Tweaks Re-build thread

[Damkid]

Maybe I misunderstood then lol I intend on strengthening my front chassis as well

[Advancedynamix]

Here you can see the gusset on the backside. I seam sealed it after weld to make it look as OE as possible. I enjoy building cars that are nowhere near stock, but appear untouched to the untrained eye. It confuses the hell out of the Corvette drivers who come over to see why they just got passed by an econobox. :p

[defprun]

So your front end will REALLY look like the rear suspension of a dirt bike!

Saved for another Festie that will be track only?

[Advancedynamix]

EPic work !! Where did you get your doctorate in engine bay cleanliness ? ahah

I used to build professional and club level race cars for a living, mostly Porsche cars. The only way I can keep an eye on chassis fatigue and any other possibly problems is to have a very clean car. This car is my hobby, but I treat it as though it were a GT3 RSR. I regularly push the limits in this car, it sees corners in excess of 2.5 G's on a regular basis and is often jumped and slid over curbing at speeds over 100mph. If you have ever watched professional touring car racing, that is how Tweak gets driven. I need to know every inch of this car in order to have the confidence to drive it like I do.
With that said, I can personally vouch for the durability of the Festiva Chassis. The only fatigue I have seen is the seam sealer has cracked at the seam where the firewall meets the strut towers. No metal has cracked, only the seam sealer, which is probably old and dry anyway. I prefer to allow a cars chassis to flex, because this helps the car conform to the racetrack better. I only reinforce the spots that fatigue. I knew the front lower support area was going to be a problem before I ever drove the car, because of other cars I have built that had a similar setup. The flexing that starts in the front of the car is then exaggerated the further away from the front that you get, typically causing cracks and fatigue where the flexing chassis components attach to the rest of the car. In the festiva we see the signs of this flexing in the firewall and strut tower cracks that have shown up on some of the higher HP cars on this forum. The areas where the chassis cracks though, aren't typically where the stress is being applied to the chassis. By strengthening the chassis where the twisting originates, I have drastically reduced the chances of fatigue further down line. Also, this adds beneficial wight to the car, since it is in front of the front axle line. Any weight in front of the front axle line is transferred to the front wheels when accelerating and cornering. This helps the car to hook up, and to turn in better. Forward weight also helps high speed stability, therefore it's a win win win situation. Weight behind the front axle line pulls weight from the front wheels under acceleration and cornering and will tend to make the car more unstable during high speed cornering. This is a lose lose lose situation. The festiva has huge advantages over other FWD vehicle because it's chassis only requires reinforcement in the very front, and it's suspension design is all trailing link style, which follows the ground much better than A-arm or most multi link suspension systems. It's light and simple and has very little resistance. Basically, Mazda Designed one of the most efficient road racing weapons ever made, and then restricted it with too little of power and not enough rubber on the ground. Make a few adjustments in a few areas and these cars are untouchable on a road coarse.

[Advancedynamix]

So your front end will REALLY look like the rear suspension of a dirt bike!

Saved for another Festie that will be track only?

Motocross is where I cut my teeth on suspension tuning. Can you tell?

[defprun]

Little bit, especially with your earlier explinations on how this particular chassis put power to the ground. Come next spring I have alot of work to do to get mine to the track.

[Festiva_Fred]

Love your car! Your attention to detail and build quality are amazing :thumbright:

[Advancedynamix]

Little bit, especially with your earlier explinations on how this particular chassis put power to the ground. Come next spring I have alot of work to do to get mine to the track.

Love to hear this. Keep us posted on your progress and always feel free to hit me up with any questions.

Love your car! Your attention to detail and build quality are amazing :thumbright:

Thanks Fred! This is the most fun I've ever had on 4 wheels (well, it's on 4 most of the time )

[jemartin144]

Basically, Mazda Designed one of the most efficient road racing weapons ever made, and then restricted it with too little of power and not enough rubber on the ground. Make a few adjustments in a few areas and these cars are untouchable on a road coarse.

First off, I love the build and the car. Its great to have some who knows what they're doing show everyone what's possible and giving us something to aspire to.

I wish mazda had really given the festiva a higher horsepower option. With all the other engine options they had just sitting around it could have been really cool and easy. Obviously we're all taking advantage of it after the fact, but unfortunately most rule making sanctioning bodies don't allow engine swaps because things can get out of hand quick, but in the case of the festiva its really just catching them up.

[Advancedynamix]

Thanks!
If it weren't for organizations like Lemons, ASA, NASA and half a dozen time trials outfits, the Festiva may never have gotten it's chance to shine here in North America. Now that engine swapping is allowed and front drive cars are not uncommon amongst racing groups , we have our chance. It's just too bad that a good portion of these cars have already been recycled

[sketchman]

^Wouldn't they have gotten recycled faster had they all been racing?

[Advancedynamix]

Nope. Racing legends get cherished, rather than scrapped. Here in Phoenix they are crushing 5 Festivas a month, most of them straight and rust free. It would be hard to destroy 5 cars a month road racing them. These cars are a better design than 901 chassis Porsche, but the Porsche is known as a racing legend, and therefore it's cherished. Porsche 911's are not rare, but sell for the same price they did 30 years ago, often times more.

[eurotiva]

Glad to finally see this thread Charlie! You should fill it with close ups so we can admire your cleanliness.

Someday, and you can hold me to it, I'll get to a road race course. I know I'm way off on setup to turn good, but it's just a few adjustments away.

And speaking of weight forward, last time I went to the track I got my car to do a stoppie in the pits. Gutted car, with small slicks, and a good brake check. I need to get a video

Keep the long overdue build details coming. Flyin4stroke, and I were talking about you having a build thread since you showed up at madness, yrs ago....

[moz]

This is yet another inspiring thread from you Charlie. My automotive skills and knowledge have increased a hundred fold since I've been on ff.com, and your contributions are the ones I find myself reading over and over again.

Can you clarify the difference between a b660 head and the standard head? I have both heads. Clumsily enough I'm having my standard head machined and re seated right now. Just curious about the can difference as I might be able to swap them over.

Sent from my Agora Quad Core using Tapatalk

[Gomez]

Charlie, lots of your ideas are gonna find their way onto my car. I hope you don't mind. I may do some autocross locally and maybe a little drag race here and there when the car is done. But mostly I want the car to be the best the car can be and yours is a great example of that. Keep up the great work and show lots of detailed pics so we all can see.

... last time I went to the track I got my car to do a stoppie....

I have always wanted to do that. Now that I know it is possible I WILL do it one day. LMAO