W4RKRY's '91 Build

[w4rkry]

Alright, time for the fun bit: JDM & Bosozoku mods. Most of these were either free/ low cost.

First, I added LED headlights. These suckers are BRIGHT. super floody. Almost too floody. So I bought some Rigid Industries LED Spotlights. They are extremely bright, I can see waaaaayy dow the road now.
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Then It was time for visusal modifications. I went to a local scrapyard and got a 'gold' AC condenser from a tractor and hooked it up as a fake external Oil cooler. I made my own bracket and used metal screws and zipties. This is pretty cool.


This Was not enough. IT still didnt quite stand out. SO I decided I needed to stickerbomb it. However, I only had a few stickers from a couple companies. So, I went and emailed tons of racing equipment manufacturers and asked if they could send me some free decals. The response I got was overwhelming. I have over 8 pounds of stickers! I did the fender and wil do the hood next. I really love this, one of my favorite mods ever.




Then, to finish it off, I wanted a big bosozoku exhaust. I found a real stainless muffler, a copy of the Apex'i N1. I got some flex pipe, my welder and some thermal wrap. Now this thing sounds amazing with the N1 and glasspack combo.


This is a custom Festiva for sure now. I get tons of looks and thumbs up wherever I go. Slow as a snail and sounds like a racecar, I couldn't be happier getting 45mpg.

Please ask questions, I would love to talk about how/why I did things. More things to come when I get paid this week : )

[Fecomatter]

THOSE ARE HOTTT. If my captains chairs wouldn't have been free they would not be in my car.

[TominMO]

Man I'll bet those seats are great to sit in! They look wonderful. You gotta bring it to a meet, like the Hermann one coming up.

[w4rkry]

OK time to post some sweet JDM modifications! I want to start out with a little bit about my personal car culture. I have always enjoyed tuner cars/imports as a kid but often shyed away from them in the real world as they can be rather polarizing. When I started fixing up my S10, I wanted to basically fully restore it, no crazy modifications to the interior/exterior. Upon learning that The festiva is really a mazda, I suddenly had an idea: I would make the crazy JDM/bosozoku car I had always really wanted to make.

So many people (mostly family and friends) Have harshly criticized my Festiva now. Then I took it to a small local car club where I had many people really enjoy the car. My car is definitely different now and I am truly proud of it. So hate on it if you must, but I am very happy, and thats what counts

With all that out of the way, I will start with the seats. I wanted some seats with a bit more bolstering, something a little more "racecar". I did not want to risk the plastic ebay seats, so I went to the junkyard and found some cloth beauties out of a Mitsubishi 3000gt! Since it was also a Japanese car I was even able to use it's seatbelt buckle. These seats have adjustable front height, rear height, lumbar, slide, and recline. only 10 bucks each! I welded my own adapter plates for each side.
I will post more mods tonight. Pics attached.20150528_150903.jpg20150528_150843.jpg20150528_150924.jpg20150528_150939.jpg

[Advancedynamix]

And keep your dad from kicking the car again. Apparently he can kick the bushing out with one swift kick of the tire. Is your last name Norris by any chance? Haha.
Glad to see your back on the road again!

[w4rkry]

Ok, I appreciate all the comments for help but I got it figured out a while back. I had been overtorquing the wheel nut, and my other spindles were so worn that the bearing race was allowed to spin and super heat itself. Anyway, I finally got the new bushings put in. She handles like a dream now.

So, with the urgent mechanical problems sorted out, It was time to add some class to my interior and exterior. Realizing that this is basically a mazda, I thought it would be good to stick some JDM modifications to my car. I will post what all I did later tonight!

[Movin]

Are you packing the bearings until grease comes out the other side ?
The parts are not the problem, it is something missing or the procedure.
Maybe a wrong part number...?
Awesome dome lights by the way!

[Flyin4stroke]

How tight are you putting the nut on the outside of the spindle? I've never had 1 completely fail and have drove with bad bearings for thousands of miles. Each rear tire only holds a little over 300 lbs.

