tremclad paint. Let dry overnight; discover that tremclad does not adhere to the plastic/rubber molding. Forgot idea of second coat of anti-rust paint. Used Zap-A-Gap-style 'crazy glue' to glue rubber into place over rusted bits. Cut a short section of plastic bag to place over the outer door frame (as in original). Took me less than 1 1/2 minutes to remove the original. I grabbed the top near the rear end with a pair of vice grips and then snuck in with my 4" skinning blade/utility knife and easily popped the molding out. Nothing like a little understanding to make the job easier. Was almost tempted to do preventative maintenance on the other 3 door moldings, and then thought better of it. I'm counting on a steady supply of better condition moldings to come out of the wrecker yards over the next few years. Final installation Fed the front end of the replacement part in under the vertical molding and then snapped it into place. Applied a little Black Asphalt undercoating to both ends. Looks fine to me. May add some silicone caulking to improve run-off on that door and others. Photos follow. Removing some of the rust of the new molding in the kitchen Old molding removed and sitting on window edge Rear window frame cleaned up After one anti-rust paint application and after having installed the molding, I applied black asphalt underbody. Masking tape catches the dribbles Finished product (rear and front ends) looks rough But from a distance, who notices and who cares?

Well, I tend to stop well back of the stop line at busy intersections. I also look both ways before entering the intersection. Plenty of folks run red lights up here in "nice" Canada, more specifically Greater Vancouver, British Columbia--"The Best Place on Earth". The pathie is bright red and I put the full lights on 24 hours a day. Off topic Phoenix, eh? Used to have the second worst air pollution in the USA when I briefly lived and worked there as a community organizer for the United Farm Workers of America a few decades ago. The bad air is caused by the inversion layer caught in the valley. It was most visually striking driving into downtown Phoenix from Scottsdale which sits to the north just outside the bowl. The inversion layer looked like a large grey zeppelin balloon. UFWA and organizing local farm workers was an exercise in frustration. Arizona was a "right to work state" and the biggest local backer--a Chicano-dominated construction union--was widely reputed to be corrupt. Any time top wages went near US$7/hour, corporate farms would shut down. In neighbouring California, the corporate farms simply mechanized. I don't blame them; losing money sucks no matter how big you are, and farm margins can be razor thin at the best of times.

Any suggestions for removing them without ripping off or excessively bending the metal tabs I assume are holding the molding in place?

Thanks for sharing KovemaN. 40 mph, eh? Not bad, not bad at all. Any residual health effects? I agree with your suspicions as to what may have motivated the frivilous law suit against Nissan. Of all the rich, western industrialized countries, the USA is the most plagued with expensive, wealth-destroying litigation. We're also catching the bug up here in once upon a time "nicer" Canada.

Kingman, a 1 mile per gallon increase in fuel efficiency would represent a better than 5% improvement for most pathie owners. Optimistically, a series of incremental improvements will all add up to something that is noticeable. Example: Driving with the windows closed will also improve fuel mileage at the margin.

EDIT (Figured it out.)

You might be right MikeV. Though I would rather avoid a C$400 bill....... P.S. I just updated the images with better quality photos.

My '93 pathie has rust in the corner of all four doors windows just under the belt molding. I believe this is a common issue. One of them--the driver-side, rear door molding is particularly bad and should be fixed or replaced. Pictures follow. Passenger-side rear door belt molding rust, still in "reasonable" shape. The front passenger-side and driver-side doors exhibit similar rust bubbling. The drivers-side rear door belt molding (which I want to fix or replace). A closer look. A body shop expert recommended that I remove and replace. The part costs C$93.69 at the local Nissan dealership. I have seen similar parts on wrecker vehicles ('90-'95) that look in reasonable shape. Anybody do this? Recommendations? Any suggestions for safely and easily removing the existing molding?

Thank you SilverPath and carwilef7 for the detailed explanation. Appreciated.

The only additional thing I can think of are the tires and air pressure. 4-season, mud&snow tires typically have lower rolling resistence (and work just great for me off-road). I run my Michelin LTX 6-ply tires M&S tires at 35-36 psi. I would assume the wheels are balanced and the front end is properly aligned.

Can't help you carwilef7 but if I may sneak in a related question. Your O2 sensor is downstream of the cat converter? Mine ('93 pathie) is upstream of the converter. Why the difference? Could somebody please explain.

Well, I suppose if everybody in her family is penniless trash, you could get the judge to garnish her wages (or food stamps) for the next 30 years....

Rough. Ouch. So how about hiring a private investigator to see if the young woman has anybody with wealth in her immediate family and suing the pants off her?

I asked an experienced friend who rebuilds antique TR5s, old corvettes, etc. for a hobby about getting a torque wrench for tightening the valve covers. He suggested that it wouldn't be too useful as the Philips head would tend to slip and not seat as firmly as a bolt head. He suggested carefully tightening snug by hand. He also explained how the valve gaskets will tend to compress over time, hence the interest in occasionally tightening them up. Thoughts?

Aussie dollars? Ain't that bad. Very close to what a full transmission job can cost here. (That's why we continue to double-clutch from 5th into 4th.) Spot cash rates 25 August 2009 thanks to the Bank of Canada Au$/C$ 1.1067 US$/C$ 0.9275 InfamousDuckMan wrote: Had I not have already fronted the $920 for the removal & refit only to be told that I need a changeover I would have cut my losses. You could be suffering from the infamous and widely spread Loss Aversion or Sunk Cost Fallacy. It explains why many people, institutions, including and especially governments, throw good money after bad to deploy a wisdom rich cliché. (Other examples include holding losing investments for far too long, and sending more citizen-soldiers to die in losing conflicts.) Actually, it could have been a good economic decision to shoulder the expensive transmission and clutch repairs but that depends on the kilometers driven and the general condition of the engine and chassis. Your full opportunity cost of replacing the vehicle is likely much, much higher than Au$5,000.

Right. Into the crankcase, not the fuel tank. How much do you add to the crankcase? How long do you run the vehicle before draining and refilling the engine oil? Always have lots of white gas on hand for using in the Whisper-Lite camp stove.