Has anyone ever considered making an adapter plate to change out rear axle stubs?

[jdobbs86]

...then you have no excuses lol

Edit: even more ridiculous, I've wondered about the possibility of switching the whole rear beam hmmmmmm

[sketchman]

Unless you just want discs in back for whatever reason, check this out. The parts are cheap enough and easily available. Someone should try it before I get to it.

I have the same problem. I looked up info on the 90s Honda Civics, and from what I can tell(which is not much yet) you might be able to use manual trans rear floating drums, shoes, and the bearing/hub assembly all from the Civic with the stock Festiva rear end. To be clear I have NOT done anything in the real world with this idea. Just webernet searches.

Here's what I found
Stock Festiva inner wheel bearing race inner diameter and Civic cartridge bearing inner diameter are VERY close as follows:
Civic inner diameter 27.5mm
Festiva inner diameter 27.3mm
Stock Festiva rear drums and manual trans Civic rear drums are VERY close as follows:
Civic inner diameter 180mm
Festiva inner diameter 170mm

And of course the Civic is 4x100. My thinking is that if you could take a stock Festiva rear end and mate the Civic bearing/hub to it (which on the surface seems very possible to me) you cold drop on the Civic drums and use Civic shoes to complete the package.

Again, no real world measurements there, but I will try it eventually if no one disproves it first.

[Christ]

You can't switch the whole beam, at least not easily. The MK II [closest match] beam has narrower mounting points and different mounts. To do so would require body modifications and the leg lengths are off as well. Basically, it'd end up being the most god-awful hack job you've ever seen, with absolutely nothing gained to show for it except a heavier rear end and possibly rear discs.

The stubs are close in fitment, though... I don't remember exactly from the last time I looked at them, but I remember they were pretty close, enough that I'd be OK with just widening the holes in the stub and bolting it in from behind the beam leg, IIRC.

[Larry Hampton]

Ive been wondering about a VR6 powered Festy....

[Advancedynamix]

Before swapping for discs in the rear you need to weigh your options, literally. I weighed many disc setups against stock festiva drums before making my decision. The stock rear drums are lighter than most affordable options, and less problematic than VW rears (I have freed more than my fair share of stuck rear calipers on v-dubs).
Weight in the rear of a festiva is more of a concern than better brakes. I slow mine from 140mph to about 75mph once every minute and 12 seconds with cheap AutoZone drums and shoes. They barely get hot, and last 2 racing seasons+. I just drilled my durastop drums for 4x100 bolt pattern, problem solved. Put extended studs in while I was at it.
Also, if you do want to sandwich an adapter plate in, why not make it a drop bracket for a lower ride with stock springs and shocks? I run 3/8" spacers between my stub axles and beam that are ground to a 2.5 degree angle for added negative camber, this allows me to run 35-38mm offset 7" wide wheels without spacers.

Just to re-iterate, stock drums with aspire front brakes can consistently out brake Z06 corvettes, Ferraris and Porches. Why would anyone need more braking than that?

[sketchman]

^Floating drums would be NICE. The Civic units would give you that, and still be light. Either I'm missing something obviously impossible about the idea, or no one cares. Either way, I'm still trying it if no one else does first and shows it won't work.

[Larry Hampton]

I just drilled my durastop drums for 4x100 bolt pattern, problem solved. Put extended studs in while I was at it.

I run 3/8" spacers between my stub axles and beam that are ground to a 2.5 degree angle for added negative camber, this allows me to run 35-38mm offset 7" wide wheels without spacers.

Just to re-iterate, stock drums with aspire front brakes can consistently out brake Z06 corvettes, Ferraris and Porches. Why would anyone need more braking than that?

So, you're running stock Festy drums redrilled between the 4x114 holes to 4x100? What rear beam are you running?

I've got an Aspire beam and spindles with Festy Backing plates and new wheel cylinders waiting for me to decide between stock and Aspire....

[ckiesman]

sorta related, but would aspire spindles/ backing plates bolt to a festiva axle? I would love to do an aspire swap, but sadly most junkyards around me dont keep aspires or festivas, and spindles are alot easier to ship than a whole axle.

[russian]

sorta related, but would aspire spindles/ backing plates bolt to a festiva axle? I would love to do an aspire swap, but sadly most junkyards around me dont keep aspires or festivas, and spindles are alot easier to ship than a whole axle.

They would NOT. The bolt pattern is a bit different, +- 3mm I believe.

[ckiesman]

eh. lol. Thanks for the quick answer. time to keep waiting for an axle to come my way....

[Bert]

Just to re-iterate, stock drums with aspire front brakes can consistently out brake Z06 corvettes, Ferraris and Porches. Why would anyone need more braking than that?

Well said, and from someone that knows better than most. For years I drove all kinds of stuff with drum brakes front and back without complaints. My first Cooper S (engine swap in 1974) rode on drums all around until I grafted on a set of "S" OEM front discs. Never noticed any appreciable difference either but they did look good. Discs don't fade (due to heat buildup) to the same degree as drums but other than that most folks would never notice. If I understand correctly (cars utilize brake proportioning valves for this reason) 2/3s of a vehicle's effective braking power is from the front.
PhoenixSHO has posted an excellent write-up on swapping over to 04 Rio front discs (these have a lot of surface area compared to OEM Festy, and even Aspire, or early Rio) and to me that is easily the biggest bang for the buck if perceived stopping ability really is your bag.

[jdobbs86]

Of course i am no expert or by any means a race car driver. For me...if i were to do this... it would just be something that i could look back at later and say "yeah that was pretty cool huh". Plus I am just a huge fan of engineering and tinkering...and this would be a fun little project (BTW not swapping the whole read beam that was kind of a joke)
Regarding weight with mkiv aluminum calipers this would be light as heck....
Regarding stuck rear calipers...I've seen enough stuck rear fazda brakes to be pretty certain that no one in the 90s new how to do rear calipers

[Advancedynamix]

Yeah, the newer aluminum calipers are significantly lighter, but still the disc and larger bearings and spindle make the weight still slightly heavier than a festy drum iirc ( I have all of these parts as I run New Beetle aluminum calipers on my MK1 Scirocco).
With all that said, doing it for the experience is more than respectable, and I never mean to discourage anyones creativity. I know for a fact that with 3/8" plates behind the festiva stub axles you'll have plenty of room still for tires. If you take your finished plates and have them ground at a 2.5 degree angle with the thin end 15 degrees clockwise of the upper rear stub axle mount hole, then you'll have great results with rear camber and toe if the car is lowered. Negative camber will allow for wider tires in the rear without rubbing the fenders best of luck with the adapters , keep us posted and feel free to PM me with any questions.

[jdobbs86]

I feel like a thread jacker... sorry OP! but I guess we're getting some great info any way! thanks for the great information as always Advancedynamix

[jdobbs86]

Also sorry for the double post, but question for Advancedynamix about those angled plates. I am probably picturing this all wrong. However, with the plate being angled (wedge shaped i guess) wouldn't that cause some "alignment" issues with some fairly heavily loaded bolts? I realize that its only 2.5 degrees but just a thought. Do you have pictures or a drawing of your setup (as far as the plates go)