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My Lil' Vibe

This is my first car, was going to have one when i passed my test almost 3 years ago, but every insurance company i looked at wanted £2.5k+ to cover me on any corsa/micra etc.

Had it for a year now and it has served me well!!

It's a 1996 1L Vibe 3DR, done 44k since new!

Only after subtle exterior mods, or basic/minor power mods, as my mother wont let me do anymore as it is on her insurance and dont want anything which i will have to declare on insurance, as its high enough already with directline!!

To Do List So Far,

Engine Bay steam cleaned to get rid of 14 years of muck, **** and small pets which have been sucked up :laugh:
De-rust front Disks
De-rust front Callipers
De-rust rear Drums
Scrape down all steelies
Paint Callipers, Drums and Steelies black
Fit Super S Clocks (with my odo replaced in it) as i want a rev counter :D
Spray front grill entrances black, and fit mesh behind
Monster energy sticker same size as my fuel filler cap, but cut around keyhole.....why not :D
Wire up some new front & rear speakers when i get them...ones i have now are **** above 20 on my headunit :(
t-cut and wax whole car

1 thing i do want to do, is lower it slightly, but dont want to cut springs but also dont want to use 50mm springs as this will be too low, I dont know how low 35mm ones will make it.
Gonna' be using stock 13" steelies for a while, as just had new tyres put on them...stupid idea as i wanted alloys :(

Also, i think it is called a rocker cover, the top part of the engine if i remove this and spray it silver (using high temp paint to be sure it doesnt fade etc.), will i need a new gasket as isnt that the seal between the top cover and bottom parts?? want to do this as it is cover in blemishes and want it nice and clean looking.
Also on the same topic of blemished bits under bonnet, at the bottom of the engine behind the radiator, i have a casing for i think a manifold, how would i take this off so i can give it a proper de-grease/rust and spray that as well, at is has same problem as above.

will get pics up of interior, exterior and engine tomorrow or tuesday depending on how uni goes :D

Stew
 

sleeper_ss

Ex. Club Member
We like Vibes..
That's the cat your after removing..You'll have a giggle getting that off just to paint it.For some bizzare reason Nissan put 1 bolt the wrong way up...Easier to remove the radiator!Give it a quick wire brush in situ & live with it ;)
 
OP
OP
Stewpotz
cheers for the reply, may do that when i get some free time after uni :D

also is steam cleaning going to damage the car, as my dad was saying that it may get rid of some of the muck
which is holding the car together seeing as though it is that old :(

some more things which i forgot to put up,
sort out my roof, it is full of not so much dints, but if i lean on the roof, it will go down with a nice loud clunk
paint touch up kit, like the ones you get at halfords (3 pens - primer, colour & lacquer) as the colour match they gave me is nowhere near what the colour of the car actually is! - colour code AP0K they gave me cinnabar red but it is far too dark, almost brown!
 

frank

Club Member
my red vibe is APO too stew (K is the trimcode) and i,ve seen it listed as "pearl red"
and i would cover the electrics with carrierbags before steamcleaning the engine bay personally
 
OP
OP
Stewpotz
my red vibe is APO too stew (K is the trimcode) and i,ve seen it listed as "pearl red"
and i would cover the electrics with carrierbags before steamcleaning the engine bay personally

cheers for that, will go into halfords if they have another colour which can fix the damn scratches and scrapes it has picked up over its life, and if they have a t-cut in that colour as well. :D
and i wasnt going to steam it myself, gonna take it down to the local washer and have them do it for me
 
