AdventureMartens

Hey Trat73 - welcome to the humble club. I also have the aftermarket 20" tires and have had similar issues with the TPMS system. The sensors are fickle - so ensure they're all sending properly. 1 of mine was broken, another intermittent. I think the PSI's posted on the frame (inside drivers door) are accurate and how the TPMS is calibrated. Once my tire repair shop adjusted the PSI (rear up to 80) the system has worked swimmingly. If your rear tires aren't able to handle the higher PSI then the Nissan dealership should be able to reprogram the TPMS system. Not sure why they said no - if not them, then who? One other related tire issue. My 20" aftermarkets had some kind of unusual lug nuts - required apparently due to the fitment of the larger tires on the stock bolts. The new ones were not designed to handle stock tightening pressure - so when I had the tires serviced (to repair my aforementioned TPMS system), they ended up cracking 3 of the 6 nuts. No outward signs but after 2 weeks of driving, my rear tires suddenly came loose. Nearly flew off the vehicle entirely! Super sketchy. Tire repair wouldn't take responsibility - and I wasn't the original owner who installed the aftermarkets, so I was hooped. Ended up paying $1k to have all 4 rims drilled out to accommodate the original lug nuts - which are much stronger than what I had one. Your tire shop will know who offers this service - it's rare but usually one shop does this kind of specialty work in every city. Hope you don't have this experience - but glad it's resolved. Better than buying 4 new rims... cheers y'all

Hello friends, Appreciate y'all keeping this thread alive. Love our N6 - perfect unit for our family with the following goals: sleeps 5-6, can tow a ski boat, durable engine & chassis, easy to mod. Purchased our 2012 from Idaho - with the following mods: - 30amp power moved to the rear - rear ladder - Thule racks mounted into fibreglass pop-top - Large Dometic refrigerator along the side - adjacent rear seats - front kids-sized bed (fits perfectly across front bucket seats) - removable middle bucket seats (1 clip - fast) Water system wasn't working, nor needed, so removed most components. Planned mods: - Fiamma awning (11'6"') - Rear drop down kitchen table - upgrade batteries / possibly Lithium and solar panels Here's the finished results - details below... UPDATE Finally had some time to get the Fiamma awning & rear fold-down kitchen installed - attaching pics. Also upgraded the house batteries to high quality AGM's. Had considered & researched Lithium, but we're in Canada with tons of cold weather, salt & sand on the roads - plus the wiring challenges discussed on this forum. Recommend just upgrading to 2 quality 6V AGM's and buying a nice Lithium battery for the interior, that can changed by solar or your alternator. 6V batteries, plus a Lithium will power you well for 3+ days which is all I'm looking for. When I need to recharge, or run the microwave, I just idle the van and we're golden. Here are some pics of the rear fold-down kitchen. Fit perfectly, allowing a clean close on the passenger-side. Had to add a new handle to allow kids to close from inside - but simple enough. The key to these projects is the Riv-nut tool. Do your online research, buy the right bit (9mm metric), rust-proof, silicon, and voila. Product installed was the Front Runner (dometic) Drop Down Tailgate Table. LINK: https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/us/drop-down-tailgate-table-mkiii.html?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw3oqoBhAjEiwA_UaLtgLvKk2m1mbTUz38VUkiD0rnYIUnA3vmkV4lJNt7jCMxB3zAfs_wABoCxqwQAvD_BwE Installed just above the door latch, allowing me to open from the inside. I preferred it a bit high to prevent young kids from touching the stove anyhow. Note the new black handle under the wood extension - allowing the door to be pulled closed from the inside. Now to the awning - which I suspect may help many of you. Did a ton of research on this and eventually went with the Fiamma F45S - 350 (11'6"), with the VW T4 adapters (2 kits for 4 mounting brackets), plus the Rainguard kit. Pricey but awesome. Finished product works swimmingly, and opens up a massive living area for the family. Awning extends enough to fully cover a 6-8 person picnic table (the kind you find in provincial or national parks). High enough for me to comfortably walk under, at 6'2". VW T4 kits are designed for the Eurovan (which I've owned) and are the closest thing to match the roofline of our NV. I did not want to run the brackets under the pop top - concerned about rain as we're in Vancouver, BC. In short - they worked perfectly. Proper angle, very strong, length allows me to swing open the rear door fully, and the front door fully - with brackets mounted to the side of the van. Pics below. Part #'s: Installation was surprisingly straight forward. Used a 12 1x4 to ensure level and mark out the holes. Opted to use all 4 mounting brackets as this is a large Van side is mostly straight, with the exception being near the front. The front bracket ended up requiring 3 layers of shim to bring it out to match the other 3 mounts. As mentioned the key is the Riv-Nut tool. Required stainless steel #6 (9mm drill bit). Easy to purchase on amazon. I found practicing on a few different widths of sheet metal helpful, to get a feel for how hard to push, how carefully to drill, etc, for a strong mount. All 4 mounting areas went in well, with no obvious obstructions behind the first layer of metal. The exception was above the front door, where I was concerned about impacting the side airbags. We did find the air bag unit (pull back the liner) - and determined that our hole was not near. Whew. Had the cut down the length of the bolt, however, to ensure it went in fully. Other DIY tips. Do this with a friend. I ended up lifting it on my own, but it took some ridiculous physics and balance - which I would not repeat or recommend. Our older sons are all moved out - and my 5 year old was of no help in this... Too heavy for my wife to lift - and too impatient to wait for a friend to come by... don't follow my example. I'd recommend using 4 brackets instead of the minimum 3. Can't hurt and only help support the heavy awning in the case of wind or driving shear. No leaking - and the rain guard does seem to work to keep most of the water from dripping down in front of the sliding & passenger doors. Would recommend keeping the rain guard rubber clean and ensuring it doesn't cause water to pool - and end up being forced under the pop-top rubber seal - causing a leak into the van. Not a concern for most of y'all Americans, but rain is our reality in BC, so there's that. Awning has 2 legs - which I opted to install mounts to the side of the van. Spaced them perfectly, allowing the rear door to function, and the front door to fully open without impacting the legs. The rear leg has to be unmounted from the van to fully swing the rear door open, but thats a 10-second issue that I'd only use to cook under the awning. Normally would use the rear kitchen on the rear of the van. I did also purchase a nice light-weight portable sun shield that covers the rear area perfectly (not pictured). And speaking of rain - always set the awning up with a slight angle - preventing water from pooling. These are strong units, but not designed to handle rain like a large tarp. Recommendations: I did not purchase the 3rd awning bar that fits in the centre of the awning when fully extended. I'd recommend this and will probably purchase before next season. Definitely will help with any moisture & wind. Remove the middle seat (if yours has that option) - makes the van soooo much more functional when camping. Easy to store under the awning (or another tarp) and mounts in 30 seconds. I've not noticed any sound or anything unusual in the past month of driving with the awning - so happy with that. Here are a few close-ups of the install to help you in your project. Any Q's, send my way and I'll try to answer. Not an expert, but am pleased with how this project came together.

