Prettystiva build thread

[Safety Guy]

I picked up Prettystiva, a '93GL 5 speed, back in June of 2012. "Zoomzoom" Matt and I drove up north to get her and a parts Aspire, which needed towed. Here's that thread:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?43851-AquaMutt-meets-Prettystiva-A-road-trip-story&highlight=Prettystiva

Prettystiva stayed with Matt for awhile since I already had a yard full of three and 2/3 other Festivas. My Dad and I finally brought her home mid-October. Here's my Dad mid-trip:



She drove pretty well though she has a tick in her engine, probably a bad lifter or something.

Here she is joining the family in my back yard:



(You can see it's a bit crowded.)

Since my DD, AquaMutt, had recently gotten a bad head gasket, I drove Pretty for over a week. Finally, this past Wednesday on the way home, she began overheating! I had to drive my other '93GL, Luxstiva, to work.

Fortunately I solved Aqua's problems and got her back on DD duty.

So now it's time to spread the love! I began taking apart Pretty's engine compartment to prep for a mostly new cooling system. I had bought a new radiator in anticipation of this day, so that was on hand. I think I have most everything else, and what I don't have I'll probably pick up from the local stores.

I have plans for an engine swap, full suspension swap, and who knows what else. I want Prettystiva to be my "comfy long range cruising car," so I'll leave her back seat in to carry passengers and soak up noise.

This "build thread" won't be going anywhere too fast, but since I'm starting some relatively major work, I figured I'd begin.

My first intent is to cover not just my attempt to fix this overheating issue, but also to show a few things I'm doing to help plan for the future work and also to show some more extreme "long range planning" in regards to thinking about parts to stock and perhaps, taking inventory and writing down all the parts, large and small, which go into a Festiva.

More in a moment...

[Safety Guy]

Besides some cleaning and an oil change, the first remotely "cool" thing I did was to replace my very rusted firewall access panel on the right side of the engine bay:



The above picture does not show what it looked like after I picked at it a bit! I got another piece, sanded it, and painted it:



The panel leads to the cowl air collection area. With this panel off, you can pour water into the cowl slots and help flush out any dirt and debris (usually decomposing leaves and seeds) where you can't quite reach.

From now on I'm pulling any of these I find in decent shape. You may need a small impact driver to get those two Phillips screws out, so be prepared. Along with this plate that I sanded and refinished, I also did a rear wiper arm I had. Unfortunately, Pretty's rear arm just ain't coming off! I've tried soaking in PB Blaster, tapping, etc. with no luck so far. The nut is off, but the arm remains. My little puller tool isn't doing the job. At some point I'll figure something else out. No hurry on this, but that nice repainted rear wiper arm is waiting...

Now for today's work. I began removing battery, loosening really rusty looking radiator bracket bolts, and making some room to pull the radiator, cleaning as I went:



Note the absolutely mucky gunk in the drain pan! This stuff had two densities, with the thicker stuff looking just like olive drab paint. Very little came out at first, so I had to pour some very hot water to get the rest out. After the boiling water, I then pulled off the upper hose and a moment later was rewarded with a slurping sound and whatever was clogging the inside of the radiator let go.



See the gunky stuff on top? Yuck. I think someone dumped several servings of stop leak over the years. At least I hope that's what it is. I just hope the leak was in the radiator or a hose and not the engine!

Here's a view from top left. You can see the upper rad hose hanging off the thermostat housing pipe. I'll be changing the t-stat as well.



Note the battery tray. There are three 10mm bolts holding it on. Two are on top and one is underneath, going into the "frame rail" sheetmetal. That's the one I couldn't loosen today, and may not be able to. However, it doesn't have to come all the way out. It just clamps the bottom bracket of the plastic tray, so if you can loosen it a bit, the tray should lift up. I'm replacing most of these bolts with new ones from the hardware store. I have them in a baggie, with original bolts and new ones, as well as washers. Labelled for future reference. The idea is to have these on hand, and eventually, to catalog them and list their thread size, etc.

I intend on driving Festivas for a long time, so I really need to institute a "parts system" that I can see what I have, how many, and what I will need next.

That's a tall order for someone as lazy and disorganized as I am!

One more picture of the area of operations:



I've had those ramps since at least the early eighties. I do my oil changes and coolant stuff with them. If you don't have ramps you should think about them. Much easier than jacking the car up and setting jackstands!

Note the new radiator box leaning against the table. Also, one of the radiator overflow bottles is soaking in hot water and cleaner against another table leg, with my dark blue kitchen kettle sitting on top of the table (if anyone wondered what that was). Also note the large metal pan under Pretty's front end. I don't like the idea of spilling various auto chemicals onto my land, though I'm not adverse to dribbling some brake cleaner here and there. I highly recommend these pans to catch the daily slop as you work on your car either inside or outside. All my "used juices" go into bottles to be disposed of properly or recycled.

I think that's it for today. I should have more by the end of tomorrow. I know one member was wanting a t-stat replacement tutorial, so I will do my best to document that procedure.

Karl

[zoom zoom]

Looking good Karl, haha what is that gunk?! That's nasty! Looks like the tranny fluid I drained today haha..

