festiva rear beam independent suspension

[mikemounlio]

Why wouldn't you go festy beam and fab rear discs? Are some of you already doing that? I really think a rear disc swap could be done with similiar time and cost involved with either bolt pattern.

rear disk brakes are nearly pointless. They wont add any stopping power. They will add weight. I think something with the proportion block would have to be changed to get the amount of power back there. Just no real need on this car if im correct.

[mikemounlio]

You should use the Festiva beam with the Aspire brakes. The extra flex and lightness of the Festiva beam is very beneficial to handling.

I may end up going this route on overkill. I wanted to try the aspire beam as i found a super cheap aspire. I wanted to see the difference in handling for myself.

[w4rkry]

rear disk brakes are nearly pointless. They wont add any stopping power. They will add weight. I think something with the proportion block would have to be changed to get the amount of power back there. Just no real need on this car if im correct.

That's pretty much it. There are other threads on here that go into more detail about this, but with so little weight in the rear, there is no need for extra braking power, it will just lock up.

As a matter of fact, I think I recall Charlie getting better lap times with literally no rear brakes at all.

[ryanprins13]

I have an Aspire rear beam on my garage floor right now and can measure it if needed. The question is, should I Aspire the Festiva or not, or just swap over the hubs and brakes?

What are your goals? Just to get the bolt pattern? Good handling? Amazing handling?
Options in that order are:
Multi-bolt pattern wheels
Aspire beam and brakes
Festiva beam with aspire brakes
Festiva beam and drums drilled to 4x100
No rear brakes

Why wouldn't you go festy beam and fab rear discs? Are some of you already doing that? I really think a rear disc swap could be done with similiar time and cost involved with either bolt pattern.

Because of weight transfer little to no braking is desired in the rear. When racing hard larger brakes are heavy and lock up too easy unless work is done to prevent that.
From what i have read an ultimate track festiva would have no rear brakes.
I am not aware of anyone having done a rear disc swap. I believe julian (festyfreak39) was going to and may even have the parts but decided not to.

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[w4rkry]

What are your goals? Just to get the bolt pattern? Good handling? Amazing handling?
Options in that order are:
Multi-bolt pattern wheels
Aspire beam and brakes
Festiva beam with aspire brakes
Festiva beam and drums drilled to 4x100
No rear brakes

Because of weight transfer little to no braking is desired in the rear. When racing hard larger brakes are heavy and lock up too easy unless work is done to prevent that.
From what i have read an ultimate track festiva would have no rear brakes.
I am not aware of anyone having done a rear disc swap. I believe julian (festyfreak39) was going to and may even have the parts but decided not to.

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Rick Roberts (Hotwheels) has a rear disc swap, as does another member or 2. A different member turned drums down on a lathe, the fabricated custom caliper adapters. IIRC

[ricko1966]

rear disk brakes are nearly pointless. They wont add any stopping power. They will add weight. I think something with the proportion block would have to be changed to get the amount of power back there. Just no real need on this car if im correct.

Thank you, that is why I asked,yes you would have to change the proportioning valve. We always swapped VWs to rear disc. didn't matter if it was a bug, a rabbit, a golf it had rear discs eventually. It was so easy and fast,turn the drum down to a hub switch to screw in studs to hold the rotor fab up a caliper bracket,boom, brake part is done now install an adjustable proportioning valve and you can control the rear bias. giving you the abilty to control how the car sets going into a turn. [yes this can also bite you in the ass if you get the car too tail happy with too much bias but it is adjustable to your purpose.}Never thought about the weight issue was just trying to share some of my previous antics in case it could benefit someone, I have no intentions at the moment of doing anything to my car that doesn't need to be done..

[RobotKarate]

Ryan, my main goal is better rear brakes, better e-brake setup AND 4x100 pattern. Retaining better handling would also of course be a consideration. My overall build goal is to create a sleeper street vehicle so I'm not too keen on a rear brake delete at this time.

Do the Aspire hubs or Festiva rear beam need modification for fitment with the Aspire/Festy combo? I seem to remember reading a thread about this with pictures but I'm not able to find it in my search attempts at the moment.

[w4rkry]

Ryan, my main goal is better rear brakes, better e-brake setup AND 4x100 pattern. Retaining better handling would also of course be a consideration. My overall build goal is to create a sleeper street vehicle so I'm not too keen on a rear brake delete at this time.

Do the Aspire hubs or Festiva rear beam need modification for fitment with the Aspire/Festy combo? I seem to remember reading a thread about this with pictures but I'm not able to find it in my search attempts at the moment.

