Fecomatter's Festiva Build

[Fecomatter]

Hello all, After months of searching, I found this gem in a backyard 5 miles away from my house. 92 Festiva, aspire suspension, b3, for $300.

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The engine "should run" and the transmission "should work" but I could care less. $300. I plan on doing a BP swap anyway so the engine does not matter. This is going to be my build thread From start to finish. I am going to repaint and refinish the inside and the outside of the car. This will be a long ans slow process but im very glad to be a part of the Festiva Nation for real now. Here are some pictures from todays happenings and I will post more as I do more.

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Its great because the guy I bought it from gave me this cluster with the integrated tach.

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Getting Towed:

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The car came with two batteries, but neither were any good. Just enough juice to make the lights work for a bit. I am going to borrow a battery from another car tomorrow and see if it actually turns over.

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[Damkid]

Personally, before you strip anything out of it in prep for the BP swap, if you get it to fire up then you know everything works.... That way if you have issues getting the BP to run, you can better diagnose it since it was a known running car before you started

Just my two cents

[bravekozak]

I like buying pre-Aspire suspension swapped Festivas. You got a real great deal.

[bhazard]

You basically paid scrap price.

You can get $15-20 for the junk batteries.

Tach clusters go for $75+

Aspire swaps are $200+

Pretty much got a free car.

[bobbyspider]

Personally, before you strip anything out of it in prep for the BP swap, if you get it to fire up then you know everything works.... That way if you have issues getting the BP to run, you can better diagnose it since it was a known running car before you started

Just my two cents

This is very good advice indeed

[Fecomatter]

I went to put in this borrowed battery, and in my excitement, hooked up the terminals backwards. I blew the main fusible link, then i replaced it with a 40amp fuse. Then I hooked up the battery CORRECTLY the next time and the engine turned over. I was overjoyed.

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[bhazard]

Interesting fuse, why didn't you just use cartridge fuses?

[Fecomatter]

I already had this part laying around. Its an inline fuse holder. The fuse inside the black part is just a regular fuse. easy to replace.

[Fecomatter]

To continue todays efforts, I attempted to refit the gas tank into place. Before completely mounting, I noticed the connectors to where the fuel pump should be did not match. So i took it back out and gave it a closer look:

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I took out the assembly and this is what was there:

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This is what should be there:

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Please confirm this, but my hunch is that this gas tank (supposedly brand new) is to a carbureted festiva. I will either have to get a FI tank or modify the top plate of the FI assembly to make it smaller since It is a larger "circle".

does that sound about right?

also what is this tube supposed to connect to, It is the part on the outside of the tank I am point to.

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[robbylockisme]

What you have in there is from a carbureted Festiva. I just bought that for mine!


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[Fecomatter]

Since I have been a little postponed because I am sourcing a FI fuel tank, I decided to take off the front grill and am going to go a debadge. Jut leave a middle bar in it with no remains that the ford symbol was ever there. I havent seen any front grills like that so I figured i'd do it.

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The piece was cracked up and broke in places but I just took a soldering iron to some spots and BS welded the plastic back together. It seems strong enough for what it is.

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Will have more pictures when I do more. It was cold and snowy.

[eurotiva]

That grill has been done, but hasn't been seen in a while. It's gonna look good

[navdoc101]

Look in the Artical's section of the Fourm, DJ's Articals.
He shows how to do it.

[Fecomatter]

His write up is very good, but I don't have access to another grill so I'm probably just going to make it work with some bondo. it should turn out fine.

[damiap666]

hey there facomatter
the fuel tank for FI engines has a kind of reservoir to prevent lack of suction under turns, if your tank doesnt have that,you should make it with plastic or metal or change the tank simply with the FI one, and about the flang,you can easily put the fuel pump assembly on your stock fuel level and flange,you just need a shaft to hold the pump and damp the vibrations,and 2 wires coming out of the head,thats what im doing in my swap,i have a carbed kia pride,and im swapping a bp with all the wiring harness and ecu,ill send the pics, hope it helps