Since we can't get different speedo gears, what trans swap will allow bigger wheels?

[htchbck]

I'll put this out there...

I haven't had a speedo in either Festiva since 2008. I drive by the tach and know what speed I'm going based off that. Get whatever tires float your boat, drive by the tach.

For what its worth, when changing overall tire diameters you will also be changing how fast you are actually traveling at any given engine speed (tach reading). So thats not really anymore accurate than the speedo. Plus the factory tachs on these are not extremely accurate to begin with.

[Nerd Racing]

How about a reduction gear box for your brain? If it's 2 MPH off at 50 then it would be one off at 25 and 3 at 75. It's all proportional.

he is more worried about people driving it that do not have that information or do not care to make the adjustment.

[DON SVO]

For what its worth, when changing overall tire diameters you will also be changing how fast you are actually traveling at any given engine speed (tach reading). So thats not really anymore accurate than the speedo. Plus the factory tachs on these are not extremely accurate to begin with.

My response was directed towards Larry Hampton, who seems intelligent enough to figure out what tire size difference equates to when related to speed. It is an option, however may not be the best option for his circumstance. A tachometer reading is always linear, I use an Autometer tach and I've checked it against my GPS, it's pretty much dead-on.

[Advancedynamix]

Well, first you have to have a tach.

Second, my wife has no idea how to drive by the tach.

Third, I don't want to use a GPS.

Fourth, I'm not looking for another idea, I just wadnt to know the answer to my original question.

I'm 45 and been dinking with cars ever since I could drive. In the old days you could just get a different speedo gear for the end of your cable where it went into the trans.

My current 5-speed has a cracked case where the end detent is by a PO. I'm looking at changing it. I found a BP and trans from a EGT with under 20k on it for $400.

The speedo is within 1 mph at 75, what about other speeds? I don't often drive at 75, my speeds are typically 25-55 and I deal with a lot of speed traps.

IIRC, Damkid has a guage swap.

I'd like to get closer to a 23" or 24" tire.

22" o.d. is pretty much the functional limit of a festiva body without other modifications to the car. 23" will barely fit but they will rub.
As stated above, if the speed is off 3 mph at 75, then it will be off 2 mph at 55 because it's a linear scale. Try to judge 1 mph on a stock non tach cluster, I bet your eyes are more than 1 mph off, so this inaccuracy is not a problem. In fact, most states allow for 5mph variance in speed at 75 because most speedometers are not accurate within 1 mph at 75mph.
The engine has no effect on the accuracy of your speedometer. In fact, you could have no engine in the car, and if you were being towed your speedometer will work exactly as it did with the engine in the car (sans the rate of acceleration, but that's obvious).
The EGT transmission will be within 1 mph at 55 mph with 195/50/15 tires. Since you will need to make your own engine mounts for that tranny anyway, you may want to do an engine swap at the same time.
400 is a lot of money for one of those transmissions, even if it really does only have 20k miles ( highly unlikely) on it.

[kellen302]

try 120k, the EGT's have a rollover odometer, the Proteges don't

[georgeb]

he is more worried about people driving it that do not have that information or do not care to make the adjustment.

What is it a rental car?

[Larry Hampton]

$400 is for the trans AND the BP engine.

Hmm, never heard of a EGT speedo head swap, but I haven't been around here long.
EGT tires factory were 185/60/15 (thought they were 14's) so that equates to 23.7" tall, which I'm getting is too tall, but is it too tall because of the offset and the inner wheel well? Would a lesser offset with a flair work? I have 155/80/12 now and that's 21.8" tall. (And yes, I realize it's incorrect)

And yes, I want the speedo to read correctly.

I wasn't aware of an O.D. that was the limit (I knew there was a limit, just not how much). I use as my base a 195/50/15 which I've had in the past that wore well and was a really good tire. That would be the widest tire I'd look at and that's pushing it. I'm not only looking at a trans/engine swap, but Aspire rear beam and Aspire/Rio front struts. I also desire aftermarket wheels and the 15" ones far outnumber the 13"-14" ones.

My problem is that I've put almost 6k on a set of Kumho's and they look half worn out, this is with rotations every 3k. Not uneven wear mind you, just half gone. And I think they were advertised as a 20k tire.

[qroger]

I am running 13" Protege wheels on aspire hubs with low profile tires on my Festy that generally give an accurate speed reading. I just noticed that the Protege ran the F transmission with I think 70 series tires. Sooo, Protege F series is calibrated for a larger diameter tire. Can you trade an F series into Festy without moving Heaven and Earth? I don't know.

[Bert]

I bought an parts Aspire that had decent Kumho tires on it 165/70-13 (I think) and, just as you suggest happened to yours, I burned through them in no time at all after doing the swap on to a Festy. I'm keeping a close eye on my new 14 inch tires. Seems every time you go up an inch in rim diameter the price of tires almost doubles when you try to retain overall wheel diameters of 22 inch or less.

[Advancedynamix]

you can get these 165 45 15" Federal tires. They are V rated all weather tires, I haven't tried them yet, but there have been other members who have used the same tire in a different size with success. Here is the kicker, these are actually shorter than the 155/80-12 tires! They should fit with a 15x6 rim on a stock Festiva with no modifications and no rubbing. I'll test them next week and post my findings. I got 2 sets of them for $65.00 a tire shipped to my work.

[Larry Hampton]

Findings?

[navdoc101]

Measure your 12" festy wheel /tire height. 21.8" tall. If you get 14'' wheels, get tires that bring them to 21.8" tall, tire & whell combined. Speedo will be the same as with the 12" whells. I have 13" wheels with 175/75-13 tires,& I'm 1MPH slower than the speedo shows. No problems with the cops!

[Aaronbrook37]

I've been running taller 185/60-14's for a while and my speedo has been frustrating me, so I'm switching to 185/60-13's and smaller rims to make it almost perfectly accurate compared to stock. Perfect width, low profile, and lighter tires!

[navdoc101]

I think 165/65-13 is the exact same height as stock, so it would be the same speedo reading as stock.

[link5186]

155/70r13s put my speedo dead on via gps if you want skinny tires on baby wheels, but it's an oddball size.

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