The Hoopty (build thread)

[Skrapbob]

I went to a local Ford dealer to look at a new Festiva back in 92/93. I was about 26 then, I couldn't afford it, but it's good to dream, and I wanted to see one. I remember the salesman telling me they are just a disposable car, you drive it for 60-70,000 miles and then throw it away! I wish I could see that guy today, I would feed him his shoe!

I bought The Hoopty in October of 2011 from Sam, who was my neighbor since 1998. It's a 1992 GL Auto with 84,000. It belonged to his wife Dorothy, who passed in 2009. She loved the car! I purchased it for $600. It has a salvage title for right front quarter panel damage which has been fixed. And a second salvage title for drivers door/quarter panel which has not been fixed.

We call it The Hoopty. After driving a custom conversion F150 for several years, it was needing some attention, Although Sam, always kept a record of everything that was ever done to the car. I will continue this tradition as long as I have it, and I hope that will be a very long time.

Click on the thumbnails for larger pics.
Hooptie Untouched.jpg 2011-10-22_16-06-37_174.jpg 2011-10-25_19-27-27_413.jpg
2011-10-22_16-08-12_306.jpg 2011-10-22_16-09-01_257.jpg IMG_5574.jpg

The clubs fit! All is good!
2011-10-21_17-26-37_581.jpg

[Skrapbob]

First Mod: Stereo system
Pioneer deck, Infinity/Boston Acoustics front and rear, Clarion tweeters in the mirror plates, Infinity Basslink bringing up the rear. all used equipment except for the basslink. Total cost $380
2012-03-26_17-02-46_148.jpg 2011-11-16_15-13-45_803.jpg IMG_5578.jpg 2012-03-26_17-03-59_696.jpg
Escort Dome Light with LED bulbs
IMG_20131110_122444_794.jpg

Tach cluster/ Intermittent Wiper w/Cruise switch
IMG_20131110_122506_105.jpg

Tinted windows:
No more bright truck lights lighting up the whole inside of my car and rear view mirror while waiting at stop lights
2011-11-14_16-58-43_257.jpg

Spoiler direct form the Philippines. Thanks Junspeed!
2012-01-16_10-37-31_101.jpg

Rear wiper mod.

[Skrapbob]

Winter of 2011 I bought Smokey (an Aspire swap). It had a hokey turbo setup and a blown head gasket. All I wanted it for was the swap though. It turned out to be in terrible shape. It was not a pleasant experience!
2012-04-20_13-14-48_570.jpg2012-04-20_13-55-28_498 (2).jpg2012-04-21_09-13-58_218.jpg2012-04-26_19-52-53_52.jpg
In the spring of 2012 I picked up a driver door from a red Festiva in Guthrie, Oklahoma. I had to give $150 for it, it had some hail damage, but it was better than what I had.
I had a body shop do some paintless dent repair on both doors. And then I buffed out the paint as best I could.
2012-07-22_13-04-17_704.jpg 2012-07-22_16-13-01_405.jpg029.jpg

In the early autumn of 2012 I installed a remote starter that my wife had given me for Christmas several years earlier to install in my F150. I never got around to putting it in the truck, so just because I wanted to find out if I could do it, I installed it on The Hoopy. It’s fun to see the expressions when people see it crank to life with nobody around.

Not long after installing the wiper/cruise switch, I installed an aftermarket Rostra Cruise Control. I did not want an odd looking cruise control module on the dash, so I tried to wire it into the 323 cruise stalk. I was able to get a working cruise, but it will only hold a steady speed, I didn’t have much luck with the resume/coast settings with the factory stalk. Winter set in and I never got back to doing it right.

[Skrapbob]

I freshened up the front end with a Rio brake swap. I also bought a rear beam from an Aspire, but I didn’t have any luck with it either. I broke the captive nut on one side. I wasn’t crazy about putting rusty parts on my rust free car anyway. I don’t know you guys up north manage to do the things you do with these cars.
I then bought some new drums and had them re-drilled and machined to 4x100. A rear brake job and a Rio spare tire for the well and I was finally ready to install the Miata 7 spokes.

I custom built some rear KYB’s coilovers with #120 springs per Advanced Dynamics instructions and some of his custom spring hats to finish them off. I wanted to stop the sag when my kids are riding along, or someday when I can pull a trailer. Oh wow! I can’t believe the ride! The front still floats when I go over a dip, but the rear takes a set and holds. And the corners! J I can only imagine if I would have installed even stiffer springs. I will build some Rio struts up front eventually.
2013-08-18_10-46-59_848.jpg

[Skrapbob]

Finally! I have been slowly working toward this day for some time now. I can now put some real tires on The Hoopty. I went with a taller tire for highway use, to bring the RPM’s down. 185/60R14 with a ¼ inch spacer on the rear.

http://imageshack.us/a/img824/2540/x5a4.jpg

[Skrapbob]

The Hoopty is sick!

http://imageshack.us/a/img24/6186/wwrz.jpg

Radiator juice:

http://imageshack.us/a/img132/7862/cm7z.jpg

[sc72]

ScrapBob That's a fine looking car and everything you have done to it only makes it that much better, I would like to see you enter it for the Festiva of the month. Good job Bob. Ours is the Struggle bucket.

[eurotiva]

Lots of great progress. What's the plan for the motor?

[zoom zoom]

Cool story definitely fotm material!

[bhearts]

I swear I had nothing to do with the turbo build on smoky. Lol

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

[bobbyspider]

"real nice clark" -uncle eddie

[Skrapbob]

I swear I had nothing to do with the turbo build on smoky. Lol

LOL! Definitely very creative. You're friend is a sharp guy, I wish I knew more about turbocharging a car.

Thanks for the compliments! If anything good came of the engine issues, it's that we bought a 2014 Focus hatch. Nice car, but I miss The Hoopty like crazy!
I really need to get it going again, but I want an upgrade.
My plan is to let my wife take over the Focus and my daughter will buy my wife's Escape when she's ready to start driving in about a year from now. That gives me some time to fix up Hoopty right. Not sure what I want for a motor yet, but my perfect Festiva would be a 5spd with a bit more power, and some nice options like a/c and cruise, and a nice suspension. Maybe when I get closer to that goal, I will enter it in FOTM.

[Skrapbob]

Finally! I have been slowly working toward this day for some time now. I can now put some real tires on The Hoopty. I went with a taller tire for highway use, to bring the RPM’s down. 185/60R14 with a ¼ inch spacer on the rear.

http://imageshack.us/a/img824/2540/x5a4.jpg

[Skrapbob]

The Hoopty is sick!

http://imageshack.us/a/img24/6186/wwrz.jpg

Radiator juice:

http://imageshack.us/a/img132/7862/cm7z.jpg

I no longer have pics of the radiator fluid/oil (blown head gasket). It's not a pretty sight anyway.

[Skrapbob]

Soon after I experienced the engine problems I attempted my first ever head gasket repair. New radiator, water pump, timing belt, etc all went in at the same time. I am happy to report that almost 2 years later it's still getting me point A to B.

It's mostly just me riding in it anymore, my kids are driving now and are getting vehicles of their own.

The A/C compressor locked up summer of 2015. I bought one at salvage and it made it through the summer okay.

It seems it's getting tougher to keep The Hoopty on the road and looking good. One extremely windy day, walking to my car after work, I see the wind has helped to bang a coworkers door into my right door, creating a very large dent. Of course he denied it and the security cameras are not functional.


I was able to pop the dent out some and am planning another round of paintless dent repair next summer.