New here,
Hoping we have some Vue members still about. I guess I will give you all the overview of the Vue over my first year of ownership.

Got my 2004 Vue about a year ago. I am the 2nd owner. The original owner is a dear friend & was unable to keep up with multiple cars as he advanced in age. He was sending the Vue & the 93 caddy to the scrap yard as they needed too much & no one wanted to buy them. Both are solid cars, just needed some TLC. I ended up with both. He gave me the view as payment for helping them move a state away & the Caddy I plan to get up & running & sell for him.

The Vue has the 3.5L Honda motor had 265K or so when I got it & it needed darn near everything, lol. It had been garage kept in the South, so the frame was pristine. The body had a mixed bag of scratches & scrapes, but nothing bad. Body would just need a refresh, but for a 20 year old vehicle, it was amazing. I took it to the shop & got its 100k services caught up & trans fluid swap to start. Mechanic also did one motor mount as well that was destroyed while he was in there. That cleared up the 11 CELs it had stored. The last one was the gas cap. Funny how they ALL need NEW "GM" gas caps or they trip that evap code. I then went on the to maintenance I could do myself. Struts, shocks, new tires, tie rod ends, new Megan lowering springs, frt & rear sway bar bushings & end links. (I'm sure I'm forgetting something)

While the car was originally at the mechanic, I went to the junkyard to look for a matching wheel, so I could have a matched full size spare if I ever needed it. I don't trust donuts past a short commute. Well that lead to a VERY lucky score at the junkyard. I was able to find a Vue in the matching red. Bonus, it also had the lower door cladding & a good wheel with a brand new tire. The junkyard car has all good panels except the nose, passenger fender & rear bumper. Coincidentally those were the only parts not scratched up on mine. It was meant to be, so I stripped the body skins I needed for mine. I went back a few times getting odds & ends off that car. I think I would have been better off buying ($ wise) the whole parts car. LOL I learned about the inner dew wipe issues & found felt versions at the yards. Then I stumbled on a set of Hybrid 5 spoke wheels on an equinox & it had a compatible underbody Curt trainer hitch. All 4 tires were less then 5 years old & were in good shape. The tires on the Vue presently were marginal & simply swapping to the hybrids was cheaper then buying a set of 4 tires & getting them installed. I refurbished those wheels & they turned out great. I went to the other junkyard & found a black Vue & swiped its roof trim & C-pillars. (my red ones were chipped up & I still have not found a good red set) But I like the two tone. I found a set of color matched red mirrors on ebay & the body was now looking near mint again. I polished up the OEM headlights & found a set up the Uber rare tyc tail lights. Also found the mud flaps & rear bumper step pad. I went after the faded grey cladding with Jax Wax's new offering Black trim renew. This stuff is awesome & it made the ashy cladding look OEM new again. The treatment lasted a solid 6 month before it began to faded slightly, I left it alone & rode it out to a year & the grey plastics still looked better then when I acquired the car. I eventually found a red 06-07 with a good red rear bumper & upgraded to it.

I had a free flow master 40 series muffler , so I got the whole exhaust system off that junkyard red Vue. I removed mine & put it up for a rainy day & cut up the junkyard system. I kept the resonator, but deleted the small muffler & replaced the larger rear muffler with the Flow master. Nice rumble without being obnoxious. Then I built my own intake system. The injen version that replaced the factory air box & moved the filter under the headlight was discontinued & the K&N was stupid expensive now. It was more economical to build my own to combine the 2 systems into 1. Then I found an engine cover from the other 3.2L & 3.5L platforms & modded that to fit. While I was removing the factory air silencer for my air intake, I also upgraded the horns to a full GM 4 note system like back on the older big body sedans.

Then I moved on to the interior. I got the early model upper black center console, as mine was the sliver that peeled & looked aweful. I found a new OEM steering wheel & swapped that in as mine also had the silver portion peeling off. Then I found some dash trim overlays to dress it up a bit. It already had the nice OEM leather package & added upgraded sound system with the amp & sub. I'm leaving that alone for now, but the amp is def problematic. I bought a redline gas pedal off ebay & found some matching covers that were close enough for the brake pedal. I also made a dead pedal that matched. I found a good 06-07 lower center console to upgrade to. Better cup holder location & more interior storage for the win.

Then while junkyarding, I found my first redline. It was a black 04 frt end was destroyed & the interior was tan & destroyed. I managed to salvage the rear & side redline pieces & 3 wheels. I also got the painted rear license cover & tailgate handle. It took some time & I found another redline, also an 04. I got a nose, the 4th wheel & another set of side skirts & rear bumper. The rear bumpers & side skirts can not be gotten new, so spares are a must. Then a member on the FB group said he saw an 06-07 redline at a yard I don't go to very often. He said the interior was complete & in great conditions. Body was trashed. I ran over & stripped the black interior. The carpet was stained & badly faded, so I did not get it. Once I sort out the wiring conversion for the seats, they will be ready to use in my 04. At the one year mark of my ownership, I added the redline side skirts & hyperdiped the grey plastics piano black. I refinished the redline wheels & painted them black with red inserts to match my current body colors. I also added a 2016 ish Camaro factory spoiler to the frt bumper as a lip till I can get the redline bumpers painted.

Ok so that is about the gist of it so far. Figured this was the best time to just do the download. LOL

I will add pictures in a bit.... just ran out of time at lunch. LOL

Shannon

 

Welcome.

I'm trying to figure out in my mind if the resultant vehicle actually still resembles a Saturn Vue. With equinox wheels and the Camaro spoiler in the front. It's going to need counseling to reconcile its body image dysmorphia. Hope you're saving up.

 

Welcome to the forum. It sounds like you've done a LOT of work to that Vue. I sure hope it serves you well.