Aaron's 2nd Festiva Build Thread

[Aaronbrook37]

Back to basics this morning with a deep clean, scrub, and wet-sand of the exterior paint surface. I would do a how-to but it's pretty intuitive stuff. Totally worthwhile though with every little nick, imperfection, and tree sap blob removed. 2000 grit is a wonderful thing... I recommend you go pick up a bulk package from Ebay right now for <$20. Also took some shots of the fully cleaned and insulated interior with the fresh stereo equipment.

In other excellent news, it would seem that my radiator leak has finally stopped! The bottom tray of the radiator was completely dry this morning and the puddle was drying out significantly too. I used a combination of three products as a temporary bandaid. First was a layer of heavy duty automotive goop sealant/adhesive. Then over-top of that I placed a layer or two of liquid metal filler. On top of that, two or three layers of hardening orange RTV gasket maker. That finally did it and I no longer have to worry about it spraying a hot engine any longer! I figure my high flow slim-fan can compensate for the 3x1 inch patch that I effectively sealed off.

I ordered a replacement muffler off of Amazon yesterday, and look forward to getting that one installed... it's a Walker SoundFX original replacement. My trusty factory resonator has done well, but it's just too loud. My local shop has an unfortunate but capitalistic one hour minimum for exhaust/welding work, so I'm going to do this one myself. I plan to chop off the flange, grab some pipe and clamps, and get that sucker on there myself with exhaust tape, muffler cement, and clamps as needed.

I also gave the white car a quick wash and detail. Shuffling them around the driveway, I remember how much I miss driving the white one... but at the same time, I also remember just how volatile of a daily driver it made. Either way, nice having them both cleaned and shined up.

[Aaronbrook37]

So the major tune-up is all done: timing belt, water pump, and fresh transmission fluid with filter and gasket. The car started right up immediately with no hesitation or problems whatsoever. The FSM states that if the highest dry compression number is 180psi, then the lowest should be above 135psi. I managed 180/180/150/165 dry and 200/185/190/180 wet. Pretty good for a motor that's never been cracked open in 24 years to my knowledge. At steady warm idle, she pulled 20.5" of steady vacuum when the FSM calls for 15-22".

[Advancedynamix]

89 auto ftw!

[Aaronbrook37]

89 auto ftw!

Thanks very much, Charlie. From a tired automatic transmission, flat tires, a neglected motor, and heavy-footed city driving, I managed an astonishing 42.5MPG on my first fill-up. My B6T car was getting 27MPG before I transferred the plates over. I'm incredibly happy with that and expect it to climb slightly with all of the maintenance I've done on the car. Strong ignition, clean filters, inflated tires, and other small details go a long way.

I've decided to keep the B3 and stock handling arrangement on this car. It's soft, smooth, and contained for now. Maybe later I will decide to build up a turbocharger or supercharger build on the stock motor or just swap in a B6/B8/BP, but for now, it's certainly most adequate for my needs. The car drives very smoothly, and is quite comfortable and quiet despite the lack of muffler. Should I really feel the need, I have a good shape B3 motor sitting at Sasquatch Racing and Development I could play around with. Having seen the cross-sections of the B3 head and MDM's engineering feats, I know there's assuredly room for improvement.

The only thing I supposedly did wrong according to my mechanic friend was anti-seizing the spark plug threads, and even that's not too huge of a deal, since I didn't get any on the electrodes and obviously didn't over-tighten them either. He was pleased to see all of the hours I've poured into the car thus far, and the little things (tap and die work, engine bay cleaning, etc) made the car significantly easier to work on for him. He did mention that the car will soon need ball-joints, an alignment, and a fresh driver's side axle. Fortunately, Ebay has those great steering package deals on inner/outer tie rods and control arms for <$100.

[Aaronbrook37]

First off this morning was the conclusion of my three-stage DIY cut polish. I used a drill-mounted polishing pad set along with a mountain of rubbing compound to iron out all of the wet-sanding scratches, swirls, and paint oxidation that was left from stages one and two. The local detailing shop asks $250-300 for this caliber work. It took me a while as I went slowly, but being thorough is typically a good thing. I can do a full write-up if anybody is interested in seeing how to save a couple hundred on a quality polish for their ride.