That's a real nice plate you got there..it looked ok before but that coat of paint really freshened it up!

[Safety Guy]

Thanks Matt. I hope your transaxle adventure is coming along nicely!

Karl

[zoom zoom]

hah...it turned into an axle/full exhaust mani back custom exhaust job. It should get done today..hopefully it works.

[Safety Guy]

I've been lazy the past couple days, but I have been working on Prettystiva. Got her running yesterday and off the ramps. Took a test drive just a few minutes ago. So far so good, though a longer test drive is in order.

First of all, let me show the following parts Matt and I ripped out of an ATX Aspire:


Here's the opposite side view:


An entire (or most of it anyways) cruise control setup! Matt noticed it and convinced me I had to buy it. So there is it. The only part I may be missing is probably the catch. I seem to recall a "speed sensor" that was part of the Festiva CC setup. I don't think we saw one of those on this car. If we did we didn't recognize it or manage to separate it from the transaxle. If anyone knows, post up and tell me what I'm missing.

I'm posting these pics for two reasons: to show another member who wanted to see them, and to announce I'll be installing them either in Prettystiva or my other '93GL, Luxstiva. We'll see.

Next I'll show some pics of a thermostat replacement. I know another member was wanting a tutorial on this, so I'll do my best with what I have.

Karl

[Safety Guy]

I replaced most all of the easy to get to cooling system, including the t-stat. I put in a new:

-radiator
-upper and lower rad hoses
-rad cap
-thermostat (two stage)
-antifreeze

Since I surmised that the thick floating gunk that looked like OD paint may have been stop leak, I chose not to do any flushing of the system in order not to flush loose any leaks somewhere in the back end of things (where it's harder to get to) in hopes of getting Pretty through the winter as my back up car. Also, since I'll be doing a "95% take her apart and rebuild her better" in the spring, the rear part of the system will be well taken care of, more than likely including a new heater core and all new hoses (as well as a NEW ENGINE).

Here we are looking at the back of the engine block and the distributor with the cap off:


Note that the battery and the radiator (with fan assembly) have been removed. This made the job of replacing the t-stat a little easier, but it would have been easier still if I had removed the whole distributor. If you choose to do that, make sure and mark its position so you put it back without losing its alignment. Next time I replace a t-stat on car I think I'll remove it. Why? See the wrench and what its hanging off of? That's the bottom bolt. You can best get to it at this angle and work it a little at a time. It's a pain. (You can't actually see the bottom bolt, but you can see the ratcheting head of the wrench.)

Here I've taken off the t-stat housing and have slid a small screwdriver into the outer t-stat to pry it off:



Note the towels to catch dripping gunk. Unfortunately, the top towel there is also covering up the bottom bolt hole of the t-stat housing. You can see the top hole. See that bypass pipe going across just underneath the t-stat? That, plus the distributor, make getting to the bottom bolt to unscrew it a pain. That's why removing the distributor would be nice: better access.

Here I've removed the t-stat:



You want to clean up a bit inside the head, then clean the mating surface where the gasket will seat. That thin red material is part of the old gasket. I used a small razor blade scraper (careful not to scratch the aluminum!) and used a bit of fine emory cloth to clean up the head surface.

One more pic, on one stage vs. two stage thermostats:



In the back is the t-stat housing in all its nastiness, with the nasty looking spade connector thermoswitch (which controls the fan) still in it. (I should have removed-or loosened--that before anything else, because it was in pretty tight and hard to do once the part was off the engine.)

The box shows the correct Ford part for the two stage t-stat. You may also be able to get a Mazda version. However, last week I ordered three more of these Ford (Motorcraft) RT-1073 t-stats and Ricart Ford was having some trouble getting them. I just talked to the parts guy today and they should be in Monday, from at least two different sources, at least one of them non-Ford.

In front on the left is the new part, with the old single stage t-stat I took out of Pretty on the right. Note the difference in the top part: the 2 stage has a small mechanism while the one stage only has a small hole with a small rattle-thingy in it. Rockauto has one part from another company that looks like the correct two stage part. It's over thirty dollars, plus whatever shipping. I'm picking up my three t-stats from Ricart for under $75. I also managed to look up a coupon code for 3% off. (I like to use "retailmenot.com" in case anyone is interested. It's worth a try to always see if a vendor has a discount and Retailmenot has usually come through for me.)

Maybe one more post today...

[Safety Guy]

Here the screwdriver points to the area in which there has built up a lot of scale, or some kind of corrosion. I gently used a razor scraper on it, then used some coarse grit sandpaper and then some fine emory cloth. Make sure you make the place where the hose fits as smooth and nice as possible so you don't get leaks here!



Here's the cleaned up housing with the old and new thermoswitches. Just because it looks bad and maybe has a loose spade connector doesn't mean it won't work, but I'm being thorough so I don't have to redo it!



The new sensor should come with an O ring on it and I also used a bit of black RTV to help it seal. (I think you can also use some teflon tape, but don't overdo it!)

