Fifty150

Same procedure with every car. Look under the car to see where the OEM wires go into the cab. Usually, there's already a big rubber grommet which you can easily slide another wire through alongside. Worse comes to worse, zip tie your wire run alongside the OEM wire run, drill a hole next to the OEM hole, and use a grommet. What are you trying to do? If you need extra power in the cab, you should be able to simply add a fuse at the fuse box, instead of running a new circuit from the battery.

Passenger wagon & cargo van have the same exact suspension. They did not retune the suspension for passenger wagon comfort. The rear suspension is just a coil spring with a shock absorber alongside. This is designed for cargo weight in the rear to balance against the engine & transmission in the front of the car. Not engineered for comfort. The best seat is 1st row driver & passenger, since it is midpoint between the front & rear wheels. From there on back, it's bouncy time. The 3rd row sits right above the rear wheels. It's a better ride than my truck. But far from luxury car comfort. Kids don't seem to mind. My friends don't complain, since the seats are wider, and there's more headroom & legroom, than any of their more expensive crossovers. As one of my buddies pointed out, it's no more or less comfortable than those shuttle vans that you take from the airport.......i.e. Ford E150 or Transit E150. Same rubber floor, same cloth seats, same big windows, same bumpy ride, same amount ambient noise. I just make sure that there's a basket of fruit, warm muffins, morning papers, and fresh squeezed juice when I go to pick them up. Less cost. That is true with everything on every car. Whatever you do yourself, will save what you will have to pay someone else. There is a gas station near me with a service bay. If I supply the oil & filter, he will do it for $15. A dollar a minute. A couple of neighborhood guys go there, since they don't want to hassle with doing an oil change in the street - like me. It's just an oil change. The guy is competent enough that he uses hand tools instead of air tools, won't overtorque, cross-thread, or strip your drain bolt, and he won't over-tighten the oil filter. It's not the oil change. That's easy. It's the fact that he has a lift. And you don't have to deal with rebottling the used oil and disposal of the used oil and filter. He told me once that for the same $15, he'll put the car on the lift, and he'll let me turn the wrench myself while he drinks a cup of coffee. He's seen me doing my own service work out on the street. Corner mechanic next to my ex girlfriend used to work on her car for free, because I helped him out here and there......just things like when you need an extra hand to hold onto something, someone to pump the brake pedal, unlock the shop on a Saturday to allow customers to drop off cars so that he can spend the morning with his kids at little league, or tell his wife that he was with me at the bar when he was really out with his girlfriend.

They're not going to have much in the way of curbside appeal, unless you're really into vans.

All hardware is sold that way. Buy 10,000, and they cost next to nothing. Buy just 2, and you pay a fortune. I just paid $3 for 2 screws. Screws which should have sold for $0.03, if I ordered 10,000. Just as important with these types of fasteners is having a good tool. You will see all sorts of online videos where people use a couple of wrenches, a bolt, a washer, and whatever......but the best thing to do is to have the correct tool.....Fabricate your own system, and you will have different results.

For the commercial user, interior volume of the van is crucial. It comes down to "what can I fit?" In the USA, there are certain measurements which every tradesman considers. Plywood, sheetrock, MDF board.....all 8'X4'. This is why people choose American pickup trucks over imports. Pipe is sold in 10' lengths. Electricians & plumbers use a lot of pipe. Big disappointment when you are on small jobs, and you can't get 1,000' of pipe into the vehicle. Another consideration is how much weight can this carry? I can tell you from first hand experience, that just because it fits, it does not mean that you want to transport it in your van. It all depends on who is driving it, and what they are doing with it. I can use my Transit Connect for large construction projects. Such jobs are big enough that all material is delivered on a flatbed from a distributor. The only thing in my Transit Connect would be personal items like.......lunch, a change of clothes, extra safety equipment, and personal tools which I prefer. I could get away with going to work in a Prius. Everything else is on the jobsite, in a trailer or shipping container. However, not everyone works on large construction projects. And plenty of tradesmen do carry all of their tools and supplies. If that Nissan offers a better interior configuration, then they should work out well for that purpose. Commercial users want function. Very few consider how cute the vehicle looks.

