My aspire swap...

[defprun]

Darn aspire sway bar wont let me get my front engine mount in lol. B6 TB wouldnt work with the b3 intake without redrilling and retapping so that was a waste of time but I got the aspire TPS connector wired up and the b6 injector harness in. Tomorrow Im gonna wire up that injector harness and hook up the shifter linkages and gas tank and try to start it up lol.

Sent from the trash can.

[zoom zoom]

I hAd the same issue with the sway bar, if you flip it upside down the side that goes under the crossmember still touches the member. I can't see how others have made it work unless it just rests against the front mount. You can squeeze the sway bar in place if the mount is already there but every time the suspension moves it pushes the mount pretty hard.

[defprun]

I installed it by accident the wrong way and couldnt get the sway bar mounts....now I still cant rofl. The festiva's sway bar is gone so this is what Im going to have to run lol. The passenger mount seems to make the engine sit a bit low, I think I an straighten it out with some washers. The front mount doesnt line up properly by almost an inch. The back one is fine.

Sent from the trash can.

[defprun]

I dont even want to post a picture of the engine bay or the car right now Im so ashamed

Sent from the trash can.

[1chrisapple]

I can get u a festy sway bar if needed

[defprun]

Thanks! Im gonna see what I can do with what I have and Ill get back to you

Sent from the trash can.

[defprun]

I got these 4 wires left on the b6 injector harness:
Blue/white
White/red
Lt Green/orange
And
Black/orange striped


Festiva Harness, 4 wires:
Big Yellow/black
Small Yellow/black
Black
Red/blue


Sent from the trash can.

[Bert]

Slightly off topic with regard to installing an engine but in swapping an Aspire B3 over to a Festy B3 there are numerous peripherals that have to be changed over. One of them is the water pump outlet/lower rad hose connection. I have long ago discovered, up this way, that the steel Festy parts corrode away over 20 years and that the aluminum Aspire outlet is a much wiser choice to retain. However then you run into hose problems in that you automatically need a longer one but that still has two 90s on it.
Anyone here ever tangled with this and know of an 'adapt-a-fit' from some other application? Ie Dodge Neon or some such.

By the way defprun I am on the verge of swapping an Aspire engine into 'Smokey the Bear' (as my buddy calls it). However I have so far not thrown anything away except for the Aspire exhaust manifold. The welds on this were sloppy to the extreme and would have required quite a bit of filing and grinding to clean up smooth internally.

[defprun]

Im going to cut one of the rad supports (or drill out the divet) and reinstall it over a bit to accomodate the aspire rad. I was going to weld it but I think I can get away with a couple bolts since my welder pooched.

The festiva exhaust mani is the mani of choice so you dont have to swap over the entire Aspire unit of have to do any welding. I had no choice so I used the entire aspire exhaust and only one hanger I couldnt use the rest held up fine. My Festy's exhaust had a silver dollar sized hole in it anyway.

Sent from the trash can.

[Bert]

Im going to cut one of the rad supports (or drill out the divet) and reinstall it over a bit to accomodate the aspire rad. I was going to weld it but I think I can get away with a couple bolts since my welder pooched.
Sent from the trash can.

None of my OEM rads ever seem to do a heck of a lot so doubling the size isn't going to win any prizes except be a larger 'heat sink' during the winter. But yes I guess this solves the Aspire-origin water pump outlet/hose dilemma.

[zoom zoom]

I'm not aware of any other hoses that will work... I got a junk little piece of plastic hose on for my lower ATM.

Sorry man I don't have any diagrams or a Haynes for the b6. You'd think since it's such a popular swap we would have all that info posted up on this forum somewhere but I have yet to get my hands on it. (This is a good time for someone to prove me wrong!)



Bert, I used a stone bit in a die grinder to smooth out those factory welds. Also welded the runners to the flange on the outside... Wasn't hard at all might have taken 2 hours?

[defprun]

I dont have a choice the old festiva one is gone lol

Sent from the trash can.

[bravekozak]

I flipped the Aprire sway bar upside down and over the engine cradle. For the rad hose, I installed a R/H Aspire upper rad support and a L/H Festiva upper rad support. You can hardly tell that the rad is on a slight angle. Good luck.

If you had used open barrel splice connectors, there would have been no need to twist the strands of copper as the splice would dig down between the straight wire strands.

[defprun]

BP injector harness is 8 prong. Spliced the intake temp sensor and done.

Sent from the trash can.

[Bert]

Bert, I used a stone bit in a die grinder to smooth out those factory welds. Also welded the runners to the flange on the outside... Wasn't hard at all might have taken 2 hours?

2 hours is a lot of time to devote to a piece of tube steel when you have a super-clean Festy manifold already on hand. Plus the idea of having to modify the existing Festy downpipe to accommodate is another extra bit of work. I suppose I should have offered the Aspire stuff free to a good home (it was in really good shape except for the ugly inside welds) rather than throw it out but then again I have enough junk lying around.