[w4rkry]

Ok well many things have happened over the past month or so so i will try to get everything written down.

First things first, we pick up back at the spindle story. I found a guy on craigslist who had a bunch of spare Festiva parts, said he could give me a spindle for $35. He lived about 1.5 hrs away so I began the journey in my mom's car. So I get there and he has the spindle. He said it was a little more beat up than He thought it was and gave it to me for free. It was a little worn and the threads had a flat spot. I take it home anyway and go to install it with some Duralast bearings. I get it put on, bearings in, greased, and go out for a test drive. 15 miles later --BOOM-- the bearing explodes. Again. So i limp it back home, very pissed.

A few days later I get on the forum and start looking for spindle that's actually worth my time. I went to rockauto and got some Timken bearings. I bought a nice looking spindle off the forums for $35 shipped. Finally get it put together. My dad kicks my front tires to check the air pressure. I start to back out of the garage, and as I hit the brakes CLUNK. Now really angry, I try backing up and braking again. CLUNK.
Now very irritated, I asked my dad to backup and hit the brakes while i watch so I can see what is going on. He does and when he hits the brakes, the axle stopped but the body kept going for another few inches. WTF?! I think. I take off the front tire, and see that my control arm bushings are gone. Not worn, GONE.
I wil post pics of the old vs new In the next post, as well as my failed spindle, which got so hot it blued the metal. TO BE CONTINUED

[w4rkry]

Yes drddan, I have read your article before, very nice write up. It what I was planning on doing, unfortunately I didn't find any consoles on my first trip.

[drddan]

This is an install thread for the Escort console I put in. The Mazda Protégé console is almost the same console, but has an added flip top storage area towards the rear of it and slide in/out cup holders in the front. I think 90 - 94 Protégé?

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...le-swap-How-To

[w4rkry]

UPDATE

OK time for a long, sad update!

I was driving around 2 weeks ago on friday when the car started to wiggle a bit. I ignored it and kept driving. Suddenly it got really bad and i pulled over. I opened up my rear drivers center cap and found my bearing had turned into a nice metal paste with the grease. It had completely exploded. I limp it to school and have my dad pick me up. I towed it back home later that night. When I opened it up, I found my spindle threads were completely stripped off and the bearing race had welded itself to the spindle.
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After a long battle to get the spindle off the rusty brake backing, I decide i would go to the junkyard and just torch off the entire rear assemblies off the cars. When I got there, I found a terrible sight: all the Festivas had this exact thing done to them already!! WHO IS TAKING ALL THESE SPINDLES???
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So, I decided that I would look for other items, like a dome light with map lights and maybe a new console from an Escort or other Mazda. I ended up finding tons of the map lights (even one in blue plastic) and a pretty nice shift knob from a Mazda sedan. I put both these in the car, bought some red LEDs, and began hunting for another spindle. (MSG me if any of you would like me to get one of those map lights for you!)
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to be continued.....

[blake4591]

Just a note on the Aspire trailing arm, if you put it on the car and don't do anything to the front suspension it will make the car want to rotate if you lift throttle in a corner. This can be good or bad based on your driving style and goals with the car. I drove my car for about a month with just the trailing arm swap and could feel a difference. I would recommend the aspire front sway bar if you want the car to feel closer to stock (but it is not best performance option) or going to stiffer front springs like the cut Rio springs which will reduce the off throttle rotation but not eliminate it. Overall though it sounds like a good project, best of luck with getting this car all sorted out.

[w4rkry]

Yea, it is incredibly intense, and I have the gain at 3/11

[Advancedynamix]

Not only do these cars not require much power to be fast, they don't require much sub to be bumped. That thing must be like an earthquake inside with those 12's. Haha. I had the gain turned all the way down on babe's 800w alpine class D sub amp and single 10" sub. It was hard to think with the sub past 5. Haha