[johncap523]

Reading this I’m wondering if you can work out a new type of tire for me too since all this work is kinda pointless when there’s great aftermarket products likely at a fraction of the cost. I’m on my third head until with CarPlay in my truck and just last week put one in my wife’s Prius. (Toyota’s are notoriously PITA for adapting aftermarket head units but there’s kits aplenty.) I’d never go to Nissan for something like this.

But I guess that’s why there’s chocolate, vanilla, and raw cream to make your own flavor.

 

[johncap523]

To each their own. Glad you've found success with aftermarket units you like.

Nissan has some goodies for our trucks though that are factory from other donor models. Vk swap, Titan suspension swap, Z brake upgrade, and more.

I've got a plan in the works to add push button start once I can nab the steering column lock module off a 2020 frontier.

I love the tailgate cap on the newer trucks. I have also adapted to being midnight. But the mechanical items and aesthetic items are a different story. An OEM head unit is just an adapted brand name unit with a premium price and peculiarities that intentionally make it difficult to traverse into vehicles it wasn’t intended for. I simply don’t see the point paying through the nose for a Nissan branded Panasonic unit when there’s perfectly suitable Kenwood, JVC, Pioneer and others for far less $.

 

[johncap523]

One can get far into the mountains or desert but still have working live navigation and streaming music thanks to native GPS and XM.

Used head unit or not.... As I mentioned above, I like the larger winglike tailgate cap on the newer Frontiers so I went to the salvage yard database to find some wrecked late model Frontiers with the wing. They want $150 for the two pieces! Not much difference from the cost new, so I suspect that late model CarPlay head unit out of a Sentra is still considerably more expensive than a new JVC. I just bought one for $250 plus $50 for adapters and misc for a Toyota. Along the same line, someone here recently was talking about putting a factory GPS head unit. Yikes! First, why when you can do CarPlay or Android Auto. Second, I had one in a Murano. $200 a year for map updates.

I’m amused by the obsession of installing upgrades stamped NISSAN.

 

[johncap523]

I've got 3 mid-size V8 4wd/awd vehicles. 06 4Runner, 15 GX460, and now 16 Frontier. There is demand with towing, crawling, etc. but CAFE standards make it hard for manufacturers. Check out the prices on the v8 4runners or v8 pathfinders, kinda silly high due to demand and rarity.

A few other manufacturers had a v8 in their mid-size truck at some point. Dakota, Colorado, etc. If you've been around a while, hot-rodding mags used to regularly cover V8 swaps for rangers and S10's. A lot of the interest stems from the 70's-80's when trucks were as fast / faster than most cars due to govt restrictions. I guess those drivers have gotten old and need to stick to the right lane The fast factory trucks used to have neat names too like Lightning and Syclone.

Hard to say if people would buy it if it was offered, but certainly engine diversity has been interesting in other trucks like the #1 selling F-150 offering the Eco-blows and coyote. I'd buy a tacoma tomorrow if it had the 5.7L in it, but they are absolute dogs with their v6 and you have to put the pedal down 110% to build any rpm for power.

I'm just glad to see that Nissan went with the 3.8L v6 and didn't turbo the 4 for 2020+

I had a V8 Dakota. Loved that truck. In fact I bought the Frontier because it was designed most similar to it. I just was terminated afraid of the tranny issues and the heater never worked from new.

 

[johncap523]

EDIT ...wrong link

Huh? ;-)

 

[johncap523]

Well, one thing's for sure - this thread made my usual boring work-from-home Friday not that boring



I never said other brands had mid-sized V8's offered at some point. What I said was there's no mainstream demand like you might think there is. What and how many you own is trivial, it just shows what you prefer.

