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

[ratherbehiking]

Man those gutters look great, I might have to look into that for myself

[Tango Charlie]

Thanks, ratherbehiking! I really like how they turned out, too. Not too bad for a few bucks at Lowe's. I haven't had one bit of trouble with them, either.

[Sean T.]

I'm gonna have to try that!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by thebrad

Anyone know what kind of spider that is? I've found a few around my house and a pretty big one in the garage.

Looks like a grass spider, also known as a funnel web spider because of its funnel-shaped web.

Grass spider - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Istas]

Real slick look on the grille block, Tango. Nice fit. And that's a great idea with the gutters, I also might have to have a go at that.

[Tango Charlie]

Thanks, Istas!
Hey, if I can convince just one fellow ecomodder to install a grille block, then I'll consider this thread a wild success!

Currently I'm attempting to wire up a radiator fan indicator LED, but I've been flummoxed by my Vibe's TWO fan relays. Anyone have access to a wiring schematic for an '03 Vibe?

[Istas]

Oh, the grille block I'll already be doing, but seeing yours is definitely motivation to make it good-looking. The gutters though, great idea on the material to use. I worry about putting holes in the metal car body down there though.

[Tango Charlie]

The PVC guttering idea is not original with me. That honor goes to XRinger and his thread, here.

The rocker panels on the Vibe are plastic, so I'm not worried about holes in them.

[Tango Charlie]

I wired up a radiator fan indicator.
I popped the cover off of the fuse box under the hood and found the fan relay. Actually, there are TWO of them, and I was befuddled on which one to use. A Fluke meter and some probing gave me an idea of which leg to trap the wire under. I notched the cover so the wire wouldn't get pinched when I put it back on.




There is a row of pop-out "buttons" to the left of the steering wheel. One of them has a little coin holder, the other two are blank. I bought an LED assembly from Radio Shack. Then I drilled a hole for it in one of the blank buttons.




Then I ran the wire from the fuse box to where I had popped out the buttons. Many bad words were said to get the wire to this point.



I crimped on a ring terminal on the ground lead of the LED assembly and attached it to ground, and used a crimp connector to hook up the red power wires. Then I snapped the buttons back in the dash.



Now for that gaping hole below the bumper...
Yeah, I know I could just watch my ScanGauge to monitor coolant temperature. And I do. It runs at 181 by the thermostat. The fan comes on at 204. I'd like to block off the lower opening as much as possible, to the point it hovers around 195 on the highway. (Not much in-town driving on my commute.) The light will help me determine the smallest opening I can get away with.

[Istas]

Thanks for the mini how-to on this! I want to do this on my car, and having a pictoral how-to always helps me out with things (even if it's not the same car).

Good luck testing.