KITT222s 04 Vibe garage

[KITT222]

Garage 2.0!

Car info:

2004 Pontiac Vibe base - "Vibby"
Built 05/03
16" alloy wheels
Monotone Satellite
6-speaker sound system
Automatic
Power windows and locks
Sunroof
(Yeah, sure, just a sub away from the Moon and Tunes package)

One of 99

Was previously crashed and totaled. Was hit in the rear, but is now perfect!

Turned over 88,216 on 10/18/11, which means I've officially had her for 10,000 miles!
Currently mileage: 93k

Voted March 2012 Vibe of the Month!

Mods

Exterior:
Partial debadge
Custom Irken insignia on the hatch
VIBE brake light overlay
Plasti-dipped license plate valance
LED reverse and license plate lights
Eyelids
LED driving lights
DRL/AHL delete
Removed roof racks
Honda CR-V, I mean S2000 antenna
Stealth upper grille block
AVS vent visors
GTI-style red grille stripe
GrafXwerks overlays on the rear Pontiac arrow and rear Vibe badge
Genvibe.com decals on all four sides!
[Hoonigan] decal
Hotwheels Redline 17x7 rims with Nexen N5000 tires
Canuck springs providing 1.75" drop

Planned:
Fabric inserts and A-pillar trim
Plasti-dip calipers & drums
hood vinyl
Spoiler

Want
New seat covers ( http://www.beangarage.com/toyo...03-08/ )
LED 3rd brake light
35% tint
Flared-out side skirts?
Quality respray (NEED)

Interior:
JVC head unit
Kenwood 6.5" speakers with tweeters all around
Kiwi MPG gauge
Red pinstriping!
GrafXwerks steering wheel overlay and lock cylinder overlays
Matrix rear cargo mat
Psycho Martyr Vibe seatbelt light cover w/ LED which lights it up with the headlights

Planned:
Red footwell and vent lights

Performance:
DC Sports front tower strut bar
Progress rear sway bar
Cosmo CAI w/ AEM dryflow and Injen hydroshield
Canuck Motorsports lowering springs

Planned:
Magnaflow catback system (new muffler in the meantime)
Manual tranny swap?
.... turbo?

The day we brought her home:

Now (crappy picture, but I realized too late that the positioning for it was just like the first picture I took of her. I'll probably go recreate it again anyway!)

Winter mode:

Currently:

Thanks for checking out my Vibe. I do love her very much. A year and a half of research led me to THIS Vibe after 16 years of being a car-loving kid.

[CAMOGIRL]

looking slick! I especially like the eyelids, they give the car a little "meaner" look. Are you planning on pinstriping anymore on the exterior? My BFF has those MAXXIM wheels on her slammed civic hatch, they're sweet!

[KITT222]

Thanks! I love the new angry look they give my Vibe. I'm not sure, honestly. If I could see some Photochops I might consider it, or if I find more subtle areas. I REALLY don't want to overdo it. I saw the Maxxim rims at my local NTB, and I LOVED them. Thank goodness the AHEAD on them in white lettering is only a sticker though. I don't want that ugly branding on my wheels.

[vibenvy]

Looks great ! Clean and simple. Who doesn't love a clean Satellite/Liquid Platinum Metallic Vibe ?

[A Psycho Martyr]

haha... love the shout-out on the seatbelt light

And she looks good man. Nice and clean

[lovemyraffe]

Looks great (for not being Lava )! Hope to see more in the future!

[A Psycho Martyr]

Quote, originally posted by KITT222 »

Custom Irken insignia on the hatch

I was trying to figure out what this was.

I can barely see it in one of your pics...you got a close-up?

I was just curious what that was

[KITT222]

Thanks everyone! It is very much appreciated. Clean is what I'm going for. Nothing too ostentatious.

Brandon, here's your close-up!

I was initially going to use this to cover my front Pontiac arrow, but I decided against it. Its better to show off the classic now-defunt arrow! (Although I do think Applejuice's Vibe has a newer G6 front arrow. Makes mine look like crap...)

