We were all young and dumb once. Our tastes change as we mature and we realize that what we once thought was cool is actually something cringe. Turns out a giant wing and underglow don’t really make a car go any faster.
What mods have you regretted making on your JNC?
The most entertaining comment by next week will receive a prize. Scroll down to see the winner of last week’s QotW, “How can Nissan be saved?“.
The floodgates really opened last week and a torrent of advice came pouring through. It created lively discussion and some bitter pills. It seems that a lot of readers agree that Nissan is not good at making a wide range of cars that compete in every segment of the market. The course of action that commenters like Dillon laid out was to cut poor-selling models and focus on a reduced lineup.
What should that lineup be? If your cars aren’t competitive in their respective segments, compete in new segments. We’d love to see StreetSpirit‘s idea of a simplified lineup with one engine option (a la L-series) in exclusively RWD/AWD cars. Yewnos100 said Nissan should perhaps focus on the SE Asian market with some help from partner Mitsubishi. Negishi no Keibajo called for the Datsun brand’s return for lower income buyers.
Others were not so optimistic, offering some truly bleak outlooks. Bernie Steel suggested takeover by a Chinese EV company. dankan says Nissan should laser-focus on the affordable EV market and cut everything else. Franxou argues that they should SUV-ize everything and bring back Carlos Ghosn. The most brutal advice was to kill off the Infiniti brand altogether, as recommended by speedie, Taylor C. and others.
Then there were the basic solutions that any carmaker would be wise to follow, but which most find surprisingly difficult to execute. MWC advocated for fewer committees. BlitzPig said build desirable cars that are fit for more than rental fleet duty. And Dave kept it real simple by telling them to produce better cars than their competitors.
Meanwhile, Adam suggested, in a reversal of GM’s Australian strategy, that perhaps Nissan should start borrowing Holden engines. Land Ark gave some good advice that sounded strangely familiar. And Azfer demanded more of the same — nonsensical names, ideas that never get executed, and so on. Last but not least, Mark F Newton-John had advice for all of us — buy new Nissans.
Clearly the question of a once beloved company brings out strong feelings. There were a lot of well-thought-out and impassioned answers, but the winner this week was Kyuusha Corner, who succinctly captured a lot of the ideas others put forth. We think people would be willing to pay more than what was suggested if Nissan can successfully execute these ideas:
I would restructure. Most major companies are all fighting over the dollars of the lowest common denominator, trying to appeal to as many buyers as possible in order to capture the most market share they can. However, that results in products that are a soulless shadow of what they could’ve been. I would want Nissan to restructure to where they could be profitable at a much lower car volume, and target buyers with needs that aren’t being served. Focus on small, lightweight, affordable vehicles that are incredibly basic and easy to maintain and work on. Imagine a sporty 2000-ish pound car with a 180hp na 4-cylinder, a basic 4×4 that is stripped down but capable of traversing anywhere in the back country, or a light-duty pickup truck that is sub-$25K.
Omedetou, your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop!
Of all the repairs/mods I have made on the S-Cargo, it is the dash insert with the repaired chewed off corner (believe it or not, the corner of a Ican’tbelieveit’snotbutter container top was just the right angle to fix the broken edge. Then, using gray alligator print vinyl (hey, it was the only vinyl available that MATCHED the interior … I also did the rear cargo panels in it, which looked good). Reasoning developed that this inert would work. It did but, not as gud (intentionally spelled that way). I then tried to fix my fix with … wait for it … BLUE duct tape! It was OK then, I put a funny sticker on the ashtray cover. It seemed OK. Now, awhile later, it looks beyond tacky! So, I have to either redo it myself (hah!), have it done professionally (most likely) or, get a new one (the search isn’t going well). The concept is there but, my execution appears to be reminiscent of a Pinewood Derby Special! I think I’ll trundle it out to a couple of upholstery shops and see if I can get it unf’ed at a decent price. If anyone knows of one of these dashboard inserts, let me know.