OP
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Stewpotz
decided not to get engine bay steam cleaned...at least not just yet, and went ahead with cleaning it with some engine degrease and some elbow grease...elbow grease first :)
got most of it cleaned apart from those hard to reach places, and front manifold cover (found out it is the manifold behind it not a cat, will get pics up tomorrow) got rid of most of the blemishes from the rocker cover (with degrease and a stiff wire brush, but do want to remove it and give it a coat of paint to make it look nicer.
this morning when i came to start it, it decided it was going to have none of it, tried to start but never sparked and fired up, gave it a good coating of WD-40 on the ht leads on rocker, left for 15mins came back and reluctantly it started. 2nd time in a year which i suppose isn't too bad seeing as how the previous owner never cleaned under the engine so i probably removed the dirt seal around spark plugs :)
removed passenger door card, as it was rattling when the bass kicks in on my stereo, and found that a screw under a black piece of tape, closest to the front of the card was not tightening, so i will need to find a larger threaded screw tomorrow to solve that problem and stop the card from rattling.
removed the drivers door card to have a check under that to see if all was good, and found that the stock blaupunkt speaker had been changed for a grotty looking jbl one, fitted to a rusted baffle, which was fitted awefully! thinking about buying this set of speakers for the front with a 9mm mdf baffle
and i have also found a nice set of alloys, but the size is slightly big,
Tyre size - 195 50 15
Stud Diameter - 4 x 100
Offset - 38
Wheel Width - 6.5j
Wheel Size - 15
would these still fit, as the stock steelies are offset 45, wheel width 6.0 size 13, and i have checked willtheyfit.com, and i get this
 
OP
OP
Stewpotz

Well, Update;

Fitted a new set of edge 306 component speakers, 57mm mounting depth, but fitted perfectly even without a baffle, had to punch 4 new holes in the door though, as these are 4 screw speakers not 3 screw and the screws were much thinner than the stock ones.

Finally fitted Super S clocks..took me 3 days of trying to wire up to the ecu with no luck so went and rubbed the wires from my dizzy, and i found the blue one....covered in grease and dirt. Spliced the casing and wrapped the wire underneath and then tied it around and taped it up. (tried soldering it with a cold heat soldering iron with no success so just gave up!!
took the wire up through passenger footwell and round the back of the centre console up behind steering wheel and stuffed it into the pin holder until it wouldn't move.
SUCCESS...IT FINALLY WORKS!!!!!!

And 1 Quick Question,

Please can someone tell me, if i remove the rocker cover, will i need a new gasket or can i just remove rocker, sand and paint and simply reinstall???

Cheers

Stew
 
OP
OP
Stewpotz
ok, well long time no update ;-)

finally got round to collecting a few bits of bleasdale and after a good natter set off home with my useless phone directing me through bolton town centre to go back to manchester???
Front splitter 90% fitted, just need to secure it in the middle, but it is well secured at each side with some good bolts...no half measures :D
skirts need fitting (look like drain pipes :D)
"ultra" open mouth as bleas put it needs to be sanded down and evened out, primed, sprayed and then new mesh fitted behind it so it looks nice and new
still need to get the wire brush cup out and grind down the rust on the top of front disks and the rear drums & steelies
nice new SR clocks curtesy of mullet all fitted and tried to use seb_'s guide but the pinout which he says to use if i wrap a piece of wire around the cable insides and then run it up to my clocks the tacho still doesnt work so something is wrong somewhere but have no clue where. resorted to wiring straight from dizzy again also, does anyone know if i should fuse the wire from dizzy to tacho?? would rather have a burnt fuse than a burnt out tacho ;-)
some new LED SMD's from ultraleds nice & bright now

need to strip the centre console bit out and give that a nice colourful spray, dont know whether to spray front or back half of the dial cowl and then need to sand and spray a nice patch which was repaired (badly) before i got the car

remove cocker cover and spray that...getting sick of boring dull silver/grey under the bonnet, might need a new gasket as the one on looks quite worn and looks like really bad sealant round the edges, like bathroom sealant when it runs and then sets in big clumps

pics will be up in the morning or afternoon, depends on how bad my hangover is :)
 

Guy

Has gone over to the oily side...
Club Member
I had Spax 35mm on my K11 and they seriously rocked :grinning:.
 
OP
OP
Stewpotz
yeah was going to put springs on seing as though my mates almost rolled my car when we kind of went about 60 round a roundabout with a 70 limit and it almost rolled...scary as ****, directline just laughed at me when i rang up...not 25 so hey wont even consider it and need to stay as i am using my named no claims and nowhere else will take them atm....damn them!! :D
 
