Troy's 2005 Vibe GT

[troyguitar]

Since I finished a major project this weekend I thought I'd finally start a thread here.

I bought a stock '05 Vibe GT with leather and no sunroof or stereo upgrade last year and have been slowly working on it. I like this car a lot. My other car is a 2004 Z06 and I drive the Vibe basically all winter and maybe half the time in spring/summer/fall.

Car when I bought it:



Changes so far:

Kenwood KDC-BT755HD head unit + bluetooth mic $150, works pretty well

Osram Rallye 70/65w H4 high output headlight bulbs $35, work very well

NGK iridium ix 3764 BKR6EIX-11 spark plugs at 120k miles, $30 no complaints

ETX18L battery relocated to trunk with 2 ga welding cables, $175 total, awesome upgrade

Polk db6501 component speakers + GM Moon&Tunes sail panels for tweeters (part num 88970377 ds 88970376 ps for sail panels), $170 total, awesome upgrade

Image Dynamics ID8v3D4 Subwoofer + Soundstream PN1.450D amp + custom mdf box build to fit next to the spare tire, $225 total, awesome upgrade

Swap '05 ECU with re-pinned '03 ECU for 6200 rpm lift engagement instead of 6800

Install winter tires (205/60/16 Continental EWC on a set of used OEM 16x6.5 Vibe Alloys)

Change manual trans fluid with Motul Gear 300

Paint gray front grilles black

Replace interior lights with white LED's

Replace rotors and pads, centric premium rotors + powerstop Z16 pads

Future plans:
Install seat heaters
Install autodimming rearview mirror
Install side mirror heaters
Upgrade suspension, possibly ksport coilovers, progress rear sway bar, energy suspension bushings
Remove secondary air injection system
Possibly remove power steering
Fabricate flat-bottom undertray for aero/mpg improvement
Possibly install double din touchscreen head unit + rearview camera

[troyguitar]

Battery Relocation + Subwoofer install pics:

Before:



Battery installed:







Sub mocked up:



Sub painted black for good measure:



Amp installed:



Sub box glued down to sheet metal:



Everything in place but the cargo floor:



With the cargo floor put back down, the car looks 100% stock and sounds 100 times better than before. You can actually hear what the bassist is playing now

[trb]

That looks really nice! Great that you are able to hide everything, not only from a utility standpoint, but also from a theft standpoint. It does not look like it has anything but a basic radio upgrade. I've been thinking about grabbing the inner back panel from a 05-08 Monsoon equipped car for my 03 GT eventually, but I need to replace the other 6 speakers first before I bother with a sub. I do miss the Monsoon system from my 10 GT. That was probably the best sounding stock system I've owned.

Good luck with it!

[vibrologist]

That's cool, troyguitar!

One suggestion and one question:
I suggest stuffing some sound insulation under the panels in the trunk area. I will improve the sound clarity tremendously.

One question about the battery: I never heard about this battery and therefore I looked it up. It is non-spillable because it is sealed. However, I wonder if laying it on the side is affecting the capacity and performance?
I suppose you did the relocation in order to balance the weight better.

I recall during the summer someone was asking for stealthy ways to mount a sub. Yours must be the stealthiest yet.

[troyguitar]

That's cool, troyguitar!

One suggestion and one question:
I suggest stuffing some sound insulation under the panels in the trunk area. I will improve the sound clarity tremendously.

One question about the battery: I never heard about this battery and therefore I looked it up. It is non-spillable because it is sealed. However, I wonder if laying it on the side is affecting the capacity and performance?
I suppose you did the relocation in order to balance the weight better.

I recall during the summer someone was asking for stealthy ways to mount a sub. Yours must be the stealthiest yet.

I definitely plan to look into sound deadening material but probably not until the spring sometime. The car already sounds so much better that I figure I'll give my ears awhile to adjust to the "new normal" as it were.

The whole battery/sub project started out because winter was coming and I needed a new battery anyway before it got cold. My battery barely made it through last winter.

