Ford aspire hub to ford festiva conversion

[jtugfestiva]

Hello all. I was just wondering since I've already gone through two front wheel bearing replacements within the last 3 years I'm planning to convert to the ford aspires front hubs. Does anyone know what other parts that I need besides the hubs? If anyone has a good festiva hub for the front passenger side let me know. PM me and maybe we can work out something. Even better if someone has the aspire conversion. Here in Hawaii aspires are almost extinct just like the festiva. Thanks!

[Safety Guy]

What's the situation in Hawaii with 2001 and 2002 Kia Rios? You could probably use their front knuckles and brake calipers/rotors instead of an Aspire's. Those year Rio rotors are the same as automatic Aspire rotors. Brake pads are the same. You could cut the springs and use the struts and strut mounts as well. Then if you still couldn't find an Aspire rear axle, you could either run dual bolt pattern wheels to fit both patterns front and rear, or have some Festiva drums redrilled to Aspire 4 X 100 pattern.

Also for the rear, use Monroe Aspire spec struts with your uncut Festiva springs for the back if you want to haul stuff.

Finally, what is the cost of importing stuff from the U.S. vs. Australia vs. Japan or Korea? If Aus is cheaper, they also have a few parts that would be cool to get. New parts, like rear springs, may be available from Kia or aftermarket in Korea. Worth checking up on. Don't forget Ernst and Jun in the Philippines as well. Their shipping may be cheaper or the same from there to you.

Just some thoughts.

Karl

[jtugfestiva]

Will the rios hubs and calipers be a direct fit to the festiva? Or do I need the rios strut? I just got back from the Philippines and checked out the auto parts market at banawe. The part they gave was also faulty with some play to it. If converting to the rios hub and calipers will the festiva wheels bolt right on? Thanks!

[zoom zoom]

aspires and rio's have different wheel bolt patterns, but kia/aspire/festiva all have the same bolt spacing for struts, so that shouldn't be a problem, the lower control arm ball joint hole is the same size, but the hole (in the knuckle) for the outter tie rod ball joint is different. if you use aspire knuckles, use aspire tie rod ends. if you use rio knuckles, use rio tie rod ends, the festiva ball joint is different, but the thread pitch to screw to the inner tie rod is the same for all.


Rumor is the aspire and rio outter tie rod/ball joints are interchangable, but for the sake of simplicity, ...

[jtugfestiva]

So zoom zoom all I would need would be the knuckles,spindle,outer tie rod end for the 2000-2002 rio is all I need for the conversion? How bout the calipers? Will the festy calipers bolt right on? Thanks! Geez as we speak my friend is still rebuilding the rt front hub. He says it's been a nightmare. Funny he did my left front and so far its still good and noise free for a year. Oh one last thing I would also need new lug nuts to mount the wheels right?

[zoom zoom]

lug bolts should all swap, same threads and 60* cone taper. I don't know if you could bolt the festy calipers to aspire knuckles or not, so someone else can answer that.

[Bert]

Festy calipers are smaller and use thinner attachment bolts. So if you switch to Aspire or Rio components do not figure on re-using Festy brake stuff anywhere.

[Safety Guy]

If you go Rio hub/knuckles, you'll need either the Rio calipers or auto Aspire calipers. They're essentially the same.

Just keep in mind the Rio knuckle swap has only been done maybe twice now, so it is still somewhat rare. I hope to do one this spring.

Karl

[jtugfestiva]

Thanks guys. Ill be on the lookout for those parts. So calipers,outer tie rod ends, hub and knuckle is what im after. Safety guy let me know how it works out maybe you can do a DIY on it on the forums. For now ill see how long my current bearing will last.

[zoom zoom]

Someone already did, rectilinear maybe? It's a massive thread in the suspension subforum, I think it may have been moved to articles. A lot of good information, but there is also bad info too, so be careful.

[Safety Guy]

Yup, it was Rectilinear and it was in this forum.

Karl