The build of Martha Esther

[kojo]

Let me start off with an introduction, seeing as I'm new here.

I'm not new to Festivas. Martha Esther makes my 3rd. The previous cars were used a bit differently than what I have in mind for this one. My first Festi was a 1988 4 speed in PRESTINE condition that I purchased for $400 from my brother in law my junior year of high school so I could let my 8mpg, gas chugging, mud tired pick-em-up rest a little. This car was named AsherBasher (story for another time...), but my friends lovingly refered to her as "the drunk car". Due to the fact that anytime we were headed to a party it was driven, since it wasn't a big deal if a drunk backed into/ran over/fell on/puked in/etc a $400 car. It also made the beer runs, and was used as some sort of super, off road trophy truck anytime a party took place in a field; which was often. I grew up in the sticks.
AsherBasher was traded to a 91 civic hatch in the years to follow.
My second festiva was a rusted, dented, smoking time bomb I got for a carton of Marlboro Reds... True story. A 1991 model with what had to be a fragment of its former main seal still in tact. It was my DD beater to drive back and forth to work for a year or so. Her name was Barb. Barb met her demise at the scrap yard.

That 91 civic hatch I traded for taught me a lot about little cheap econoboxes. I was looking for a transmission and ran across a guy named Kenny. Kenny built civics, and I expected the worst when I went to meet him. But he didn't throw together "fast and furious" specials with APC stickers and park benches mounted on the trunk. He had actual fast, fairly stock looking cars that ran and handled amazingly. By the time I sold my little hatch, it was rocking a full suspension and a B16. This car taught me what an apex was.

After that, I always got my handling fix with a motorcycle. As far as cars went, I usually had a beater, and a drag racer (typically foxbody Mustangs). But 've always had a soft spot for turning little "ugly" vehicles into something better. My friends think I have a problem. I just think I see potential in cheaper items.

For example:
1995 Geo Tracker


Turned off-roader on a budget


Or
1981 Yamaha metric cruiser


Turned bobber on a budget


Enough bragging... I've always had a soft spot for Festivas. I've been keeping my eyes open for another one over the last few years, but prices ran me off ( I'm a cheap fella). I was hoping to find a steal like the others I bought in the past. Apparently the prices have gone up and there aren't as many Festivas out there. Surely due to age and Cash for Clunkers.

Now I have a new Festiva, purchased for me by my Fiancé on Father's Day. She's an '88 carby turning a 4 speed... I love the fuel mileage, and tickled to be riding in another one of these mini hot rods. Martha Esther will be receiving MUCH better care than the previous renditions. This will be my new curve carver/DD, since my motorcycle fund is expired. She will also fill my need for a new " ugly duckling" project.

Long winded introduction over. Let's get to the car...

[kojo]

This build will be in 3 parts. Number one is simply repairing what needs repaired, and cleaning up the previous owners doings. Basically making the car presentable and trustworthy. (Presentable is a term I'll use loosely. I prefer non-blingy, flat painted sleepers. This car will not win any show-and-shine awards)
Part two will be suspension, brakes, chassis, wheels and tires. I've studied every single post on handling here on FF and have already spoken with Charlie about some components. Hopefully Martha Esther will be a handling machine when all is said and done.
Part three will be engine and transmission. When a suitable donor car is found, I'll be pulling motors and start looking for more HP.

Here's what I came home with:


It was listed for sale at $800. It was owned by some interesting folks, who were spray painting it as I pulled up... I brought it home for $450. Definitely rough around the edges, and the interior was a cobbled together mixture of wood, marine carpet, some bicycle parts, and lots of interesting design elements... But the body is straight, and there's very minimal rust.

First order of business was taking care of that nasty rattle can paint job, with another rattle can paint job lol
Sanding:

This thing was originally red. I found green, orange, blue, more red, and of course the black.

After:


There's still more to do, and more that's been done already. But it's getting there.

In the next installment I'll go over the interior and what I've managed to fix so far.

[sketchman]

And if this log ends suddenly, dude died of dehydration. Seriously crazy nutzo humid over there. I was dripping with sweat after 5 minutes unloading the parts car, and it took a while longer than that.

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[kojo]

And if this log ends suddenly, dude died of dehydration. Seriously crazy nutzo humid over there. I was dripping with sweat after 5 minutes unloading the parts car, and it took a while longer than that.

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Yea, the humidity here surprises people. The air is thick in the summer. The parts car will make an appearance when I make a post about the interior.

By the way, is that tach cluster out of a 323? And did everything work the way you had it wired up? Just wanted to make sure before I start re-pinning the plugs.

[sketchman]

It's from a Merc Tracer, but same wiring as the 323. Yep, everything worked, though I didn't wire it. Festivareed did.