A decade ago, ScanGauge II was all the rage. A lot of us shelled out some big bucks. It was like having an in-dash code reader. And gave us all the data that setting up a couple of mechanical gauges could not. In today's world, with current technology, you can have so much more, for so much less. An OBDII BlueTooth device is about $5 - $10. A lot of good apps are free. I still love the ScanGauge II in the dash of my F-150. I play with it all the time. Still kind of upset that it cost so much. I would buy another one right now, if the price went down. But in the Transit Connect, I'm using a tablet computer to do the same thing........and it cost a lot less to do so.

You have vision. When are you starting your build?

The sales figures don't look that way. But an aftermarket may develop. With the low price point on cargo vans, Transit Connect may become something offered by coach builders who do custom conversions. Maybe we'll bet the stretched version with a wet bar.

They dropped the ball with the Taurus. Toyota Camry & Honda Accord stole the market segment, because Ford failed to keep the vehicle up to date. Not that there weren't other issues. The Taurus just did not compete price wise, mileage wise, or comfort wise. Even today, I would buy a Honda, over any American small car, if I needed a small car. Maybe. Maybe not. The accountants figured out that the company was so far behind in the small car segment, that they may as well give up and focus on the vehicles which sell at a profit. The accountants are the ones who figured out that it was cheaper to import a passenger van, strip it to sell as a cargo van, and it would still be more cost effective compared to USA production. The accountants figured out that it was not economically feasible to continue to market the Mercury Brand. The leadership has a vision of profit. They can see the numbers on the spreadsheet, presented by the accountants. While the consumer who may want to buy American is left behind.......we'll all figure out that Honda is produced in Ohio, and we actually are buying American.

That was a good car, which didn't sell well. Sort of like the Ford Probe, which nobody bought either. But plenty of people are willing to buy the Ford Fiesta. Ford needs to stop selling small cars. Clearly, they don't know what they're doing. They should have stopped back when the consumers stopped buying Ford Taurus, and started buying Toyota Camry. Every little car which isn't that great, only serves to diminish your reputation as an automaker. Chrysler's K Car saved Chrysler, and ruined it at the same time. They sold a lot of those little cars, which saved the company financially. But the reputation of the K Car, even today, would stop me from buying a Chrysler. Even if Ricardo Montalban does a TV commercial, pushing the "Corinthian Leather".

Politics. Not even Trump politics. Chicken Tax goes way back. What makes sense to you, does not make sense to the guys with the calculators. What they are doing is the most cost effective way to sell the car and make a profit.

You will see Transit Connect & Mercedes Metris. I doubt if you're seeing any of the Chevy City Express, Ram, or Nissan NV200.

Fleet vehicle may have been properly maintained. Fleet Service programs are usually on top of whatever it takes to keep the vehicle running safely. Basics. Oil change. Brakes. Tires. Lights. Although I suspect that @ $160,000 miles, you will be the one left with all the wear items with 160,000 miles worth of wear.....suspension, axles, exhaust leaks. And some maintenance items which Fleet Service skips unless needed......Radiator flush, coolant exchange, brake & steering fluid, transmission flush, spark plugs, air filter, wiper blades........ It could still be a good car. Just know what you are getting into, and weigh that against cost of ownership. You don't want to pay $$$XXX, only to have spend $$$XXX on repairs. If this is at a dealership, use that as your bargaining chip. Make them an offer, which will include having all deferred maintenance items addressed. Let them fix everything, before you buy it. At that mileage, I would surely be concerned about the transmission, axles, front end, and suspension. Have them include a tune-up with new spark plugs & coils. Make them flush the cooling system and transmission. See if you can get them to include as much as possible. This is a used car, with high miles, that they do not benefit from keeping on their lot.

Did you get a roadside assistance card? With new cars, Ford has an auto club type program that will send a tow truck. Good enough for me to cancel my AAA Auto Club membership. I used it once. Got in the tow truck with the driver; and the tow truck smelled like weed. "Dude, your tow truck smells like weed." "Uh, yeah.....you want some?"