[A Psycho Martyr]

that's pretty neat

[KITT222]

Thanks! Ryan was a delight to work with on that too!

[vibenvy]

Just nominated your Vibe for VOTM !

[KITT222]

Awesome! Thanks Carrie!

[vibenvy]

Quote, originally posted by KITT222 »

Awesome! Thanks Carrie!

You're very welcome Nick ! I see you were also carried over for MOTM. That'd be awesome if you could win both categories in the same month !

[KITT222]

Quote, originally posted by J_TO_ENVY »

You're very welcome Nick ! I see you were also carried over for MOTM. That'd be awesome if you could win both categories in the same month !

Yeah, really! It'd be pretty nice, though, since my birthday is September 19

[KITT222]

We finally installed the Progress rear sway bar, and I also got the hood struts in the mail and put them on in less than 15 minutes.

Sorry for the bad hood strut pics

In the hole which 06pvibe said to put them in.

A comparison with the hood prop rod in to show how much higher the hood goes. I love these hood struts!

[lowincash]

Nice, your car looks very clean! I might look into getting shocks for my hood too, comes in very handy especially when working in the dark haha

[KITT222]

Thanks!

Look what came in the mail today!

And yes that is my CAI pipe behind them. I need to touch-up some spots on it. It was blue when I got it, but I sprayed it with plasti-dip!

[CAMOGIRL]

OOOOO!!!

[A Psycho Martyr]

Hold up.....RED plastidip?????
from WHERE?!
looks amazing

[KITT222]

Quote, originally posted by A Psycho Martyr »

Hold up.....RED plastidip????? from WHERE?! looks amazing

Northern Tool and Equipment is the only place where we could find it. Home Depot only has black. Thanks! Though there is still some blue showing through, hence the touch-up which will need to be done.

[NascarXprt]

to cure that blue showing, you could have done a base black paint then add the red plasti dip for a better effect, although i too must go find the red plasti dip.

looking good so far! i too must invest in those hood struts.

[hapagan]

u can find diff colors plasti dip on ebay..

[MotoAce51]

I love the hood struts. I may need to add that to my list.

[KITT222]

The hood struts are AWESOME!!! Only $45 too. Who wants the link?

Quote, originally posted by hapagan »

u can find diff colors plasti dip on ebay..

Hey hapagan, have you ever gotten touch-up paint for your Vibe? If so, where from? I can't find any.

[bassplayaz06]

i know i ain't hapagan... lol but i got some at advance auto parts. just color matched it.

[KITT222]

Yes, but Advanced only has it for abyss (U1000, universal black), lava and... wait a sec... 386E Pewter Metallic. What? Wait... does that mean silver? As in satellite? Is this a case where "test in inconspicuous area first" might come into play?

Edit: Booyah, page two!!

[bassplayaz06]

haha yeah. that lava red is too dark compared to the actual shade... my gf's mom works in the body shop at a ford place and can get me the correct shade for cheap.

[KITT222]

It is good to know people in the business. I have a place which restores classic cars, and they have a full paint booth. If I can't find some paint, than I may ask them to mix me some.

[CAMOGIRL]

The ACE hardware where I get mt plasti dip has black red blue white and clear. 7 something a can.

[KITT222]

I mounted three of my four winter tires at my high school the other day, so I thought I'd put it against the Vibe and see what it looked like.

Me like!

Two more from my local park.

[KITT222]

After a MUCH needed bath

[vibenvy]

Looking good as always Nick !

Both of our Vibes got much needed baths this weekend as well.

[KITT222]

My new (to me) CAI, painted and installed! I love it already. I'll probably love it more once I'm driving on dry ground. But there is an open nub on it, and I can't figure out where in the world it goes.

Pardon the cell pics.

This nub and a hose are what's left. A small nub before the MAF was blocked off, but I put the breather hose into that nub. This nub is after the MAF and on the underside of the pipe.

[vibenvy]

I'm not familiar with the 03-08 Vibes and their aftermarket parts, but on the K&N CAI I have, there is a part on the bottom of the intake that connects to a bracket that is used to stiffen the intake. Maybe that could be what the "nub" is you're referring to? Just a thought.

