Matt’s 1

Matt’s 1990 1.8 BP Festiva

Matt’s 1990 Festiva rebuild has been watched with much interest on the forums. Matt has put a lot of work into this beautiful, little speed demon. He has also been very good at keeping the rest of us up to date on his progress. For that we all thank him. Kind of wonder how many other projects he has inspired.

To appreciate how far Matt’s project has come, we have to go back to the beginning.

Matt’s 1990 Festiva

Looks like pretty much any other light blue festy on the road. Big changes are coming. Matt’s plans were to install a 1.8 BP, from a 1993 Mercury Tracer LTS.

1.8 BP

First order of business was pulling the engine out of his festy, and test-fitting the engine.

Test-fitting the 1.8 BP

Much cutting, and gutting were required to make the new engine fit in a much smaller space than it came from.

The firewall had to be cut. The ECU from the donor car had to be installed; custom engine mounts had to be fabricated. Matt then drove the car briefly, before putting the car back in the garage for a complete tear-down.

Thing of beauty, isn’t it?

Aside from the engine replacement, Matt pretty much rebuilt this car from the ground up! Aside from the engine, the car boasts an Aspire brake upgrade, with KYB GR2 struts and FMS lowering springs.

VW Jazz Blue Festiva

After shooting some color onto the car, Matt began the process of putting the car back together. In the forums, Matt did an awesome job of walking us through the painting process.

Engine back in the car.

The process of putting the engine back in the car was a delicate one, with great effort taken not to scratch the new paint. Note the custom painted, FORD valve cover. Matt then turned his attention to swapping the Aspire brake system onto his Festiva. It seems no detail was missed in this project.

Aspire hub, and FMS springs

Custom Grill Mesh

Matt’s Interior

Note the battery had to be relocated to the rear of the car.

The Finished Project-1990 1.8 BP Festiva

Matt added 14 inch wheels from a 1995 Miata. Wrapping those wheels are 165/65/14 Bridgestone tires. He then added smooth tail lights from an 88 Festiva.

Matt estimates that this project cost him in time around 300 hours, with a lot of nights and weekends consumed. Nearly 40 hours just in sanding needed to end up with that baby-smooth paint job. He says the project, in total, has cost around $2800, including the initial cost of the car.

Matt is quite satisfied with the results of this project. Unbelievably, he is already contemplating his next project, but I’ll let him tell you about that.

Congratulations Matt, on your Awesome 140HP Festiva!

Article by S. Ward (Batstiva)

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