archerb05 - 2003 Vibe revival

[archerb05]

Back in June the Wife and I decided it was time to unload our '98 Honda Passport in the midst of its spiral downward. Loved it for the snow (when the 4wd was working, which wasn't very often), but the continuous repairs, hard to find parts ($$$), and soul-crushing 14 mpg made it hard to justify.

Back in 2007, my bro purchased a 2005 Matrix XRS and I'd coveted that thing from day one. Always thought it needed a stick tho. So, when I stumbled upon a 2003 Vibe with that 3rd pedal, I had to look into it. Turns out the thing wasn't in the greatest shape, but I managed to work out a straight-up trade with the guy for my POS Honsuzu Passpordeo. Guess he's a glutton for punishment.

Here's the list of what was wrong with it:
- Clutch was so shot I could barely take it for a test drive.
- Dreaded C59 bearings starting to make a racket, along with a shot 3rd syncho.
- Bald tires.
- Moldy carpet in the rear left footwell from spilt milk that was never cleaned up.
- Stains on the seats and hair everywhere, from a dog I'm sure.
- Thunking blend door actuator.
- Massively vibrating blower motor.
- Thrashed shift boot.
- Mostly warn through carpet in driver's footwell.
- Desperate need for a brake job.
- Super foggy headlights.

Tell ya what tho: the engine seemed strong and smooth (for a 1ZZ-FE), the only rust was a spot on the hood, it had the roof rack, and most importantly, the AC worked.

I definitely came out on top on this deal.

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I wish I had gotten pictures of the thing before I dug in... it really was that bad. Anyhoo, I decided since I had to replace the clutch, I'd go ahead and preemptively swap out the transmission, and since the C59s are so notorious I decided to swap it out for a C60. I've always wanted a car with a 6-speed so sporty! Only problem was, now I had a knob with the wrong shift pattern... after much deliberation, we settled on a shift knob from a 2014 Mustang GT. Looks great! Course, now the awesome shift knob looked awful with the ratty shift boot, so I got a generic/universal leatherette boot and sewed that in place.

After that was done, the Wife and I took the entire interior apart (thanks to tips from this site) and shampooed the poop (literally) out of the thing. Obviously didn't do much for the warn-through footwell, but the new mats I got cover the problem areas nicely. Next, using info from this forum again, I removed the blend door actuator, flipped the main gear over, and all is well! I also replaced the silly blower motor (and I don't think I'm the first one to have done it... the one I took out looked much too sketchy, even for GM.

I hate factory steelies, and all but one of the wheel covers were cracked, so I decided to acquire some alloys. I found some Forester wheels for $100 I thought would look nice and should fit.......... should... Yeah, didn't think about that little thing we call Offset. Turns out the Vibe 38mm (35??) and the Forester wheels I acquired are 48mm, so I had to get me some spacers. The back was no problem b/c I thought the wheels were too sunken into the wells anyhow, so I got some of those bolt-on 20mm spacers to make up for the increased offset, and to move them an extra 10mm outboard. The fronts were a little more difficult since I didn't have enough room inside the wheel wells to get the bolt-on style (min of 20mm), but the min 10mm plate style was too thick for the stubby little wheel studs. After far too much fretting, I ordered some extended wheel studs (70mm IIRC). Once I got the brake discs off (after breaking them with a puller and having to take it to a shop and have them cut off; yeah, that rusted on), I was able to tap the shorties out and slide the long ones right in! Worked out great, and the 12mm plate spacer I got made the wheels clear the brake calipers nicely. The wife also wanted colorful lugnuts, so I got blue.

Finally, for the tires. I toyed with a bunch of different sizes, but finally decided that I should get a taller size to counter-act the shorter final-drive in the C60. I did a bunch of measurements and certainly far too much research, I settled on Continental TrueContacts in 205/65R16. I really like them so far! Pretty quiet, decently smooth, and they fit perfectly in the wheel wells.

I also decided to try my hand in window tinting... I see now why people pay to have someone else do it. TEDIOUS. But it turned out well enough for now, and the overall look works great on the black Vibe! (so long as you don't look too close haha)

All-in, I've got about $1,800 into this bad boy (excluding whatever the Passpordeo was worth, and the price of the tires since I was going to need to get new ones for the Passpordeo soon anyhow). I think it was a good investment, as the insurance was surprisingly cheaper, I'm getting more than twice the gas mileage, and replacement parts are infinitely cheaper and easier to find. I'm loving it so far! Feels pretty peppy (though, my other car is a Gen 1 Prius, so you probably can't trust my evaluation), and I love the cargo space - pretty much the same as my POS SUV I unloaded.

