Ford Aspire Rad in Festiva ?

[dawgstrip]

Hello Folks,

Our car- 1990 Ford Festiva, stock. (Well, shortened 2 feet...) but we plan to take the car through death valley this august.

We came across a 1994 ford aspire, with A/C in the wrecking yard the other day as I swear the rad was much wider. Is this true? Would a bigger aspire help keep our Hamster cool ?

Thanks, DawgStrip

[bhearts]

Are you having over heating issues

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[FestYboy]

And what do you mean " shortened 2 feet"?

[sketchman]

^lol

No, that was not a typo.

[Advancedynamix]

The stock radiator will work fine in death valley, but you guys are going to need some serious sun screen.

[dawgstrip]

Alright, I think I found the misunderstanding. We have to remember "Stock" isn't always the same for everyone.

I can't say for certain about Festiva's, but I know other vehicles are built differently for where they are destined to be shipped.

A car destined for the southern USA may not come equipped with High Output heaters or block heaters the same as not all Canadian cars would have A/C.

Ours is Canadian eh.

So back to the original question. Does a A/C Aspire have a larger rad then a non A/C Festiva. Or better yet, what are your rad measurements?

Thanks again Folks.

DawgStrip

[fastivaca]

..and I thought you were crazy driving the Hamster to Westiva last year. Speaking of which, will you be coming this year?

For a little extra cooling you could go to the stock Festiva radiator for an automatic transmission. It's two core rather than one. That way all the mounting points will work. You would have to move the mounting points to use the Aspire rad.

[sketchman]

Guys are using the stock rad for BP (1.8L) turbocharged Festivas. You'll be fine. Really.

Festivas run cool stock.

[bravekozak]

I was planning on installing an Aspire rad, and even welded in amother lower rad support. It interfered with the compressor, so I didn't install it.

[FestYboy]

The factory auto aspire rad is single core as well, so no real improvement there, get an auto festy rad

[dawgstrip]

Ian, thank you for the invite to Westiva. We had a blast last year but sadly I'll be at work for this one.

This year we plan to take the Hamster on about 5000 Mile road trip over 2 weeks or so. In the middle of that trip we'll be a part of the "24 hours of LeMons Rally" Feel free to fallow the adventure on our twitter.

https://www.24hoursoflemons.com/rally

As for the helpful information, Thanks to everyone. I like the Idea of a 2 row automatic rad. Added cooling plus added coolant volume while keeping factory mounts and hoses. I had forgotten about the Auto Rad, we'll have to keep our eyes open for one. As well as a heater core, ours drips a little on the floor but has done that since day one.

DawgStrip

[bhazard]

Just save your trip for Madness in october. You guys are gonna cook to death in the desert.

But really, a 2 core rad, well flushed system, good water pump etc, you should have no overheating issues anywhere. These things run so cool its unreal.

Have you guys weighed that car by any chance? Looks like it could definitely use some suspension work.

[Advancedynamix]

There is no difference in radiators from a festiva sold in California or one sold in Canada. The auto came with a thicker radiator, but most low dollar replacement radiators are the thin version.
I have a thick auto radiator in my 1.6 DOHC swapped festiva and it has been through death valley in the summer.

[FestYboy]

^ Charlie, I can't find manual rads anywhere anymore, they're all auto units.

[Advancedynamix]

Arty, are they the thick ones though? I kept getting ones with the trans cooler lines, but they were thin, like the manual radiator. I finally found a nice thick aluminum radiator for Pedro, but it took several tries. I'm not sure it was necessary though, Pedro doesn't come close to running hot.