'89 Festiva build...

[Zman86]

Hard to find? Damn near impossible! There are currently five aspires for sale on kijiji across all of Canada, the nearest being Quebec, a longer drive than it was to Michigan.

No tap water drinking in Flint. Gas was the equivalent of .45cents/litre in Grand Rapids, so old guzzle guts (the Volvo) was quite happy, as it loves its fuel. My girlfriend and I split the driving.

I never pulled the trigger on purchasing the polo cool kit, and since I'm on the list for a set of Charlie's suspension that he's so nicely putting together for us, I probably won't be buying a set of the polo ones. Thanks for doing the testing though Charlie!

I've not even taken the parts out of the Volvo yet, I need to stop being lazy...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JumboShrimp]

I'll be in Dundas tomorrow... did you work at the Canadian tire there? I remember that chicken coup festiva is another one I had my eye on while is was on kijiji. Im going to Kenny u-pull friday. Gotta get some parts for my hyundai.

[Zman86]

Haha, spent five years there. And yes, the chicken coop car was mine. Small world...

[Zman86]

'89 Festiva build...

Started getting it ready for the upcoming season tonight. Due to other obligations (stupid expensive house renovations), I've decided to put off the Aspire swap for the time being and save for a big teardown this upcoming fall/winter.



Greasy


The only real rust on the car. There's a couple floor seams that have some rust peeking out, but I couldn't get good pictures





Interior is pretty clean. Some staining on front seats. Missing original floor mats. It will all be getting steam cleaned.





Dealer installed sunroof



The owner insisted the tapes that had been with the car for two decades go with it.



Stock brakes, so tiny!



Aspire brakes. Quite a bit bigger plus vented rotors



Aspire rear beam. Wider track and much larger brakes.



The former owners loved undercoating




Next on the list is changing all the fluids, servicing the brakes, dismounting and refinishing the rims and cleaning the interior.

[ThisVelologist]

Beautiful car! You described exactly my own search for wheels--I was looking on eBay for 13" basket/mesh wheels and found nothing in the right size or price range...drive an hour and end up with a set of Enkei 92's in 114.3 13X6, no less! My dream wheels for my next Festy..

[bolokid]

When are you going to be picking up the new Festiva?

[Zman86]

Did a quick cleanup and repaint on the stock 12" wheels. The previous owners had painted them with a brush while the tires were still on, leaving brush marks and paint on the tires. These are just for this year until I get the suspension swapped and the 13" Exims on

[ThisVelologist]

I land in Billings on April 1st.

[Zman86]

After some drama at the post office, I got my order from Rock Auto today! New plugs, air filter, oil filters, fuel filter, plug wires, front brake pads, wiper blades, wheel lugs and a v-belt. My ritual in a new car is to always change out all the fluids and tune up parts I can before using it, so I have a starting point for further maintenance. The wheel nuts are because the old ones look like crap.



Rock Auto shipping genius...

[likeJIF]

Nice, I'm jealous, great find on the wheels.

[Zman86]

The beast is back on the road after new plugs, wires, filters, fluids, brake service, new front brake pads, wiper blades, cap and rotor, and clean and repack all the wheel bearings. Speedo cable fell apart when I removed it to refill the transmission. Our Volvo is dead currently and my Jetta needs a clutch which I'm currently waiting for parts...



My biggest pet peeve is dirty engine bays, and this one was exceptionally dirty, so first order of business was getting it washed. Let it soak in the purple castrol degreaser stuff for a couple hours then hit it with the pressure washer.

Before


After


I'll eventually pull the engine and clean it properly.

[firebush357]

Looks Good!

[JumboShrimp]

Look great. I'm moving back to Hamilton. I hope we pass each other in Festivas soon. Were you doing the aspire brake swap?

[Zman86]

I am still doing the aspire swap, just have to strip it all and have it powder coated/replace the wear items. Awaiting the release of the Advancedynamix suspension sets, then I'll be doing the swap. Car is currently my DD...

[Zman86]

The Fed-Ex man arrived this weekend and dropped off a big box...



That could only mean that these had arrived!



A bit closer up



Now, the question is do I install these with the Aspire suspension as-is, or save up some money and have it blasted, coated, and replace everything like I'd normally do. The second option probably won't happen till next year.