I left my light bar on for 2.5 hours today. I was inside a bar having noon time cocktails. My amber lights burned steady the entire time. Lucky that I did not return to a dead battery.

6F35 has been in service enough that there are known issues. Hopefully, a transmission builder will offer a remanufactured transmission with those issues corrected.

Just interesting that the window sticker mileage is an "EPA" mileage estimate. I suppose that's true with every vehicle. Real world driving varies from person to person. We all have different driving styles, and road conditions. I have never personally seen the window sticker mileage on any car I've owned or driven. Didn't MythBusters do a few episodes on mileage?

Good call. Don't spend your hard earned money on something that you are not happy with.

From what I've seen, they don't measure up for commercial use either. Transit Connect dominates the commercial market. Nissan NV200 was selected as the NY Taxi. But passenger versions aren't purchased at the retail level. The only passenger Nissans are sold as fleet purchase for disabled transport companies, taxi cabs, and shuttle vans. Nobody buys the Ram or Chevy unless they get such a steep discount on pricing that they can't say no. I'll admit, that if I only needed a cargo van, I would prefer the Ford over Chevy, Ram, & Nissan.......unless one of those dealers offered a deal I couldn't refuse. A florist in my neighborhood bought 3 Nissan NV200. Dealer gave him $6,000 off sticker + extended warranty on each. Dollars & sense. He saved a great deal of money. Then I pointed out that Japanese car warranties are 3 years, and extended warranty made it 5 years.......Ford is a 5 year warranty for everybody. Not to mention that his commercial use would go to 60,000 miles way before 5 years. But still, he feels like he save $18,000.......although the local Ford dealer would have probably made a similar deal on the sale of 3 new vehicles. They would have just found 3 vehicles with $26,000 stickers and sold them for $20,000.

You are correct. The pre-drilled steel stock would not be an option. Life is never that easy. Remember in Rocky II, how Mickey had to tie down Rocky's right arm, in order to teach him to use his left jab?

Come on now. Renault has come a long way since The Le Car. Or maybe not.

Common hassle. Several post on this forum. It's human error. Someone used the wrong bolts. A dash kit is available for aftermarket stereo installation. You will run into issues with aftermarket stereos being compatible with your OEM equipment....i.e. steering wheel controls. Most aftermarket backup cameras have a ground wire, a power wire which taps into the reverse lamps, and a video cable. The video cable easily plugs into any aftermarket stereo unit with a video feed. From what I've seen, any simple unit will do. I installed a $12 backup camera sourced from Amazon. Simple. Cheap. Works perfectly. Do a search, and you will see that there are already forum threads on how to install the cameras.

I agree. Take a test drive. Take more than 1. Drive all the trim levels. Drive the competitors. Chevy City Express, Ram ProMaster, Nissan NV200, Mercedes Metris. See for yourself, what you can buy, or can't buy. For comfort, Mercedes will pamper your passengers more. I believe that Ford is better for utility and hauling. Once you drive the Ram, Chevy, & Nissan, you will rule them out. None of those will be suitable as a family wagon. But you need to go out there and drive the cars. It's the only way.

In the days of Yore & YesterYear, 5150 had more hair on his head, donned a Members Only jacket as his daily apparel, and drove a 5.0. 5150 no longer has hair on his head, a Members Only jacket, or the 5.0. 5150 still has 16 spark plugs, brand new in the box, for the 5.0. The spark plugs are also used on the 1st generation Transit Connect. If anyone wants them, they are yours. Make me an offer. These are AutoLite XP104. Yes. I know. All the talk of using only MotorCraft parts. Especially ignition parts. I can tell you that I got these on sale, and there was a rebate. Now, I don't remember how cheap they were. But I do remember that is why I bought 2 dozen (like eggs). Current pricing is about $5 a plug. So I probably got them for a lot less. The 8 I installed ran flawlessly. No problems what-so-ever in the 5.0. I'm not saying that there was any advantage, or power gain, or increased mileage. I am just saying that they worked. No misfires. Keep in mind that I am not a store. You don't get a receipt. You don't get a warranty from me. I'm just a guy who has extra parts I can't use.