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**Note I'm not posting all of the pictures from the past because of how many there are. For future stuff, I will. But for now, links will have to do.
My signature got too long trying to keep people updated with my mods, so it's time for a build thread!
I registered on the board in 2007, right after graduating from High School. I come from a Mitsubishi import background (CSM/DSM) and was looking for something different. I needed a small vehicle that would be just as much to play with as the original plans I had for my Colt. Thus I started my research on small hatchbacks that weren't necessary "hot" by definition, but had the potential of becoming hot hatchbacks. Like many of you, I spent a long time looking for my car after abandoning my searches for Suzuki Swift Turbos, Justys, Micras, Golfs, and other small hot hatches from 1985-1995.
In December of 2009, I came across what I thought would be the perfect car. An original owner from 1990, this guy had racked up 499,500KM onto his Festiva by commuting around BC 5 times a week round-trip. The car appeared to be in good shape, but I wasn't exactly sure what had been done to it. The wheels looked large, and the suspension unusually high. The owner disappeared until late April, when I was returning from University in Ontario.
I then sent in the venerable veteran Sasquatch to investigate, and the findings were many. We were both a little worried about the high mileage on the car, and there were another few little issues here and there that caught our attention. Despite it's flaws, I had waited far too long to acquire myself a hot hatch in progress. I drove over to Abbotsford (via ferry and highways) to pick up the car.
Having sat for the better part of 7 months as a result of him buying a fancy Mazdaspeed Protege to replace it, it wasn't the greatest off the bat. The car's exhaust was noisy, the interior was a little dirty, the engine bay was filthy, and the overall feel of the car was "cobwebbed."
It made it back alive and well to Victoria, and I was very pleased with my purchase. The owner had told me at the time of purchase that the car was indeed Aspire-swapped, and that the reason it sat so high was because of the KYB's with stock Aspire springs, all of which had been professionally installed by a mechanic who was a relative.
Here are Mike's investigation pictures:
So I got to work on her. It had come with: KYBs + Aspire Springs, Aspire Swap, 14" Steelies, 185/60-14 Tires, Custom Cargo Shelf, 6 Speaker Audio with JVC Deck, Auto Console. I met up with Pacific-Northwest legend Ken (hotroddin4me) whose collection of parts and cars was nothing short of fantastic. I acquired a replacement headlight to attempt to fix my woes with mossy rust.
I went back to visit Mike twice (including our trip to Westiva this year) and we made some good adjustments to the car. We replaced the entire cat-back, which had rusted out severely to the point where there was a 2" gap between the intermediate pipe and the muffler. Man that thing sure was loud! We installed a Civic Short Shifter and a proper Camry Shift Boot. We also tightened up my loose pedals and alternator belt.
The car was running really well, having received an oil change, air filter, and inspection by my local shop with a few cans of Seafoam for good measure. Recently, I've started to focus on a few other miscellaneous projects. Mike provided a Nology Coil Amplifier and an Intermittent Wiper Module for the car. I did some serious cleaning all over the car, and a lot of general maintenance that was lacking on the car. Everything from lubricating the dome light switches to rewiring audio pieces.
Here's a picture of my car at Westiva. You can see how much grime I got out of the engine bay. The wheels/tires are also black again, and stay that way with religious maintenance.
I redid the front door speakers, since the ones that came with the car weren't wired up all that well. They are 6.5" Alpine Type-S's, and they're a fantastic addition to the car.
Lately, I've been working on a wide variety of projects:
I added a factory service manual to my literature. Combined with the Haynes manual, I'm well equipped to answer a lot of my own technical issues. I just adjusted my e-brake the other day with this book's help, and man... what an improvement!
On the outside of the car, I'm working on doing some quarterpanel rust delete:
Currently in the primer sanding stage... I hope to have some paint on it before I leave for school. Will update picture later.
I also removed my peeling side-moldings. For now, I have replacements made out of painter's tape just to help shield the small sections of bare metal a little bit. Once I repaint the car, I will either add new ones or shave them completely.
I traced a good quality set of wheel studs and chrome lug nuts from a VW aftermarket company, and they're in the mail right now. I've had a wheel off once or twice, and I already loathe the lug bolts. This will be a great upgrade both cosmetically and functionally.
On Ebay, I ordered an LED dome-light replacement with 24 bulbs that pops into the stock location, as well as an orange dash clock. I'm in the process of purchasing some power swoopies and a white KM/H tach'd cluster from Germany as well. Might be a bulk pack of 194 bulbs to replace some burnt out ones too.
