Sort of a build thread. Sort of a classified ad. In the tradition of starting a build thread before purchase, here is a classified ad before purchase...
Just hours ago, todays Salvage auction netted me this:
with this problem:
I'm already $2k into the car. It sold at my high end but aside from the new ugly marks this was a REALLY nice car. Well equipped including AWD at only 67k miles. Very clean interior and great tires too. I expect to have $1k in my time and parts. I have hopes of a $3,500 sale price.
I might even pick it up later today.
This one is deja vu of a '06 Pontiac Vibe rebuild that I did at the end of last year.
Who needs a car for a High School/College age kid?
Well, I do have a friend who was needing an AWD vehicle for her kid in Montana; where are you located?
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
No where near Montana is the easy answer. Sandusky, Ohio and that seems to be 1,600 miles to the center of Montana.
If I was smart, this is exactly what I should buy for a reliable second car. I really want a "set it and forget it" nice beater that I'm not ashamed of but don't care too much about.
Problem being, I keep considering Miatae, WRXs, and the like.
I've already made the head vs. heart call with the daily, I need to convince myself that it's the correct option here as well.
In reply to Tactical Penguin :
Look for Vibe GTs. Those have more HP out of the 1.8L and a manual trans while still being a wagon and high on the appliance scale.
I picked the car up today. Being a AWD model it wasn't going to tow dolly so I made the decision to just drive it home. I have to say, it drives like a car w/67k miles!
The awd models are know for noise at the rear diff. This one seems a little extra loud. Link to DIY video for future review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOd40uoc1SU
Looking at the oil change sticker, the car is due for a change at 70,927 or 8/22/19. If that is 3k or 3 months then the car likely had a change 67,927 or 5/22/19. If that is 5k or 5 months then the car likely had a change at 65.927 or 3/22/19. The car currently has 67,382. Either way, the oil was either changed 500 miles ago or 2,500 miles ago. Big win either way. The sticker also says that the car was serviced at Chevy/Toyota Dealer. Later I plan to call them and see if the can share me records and tell me if there are any outstanding recalls. Furthermore, the tires are all Goodyears and all with a code date of 28th week of '18. Given the dealer service, the cleanliness, the fresh tires and the Delco Brand battery. I have a suspicion that this car was sold as a used car at the dealership less than a year ago.
Excited about the car I started to tear into it right away. I removed some interior trim and with the use of a heat gun from the inside and boiling hot water from the outside I tried to make the metal as pliable as possible. I managed to make a better than 50% reduction in the side dent by pushing on the warm metal with my foot as I sat in the cargo area.
Before:
After:
During:
As for a matching silver bumper cover the only I could find is 2 hrs away. I went to work at saving the one I have. The technique here is to remove, pour boiling water to the inside and step on the inside to re-form. Worked great!
After:
The bumper is far from perfect but it will be quickly, easily and cheaply legal for inspection once I purchase a white back up light.
Called the dealership. Sure enough, the car had 4 tires put on in August 2018 at 61k miles when they had the car on their used lot.
The title has on the name of the previous owner and googling goes to:
Graduate Student--MA in Cross-Cultural and International Education, Bowling Green State University
Previous: Ann Arbor, Michigan
The Ann Arbor jives with the Ann Arbor Soccer stickers on the car.
My small town has a scrap metal place that keeps a few cars around for U-Pull-It. When I say a few it really was about 8 cars and 8 trucks. But, I'll-be, they had a Vibe (sadly not in silver) but $20 tail lamp, $10 back up lamp and $1 each plastic so I got my black plastic top bumper support and a front plate bracket.
$34.16 w/tax
Elsewhere like car-part.com I was seeing tail lights from $40-$100. Back up lights from $20-$50. The cheapest I had found on that small black plastic bumper support was $17.99. So, nearly $100 in parts for $34. Yeah.
You do some pretty cool work ;)
In reply to Billy_Bottle_Caps :
Thanks Billy.