The top two holes of the Festiva beam will need to be slotted to accept the Aspire spindle

[ryanprins13]

Ryan, my main goal is better rear brakes, better e-brake setup AND 4x100 pattern. Retaining better handling would also of course be a consideration. My overall build goal is to create a sleeper street vehicle so I'm not too keen on a rear brake delete at this time.

Do the Aspire hubs or Festiva rear beam need modification for fitment with the Aspire/Festy combo? I seem to remember reading a thread about this with pictures but I'm not able to find it in my search attempts at the moment.

Ok, cool. Are you keeping the full interior in your car or taking everything out?
For the better braking part alone doing the (rio)? Front brake swap, bigger master cylinder and leaving the festy rears is the best. I briefly drove pedro and the brakes were amazing on that.
Handbrake problems is usually the adjusters, my festiva handbrake can hold a trailer and the festiva on a hill no problem.
Im not the one to listen to really on this subject as i have no firsthand experience but i believe larger front brakes and rear brakes with a matching master cylinder, same tires front and back that have great traction on the front you may have an issue with the rear locking up trying to emergency brake in the rain, ice, snow, gravel or whatever far earlier than they should. Especially if the rear is gutted. But again, thats just what i think, no experience with that myself.


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[mikemounlio]

Ryan, my main goal is better rear brakes, better e-brake setup AND 4x100 pattern. Retaining better handling would also of course be a consideration. My overall build goal is to create a sleeper street vehicle so I'm not too keen on a rear brake delete at this time.

Do the Aspire hubs or Festiva rear beam need modification for fitment with the Aspire/Festy combo? I seem to remember reading a thread about this with pictures but I'm not able to find it in my search attempts at the moment.

rio front brakes is all you really need. i have the 02 and newer style. Massive upgrade in braking. Has the power to lock up the tires at will at 80mph that i know of. Has plenty of pedal as well. If you need even more feel you can swap the master cyl for a miata unit.

[RobotKarate]

Ryan, at the moment the interior except for the dash and driver seat has been removed, mainly because the interior smelled bad and was very dirty. I am still trying to decide on how much of the interior to put back in it but it will likely depend on how well the carpet cleans up. It's very loud in the cabin right now and even though it's not my daily, I want it somewhat enjoyable to drive and would prefer the stereo to sound somewhat decent. Ideally the carpet and two front seats go back in and nothing else. I'm keeping all the other interior parts in storage so I can always put it back in, it's pretty minimal.

I currently have the bigger Rio front brakes and Aspire rear beam in my garage. I like the design of the Aspire e-brake better than the Festiva so I'll now have to see how I can swap that over. I have a set of 14" BMW bottle caps wrapped in 165/55-14 Achilles Economist tires ready and waiting to go. I'll likely go with a Miata master cylinder but I have not ordered that part yet. Right now I'm sorting out my suspension. I've ordered and am now waiting on delivery for all the advanced suspension coilover parts. I plan to install the brakes and suspension at the same time. I believe the proportioning of the rear brake drum bias can be solved with proper adjustment, if I'm not mistaken. After all this is sorted I'll start the B6t rebuild process.

[RobotKarate]

rio front brakes is all you really need. i have the 02 and newer style. Massive upgrade in braking. Has the power to lock up the tires at will at 80mph that i know of. Has plenty of pedal as well. If you need even more feel you can swap the master cyl for a miata unit.

Yeah, from what I read (after buying an Aspire beam) I probably should have considered drilling the Festiva drums. I will probably still do the swap though because I like the idea of a bolt on option to get the 4x100 pattern and dang it, I've already got the parts. Maybe I'll just swap the Aspire beam in first, rebuild the Festiva beam with 4x100 holes then swap that back in later...

[w4rkry]

If you decide to run the Aspire bar, you should at least drill out the stiffening bar. There is a Bar inside the H beam that stiffens it up. You can use a hole saw to drill it out, saving weight and allowing it to flex more

[mikemounlio]

I just swapped the aspire beam into my car overkill. The beam is clearly stiffer. In a video posted not so long ago you can see the flex of the stock beam. Its a wet noodle. The aspire beam even when cut is stiff. I will be running the car in autocross soon with the beam cut to see the difference in lap times. I can say now tho that the cut beam does clearly have more flex but its still very stiff vs the stock beam.

[ryanprins13]

In a video posted not so long ago you can see the flex of the stock beam. Its a wet noodle. The aspire beam even when cut is stiff. .

Thats this thread, lol.

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