Thanks for checking out my new toy, and thanks for all the help youins have already provided! Sorry for the long post.

[archerb05]

I forgot to mention the radio! The middle of the three lights was the only one that worked, which as you all know, is super annoying. Fortunately, this awesome community led me to the solution! I replaced all three bulbs (I definitely need to work on my soldering abilities), and decided to try my hand at installing an auxiliary in hookup like others on here have done. I passed the wire out the back of the radio, down the console, and into the nifty little storage compartment under the shifter. Instead of messing with relays or remotely located switches (the Wife doesn't like fancy, just functional), I decided to just put a toggle switch on the faceplate.

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Wish it had been black and maybe a little smaller, but it works. And it's not as ugly as those STUPID buttons that rub off that GM was so insistent on using on every car from the cheapest Cavalier to the priciest Escalade . Love the way this radio works, hate the way it looks (ok, I'll get off my soap box). I do get the faint signal crossover, so can hear the audio from the CD if I don't have my podcast playing and have the volume turned way up. Can't hear it when the audio's playing, so I don't really care.

Also, here's my perty shift knob and boot:

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[trb]

Welcome! Nice write up on your new Vibe's history, and everything you've done to it. I agree, you certainly got the best end of the deal in the swap. Interesting that the Mustang shifter knob fits the Vibes. I might have to check one out for my Vibe!

Good luck with it!

[vibrologist]

Welcome archerb05!
Great job on finding and fixing that Vibe. The sweat equity makes it your personal one-of car. On top of that it must feel like it is paying for itself.

[vibenvy]

Welcome to GenVibe! I really enjoyed reading your post and thanks for posting pictures ! It's great to see that you saved this little Vibe and are now taking such great care of it. It will surely repay you with many more years and miles of reliable service!

[tpollauf]

Man you are the ultimate new GenVibe member here A long post (we love hearing the history of how you got it and what was done to it), A picture of the Vibe, and you posted your location! A trifecta member successful initiation. Looks like you've got a keeper there for several more years. Nice find and nice work. Have you not discovered this Vibe it would have likely been sent to the scrap yards soon. Enjoy the ride and visit here often

[archerb05]

Thanks all for the warm welcome! I've owned 8 cars in my 14 short years of driving, and I've gotta say, I've never owned a car that I wanted to modify as much as this one! Probably a function of the fact that I actually have a little bit of spending money for the first time in my life, and the fact that this is actually an interesting car. My record so far is: 1990 Ford Ranger (AT, white); swapped for 1998 Ford Explorer (AT, white); sold for 1998 Mercury Mystique (AT, gold), crashed; bought 2000 Toyota Corolla (AT, white); sold for 2003 Prius (green), and the Wife's 1997 Honda Civic (AT, gray) joined the fleet; sold the Civic for 1998 Honda Passport; unloaded Passport for 2003 Vibe. I have a feeling I would have modded the Civic if I hadn't been in school at the time; it is a Civic afterall .

Anyhow, I've studied many how-tos on spiffing up these oxidized polycarb headlights. These yellowed, fogged headlights just make a car look so neglected and much older than its age. I've done the Prius' headlights a couple times and finally found a method that seems to work decent. Below is my method for cleaning the headlights:

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This was the starting point. I mask off the area surrounding the headlights with painter's tape, then I wet sand the whole thing with 2,000 grit sandpaper from the auto store. The amount and pressure of the sanding varies depending on how bad the light is to start with. The Prius' weren't too bad; did maybe 5 min of sanding per light. The Vibe's were much worse; I probably sanded them for a good 15 min per light. After the sanding process, the whole light will have a frosted appearance, but it should be an even frosting and shouldn't have any yellowness to it. Once I finish with the sanding, I wet the whole light again then rub a nice thick layer of toothpaste all over the light. (I use Colgate Total, but that's just because it's what's in the house; never tried anything else. Each light uses maybe a week's-worth of toothpaste.) Now is when the you have to open the can of elbow grease. Making sure to keep the whole thing good an wet, I polish the whole light, a little at a time, with a rag. I probably did 15 min or so per light on the Vibe. After polishing with the toothpaste, you'll have a nice smooth, non-frosted surface, but it won't be very glossy, and it's completely unprotected and won't stay perty for more than a month or two. My final step is to wait till the light is good and dry, then spray the whole thing with a couple even coats of clear coat. I used Krylon Fusion, but I'm sure there are plenty of good options. This is the final product:

