Ian's B6T Festiva build

[shadetree]

Go u haul ... Very impressive . Glad you had a safe rescue mission .

[Damkid]

Phantom grip? I won't use one of those POS ever again

[Bert]

It really hurts to discover a 'good ole' car has ultimately failed the owner's 'soundness' test. I meticulously oil spray all of my rolling stock every year and oil/grease every single part that is removed or worked on. But none of my cars/trucks have ever been new (at time of purchase) and 20 years is a very long time when daily use, climate extremes and road salt (especially) are involved. I managed to keep 3 1993 Festys alive until last year and then grudgingly threw-in the towel. They weren't "done" outright, and far as I know are still out there, but at some point you are forced to think it through, cut your losses and appreciate that a 12 year-newer lo-mile Echo (or some such) allows you start over again for another decade of motoring.
Canada would be a wonderful and receptive place for 'put out to pasture' sun-baked, no longer wanted and mechanically-neglected Arizona/California/Texas/Carolina Festys. Folks here would freak out to find intact exhaust heat shields, shiny brakes and nut and bolts that weren't seized on old cars that had no structural rust at all.

[91green]

So jelly rust free aqua. What engine/trans does it currently have? Was there two cars??
Looks awesome Ian, eagerly awaiting your next update.

[fastivaca]

PROJECT B6T FESTIVA: REBOOT #2

Project B6T Festiva is back on track! Went up to Edmonton yesterday, May 24, and picked up a '93 Festiva.

I posted a check list of "must haves" in an earlier post so let's see how we did...

1. It had to be rust free: CHECK!
2. It had to be a 1990 - 93 model: CHECK!, it's a 93.
3. It had to be a standard transmission car: CHECK!
4. It had to be a Canadian car (no automatic seatbelts, thank you very much!) and preferably an Alberta car: CHECK!

Here she is as she sits in the garage. It's been sitting outside under a tarp for the past three years or so and still looks pretty good. All we've done so far is pick it up, trailer it home, and roll it into the garage.



Bonuses:

1. It's Aqua!!!
2. It's already had an engine swap done!
3. It has a Phantom Grip LSD!
4. Did I mention that it's rust free?
5. It has a GL Sport interior in excellent condition that will be going up for sale shortly
6. Lot's of other goodies too.

We did have a bit of a misadventure on the way home. We were only 10 minutes out of Edmonton when someone passed us frantically waving, yelling and pointing at the trailer. We pulled over to discover one of the four tires on our U-Haul rental trailer had blown and the other one wasn't too far from doing the same. I must say that I was impressed with the road side service we got. From the time we first called U-Haul until we were on the road again with two brand new tires was just over two hours. Considering this was late afternoon on a Sunday I think we did pretty well.

We're still putting our plans together for the next steps but essentially we'll be combining the best of the new with the best of our red Festiva!

Keep watching this space!!! Oh, and thank you for your continued interest in our much delayed project.

[fastivaca]

More goodies arrived today...



Possible big update coming this weekend!

[Movin]

whoa we have our own junk yard wars!! Rock on!

[fastivaca]

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

Let's start with the bad...

While replacing the gas tank the other week (see post #114 in this thread) I discovered that there are three spots in the floor of my Festiva that have rusted through. The reason, I believe, that I didn't notice them from inside is that I had installed sound deadener throughout the car prior to our Madness trip in 2011. I decided to have a closer look over the entire car to see what other rust problems I could find. I already new that the rear wheel wells would need extensive repairs and had a couple of options I was considering for repairs as well as above the windshield. Other areas that I discovered were in the driver side front wheel well, the inner cowl panel where the wiper attaches, beginnings of rust around the strut towers and along the front of the hood. The passenger side front fender is done for as well but I already have a replacement for it. Also discovered that the bottom of the rear bumper beam was completed gone, all the little brackets that hold the bumper cover were hanging in mid air. I feel that the rust repairs necessary at this time would take up too much time and resources so we have decided to put a hold on the project and regroup. And by regroup I mean find a replacement Festiva....

We established a "best case scenario" list for that replacement:

1. It had to be rust free
2. It had to be a 1990 - 93 model
3. It had to be a standard transmission car
4. It had to be a Canadian car (no automatic seatbelts, thank you very much!) and preferably an Alberta car.

Now for the good news..

I think we've found our car! It fits all the criteria and it's an Alberta car. Once we've finalized the deal I will post details. The plan is to install the B6T into the "new" car and once it's running strip my current car of all it's goodies and put them on the new one. We hope to have things finalized by May 15th.

In retrospect, the red Festiva has served us well. I purchased it in 2002 with 100,100km (62,200 miles) and it's been daily driven year round ever since. We've put over 400,000km (app. 250,000 miles) on it including a trip to Festiva Madness V in 2011 and another to the west coast and down to the Grand Canyon in 2012.

Will be updating as things come together over the next couple of weeks.

Thank you for your interest and encouraging words so far!

[kumalaba]

looking good ian!

[fastivaca]

Thanks everyone!!

[runner406]

Great job

[Advancedynamix]

looking great Ian!

[Movin]

Nice and clean...

[fastivaca]

Ian, what did you coat the tank with? Is that paint or bedliner or undercoating?

I used some undercoat that I'd had on the shelf for quite a while...

[TominMO]

Ian, what did you coat the tank with? Is that paint or bedliner or undercoating?