OP
OP
Stewpotz
well, due to revision for uni end of year exams and bad weather, not been able to get any pics up but hopefully weather depending will get some today.
changed stereo last night awaiting my new Edge ED7800 amp & another set of Edge ED306 6.5" speakers which are going in the parcel shelf (got these as they are a much shallower mount 20mm shallower so they shouldnt stick out as much compared to 6x9s) where have people mounted there amps in pre facelifts??
also, does anyone else's door cards rattle when you turn the bass up?? have removed the cards and turned the bass up and there is no rattling but when i clip the cars back on, there is a loud rattle from both doors when the bass gets anywhere near a mid level (on a scale of 1-10, the cards start making a noise at about 3-4)

picking up some nice alloys tomorrow from flipside looking perfect just need 2 new tyres on for for next MOT
wire brush and drill are coming out tomorrow to give my drums & disks/callipers a good clean and then spray...what colour do people recon, car is AP0 and alloys are silver...i do like yellow :D
passenger bumpstrip still needs to be removed, and drivers side door needs to be resprayed on the strip, as i couldnt find my ice scraper to remove the gunk left behind so i used a nice sharp kitchen knife...to my mums happiness ;-)

repost a question i posted earlier, where can i get a new rocker gasket, as mine looks quite bad, looks like bad bathroom sealant when it drips and dries in big lumps
also does anyone know of any scrap yards within about 10-15 miles of manchester city centre where i can go for a wander around in, need a few bits and bobs, but cant find any i think there was one in bolton area but not sure if there are others

Stew
 
OP
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Stewpotz
Finally have Some Pics :D

Skirts fitted, splitter tightly screw on in the middle, removed rust from drums, disks & callipers not painted them yet, still wondering which colour to go
car looks lower without lowering it now :D

Image 35, what is the point in that piece of fluffy stuff, cant actually find a reason for it and all it does is gets my hand all greasy when i touch it ;-)

Image 33, what any car needs.....Large Pink Fluffy Dice!!! 5-6cm per side :D

Image 36 Old Filter....Could have swore it was green first time i look at it...must have been drunk :D

Image 34 New filter...Cost me all of £4 posted :D

Picking up alloys tonight which will make it look nicer :D
 

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really im not sure about your understanding here but anywho the rest looks cool :D i used to have dice hanging off the back of my car! i lost them both and ended up with just the string! lols
 
should i give in a wash in warm water if it is coated in oil, dont know part number to get a replacement
EDIT: just read that it is because of the tube going from head cover to airbox, if i get a seperate breather, can i get rid??

Wash in with petrol or get a seperate breahter and plug the hole in the airbox!
 

Shaun

***StaGGeRed***
Also having a mushroom filter myself. notice a lot of heatsoak from the engine and after a while starting to run a little off. :(
 
OP
OP
Stewpotz
i would just throw away the stock airbox and get one of these:

Klick

It does make a small difference (read: it goes faster :p)
not a big fan of the looks of that, just wanted something which will give it a little bit of a better sound, without having to spend some monies :D

ordered a 16mm breather for the rocker hole, which should be here soonish and then it will be carefully modified with a hacksaw and gaffer tape until
the resonator tube has gone, and the tube from the rocker is covered :D

has anyone fit a rear wiper from the later facelift model (looks more like modern wipers) as i dont like the spindly look of the old one and want to mod wiper motor for horizontal and then fit a late facelift wiper

picked up some 13" vauxhall irmscher alloys off flipside and they look lovely, like the sr ones but slightly better looking ;-)
whilst i was there, we had a good look at each others cars and me wanting to paint my rocker cover now...really badly but i will need a new gasket as my old one is shredded to **** and looks like really bad bathroom sealant which has run and doesnt look pretty anymore so does anyone know where i can get a new one, or what i should use instead of one (liquid sealant etc.)

and last but not least, my amp and new speakers arrived today so they will be getting fitted over the weekend, where is the best place to mount an amp? i want it so it is noticable but not obtrusive (so i can still use the boot as a boot) i was thinking of on the back of the rear seat does anyone have a pic of their amp on this??? Amp is an Edge ED7800 4,3,2 (800W Max, 4x 80W RMS @ 4ohm, 4x 100W @ 2ohm, 2x 200W @4ohm) and speakers are Edge ED306 2-Way Component speakers.
 

pollyp

Club Member
If the engine cover gasket hasn't split apart i always degrease the gasket, groove and head surface with brake/carb/alchohol cleaner then apply PU sealant on both sides of gasket.
 
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