2005 neptune vibe slow build

[Nathankenney94]

Well I bought this vibe about two weeks ago I love it so far. It is my first stick it has 193k on it but runs great third gear is going to get fixed because for some reason it pops out when shifted into third. So far all I have done to it is do a very deep cleaning oil change and wired in a led strip under the hood to light up the engine compartment at night. Anything you guys recommend or think i should do. Here are some pics.

[vibrologist]

Now that you have the carpet out put in some sound deadener. You can find brush on stuff on line or you can get the Peel and Seal from your building supply store.
The carpet cleans up real well with Bissell carpet cleaner and a scrubber. You don't need a carpet cleaning machine if you have a wet/dry shop vacuum. OTOH a carpet/upholstery cleaning machine would be easy enough to rent.

Keep us posted with your progress!

[Nathankenney94]

Cool yeah I will look and see if I can find some of the peel and stick you are talking about. But actually for the carpet I busted out the pressure washer and went to town looks like new carpet now except the two back seat corners that seem to have mini sand dunes in them.

[trb]

Yeah, a pressure washer works pretty well especially if it is really dirty. A guy I know that flipped cars for a while would take the carpet and cloth seats to the car wash and used their high pressure wash to clean them. He told me that was the best way to get it clean, but he had to let it dry in the sun for several days. That gave him time to clean up the rest of the interior.

It is amazing how dirty a car can get, even after only a few years.

Good luck on it!

[csxt8058]

Welcome aboard!! My wife had an identical '05, same color, wheels, and it was also a 5 speed. Funny thing was, it was also her first standard shift and I actually had to drive it home from the dealer since she couldn't . She learned quick though and was driving it like a pro in a week or so. Good luck with it!!

JR

[Nathankenney94]

Got two of the vibe wheels done will have pictures tmrw and cleaned the throttle body.

[Nathankenney94]

Here is it parked next to my brothers toyota echo he has a 2012 ram 1500 but doesn't get the best mileage with the hemi so figured he would get something good on gas.



And keep forgetting to grab pics of it on the car so here is it with its paint on it.

[Nathankenney94]

I washed her again this morning and threw a quick coat of wax on her and finally took the pictures of the wheels.

[trb]

Looks really good! You did a good job on those wheels, and they look very good.

[Nathankenney94]

Thanks a lot of work but we'll worth it.

[ctgottapee]

Welcome aboard!! My wife had an identical '05, same color, wheels, and it was also a 5 speed. Funny thing was, it was also her first standard shift and I actually had to drive it home from the dealer since she couldn't . She learned quick though and was driving it like a pro in a week or so. Good luck with it!!
JR

Reminds me of my first car I bought brand new, I bought a stick shift and drove it off the show room floor and stalled it on the way out as everyone was watching. Had been a long time since I driven a stick and they never had a stick to test drive - they put it on the floor as it was delivered while I was on vacation.

[Nathankenney94]

Might be trading my wheels for my aunts on her 09 awd vibe and like 100 bucks.

[trb]

Might be trading my wheels for my aunts on her 09 awd vibe and like 100 bucks.

Those wheels are not a direct fit. The 2.4L Vibes have a different bolt pattern than on the 03-08 Vibes and the base 1.8L 09-10 models. They have a 5x114 pattern vs the 5x100 on the 1.8L models. I have seen some GT wheels on an older Vibe on here, but they had to use wheel adapters to make them fit, (more $$ and often not real safe) which pushed the wheels out 1". And your wheels won't fit the 2.4L Vibes either if you are thinking about swapping.

[tpollauf]

Might be trading my wheels for my aunts on her 09 awd vibe and like 100 bucks.

Yeah the wheels shown are the OPTIONAL 17" wheels for the Vibe 2.4L base only. Not the AWD or Gt version .... jut the base but with the bigger engine!

[Nathankenney94]

What's weird is that is what is on her 09 vibe awd will ones from a awd work?