In terms of the future, I have a long list of stuff I'd like to accomplish:
For the exterior, I want to repaint the car one of two ways - either completely white, or a two-tone white and black seen here. Definitely going to be a $50 paint job regardless, and it will be at least somewhat white to stay in accordance with the interior and engine bay.
For the interior, in addition to what I've done/am doing, I also want to re-do the cargo cover, add some NOS 323 pedal covers and gas/hatch release cables, add a headlight reminder buzzer, and maybe some stealthy power door locks with keyless entry. I'm also trying with Eurotiva and a few other users on getting myself some better quality shifter bushings... slowly. The slack is killing me!
Stock-piling handling/suspension parts is my winter goal. On the list:
Cut Aspire Springs, 185/60-14 Sumitomo HTR A/S P01, Inner Tie Rods, Escort Outer Tie Rods, Festiva Steering Rack Boots, Control Arms and Balljoints, Poly Bushings (Super-Pro CA-CH, Moog SB-CA, Super-Pro SB-CH), Aspire Front Swaybar, EGT Front Calipers + Pads, Aspire Rotors (perhaps D/S, likely not), New Brake Lines, Aspire Master Cylinder and Brake Booster, New Brake Fluid (Duh), Aspire Rear Brake Shoes and Hardware Kit, and Wheel Bearings and Seals
Essentially, I want to do a complete rebuild of the knuckles a la Freshtiva in quality. My car's handling is fine, but it could be a lot more precise with some new rubber parts and better quality stopping power. I found a retired mechanic in town who does high quality work on Mazda imports for under a third of shop rates, so he will be my go-to guy for most of this work.
On the side, Kofkof_00 and I are working on a cold air intake using the stock air box setup, but we're not in much of a hurry to get that done... at least I'm not haha.
My ideal goal would be to have all of that above finished by Westiva '11, including the paint. I'm away at school from Sept-April (carless), but I graduate from university in April of 2011, so it should be enough time I hope. I'll basically be sending large piles of Festiva parts home the whole time I'm away, working on the side in school to pay for the school/parts. I'll then also give FOTM a shot, hoping that a completely rebuild suspension and decent interior/paintwork will win me the prize! Hopefully late next summer will be B8 time!
Thanks for reading!
My signature got too long trying to keep people updated with my mods, so it's time for a build thread!
I registered on the board in 2007, right after graduating from High School. I come from a Mitsubishi import background (CSM/DSM) and was looking for something different. I needed a small vehicle that would be just as much to play with as the original plans I had for my Colt. Thus I started my research on small hatchbacks that weren't necessary "hot" by definition, but had the potential of becoming hot hatchbacks. Like many of you, I spent a long time looking for my car after abandoning my searches for Suzuki Swift Turbos, Justys, Micras, Golfs, and other small hot hatches from 1985-1995.
In December of 2009, I came across what I thought would be the perfect car. An original owner from 1990, this guy had racked up 499,500KM onto his Festiva by commuting around BC 5 times a week round-trip. The car appeared to be in good shape, but I wasn't exactly sure what had been done to it. The wheels looked large, and the suspension unusually high. The owner disappeared until late April, when I was returning from University in Ontario.
I then sent in the venerable veteran Sasquatch to investigate, and the findings were many. We were both a little worried about the high mileage on the car, and there were another few little issues here and there that caught our attention. Despite it's flaws, I had waited far too long to acquire myself a hot hatch in progress. I drove over to Abbotsford (via ferry and highways) to pick up the car.
Having sat for the better part of 7 months as a result of him buying a fancy Mazdaspeed Protege to replace it, it wasn't the greatest off the bat. The car's exhaust was noisy, the interior was a little dirty, the engine bay was filthy, and the overall feel of the car was "cobwebbed."
It made it back alive and well to Victoria, and I was very pleased with my purchase. The owner had told me at the time of purchase that the car was indeed Aspire-swapped, and that the reason it sat so high was because of the KYB's with stock Aspire springs, all of which had been professionally installed by a mechanic who was a relative.
Here are Mike's investigation pictures:
So I got to work on her. It had come with: KYBs + Aspire Springs, Aspire Swap, 14" Steelies, 185/60-14 Tires, Custom Cargo Shelf, 6 Speaker Audio with JVC Deck, Auto Console. I met up with Pacific-Northwest legend Ken (hotroddin4me) whose collection of parts and cars was nothing short of fantastic. I acquired a replacement headlight to attempt to fix my woes with mossy rust.
