'05 Abyss Vibe - Outdoor adventure car!

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nnnudibranch
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2015 12:32 pm

'05 Abyss Vibe - Outdoor adventure car!

Post by nnnudibranch »

Hi All,

Coming back to this forum after a hiatus of stalking some of the builds on here when I first bought my car - spring will be here soon so I will finally be able to do some upgrades to the Vibe, which I have owned for almost a year now!

Scored this baby for $3800 @ 150,000 clean black leather interior and flawless body, moon 'n tunes package - although one unfortunate evening in October the engine had a cylinder misfire due to bad fuel injectors / gaskets / compression. I shopped around and got a deal for $1600 a new engine replacement with only 50,000 miles on it. So in the end I paid about full market value for this car :p

Minor Upgrades:
-Replaced bulbs for brighter high-power bulbs
-Black coated front brake discs
-RhinoRack Vortex crossbars
-Rear Cargo Liner

Plans:
- WeatherTech floor liners - been dreaming of doing this for a while, just haven't brought myself around to dropping the $120 for rubber mats
-Interior gear organization / mounting options - special mounting of some kind. I ride with seats folded down and covered with a rubber liner anyway. Perfect room for a duffel / kayak paddles, snowboard / you name it - it all just likes to slide around so I would like to really secure everything other than the standard OTS options out there for interior organization. That I already have back there
- Considering Wind Fairing on roof rack. Although the vibe bars are a "half length" rack, so I wouldn't be able to get the fairing flush with the roof without changing the entire rack to mounting feet on the body. I would rather not do this and put weight on the body panels above the door rather than where they are now.
- Lighting Any of these would be damn awesome - light bar w/ deep cell battery upgrade, LED fog lights
- Tail lights tint

Most of my plans are functional / cosmetic oriented. I am looking at potential perfromance upgrades but it is a hard sell for me for an automatic and I already threw quite a bit at the new engine and am hesitant to put additional stress on it. Wish I had the AWD version I would put chunkier tires on and test if out on a mud course around here

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Apologies ahead of time, could use a wash in the winter pics
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vibenvy
Posts: 7121
Joined: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:38 am
Location: Sandwich, IL

Re: '05 Abyss Vibe - Outdoor adventure car!

Post by vibenvy »

Welcome back! That's a very utilitarian looking Vibe you've got there! Out of curiousity, what kind of "brighter, high power" bulbs did you install?
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2009 Liquid Platinum Metallic Vibe GT - 5-Speed Auto – Garage
2009 Steel Blue Metallic Vibe GT - 5-Speed Auto – Garage
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ImUrOBGYN
Posts: 438
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2013 8:23 pm

Re: '05 Abyss Vibe - Outdoor adventure car!

Post by ImUrOBGYN »

Too bad about the engine. Glad you got it sorted out. Welcome back.
I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered. - George Best
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tpollauf
Posts: 4025
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:37 am
Location: Toledo/Oregon, Port Clinton Ohio
Contact:

Re: '05 Abyss Vibe - Outdoor adventure car!

Post by tpollauf »

Welcome back to GenVibe. That sucks about the engine but glad you got her back on the road! Visit often here :D
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2009 Vibe GT (manual), 2009 G8Gt, 2009 Vibe GT (auto)
2014 Silverado, 2004 Vibe GT

"everything is modifiable"
nnnudibranch
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2015 12:32 pm

Re: '05 Abyss Vibe - Outdoor adventure car!

Post by nnnudibranch »

Hi Guys,

Glad to be back. Hopefully I can get around to doing some more with this car - that engine change kinda killed my appetite :/

In regards to the headlight, it was a required purchase as one went out rather than an upgrade, went with the second-to-most expensive at the local Autozone:
http://www.autozone.com/parts/electrica ... ckfit=true

I wish I could get my hands on some of the custom headlight options you guys are rocking here but it seems like a hassle to get it custom made. I am still thinking about an LED light bar eventually to get that meaner "mini-suv" / rally look and a battery upgrade to a yellow top :twisted:
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nnnudibranch
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2015 12:32 pm

Re: '05 Abyss Vibe - Outdoor adventure car!

Post by nnnudibranch »

I guess I don't come here frequently enough, but this is worthwhile: installed a "slide drawer" I custom built for the trunk. Inspired by much larger SUV's BUT.. now all my crap can be crammed into a spacious drawer. Made the front panel a "charcoal" stain which matches some of the interior. Pretty happy with this.

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Built out of 3/4" plywood, 2 sets of 150lb slide hinges and a 1/2" wood face

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Spraying it in my apartment "garage" Shaped the top "deck" piece to the interior of the car. Realized I will not be able to get this out easily to access the spare, I put the two side pieces on hinges that lever up to slide the box in and out easily. Still pretty heavy, though.

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Intial fit

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In action

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To Do:
Handles or a paddle latch / lock
Mount a beer opener on it! :P

Possibly cover in black / dark grey carpet in the interior facing side
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