Vibe mods: One man's quest to better 40mpg.

[Tango Charlie]

...as a full 4x8 sheet of black coroplast?



Well I have, TWO sheets of black coroplast!

Belly panel has been rough cut to approximate size/shape, and attachment strategy has been finalized. Just need another couple hours to finish it up.

[Tango Charlie]

Belly panel is on!
Finally.



I used nut clips along the front lip. Stainless screws and washers.




The front right side fender liner is all FUBARd. I had to do some creative fabrication work with some aluminum bits to secure the floppy ends of the busted up plastic. Then I had to wrestle with two screws that the heads twisted off they were so rusted. You know, the usual stuff.



I don't know if I'll get a chance to replace the fender liner before winter. I think today was the last nice day of the year. *sniff*

I put in two access holes for oil filter/drain plug access. I cut back up rings from the coroplast and screwed them on with sheet metal screws. I plan on going back and doing a better job with flush screws/washers and some black silicone RTV to hold things together.

[Daox]

Very nice!

[California98Civic]

The clips, the cardboard template, the access holes... all very useful. Nice pics. Thanks.

[Weather Spotter]

I should make those holes in mine, would save me taking it on and off all the time.

[Tango Charlie]

Well, roughly a month and half later, and I've taken off the belly panel...at least for the winter. We got a heavy snow the other week and there were large icy chunks in the road, shed by large vehicles. I managed to miss most of them... but one I couldn't avoid slammed under the car just inboard of the left wheel. It pushed the coroplast against the suspension and ripped it up pretty good. I had to hack a portion of it away with a razor knife so I could drive home.

Come next spring I plan on installing an improved version.
I just can't be worrying about a belly panel while driving during the already harrowing winter season.

And winter gas is here, so my numbers are down. Blah.
If you live where it doesn't get cold or snow, count your blessings.

[Tango Charlie]

Aaaaand, it's on again.

We're taking a family vacation next week, and I couldn't bear the thought of driving all the way down to Florida and back without the belly panel installed. We haven't had any more snow since that freak storm in late November, and it actually got up to 50F today, which is abnormally warm for around here, so I decided to install my "version 1.2" that I had waiting in the wings.

This is the original that got damaged by the huge chunk of unavoidable ice laying in the road:



I'm thinking that the short stubby parts that were intended to cover the lower control arms are fairly susceptible to damage from large road debris like what I encountered. On version 1.2, I made it just taper slightly, so there are no stubby parts for junk to rip off. Take that, nasty road crap.



Also, I executed the access holes better. Instead of a back-up ring, I glued on a few back-up tabs with cyanoacrylate. A tang glued onto the front of each access panel supports its front edge, and a countersunk screw (into one of the back-up tabs) in the trailing edge secures it in place.

Now I gotta clean off the ping pong table so the kids can use it again.

[fchen7]

Tango Charlie ..

i read your posts on the vibe mods; very cool. I am inspired. I also saw the boat tail pic of "weather spotter", that is just too extreme, even if it gets 52mpg.

I have a questions: i have a 2003 vibe GT, currently has no mod and averages about 30mpg. If i have the same upper block grill you have, how much improvement do i expect to see ?

I also noticed you have a new car, 2000 honda insight. Very nice find. Are you going to sell your vibe ? if you are, do you want to sell the upper block grill and the hardwares to someone like me ?

[Tango Charlie]

Hey, welcome to EM, fchen7!
I'm glad you find my Vibe mods inspirational!

I never bothered doing an "A-B-A" test for the grill block. It can't be much, I would guess around one, possibly two mpg. It's just one small mod that when combined with several others, add up, you know?
Yup, just bought an Insight to commute in. But we're keeping the Vibe. The wife will have the Vibe to drive during the day, and it will be the family car (like it has always been) on the weekends. I've taken the pizza pans off because they were so rusty, and the wife has requested that I leave them off. I may paint up a new set that imitate the "cranked" five spoke alloys and see if she'll put up with that. She's pretty agreeable. Usually.

But I would be happy to make a tracing of the grill block for you. Send me your address in a Private Message and I'll get it to you. I could even include one of the lower blocks that I run in the winter.

I don't want to discourage you too much, but you're facing more of a challenge with the GT. It's equipped with the 2ZZ engine (as opposed to the 1ZZ-FE of the base model) and the 6-speed transmission which has a shorter 5th gear. This will work against you to some extent, but you should still see some decent numbers with a few mods and some informed driving. Check out the 100+ Hypermiling Tips link, this is where you'll see the largest gains. There is no mod, aerodynamic or otherwise, that will improve your MPG's like adjusting your driving technique. We call it "tightening the nut behind the wheel".
Good luck and have fun!

[fchen7]

Tango Charlie .... thanks for the reply and the offer for tracing upper and lower block grill. I am new, so i cant send private message until i have 10 posts. fchen7 at gmail is my emai.

I just bought this vibe gt. I knew the mpg would suffer about 3mpg compare to the non-gt vibe. But i thought the extra horsepower can help towing if one day i decide to tow things. But you mentioned in post that you have family of 5 and a hitch platform behind the car and still gets 38mpg; that's incredible mpg. Did you install the hitch receiver yourself ? is the best place to go the "U-Haul" ? How much did that cost ? I do wish i have a non-gt vibe manual sometimes. It must be nice to average 34 or more regularly.

I also looked at a 2000 Honda Insight here locally not long ago. At the time the seller was undecided about letting it go. It was real nice with factory leather and i would buy it then if he was ready. Now he will sell it at around end of this month. But there is another buyer competing with me. We both offer to buy at full asking price. I will know in a week or so if i get it.

Did you ever get the fog light aero cover to work ??

fc