First Festiva. 90 Pop Yellow revival and build thread.

[w4rkry]

Pulling the trans in these cars is a piece of cake with just a jack... just as long as the axles come out lol. Actually, i'm fairly certain that you can drop the trans without taking the axles out.

The clutch job is just as easy, if not easier, if you just pull the engine and leave the trans and axles alone haha

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

[bravekozak]

Here you go.
Good luck.

[helloish12321]

Transmission Disassembled

After a quick search I found a thread that linked to this pdf

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/1988_transaxle.pdf

It seems to be a factory service manual describing the function and assembly of the transmission, as well as a disassembly guide.

Using this I was able to take the shafts out of my transmission with no hassle.
I used an h4 1/4 in drive hex tool with a 1/4 in to 3/8 in adapter to an extension that I could hammer on. I also used a 5/32 hex key and a small magnetic parts grabber tool that I got from walmart.



Following the manual I punched out the roll pins from the 3rd/4th shift fork and relay lever, 5th/rev shift fork, and 1st/2nd shift fork.

With all gears in neutral i was able to remove the 3rd/4th rod while wiggling the 5th/rev rod up and down. I did the same to remove the 1st/2nd rod. Then the 5th/rev rod slid out.


Here are the rods with the 4 pins removed and all forks resting roughly in their natural position





Here are the 4 roll pins as well as the interlock pins that came out of the shaft holes with the help of my parts grabber.

From there both transmission shafts came out. This was a lot easier than I thought once I found the service manual



Does anybody know if there is already a transmission teardown writeup? If not I'm considering making one for anybody who needs it in the future.


From here I am going to put the casing back together and attempt to cut the large diameter part of the axle off. Im hoping this will leave the smaller diameter part that will be able to pass through the casing and give me access to the differential.

It's a lot of work but it's cheaper than a new transmission. I also don't want this axle to win.

[helloish12321]

Haha thanks bravekozak. I was just typing out my last post when you replied. Definitely saving that pdf for later.

Man this is giving me anxiety about pulling my trans when I replace the clutch.

Can confirm pulling the transmission is easy. If you get creative, pulling the axles shouldn't even be necessary.

I am also curious about what paint you use on the bumpers. The next thing I was going to do once i finished the wheel bearings was restore some of the black bits of the exterior, but that had to go on hold for a bit .

[ryanprins13]

You already got this fixed but here is a link to a pdf of the entire ford service manual for a 1991 in case you need anything else. Their pretty cheap to buy on ebay too. I got mine for $15.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/187474599958?view=permalink&id=10150687912764959

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

[bravekozak]

Also, just in case you missed post 753408.
He's still got three more. I would offer him $30 to see if he squeeks.


------------------------
Purple is the direct complement of yellow
Search for an old thread on old stripe kits on rearcounter.com

[Dex~]

I'll let you guys know how it holds up over the next few weeks, I just used Rustoleum Gloss Black exterior paint that I had left over from painting the factory 12 inch steelies, their ultraflat/camo paint has held up surprisingly well on the ominmax the past year, even on the factory chrome and rubber.

I'm going to put a second coat on once it dries out a bit here, but day two after the re-spray and it looks great still haha

[1990new]

When you are ready to put it back together, sometime ago I ordered some transmission seals and bushings from Fourgreen that you probably could use, also I think there are couple of tools in the Rotunda kit that I have that are for the transmission. I will look through my part tomorrow and see what I have for the transmission.
The transmission gears look good.. definitely worth saving.
Since you have the transmission out you may as well just go ahead and remove the flywheel and replace the rear main seal so that clean transmission doesn't get dirty again from leaking oil.

[Dex~]

I'm not sure if the axles were replaced, but I know the steering rack and the front suspension were replaced prior to me getting the car, I still want to pull the trans and go through it just in case, I know the shifter bushings are toast and the clutch engages about an inch from the top of the throw.

That said everything but reverse feels fine, reverse seems unusually noisy to me, and that's coming from someone who's used to the banshee howl of gear whine in my Dakota when it's in reverse

It does look MUCH easier to take apart than the last FWD I've had a trans out of (02 Neon, and that was a royal PITA) I don't think anything's going to be as easy as changing a clutch on a 4 cyl pickup but we'll see =]


Best of luck getting that stubborn axle out and getting your festy back on the road

[helloish12321]

Man I can't believe it has been a week since my last post. A lot has definitely happened since then.

When I last left off I had the transmission mostly apart, besides the differential. Which was stuck in the casing due to the axle.


I packed all of the parts away and closed the casing back up around the stuck remover tool and diff. Its amazing how light it was. After a trip to Lowes I came home with 4 "Thick Metal" hacksaw blades.

This transmission had seen better days. It looked quite pitiful with the tool and crappy welds jutting out of it.



This is what i had to work with. I cut the seal back as much as I could with a utility knife. If the axle was pulled back as far as it could go I could just barely sneak the blade through.


