My first engine swap build thread

[Evan80]

Wow that's some truly heinous work there. How many hours did it take for you to correct it?

[freshtiva]

I wish you guys could drive this car. I been taking it to work and doing some minor tweaking on stuff. It seems to be getting better all the time. Im really liking it now. I bought a blue grill and have also found a blue hood and hatch to swap from FFC members. Didnt trust my alignment so I took it to an alignment shop. It was off some. It will track hands off with the speedo buried now. Had a air whistle around the drivers door. Grabbed the top of the window frame with the window down and bent it in slightly and fixed that problem. Before you could see a gap, not now. Its turning out better than expected, wish you could drive it. It makes all the effort worth while. Once I swap out the body parts I think its done except for the minor upgrades/improvements I find here and there. Ill drive it to the next meet I attend if I can find an insurance company that will carry six festivas on a policy. Progressive wont.

I went to get my car Freshtiva inspected yesterday( for its 17th and 18th year) and pulling out of the inspection bay ahead of me was a festiva. The driver was the guy who caught this project car on fire. I was going to go talk to him but after remembering all the problems he caused me with this car I really didnt feel like it. Some pics of his attemped wire splice repair below

[freshtiva]

^ Thanks, I painted all the panels to match. Im happy with the way they turned out.

[graywolf_14]

That is awesome man looks sweet, just one question are you going to paint the rest of the panals to match the back ones? Just wondering because they look really good in the pics. I tried to do mine black but they just didnt look good so im wondering about maybe a dark grey.

[sasquatch]

sounds like its comming along nice then

[freshtiva]

Oh yeah, swapped out the full center console and tach cluster for some nicer ones I had but had forgot about. Also had a rear wheel cyclinder leak, so put two new ones ones on. Replaced all rear wheel bearings and races. Also started doing some serious detail cleaning of the ( factory tinted )windows, seals. headliner, door jams, etc.

[freshtiva]

I havent updated since four days ago. The improvements continue though. Getting all the bugs worked out and the car is going to be sweeeeeet ! Got the factory air working yesterday, blows cold !! Tires on, aligned, squeaks addressed, brake lines replaced...... its all coming togather. 250 miles on it since I reset the tripometer and started driving it. Yesterday I pull on to the interstate to see how it ran at hwy speeds, drove one mile and got stuck in a traffic jam for almost an hour . Got off at the next exit seven miles away. The car never even got close to heating up. Flushed the cooling system anyway. Ive got a belt squeak yet but its because I was given the wrong alt belt and put an old glazed one on temporarily . Ill fix that tomorrow. Im having real good feelings about this car now !!! The sumitomos are awesome !!

This is the way festivas should have come stock !!!!

[Levitan]

If you have a TomTom, or know somebody who has one, borrow it, and use it to adjust your speedometer to your actual speed. Those taller will have you going faster than what your speedo says. My TomTom has a digital speedometer and it is nuts on.

[sasquatch]

they look good

[freshtiva]

Tires arrived today. Thats a stock festiva size in the middle. Only a slight height difference. Big width difference. Alignment tomorrow maybe if time allows.

[freshtiva]

I thought the sport interior was going in? But otherwise, very nice fresh!

Oh no, red diagonal stripes in a blue car ? The sport interior will go into Freshtiva or Redford. Im leaning towards Freshtiva when I do the other red on white upgrades. Its going to be hot !!

[91blufestiva]

I thought the sport interior was going in? But otherwise, very nice fresh!

[KingFish]

Looks factory fresh...

[freshtiva]

Some shots with the interior back in, think maybe Ill go over the seats one more time.

[freshtiva]

B6 VAF on and new mahogany spare tire cover.