My 2003 vibe gt

[classAmike]

Hello Vibe community i have been around the forum for awhile, haven't been posting much, busy with work and life. I have 2003 pontiac vibe gt, i have purchased in 2011, it had some surface body rust ( Buffalo NY), i fixed it and painted it with silver metal flake. Mostly roof area, rear hatch had rust around window so i painted it with code matched color, side panels on this car were unpainted so i painted them with matching color as well. with regards to mechanics of this car what i have done is following, timing chain and guides, timing gears including vvt,clutch is excedy brand standard, the one i took out was chattering on previous owner, they put in Korea Seco, all wheel bearings, front and back, back backing plates, these plates were rusted and damaged during rear wheel bearing installation.Replaced radiator with all aluminium from MWR.Cv shafts replaced, and...too much to list. I wanted this car to be my cross country cruiser and it has been for past nine years.I will post some photos of car and trailer i have been towing, i can't even remember how many trips i have made with this car between Sarasota and Buffalo.I will now post this and try and attach some photos.

[classAmike]

this is one of my trips, stopped for gas

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[classAmike]

Last summer i used it to haul some 12ft lumber for porch.

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this was in West Virginia last year

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this was yesterday on the Florida Georgia border

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Vibe and trailer ready to roll.

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[tpollauf]

Welcome "back" to GenVibe Mike. Not bad .... joined up four years ago and just now posted! Fully understood where life consumes all of your time and you never get around to do other fun things. Are you part of Bills mafia by any chance? Love the logo on the trailer. My wife is from that area.

More info on your Vibe when you get the chance. Why did it need timing gears & such? What mileage is the car sitting at? I have two older Vibe Gt's (a 2003 & a 2004) and one is a project car sitting at just under 300k miles. Likely needs engine work which is why I got it REAL CHEAP! The other is around 150k miles and running like new and is my go to work vehicle

[classAmike]

Hello Tpollauf yea busy with work and everything now have more time because of... doesn't need mentioning i guess. Car didn't need timing chain i think it would have been fine, it did have some slight wear on guides that i have seen.Well after i bought the car i wanted to make it my over the road vehicle, so i made sure i did all things possible to make it more dependable. It had 130 thousand miles when i got it, and it had been in Buffalo winters from 2003 till 2011 spring, after i bought it i overhauled all things that needed to be done, like i said too many things to mention but i did it over a time period. everything from fuel pump to fuel tank ( fuel tank was leaking day after i arrived to Florida from Buffalo) so i changed it there. I work here in Buffalo and car has not been in the salt ever since i got it, i spray it underneath with diesel oil mix every now and then, when i go for inspection they can't believe that it is 2003. no rust. I belong to Buffalo Bills fans only check it out please that is my relatives page. I see you got yourself another VIbe, very nice i am thinking of same, i love this car yesterday i drove it from Florida to buffalo, my wife gave me memory foam mattress topper and we put it in the back with the seats down, I got tired in North Carolina so i pulled into rest stop, crawled in the back and slept for two hours, i woke up and thought i was in my house for a second lol. by the way this car has now over 170 thousand miles.

[zbyers]

Welcome back! I live shortly down the road near Jamestown, NY. If you find yourself camping in the Allegheny National Forest or anything, gimme a holler.

Nice looking ride, and glad to see it's survived the harsh winters up here. Watch out for rust on the rocker panels behind those side skirts. They will start rusting from there, and you'd never know it. Though, it would pass NYS Inspection

[classAmike]

Thank you for the invite i have not been camping around Jamestown before but i did go to Lucile Balls museum, Oh yea there was some rust at the rocker panels, i took care of it, reason this car survived all this time in Buffalo is because it hasn't been here through any winter since 2011. I drive it and leave it in Florida inside garage, i bring it back up in the spring. I drive 2004 saab 9-3 to work, also six speed.I have to say that on my last drive on the interstate i haven't seen one pontiac vibe, there are few left.

[zbyers]

Thank you for the invite i have not been camping around Jamestown before but i did go to Lucile Balls museum, Oh yea there was some rust at the rocker panels, i took care of it, reason this car survived all this time in Buffalo is because it hasn't been here through any winter since 2011. I drive it and leave it in Florida inside garage, i bring it back up in the spring. I drive 2004 saab 9-3 to work, also six speed.I have to say that on my last drive on the interstate i haven't seen one pontiac vibe, there are few left.

There's lots of good things to see around here. Kinzua Bridge, Kinzua Dam, Zippo's are made here, etc.

Down this way, there are still quite a few Vibes we see, outside of the half dozen we own.

[KingKrab65]

Thank you for the invite i have not been camping around Jamestown before but i did go to Lucile Balls museum, Oh yea there was some rust at the rocker panels, i took care of it, reason this car survived all this time in Buffalo is because it hasn't been here through any winter since 2011. I drive it and leave it in Florida inside garage, i bring it back up in the spring. I drive 2004 saab 9-3 to work, also six speed.I have to say that on my last drive on the interstate i haven't seen one pontiac vibe, there are few left.

There are quite a few Vibes here around Charlotte. I see three regularly on I-85 on my way home from work every night. There are two second generation Vibes in my neighborhood plus a doppelganger Matrix on the next block from house. They seem to have been popular in this area.

[classAmike]

How nice that is where i drive through almost every time on my way to and from Florida, I drive on I 77. well maybe that was myself as well there, i used to like when they had that HOV lane and now they replaced it with toll lanes. Charlotte is a beautiful city to drive through, one of the most busiest on my way.