You can see a few steps of thickness. There is the large cup, then a slightly thinner section that still wont fit through the case, and finally the thinnest section. I was attempting to saw through the thinnest section.

I tried to saw through that section for about 5 minutes but it felt like I was getting nowhere. The sawblade was also gouging into the case while I was trying to saw. I decided to start sawing at the next thickness up, right against the axle cup.


I went through 5 new hacksaw blades and 2 hours of time, but the axle cup was off. Now I was left with this.



What was left of the axle was still far too thick to fit through the case.
My initial plan was to use an angle grinder and slowly wear it down to the thinner part of the shaft. After giving it a shot I was afraid that I would damage the case severely if the grinder were to slip or jump.

I knew it would take a while but I had time so I pulled out my dremmel tool and started cutting small sections away with a fiberglass cutting wheel.



This is after 2 cuts. Each cut took about 15 minutes to do and I did 5 in total.

After that I had 5 corners to grind down with the dremmel but that went quickly.


I pulled the case apart and pulled out my very own differential on a stick.




The differential is held together by a roll pin. At first I tried to hammer it out from the long side of the diff to the short side. It has to go out the other way, toward the long side (the one with the stuck axle).

Once it was out I found that the pin had shattered from me trying to hammer it out the wrong way. One more part on the shopping list. the rod holding the gears in came out with some gentle hammer taps.

I grabbed my vice grips and clamped down onto the tines of the axle tool and pulled it strait out. Now for the axle.

With the rod out the axle was able to come forward just barely enough to see the clip that has been holding it into the car for so long. With great excitement I grabbed a small screwdriver and pried that clip out. The splines of the axle were warped from the pulling and prying to get it out. I used a hammer and a socket extension through the diff to hammer It out.

After over 2 weeks here it was. The axle. Or what remains of it.
You can also see the clip that was keeping the axle from coming out. I was surprised at how undamaged it was. I also thought it was distinctly not circular. If you get a replacement axle that has D shaped clip like this, consider returning it LOL.



Time to put it all back together. I needed a roll pin and was waiting on a main seal to come in the mail so in the meantime I started to meticulously clean every surface in the transmission except for the shafts. Lots of metal shavings from sawing ended up in the case.



I made a trip to 1990new's house to get a few seals for the transmission and then went to Jim's to try to get the roll pin out of his scrap differential. The transmission service manual documents each roll pin size except for the one in the diff. Mine had completely shattered so I could not measure it. Once I got there and hammered the roll pin out the correct way i found that Jim's had also shattered and was missing a portion in the middle. The pin was mostly intact so I was able to measure it.

The pin is a 3/16th by 1 inch roll pin. This pin size is available in the Harbor Freight 120 piece roll pin assortment.

That's where I went first thing the next morning. After I returned I was able to start piecing the transmission back together. Starting with the new seals.

[helloish12321]

Back on the road

Ive been a little lazy with updating this thread in the last week :p

The car is finally back on the road and has been driving well for an entire week now. So far so good. Getting it all back together did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. But I kind of expected that at this point lol.

Anyway when I last left off I had to reassemble the transmission.

I took the differential to the garage to clean out the bearings before I did anything else. There was a ton of metal shavings from sawing that axle off.
I tapped all my new seals into place, including new bushings for the throwout lever. I had every seal except for the shifter seal.



I pulled out my box of somewhat organized parts and realized I forgot just how many there were. Nothing serious just lots of small pieces to remember.

I reassembled the diff with the new roll pin and then started getting things back together. I followed the procedures in the ford transmission service manual ( http://bwbronze.com/festiva/1988_transaxle.pdf ) after seeing that the assembly and disassembly procedures weren't the same thing just in backwards order. I took lots of time cleaning each part before it went into the transmission. It was coming together nicely.


I had the old axle stub resting in the diff to keep the gears from falling. I wasnt quite sure how easy it was for them to fall but I didnt want to chance it. I also found it funny to put it back in where it was just stuck.

It definitely took more time than necessary, but I wanted to know for sure I did everything I could. After double checking everything I was ready to seal It back up.

This step had me nervous. When I did this with my honda it took 3 tries. Something just wouldn't line up inside and I had to redo the RTV each time since it would get smeared.

I pulled out the thrust washers and shims for the transmission shafts and placed them into the top casing, using small dabs of grease to keep them in place when I flipped it upside down.
I got out my high temp RTV and put down a pretty neat bead of sealant. I stepped back to admire my work, grabbed the top of the casing and prepared for a fight.



5 seconds later the case was closed up. It fell right into place with no trouble at all, just lined it up and set it down. I was amazed.



I pushed down on the case to make sure all the sealant was spread before it started to cure and then put all the bolts in. I gradually torqued each bolt down starting from finger tight and ending at 15 ft lb.
Ignore the Honda MTF lol. I just used it to oil the bearings to make sure they spun freely while I was cleaning everything up.

