1993 Festiva, Project Mr. Peppy

[dcoultis]

Hello everyone, I have some sad news. I sold my Festiva today! With a baby on the way within the next month I decided it was time to step up to a proper family vehicle and sold the Festiva to use the money towards a brand new 2013 Toyota Rav4. The car went to a good home and will be looked after quite well! Thanks for all your guys help and kind words during my time on the forum. :thumbs_up::cry_smile:

Here is the last picture I took of the Festiva and picture of my new ride!

[dcoultis]

I received my LED 194 peanut bulbs in the mail today. Installed them in the front corner lights, license plate lights, and rear marker lights in the corner of the tail lights. I picked 20 of these up for 10 bucks shipped off ebay. Here is a pic of the license plate lights and corner lights lit up.

[Bert]

Last night I ran into a major problem, I snapped the head off the bolt that holds the strut to the rear axle beam :cry_smile: Its so rusty and corroded I am afraid I wont be able to drill it out and use and easy out. Does anybody know if the nut on the inside is welded to the axle beam? If its not I am hoping I can try and pound the remaining bolt right through to the inside of the axle beam. Any help is appreciated! I need to fix this ASAP.

Nearly everyone that doesn't live in Arizona winds up having to deal with seized shock bolts. They will be seized on to the bushing of the shock. If you are willing to forfeit that shock you can saw it off so that the base can spin or you can try to get the rubber loose from the bushing (drill, dremel??) so that the bolt shank can be turned. Make sure to use lots of grease or antiseize compound when reassembling.

[dcoultis]

Ya thats what happened to me, just the head snapped off. Iam working on a garage floor so its a lil awkward laying under the car. Atleast its a step up from working on a parking pad outside lol. One day ill have a garage with a hoist. Iam a lil sad this happened. Now i cant lower the rear of my car before westiva!

[91blufestiva]

That happened to me when I switched to aspire struts. The head snapped off. Luckily I was doing it on a hoist so I had much more room. What I ended up doing was grinding the strut away until I could get to the bolt, then I used lots of PB blaster, and a vise grip slowly turning the bolt out. I was lucky tho and the nuts never broke tho!

[Flyin4stroke]

I've seen that before too. I watched it go another 15,000 miles broke too.

[dcoultis]

I think the issue is that the bolt is rusted into the bushing! I think iam gonna leave it as is for now so i can drive the car to westiva, the remainder of the bolt is still in there and i highly doubt its gonna go anywhere. Iam thinking it may be easier to drop the whole rear beam to fix the problem and i dont have the time for that right now. :thumbs_down:

[fastivaca]

You have a challenge on your hands. Most often the problem is that the bolt rusts itself into the bushing in the bottom of the rear shocks making them extremely difficult to remove. That's the worst case scenario. Hopefully flyin's suggestion works for you.

Sent from somewhere west of here via Tapatalk!

[Flyin4stroke]

If you can get the strut off you may need to hold the bolt and loosen the nut because it may be too long to remove from the back of the beam. Ought-a be fun regardless.

[dcoultis]

Thanks Flyin4stroke! Ill give that a try, iam hoping i can get it out without causing any damage to the strut, i dont have the funds to replace them right now.

[Flyin4stroke]

Yes it welded in there but they often come loose when trying to remove that bolt. Cut the back off the beam and use a chisel and hammer to remove the welded nut. Hopefully you can wiggle it out from there.

[dcoultis]

Last night I ran into a major problem, I snapped the head off the bolt that holds the strut to the rear axle beam :cry_smile: Its so rusty and corroded I am afraid I wont be able to drill it out and use and easy out. Does anybody know if the nut on the inside is welded to the axle beam? If its not I am hoping I can try and pound the remaining bolt right through to the inside of the axle beam. Any help is appreciated! I need to fix this ASAP.

[1990new]

Good job... I'm doing this in and the pipe when mine arrive in a few days. (Need to update your camera date/time.)

[dcoultis]

Bolted on my new muffler tonight! Took 20 mins and the old crusty and rusty muffler is gone now!

[dcoultis]

Thanks safety guy, thats good to know. I didnt purchase the steering wheel yet though, i used the junkyard as my testing grounds before i bought it. I think iam gonna stick with the stock steering wheel or find a hub adapter for an older aftermarket steering wheel i have kicking around.