I definitely plan to look into sound deadening material but probably not until the spring sometime. The car already sounds so much better that I figure I'll give my ears awhile to adjust to the "new normal" as it were.vibrologist wrote:That's cool, troyguitar!
One suggestion and one question:
I suggest stuffing some sound insulation under the panels in the trunk area. I will improve the sound clarity tremendously.
One question about the battery: I never heard about this battery and therefore I looked it up. It is non-spillable because it is sealed. However, I wonder if laying it on the side is affecting the capacity and performance?
I suppose you did the relocation in order to balance the weight better.
I recall during the summer someone was asking for stealthy ways to mount a sub. Yours must be the stealthiest yet.
I used regular construction adhesive, liquid nails type stuff with caulking gun. I had to do it that way because the sheet metal is serving as the bottom panel of the subwoofer enclosure - I didn't have the extra 3/4" of clearance available to use another piece of MDF on the back without moving to a shallow mount subwoofer. Instead I took some time to cut/sand the sides of the enclosure to match the contours of the sheet metal and used a big bead of construction adhesive all the way around for a fully sealed enclosure. Once in place I stacked ~200 lbs of old rotors on top of it and left it for a couple of days to cure. It is working out great so far, the sub even sounds good with the cargo area jammed full of stuff.Derf wrote:Like the rear battery and sub modification. When I took the rear of the Vibe apart, was amazed how much unused room is behind the interior plastic wheel well covers. Looks like you sealed the MDF to the floor of the Vibe, use anything special?
Waiting on the Power steering update to see how the Vibe reacts at slow speeds.
The battery capacity does scare me a bit, but so far it's been sitting outside overnight and fired up fine each morning with the lowest temp I've seen as 14F. My old battery was cranking slowly under 40F so I knew it was a matter of time before it died. When I first installed the battery I started the car and shut it back off 10 times in a row as a sort of stress test - it seems like it should be fine. I went with the ETX18L as it was the biggest capacity battery that I could still easily fit in the space I'd chosen. If I wasn't putting a subwoofer on the other side of the spare, I would have gone with a bigger Optima D51.KITT222 wrote:That's one clever idea with the battery relocation. I want to relocate my battery as well. The CCA rating does meet Vibe specs, but my only concern would be if it's enough. Especially in the harsh cold my car would inevitably experience. That said, being inside the car is without a doubt better than outside. And the space it would give would be great. I will definitely keep your idea in mind for the future. Where did you run the wires? Any reason you chose the ETX18-L over the other choices?
What did you use for the bracket to hold the battery down? I am planning to do the same setup as yours almost.troyguitar wrote:Update on the ETX18L battery plus 16 feet of extra 2 GA cable:
After sitting outside and not being driven for a few days, it started up fine this morning at -7 F. Cranking was slower than normal but that's always the case at these temperatures.
I believe it was $100 including shipping from Hawaii. Works great and beats spending $1000+ to get an AEM system or similar.atowley wrote:How much did it cost you to bave your 03 ecu repinned? I have an 05 gt as well. Want to eliminate the secondary injection system.
I just used some 1" wide by 1/8" thick aluminum bar stock. Bent and hammered it into shape in a vise and screwed it directly into the sheet metal like the OEM battery tray. I covered the part near the terminals in electrical tape just to be on the safe side to prevent shorting.Rvaworm wrote:What did you use for the bracket to hold the battery down? I am planning to do the same setup as yours almost.