04 Vibe aero thread

[KITT222]

Two silver Corolla-based hatchbacks in the midwest, one a manual with a head start, the other an auto with alloy wheels, who is a tad behind, but had the grill blocks on before he'd driven 500 miles with the car! Who shall get the higher numbers?! Haha!

I say you, since you've got a stick, and I'm taking a good chunk of inspiration from your Matrix, and Vibe-izing them (Eg, a kammback like yours, but I'd have some triangles going back from the roof rails to smooth that flow). Though I do have aesthetic plans too, since I am a teenager, and this is my first car. But nothing stupid, like those ugly rims tuners get (going to check out pizza pans soon at Costco and Mal Wart), but I am thinking about lowering it. For looks, and aero. Two in one!

[Weather Spotter]

I think that my stick will give me the edge, but you might have a better route then me. We shall see.

Keep your fuel records up to date

The race is on!

tips:
your grill block should be flush on the outside.

remove the roof racks, they will disrupt the air trying to go over the kammback.

Try a side mirror delete (1.6 MPG for me). A small mirror on the inside works better at seeing the blind spot.

Add a MPG signature like mine so I can see how far back you are

Let me know when you are in the Mid Michigan area, we might have our selves a mini meet/ get other EM people to join us and we could cheer each other on.

[KITT222]

The top grill blocks... do need refining. Something like Tango_Charlies may come about. I was considering putting them behind the grill, for better air blocking recently, but packing tape could become a good friend to me for noew. I'll start my fuel log after my current tank. I put in some injector cleaner stuff, so I want to get that through the system before I really start. That, and I need to figure out how to work the trip computer. Plus my winter MPG sucks, plain and simply.

I think I'll put gaff tape over the actual rails to help airflow. You see, I have a parent who will put limits on what I do, and when the talk of selling the crossbars came up, he really didn't want me to take the roof rails off. I see it as a challenge, more than anything, to overcome to improve my FE.

Mirrors might be a challenge, more or less on the parental side. Either a cowl for them, or some smaller ones.

Well my Vibers and I are thinking mid June, so some Ecomodders while there might be fun!

[Weather Spotter]

for the roof rack, can you take the cross pieces off? the front to back rails offer a limited cross section to air flow but the side to side rails start to mess things up.

You might also be able to remove the racks and store them rather then sell them.

For the side mirror, try putting in a small mirror and taping over the real one. that will give you an idea of what you can see. If you like it try taking the mirror off (three bolts and its off or on). I have had mine off for 3 months (2-3000 miles) and have only wanted it on once (4 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic). Not having it on has saved me from 3 crashes, I saw a car in my blind spot with the small mirror that would not have been seen in the big one. the other two times was that I always turn my head to check now and that has saved 2 crashes.

[KITT222]

The cross pieces are the cross bars, and yes they are indeed off. They are sitting in my trunk, since I don't know where else to put them. The rails (parts that are screwed to the car) will probably stay, and get aero-modded.

I'll look into some smaller mirrors that are already on cars, and I'll talk to some officers about it too. But not having a mirror there could really help me out too in parking in the garage. I've almost clipped it off a few times, ad I came with an inch while maneuvering out of the garage with my dads truck behind me. It would be nice to have a thinner car. Perhaps a mirror that is outside, but goes out as far as the car's body flares out. It'd be a good judge of width.

[Weather Spotter]

Those sound like good ideas. I would try the small inside motor fist and see how u like it. It works better then I thouod it work. As for the law, look at our wiki home page there is a lake of state laws. Also look at the wiki mod page for.mirror removal, it will link to my build page and pics.

[Tango Charlie]

Originally Posted by Weather Spotter

Let me know when you are in the Mid Michigan area, we might have our selves a mini meet/ get other EM people to join us and we could cheer each other on.

Yah! I'm just a couple miles from the IN/MI state line about a half hour east of South Bend. And I work in Sturgis, MI... So holler if you're in the area!

And Kitt, I do like them teeth! Ha ha!

[KITT222]

Thank you, and I'll be sure to put something out there if I'm in the area.

I have done some modding in just the past few hours. After church I ran to Mal Wart and got a small mirror, and some made in USA (??) pizza pans. Then I ran across the street to Home Depot and got some Gorilla tape (they didn't have gaffers tape). Once I got home I put the mirror on the inside of the car, and I covered up my roof rails! I am going back out, but I need some advice on the pizza pans. My real issue is that I have alloy wheels, and mounting them might be an issue. Right now we are thinking some metal wire (like on my dam and grill blocks) or zip ties. We may notch out a hole for the air stem, and in case of an emergency, I want to be able to get these off easily and quickly to replace the wheel. I can't exactly drill into my wheel (ala Weather_spotter), so that option is out.

Pictures:

It's a tad impairing, but I'll cover my real mirror, and give it a try.

My taped-over roof rails. Hopefully this should bode well! And I am looking into a more aero antenna in case radio reception with my new deck is horrible, or I'll just go to satellite radio (tiny antenna).

[Weather Spotter]

Looks good!

For the pizza pans, try the lug nut mount method: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...orn-14306.html

Zip ties can work but they look odd and will not hold for too long.

More work on the boat tail today

[KITT222]

I'll look into that. but until then the wheel covers are zip-tied on, and they are... not too good, honestly. They make plenty of noise, and aren't secured right. I'll get them secured well enough, but regardless, the car looks good with them on.

I also dropped it off tonight at Best Buy for a Viper kit and new radio deck. The install guy gave the car an interested look as I drove up, then he stood back and took a look once it was in the light. And then he backed out the Geek Squad van and pulled in... another Vibe! It was cool to have two Vibes together in the installation bay, I liked how they looked together.

Anyways....




At the install bay: