Babe

[zoom zoom]

lol.. yea dude these cars will roll the tire over all day long..








































on gravel

[DriverOne]

Re: Babe

I say turbo it. Not for HP. A small turbo and a VW Turbo S intercooler might get you past 55mpg, especially if you do the Matt Dickmeyer flow mod...

[Tommychu]

Pre-swap my car liked to spin a lot too. You don't need 200 horsepower to find the hookup issues in these cars, but in stock trim it's more of an endearing trait.

As far as adjusting to the handling of a different car, I don't really have that problem since both my cars (and even my truck, to an extent) handle almost exactly the same. My problem is gear ratios- I often judge my speed by feel with the engine rpm, and when I go from the Festy to the Matrix I usually get a speeding ticket within the first day or two before I've compensated my brain.

[2xclutchin]

For sure, I spun the tires (maybe it was "tire" lol) today shifting into second. That surprised me a bit.

On concrete roads, I can chirp it into the 3rd! :-D I love my little carby!

[kumalaba]

my 88lx with 435k miles got 39 mpg going to fm4.

[Advancedynamix]

Pre-swap my car liked to spin a lot too. You don't need 200 horsepower to find the hookup issues in these cars, but in stock trim it's more of an endearing trait.

As far as adjusting to the handling of a different car, I don't really have that problem since both my cars (and even my truck, to an extent) handle almost exactly the same. My problem is gear ratios- I often judge my speed by feel with the engine rpm, and when I go from the Festy to the Matrix I usually get a speeding ticket within the first day or two before I've compensated my brain.

With 161hp my b6t swap has no traction issues at all. Shock valving, more forward weight and my lower rad support have remedied the traction issues completely. I just never realized the difference till now. These cars would have sold even better with a few slight adjustments.

[Damkid]

Babe

I remember seeing your lower rad support and I remember hearing you say it was to help move your rad more forward, was that the only reason? Or was there a performance reason for doing that?

[Advancedynamix]

I remember seeing your lower rad support and I remember hearing you say it was to help move your rad more forward, was that the only reason? Or was there a performance reason for doing that?

It was more to reinforce the most critical area on the Festiva chassis. Think about where all of your wheel tq is transferring through. The car is literally being pushed around by the swaybar. The only support that the front end has to keep it from twisting is the upper and lower rad support and front bumper. The struts and control arms mostly manage lateral force ( cornering force) but do very little in the way of torque and braking force. I reinforced this area and gusseted the front lower frame horns to reduce the chassis flex at it's source. Anyone who has had the bumper and center support off the front end can put two hands on the front end and tell you why this car would torque steer its like an old runner sled. You know, the type with the wooden board you put your feet on in the front to turn the sled, except your 200ft lbs of tq is acting like the feet pushing the front end side to side. Anyone who has cut the front supports removed the center vertical support, or cut the bumper support drastically. has effectively reduced the cars ability too resist torque steer. This chassis flex is then exaggerated as it is transferred backward, and by the time it reaches the firewall it is destructive, as we have seen on several of the high hp cars. The problem isn't at the firewall however, it's at the other end of the engine bay.

[Bert]

[QUOTE=FB71;553087]

Yeah, this one comes on at weird times. It seems to work in second gear pretty consistently, but it won't come on if first and it's intermittent in 3rd.

check the vacuum lines. The shift light is operated by a Hobbs type vac switch. Cracks in the hoses can diminish the available vac to the switch.

As for the O2 sensor, it's a feedback carb. The PCM monitors the O2 under specific coolant temp and throttle position conditions. It then controls a stepper motor to change air bleeds to the main circuit emulsifier well. Additionally, the PCM controls a fuel-cut solenoid to reduce closed-throttle decel emissions and to prevent key-off dieseling. Oh, there's also a BP sensor/switch to modify the air bleed decisions.

Older folks like me lust over simple carb cars (well maybe more than one carb) just so as to avoid gobbledeegook non-intuitive electronics such as you describe, and now you're telling me 89 carb Festys have all this junk built on just so that the carb will work. Weber time!! and a move out to somewhere that the e-test police are asleep or don't exist.

[bravekozak]

Or, you could buy a set of twin Mikuni carbs + adapter from me and don't worry about computer control anymore.
The Ford Laser Mikuni's are designed for a 1.5 liter engine. You don't have to turn the idle mixture screws very much.

[Advancedynamix]

For Babes 200,000 mile birthday, she got some upgrades. New paint, 3 stage indigo metallic. Nice grey LX interior and some advancedynamix coilovers in yellow zinc finish. She also got some maintenance items, like front main seal, trans and engine oil, timing belt and vc gasket. I also found some nice clear headlights for her. She's now quite spiffy.

[Advancedynamix]

[Team Lightning]

Looks great Charlie!!

[bravekozak]

Those reed valves scare me. I ripped them off all of my air cleaners. Plug the EGR and you will get even better gas mileage. I once had a blue 89 4 speed!

[Advancedynamix]

I would have to do this and have it appear stock. this car car to pass a stringent smog inspection in 4 months. They don't take kindly to removing any of the equipment, and they have factory diagrams on what it should look like. Tweak just confused them because it looks all factory but nothing like the picture.