Billy was the buyer of my 04 Prius project which was a very similar project. Seems like a happy customer.
A little minor progress tonight. Got the replacement tail lamp mounted.
With the help of more boiling water to soften the plastic and some harbor freight tiny pry bars I converted a sharp edge, outward gash into a much smoother inward gash.
Before:
During:
After:
Here's what life is like on a Sunday morning at The Welsh's...
About another hour dedicated to the project of getting the bumper back on and interior trim reinstalled.
About 98‰ done with as good as its gonna get. I still need to pick up a fingernail paint sized of touch up paint to quickly address 3 small areas.
At this point the car is legal for state inspection. 
$80 has acquired me an entire rear hatch in the correct color. Removed for me and waiting at the very local yard's front counter. They even properly saved the wiring harness.
John Welsh said:
In reply to Billy_Bottle_Caps :
Thanks Billy.
Billy was the buyer of my 04 Prius project which was a very similar project. Seems like a happy customer.
That is an understatement! Amazing car, and amazing guy to deal ith. Can't say enough positive about the transaction. GRM is the only place I would ever send money to someone I have never met, and feel not the least bit worried about the outcome. Amazing group of people here. This is truly a special place in the world.
BBC
Very minor update.
I got to thinking about the hatch install (which I have not done yet) and the idea hit me that I should also change over the hatch lock cylinder so the hatch can be unlocked w/ a key. I somewhat wondered if I would really need a key for the hatch given the car's electric lock feature.
Then another idea hit me so while I was over in that part of town, already near the JY that I got the hatch from... I stopped in and asked them if they could spare an ignition key from the Vibe my hatch came from. The car did have two keys so they gave me one for free. Now I have the option to not change the hatch lock if I want and just be a two key car (like cars used to be) with a different key for the trunk than the ignition. In those old days one key used to be square and the other round. In this case I should be able to place a score/mark on the trunk key to denote it's difference.
This Friday the Vibe goes to the state for inspection. Due to time, it is likely headed there with the dented hatch still on the car.
Does Ohio allow people to bid on salvage auctions without a dealer license?
In reply to minivan_racer :
Yes, which is how I do it.
John Welsh said:
In reply to minivan_racer :
Yes, which is how I do it.
Woah. I always assumed the dealer license thing. This news is bad for my marriage.
In reply to ebelements :
waiting for build thread....
In reply to ebelements :
I have written extensively on the topic for the past couple of years and maybe a dozen cars.
Here is a thread that should get you started on what I know and think I know. Most of my build threads link at some point to the next acquisition so if you start with the Montero you should be able to find them all.
Yesterday, Friday, the Vibe passed its state inspection. She now has a good title so it's time to get serious about selling.
Seems that it will need the rear diff bearing service detailed in the video I posted earlier in this link. The parts arrived today.
A little humor with those parts. The online genuine GM and the Toyota site both had the same exploded diagrams (exact picture), for parts but where the Toyota site diagram might have 16 parts and part numbers shown in that diagram, GM site would have the same 16 part but have part numbers to about 7.
Needless to say, GM is not supporting Pontiac Parts that well 10 years after the demise of Pontiac and certainly not supporting the Pontiac that was a Toyota.
So, I ordered off a Toyota site. The ordering was easy but after the order went in I got an automated response to please provide a VIN. I suspect this is to verify that you have the less common awd option. So, I provided my GM vin and small explanation. The next day I still had not gotten confirmation of order release so I called the number they provided which went easy.
Do you still have this car?
I know you're planning on flipping the car, but honestly they are great. My mom went to a buy here pay here to try and get a car and I pushed her towards an 03 vibe AWD and it's been a great little car. I believe she only had one issue with it and I can't recall what it was which means it probably wasn't major.
In reply to saruken :
I do still have it.
It is currently at the shop. The coupler bearings are loud and having them replaced. This is the procedure in the video I posted.
If you are interested, contact me directly...
Jwelsh02...yahoo...