[tpollauf]

What's weird is that is what is on her 09 vibe awd will ones from a awd work?

Nope As Thomas mentioned they have the larger bolt pattern and will not fit the 03-08 Vibes

[Nathankenney94]

Man that sucks about the wheel guess i will be going aftermarket. Anyway i washed the vibe today and polished and waxed if you ask me she looks pretty good. Also removed the buzzer off the instrument cluster due to the passenger seat belt not registering in the car.

[vibrologist]

Wow! What did you do to the hood, it's a mirror!!!!

[trb]

Wow is right! The car looks absolutely terrific! Want to come down here and polish mine?

[Nathankenney94]

Haha thanks guys it does look really good I am in the process of moving from Michigan to nevada. When I get there I am going to look into getting the front fascia and hood repainted. The bugs ate through the clear coat on the fascia and the hood has quite a few rock chips.

[cptnsolo77]

What color did you use for the hub caps ?

[Nathankenney94]

What color did you use for the hub caps ?

Duplicolor wheel paint I forget the color at the local parts place but the color is shown on the caps.

[Nathankenney94]

Well haven't updated this in awhile but drove the vibe out to Vegas from Michigan and on the way lost 4th gear so now I am shifting from 2nd to 5th but worried I might lose another gear. On the way out I had a 400ex 4 wheeler in the back.

[lannvouivre]

Looks like you have the leather seats package, that's pretty rare.

You should totally get a 6-speed transmission from a vibe GT or Matrix XRS and swap it in. You're likely to lose the rest of the gears, honestly. It's not too hard to do, you don't even have to pull the engine or crossmember.

[Nathankenney94]

Well I pulled the trans apart and rebuilt it. Going to be putting it back in this thursday. I also will be offering to rebuild the trans 5 or 6 speed to people if intrested. I cant wait to actually drive this car and have all the gears.

[tpollauf]

Well I pulled the trans apart and rebuilt it.

Congrats on going through all this work to salvage the original transmission. I think you're the first one to go to these extreme measures and actually rebuild the original tranny! You obviously must be experienced and have a shop to do this work. Just curious as to what damage there was once you opened it up. Bearing failure is what everyone claims start the death of these transmissions, then it takes out synchro's and who knows what from there. Also, assuming the parts are available, what is it costing you to rebuild it. We are curious around here and would like to know. Good luck and AWESOME job salvaging this Vibe and keeping it on the road

[Nathankenney94]

Thanks yeah bearings where trashed and caused the synchros to go out on third and fourth and broke one of the arms off the fork. Definitely glad I rebuilt it when I did. Total cost me about 750 in parts and 100 for a clutch kit.

[trb]

Wow, good job on the rebuild! Those parts are kinda pricey, but that is to be expected I guess since there is probably not a LOT of demand for them. I had a friend rebuild the trans in my Mustang and the rebuild kit was like $175 and he charged me $175 in labor to go through it all. He does rebuilds for all kinds of manual and auto transmissions on the weekends. Luckily it just needed bearings and syncros too, and the T5 rebuild kits are cheap.

Hope you get lots of miles from it!

[Nathankenney94]

Thanks guys trans is back in the car and shifting perfectly. I am so excited to have my car back in working order i have a few pictures but cant upload them until i get my replacement phone.

[Nathankenney94]

Here are some pictures modding has started.

[vibrologist]

Nice progress!

[treesleavedents]

Wonderful build and progress. It's nice to see someone with mechanical skill enough to do a rebuild like that!

[treesleavedents]

Wonderful build and progress. It's nice to see someone with mechanical skill enough to do a rebuild like that!

[Nathankenney94]

Few more things ordered now saving for wheels and tires and to repaint the front bumper and hood.






Going to install the usb cigarette lighter in the console

[Nathankenney94]

One headlight led one halogen


Floormats and shift boot an knob arrived working on sewing the ring into the shift boot then will post some pictures.