Aaron's Festiva Build Thread

[Aaronbrook37]

Updated Motor Build Sheet:

323GT B6T Engine Swap
2.5” Mandrel-Bent Exhaust with Cat, Muffler, Resonator
Mazda MX-6 Side Mount Intercooler
K&N Air Filter with Ported Air Box
VF10/VJ11 Hybrid Turbo Swap with Ported O2 Housing
Manual Boost Controller and Eclipse BOV
Kaowool/Cool Tape Insulated Heat Shields
Chipped ECU (Reich or Corksport?)
Walbro 255LPH Fuel Pump

[Aaronbrook37]

[Aaronbrook37]

Car work at 4:00AM is really something special. The solitary quiet is the perfect environment for getting work done!

I set to work sniffing out a little Subaru WRX style micro-stutter I've been having at partial throttle and partial boost. As nasty as it is to sound like I've got a boxer engine under the hood, I prefer having my ignition working properly. I started with the distributor and got the contacts all shined up on the rotor and cap. From there, per Damkid's advice, I took a gander at my spark plug gap... which was strangely significantly larger than the 0.040" I thought I set them to last month. They were also quite fouled and dark in colour, though they didn't appear as oily and tar-like as before. After narrowing them slightly to a slender 0.031", it got me really thinking.

One thing I've been noticing as of late is dark soot blanketed over the rear hatch and bumper. Figuring it was just residual oil, I've been ignoring it up until now... until I realized that there was a puzzle piece I've completely neglected to maintain: my O2 sensor. Out it came, and what a shame. Not only was the butt connector half out, but the tip of the sensor itself was an absolute disaster zone. Clogged with tar - and to the point where the holes were completely invisible. I decided to shine it back up for now and test it before I replace it... used a little bit of electrical cleaner and an old BBQ brush to get it back to its native dark copper colour.

Here's hoping that solves it. Must wait for the sun to rise before I can fire her up!

[fastivaca]

From there, it'll be time to give 16 psi a shot and then put her on the dyno I think!

...and then to Westiva !!!

Sent from somewhere west of here via Tapatalk!

[Aaronbrook37]

Got the uncut hood installed. A much cleaner, less aggressive look I must say. The exterior is now completely stock again, just with some smoothies, side mouldings, pin-striping, and an early grill. Up next, I'm going to work on dehumidifying my cabin a little bit by ensuring the weather-stripping is glued in well and sealing properly. Later this week, it should be gauge install time! From there, it'll be time to give 16 psi a shot and then put her on the dyno I think!

[Aaronbrook37]

Intake manifold has yet to go in as I've been busy with job interviews and such this week. I did however go pick up my new front end parts last night! Got the headlamps sanded and polished, grill scrubbed, and gave the bumper some love too. The untarnished hood will go on once it's light outside and I have a helping hand. Supposedly, I have some fancy blue-tinge bulbs in there too, but I forgot to flip them on and check!

[Aaronbrook37]

The turbo overhaul is now complete with fresh gaskets, re-threaded bolts, and new hose clamps everywhere. All of the damage done by the leaky oil return line has been now cleaned up and restored successfully. I also took a moment to pop the intercooler and charge piping back in meticulously replacing and restoring everything I can to prevent vacuum leaks and obstacles to optimal performance.

Next week, the new front end will go on. I’m looking forward to having clear headlights and an unventilated hood again, but mostly the latter. Once the cooling system was overhauled, the engine no longer needed to be ventilated because it didn’t overheat or leak coolant any longer. With a factory unvented hood, my cold air in the cabin will be cleaner, my spark plug wires will be drier, and my engine accessories and belts won’t be constantly drowning in rainstorms.

My second piston bath worked a lot better than expected because either the piston rings started to become unstuck again or the solution was simply too viscous to fully seep through the cylinder walls in three days. I suctioned out a considerable amount of leftover fluid from a handful of the cylinders. I also took a minute to shine up and remove corrosion from the ground wires while charging the battery and replacing the fasteners.

With the fuel system disabled, I gave the starter a bit of a workout to get the pistons and valves pumping, the turbo primed, and the engine cleaned out. The engine cranked significantly faster, and the motor itself was also quite a bit quieter than before. I was quite surprised given my battery is a mere 250CCA and my starter is an original Festiva unit.

The new intake manifold and fuel rail bolts/spacers get here tomorrow, and I’m hoping to have her running and idling by Tuesday afternoon. I pray that everything I have done will eliminate the majority of the bluish whitish smoke the car has been suffering from since August given the head, turbo, gaskets, seals, fasteners, fittings, valves, and manifolds have all been overhauled in one way or another. Patience is a virtue as they say.

[Aaronbrook37]

[battleaxe]

take all of the pieces you need. I think i recognize this car now. I didn't go through this whole thread though. looks fun. If you are in need of anything else I do have other stuff for sale. Like a air filter or a Personal Steering Wheel. iunno what you're in the market for.

[sketchman]

Thanks. I saw after I posted.

[Aaronbrook37]

http://www.summitracing.com/int/search/part-type/exhaust-inserts/brand/car-chemistry

[sketchman]

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.

What is this thing called? The link is dead now. I built a complete muffler like this before and it worked extremely well at getting high pitched and buzzy noise out of the exhaust.

[Aaronbrook37]

So the re-assembly and winter overhaul is coming along fairly well all things considering. After getting the cylinder head all shined up with smoothed ports, fresh seals, and lapped valves, I turned my attention to the exhaust/turbo assembly. Surprisingly, the Kaowool ceramic fiber has held up very well underneath the three little heat shields... and so I'm going to keep it in there for the health and well-being of my radiator and engine bay. The downpipe's header wrap and Kaowool was an absolute melted mess from the split oil return line that I had, so I re-wrapped it in fresh wrap and painted it low profile black.

It's much harder to spot from under the car now. The old turbo has been swapped for a clean, tight, and dry VJ11 from Clay in Arizona, and I took the liberty of meticulously cleaning/tapping/painting the entire turbo assembly when I had it all out. I've become a huge fan of single stage semi-gloss high-heat rust enamel paint... I believe it's Rustoleum/Tremclad that makes it. Did the valve cover in it too because the white is just too high maintenance. As you can no doubt see, the intake manifold still needs to be swapped out and the intercooler/charge piping still has to go in as well.



The winter has not been kind to the exterior of my Festiva. Some of my shoddy touch-up painting has cracked, the left headlight is rust soup, and the hood is a sight for sore eyes as well. Fortunately, there's a local member by the name of Battleaxe who has a spare front-end that I'm going to snag. I'll get the headlights apart and shined up, the spare early-style grill re-painted, and the hood replaced. The only issue is going to be ensuring the cold side throttle body charge pipe has enough clearance over the valve cover, but I'm not to worried about that at all given the hood scaffolding can be cut out entirely.

[Aaronbrook37]

Five hours of painstakingly obsessive work got the engine components all prepared and installed yesterday afternoon with the help of a mechanic/friend of mine. Everything was given a great deal of TLC: tap and die set on everything, gasket sealant where needed, and high grit sandpaper to ensure manifold flanges were sufficiently clean and straight. We used the red grease trick on the valve keepers to keep them sticking to the tops of the valves, which saved us a considerable amount of time. I also used up a half can of electrical contact cleaner and some brushes to ensure all of the fuel injection connections were still in excellent condition. All that remains is to charge the battery, clean out the PCV valve, set the timing, and check the compression!

[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!