'91 Festiva, fun daily build

[reyestuninggarag]

Like stated earlier, those bottle caps... my gosh ive never seen bottle caps make a car look that good ever! Ive seen em on a ton of cars b4 but never on a festiva and the result was, terrific! Love it! Keep up the good work good sir!

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[TominMO]

I'm pretty happy with a B3 as it seems to be pretty peppy and runs great.

Now that we have totally suckered you into the upgrade game, starting with tires and suspension, it will be impossible to not put a B6D in your car eventually! :-)

That being said, it is huge fun to drive a slow car fast. You can get better breathing at higher rpm by drilling a couple dozen holes in the airbox bottom piece.

Another cheap/free upgrade: a shift knob from an early 90s Escort/Protege/Miata. Screws right on.

[Advancedynamix]

Yes, you use your stock tranny. I recommend an exedy brand replacement clutch for the festiva and have the Festiva flywheel resurfaced to match the finish on the pressure plate. You could also buy a new flywheel. You'll want the flywheel friction area to be slightly rough or the disk could glaze, and cause slippage.

The b6d block is very very similar to the stock b3 block in terms of mounting tabs, and holes to mount accessories. All stock Festiva accessories will swap right over to the b6d.
If you like the B3, you'll love the b6d. It doesn't feel uncontrollable at all, and you still retain that stock vehicle driveability, but you get more TQ everywhere.

When buying an engine from a salvage yard, it's best to check the mileage on the vehicle, remove the valve cover and look at the color of the aluminum inside the top of the head. This shows how well the engine was maintained. These engines hold up well when maintained well, so the head color check is more accurate than the mileage.
Some salvage yards will check the compression for you, that's a good idea if they do it.
The Capri engines sometimes develop a coolant leak between cylinders 3 and 4, in the intake manifold gasket, that will flood one of those cylinders with water when the engine sits at rest. Usually you can see signs of this on the spark plug. It'll be obvious that there is moisture in the cylinder.

Read that thread that I linked you too.

[parrainx]

You are killing me lol. If i looked up prices right looks like Pick n Pull engine is like $170. I'll double that for gasket kit and other refreshers. I have never bought a junk yard motor before. Seems like a cheap upgrade. I'm pretty happy with a B3 as it seems to be pretty peppy and runs great.

I'll read up on the swap to see what I'm getting myself into. I can keep my tranny?

Will see if my buddy is willing to let me borrow his garage for the weekend. Need to track down a cherry picker. Oh boy.

[Advancedynamix]

My excuse is to occasionally commute for work related stuff, I can walk to my main office, but sometimes I need to drive to Corporate or other properties.

Real reason? I was bored and wanted another car to mess with. I always missed the first one I had. It's sort of a dream car and hopefully I can keep it forever.

Basically immediate goal is to have a reliable fun car to drive around which I pretty much already achieved. Take it to Good Guys autocross for poops n giggles, since they don't want my miata because its not American. Take it to a back road for fun and hunt some sport cars (already do that with the miata).

Long-Term - motor swap, but I want to have a smog legal car (Miata is not and that's enough hassle). I was at the junk yard today looking at Festiva for random parts and there was a Capri with what I'm guessing is a 1.8 motor (DOHC 16V), and Escort GT with 1.9 EFI right next to it. It was very tempting, but a motor swap and living in an apartment in the middle of SF does not go together. Yes, I got a nice place I can work on the cars in, but motor swap is not doable there.

Someone mentioned that a B6 is somewhat passable for SMOG, but I'm not sure what that engine looks like. I need to brush up on Mazda engine designations.

That capri is a B6d unless it's turbocharged, which makes it a b6t. I've swapped both engines into festivas and passed CARB inspection. Non turbo capri engine will run on stock Festiva fuel injection, which does make it a weekend swap with a custom engine mount. It's basically the same engine as a miata 1.6, just with different intake/exhaust manifolds and valve/timing covers. In fact I have one in my car now with a miata bottom end (same thing).
That's a good 100hp engine with a good bit more TQ than stock. I compete in time attack with mine and the car is regularly faster than all the cars in the class above me. The last time I competed, I was 3 seconds a lap faster than a prepped s2000 on R compounds, with a good driver. These cars are great track cars.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON THAT ENGINE SWAP

[parrainx]

A tip for when you install the rear struts. If you look at the tube at the bottom of the coilover struts compared to stock Festiva ones, you can see how much thicker they are, since the Festiva struts just have that thin stalk at the very bottom. There are one or two areas on the rear beam that need to be cut off so that when the beam articulates, it does not rub on the new strut when cornering hard. Otherwise it will dent, and can possibly rupture, your new rear struts. This needs to be done for both struts. You may already find the marks on your struts, which will give you an idea where to relieve the rear beam.