[TominMO]

That looks like the green primer I just saw at Lowe's. I'm like you, the no-bling flat sleeper look. Looks like it was rust-free.

[kojo]

That looks like the green primer I just saw at Lowe's. I'm like you, the no-bling flat sleeper look. Looks like it was rust-free.

The paint is Rustoleum Camo paint in Deep Forrest Green. It really lays down kind of like primer, and is a little chalky (but not excessively like a true primer) for my taste, but it will have to do. I can't find the old OD green I used to paint with. I'm actually going to have to sand and lay down another couple of coats. I let my brother in law help, and he did a fairly horrible job on the hood and roof.

The car really is pretty much rust free. There was some surface rust on a rear fender that I addressed before the paint went on. And there's a little bit of crud underneath, around the rear beam mounts. She's in amazing shape for this region, a lot of older cars are rust buckets around here.

[kojo]

The only thing worse than the 27 layers of spray paint on Martha Esther, was the interior.



Marine carpet, wood door panels with 30 self tapping screws fastening them to the door. A funky wooden console, a bike brake lever turned into a door handle, seats in Not so great shape, various diamond plate trim pieces, and the ashtray area of the dash had been chopped off. Also the windshield is broken, the side glasses were barely attached, and the door windows wouldn't stay rolled up.

I purchased a parts car from sketchman that had a decent interior. I wasn't crazy about it being painted, but it actually looks pretty good. And so the fun began.





This tear down also gave me the opportunity to properly complete the color change to green... I also took this time to replace my broken tail lights with the ones from he parts car. They got a light coat of tint before being installed.

And the MOSTLY finished result.


Notice I still have those cheesy diamond plate pedals. I intended to swap them out, but honestly they offer very good grip over the stockers. They may receive a healthy coating of rubberized undercoating or bed liner, and stay put. The seats I got from sketchmans car weren't in great shape, as he had told me, but they were still much better than my worn out examples. I'll be swapping them for something different in the future. Does anyone happen to know a car that has some fairly light weight buckets?

I still have to repin the plugs and install the Tracer tach cluster. Then give it all a good cleaning and replace the windshield with the one from the parts car. Then I need to find a good turn signal and wiper stalk so I can put the column plastics on.

I have to remove this gem also:


Awesome, I know... It will be removed in favor of a stock piece, or I may just remove the third brake light altogether. I plan to so some weight saving in the rear of the car anyway.

Another issue I didn't expect to run into was the center cubby mounting. My car doesn't have the threaded inserts in the floor to mount the bracket to. Being as I'm going to have to drill holes for fitment anyway, I may look into alternate consoles that offer more in the way of storage, cup holders, and appearance.

[TominMO]

Nice progress! You should enter it in Festiva of the Month. I'd recommend swapping to Aspire seats. Much better, easy to swap, and they tend to last longer due to better materials. Here's one how-to link: Aspire seat swap

[sketchman]

I see the Civic eBay knob. Did you use the short throw too? Looks great. I'm glad the parts are getting used. Well worth the trip to not have to scrap all that good stuff.

[kojo]

No, haven't done the shifter yet. It's on the to do list though. My shifter is well worn, and needs a cure for the missing bushings.
Happy you made the trip lol. The parts that were left on the car, were the parts I needed. I've got a local guy from FF wanting to nab the fenders and hatch, then I suppose the shell will be heading to scrap unless somebody out there wants it.

[kojo]

Nice progress! You should enter it in Festiva of the Month. I'd recommend swapping to Aspire seats. Much better, easy to swap, and they tend to last longer due to better materials. Here's one how-to link: Aspire seat swap

Thanks! And thanks for the tip on Aspire seats. I've got some hardshell racing seats I COULD use. I am trying to shave weight were I can, but I want to do it incognito, that sleeper effect. Racing seats kind of kill that whole idea, which is why I was wondering if anyone knew of a light factory seat to be on the lookout for, that still offers some lateral support lol. I may just do the aspire seat swap, since the festiva seats are actually pretty light for factory pieces, I would assume the aspires are also.

I don't know that simply fixing what a bunch of rednecks with artificially accelerated heart rates did to a poor Festi is deserving of a FOTM nod lol.

[TominMO]

I don't know that simply fixing what a bunch of rednecks with artificially accelerated heart rates did to a poor Festi is deserving of a FOTM nod lol.

To take it from what it was to something a lot better is definitely worth an entry.

[kojo]

To take it from what it was to something a lot better is definitely worth an entry.

Thanks for the compliment. Believe voting has already began for the current one? I'll look into entering it for next month.

[eurotiva]

uploadfromtaptalk1438177519018.jpgthere's the part # for Kia bushings. They are less than $2 each