Cleaned housing with new switch, two stage t-stat, gasket that came with it, and black RTV:



Here you see the RTV on the head part of the mating surface, ready for the gasket and then the housing:



When I installed the t-stat and housing, I wasn't sure if the t-stat had stayed in place as I put on the housing. So I took it off and checked! It was fine. I then reinstalled the housing and hoped for the best. The t-stat seemed to stay put, partly from some of the RTV perhaps. Again, removing the distributor would probably make this process a bit easier. It just gets in the way. Taking the disty cap off helps a bit though.

That's all for today!

Karl

[zoom zoom]

Hopefully that fixes your overheating issue, it would be really nice if you had an extra set of Festy rockers to put in that head and get rid of the tick before it starts missing..

I think that cruise control is just rpm fed, the green wire went to the tach signal at the cluster, power ground, and the other wires were between the switches and the computer. I know I had to twist your arm to convince you to get that :p I can help you put that in pic when the time comes, the brake bracket and switch is probably all that you'll have to adjust, if even that. Then again, if its too much I know a guy who would take it off your hands..

How are you not getting rained on, all week! I am, can't get anything done..

[Safety Guy]

It's raining here now! Better test drive tomorrow.

I've ordered some lifters so I may get to that ticking the next good weather. I may be able to just take off the VC and replace parts.

Karl

[junspeed]

Nice build Karl. Nice fleet in the backyard too. Those ramps are pretty cool.
Good luck on the build...

[Movin]

Good golly, I'm in shock!! I had no idea..That back yard...oh my....

[Twistiva]

Safety Guy -

In regards to your rusted / stuck rear wiper, maybe this will help?....

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?46389-Penetrating-Oils

BTW, LOVE the detail in your posts; very simple and step by step with lots of pix and good 'FYI'. That's the kind of help I need. :p

[Safety Guy]

Thanks guys!

Movin, what's a matter with my back yard?

Continuing on, I'll briefly mention the battery shelf and the three 10mm bolts that hold it onto the car. Two of these bolts are on top. One is in the tray itself, in a depression near the shock tower. The other is on the outside of the tray under the harness and a relay at the fender. These bolts can become rusted and hard to remove, but nothing like the one underneath:



Note that this 10mm bolt (same size as the others) does not need removal to get the tray out. You merely need to loosen it and the battery tray will lift off. See the "U" shaped groove for that? Unfortunately, I could not get a good enough purchase on this bolt to even loosen it, so my tray did not come out this time. I would have liked to check and clean the metal under it. Not a big deal, but when I rebuild her, it WILL come out! (BTW, the radiator and fan being out made this picture easy.)

Next up is my new radiator. I bought this shortly after I bought Pretty a few months ago because I saw how nasty the coolant was and figured when I changed it I wanted to be "really ready." What I think was stop leak may have been used for a leaky radiator. So to be careful, she got the new one put in. It's from Spectra:



It's a double core, as opposed to the single core that I took out. MTX Festivas got singles, while the ATXs got double core radiators. The doubles are not quite twice as thick (wish I'd taken a picture from the side to show ya'll), and have those two lines coming out the bottom for the ATX oil cooler function. On Aqua, my '91 5 speed, I removed those two angled "L" lines and covered their threaded fittings with rubber hose filled with black RTV to keep the threads and insides nice and clean should I ever want to use them. (I put the "L" lines away somewhere for safekeeping.) Here, I was not that picky, so I just made sure the rubber caps were on them. They're coming out again in spring when the rebuild happens.

Note that when I mounted the new radiator, I had to move one of those "L" lines because it was in the way of the bottom rubber mount.

Hardware note: The same 10mm bolts that fit the battery tray are the same size threading as the fan shroud to radiator mounting bolts. You can buy these in little packages at auto stores. I'll try to include a picture of a package later, showing the sizing. It's nice to use new bolts! Next time you take things apart, it should be easier. I also used some anti-seize on the rad bolts, since I've found these to sometimes be a real pain to remove. (These could also be used on the top mount to top crosspiece. Same threading! Use washers as needed.)

Finally for this post, here's a picture of the bottom rad rubber cushions that fit into the bottom mounts, along with the top mounts, which have the smaller rubber parts attached:



All are not looking especially inviting, are they? Well, they're usable, which will get me through winter. My plans include sourcing more of these parts or somehow adapting or making them. I'd really like to get together all sorts of the little Festiva-specific small underhood parts and have them all powder coated at once. Some day...

Maybe more later!

Karl

[Safety Guy]

Yeah, another post!

Here was Pretty's engine bay as of two days ago, ready to roll:



Note the missing bracket for the washer fluid neck. I broke one of those little bolts! I'll throw a zip tie on there to stabilize it, just in case. The fact is I don't particularly like the 1990 and later washer bottle design. The one in Aqua leaks at the bottom of the neck where it press fits into the lower reservoir. It also kinda gets in the way of removing the front bumper, which irks me. I much prefer the '88/'89 versions. However, I will probably look at some other cars' designs to use later for my builds.

Oh, I should mention I put in new spark plugs! Nothing especially bad was noted on the old ones. Just old and dirty!

Here she is, off the ramps a short time later:



I've done one short run and one short test drive. I need to do a longer test drive today. News at 11. Or whenever...

Karl