You mentioned V8 truck swaps... that's not factory discussion any more - that's aftermarket (even if it's OEM parts being swapped in). "Hot Rodding", "Car Tuning" is still and always be a niche aftermarket industry thing - not a mainstream thing that everyone who goes to a dealership is looking for. The closest it got to the mainstream was the heyday late 90's-early 2000's. The Fast and the Furious years. The age of APC Altezza taillamps 🤡 LOL

But going back to the fact that only hobbyist tuners would decide to swap in a V8 because there is no standard V8 option from the dealer lot just tells you how "popular" that vehicle equipped with a V8 really wasn't to the mass market, thus no demand to sell one equipped with a V8 from the factory.

3rd... you brought up the Syclone. One of my favorite vehicles of all time... the legendary 348 killer, and a super niche not-for-the-mainstream product! Such an awesome machine to drive (I couldn't believe I was driving a 4-speed automatic pickup truck this fast LOL), yet zero practicality thanks to the "show not go" suspension parts they had to fit it with...and just to poke you with a stick, that wasn't even a V8



Not sure how that relates to what you quoted from me... for clarity, when I said "native GPS/XM" I was referring to having it built-into the head unit (aftermarket, not OEM Nissan)... as opposed to having a head unit dependent on an outboard secondary device. Is that what you were replying to?

Your amusement probably mirrors my amusement of those back in the day who were so obsessed with "JDM" parts upgrades, not realizing that their "JDM" was in reality just OEM somewhere else in the world. LOL

My amusement is like...gotta get OEM fog lights (that will get used 5 days a year) for $200 when there’s a literal ton of aftermarket knockoffs that look exactly the same, using the same existing harness, and, in my case, will burn the same switchback LED. I wonder where they think those OEM parts come from... Yes, China...just like the knockoffs.

 

[johncap523]

Oh... not the "made in China" stereotype again hahah

Stereotypes derive from facts, as in this case....

 

[johncap523]

Oh... not the "made in China" stereotype again hahah

PS, I just bought what I assumed was a knockoff turn signal switch direct from China. It showed up complete with Nissan label and p/n. $78 vs around $175 from Nissan.

 

[johncap523]

So what you're saying is... the shady factories can make fake copy clones of Nissan OEM fog lamps... but they can't print a fake copy clone of a label with a Nissan OEM part number printed on it?

Labels don't mean a thing - any factory can print or reprint high-quality OEM exact labels, UL standard labels, ROHS labels, etc. to add to the appearance of authenticity to lure shoppers to buy their products.

A lot of the general public's perception of "look it's the same part without the brand name and it costs less, but it's made in the same factory so it's just as good" is completely backwards - that's not how it works. The reality is, even if the aftermarket part is made in the same factory as the brand name, the aftermarket part costs less because it doesn't have to reach any of the standards and QC and safety regulations of the brand name.

Example: the company I work for resells some specific tools that are manufactured in the same factory as name brand tools and off-brand knock-offs. In fact that particular factory makes 5 different identical-looking versions of the same tool (but each version is built differently with different materials and tolerances), and as a reseller, all we have to do is choose which of the remaining 4 versions we want to sell (because the not available 5th version is the brand name, branded and sold through official channels highest quality version).

The cheapest versions of brand name goods are just made to LOOK like the brand name product, because for many people that's all that matters, and they will buy it.

Where do you think Nissan, Toyota, Ford, get their parts? The same place. Besides, I couldn’t care less if they’re knockoffs or gray market. I was in the IT business, I know all about back door markets, how stuff gets there and why the big boys do nothing about it. I used to buy intel processors that went from California to Indonesia, to China, and back to the US east coast and the landed price was half of what Intel was charging me direct in the states.

 

[johncap523]

Completely oblivious to what I just explained. I'll put it in bold, in as simple of a sentence as possible:

It doesn't matter where it came from, how it's labeled, or how it got here; what matters is how it was made.​

P.S. I've been in the IT business and the overseas electronic manufacturing business... And they are not the same thing
Done with this topic, have a good weekend

They’re all made the same. That’s the point. Nissan buys the same parts from the same people. Just like the cpus that make the rounds. Lest you think they need to set up mfg to counterfeit something as inexpensive and low demand as turn signal switches to hawk on eBay. PS, they don’t even market it as a Nissan OEM part, so if they’re gonna counterfeit at least try to play up the branding. Nah, they’re just excess parts they’re selling out the back door and they don’t push them as OEM in order to steer clear of pissing off their big customer.

