Walth's 1993 Festy Yellow Auto

[walth]

I found a festiva in Winston Salem on craigslist about a week ago and started asking some questions. He was very motivated to sell, so I started digging to find ways to get the car.

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30182

It's a 1993 Red Festiva GL that was apparently painted yellow. I was under the impression it was a rare factory painted festiva. oh well. It's straight, rust free, has some small dings and scratches, but overall I'm happy with that. And it has pretty nice stock alloys which is a plus.

So my boss offered some towing services out of no where which was awesome! Even picked me up at my house and had a cooler with drinks We had a great drive down and back. I was so tired after laughing cuz we cut up so much but totally worth every bit of the trip down and back. Even saw a fire at CRG or something like that down near greensboro.

Anyways, I've got some pics and a lot of stuff to fix from one or several moron's great efforts to get a car running because of the loss of a key. No telling how much damage to the car, but I know one thing...the locksmith in town only charges 13 and change for a key. Guy must have been a serious tool cuz he had one of the biggest Snap-On boxes I've seen yet he took a screwdriver and a hammer to the ignition and the gas tank door too. pics below in the album. They also cut off the exhaust instead of just unbolting it. thanks.

The real kicker is that from what I can tell this car's been sitting since sometime in 05. The registration expired in 05 and inspection in Feb 06. He also told me they got it started somehow, but concerns me because the oil is nasty, really nasty black and on the dipstick was like jello. terrible.

things I know now that I'll need for this car:

1. Windshield
2. Full Exhaust (just below the header to the rear beam...full enough)
3. Working Ignition, all wiring, and anything connected to the ignition? lol

things I noticed of bad mechanics:
1. snapped VC bolt top right (near disty)
2. leaking oil like a siv, caked all over the oil pan and tranny underside cover; whether it be the pan, VC, seals, or whatever it'll need some TLC.
3. a few cut and plugged hoses, vac lines...
and other nit picky little stuff

PB Album: http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=30182

a few pics:

[bhazard]

Swap candidate? BP auto?

[hofficergrover]

Wow that is nice looking car.
Great save

[walth]

Swap candidate? BP auto?

I'd love to, but I don't appreciate the abuse to a red festiva (in other words...I actually don't like the paint job since it's not original). I also don't have the experience in wet sanding paint off of paint and hoping it'd turn out well. Nor do I have time for that kind of muscle ache!!!

As far as the BP auto goes yeah, that'd be awesome. but I don't want to spend any more money yet. I wouldn't be opposed to flipping the car either. I'd love to strip the car and do it right but don't really have the space.

I've also thought of swapping over everything from my car since mine is so rusty but who knows. We will see!!

Wow that is nice looking car.
Great save

thank you. I hope to get it back up to par before too long!! It's funny my hours got cut so maybe I'll have time to tinker with it this week moreso than most weeks lately.

[batstiva]

Nice save, Chris. :thumbright:
That's actually the color Batstiva was supposed to be, with black bats. One of these days.

Always fun trying to figure out how to start making up for years of neglect, eh?

[walth]

yeah I know right?!

so it is raining here, Thank God! It's about time we get some slow consistent rain. Hopefully it sticks around a little while.

anyways, I just went outside to check the locks and the inspection. it's a GA title and had a previous GA title even though it has an NC inspection and that's it. How good are the inspections in GA? Anyone in GA want a cracked winshield, I'll straight trade ya? LOL!!

so get this, I wonder if I could have started the car with my key from my own festiva, because I held open the drivers door, pushed down the lock, put my key in and with no difficulty and on the first try unlocked it. same grooves baby. did it with the hatch too! man, just sucks he had to mess up the ignition. Can I get an ignition copied to match the one I have in my other festiva so it'll work with this one too? haha

[batstiva]

I bet your key would have started it. Even with all my luck at having my keys start other Festivas, there have been very few cases where my keys would unlock the doors. If your key worked all the other locks, I'd almost guarantee you could have started it.

[Pu241]

Now that you have it, you have the options talked about above.
Just have to decide what you want to do.

Suggested first maintenance items:

Drain the tank and pull the pump/sender to see if you need to wire brush and flush it.
If your of a mind, keep the gas from the flush, and I'll pick it up from you at FMIV. going to filter, hopefully then centrifuge, and run in a diesel diluted with WVO.