I like to think I was pretty restrained after getting my modding for modding’s sake bug out of my system on my Pontiac Sunbird. Others might not agree. Specifically the guy who obviously noted the wheels I had on my ’90 Maxima which were transplanted directly from my Sunbird because the bolt patterns were the same. Perhaps putting 16″ Quantum Tech wheels with low profile tires on a midsize (at the time) car with stock suspension wasn’t the best way to go. And I think that because he helpfully yelled “get some bigger wheels! ” as I drove past.
Ultimately he was right.
The JC Whitney antenna I put on my 76 Celica. I ended up putting the replaced coat hanger back on.
I have a 1995 Nissan 300ZX, and there were two modifications I regretted after installation. The first was the Powertrix front shock tower brace, and the second were the Volk TE37 wheels.
Some people might think I’m crazy to regret these nice items, but I still groan when I think about it. The Powertrix bar required removal of this tack-welded A/C support bracket (just a simple L-bracket) and removal of the throttle cable cover; the low hoodline just didn’t allow for any aftermarket add-ons. After the install I noticed the bar to rub the intake plenum. Further, I didn’t like the overall appearance, and therefore removed the bar. The throttle cable cover was bolted back on, BUT the A/C line support bracket was now permanently removed. What a terrible thing I’ve done!
As for the TE37s, they certainly look good, but I think the OEM 16″ wheels ultimately look better on the car. OEM+ is how I like the car, and therefore I’m selling the TEs along with the tires and center caps. Correction, “trying to sell them,” and absolutely having no luck selling them, despite dropping the price almost to the point of keeping them. People keep lowballing me and make offers like these are knockoffs or something. Each day I walk through the garage I see the setup on the tire rack, and just thinking, “ugh, didn’t think I’d have so much trouble getting rid of these.”
fender flares, it’s not like i cut up a pristine 87 civic (if such a thing even exists in the rust prone swamp i call home) but still, i was young, broke and i couldn’t find replacement parts for my rusty wheel arches. so I cut out the rust, redid it as best i could, welded everything up nicely and on went some horrible ‘universal’ fender flares.
I did that little civic dirty and if i could do it all over again i’d put in the extra hours to make a bespoke widebody that actually suited the lines of the car…
The Retro bucket seats (prisma gt) in my 76 Celica. They look great, but sit way to high and are a bit narrow for me. They also make it awkward getting in and out of the already cramped cabin.
When I got the car it had ill fitting corbeau recliners that hit the ceiling when moved up.
I refuse the cut up the factory mounting to points to get the seats lower so now I’m keeping an eye out for some OEM seats. Very hard to come by on the East coast!
I’ve been wanting to get a set of those, how is the lack of headrest in daily driving and how is the comfort other than narrow?
The padding isn’t the thickest but not terrible. I’m sure it would compress over time and be more uncomfortable but i have hardly driven the car since installing.
I’m not the tallest but the headrest would work as one with the seat mounted at a normal angle, but I have the seat reclined as much as it will go just so it wont sit as high
Both the mods I regretted were on my ’92 Sentra SE-R.
1.)Lightweight flywheel – While I loved the engine response and the way the car started instantly, it wasn’t ideal for a purely street-driven car. Would have been phenomenal on the track, though. When I rebuilt the engine around 250K miles, I put the original flywheel back on.
2.)Coilovers – The car looked amazing dropping the front 1″ and back 1.5″, but they blew after 3 weeks of use. In hindsight, I should have gone with a softer, more custom solution.
The one mod that I regret a little so far is the hole I drilled for my new horn button in the lower part of my dash panel.
What I regret is how rough it turned out. I scratched up the dash pretty good.
Shoulda had a pilot bit for the hole saw bit. Well, too late now. At least now I have an operational horn, though. Bonus: it’s an ooga horn.
what mods? I have enough of a handful keeping the thing alive. Last thing I want to have is more unreliability because I had to add more HP because the box said so.