GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I built my own valve with a 3/8" bolt, a couple of tiny allen head screws and some 14 gauge sheet metal, all stainless for durability. It was a little tricky, especially getting the throttle plate to seal properly when closed, but I can give you more details if you want to tackle it. Alternatively, there is a company that sells a slick electrically operated cut out in sizes from 2-1/4" up to 3", which can be adjusted to any desired percent open with a dash switch. (I just thumbed through a couple of magazines without finding their ad, but will try to track it down and post the name/address.)

this isnt really like open headers since ur using the resonator as the muffler. just run straight pipes after that...its loud but if u get a glasspack or something itll sound good.

Anybody have any luck with removing the resonator? I want to take mine to an exhaust shop to have them remove it and replace the muffler with a Flowmaster 60 series. I think they make a dual outlet 60 series now, so a dual tip might be possible for me. I am hooked on the dual tip look now thanks to MadBill. I LOVE those huge tires on there. I hope my 245/45/17's will fit under the car on my new wheels that I will be getting soon. The tires I will be using will be a bit narrower than MadBill's but will look similar in width. The exhaust, wheels/tires, and suspension work are my planned "big three" mods for now. I'll be ordering a CAI soon as well, but I don't really consider this to be a major mod since I can do this myself at home in the driveway.

Sounds like a great plan, Stang! The trick with the wheels is in the offset. Mine are ~34 mm. You could get away with a bit more, say 38 -40 and have a bit more outer fender clearance.

Hey MadBill, do you know if a lower bumper like on one of those hopped-up show Vibes we all saw earlier is available. It had the dual exhaust tip ports in the bumper. I'm not sure if this was a custom thing done in a body shop or if it was molded that way. I'd hate to go chopping up my lower bumper. Might have been on that Vibe GT-R.Anyway, not to go too far off topic here, but the offset you mention are high positive offsets, right? As I discussed with you before, the tires are off my Mustang, but I had 9.5 inch wide wheels on it. The Vibe wheels will be 7.5 inches wide, so I expect that the overall width of the tire will be less than on the Mustang when installed even though they are the same tires. Do you think this will be true?

Hi Stang.No, I don't know where/if that lower plastic can be found. I just used aviation snips to cut out a semi circle matching the stock one. (I saved the piece, figuring I could always glue it back in with a bit of filler if necessary.)Most or all FWD vehicles have high positive offset. (Just to confuse things, OEMs and aftermarket use the opposite convention for positive and negative. We should just call it inset and outset!) The tire section will be less on the 7.5" rim. I believe it's a 40% factor, that is if the rim is narrower by 1", the section width goes down 0.4"

Thank you very much for the info, Bill. It'll be useful when I make the tire swap. As for cutting out the bumper section, I suppose I could use some tin snips from work if I want to perform the bumper surgery myself.

MadBIll, if you ever decide to give courses about things like this...I will gladly drive down 6 hours to attend!

We should be able to make it an on-line course; save you a bunch of driving!

Props for originality