Aaron's Festiva Build Thread

[Aaronbrook37]

Neither this car nor this thread are dead... I just haven't been up to much since it has been unlicensed since late May. After months of ignoring the car's minor quirks, I've decided to restore my interest in it and look to start driving it again full-time I think. I think I will likely give/sell the grey B3 car to my sister as her first car once I'm done playing around with it, and start making the B6T car more tolerable for daily driving... which will be some effort on my part.

First off, the car is filthy and a bit smelly. I haven't washed it and the sap and grime buildup was growing to be too much, so I did a full scrub and wash on it with both car wash and heavy citrus cleaners to get it clean again. I then instantly remembered a few of the little issues and quirks the car was having. The wash revealed some neglected bumper paint that I will need to touch-up and re-coat... as well as a drip/leak I was neglecting through the roof and headliner at the driver's front corner. I sealed the roof-line up with some contact adhesive Goop I had lying around, and dried that up with a heat gun and a mask. Good as new! Gotta love free fixes.

So I will steam-clean the interior again completely. I've found that boiling the water in a kettle before putting it in the steam cleaner really helps the upholstery cleaner and wet-vacuum system to fight grease, and I can pre-treat everything with heavy cleansers to help loosen and dislodge any dirt in the seat covers and such. That should take care of the lingering smell from lack of driving.

At that point, it should be just about ready to go. However, before I get started driving it... I need to deal with the sound level from the tailpipe for the sake of my hearing, my neighbourhood, and my girlfriend. I have a full turbo-back 2.5" system complete with a ported O2 housing, high flow cat, giant resonator, and full muffler... but it's still too much unfortunately. While it may not be properly calibrated, I have a free app for my phone that measures sound pressure levels relatively accurately.... accurately enough for before and after testing that is. Here are the numbers I came up with for the car:

Car off interior - 41db
Car on interior - 72db
Car on muffler - 92db

By comparison, the stock grey car put out the following:

Car off interior - 40db
Car on interior - 70db (warming up)
Car on muffler - 83db (warming up)

Police officers in British Columbia are not armed with SPL equipment, and supposedly the legal limit for light duty vehicles is 83db. Obviously, my gauge is reading quite high then considering that a stock exhaust car with a brand new muffler clocked out at 83db just an hour ago. Either way, it seems like they only really enforce the legislation sections affecting those modifying or deleting mufflers... mainly on big trucks, hot rods, and bikes with open headers and huge pipes. That said, I have to reduce it anyway for my own sanity on longer trips.

So how exactly can I quiet down the muffler that I have? There seem to be two popular ways to quiet mufflers without replacing them... either stuffing the pipe with coarse non-flammable stainless pot scrubbers, or fabricating a collar sleeve that slips into the pipe and reduces the outlet size with perforated holes and such a little. I'm not sure which one I'm going to try yet, but I figure I can fab up both and compare how they do for under $50. Obviously you have to be smart with it though... because just stuffing your muffler with regular steel wool is a stupid idea. Not only is it flammable with fuel vapors and high heat (it burns with a propane torch), but could clog up over time with exhaust soot and cause major engine problems.

[gergorian]

They are kind of expensive but you could look into a varex muffler. Switch it off and its nice and quiet with a nice tone. Switch it on and you get a lot more flow and a nice growl.

[FestYboy]

try THIS

[gergorian]

If they have it in 2 1/2" then that would probably work good.

[FestYboy]

they do... i've seen from 1.75-3.5"

[gergorian]

Nice, I didnt really look around at the website to see if they had other sizes.

[Aaronbrook37]

They are kind of expensive but you could look into a varex muffler. Switch it off and its nice and quiet with a nice tone. Switch it on and you get a lot more flow and a nice growl.

Yeah too much dough unfortunately for my budget.

try THIS

Now we're talking. That looks like something I could theoretically coerce Sasquatch into making for me for a small fee!

If they have it in 2 1/2" then that would probably work good.

they do... i've seen from 1.75-3.5"

Nice, I didnt really look around at the website to see if they had other sizes.

Good to know! Still a bit pricey, but there's no doubt in my mind that they work and are exactly what I'm looking for.

[Aaronbrook37]

I may be licensing this car again pretty soon if I'm unable to sell it in time to pick up the new Cougar project I just bought. That 289 needs to go in the driveway for restoration and repair, and given I only have one designated parking spot that isn't on the street at my parents' house, everything else must be licensed by default. Given neither my grey beater or white screamer is selling, I may just need a month or two of extra insurance. Fortunately, I'm turning 24 and am at 40% discount this year... which brings it down to slightly under $800 for the year. Maybe less for a second car... I don't know quite yet.

