Never understood shells on back of pickups.
If you're going to do it that way, why wouldn't you just get a van?
And if you tell me it's because you can take the shell off as needed, it'll be obvious that you haven't done that. They're a pain in the assignment to put on and take off, to say nothing about finding a place to store them.

We have 2 65 pound dogs that can't jump. 1 dog had knee surgery on both back legs. The other dog was born with deformed front paws and later dislocated a rear knee so shes had work done on 3 out of 4 legs.

We got the hatchback after a year of lifting them into the back of a Nissan Juke. The weight is not the hard part its them wiggling that creates back pain. They still cant get into the car on their own but at least now they can hop up with front paws on the bumper and i can lift them the rest of the way in without killing my back.

Front paws:



Back knee surgery:



Birthday party last week. She turned 3'ish. Not sure when her birthday is so we made it the same day as the other dogs:

LOL my girlfriend just walked by me and asked about the photos of Valerie that i posted. I explained the whole conversation to her and told her "if you have a pickup truck with a shell/cab on it you really have a van".

At least once a month i tell someone that my dog is the only one who really loves me. I know this because when i locked my girlfriend and my dog in the trunk of my car for 4 hours...only my dog was happy to see me when i opened the trunk lid.

I heard that story somewhere years ago lol.

You would get along famously with my old boss, with him ANYTHING beyond function is a waste and not necessary. Lets say I am talking about a Ferrari, his comment will be, (do you know how many Prius' I can by for that money".

His cheapness has, in the end cost him more money a few times on job sites.

He always went on and on about high end audio being a waste and their is no difference between that and the cheap stuff, until I set him down in front of a pair of Wilsons!

Went an Alvin and chipmunk movie with the family. Enough of these already.

Picked up a desk i bought a few months ago. This is the first desk i have ever bought that requires body filler and paint :).

Steelmaster tanker desk from the 40's or 50's. Supposedly the desk had 1 owner that purchased it and used it as a personal desk until recently. It has a handful of dings and some wear areas where chairs or whatever would hit it. All hardware is in good shape, drawers are all perfect. I'm going to paint it blue and replace the stained white formica top with a dark gray wood grain formica.



Below is an example of what it will look like:

Shells on trucks stop you from being the most popular guy when shit needs to be moved. Not so much with a van.

My shell was easily removed, by myself and stored against the ceiling in my garage.

Had an 82 Silverado with a shell, full carpet kit and everything you needed to go surfing for the weekend. Loved that truck, would still have it if it hadn't been stolen, while I was surfing. :(

Funny thing when you are sitting 150 yards out and a sandy beach away from your truck, you get to watch them jack your ride and you cant do shit except paddle in and call 5-Oh at the snack shack.

Today I installed a transfer panel and generator at my house to keep the wife happy.

Yesterday I dove into the Denali and replaced the collapsed "displacement on demand" lifter that caused zero compression on cylinder four(actually replaced all 8 since I had the heads off) so she could get to work Monday in "her" car!!

The issue showed up the day before we headed to the Heartland for Christmas!

I love my wife and working on cars but,sometimes,I miss being single!

Did I say that out loud??

Function -- yes. Cheap -- not so much.
My argument for the Ferrari is that I can drive just as fast on the highway in my 2003 3/4 ton Savana as you could in the sports car.

I just (3 months ago) bought a 2015 Pathfinder Platinum that's fully loaded with everything from cooled seats to steering wheel warmer.
A buddy of mine got a Lotus Elise.

He drove it from ABQ to Santa Fe once and swore never to do it again.

I would happily make that trip in my Pathfinder everyday if I was given a choice. :-)

Yesterday I did my first oil change on the 2015 Nissan Pathfinder we got few months ago.
Of cause, the car lift I have in my garage was used, because, well, why not? :-)

It took me about 50 seconds to find the oil filter
I was literally standing under the car, looking all over for the damn oil filter.

No, of cause I didn't read the manual or google it. It's an oil filter after all.

I eventually found it -- next to passenger wheel well area!

Not difficult to get to once you know where to look :-)

Here are some pictures from Altima, that must be using same engine:



You're looking at passenger drive axle and plastic, flexible wheel well cover being pulled away to reveal threaded oil shaft.



The filter is only about 3-4" tall, so it's easy to miss.




Images shamelessly stole from this thread: [Link: forums.nicoclub.com]

I have been home for a week and a half working on various projects that i start but never finish. I finally got around to the Rear Seat Delete on our Nissan Versa Hatchback. The rear seats don't fold flat so they had to go. The Versa is strictly the Dog Car so i removed the seats and built a floor out of MDF. Custom fit and wrapped in a high quality speaker box carpet. I just need to make a floor mat to go on top.

This is much more exciting for us because i removed the seats months ago and never got around to making the floor boards. My girlfriend was tired of driving the ghetto hatchback. Now its a custom wagon :).

I remember when my dad bought a new 66 Ford LTD with the 390. He usually had it serviced, at the garage, but attempted to replace the spark plugs once.
I remember him storming into the house super pissed off. He could not reach the two rear spak plugs... You had to literally undo the motor mounts and jack up the engine to gain access. Great engineering huh?

I have a lot of respect for car mechanics. We think our jobs are tough, but man, what they have to go through sometimes, right HI FI?

The Boss 429 & 429 Cobra Jet had a similar, but much worse set up. Changing the plugs was an all day affair.

just got the wifeys explorer back from the tuner. 389AW HP to the wheels, 412AW ft lbs!!! this son of buck is fast. just a rudimentary iphone stop watch has a 5.5 0-60. most are professionally timing 4.9-5.2 with same gear. didnt affect normal driveability at all. Very excited. Wife was all over me about why i had to mess with her brand new car......... i just took her out, she had an ear to ear grin when i did a traction control off, power brake launch!!!!

only other thing i would like to do is down pipes and cat back exhaust. i will have to drive one first, as she will not tolerate any interior drone and nothing more than the equivalent of a new denali on the outside.

now i am jonesing for something fast to play with!!!!! might keep the old 4-runner for a while and get a 16 stang or camaro!!! oh boy!!!