Change the oil, use cheap oil because you only want to flush the cruddy oil out. Run this oil till it looks dirty. Might only be a few illegal trips around the block after it is warmed up. You have to be the judge of that. But it has to be better than what is in it now. If you want I can take all your waste oil too.

Drain the coolant with and eye to how much crud comes out.
flush it with a hose, then reverse flush it. If you really want to do it right do the same for the heater core.
Refill with 50/50 water (distilled/deionized/15M Ohm water) and ethylene/propylene glycol. Sometimes just more efficient to buy the 50/50 and be done with it!

Doing the above should keep the fuel, lube, and cooling system from causing other issues when you do get it started.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do with it!

[Claude]

real smooth looking festym diggin that yellow corner light and those head light trim peices are niice

[neanderpaul]

Glad you got it home! Sorry I couldn't help.

[batstiva]

If, on the other hand, you decide you don't want to mess with it, I know a guy in WV who would be all over it.

[walth]

man, don't worry about Paul. I had a great time with my Boss and we had a blast! He was killing me with the cruise tho...cuz he'd leave it on going up a hill and that 4.6 V8 was chuggin gas like crazy. It pretty much took a full tank to get there and back in his truck! and I think he has a 22 gallon tank. pretty typical I guess. It's funny when I get in my ranger I'll start thinking I have a gas leak cuz I'm used to seeing 100 miles to each quarter wheras it's like 75 miles in the ranger. haha!

edit>>

If, on the other hand, you decide you don't want to mess with it, I know a guy in WV who would be all over it.

I think someone already called it. He's from WV too! that's funny

[walth]

Scott, just messin with ya man. no one's taken dibs but you lol.

updates:

I went out to my red festiva and took another look at the ignition and got some shots. then I removed the steering wheel in the yellow festiva. I took some shots of this auto ignition, put the horn ring back onto the steering wheel and pulled out the stuck horn pin [issue #1: looks like they took a hammer and bashed in the horn pin cuz it's bent pretty well and didn't want to come out]. Then I took off the ignition in a couple of minutes. I got to thinking yesterday that id didn't seem the same. It's missing the "pin" area with the two screws and bolt area that is even on my manual car.

THEN...THEN...the biggest update of all...I looked in the console and saw a relay, okay so what...looked behind that and found a key. SOO...got out of the car, locked the door and even with this key being bent it still unlocked the door. Which may not say much, but what's the chance of and coincidence of just randomly pulling out a key that works in the hatch and the drivers door. I emailed the guy after I came inside from that.

I also pulled the cable to the shifter out of the dash and tried to get the shifter to disengage from park by pulling and releasing the cable...guess that's one more thing I need to fix. It's just a pin down in the console from what I saw in an auto to manual thread. we'll see.

I scraped the RTV out of the valve cover, doesn't look like their's much to the bolt...my screwdriver went pretty far down in there. sad.

so what I'm figuring now:

I guess I'll have to get an auto ignition with the "hook" or "pin" since mine doesn't have it...it doesn't even have the "mounting area" at all...it just doesn't exist. I have no idea how that happened, but I do have pictures.

I also need to get the ignition that has the back side with complete wiring all the way down to the connectors. I kind of want to replace the entire wiper/blinker assembly because I have no idea what they've busted with a hammer. The horn pin was pushed in so far I had to pry it out with a flatblade and even then it was bent. but that part isn't the priority, I may stick that pin in a vice and tap it straight(er) and see how it does. and see how stuff works once I do get things going.

okay, so now for a couple pics...

my ignition:


the 93 yellow festiva's ignition. backside, but the left side in this shot is right where that "mounting" area would go. no idea...


well, that's good for now. I have new pics up in the album. always nice to look at more rat crap. I think the next thing I do, tomorrow, is clean out the car. lol.

[GenevaDirt]

nice looking car....but I need you to adjust your photbucket settings. Pictures are to big. In the general rules size limitations are listed....


4. Keep photos smaller than 640 x 480 pixels. This helps users running smaller screen resolutions.

thank you.

[crazyrog17]

Tiiiiiime to upgrade!

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/LG-W2053TQ-PF-20-in-LCD-Monitor-w-Auto-Bright-Sensor-Refurbished/4241519/product.html