I also ripped apart the front brakes again as I realized after installing all four front pads a couple days ago that I hadn’t greased/lubed the pads or shims properly. This time around, I got everything extra clean, aligned, and lubricated properly – which should knock out the loud squeal I’ve had at every stoplight the past few days.

When my 240ft-lbs impact driver couldn’t loosen the lug bolts, I knew something was up. Maybe my extension cord isn’t up to snuff. My torque wrench must have lied to me when I set it to 75ft-lbs, and I had forgotten of course to anti-seize the threads on the back half as well. I made quick work of getting them out by soaking them in penetrating fluid overnight and using a four foot piece of electrical conduit as leverage.

I tried again to clamp down that spinning locknut on the e-brake cable using my vice grips this time but to no avail. Next thought is to try and line up my portable vice to keep it still whilst I turn the adjusting nut. If that doesn’t work, who knows what I’ll have to do short of replacing the entire cable to get a properly functioning e-brake.

The water continues to turn black every time I shampoo or steam-clean my seats, which I find disappointing. As such, I swapped in the GL Sport seats from my white car and will tear down the upholstery this afternoon in order to run it all through the washing machine on cold cycle with some serious heavy duty detergent.

My progress on a few projects is mail pending… isn’t it always that way? First off is the muffler coming directly from Walker, which will be awesome to get hooked up with the new hardware I picked up recently. Also is my metric tap and die mega-pack that I’ll be using for the bolt FAQ project. Finally, I have a massive pile of shop supplies coming from a place called Tool Town in Manitoba. They sell discount bulk packs of things like fuses, fasteners, cotter pins, electrical connectors, and even drill bits.

[Aaronbrook37]

I'm still trying to decide exactly what to do with this car - the fact that my white car isn't selling locally is making it hard to figure out because having two cars is just not practical. I could easily sell/gift it to my sister or try and sell it, but I love working on it and driving it so much now. My second tank with the silly little automatic came back with a comfortable 36mpg city. What's happened the last week or so? I'll break it down:

1. Brake pads lubricated, wheel cylinders changed, shoes and hardware replaced. Killed the spongy, clunky pedal and all brake noise.
2. Amazon fudged my muffler order, so one is coming from Ebay instead.
3. New tap and die set looks awesome... will continue working on the Bolt FAQ shortly.
4. Picked up a whole pile of interior and engine parts from Hotroddin4me, a local Festiva parts supplier.
5. Rear seat covers are washed and installed. Still need to do the fronts.
6. Started cleaning a spare cylinder head I plan to tear down, port, and polish.
7. Cleaned, ported, and polished a spare exhaust manifold I might turn into a turbo manifold.
8. Ordered new tie rod ends and control arms with bushings. Then it's wheel alignment time.
9. Passenger's side e-brake cable snapped. Time to find a replacement!

So I still have to track down a headliner and an e-brake cable and the fuel filter and brake rotors aren't done yet either. I have two packages coming in the mail right now: first is my Tool Town order of shop supplies, which shipped after two weeks of delays. Second is an order from Princess Auto for a few miscellaneous trinkets. Once I get both, I should have everything I need to get back to daily work on this project!

[Aaronbrook37]

Gotta love wire wheels... they just cut through practically everything.

[Aaronbrook37]

This morning, I got to work on the intake manifold. I got it all cleaned up and ported throughout the runners... maybe 5% of the surface remained untouched once I was done hogging it all out. Gasket-matching enlarged the ports by maybe an eighth or tenth of an inch, but every little bit helps. Re-tap and die the threads to M8X1.25 perfection, and you've got yourself a solid performance part. It needs a bit more light port smoothing, new gaskets, and new fasteners to get it all done. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.



I love this new tap and die set. I used it on the cylinder head as well to clean up all of the threads there with great success. I can't disassemble the head until my valve spring compressor gets here unfortunately, so I'm just doing side-work until then. Definitely ensure you have a metric tap and die set if you're rebuilding a motor though, that's for sure. A little WD40 and some elbow grease goes a long way to ensuring your fasteners are tight and happy.

[sasquatch]

looking good aaron, keep up the good work

[Bert]

Why would somebody tell you not to put anti seize on steel spark plugs in an aluminum head? Not doing so (in salt country) is a recipe for disaster here. Aluminum threads come right on out along with the plugs if you're lucky enough not to have shattered the plug while coaxing it to come loose.

