Festiva Lift?

[Festiva Bullitt]

What is the best way to lift the festiva 3 or 4"?
Will ride quality be compromised. I know some people have made some trucks but I could not find any info.

thanks

[driverlarry]

lift

Get a Suzukin Samuri and put the festiva body on it.

[TominMO]

What is the best way to lift the festiva 3 or 4"?
Will ride quality be compromised. I know some people have made some trucks but I could not find any info. thanks

What are you planning on doing with it, a FWD off-road car? With a mild lift, it could handle 13" Metro steelies, with for example 185/80x13 tires. This will give you about 1.5" more ground clearance over stock tires. Kumho has a good all-season tire in this size, or you could try to find snow tires, which would be more aggressive for off-road.

Basically it would be a homebuilt lift kit, if you are talking about a body lift. Aluminum spacing blocks and longer stock bolts for subframe members, for example. There is a bunch of knowledge about this kinda thing on the Subaru forum ( www.ultimatesubaru.org ).

For a suspension lift, you would need longer springs and struts, longer than the Aspire's. You might try to find struts from another car with the same kind of mounting setup on the bottom of the strut that the Festy has. Usually the strut bottom is the harder one to adapt; the top should be easier.

Aspire springs are stiffer, because they are designed for a somewhat heavier car. But this would probably be a plus for off-road.

One problem with a pure suspension lift is the greater strain on the driveshafts due to the greater angle they would have to deal with; you might be breaking them on a regular basis.

The best overall solution might be Aspire springs for a small suspension lift, and maybe 2" aluminum blocks for a body lift. This should keep the shaft angle near stock, and you could fit the tire size I mentioned. This would give you about 4.5 - 5.0" more ground clearance.

[Festiva_Fred]

I think if you used the aspire struts AND springs it would lift it some..

[Biglay5150]

Get a Suzukin Samuri and put the festiva body on it.

You would have to lengthen the Samari frame to do this.

[Biglay5150]

Basically it would be a homebuilt lift kit, if you are talking about a body lift. Aluminum spacing blocks and longer stock bolts for subframe members, for example. There is a bunch of knowledge about this kinda thing on the Subaru forum ( www.ultimatesubaru.org ).

The best overall solution might be Aspire springs for a small suspension lift, and maybe 2" aluminum blocks for a body lift. This should keep the shaft angle near stock, and you could fit the tire size I mentioned. This would give you about 4.5 - 5.0" more ground clearance.

There is no frame to lift the body up off of. You cannot do a body lift on a Festiva!

[TominMO]

There is no frame to lift the body up off of. You cannot do a body lift on a Festiva!

You are correct about no frame, of course. By a "body lift" I mean one where you put spacer blocks with longer bolts between the drivetrain components and the body, and at the top or bottom of the front and rear struts, to accomplish the lift. As opposed to using longer springs/struts, which would be the suspension lift.

This is how it's done on the Subarus, which also have no separate frame. The Subes have a subframe for the engine and a crossmember for transmission, and a subframe for the rear differential. The spacer blocks go between the subframe or crossmember and the body. Then you need the components to put at the top of the struts, to bring them down the same distance (3" in my case). I personally did the lift on the Subaru in my signature; one day's work, with a pre-made kit which I found for sale on the Subaru site. Anything can be lifted with a little ingenuity.

[Festiva Bullitt]

Thanks for the input. Im in Galveston, TX and am planning on using the vehicle on the beach sometimes. Id like to have a little extra clearance and run bigger wheels and tires.