Aaron's 2nd Festiva Build Thread

[Aaronbrook37]

After a quick spin of the die grinder to get the polishing done on the exhaust manifold, I headed off to the DIY sandblasting/cleaning center for the aforementioned aqueous parts cleaner. Everything came out looking really great, fortunately... both the cast iron ones as well as the aluminum ones. Pictures to come shortly, I promise. While I was in the neighbourhood, I picked up a fancy vapor respirator because the fumes from all of this work with WD40 and associated chemicals has started to cause me some nasty headaches. Safety first!

With everything looking essentially brand new and all cleaned out, it was time to start up on the re-assembly process. I picked up some premium valve grinding compound and a cheap hand lapping tool with the suction cups on the end of it, and really struggled to get them done efficiently and quickly with that layout. I tried all of the tricks I was reading about in books and online from oiling the stem to reduce resistance to using alcohol and water to get the suction cup to stick to no avail. After trying five unique methods to get these darned valves lapped, I finally came up with an effective and low-cost solution. How-to to come shortly!

[Aaronbrook37]

I used a combination of tricks to get this done without the crappy valve lapping tool. First, as you can see, I rigged up some 3/8" OD hose slipped over the valve stem and into my drill chuck spun evenly and at very low speeds in both directions to reduce noise and the grinding feeling. This significantly reduced the amount of light leakage from the ports to the valves compared to what it was before. I have a ton of valve grinding compound, so I applied it quite liberally.

After that, I did touch-ups and perfected it by hand. There are two ways you can do this step. Slip a longer piece of tubing or hose over the back of the valve stem and find an efficient and comfortable way to spin the valve. You can either do it like a lapping tool and pretend to be spinning a fire-starter or you can turn the tubing piece into an old fashioned hand drill and crank it by hand. Either way, ensure there's enough pressure on the valve face and that the work is done firmly in both directions.

This second step of doing it all by hand is very important because you don't want any leakage or compression loss from shoddy valve seating. A mechanic friend told me that the flashlight test works the best because by eliminating the flow of light, you eliminate the flow of everything else as well. Currently, I've got 3/4 exhaust valves with essentially zero light transfer and 1/4 intake valves. A little more work will be needed later tonight or tomorrow morning!

[Aaronbrook37]

Still driving up a storm in this little beater car - purrs magnificently. It definitely needs some attention soon though. Mostly some little things... still no headliner, some missing bolts and rear seat belts, no e-brake cable, a wiring short in the radio, a rattling muffler, and so on. But those were the least of my worries today.

I went down to the local tire shop today to get my right rear tire patched, at which point I was informed that two of my tires were bald (yep, saw that coming) and the rear two were worth doing before winter time for safety's sake because they too lacked tread. Rather than get in an accident or receive a fine for bald tires, I decided just to splurge on a used set they had in stock. As if that wasn't enough, they showed me that three of my four corners were faulty in terms of wheel bearing movement, so I lied and said I'd call them next week for help on those.

They wanted something ridiculous like $250 for wheel bearings without seals. I went around the corner to the parts shop and ordered a complete set of bearings and seals front and rear for $120 taxes included. So those will need doing shortly, as will the brake rotors, tie rods, the wheel alignment, the fuel filter, and so on. It just never ends...

[Zanzer]

Good job on the DIY PnP :thumbup:

I don't think people truly understand how much time and effort goes into a port job until they try it for themselves

[Aaronbrook37]

Slowly putting the head back together now. I have the budget for a MDM econo-cam in a few months, so I'll pick one of those up when the new head goes on with a gasket set and the ported manifolds. Really struggling on the valve keepers... there must be some tool or process I'm ignorant of because they're very stubborn. My valve spring compressor doesn't leave much room to put them in there... so I don't know if I need tweezers or needle nose pliers or something to get them done. 2/8 valves complete so far... what a pain!

[Aaronbrook37]

Slowly putting the head back together now. I have the budget for a MDM econo-cam in a few months, so I'll pick one of those up when the new head goes on with a gasket set and the ported manifolds. Really struggling on the valve keepers... there must be some tool or process I'm ignorant of because they're very stubborn. My valve spring compressor doesn't leave much room to put them in there... so I don't know if I need tweezers or needle nose pliers or something to get them done. 2/8 valves complete so far... what a pain!

Yep - tweezers and a bit of wiggling did it! Now onto the rocker shafts... I don't think they look right. How many springs are there supposed to be on it to keep the arms in place? I think I might be missing some oddly enough. If so, I'll just swap them over from the old motor.

[Aaronbrook37]

I took Friday off work because we didn't have any urgent calls or meetings and spent the morning scrubbing, shampooing, and vacuuming the interior completely a third time. Every time I do, a ton of grease comes out of the seats and carpets, and the smell only improves. Also I took the time to find the short in my shoddy electrical work on the radio.

I'm coughing up the bucks to have a second major overhaul done on the car while I'm at work tomorrow. I couldn't be happier with the engine and the transmission, so now it's time to deal with the rest of the stuff: brake rotors, all wheel bearings and seals, tie rod ends, and a fuel filter.

After all that is done, I'll need to take it in for a proper wheel alignment and get a small oil leak analyzed but I think it's just a crummy oil drain plug gasket or something. In the mail, I've got a new e-brake cable, rear seat-belts, and a fresh headliner on the way too.

From there, things get a little bit more labour intensive. I have to finish reassembling the cylinder head, smack the intake manifold together, and get everything popped into the engine bay. At the same time, I'll save up for a MDM economy camshaft regrind in all likelihood. I'm interested to see how power and economy are impacted down low in the rev range, as the porting and polishing may have caused a significant drop in port velocity.