My KLZE Festiva Build Thread

[Damkid]

I already have the aspire swap on my red festiva with cross-drilled and slotted rotors so i wouldn't need to upgrade anything as far as suspension and brakes are concerned

The whole point in me swapping the diffs is to be able to use 323GT/Capri XR2 axles in the probe V6 tranny, so you can still use stock festiva knuckles or aspire knuckles

[shorestiva]

I was thinking are the mx-3 axles longer than the gt ones? If they aren't you could maybe just run escort gt front knuckles, brakes, and struts.

[Damkid]

NEW UPDATE!!

I first started today with the probe diff. by grinding off the rivets "heads" and got this


Then after a bunch of hammering with a big swing press A.K.A. "BFH" (by the way i hit my hand twice and its very swollen from it and hurts like hell) i got all the rivets out and removed the ring gear


All the rivets



And i repeated the process to the 323 diff, and here is a picture of the probe ring gear installed on the 323 diff. and the holes line up!!!


So i stopped and ordered some grade 8 bolts to bolt the ring gear back together (they won't be in til monday) and on tuesday i'll be picking up a Phantom Grip LSD I do plan on adding a few small welds to help hold the ring gear to the diff just as a safety measure since the bolts won't be as tight of a fit as the rivets were

So the last piece of this puzzle i still need to double check is if the bearing are the same height so i don't have any trouble with those once its all back together and as long as that checks out (which i belevie it will) then i should hopefully be re-assembling the probe tranny with my hybrid differential

So i've been debating on what festiva i want to swap the V6 into and i've almost made up my mind on doing it to my red festiva (just want to get any thoughts from here first) when i bought my red car i wanted to stay true to it being the 2nd known B6T festiva, and keep a B6T in it but for the cost it would take for suspension, aspire swap etc. let alone trying to find another festiva in the same condition as my red one, it could delay the project for a long time, plus having 2 project cars when i only have room for 1 project at a time

All those reasons make me want to make another festiva milestone with my red car by being the first to swap in a KL-ZE but let me hear some thoughts on that

[pr0nst4r]

The plan for the V6tiva that I would/am going to build is to run Targa, so I'm looking for a good mix of top end and off the line power usage. There's a clean V6 SE probe down here for 500 that has a valve problem. I could probably pop a new set of heads on it and run that. It's a little soon to start my project yet though.

[Damkid]

That's very interesting. I think I'd be more interested in the 3.83, but I'll like to see what you're going to do with this.

4.11 will give better acceleration though, but it'll be harder for traction off the line, so theres advantages and disadvantages to both but i counted the teeth and the gear ratio i have in the V6 tranny is actually 4.38 (the gear teeth count is 79 & 18), so i've decided to use the 4.38 gears i already have so it save me from tracking down another tranny

[pr0nst4r]

That's very interesting. I think I'd be more interested in the 3.83, but I'll like to see what you're going to do with this.

[Damkid]

Here's some differences with the differentials that i found today

Here's the two diff. pins, the longer one is the from the probe tranny, but they are the same thickness


Here are the spider gears, the top ones are from the probe tranny, note the smaller probe gear is larger than the smaller 323 gear


Because of the size differences in the spider gears, there is way way too much play when i installed the 323 gears in the probe differential, so that won't work either, so the next thing i've looked at is swapping the ring gears, i've measured the inside diameter on both ring gears and they are the same, which that should hopefully mean they will interchange, which will make my project a success the only possible thing that can stop them from being swapped is the rivet hole spacing

Here is where i measured the ring gears



The reason i didn't grid off the rivets and start swapping the gears is because my boss (who gave me the probe tranny and is very smart about this stuff too) gave me a bit of info which once i research a bit more, may make a differential swap a lot easier

He told me i probably grabbed a tranny from an MX-6 which has a final gear ratio of 4.11 and my 323 tranny is 3.83, which is where i have these differences, so if i were to get two trannies with matching final gear ratios, the differentials should be a direct swap with no issues at all

So i may re-assemble the Probe tranny i have now and trade it for one with a 3.83 final gear ratio and try again, or i'll swap the ring gears so i can have a 4.11 final gear ratio, its now basically just my preference

[pr0nst4r]

I'm planning on using the MX3 pieces like the BG guy used if possible. I'm gonna play around with some parts when I get Festy2

[Damkid]

i'm still at least 6 months away from being ready to start the swap, my garage is not heated so it would really kill my motivation to work on it over the winter

Besides i'm not too worried what the measurements are since i weld for a living and boxing the frame further back is not an issue to me

Plus i'd have to wait to know where the engine will sit in the engine bay once the tranny is mounted etc.

[pr0nst4r]

if you guys need dimensions ive got a 323 and festy sitting next to each other over in the garage

Yes please?

[shorestiva]

if you guys need dimensions ive got a 323 and festy sitting next to each other over in the garage

[Damkid]

I haven't even measured it up to know yet, it'll be easier to know once i get the axle issue solved and i actually lower a KL into a festiva engine bay

[pr0nst4r]

Well, I figured that. I'm just curious on how much chopping is going to be necessary and whether or not it could just be massaged in there. Do you know the difference in size between the Festiva's engine bay and the 323's?

[Damkid]

Have you looked into the dimensions of the engine compartment vs the KL's size? What're your thoughts on massaging it into the bay?

My thoughts are...... have a grinder with cutting disks, welder, and some sheet metal handy before you start, i'm sure that engine will not fit without modifying the firewall

[pr0nst4r]

Have you looked into the dimensions of the engine compartment vs the KL's size? What're your thoughts on massaging it into the bay?