I had three reasons for moving the battery to the trunk: less weight up front (which will make it easier to remove power steering too), more space in the engine bay (easier to work on stuff and I want to put an aftermarket air intake in the stock battery location), and hopefully longer battery life due to less exposure to extreme temperature changes.

With the '03 ECU swap, I'll also be able to remove the smog pump/air injection system, so between moving the battery+bracket, air injection system, power steering components, and swapping the big factory airbox for a smaller simpler intake I will have removed on the order of 75 lbs from the front of the car. It should be enough to make a significant difference in handling.

AGM type batteries like that work fine on their sides, they could even work upside down if you wanted. There is no liquid to worry about at all.

[vibrologist]

Thank you, Troy! This thread is very informative!

[steel16s]

Sweet GT, Troy!

I looped my '85 Supra's PS lines to a plastic remote reservoir I pulled off some random Camry in a junkyard-- the steering was the best thing about that car after that.

Can't wait to see more progress, and you're gonna have to let us know how it drives!

[troyguitar]

Why I bought a Vibe:



Fit 2 full sets of wheels and tires in the back no problem, including winters for the Vibe. Continental EWC's 205/60/16 on OEM 16x6.5 alloys, contrast with the stock GT 17" wheels:

[troyguitar]

I also painted the gray plastic front grilles black a couple of weeks ago with plastidip just to try the stuff out. With holiday travel I've got 2000 miles on it and they still look perfect. That gray matches absolutely nothing on the exterior of the vehicle, the black looks much better:

[Derf]

Like the rear battery and sub modification. When I took the rear of the Vibe apart, was amazed how much unused room is behind the interior plastic wheel well covers. Looks like you sealed the MDF to the floor of the Vibe, use anything special?
Waiting on the Power steering update to see how the Vibe reacts at slow speeds.

[troyguitar]

Like the rear battery and sub modification. When I took the rear of the Vibe apart, was amazed how much unused room is behind the interior plastic wheel well covers. Looks like you sealed the MDF to the floor of the Vibe, use anything special?
Waiting on the Power steering update to see how the Vibe reacts at slow speeds.

I used regular construction adhesive, liquid nails type stuff with caulking gun. I had to do it that way because the sheet metal is serving as the bottom panel of the subwoofer enclosure - I didn't have the extra 3/4" of clearance available to use another piece of MDF on the back without moving to a shallow mount subwoofer. Instead I took some time to cut/sand the sides of the enclosure to match the contours of the sheet metal and used a big bead of construction adhesive all the way around for a fully sealed enclosure. Once in place I stacked ~200 lbs of old rotors on top of it and left it for a couple of days to cure. It is working out great so far, the sub even sounds good with the cargo area jammed full of stuff.

I'm not sure when I'll get around to the power steering delete, probably not until spring/summer when I can leave the Vibe out of commission for a few days if necessary and drive the Corvette to work. When I do it I plan to also install the MWR underdrive pulleys for the water pump and AC in addition to replacing my rather worn-looking serpentine belt, so that will end up costing more like $250 for everything and taking a little while to do it right with looping/bending/plugging the power steering lines and stuff.

I did get my 2003 ECU re-pinned by ronie012 over on the corolla9 forum and installed that last week with no issues, total plug and play swap. Valve lift now occurs at 6200 RPM giving greatly improved acceleration, it is an awesome upgrade for any 04-06 GT.

[KITT222]

That's one clever idea with the battery relocation. I want to relocate my battery as well. The CCA rating does meet Vibe specs, but my only concern would be if it's enough. Especially in the harsh cold my car would inevitably experience. That said, being inside the car is without a doubt better than outside. And the space it would give would be great. I will definitely keep your idea in mind for the future. Where did you run the wires? Any reason you chose the ETX18-L over the other choices?

[vibenvy]

Great call on getting a dedicated set of winter wheels and tires. Also, great call on painting the grilles black. Looks much better!

[troyguitar]

That's one clever idea with the battery relocation. I want to relocate my battery as well. The CCA rating does meet Vibe specs, but my only concern would be if it's enough. Especially in the harsh cold my car would inevitably experience. That said, being inside the car is without a doubt better than outside. And the space it would give would be great. I will definitely keep your idea in mind for the future. Where did you run the wires? Any reason you chose the ETX18-L over the other choices?

