Pedro the Festiva's build thread.

[bhearts]

Seriously cool wheels

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[Advancedynamix]

Thanks Brian! It took a couple months and some serious work to get them in the condition they are in. When I got them, 1 was badly bent, and 2 were badly corroded. I straightened them, welded and machined them and did a center cap delete while I was at it. Then they were powder coated for a basecoat. When I paint Pedro, I will also paint the wheels to match the car color.
I made the Ford centercaps from some mustang bullet caps with new decals that I ordered from ebay. The wheels were originally built for a mid 70's BMW 320i. These O.Z. turbines are rare as hens teeth, and I've always wanted a white set.

[bhearts]

Thanks Brian! It took a couple months and some serious work to get them in the condition they are in. When I got them, 1 was badly bent, and 2 were badly corroded. I straightened them, welded and machined them and did a center cap delete while I was at it. Then they were powder coated for a basecoat. When I paint Pedro, I will also paint the wheels to match the car color.
I made the Ford centercaps from some mustang bullet caps with new decals that I ordered from ebay. The wheels were originally built for a mid 70's BMW 320i. These O.Z. turbines are rare as hens teeth, and I've always wanted a white set.

I can't even imagine the work going into straightening them. Weld the dents up, turn it on a lathe and cut and sand the extra material off?

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[Advancedynamix]

Labor of Love. It was worth every hour of time spent sanding and welding and cutting and sanding and filing and smoothing and pressing and.... haha. These wheels fit this car perfectly and ride soo nice. You know it's a good setup when you get home from a 6000+ mile road trip and still want to jump in the car and go places. lol

[bhearts]

I forgot to update a few things on the build. I installed a 110mph speedo, and a Pioneer DEH X8700 BH head unit. I also installed a 5 channel ppi amplifier under the drivers seat.


Then my lovely Assistant, Angie, helped me fix up the back of Pedro. We removed the seat supports, sprayed the panels with rubberised sound deadener and made panels for the sides and floor. The side panels have 6x9 and 5.25 speakers. The floor is covered in foam diamond plate and folds in the middle for access to the spare tire.
This made a nice place for me to sleep. I'm actually laying comfortably in the back of Pedro right now, as I write this somewhere between Amarillo and OKC.

Where'd you get one of those? The Speedo that is.

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[skeeters_keeper]

I was privileged to ride in Tweek and also drive Pedro at Madness. Let me tell you, these setups are insane!

I've had a few festivas rolling pretty quick at 100+mph with stock or slightly modified suspension. It's usually a little scary. Tweek was solid as a rock at speeds that were way, way higher than that. If I wouldn't have known we were nearly at redline in 5th we could have been cruising along at 90mph for how stable the car felt. Coming around an on ramp at 130 felt like doing 55 on stock suspension.

Driving Pedro was also excellent. The soft-ish spring rates with better damped shocks make the handling flat, but still absorb bumps in the road better than stock. Body roll, even with the stock festiva rear beam and front sway bar was minimal. Pedro still has the stock transmission, and is putting out somewhere around 120hp, and there was essentially NO torque steer. I've driven B6t and BP cars with the stock transmission before and I wouldn't have thought that was possible. Usually you punch it and have to struggle just to keep the thing in your lane. Not so with Pedro!

I think having a decent set of suspension on a festiva is probably the best thing you can do. Having more power is a lot of fun, but being able to whip it around corners is the kind of fun you can have even with a stock engine.

Just figured I'd put my first hand experience out there - Charlie knows his stuff

[Zman86]

First off, I'm completely blown away by the quality of your builds. I have always loved the "looks stock but everything has been changed" look. Thanks for being generous enough to share with us.

Secondly, the pictures and info you provided are more than enough for me to copy building my own set of rear coils, however I am having issues finding information on what your fronts consist of (I've read through pages and pages now) If you could provide some more info/insight either here or through a pm, that would be much appreciated, as I'd like to start stockpiling parts to build the coils over the winter and install them in the spring.


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[Prafeston]

Can you build me a Festiva!?

Love your cars man!

[sc72]

I'm sure he could but how deep are your pockets.

[Zman86]

Ignore my previous post, you just answered everything I needed to know in my thread!


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[Prafeston]

I'm sure he could but how deep are your pockets.

Likely not deep enough! I do live in Southern Utah now though. Not as many Festivas out here it would seem.

[cliferton]

First off, I'm completely blown away by the quality of your builds. I have always loved the "looks stock but everything has been changed" look. Thanks for being generous enough to share with us.

Secondly, the pictures and info you provided are more than enough for me to copy building my own set of rear coils, however I am having issues finding information on what your fronts consist of (I've read through pages and pages now) If you could provide some more info/insight either here or through a pm, that would be much appreciated, as I'd like to start stockpiling parts to build the coils over the winter and install them in the spring.


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Look at the advanced suspension thread in the suspension section. its sticked at the very top. but the short list is vw mk2/3 front coil overs, 10 inch springs, kia rio top hats, and aspire knuckles

[Advancedynamix]

Can you build me a Festiva!?

Love your cars man!

Thanks Rafe!
I don't build cars for other people any more. I probably should be paying to have mine built, lol, but I enjoy these cars. I will do my best to help with advice when I can.

[Zman86]

Ya, that post should be deleted, i made it before I did more research and before I had the other thread.


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[Advancedynamix]

So, I just realized that I never updated this thread with any finished pictures of Pedro's interior and sound system. I was in such a hurry to get him ready for FMIX that I totally forgot.
Anyway, here are a few shots.

I shaved the rear seat stays and made custom rear panels to hold 6x9 and 6.5" coaxial speakers. I also installed an MDF floor with foam diamondplate.


In the front I installed grey carpet, grey pocket door cards, grey dash with LX console and new shift knob and Mercury tracer seats.

I built a 110mph speedometer with bright LED back lighting.

I upgraded the stereo to a pioneer deh-x8700bh receiver with a USB cable in the glove box.


Under the seat is an 800 watt PPI class D amp, powering the rear speakers and eventually the door speakers that I haven't installed yet.
Behind the seat, I made a false wall with a cubby for drugs and guns.

One more cool feature, Pedro is hard wired for an innovate LM1 wideband! The LM1 cables untuck from under the column and reaches so that a passenger can hold it or plug it into a laptop to log A/F. The LM1 can then be removed, and the plugs tucked away out of sight for a nice clean OEM look.