My new(ish) Vibe

[wagonis]

Hello folks, was recommended to start a new thread for my Vibe to track progress and builds, so here it is

I HAD a 2000 Pathfinder that was my commuter SUV but at around 190,000 miles, the timing belt snapped and I wasn't about to waste my time replacing that belt, we all know a valve or 2 probably bent. So sold it and off it went.

Started to look for another commuter car and came across this Vibe. It is a 2007 and the original owners were selling it. They purchased it brand new in January of 2008 from a local dealer here in FL and only drove it 91,000 miles. It is a base model, 5 SPD manual, no cruise control, with crank windows and manual door locks...but, they opted for power mirrors which is nice. I prefer driving a stick and having crank windows doesn't really bother me. Wish the doors were power but I'll live since this was a STEAL!

Brought her home and already enjoying the ride. Since she is going to be a commuter, not looking to make her go fast but I wanted to at least add some better audio, larger wheels and maybe lower her a bit, possibly throw in a shorter throw shifter. This way she wont be fast but she'll look better, handle better and sound better.

Here she is shortly after I picked her up.

[wagonis]

First up I'm going to add some better audio to her this weekend, already got everything on order and waiting for everything to be delivered.

JVC KD-X240BT head unit
Kenwood KFC 1666S 6 1/2 speakers for front/rear doors
Kenwood KFC W12PS 12" sub
JBL GTX500 mono amp to power the sub

[Transylvania]

Again, congratulations on this fine purchase. Very much looking forward to reading all the updates you are going to do on the car. Keep us posted!

[wagonis]

Again, congratulations on this fine purchase. Very much looking forward to reading all the updates you are going to do on the car. Keep us posted!

Thanks again and of course I'll keep this post going, hoping to get lots of things done to her.

[wagonis]

Head unit is in

[wagonis]

Next up, adding some power door locks and a push-button start. I don't mind the manual windows but the manual door locks are getting to be a bit annoying, so going to fix that and since I was browsing Amazon I found this low cost push start so figured why not.

[tpollauf]

Looks like a fun project. I did power lock/window upgrades to several cars over the past 40 years and loved the challenge. All of them turned out great and you'd never know they were added ... looked stock! Take lots of photos and share the progress here with us as you go along!

[wagonis]

Looks like a fun project. I did power lock/window upgrades to several cars over the past 40 years and loved the challenge. All of them turned out great and you'd never know they were added ... looked stock! Take lots of photos and share the progress here with us as you go along!

I just opened that back door panel to replace the outer handle (broke in my hand a week after I bought the car) and while looking in there, I don't see the rod to attach the motor to, looks like I have to do some research before I dive in to adding the power locks but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Thanks man, I'll keep this thread updated for sure.

[zbyers]

A member on the FB used some kit to add power locks to his Vibe, too. Not sure what kit it was; it wasn't overly difficult from what I gathered, just very time consuming.

[Bookworm]

Just as an FYI - the black plastic (unpainted) door handles fail regularly from the sun hardening the plastic.

If you had one shatter, go ahead and think about just replacing all of them - they're not that expensive.

[wagonis]

Just as an FYI - the black plastic (unpainted) door handles fail regularly from the sun hardening the plastic.

If you had one shatter, go ahead and think about just replacing all of them - they're not that expensive.

Yup, day after I ordered one handle I broke the front drivers side too, ordered a complete set and will replace the other 2 this week. Simple enough to replace them so might as well.

A member on the FB used some kit to add power locks to his Vibe, too. Not sure what kit it was; it wasn't overly difficult from what I gathered, just very time consuming.

I got the kit and from what I see its just a matter of placement for the actuators and striping the cable to attach the actuators to. Beyond that its just running wires and connecting it all.

[wagonis]

Finally got around to installing my system and got a set of Scion tC wheels on her.

[wagonis]

Added cruise control to my Vibe today, really easy process and I know several folks have already done it. Installed the 18A009 cruise control switch and NS151 clutch switch. Everything works, cruise tested fine and horn works too

[zbyers]

Cruise control is a fabulous feature... I need to get mine working again. Doesn't bother me since my commute is stop and go... But then I jump and drive 3 hours to Pittsburgh and wish it would work lol

[wagonis]

Cruise control is a fabulous feature... I need to get mine working again. Doesn't bother me since my commute is stop and go... But then I jump and drive 3 hours to Pittsburgh and wish it would work lol

Same here, I work from home so don't drive much and/or far, but that once in a while long haul made me wish I had cruise control.

[Bookworm]

Cruise control is a fabulous feature... I need to get mine working again. Doesn't bother me since my commute is stop and go... But then I jump and drive 3 hours to Pittsburgh and wish it would work lol

Same here, I work from home so don't drive much and/or far, but that once in a while long haul made me wish I had cruise control.

I think that all of my cars have had cruise control available, but even on really long drives, I rarely use it. Mostly because of other cars, but partially because it helps you keep from losing focus.

[zbyers]

Cruise control is a fabulous feature... I need to get mine working again. Doesn't bother me since my commute is stop and go... But then I jump and drive 3 hours to Pittsburgh and wish it would work lol

Same here, I work from home so don't drive much and/or far, but that once in a while long haul made me wish I had cruise control.

I think that all of my cars have had cruise control available, but even on really long drives, I rarely use it. Mostly because of other cars, but partially because it helps you keep from losing focus.