Hello friends, Appreciate y'all keeping this thread alive. Love our N6 - perfect unit for our family with the following goals: sleeps 5-6, can tow a ski boat, durable engine & chassis, easy to mod. Purchased our 2012 from Idaho - with the following mods: - 30amp power moved to the rear - rear ladder - Thule racks mounted into fibreglass pop-top - Large Dometic refrigerator along the side - adjacent rear seats Water system wasn't working, nor needed, so removed most components. Planned mods: - Fiamma awning (11'6"') - Rear drop down kitchen table - upgrade batteries / possibly Lithium and solar panels Here's the finished results - details below... UPDATE Finally had some time to get the Fiamma awning & rear fold-down kitchen installed - attaching pics. Also upgraded the house batteries to high quality AGM's. Had considered & researched Lithium, but we're in Canada with tons of cold weather, salt & sand on the roads - plus the wiring challenges discussed on this forum. Recommend just upgrading to 2 quality 6V AGM's and buying a nice Lithium battery for the interior, that can changed by solar or your alternator. 6V batteries, plus a Lithium will power you well for 3+ days which is all I'm looking for. When I need to recharge, or run the microwave, I just idle the van and we're golden. Here are some pics of the rear fold-down kitchen. Fit perfectly, allowing a clean close on the passenger-side. Had to add a new handle to allow kids to close from inside - but simple enough. The key to these projects is the Riv-nut tool. Do your online research, buy the right bit (9mm metric), rust-proof, silicon, and voila. Product installed was the Front Runner (dometic) Drop Down Tailgate Table. LINK: https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/us/drop-down-tailgate-table-mkiii.html?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw3oqoBhAjEiwA_UaLtgLvKk2m1mbTUz38VUkiD0rnYIUnA3vmkV4lJNt7jCMxB3zAfs_wABoCxqwQAvD_BwE Installed just above the latch, allowing me to open from the inside. I preferred it a bit high to prevent young kids from touching the stove anyhow. Note the new black handle under the wood extension - allowing the door to be pulled closed from the inside. Now to the awning - which I suspect may help many of you. Did a ton of research on this and eventually went with the Fiamma F45S - 350 (11'6"), with the VW T4 adapters (2 kits for 4 mounting brackets), plus the Rainguard kit. Pricey but awesome. Finished product works swimmingly, and opens up a massive living area for the family. Awning extends enough to fully cover a 6-8 person picnic table (the kind you find in provincial or national parks). High enough for me to comfortably walk under, at 6'2". VW T4 kits are designed for the Eurovan (which I've owned) and are the closest thing to match the roofline of our NV. I did not want to run the brackets under the pop top - concerned about rain as we're in Vancouver, BC. In short - they worked perfectly. Proper angle, very strong, length allows me to swing open the rear door fully, and the front door fully - with brackets mounted to the side of the van. Pics below. Part #'s: Installation was surprisingly straight forward. Used a 12 1x4 to ensure level and mark out the holes. Opted to use all 4 mounting brackets as this is a large Van side is mostly straight, with the exception being near the front. The front bracket ended up requiring 3 layers of shim to bring it out to match the other 3 mounts. As mentioned the key is the Riv-Nut tool. Required stainless steel #6 (9mm drill bit). Easy to purchase on amazon. I found practicing on a few different widths of sheet metal helpful, to get a feel for how hard to push, how carefully to drill, etc, for a strong mount. All 4 mounting areas went in well, with no obvious obstructions behind the first layer of metal. The exception was above the front door, where I was concerned about impacting the side airbags. We did find the air bag unit (pull back the liner) - and determined that our hole was not near. Whew. Had the cut down the length of the bolt, however, to ensure it went in fully. Other DIY tips. Do this with a friend. I ended up lifting it on my own, but it took some ridiculous physics and balance - which I would not repeat or recommend. Our older sons are all moved out - and my 5 year old was of no help in this... Too heavy for my wife to lift - and too impatient to wait for a friend to come by... don't follow my example. I'd recommend using 4 brackets instead of the minimum 3. Can't hurt and only help support the heavy awning in the case of wind or driving shear. No leaking - and the rain guard does seem to work to keep most of the water from dripping down in front of the sliding & passenger doors. Would recommend keeping the rain guard rubber clean and ensuring it doesn't cause water to pool - and end up being forced under the pop-top rubber seal - causing a leak into the van. Not a concern for most of y'all Americans, but rain is our reality in BC, so there's that. Awning has 2 legs - which I opted to install mounts to the side of the van. Spaced them perfectly, allowing the rear door to function, and the front door to fully open without impacting the legs. The rear leg has to be unmounted from the van to fully swing the rear door open, but thats a 10-second issue that I'd only use to cook under the awning. Normally would use the rear kitchen on the rear of the van. I did also purchase a nice light-weight portable sun shield that covers the rear area perfectly (not pictured). And speaking of rain - always set the awning up with a slight angle - preventing water from pooling. These are strong units, but not designed to handle rain like a large tarp. Recommendations: I did not purchase the 3rd awning bar that fits in the centre of the awning when fully extended. I'd recommend this and will probably purchase before next season. Definitely will help with any moisture & wind. Remove the middle seat (if yours has that option) - makes the van soooo much more functional when camping. Easy to store under the awning (or another tarp) and mounts in 30 seconds. I've not noticed any sound or anything unusual in the past month of driving with the awning - so happy with that. Here are a few close-ups of the install to help you in your project. Any Q's, send my way and I'll try to answer. Not an expert, but am pleased with how this project came together.

