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trikkonceptz 05-07-2008 10:46 AM

Vibe Aeromods V1.0 - infinity
 
2 Attachment(s)
Ok so I have started the aeromods on the Vibe, stage 1 is simple, seal off unecessary holes and see what happens.

Well as you can see by the pics, I sealed off the grille and the fogs, also removed the roof rack, which uncovered an unpleasant issue.

Looks like the Vibe, unlike the matrix was not intended to be without a rack. What impact do you think this will have on the grand scheme? Should I put the cross bars back on? I'm sealing open holes otherwise and any water falling through the hole simply drains through the hatch, so those are not my concerns, the aero impact is ... your thoughts ??

Next week if this works the holes will be covered with proper blocks likely made from abs plastic ...

MetroMPG 05-07-2008 11:10 AM

I like the car's new "face", know what I mean?

How's the temp gauge?

As for that unexpected gap at the hatchback, I'd leave the roof rails off, and try to find a way to fashion a plug that cleans that up. Aerodynamically, it's a bad place to have exposed edges and openings.

Hard to say that's worse than the roof rails (I'd guess it's not), but there's no question that the best case scenario is no roof rails plus closing up those gaps.

trikkonceptz 05-07-2008 11:21 AM

I'm not running a scanguage, but there was no movement in the temp needle at all. Yesterday is was over 90degrees here and I therefore did some intentional city driving to see if the car would overheat, but no ...

I did discover that my thermostat for the dash readout has to be somewhere behind that grille though, because all day long it read in the high 90's instead of actual accurate temps ....

trikkonceptz 05-07-2008 11:24 AM

Thanks for the idea .. LOL I am going to mount the back pieces again, cut them down with a dremel until the are flush with the roof line, cover them with some fiberglass, sand and paint them black ...

I'll be busy this weekend .. LOL

MetroMPG 05-07-2008 11:24 AM

Can you tell when the cooling fan kicks on?

AndrewJ added a clever/simple mod to his Civic recently: an LED that lights on the dash when the fan runs.

MetroMPG 05-07-2008 11:36 AM

Was it hard to remove those rails? If you did a short DIY writeup with a few pics, and document the making of your "caps" at the hatch corners, I bet there are more than a few Vibe owners who would use that info.

trikkonceptz 05-07-2008 11:37 AM

I'm leaning towards doing that, however with my drive consisting of 90+ miles of non stop hwy driving, I can't imagine it comes on that much anyhow ...

2003protege 05-07-2008 03:36 PM

haha, when i saw the thumbnail image of the taped openings, i thought it was a cadillac CTS lol. I was like, man...times must be tough when you have to hypermile your caddy. Aerodynamics FTW, though. I need to look into cleaning up the front of my car too. Good job.

aerohead 05-07-2008 03:58 PM

Gettin' good vibes from the Vibe
 
I love the front,it looks like its smiling.Perhaps its foreshadowing what you'll be doing at the pump.Hope so.If I were swimming in cash I give you buckets of it so you could push it out the gaps in the back.When people asked what your car was doing,you could say those gaps were losing you money! Sick humor aside,yeah,it would be a good idea to clean that up.Too bad the rack was that deeply integrated into the body.Like what your up to.

Cd 05-08-2008 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2003protege (Post 24001)
haha, when i saw the thumbnail image of the taped openings, i thought it was a cadillac CTS lol. I was like, man...times must be tough when you have to hypermile your caddy. Aerodynamics FTW, though. I need to look into cleaning up the front of my car too. Good job.

That's wierd.
I thought the very same thing.

It really does resemble a CTS.

dremd 05-08-2008 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz (Post 23949)
I did discover that my thermostat for the dash readout has to be somewhere behind that grille though, because all day long it read in the high 90's instead of actual accurate temps ....

Temp sender is on the Hood latch brace, behind the center (top) grill. You could relocate it to the bottom for more accurate temps it it matters to you.

Let us know how it turns out!

trikkonceptz 06-30-2008 07:30 PM

Update 6/30/08
 
Well guys the Vibe is well on its way to hitting 50mpg, with a single tank high of 49+. With that success I am going to make the bumper mods permanent.

Next Tuesday the Vibe is going into the body shop where I will make the front end properly out of plastic and leave it as OEM looking as possible. I will be sure to update with pics so you can see the cool plastic welder I will be using.

Laterz ...

2003protege 07-01-2008 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz (Post 39848)
Well guys the Vibe is well on its way to hitting 50mpg, with a single tank high of 49+.

*jealous!*

keep up the good work!

wagonman76 07-01-2008 01:10 PM

Thats excellent. Ive been pretty impressed with your fuel log as well. Would you say there is any one thing that gave the most mpg gain?

trikkonceptz 07-01-2008 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wagonman76 (Post 40014)
Thats excellent. Ive been pretty impressed with your fuel log as well. Would you say there is any one thing that gave the most mpg gain?


