Downsize from 15 to 13" lightweights

[sketchman]

But at least you got 5 door versions. I would take no EFI cars if we got a more useful back half of a car. Looks good.

[Advancedynamix]

And one more...


The next thing on the list is getting a Weber 32/36 installed. Stock B3 carb (Australia never got EFI festys) so I'm hoping that'll improve performance a little, even if it's at the cost of some MPG. Much of my driving now is on 60-70mph highways and I feel the stock carb is holding me back a little.

Beautiful ride! You should enter it in Festiva of the month!

[Click_It]

Beautiful ride! You should enter it in Festiva of the month!

Thanks for the kind words, glad you like it It gets a few looks on the road, not sure if it's people admiring it or wondering what the heck it is since these Festiva's are almost non-existent on our roads nowadays - especially on the highways I drive mine on! A true testament to Mazda engineering, these engines are more-or-less bulletproof if looked after.

RE Festiva of the month:
I've never thought about doing that, to be honest I never thought mine was up to the standard set by many of your USA counterparts, but I guess the 4 door helps it stand out from the crowd. Yeah why not, I'll head on over later to check out the rules and enter it in for October.

[Click_It]

By the way, just updated my Fuelly finally (it was 7 months behind!)

Immediate average since the change (about 15 fill ups) is 31.7 to 33.7 - and some of those fill ups was with a loaded down car. So in my experience I'd say the improvement is somewhere between 2 and 2.5 MPG. Don't take too much notice of what my fuelly is saying, that's a long term average, about 15 fills on new tires and >60 on old ones.

So overall no super exciting MPG improvements to report, however considering performance and drive-ability is improved across the board, the MPG is just a bonus.

Curious to know what a 32/36 Weber will do for economy, normally they'll take upto 5MPG off I've heard, but considering my stock carb is running rich and likes to flood, it's possible I won't see any reduction. Actually hoping I could see a slight improvement (over 35MPG maybe). That'll be a new thread another day...

[Click_It]

A further update, (maybe one day someone will find this thread and wonder how things progressed...)

I've put on another 2300 miles since. I've got my economy riding around 36 MPG now (according to last 10 fills on fuely)

I must confess I semi-cheated to get it higher though. Since I own a 5 door festy I have additional weight in the back that you guys don't have (a rear bench seat), I removed that and a few other things and averaging 38 MPG in the last 6 fills. So that's one factor why you get better economy in USA, your festy's are lighter from the get go.

** To be accurate and fair though, the tire diameter & with reduction change on its own is still only worth about 2.5 - 3.0 MPG improvement, the other gains are mostly from my own weight reductions.

This is the last time I'll write in this thread. Though I might start a general fuel economy thread next and continue my findings there. Now that I'm getting close to 40 MPG I'm even more interested in ditching the crappy stock vacuum carb and fitting a 32/36 weber and try to achieve 40 MPG!

[Advancedynamix]

Great to hear! Why not go fuel injection?

[sketchman]

We have a rear seat. But you have rear doors.