In terms of the car itself, I haven't really done a whole lot. I've been touching up the bumper paint, which is cracking a little in the summer heat. I wash it once or twice a month as its parked under some gigantic trees meaning a lot of sap and gunk saying nothing of cobwebs in the engine bay and the like. I blew up the tires today and added a bit of oil as it drips a tiny bit too unfortunately. It's likely the oil drain plug gasket, but I'm not sure yet. I'll figure it out next time I change the oil.

[moz]

Damn... licensing costs in the USA are just as expensive as Australia. I paid $800 for my registration in December.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

[Aaronbrook37]

She's been back on the road for a couple of days, so I figure I'll get back to updating this thread again! I've been doing my best to reverse eight months of idle sitting and wear and tear. I haven't really found anything too concerning as of yet... it has mostly been making little tweaks here and there - shining up rusty grounds, removing grime/buildup, and lots of deodorizing and vacuuming as well.

I finally managed to get around to fixing my door jamb sensors once and for all. I took them out and fully polished the casings. On the dome light itself, there was a fair bit of rust to remove on the negative half and on the connector pins. Good as new, which is great... I forgot just how bright my little 20 white LED panel really was even during the day.

I'm getting started doing some investigating on my intermittent blower fan. It will work whenever it wants to, and sometimes slapping the dash or going over a pothole will change its eagerness to circulate air or not. I could use some help locating where the plugs are from the wiring harness to the heater core and blower motor assembly because I suspect one is loose or malfunctioning. Perhaps there's a ground wire that has partially frayed. I would infer they're up and under the dash on the driver's side, but I'm not sure where to be looking exactly. One thing I did find was the most ridiculous looking 15A fuse you've ever seen. The internal filament appeared fine, but the casing and pins were an absolute disaster. It looked as if someone put them to an open torch or flame. As such, I'll probably keep the blower turned off until I sort this one out.

[Aaronbrook37]

Looks like a pretty well built unit. The little caps make it somewhat adjustable supposedly. It has to go somewhere between the catalytic converter and the tailpipe. It is supposed to be tack-welded into place as well.

[Aaronbrook37]

Front end needed some repainting, scrubbing, and attention. I repainted the headlight shrouds, the bottom eye-lids, the factory grill, scrubbed the pinstripe back to red, and then polished all of the lights on the front end. As you can see, I still need to drain my driver's side headlight because it's loaded with nasty liquid rust.

[Aaronbrook37]

Valve cover came off today in preparation for the valve stem seals going in. Figured I'd clean and scrub it before throwing a lick of fresh paint on it. Sticking with white for now because it is factory-matched to the exterior and engine bay. She held up for two years with an open vented hood... pretty good if you ask me!

[Aaronbrook37]

Still patiently waiting unfortunately as the first set of Beck/Arnley valve stem seals were oddly too large and didn't seat properly on my valve guides. I suspect the Felpro set I've just ordered will likely be higher quality and do the trick. On the recommendation of several folks on ClubProtege, I also picked up one of these kitsfor the purposes of installing and removing the pesky little valve keepers quickly and efficiently. On the DOHC head, there isn't a whole lot of room or clearance for overhead valve spring compressors. Though it's absolutely by all means doable, it takes way too long. Hoping to have the blue smoke issue dealt with in the next month or so in order to start driving it again full time.

I'm finally starting to grow content with the cleanliness of the interior. Steam-cleaning, baking soda, enzyme-rich carpet cleaner, upholstery shampoo... the works. Every time I do this, my vacuum cylinder and carpet cleaner reservoir both come out loaded with black and filthy liquid... so it's obviously working and doing something. The only real issue with doing it this time of year is that it takes ages for things to dry, so I tend to expedite the process with my mini shop vacuum every morning.

[Aaronbrook37]

Winter rebuild is coming along very nicely. My smokescreen shown above turned out to be an internally ruptured intake manifold gasket spewing coolant and two bad valve stem seals dripping oil. Shown above is the completed intake manifold, which had been completely overhauled and refinished.

I also took a few minutes to individually clean, polish, and lap the valves. The intake valves in particular came out very nicely. Because my valve spring compressor is on loan with a friend, I can't get the valve-train put back together just yet. Stay tuned!