Mark's Stealth: We Can Rebuild!

[vibenvy]

Yay! Great news Mark! I look forward to seeing pictures of the rebuild!

The "new" Vibe is looking great (of course, it is the BEST color!) !

[vibrologist]

Is it the same body guy? How is he doing?

[Mark]

No, unfortunately he passed last fall. This is his nephew, who did most of the work on the hail damage the last time.

[Mark]

From the page source it looks like you saved it to a different site?

Correct! I saved your image to my hard drive. Then uploaded that photo to a third party site (cardomain, photobucket, etc...) and then copy/pasted the image FROM THEIR SITE into the GenVibe "img" tab. I used to use cardomain but they went through major changes to where everybody lost photos, privileges, etc. so I found a different site from over in Europe that I use for hosting pics. Maybe others here can chime in on the Google thing. I'm not too familiar with what can/can't be done with their images.

Any photos I had on photobucket are lost forever, I would never give them a dime after what they did.

Body guy sent me pics last night (that I can't save, looks like Verizon has decided to make Message+ captive so texted pics can't be saved to Google photos. This is great.) Anywhoo...the car already looks great, he's got it all put back together but only to measure before he welds. But at this point I'm pretty confident it will be done by this weekend.

[Mark]

He worked on the car over the weekend and sent a pic Monday evening. When we got the parts we used a sawzall to cut the radiator brace and down through the frame, just in front of the airbag actuators. Monday he had the front of my car cut back and matched up to the new part, and all of the parts in place to check fit. Below is a pic he sent, which I'm trying to attach from Google Photos. Probably won't come through.




Today I went by after work and everything is welded up and fitting perfectly. It's all sanded and he was masking it off, and was planning on painting this evening. He thinks it will be done by Friday. I didn't take any pics because of the masking and plastic, but the fit looks fantastic.

[KingKrab65]

He worked on the car over the weekend and sent a pic Monday evening. When we got the parts we used a sawzall to cut the radiator brace and down through the frame, just in front of the airbag actuators. Monday he had the front of my car cut back and matched up to the new part, and all of the parts in place to check fit. Below is a pic he sent, which I'm trying to attach from Google Photos. Probably won't come through.




Today I went by after work and everything is welded up and fitting perfectly. It's all sanded and he was masking it off, and was planning on painting this evening. He thinks it will be done by Friday. I didn't take any pics because of the masking and plastic, but the fit looks fantastic.

That is pretty awesome. You have a great body man and a fast worker too.

[tpollauf]

Progress so far

[Mark]

Stealth came home today! Got a call just as I was leaving work that it was ready to go, so I went by and picked it up.

Looks almost good as new. tpollauf will hopefully post a new pic I sent him (cause apparently I suck at posting pics) of it back in it's own driveway.

The marks on the top of the fender is dust, and I think the small deformity showing on the hood is a reflection. I need to find a new wheel cover, and I moved a bunch of stuff from this car to the 05 when I thought I was going to scrap it. So I'll have to spend some time and money replacing those parts but that will be fairly minor. Total cost of repair is ~$3700 - that's parts + salvage + body work. I'm extremely happy with how this came out.

[tpollauf]

Stealth all done !!!

[Mark]

I think it's funny that the Vibe we found for parts was a 2004, so I still have a 2008 Vibe with the early model recessed grill.

So far everything is working. I had to replace a headlight bulb on the driver side, and the battery hold down was missing a bolt so I installed that and tightened it all down. Had to put a pin in the air intake brace and a grommet on the hood prop rod. Filled the washer fluid reservoir and both salvage pumps work fine. The right signal/marker light socket was broken but I found one today on a 2006 Vibe at the same yard and replaced it. The was crashed on the opposite side as mine, but the same parts like radiator brace and bumper were bent and bumper cover was shot which is why we didn't use it for the salvage parts.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy.

[vibenvy]

Yay! Stealth looks great! Glad it's all fixed and back home!

[tpollauf]

Stealth before being rebuilt

[Caretaker]

Yikes, that's a lot of lawn mowing out there!!! With the house I'm building, I'm making sure the builder leaves me no outdoor chores if possible.

[KingKrab65]

Stealth all done !!!

Looking good.

[Mark]

Sooo....

The 2005 Satellite Silver had mismatched tires when I bought it - some Goodyears on the front and Pirelli's on the rear. So I installed my summer tires on the 2005, put the winter tires from the 2008 on the shelf, and moved the tires from the 2005 to the 2008. Didn't bother balancing them since it was going away. But then I kept it and fixed it.

I drove it Saturday on a rainy day and realized two things right away: the tires needed balancing pretty bad, and defrosters don't work when the A/C is empty. So today I got it in and had the A/C tested and filled, and the wheels balanced. Got it on the highway and it drives like a dream and the A/C is blasting cold af.

When I got home I found two boxes waiting, one was a wheel cover and the other was a 2004 console lid/arm rest. Both bought off EBay for more than I wanted to spend, but I was tired of searching and emailing salvage yards on car-parts.com.

Now I plan on selling my 2000 Corolla "spare" car and using the 2008 Stealth as the backup for when another car is down for repairs, maintenance, etc. Next fall I'll put the winter tires on it and drive it on snow days, and be able to drive the 2005 on normal tires the 95% of days that aren't snowy. I also moved the cracked d/s fog light from the 05 to the 08, so I need to replace that, and the p/s fog is missing a bulb.

This has come together fairly well.

[FrankenVibe]

Just read through this awesome thread, what a rollercoaster! I know it’s old, but I hate creating new threads when I can just add to one that’s already full of info. How much of the brace should I cut off a donor vehicle if I need the passenger side? Should I just take the whole front? How far back, to the pillar?

[Mark]

We cut the top of the fender from just behind where the brace attaches straight down through the front of the frame. If it's just one side it might still be easier to take the whole front.

[FrankenVibe]

We cut the top of the fender from just behind where the brace attaches straight down through the front of the frame. If it's just one side it might still be easier to take the whole front.

Great, thank you!