Festiva Tranny Weak

[piratewilly]

So after doing about $1100 dollors worth of work to my festy i found out that my transmission (5 speed) has a small crack in the housing that somebody JB welded and is now leaking again. I went ahead and JB welded it again but now im not gonna feel safe with the car. I know that the housing tend to be kinda weak on the festiva, what a better transmission i can put in there, a 323? The engine runs so good and doesn't even have 100k on it yet, but would it be easier if i just went with like a complete swap

[lastplace]

leaking fluid isnt the only problem you're gunna have. its cracked cuz the gears sets are pushing away from each other and the crack will just continue to grow until the tranny is completely useless

[piratewilly]

leaking fluid isnt the only problem you're gunna have. its cracked cuz the gears sets are pushing away from each other and the crack will just continue to grow until the tranny is completely useless

yeah, i dont know much about the internal workings of a transmission, but i am mechanically incline and i know things dont just happen. I know that the crack is an indication of something else going on inside, so anyways what do u suggest? stock tranny replace?

[wrestler3025]

Or the crack could be from someone trying to remove stubborn cv axles by prying on the case with a crowbar or other tool a little too vigorously.

[joebreck117]

another thing that i just happen to have on the festy i'm parting out...
problem is i'm probably a couple months from pulling the engine and shipping it would be helllll

Joe

[piratewilly]

Or the crack could be from someone trying to remove stubborn cv axles by prying on the case with a crowbar or other tool a little too vigorously.

I actually do think that is the case, cause i had the clutch replaced about a year ago and i know thats how the guy took the axels out. The guy was an idiot and i shouldn't have let him touch the car, but at the time it wasn't my car so i didn't care, either way there is a crack that had been sealed with JB weld. The guy i took it too now said it was leaking from where the JB weld was originally put on, but the guy who replaced the clutch hadn't filled the tranny all the way up with fluid so that it wouldn't leak, and when my new guy did the work on my car he filled it to the proper level and thats what exposed the leak. He suggested just putting a few more layers of JB on, so hopefully it will hold up ha

[nonamekid]

If you still have the stock engine, I would just put another festiva tranny in it. You shouldn't need to upgrade it.

[wrestler3025]

If you still have the stock engine, I would just put another festiva tranny in it. You shouldn't need to upgrade it.

I'm with nonamekid on this one. If it's the stock engine and you don't plan on doing an engine swap anytime soon, I would just put another festiva tranny in. I would try grinding off the old JB weld(be careful not to damage the transmission) degrease the area really well and give the JB weld another shot. Prep is important though. Having a good surface to bond to doesn't hurt. Good luck.

[festurbo]

Or just try to get an Aspire 5 speed transmission. Since you want to keep the B3 this trans. will give you better acceleration and it wil have newer components than an older Festiva 5 speed. It should be a straight swap,someone correct me if I am wrong.

[FB71]

Aspire trans case is slightly different (and widely considered to be weaker), and requires some customizing to the front trans mount to work in a Festy. The lower final drive ratio will also throw off your speedo reading by several MPH.

[FestYboy]

jim, if i'm not mistaken, the aspire trans uses the same 90 tooth speedo ring that's in the festiva... so in that case, no speedo worries.

also, if it's weaker, then why have the ribs on the case?

[Damkid]

Or the crack could be from someone trying to remove stubborn cv axles by prying on the case with a crowbar or other tool a little too vigorously.

I've done this and didn't realize it, then i drove the tranny 3 hours from home to change it for a member here, once i got the old tranny out, i noticed the crack on the tranny i was about to put in, i wasn't too happy that day

[FB71]

jim, if i'm not mistaken, the aspire trans uses the same 90 tooth speedo ring that's in the festiva... so in that case, no speedo worries.

also, if it's weaker, then why have the ribs on the case?

I'm not saying the cases are weaker, I'm just relaying opinions I've read here. Ribs are often cast in to offset thinning of the housing.

Yes, it uses the same speedo gear, but that is the problem. The Aspire has a taller tire to offset the lower final drive. To correct the speedo error, the driven gear would have to have additional teeth to slow the output. Otherwise, the speedo reads about 10% higher than original.

[FestYboy]

umm the ring gear spins at wheel speed, so if the speedo gear is the same, you'll still read the same road speed, but your RPMs for whatever gear you're in will be different. right? knowing that, the differance in tire hight between festy and aspire STOCK sizes is .5" (not that much, and i still contest that the festy speedo is off with the 12" tires)

it'll be darn close

[getnpsi]

My tires are 9% taller than stock in my aspire. So that is what a festiva feels like? What a dog. No wonder engine swaps are so much more popular than on the other forum.