Yep, slowing down and over inflating my tires (seriously driving techniques help the most) Now its a game so the rest is for pure bragging rights.)

Then comes the Acetone

Then the EOCing

Everything else yielded 1mpg here and there.

Wheel skirts, mirror deletes, bellypan and Kam spoiler next ...

Then I lower it ...

trikkonceptz 07-09-2008 03:12 PM

Body Shop Mods
 
Well guys, first let me apologize for not having more pics other than the finished shots, to be honest, pics of me sanding and the pieces of plastic I used would not make for a good pic album anyhow. These mods however come with a great story, of course ...

This day started with me trolling for a bumper to hack up and weld to my existing front end. So the plan was simple, head out to a U-pick and grab a suitable numper and get to work. Well, my buddy and I head out from the shop and jump on I-95 to head to the U-pick when he yealls STOP, PULL OVER !! Sure enough, on the entrance ramp to the highway was a bumper than someone left behind from an accident earlier in the morning. We looked it over and realized that it would be perfect for the job. So we threw it in the trunk and the rest as they say is history.

For the record this mod is no more practical that the aluminum I had, however, I am someone who strives to have a good looking vehicle no matter what, so I thought the effort was worth the expense. Total cost in materials, $75 + a full day of sanding and prep work. This mod would easily run $400 if dropped off at a body shop you trusted. Next week I fill in the fogs and hopefully paint the entire front end ...

Enjoy the montage of phases this grill has gone through..

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...e/IMG_0632.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...e/IMG_0654.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...e/DSCF0628.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...e/DSCF0630.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...e/DSCF0629.jpg

dremd 07-09-2008 06:21 PM

You going to air brush a grill on that? :-)

trikkonceptz 07-09-2008 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dremd (Post 42487)
You going to air brush a grill on that? :-)

The funny thing is that I thought of that very same thing the first time I stepped back and saw it. Now I wonder how many people would bust a knuckle checking to see if it was real.

i_am_socket 07-10-2008 09:29 AM

This would be a good paint job:

http://spidermouse.us/modding/Car/vibe.jpg

:thumbup:

MazdaMatt 07-10-2008 10:08 AM

Can you elaborate on the details of what you did? You said you found a bumper on the side of hte road, was it a bumper for your make and model car and you used it to mod up, or did you cut it up for pieces or what? Looks pretty stylin', i'd say. Good work.

2003protege 07-10-2008 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz (Post 42435)

That is just an incredible pressure reduction over stock. Looks great!

trikkonceptz 07-10-2008 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MazdaMatt (Post 42715)
Can you elaborate on the details of what you did? You said you found a bumper on the side of hte road, was it a bumper for your make and model car and you used it to mod up, or did you cut it up for pieces or what? Looks pretty stylin', i'd say. Good work.

We literally found a bumper on the highway, I believe it was from a Nissan Maxima, the previous generation to current. the flat portion of the bumper happen to be wide enough to fill the gap and the underside curve of the bumper was perfect to make the flat top that sits over the radiator support.

Heck even the bumper curve worked out well against the Vibe. Once cut we used a 2 part plastic repair epoxy sold by SEM to bond the two plastics, after that, it was just light putty and primer. I will repeat the process again next week when I do the fogs, this time though I'll bring the camera .. LOL

MazdaMatt 07-10-2008 11:16 AM

very nicely done. I've been thinking that I would never want to cover up my fogs, but then i realized... every time i turn on my fog lights in the fog, i can't see as well anyway. they are totally pointless. Still not sure if i want to mess with it though. I guess since my bumper is cracked, I might as well, as I'd source a new one if i ever sold the car. Its a mazda... i'll probably own it for 15 years, if gas doesn't go out of style.

Daox 07-10-2008 11:26 AM

That looks amazing. I've been wanting to cover up the two holes on the bottom of the Paseo's bumper for a while now. I was planning on getting another bumper and doing some plastic welding, but if this epoxy works good enough I don't see any reason to go through that hassle. How did you maintain the curve so well? Did you need to bend the plastic or did it just match up good?

trikkonceptz 07-10-2008 12:18 PM

On the Vibe flat plastic would have worked out just as well, however this bumper has a slight curve to it that just lined up perfectly with the Vibe's lines, funny part it, the right side of the bumper is the left side of the grille and vice versa. This epoxy is plastic, it is made to bond 2 different types of plastic together, is sandable and hardens just like plastic, so it flexes too.

It is expensive, the tube set cost me $50.00 and I about used all of it on the grille. It also has a set time of under 2 minutes, so you need to work really fast or else.

