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

[cfg83]

Tango Charlie -

It's mods like yours that make we want to get a used 1st-gen Vibe.

CarloSW2

[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.

[Tango Charlie]

I drive north on the way home from work, so the sun shines in my left eye. It's not nice. The stock visor is just short enough so that even with it flipped over to the side window, the sun still shines in in my eye. I have to hunch forward to escape it.

So today I took a leftover scrap of coroplast and made a driver-side sun visor extension. At first I thought I was gonna be crafty and slip it in the strap on the backside of the visor. But I soon realized that its additional thickness would prevent the visor from flipping up against the headliner properly. So I stuck it to the front side of the visor with three strips of the 3M double-sided weatherstripping tape.

I'll just have to remember to duck as I swing it over to the side...

Okay, so it doesn't directly save gas. But it improves comfort, allowing me to concentrate on my FE driving techniques. Yeah, that's it.

[bbjsw10]

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.

That my friend is a Wolf spider. A lot of them here in Ohio too. They don't like my size 12.

[trikkonceptz]

Originally Posted by Tango Charlie

Trik, (you don't mind me calling you Trik, do you?) I think I have the same console as you. It's too tall, isn't it?
I'm currently all out of coroplast, so no wheelskirts planned for the immediate future. Besides, I'm not exactly sure how to fair them in to the rear bumper. It's not real obvious in this picture, but the tire sticks out enough that it would be a pretty sharp bend on the aft side of the wheel well.

Na, most all my friends in the show car world call me Trik, anyhow, yes the armrest is to tall and is begining to cause shoulder problems for me. As far as those front fogs, they are more complicated to make that you may think. That part of the bumper has a compound curve that many materials do not like to make. Thats why in the end I went with covering the entire section of the bumper with a scrap bumper I found on the hwy, it actually was easier. And as far as those wheels skirts go, after I lower the vibe I may get more clearance from the rear wheels letting me make a more traditional wheel skirt instead of one that looks like a partial bumper.

[nasoj007]

It actually looks better with the grill block than it did without.
Nice job, I may actually try a grill block on my Civic.

[Tango Charlie]

Thanks for all the nice comments, guys. I really like the way it turned out, too. And thanks for the inclusion in the weekly roundup, Benjamin!

What to do next...what to do next....

[Daox]

Looks great!

[Tango Charlie]

Hokay. Here's another installment.

This past weekend I took the kids to Chicago for a fun day out. We took the El.



Not real aerodynamic, are they? But it's a nice relaxing way to get to Chicago. From South Bend to the Shedd Aquarium in two and half hours.

Back to Olivia. (Isn't anyone gonna ask why she's named Olivia?)
Here's a shot of the sun visor extension I mentioned earlier.



It works well, except that it tends to obscure the rear view mirror when flipped down in the normal position. I typically only use it swung over to the side for the late afternoon sun on the way home from work. You can also see my modded GDO. Actually, the button broke so I just replaced it with a Radio Shack special I had laying around.

I reinforced the upper lip of the grille block with a coat hanger. Bent it into an appropriate shape and secured it with some bolts/nuts through a couple existing holes in the upper radiator frame.





My last fill up calculated out at 41 mpg. Yes! If I can string together a couple of those, I can declare my Goal as Officially Reached.

Then set another one.

[Daox]

Nice. I like the coat hanger idea. Congrats on 41!