I went back to visit Mike twice (including our trip to Westiva this year) and we made some good adjustments to the car. We replaced the entire cat-back, which had rusted out severely to the point where there was a 2" gap between the intermediate pipe and the muffler. Man that thing sure was loud! We installed a Civic Short Shifter and a proper Camry Shift Boot. We also tightened up my loose pedals and alternator belt.
The car was running really well, having received an oil change, air filter, and inspection by my local shop with a few cans of Seafoam for good measure. Recently, I've started to focus on a few other miscellaneous projects. Mike provided a Nology Coil Amplifier and an Intermittent Wiper Module for the car. I did some serious cleaning all over the car, and a lot of general maintenance that was lacking on the car. Everything from lubricating the dome light switches to rewiring audio pieces.
Here's a picture of my car at Westiva. You can see how much grime I got out of the engine bay. The wheels/tires are also black again, and stay that way with religious maintenance.
I redid the front door speakers, since the ones that came with the car weren't wired up all that well. They are 6.5" Alpine Type-S's, and they're a fantastic addition to the car.
Lately, I've been working on a wide variety of projects:
I added a factory service manual to my literature. Combined with the Haynes manual, I'm well equipped to answer a lot of my own technical issues. I just adjusted my e-brake the other day with this book's help, and man... what an improvement!
On the outside of the car, I'm working on doing some quarterpanel rust delete:
Currently in the primer sanding stage... I hope to have some paint on it before I leave for school. Will update picture later.
I also removed my peeling side-moldings. For now, I have replacements made out of painter's tape just to help shield the small sections of bare metal a little bit. Once I repaint the car, I will either add new ones or shave them completely.
I traced a good quality set of wheel studs and chrome lug nuts from a VW aftermarket company, and they're in the mail right now. I've had a wheel off once or twice, and I already loathe the lug bolts. This will be a great upgrade both cosmetically and functionally.
On Ebay, I ordered an LED dome-light replacement with 24 bulbs that pops into the stock location, as well as an orange dash clock. I'm in the process of purchasing some power swoopies and a white KM/H tach'd cluster from Germany as well. Might be a bulk pack of 194 bulbs to replace some burnt out ones too.
In terms of the future, I have a long list of stuff I'd like to accomplish:
For the exterior, I want to repaint the car one of two ways - either completely white, or a two-tone white and black seen here. Definitely going to be a $50 paint job regardless, and it will be at least somewhat white to stay in accordance with the interior and engine bay.
For the interior, in addition to what I've done/am doing, I also want to re-do the cargo cover, add some NOS 323 pedal covers and gas/hatch release cables, add a headlight reminder buzzer, and maybe some stealthy power door locks with keyless entry. I'm also trying with Eurotiva and a few other users on getting myself some better quality shifter bushings... slowly. The slack is killing me!
Stock-piling handling/suspension parts is my winter goal. On the list:
Cut Aspire Springs, 185/60-14 Sumitomo HTR A/S P01, Inner Tie Rods, Escort Outer Tie Rods, Festiva Steering Rack Boots, Control Arms and Balljoints, Poly Bushings (Super-Pro CA-CH, Moog SB-CA, Super-Pro SB-CH), Aspire Front Swaybar, EGT Front Calipers + Pads, Aspire Rotors (perhaps D/S, likely not), New Brake Lines, Aspire Master Cylinder and Brake Booster, New Brake Fluid (Duh), Aspire Rear Brake Shoes and Hardware Kit, and Wheel Bearings and Seals
Essentially, I want to do a complete rebuild of the knuckles a la Freshtiva in quality. My car's handling is fine, but it could be a lot more precise with some new rubber parts and better quality stopping power. I found a retired mechanic in town who does high quality work on Mazda imports for under a third of shop rates, so he will be my go-to guy for most of this work.
On the side, Kofkof_00 and I are working on a cold air intake using the stock air box setup, but we're not in much of a hurry to get that done... at least I'm not haha.
My ideal goal would be to have all of that above finished by Westiva '11, including the paint. I'm away at school from Sept-April (carless), but I graduate from university in April of 2011, so it should be enough time I hope. I'll basically be sending large piles of Festiva parts home the whole time I'm away, working on the side in school to pay for the school/parts. I'll then also give FOTM a shot, hoping that a completely rebuild suspension and decent interior/paintwork will win me the prize! Hopefully late next summer will be B8 time!
Thanks for reading!
good buy, its well worth it 
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