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I'm pretty happy with it. This is the method I used on the Prius about a year ago, and they pretty much look like the day I did them, so I figure it'll be at least a 3-year solution. (I haven't looked on the forum to see if there are instructions on how to do this, so sorry if it's redundant!)

[trb]

Wow, great job on the headlights! I'm finally in the process of doing mine after owning it for over a year, and yes, the difference is amazing. I used 1200 - 2000 grit paper, regular rubbing compound, and then some polishing compound on mine. They may not be 100%, but they are at least 90% as good as new. It certainly takes years off the age of the car for sure!

[Nathankenney94]

An updated on your vibe. U made great progress on it

[ZenVibe]

Thanks for the details on cleaning the headlights! I tried some over-the-counter stuff on my '03, but it didn't do a thing. Your method sounds much more effective -- will give it a try this weekend.

[archerb05]

Glad to be of service! Hope that you can get yours looking good!

Never thought of using rubbing compound haha. Tho, the rubbing compound that I have is red in color. Would that stain the lenses I wonder? So far the refurbish is holding up well, but we'll see how it looks after a winter of nasty salty, sandy, grimy nastiness.

Anyhoo, recently decided to get a hitch so I could get a hitch-mount bike rack! I hated how the "hang off the trunk lid" style rack that we have made opening the rear hatch all but impossible. I also like how this rack holds the bikes by the wheels instead of the frame. I got the Curt 122341 Class 2 hitch. Only problem I had installing was the bolts welded in the frame were a little grimy, so I had to chase the threads with a... I think it was M12 x 1.25 tap. Once I did that, the thing bolted right in place perfectly!

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Love having it! And the rack that I got tips down so even with the bikes on I can open the hatch. Good stuff. However, like other people have mentioned, the on certain days, when the planets alight just right, the silly muffler rattles against the receiver. I've climbed under the car with it running, and figured out that it's the middle of the rear surface of the muffler that's slightly bumping against the square tube that the hitch (or rack) actually slides into. I don't know if that makes sense, but I plan on removing the receiver and denting the muffler with a rubber mallet to gain that 1/2" of clearance to remove that silly rattle. I'll post pics.

Speaking of rattles. Not much of a surprise I suppose, but I have a nice collection. The one that's bothering me the most right now is coming from the inside of the driver's side door. It's very light, metallic, and irritating. I'm going to have to see if I can figure that out too.

[runningslow]

I don't know if that makes sense, but I plan on removing the receiver and denting the muffler with a rubber mallet to gain that 1/2" of clearance to remove that silly rattle.

Exactly what I did.

[trb]

The rubbing compound worked great, no red residue or anything! I've also used some plastic polish on headlights before and it worked great too.

I had the same issue with the hitch I got for our Vibes when I put it on my GT. I installed it because I needed to use my cargo basket to haul something that would not fit in the car, and it constantly vibrated against the exhaust. Took that hitch back off immediately and I'll eventually make it work right.

[thebarber]

Holllllld on

If your brother has an 05xrs, it'll be manual. Or did I read what you wrote wrong?

[archerb05]

Oh whoops, nope I just wrote it wrong. It's an 05 XR. No S . But it does have AWD haha.

[archerb05]

I don't know if that makes sense, but I plan on removing the receiver and denting the muffler with a rubber mallet to gain that 1/2" of clearance to remove that silly rattle.

Exactly what I did.

Excellent! Good to know that'll work haha.

[thebarber]

Oh whoops, nope I just wrote it wrong. It's an 05 XR. No S . But it does have AWD haha.

AWD models are terrible

[archerb05]

Oh whoops, nope I just wrote it wrong. It's an 05 XR. No S . But it does have AWD haha.

AWD models are terrible

He has had a lot of trouble with the rear diff on it; seals and stuff. I think he had the dealer disconnect it..? He doesn't even know how to change his own oil, so I'm not sure I can trust what he says.