Aspire Brake swap

[akhuntr]

I'm looking for an Aspire donor car. I want to swap the front brakes and the rear torsion beam. What year modles will work for this swap? I found a 1996 complete car for 220 dollars and hoping it will work.

[Team Lightning]

94-97 Aspires. Those were the years they were imported into the US.

[Safety Guy]

Check that '96 over and make sure all the suspension parts are in good shape. It will be perfect, and $220 sounds like a great price!

Before you scrap what's left, take off any other parts you might need later or might sell, including:

-gas tank (if it's a 2 door it is the same tank as an EFI Festiva; 4 doors won't work)
-small parts like screws, bolts, brackets, etc.
-seats if you want them
-engine, transmission, and/or parts (most will fit directly on Festivas)
-speedo cable (has two sections but is reputed to fit Festivas)

Also check out the Aspire forum to see if you could sell any parts to them.

Then scrap away! With some luck you might get your money back from selling parts and scrapping what's left.

Suggestion: Kia Rio front suspension parts will also work if you are interested. See the several threads in Suspension and Brakes section. Just read carefully as not all Rio and Aspire parts will go together perfectly.

Karl

[zoom zoom]

I'm always looking for defroster switch buttons, if the car you buy has one, let me know!

[akhuntr]

Thanks for all your help. I think I already know the answer to this question though. If I update the brakes on the front and use the torsion beam from the Aspire, can I still use the struts that are sold on FMS for Festivas? If so would I use the springs for the Festiva or Aspire that are sold on FMS as well. I want to update the suspension for a better ride.

[Safety Guy]

I have no idea if FMS is still operating, but sometimes the Sport Springs come up for sale used. My choice is to cut either Aspire springs (done it twice now) or cut the Rio springs (others have but I haven't yet).

If you're talking about struts rather than springs, then there are some articles around here that detail a couple of different ways to go with "home made" suspensions.

Karl

[akhuntr]

Looking on the FMS website it shows Aspire Springs along with Festiva Springs but only Festiva struts. I don't know if he is still operating or not either. He does however, still have a phone number with a voice mail that says leave a message. So I'm hoping that he is just busy. Sucks for me because I work in a remote site in Deadhorse Alaska (where the Alaskan Pipeline starts) and I normally work a 3 weeks on and 1 week off schedule. This leaves me very little time to tinker on my toy. My kids and EX used to tell me I look like the dad off the cartoon The Incredibles when I'm driving it... lol I really love my 89 Festy.