And if you don’t believe that, I’ve got a nice piece of swampland for you to build a house on...

 

[johncap523]

LOL you went from "they're all the same" to "they're all made the same"

From your last reply, it's painfully obvious that you are underestimating the lengths an overseas factory will take to make a profit - legal or illegal, front door or back door, direct or via proxy routes. And you know what? I thought about why you believe what you do, and that's fine - if you've never actually seen what I've seen, then I don't blame you for thinking "they're all made the same." At one point in time years ago, I thought the same thing... but hey, ignorance is bliss.

We (more specifically the company I currently work for) manufacture some of our products overseas, but we purchase white-label and branding as well. For these products, we visit the factories overseas 4 times a year (minus this year, because you know - pandemic) and I've seen it in person myself so many times it's ridiculous how fast the factory can switch it up. Any particular part can be made in the same place, under the same roof, with the same machinery, the same molds, on the same production line - but all it takes is a 30-second pause on the line and one small change in allotted materials per batch and boom - just like that instead of making the standard part that cost $50 to make, they're quickly churning out an identical-looking part of less quality for only $10.

So yeah... if you don't think an overseas factory won't bother to set up manufacturing to counterfeit or make an inferior version of a part AND put in the same effort towards replicating branding and company markings... then you simply haven't seen what I've seen.

P.S. I have a turn signal switch for you to buy that is "made the same" but cheaper, and it won't burn out your switchback LEDs.
...oh, wait.

You’re twisting yourself in knots to try and assert an item made on the same assembly line as “the real thing” is somehow inferior because it’s being sold out another door. But thank you for supporting my assertions “they’re all the same” AND “they’re all made the same”. BTW, the fact they’re packaged for Nissan strongly suggests they’re not counterfeit but excess, unsold inventory they’re unloading online, cynicism aside...agsin, if you’re gonna go through the trouble of counterfeiting packaging, you’re gonna use it in your marketing. They don’t. It was a shock to see how it was packaged.

Anyway, I’m sure half the guys here would prefer to pay 3x the price knowing Jimmy Bob at the Nissan counter touched the part...or, I could jack up the price on these and say they’re OEM! Yea, that’s it!

 

[johncap523]

LOL sure buddy, continue arguing against things you said.

Where did I argue against anything I said? Dude, share what you’re smoking! ;-)

 

[johncap523]

I quit smoking last April

I quit smoking last April

You picked a bad time to quit sniff..., er, smoking...

 

[johncap523]

Again- you’re not reading. I quit last year LOL

But seriously... have you seen the price of a pack of cigarettes these days?!? Aside from the health aspect (obviously), I can’t believe how much money I’ve saved on not having to spend on smokes. On top of that, due to the pandemic I’ve saved even more cash by not having to buy gas on a regular basis the last 4 months!

When I quit smoking....cigarettes I was paying $8.....A CARTON. I used to smoke 2-1/2 packs a day. It would be a car payment to smoke that much now.

But I wasn’t referring to cigarettes....

 

[johncap523]

When I quit smoking....cigarettes I was paying $8.....A CARTON. I used to smoke 2-1/2 packs a day. It would be a car payment to smoke that much now.

But I wasn’t referring to cigarettes....

Yes, my first car payment, for my first car, NEW, was $69 a month. 2-1/2 packs a day works out to around $600 a month nowadays.

 

[johncap523]

Yes, my first car payment, for my first car, NEW, was $69 a month. 2-1/2 packs a day works out to around $600 a month nowadays.

And that was a 24 month car loan! With like $250 down.

 

[johncap523]

Smoking is bad, m'kay.
~ Mr Mackey

Yes, yes it is, either for a human or a car, except for after sex...

 

[johncap523]

I asked an airhead blonde if she smoked after sex...and she said she had never looked.

Understandable, most people don’t know where the smoke is coming from.