GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Has any one converted the front wheel drive to the awd? After having some pretty bad wheel hop at the dragway this weekend im looking for more traction..does anyone know what hp its good for?

Far as I know the AWD and base use the same engine, the 129 (?) HP 1ZZ.

Yeap, it would be super easy, just a matter of switching transmissions and adding driveline, rear diff, and rear drive parts..has anyone ever done it?

Floor Pan / Sheet Metal on FWD does not have the hump to accommodate the extra parts like the AWD models

Are you sure because my exhaust currently resides in what looks like a perfect channel for a driveline??

Quote, originally posted by sikvibe »Are you sure because my exhaust currently resides in what looks like a perfect channel for a driveline??Does the floor of your Vibe in the back seat have a large center hump? And by the way, the 03-06 AWD from factory is SLOW

I do remember a how to kinda post from someone going the other way. Do a search, maybe he can answer some ??'s

Do something a little diffrent and put another engine/tranny in the back to drive the rear wheels!!! Sure you'll lose a little cargo capacity and mileage and it'll be a lot of work but your power to weight ratio could nearly double!!!

Quote, originally posted by sikvibe »Has any one converted the front wheel drive to the awd? After having some pretty bad wheel hop at the dragway this weekend im looking for more traction..does anyone know what hp its good for?No, no one has done this. Different tranny, different driveline, drum brakes in rear. This will not solve your wheel hop problem. The AWD uses a viscous coupler that engages the rear wheels only after the front wheels are spinning and only puts down approx. 40% power to the rears. The AWD system would not be able to handle your S/C for long if you tracked it often. You would be better off buying an AWD if you want to go this route.BTW, Energy Suspension motor mounts are suppose to help with wheel hop.... But you know that already, right?

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »No, no one has done this. Different tranny, different driveline, drum brakes in rear. This will not solve your wheel hop problem. The AWD uses a viscous coupler that engages the rear wheels only after the front wheels are spinning and only puts down approx. 40% power to the rears. The AWD system would not be able to handle your S/C for long if you tracked it often. You would be better off buying an AWD if you want to go this route.BTW, Energy Suspension motor mounts are suppose to help with wheel hop.... But you know that already, right?Just to clarify it more... 03-06 AWD has a different ECU, exhaust, and rear suspension. At the same time though, the 03-08 Base Vibe (ABS as an option) / 03-06 AWD (ABS standard) also had drum brakes.

get engine/trans mounts, traction bars, anything that will stop the engine from moving (which idk I'd recommend for dd'ing...). poly is kind of crap, but you'd want solid mounts if you want no wheel whop and just spin. Are you drag racing on slicks or just street tires?

Thanks for all of the helpful feedback you guys, after learning about how wimpy the awd is..the rwd coversion would be my only viable option for big power gains..I think I will try to get this fwd thing down first...

engine mounts and learn the car. it's no different from trying to drag an SRT4 or MS3. You just can't really launch the car hard or you'll have massive wheel spin and jerk.