Newer cars have adaptive cruise control. I hear it takes a while to get used to, but I guess it's fabulous.

I've never really lost focus from using cruise control. I lose focus driving our automatic more than using the cruise control. It's just so BORING driving an automatic.

[tpollauf]

Cruise control is a fabulous feature... I need to get mine working again. Doesn't bother me since my commute is stop and go... But then I jump and drive 3 hours to Pittsburgh and wish it would work lol

Man can I relate to that. Driving 120 mile round trip with most of it being on I-75 is a journey where the cruise control would REALLY be nice if it worked! Let me know if/when you diagnose and fix yours so it may help me fix mine. My 2004 Vibe GT,s cruise was working great till mid August ... then it just quit! Light on dash comes on and that thingy under the hood looks good (inspected it mechanically) so maybe it's that module thing under the dash?

[wagonis]

Cruise control is a fabulous feature... I need to get mine working again. Doesn't bother me since my commute is stop and go... But then I jump and drive 3 hours to Pittsburgh and wish it would work lol

Man can I relate to that. Driving 120 mile round trip with most of it being on I-75 is a journey where the cruise control would REALLY be nice if it worked! Let me know if/when you diagnose and fix yours so it may help me fix mine. My 2004 Vibe GT,s cruise was working great till mid August ... then it just quit! Light on dash comes on and that thingy under the hood looks good (inspected it mechanically) so maybe it's that module thing under the dash?

I would definitely look at the clutch pedal switch, cruise control won't work without it and it's a cheap/easy enough part to replace.

[wagonis]

Forgot I created a thread for my Vibe's progress...

So far I've added the power door locks and even got the rear hatch and rear window to work with the keyless remote

viewtopic.php?p=537086#p537086

Installed a Monkey Wrench Racing short throw shifter with a TRD ball

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I removed the 12" sub I installed in favor of a more stock look. I found a used sub-box and panel from the monsoon system and installed that for bass with a Kicker sub, came out pretty nice. Also moved the amp since I no longer had the sub box where it was mounted originally:

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Now after all that audio work, I decided to redo most of the audio system

Replacing all 4 door speakers from the Kenwood KFC-1666S and going with the Kenwood KFC-1696PS for better bass and clarity, swapping amps from the JBL Mono amp to the MB-Quartz RA1-710.5 5 channel amp and replacing the head unit from the JVC unit to this Boss Audio 7" Android Auto unit and finally adding front and rear mounted cameras to work with the head unit.

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After the radio is done, I'm adding HUD and installing some Tein lowering springs:

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I'll update the thread once I'm done installing everything.

[wagonis]

As of this past weekend, I installed the new head unit, amp, backup cam and added some sound deadener to the rear sub box.

The cam isn't turning on when going in to reverse so I need to go back and look at the wires, pretty sure I know what is wrong. Need to do some cleanup and wire routing and close everything back up still.

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[tpollauf]

Nice work so far. Too bad the head unit didn't fit within the double-DIN opening, but then your screen diagonal would have been smaller.

[wagonis]

Nice work so far. Too bad the head unit didn't fit within the double-DIN opening, but then your screen diagonal would have been smaller.

Thanks man, I appreciate that. I actually don't mind the head unit size. I could have went with the DD unit but I like these "floating" screen types that allow for repositioning of the screen. You can move the screen up/down or pivot left/right.

I had to go back in and re-wire the sub since its a 2 Ohm dual voice coil and I had it wired up in series for the last amp, had to rewire it for parallel. Also realized the backup cam wasn't turning on because I tapped in to the wrong wire on the backup lamp. Fixed that wiring issue and now it comes on as soon as I shift in to reverse.

[wagonis]

Steering wheel was crumbling on the top of the rim. I found a few online but seems like anything decent was $150 or above, so I bought one of those re-wrap kits on eBay...not the worse looking thing but took a good 3 hours to get it.

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[tpollauf]

not the worse looking thing but took a good 3 hours to get it done.
PXL_20240224_234833743~2.jpg

Looks real good. You got the best color thread too Hopefully that red thread doesn't fade from the sun's UV rays after a few years. Stick around here for awhile and let us know how it looks then! Anytime you do true custom work to your ride, it will definitely set you back several hours BUT to us owners .... it's worth every hour we put into it

[wagonis]

Looks real good. You got the best color thread too Hopefully that red thread doesn't fade from the sun's UV rays after a few years. Stick around here for awhile and let us know how it looks then! Anytime you do true custom work to your ride, it will definitely set you back several hours BUT to us owners .... it's worth every hour we put into it

Thank you!!!

Yup, love that red thread on there. Was hoping to get a kit that has the leather/suede combo but wanted to try this first with a cheap $11 kit. Might order the other one now and take another stab since I have a few steering wheels laying around.

Its definitely worth every second I put in to it. Its not a fancy car, but its MY car and I like making it my own like every other one I've had.

I'm not going anywhere, I'll stick around and report back lol

[wagonis]

Shifter boot was getting rough so updated it

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[tpollauf]

Looks like I could need another shifter boot too! I have a new ball (never mounted it yet) and a bushing replacement kit.

[wagonis]

LOL yeah, looks like a refresh is in order. This seller is really good, check him out. Also found another seller that makes custom prints:

https://www.ebay.com/str/thetuningshop

https://www.dboyshiftz.com/