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

[Tango Charlie]

Thanks! Yeah, I was pretty stoked. 44.76 is my highest tank yet.

In town I pulse and glide a lot. Hammer away from the stop and coast up to the next light or stop sign. I don't key off in town, though, for safety. Just push the clutch in and coast, or downshift and harness the awesomeness of DFCO. Absolutely love my manual.
Anticipate. Watch ahead for changing lights and traffic.
DWL when the next stop is not within coasting distance.
I don't get in a hurry to get somewhere. I used to be very concerned with motorists behind me, but now I nearly giggle when a SUV is on my bumper. You get used to it. It's a good vent for my rampant passive aggressiveness.

[MarkM66]

Originally Posted by Tango Charlie

Hi, knowbodies, welcome to ecomodder!
No, the visor doesn't slide. I wish it did.

That's weird. The visors on my '04 Vibe slide.

It actually took me awhile to figure that out, .

[Tango Charlie]

The other evening I was picking up my oldest son at the High School. As I pulled into the drive, I heard a "whappitty-whappitty-whappitty" noise coming from the right rear tire. The first thought that jumped into my head was, "Dang you, Weather Spotter!"
I pulled over and took a look. Here I had run over some kid's earbuds, and the miniplug end had wedged in the tread. The earpiece ends were obliterated. The vinyl tubing was still intact as ever on the discs.

I had used some hard plastic tubing as spacers between the lugnuts and the backside of the discs. I didn't really like this set up, as the plastic tubing felt like it was being squished as I tightened the screws. So I bought some aluminum tubing and cut spacers to replace them.
When I removed the discs, I found that dirt and grime had gotten under the vinyl tubing on the discs, and had worn into the finish on my alloys. Drats! Maybe I should seal the juncture of wheel/tubing with some silicone sealant.

I still plan on ABA testing the discs. Just waiting for a calm evening when it's not; a) raining b) snowing or c) freezing. Stupid Northern Indiana weather.

[TheMarkofPolo]

I think you're going to have fun looking for a good time to test in the immediate future...
Chance of rain here EVERY day for the next week. Bad for trying to remove my Vibe's roof racks. But good for gathering data on the thesis project.

[Tango Charlie]

This one was a long time coming. I finally got some clear plastic covers on the fog light buckets.

This is the material I used;



I drilled some weep holes to let out moisture;



Here's how it looks;

[Weather Spotter]

looks good, I do not have fog lights so just covered it up with metal painted to match.

[TheMarkofPolo]

Looks fantastic.
Good idea with the moisture outlets. But do you have any concern with the bulbs overheating?
I know in the winter when I use them the snow melts away quickly.

[Tango Charlie]

No, I'm not concerned. I only use them when it's cold and foggy. Or cold and snowy. If it becomes an issue, I'll deal with it then.

In other news... I just loaded up the family and drove out to Idaho over the course of three days.
Covered 1,623 miles and burned 42.31 gallons of gas. That's 38.36 mpg.
Not bad considering the humongimistic MOUNTAINS that they grow out here. Gosh, I miss the flatlands of Indiana!
Hopefully I can repeat this feat on the way home in a week and a half.

[ojman873]

Awesome mileage! I bet you'll get even better on the return trip with the net elevation loss.

[Tango Charlie]

Originally Posted by ojman873

How much of a mileage improvement have you noticed since installing the wheel covers? Is it measurable (with the scangauge of course)?

Finally got around to doing some proper ABA testing on the pizza pans. Since seeing the disturbing results of the tuft tests, I was primarily concerned with the front wheel covers. The results; the front pizza pan wheel covers provide a verifiable 2 mpg improvement. Color me happy.