Rio struts installed

[Roboskittle]

Possible slight performance increase as the Rio is a heavier car.

[bhazard]

your antenna is missing a screw lol i like the look with the springs not cut, but thats just me

So did all the older hotrod guys at the Friday night cruise I go to sometimes, but like I said, the angle was too much on the axle, and destroyed it... lol.

[MTec007]

So did all the older hotrod guys at the Friday night cruise I go to sometimes, but like I said, the angle was too much on the axle, and destroyed it... lol.

i read that but i didnt put 2 and 2 together.. lol.

[lessersivad]

Russ yours looks pretty stock.

I gotta ask though, been wondering for a long time, what are your rims and caps from?

Ohh and heres what I did today. Made a lucky guesstimate

Wheels and caps are off an early 1960's Falcon. Same bolt pattern as the Festiva. Aspire springs and struts.

Good job on the cutting O' the coils. My guess is that if someone were to run the Rio struts stock and used Aspire CV shafts it may work alright as far as the length is concerned.

[Team Lightning]

I thought those were old Falcon wheels/hubcaps. My grandfather had a 62 with wheels like that.

[BigElCat]

The height is perfect I think. It was a bit high at first but after the suspension loaded up a bit it came down. Its still cushy too, not harsh at all over bumps like the cut festy springs. Shouldn't rub either. Theres more body roll than with the festy springs but its also a good bit higher. An aspire sway bar should help fix that.


There was a casualty from my 4x4 festiva misadventure, my driver side axle. The boot is shredded and all the grease is flung all over under there. Its getting replaced under warranty Im guessing too much angle and it was pulled outward too far.

Hello bhazard. I'm thinking about doing the Rio struts on front of my Festiva. Are you still liking this set up, it seems you've been running it several months?

Are the rear tires in your pics the same diameter as the front? If not, how much difference in diameters?

I'll try to post some pics of my "Festus", it looks very similar to your car.

[bhazard]

Yes the setup is still pretty good, pretty firm but not too harsh. A good cheap way to get some real suspension.

At the time I was running 15" capri wheels in the front and 13" metro wheels in the back. The reason was I had the big capri brakes in the front and could only fit 14" or bigger, and in the back I didnt have the necessary aspire struts to fit the 195/50/15 tire.

At the time, the car was running too

[Damkid]

and in the back I didnt have the necessary aspire struts to fit the 195/50/15 tire.

I've had 195/50/15's on a stock festiva before, stock suspension etc. mind you they were a very very tight fit :lol:

[bhazard]

You musta had some crazy offset wheels or big spacers cause there was absolutely no way they coulda fit on there. I even ground as much spring perch away as I could.

[Damkid]

You musta had some crazy offset wheels or big spacers cause there was absolutely no way they coulda fit on there. I even ground as much spring perch away as I could.

Just 1/4 inch spacers, thats it, the offset wasn't anything un-usual, click here for pics

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?p=211305#post211305