[Aaronbrook37]

Cylinder head porting certainly takes a considerable amount of time... it's fairly slow, repetitive, and tedious work... but very rewarding all the same. I haven't done any port smoothing of the whole thing or polishing on the exhaust side yet obviously... this is just the first step done on all eight ports. A couple of hours put into it so far I'd say including disassembling it and such.

[Aaronbrook37]

Today was the fun part of porting and polishing... the second half. My carbide burrs made quick work of shredding and destroying my engine parts, so I hit up the specialty tool shop for supplies and got to work. Everything is finished on the intake manifold runners and plenum... and it's ready to bolt back together with re-died/tapped fasteners and gaskets. I'm retaining the stock throttle body on this build for simplicity's sake and because it's not the restriction for a sub-100HP build. I did unfortunately forget to take pictures of everything for the intake manifold, but I promise to do that soon.

For the cylinder head, I was amazed at just how rough and glossy the carbide burrs left my port surface. The valve guides in particular were quite a nuisance, but I did my best to work around them and with them anyway since my kitchen oven is for food preparation only. I theoretically could press them out and replace them with new ones, but I don't feel like that's $40 I need to spend really.

The key with porting aluminum parts seems to be keeping everything saturated with WD40 the entire time and using lots of safety equipment. I started with 60-grit flap wheels on the inlets and outlets before moving through the ports completely with 80-grit sanding rolls out of my Eastwood port and polish kit. Finally, I used 120-grit flap wheels to smooth and even everything out to a nice finish. If there isn't enough roughness on the intake, I'll go back through with lower grit and roughen it up a bit.

A bit more disassembly to do, some 320-grit polishing on the exhaust side, and then hot-tanking for everything. At the machine shop, I'll get the head decked, flanges machined, and get the valves lapped, installed, and sealed up professionally. Debating pulling the trigger on an MDM economy camshaft as well for this build to maximize my gains in efficiency and power delivery down low.

[Aaronbrook37]

Now that the head is just about ready for the machine shop, I turned my attention towards the top end hardware. Going piece by piece for all of each, I made quick work of cleaning, scrubbing, and drying every valve, retainer, spring, keeper, and seat. I accomplished this with Simple Green, steel wool, and some shop towels. After that, I worked on removing the carbon deposits from the exhaust valves by using a custom-made polishing system composed of a flap wheel attachment on a die grinder in a vice and each valve inserted on the end of a cordless drill. It works really well at glossing things up and removing carbon when you spin both at high speed. I then viced the drill with the valve and applied extra-fine steel wool by hand. The discoloration and final polish will be done with compound and 320-grit flap wheels when they arrive in the mail to match the eventual finish on the exhaust ports.

[sasquatch]

lookin good

[Aaronbrook37]

With my new 320-grit flap wheels arriving in the mail, I set to work on finishing up the porting and polishing on the cylinder head. With all of the tools and gear I have now, I should have enough supplies and disposables to port and polish the other two cylinder heads I have access to if there's any interest in a low-cost performance head package out there. There's not much demand for ported out parts, but who knows... could be fun just to do it for kicks.

The polish job on the exhaust ports looks nothing short of fantastic after just a couple 30-second hits on each one of the four. The gloss is so good that I almost look like I know what I'm doing with this engine build. With the runners now complete on both the intake and exhaust side, all I have left to do is spend a few minutes on the exhaust manifold. I finally got the O2 sensor out and gasket-matched the outlet, so it's just the smoothing and polishing left with the new 320-grit equipment.

After that, it's off to the local aqueous parts cleaner... 45psi, 180*F, and 1000lb capacity. Then, once my lapping tool and valve stem seals arrive, I will re-assemble the cylinder head before getting the machine shop to resurface the flanges on everything and mill it. Gaskets should be here by then, and I just need a few more miscellaneous fasteners to get everything buttoned up successfully. Debating holding off on the MDM economy camshaft until I see if there's a difference with all of the porting and polishing I've done throughout the motor.

In other news, the muffler is installed though only on 2/3 hangers for now... and the control arms and tie rod ends arrived today also.