I put all the external pieces back together and set the transmission aside for the sealant to cure.



The next morning I headed to Jim's house and we got to work.

We looked at my throwout bearing that I had accidentally removed the lubricant from and then repacked with grease. We decided it would be better to use a spare bearing from his aspire engine/trans which had less chunky rotation and original grease/lube.

We slid the transmission under the car and in one swift motion pulled it up and set it in place. Incredibly easy with two people.

Bolting everything back up went as expected until we tried to fill the trans with fluid. the speedometer gear/fill cap/dipstick was seriously stuck in the trans. This transmission must be cursed. It was missing the small tab that the 10mm bolt goes through so we couldn't pry it up. After trying everything else we tried to vice grip it and pull it out. The grips kept slipping, but eventually it was out and replaced with a spare. The transmission was filled and sealed. We bolted my rebuilt hubs on and put the car on the ground for the first time in 3 weeks.

The first drive went well until the steering started to have a large amount of play. Something wasn't right. We parked back at Jim's and lifted the car back up. After pulling around on different parts to see where the play was coming from we found the the passenger wheel had a ton of play in all directions.... but the suspension did not. After taking the wheel off we confirmed that the new bearing had gone out after only 15 minutes of driving.

That was pretty frustrating. Luckily we had spare knuckles lent to us by 1990new in case of an emergency. We bolted them up in record time and after a quick test drive I was on my way home.


Its been a week since then and the car is still going. And now for what is wrong.

The throwout bearing turned out to be bad and makes some unpleasant noises when the clutch is in but hasn't caused trouble yet. There has been some strange ticking/tapping noise that comes and goes. It stops when the clutch pedal is pushed in, but also stops even if the pedal is only pushed in an inch. Maybe I should have replaced the clutch after all, but i don't think it will cause issues. There is a sort of whirring noise in 2nd gear and possibly others (hard to tell with the exhaust leak :p ) but it is very subtle. And finally its leaking from the shifter seal, the one seal I didn't replace.
None of this concerns me much at all and I think it should last until the inevitable engine swap. When that comes I can pull it apart again and change all the bearings and seals once I am more prepared.



Overall I am pleased and I feel like my car has finally reached a solid level of repair. I think I can finally start focusing on mods and other small details to really get the car where I want it.

[1990new]

Great write up and great pictures... nice to know I have a Festiva transmission expert nearby. I expect my grandson will be calling you and eviljim for advice with his long after my "Festiva Help" shingle gets retired.

[helloish12321]

I might not be an expert but I feel like I have a fairly good understanding of these transmissions after this .

I'm probably going to be taking it back out before too long, the trans fluid puddle on the driveway is growing a bit too large and the throwout bearing and clutch might as well be changed since they are causing some strange noises.

To replace that seal I'll have to tear the trans down again which really is not that much of a hassle especially for a second time. I think I'm going to make a full writeup on the process with lots of pictures.

I put in some new AC Delco control arms with new sway bar bushings last weekend. My original ones were extremely worn. It feels like a sports car compared how it drove before. Its so much more responsive and predictable to turn.
I also ordered one of those cheap civic short shifters and it should be coming in tomorrow. Hopefully this weekend I can sort out my floppy shifter with new bushings.

[ryanprins13]

I might not be an expert but I feel like I have a fairly good understanding of these transmissions after this .

I'm probably going to be taking it back out before too long, the trans fluid puddle on the driveway is growing a bit too large and the throwout bearing and clutch might as well be changed since they are causing some strange noises.

To replace that seal I'll have to tear the trans down again which really is not that much of a hassle especially for a second time. I think I'm going to make a full writeup on the process with lots of pictures.

I put in some new AC Delco control arms with new sway bar bushings last weekend. My original ones were extremely worn. It feels like a sports car compared how it drove before. Its so much more responsive and predictable to turn.
I also ordered one of those cheap civic short shifters and it should be coming in tomorrow. Hopefully this weekend I can sort out my floppy shifter with new bushings.

I followed this with interest, just had nothing to add. You sure did a lot of work! and I did the opposite as you, my shift shaft seal was leaking, so I ordered 2. Then found out I had to take the transmission apart so I left it. Your actually going to take it all apart just for that seal? Must be leaking real bad.
The difference between a poorly maintained or beat up festiva and one in top shape is incredible. When I hop from my daily into the new one its like getting out of an old beater and into a sports car,
A full writeup with lots of pictures would be appreciated by people here I'm sure!

[cyclonecj]

I'm not sure how I missed this thead before, but it was a good read tonight. I went through the exact same thing with my passenger side CV shaft in January. Even had the chain to the sledge and a few other ideas. Pulled the trans and tried 2 trans shops, and it was still stuck. Pulled the case and realized I couldn't get to the clip, and thats when I gave up. Luckily for me, I had a spare trans in the garage. But it was still a 4 week event!