Just as a note to you guys I did not cover the original grille, the inlays I used fit just inside the holes after removing the plastic ones, so it sat flush with the bumper, minimizing the amount of prep work I needed to do. It's just amazing how different it looks once primered.

The fogs may be more challenging, but I will know for sure when I start it again on Tuesday.

All I can say about it is this ... These past 2 days I have had to run without EOC because of a dying battery, so despite idling and neutral coasting I am achieving the same numbers now as when I was EOCing, so I will go out on a limb and say it is working better than the previous version I had on there.

I'll know for sure in a couple of tanks.

MetroMPG 07-10-2008 01:10 PM

That looks like really good work. The brand engineers won't like it though!

wagonman76 07-10-2008 01:12 PM

Amazing work! Looks great and I bet it will work out well too.

MazdaMatt 07-10-2008 01:13 PM

"Brand engineers"... as an engineer that term offends me. Call them what they are, marketters. The engineers behind these vehicles probably prefer to see their hard work, that was ruined by a marketter, being fixed by a hypermiler.

trikkonceptz 07-17-2008 05:39 PM

OK this week was a wash because it was raining all day and I could get very little done. However here is a picture of the pieces that are being molded in.

Please note how much lower I am setting it to the ground. I want it to act as a deflector leaving only the center open for breathing and passing air under the car. Don't worry I'll have enough clearance too ...

Is this wrong? Should I just trim it to the size of the bumper and say screw it? BTW the red is a base coat and not the finished product and yes I am going to have an Ecomodder wrench made as a vinyl and put on that new grille block ...

BTW, another bumper courtesy of I-95, what a resource for recycled plastic ... LOL

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...e/DSCF0634.jpg

RiseAbove 07-17-2008 07:56 PM

Looks much nicer than my mismatched color coroplast blocker.

elhigh 07-17-2008 08:23 PM

I found mention of a material called Shape Lock - a super-low-melt plastic, I think it's a high density polyethylene. It melts in hot water and you can mold it however you like. You could use that to mold a cap or plug to fill the gap at the top of your hatch.

I don't know where to find it; maybe a local craft shop like Michael's or Hobby Lobby? I know you can get it from a couple of Web suppliers.

Obviously the top of your car is going to be entirely too hot for this stuff to stand up to, but once you've molded the part you want, you could then cast plaster around the part, then make the part up from a more durable material using the plaster cast.

You'd think the manufacturers would maybe anticipate folks not wanting draggy roof racks on their cars, but nooo!

RiseAbove 07-17-2008 08:43 PM

I see an aftermarket potential for wheel skirts and custom front grille covers. Wonder if anyone is making them yet?

ROFL Box 07-19-2008 09:52 PM

Ya just couldnt leave the smiley license plate at home could you?

MetroMPG 07-19-2008 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RiseAbove (Post 45089)
I see an aftermarket potential for wheel skirts and custom front grille covers. Wonder if anyone is making them yet?

They're being made for the Prius now. I saw my first set of aftermarket pro-quality skirts on a Prius today.

Arminius 07-19-2008 10:55 PM

Grill covers for the Prius are pretty easy to find on the web. The price is usually outrageous, however.

bbjsw10 07-19-2008 11:06 PM

Excellent grill block, looks great. Nice find on the bumpers too, kinda like there were put there for you to find.

atomicradish 07-20-2008 06:18 AM

What did you hit with the right front bumper? lol

It looks great. It kind of looks lost without the Pontiac symbol though. Are you gonna put that back on?

(that probably makes no sense)

What are those on the underside of the bumper? Vortex generators? Air channels??

I wonder what kind of effect they have on the drag on the car..... hmmm...

trikkonceptz 07-23-2008 03:51 PM

Well here is the next installment of the front reconstruction of the Vibe. This mod looks mean, I'm calling the car the Pontiac Mantis. It'll be a couple of weeks before I can get back to the body shop to finish this, but hey, it's on, it's strong and I have a couple of weeks worth of testing to see how it performs. In addition, I deleted the passenger side mirror, which is not noticeable in the pics. So Enjoy ...

Now here is my question. My own tests aside, would it be better to completely seal the front end lower skirt or leave the scarab like pinchers in the front .. LOL

Laterz

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...e/DSCF0641.jpg
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...e/DSCF0642.jpg

MazdaMatt 07-23-2008 03:55 PM

Hahaha... well done! that looks great, and yes, Mantis is its new name.

justpassntime 07-23-2008 04:08 PM

2 Attachment(s)
I friggin like the looks of that! Kinda reminds me of a car I once had....

Turbo 4Cyl, 5 speed, got 26-28 mpg


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