Hodginsa's First Festy

[hodginsa]

All I want to do is go out and drive on the fresh tires and I can't!
Anyone want to buy a festiva?







Heres a video of the engine knock noise.

http://youtu.be/MwfXbfxb6dA

[hodginsa]

I think it was a stuck valve, it sounds normal again.

[freshtiva]

Could have been a HLA, its common if they've been sitting for a while.

[hodginsa]

Installed the Manual belts today, and painted the rear interior plastic black.

Power belt setup anyone?




Okay, did I install my belts correctly? They look weird, but its the only way that makes sense. It looks like the belt latch is facing the wrong way, but they were that way in the junkyard car, I realize the bottom bolt isn't bolted down yet, but they feel fine except I might put my side on the lower bolt up top. They look right though?





What is this weird Inertia switch for?

[xaero_81]

What is this weird Inertia switch for?

Fuel pump shutoff in a roll over accident?

[hodginsa]

Good call, thats definitely it.

[hodginsa]

What did you guys torque the rear beam mounts to? The two 14mm bolts and the 17mm bolt. In the manual they have the bushing mount bolt listed but not the bushing mount listed. I did 50ft/lbs for the 14s and 70 for the 17, I think they could be higher.

I'm kind of a nut when it comes to proper spec torques, just makes me feel better if something falls off. "Well it wasn't my fault, I torqued them to factory".

[hodginsa]

Lowered her a tad, 1 coil in the back, 1.25 in the front. Pics tomorrow maybe, someone has my good camera.

[hodginsa]

Got my camera back!

[hodginsa]

I'm confused, my new tires are supposed to be 5% bigger, and my speedo proves that, but I just drove 280 miles mapped by google maps and what do you know? Trip odometer read exactly 280miles, but get this, my mpg dropped by exactly 5%, how quirky is that. I don't know what to believe!

Oh and my front end is making a really loud knock when I lift throttle while in a low gear. Everything on the front is me except for struts and strut mounts. Could it be them? I can feel it in my clutch foot if it's resting on the firewall.

[DriverOne]

Everything on the front is me except for struts and strut mounts. Could it be them? I can feel it in my clutch foot if it's resting on the firewall.

I found that I had a similar problem, and discovered it was the strut main nut on the passenger side that wasn't tight. Maybe that's your issue too.

[hodginsa]

I was wondering about this, but they appear to have the same amount of threads showing, I did just recently cut my springs and rotate my strut top to give more camber. So maybe that did something. I think my trans mounts might be a bit gone too allowing the engine to torque when I accel and decel, when I lift my foot off the gas while in gear on the highway it pulls to the left suggesting the left wheel is moving back slightly from the reverse torque of the overrun.

[hodginsa]

So I installed the Energy sway bar bushings, I didn't use a grinder to take the material off. I just trimmed the lip off with some wire snippers and I hack sawed the corners off so it would sit recessed into the holder. I figured the material would have enough give to form itself. Worked perfectly! Lazy but quick and works really well.

Anyway the car handles so much better and it doesn't steer when I accelerate and Decel! Shifting even feels better! Has anyone thought about using the Kia Rio suspension setup? it removes using the sway bar as a hinge point for the lower control arm, just a thought.



Next I went to install some 6.5" speakers in the doors and since I removed my power seat belts I had an idea! I used the wiring that controls the seat belt action to power the speaker instead, so I went inside the door and snipped the open door switch plug. This eliminates having to run wires in between the door and car.

I moved the plug to the speaker location and unplugged the harness. I will solder it to the speaker wire.




Heres them soldered to the speaker wires.



Now I located the harness, its combined with the power mirror wires, so make sure you know which ones to snip!



Now have some way to attach to the 4" speaker wires(I'm removing mine).




And in!



Repeat process for passenger side, its literally exactly the same, plug harness even wire colour!

[Safety Guy]

Your seatbelt install looked fine except that I can't see the upper tab of the reel body. Here is a pic of how I did mine:



I'd make sure the top tab is stabilized, just in case it's important. Since that's how the factory installed them, I'd say it is important! I used some HVAC duct connecting material to fab the piece that bridges the gap between the old belt reel and the car body.

Did you just use your later model latches at the seats? I just realized that the old belts would probably fit into them. Do they?

Neat speaker wiring!

Karl

[hodginsa]

I was going to make a neat bracket, but realized I don't have a drill here, they're ziptied right now. I figured it was fine because they appear to have zero supportive properties, they're only there to allow the seat belt to be always pulled straight(so they don't lock when you're pulling them and be annoying like that), but in an accident that little screw isn't going to do anything. So ill make one when I get home with the rest of my tools just because I like things proper haha.

As for the latches, I was using the Power seat belt ones, but I found they put the belt in a position that rubbed on my neck, so I cleaned up the ones from the yard and cut away some carpet in the ol' festy and the bolt holes were there, so its all correct now for manual belts


I'm on the lookout for a BP now Karl, got any ? hah