Either way, looks great Nick and glad to hear you're enjoying it so much already ! Try to keep your foot off the gas !

[KITT222]

EDIT: nevermind, I figured it out. The hose was to connect to the valve body, but on the 04s at least this is useless because the stock hose goes from the throttle body to the valve body, not the intake to the valve body. So I blocked it off with some electrical tape. I'll check my local auto parts store for something to block it off with tomorrow.

[vibenvy]

Quote, originally posted by KITT222 »

EDIT: nevermind, I figured it out. The hose was to connect to the valve body, but on the 04s at least this is useless because the stock hose goes from the throttle body to the valve body, not the intake to the valve body. So I blocked it off with some electrical tape. I'll check my local auto parts store for something to block it off with tomorrow.

Glad to hear you got it figured out Nick !

[KITT222]

Today I hit a milestone:

88,216 miles. When we signed the papers she had 78,216 miles, so i have had my Vibe for 10,000 miles!!! Onward to another 200,000+!!

A lot has changed on 10,000 miles...

[vibenvy]

Congratulations Nick !

[Persephone]

I'm happy that I~ at least know what an Irken insignia is. XD I looove what you did to your Vibe. It is lovely.

[KITT222]

New LED lights for driving lights, since the teeth block the summer driving lights.

Nice and cheap off of ebay, and I expect to get what I paid for, but then the wiring is there for a better set. I have a switch in the engine bay which turns these lights off, but leaves my summer LEDs on. Honestly, this is all so I can keep my bulbs good for night time instead of having them die a death at the hands of my DRLs.

On a not-so-related note, is there anywhere I can find just the steering wheel emblem? Mine is really scuffed up and I'd rather get a new one than paint this one. I could order a GrafXWerks one with liquidome, but I'd prefer to get an OEM/OEM style one than just something flat.

[CAMOGIRL]

Oooo! I like that!

[NascarXprt]

grrrr.....

[csxt8058]

Quote, originally posted by KITT222 »

New LED lights for driving lights, since the teeth block the summer driving lights. Nice and cheap off of ebay, and I expect to get what I paid for, but then the wiring is there for a better set. I have a switch in the engine bay which turns these lights off, but leaves my summer LEDs on. Honestly, this is all so I can keep my bulbs good for night time instead of having them die a death at the hands of my DRLs. On a not-so-related note, is there anywhere I can find just the steering wheel emblem? Mine is really scuffed up and I'd rather get a new one than paint this one. I could order a GrafXWerks one with liquidome, but I'd prefer to get an OEM/OEM style one than just something flat.

This reminds me of the radiator covers the truckers put on around here when the cold weather hits, most of them have teeth on them. I must say it's rather intimidating when a big Pete comes up behind you and all you see is teeth!

JR

[KITT222]

I've never seen one with teeth, and I've also only seen one other car with a grille block (but I did get my sister interested today in one). I hope I get all the weird looks like I did last year. At my job training we were talking about cars and the owner said there was a car out there with teeth on it. I was happy to announce that it was my car!

[KITT222]

[star_deceiver]

Is the shovel quick release? Think of trying to get it down from there in blowing snow on the side of the highway with frozen fingers, standing in a foot of snow with ice cold tools!

Zip ties can get quite brittle when really cold, don't want the shovel to fly off while on the freeway!

Perhaps a quick release like on a bicycle seat or tire?

[KITT222]

The zip ties are for the mock up. I'll get some quick fist clamps to hold the shovel in place.

[KITT222]

I bought a vehicle history report tonight, and as it turns out she has had an interesting life.

[KITT222]

Just some fun in the snow with my nice, clean Vibe!

[MotoAce51]

Took your idea and did the grille block. All 3 are blocked off behind the billet grills. Its stealth. We will see what happens after a couple more tanks of gas. The first one increased back up 2-3mpg. I already told my cousins husband to do it to their vibe. It works. Great idea, thanks....