Hey WanderlustAV Yes - this is the one from Idaho. Imported into vancouver, BC. Been looking years for this van - so hard to find anywhere near our part of the world. PO added the dometic fridge, and I think rerouted the 30amp plug to the rear bumper: I hear some versions had this under thr running board. im trying to figure out a use for the sink/storage area as it’s useless. The micro maybe on occasion. Any conversion ideas? thx for the pics from your N6 bench. Will compare and see about adjusting. I’m sure they did this for a reason, but can’t imagine what. Cheers

Yes I've got the 20" rims. Definitely not getting 16.2 mpg, closer to 11 in the city. 15 highway. I'm hoping to make this a rad weekender - have owned many Westy's in the past. Here are some pics of the ladder, Thule rack, domestic reefer, and rear bench gap. Also my boat trailer ? I'd like to add a seatbelt to make the bench a 3-seater, but I think something up with that bench... Any ideas?

Hey there. New owners of a 2012 N6 - modded with a Thule roof rack and rear ladder, Dometic fridge/freezer. Pop top version. Beautiful condition for ~90k miles. Plan to use it for our weekend adventures, boat hauler, and family road trip wagon from our home base in Vancouver, BC. Stoked to start modding it out for our family. Invitation: If anyone's interested in the import/export process into Canada, I learned a lot and am happy to share... A few initial Q's: 1. The rear bench seems to have a large gap between the bottom and the back? Like 4-5" of open space where the seatbelts fall down. The belt retractors don't work properly either, but I suspect it's due to being pinched by the rear bed extender. I've played around with the folding mechanisms but can't seem to figure out how this is supposed to work or whether there's a slide. When in bed mode, everything fits perfectly and it's a remarkably comfy bed. But in seat mode, the seat belts are useless, and the seats are terribly uncomfortable since the back isn't in the right position. Any tips or video's of how this is supposed to fold or latch? Pics online all look different (no gap), than my setup. 2. Awnings. Anyone figured out how to add a nice Fiamma or ABS awning to this low roof? 3. Any pics on how folks have modded the useless sink & storage section? 4. Power - any recommended mods to the inverters, solar, etc? Thx for the help.