Thank you for the tip, I will take a look at it.

[FestYboy]

I also went to another yard and looked at '90 L Plus (auto), it had the instrument cluster with the tach in it. Will it work on my '91? Is it possible to roll the odometer to match my current mileage?

I also noticed that it had fancy door cards with pockets and cloth insert, never seen that before (I'm guessing that's why its the "Plus").

The cluster is a bolt in as long as you fish the speedo cable to the right side of the column support (not through it as it sits now).
The door cards are typical for L+ and standard for GL models.
The seats you scored are custom.

[TominMO]

A tip for when you install the rear struts. If you look at the tube at the bottom of the coilover struts compared to stock Festiva ones, you can see how much thicker they are, since the Festiva struts just have that thin stalk at the very bottom. There are one or two areas on the rear beam that need to be cut off so that when the beam articulates, it does not rub on the new strut when cornering hard. Otherwise it will dent, and can possibly rupture, your new rear struts. This needs to be done for both struts. You may already find the marks on your struts, which will give you an idea where to relieve the rear beam.

[skeeters_keeper]

This car is coming along nicely quickly! Great job!

[william]

Custom recover ! Looks good

[parrainx]

Look at what I scored at the junk yard today!



Got it out of a '88 L, is that factory or was it custom work? Front seats were vinyl as well. Passenger was perfect also, and driver's just had a bolster seam ripped, but was totally fixable. I didn't get them cause I got my mind set on the Miata seats up front for better support.

I was actually looking for power steering rack for quicker steering, but totally forgot to check because I was so excited about the seat (might go back).

I also went to another yard and looked at '90 L Plus (auto), it had the instrument cluster with the tach in it. Will it work on my '91? Is it possible to roll the odometer to match my current mileage?

I also noticed that it had fancy door cards with pockets and cloth insert, never seen that before (I'm guessing that's why its the "Plus"). It had all cloth seats.

There is another yard that just got a '93 L, I might go see if it has the P/S rack tomorrow.


I seem to be the only one looking at Festiva's in this area, so it works in my favor.

[parrainx]

what is your overall plan for the car? never thought in a million years bottle caps would look that cool

My excuse is to occasionally commute for work related stuff, I can walk to my main office, but sometimes I need to drive to Corporate or other properties.

Real reason? I was bored and wanted another car to mess with. I always missed the first one I had. It's sort of a dream car and hopefully I can keep it forever.

Basically immediate goal is to have a reliable fun car to drive around which I pretty much already achieved. Take it to Good Guys autocross for poops n giggles, since they don't want my miata because its not American. Take it to a back road for fun and hunt some sport cars (already do that with the miata).

Long-Term - motor swap, but I want to have a smog legal car (Miata is not and that's enough hassle). I was at the junk yard today looking at Festiva for random parts and there was a Capri with what I'm guessing is a 1.8 motor (DOHC 16V), and Escort GT with 1.9 EFI right next to it. It was very tempting, but a motor swap and living in an apartment in the middle of SF does not go together. Yes, I got a nice place I can work on the cars in, but motor swap is not doable there.

Someone mentioned that a B6 is somewhat passable for SMOG, but I'm not sure what that engine looks like. I need to brush up on Mazda engine designations.

[Advancedynamix]

Seam I was taking about is in the front wheel well at the back. it has a screw hole in it for the liner.

I haven't had any problems with my tires hitting there.

[festyfreak39]

what is your overall plan for the car? never thought in a million years bottle caps would look that cool

[parrainx]

I installed the spring hats yesterday, but it was pouring out, so I didn't end up driving it, but I'm sure that was the problem.

I used the original cup that the bushing sat on and put it over the new spring hat (cupping it), this way it will definitely stay centered and bushing is sitting on top of that as it was originally.

Seam I was taking about is in the front wheel well at the back. it has a screw hole in it for the liner.