The battery capacity does scare me a bit, but so far it's been sitting outside overnight and fired up fine each morning with the lowest temp I've seen as 14F. My old battery was cranking slowly under 40F so I knew it was a matter of time before it died. When I first installed the battery I started the car and shut it back off 10 times in a row as a sort of stress test - it seems like it should be fine. I went with the ETX18L as it was the biggest capacity battery that I could still easily fit in the space I'd chosen. If I wasn't putting a subwoofer on the other side of the spare, I would have gone with a bigger Optima D51.

I ran 16 feet of 2 GA welding wire through the main firewall grommet behind the brake fluid reservoir and along the driver's side of the car. For the ground wire I sanded off the paint underneath one of the bolts holding a little bracket underneath the rear seat to give it a good contact to the body, then sprayed a few coats of rustoleum over it to reseal the area from moisture.

[troyguitar]

rawr, winter mode engaged

[troyguitar]

Update on the ETX18L battery plus 16 feet of extra 2 GA cable:

After sitting outside and not being driven for a few days, it started up fine this morning at -7 F. Cranking was slower than normal but that's always the case at these temperatures.

[atowley]

How much did it cost you to bave your 03 ecu repinned? I have an 05 gt as well. Want to eliminate the secondary injection system.

[Rvaworm]

Update on the ETX18L battery plus 16 feet of extra 2 GA cable:

After sitting outside and not being driven for a few days, it started up fine this morning at -7 F. Cranking was slower than normal but that's always the case at these temperatures.

What did you use for the bracket to hold the battery down? I am planning to do the same setup as yours almost.

[troyguitar]

How much did it cost you to bave your 03 ecu repinned? I have an 05 gt as well. Want to eliminate the secondary injection system.

I believe it was $100 including shipping from Hawaii. Works great and beats spending $1000+ to get an AEM system or similar.

What did you use for the bracket to hold the battery down? I am planning to do the same setup as yours almost.

I just used some 1" wide by 1/8" thick aluminum bar stock. Bent and hammered it into shape in a vise and screwed it directly into the sheet metal like the OEM battery tray. I covered the part near the terminals in electrical tape just to be on the safe side to prevent shorting.

In other news I haven't really done anything else to the car in awhile besides drive it. We moved from PA down to KY last year so winter isn't really much of a concern anymore. I'm thinking about selling the 16" wheels and winter tires. I also need to replace my 17" tires (they still have tread but they're old and out of round, they vibrate on the highway) and am thinking about just selling those wheels too and getting a lighter weight set of aftermarket 15" wheels and tires. I keep thinking about doing some suspension work too but I don't really drive the car enough to justify the costs.

I did put up some insulation and plywood "flooring" in the attic above the garage in our new house and the Vibe was great for that. 7 sheets of plywood cut down the middle and 4 packs of R38 batts:

[troyguitar]

Great News!

I've more or less decided to start using the Vibe for SCCA autox soon. Step one: Installing a decent seat!



I bought it from ebay super cheap and it feels FANTASTIC. Night and day difference from the stock seat (also it's 15 lbs lighter). Having actual lateral support and the seat be low enough to properly downshift is amazing, it feels like driving a hot hatch instead of a miniminivan now.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BLACK-RED-PVC-L ... 0981870720

Step 2 will be suspension and alignment upgrades. I'm looking at a custom coilover setup from BC Racing currently. DR series with Swift springs, pretty high spring rates and remove front sway bar.

Step 3 will be 15x7.5 wheels and 225/45/15 sticky tires for STF class. 23" tall = 10% shorter effective gearing compared to stock.

[tpollauf]

Now that's a real workhorse there The new drivers seat is a perfect match/fit for the Vibe. I'll assume you'll get a matching one for the passengert side. Looks REAL good

[treesleavedents]

Let us know how the PVC leather works out. I really want new seats in mine but since I live in Phoenix I can't bring myself to buy a seat that isn't clothe...

Also how hard was it to mount the seat? Did you buy a rail adapter? How low does it sit?