The Batmobile Festy

[Dex~]

Alright, so I'm now at the end of my first week of Festiva ownership, and aside from it shutting off and not re-firing for 8 hours after driving through a "puddle" (small lake) at the end of my block it's been pretty good.

I plan on keeping this beautiful train wreck mostly stock as a fun little fuel efficient daily and back up car in case one of my other beaters goes down because I drive like an arse

I'll get some interior / under hood pics up probably this weekend, but for now, the good and bad

The Good
New tires (155/80R12) on all four corners (the donut in the pics is back in the trunk)
Rack and pinion and front suspension were replaced shortly before I got the car
Brand new battery
Brand new radiator
Heat blows strong
It's a factory A/C car
Has a cool 8-ball shifter knob
Factory Sunroof
Exhaust was replaced from the manifold back 3 years ago
"Custom" paint job (it looks sketchy but i kinda like it)
Came with a ton of awesome stickers pre-installed (and I've already started adding my own)
It only burns $10/week in gas compared to the $60/week my Suburban was drinking
5-speed is a blast
I only paid $400 for it

The Bad
The little B3 is a sewing machine (tick tick tick)
- I do have lifters (holy crap they're tiny!) a valve cover gasket, and full tune up kit ready to drop in
Valve cover leaks oil onto the exhaust manifold 9which smells AWESOME after about 2 miles of driving)
Leaks coolant slowly from somewhere (lots of loose and/or dry rotted lines I have to go through)
Temp gauge is non-op, I check the coolant every morning to be safe
Shifter is SUPER sloppy, and the clutch grabs like half an inch from the top of the throw
- I plan on fixing both of these at the same time somewhere in the near future with a new clutch and shifter bushings
Brakes are grinding, not looking forward to messing with drums again
No Radio, random aftermarket radio harness spliced into it
Drivers door doesn't like to open from the inside
Factory A/C doesn't work (no belt, pretty sure that isn't the only issue though)
Sunroof latch is broken, tried fixing it today with super glue and duct tape, no dice, getting a tube of JB Weld tomorrow and getting serious
3rd brake light held together with duct tape
Dome light doesn't work.

Ok, so she's got her problems, but is was 400 bucks!

[David88]

Batstiva looks really rust free for Michigan. Nice find.

[Studebaker]

There's $400 in new parts on the car. Good score!

You may spend a whole year fixing things. But their cheap and easy to do. After you replace all the worn parts, then you will rarely have to work on it. Put enought miles on it you will have to replace those parts again.

[xaero_81]

I remember this being for sale a while back, looks pretty good.

[Dex~]

Yeah I actually convinced my at the time roommate to buy it then haha, saved me $600 off the original CL add plus the parts she replaced =]

Roll cage and floors are going in the Horizon here this week and as soon as that's back on the road I'll start tearing into the Batstiva and getting those leaks and ticks dealt with

[bhazard]

Low rust pop yellow, with AC and sunroof?

It's BEGGING for wheels/tires, suspension and a B6D.

[Dex~]

Painted the wheels and bumpers today, was getting tired of the "Hospital Bed Grey with Rust Accents"

Here's some before and after shots











I really feel like it needs a spoiler and fog lights after I get the mechanical squared away

[Dex~]

Having finished an 86 hour work week early sunday morning, I haven't been able to do much more than slap a few more stickers on the Batstiva and keep the vital fluids topped up.

After a wonderful D&D session and some late night tech support I found myself on some empty twisty roads outside my friends house (about a 40 minute drive from me) at 3 am on a sunday, in a 5 speed Festiva, we all know what happens next

Unfortunately, the, I'm assuming original, rings, didn't enjoy those long second gear pulls through the twisties nearly as much as I did.

It's always smoked a bit after startup but now it looks like I'm running from some Bond villains incompetent lackeys until I hit the freeway and it warms up, so it looks like lifters and valve cover gasket have turned into a full on engine rebuild =.=

I'll be getting the checked at my local machine shop while I have it off, how much can I mill off of the head to get a bit more compression before I run into valve clearance issues on the B3?

And since I'm going to have the motor out I'll be doing the clutch at the same time, looking at dropping in a LUK repset since it's cheap and held up to a ton of abuse in my Dakota, and upgrading to poly mounts if possible, if I've got it apart i might as well do it right.

Pics of the oil soaked nightmare under the hood coming soon, with advanced apologies for my phone being a potato with a camera glued to it

[bhazard]

It's easier and cheaper to swap in another engine than rebuild.

SOHC B6's bolt right in place of the B3 and take at most very minimal wiring. DOHC B6's need the passenger side mount spaced out. 20-40hp boost.

[Eviljimchicken]

Promise me that you will never repaint the body of this car. It's perfect.

[ryanprins13]

Having finished an 86 hour work week early sunday morning, I haven't been able to do much more than slap a few more stickers on the Batstiva and keep the vital fluids topped up.

After a wonderful D&D session and some late night tech support I found myself on some empty twisty roads outside my friends house (about a 40 minute drive from me) at 3 am on a sunday, in a 5 speed Festiva, we all know what happens next

Unfortunately, the, I'm assuming original, rings, didn't enjoy those long second gear pulls through the twisties nearly as much as I did.

It's always smoked a bit after startup but now it looks like I'm running from some Bond villains incompetent lackeys until I hit the freeway and it warms up, so it looks like lifters and valve cover gasket have turned into a full on engine rebuild =.=

I'll be getting the checked at my local machine shop while I have it off, how much can I mill off of the head to get a bit more compression before I run into valve clearance issues on the B3?

And since I'm going to have the motor out I'll be doing the clutch at the same time, looking at dropping in a LUK repset since it's cheap and held up to a ton of abuse in my Dakota, and upgrading to poly mounts if possible, if I've got it apart i might as well do it right.

Pics of the oil soaked nightmare under the hood coming soon, with advanced apologies for my phone being a potato with a camera glued to it

That sucks. Could be that the high rpm just shredded what was left of the dried out valve stem seals too, but rings are more likely.
John Glenn the austronaut did it to a B3. You can probably search his build thread https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showt...ight=astronaut
There are a few clutch brands that are pretty terrible in a festiva. Sachs and Luk are 2 names that ring a bell and i think they were bad, not good. but you can try searching heres as im not sure. What I do know is that for a b3 or b6 an exidy clutch kit comes most recommended. or exedy, whatever it is.
What would poly mounts do for you on a b3? I thought they were just for higher hp engines?
Might be worth looking for a used B6 locally. Its like a drop in 35% increase in power.

[Dex~]

Thanks for the heads up on the clutch, it's going to be a few months before I start getting everything together and tearing into it though, my big annual vacation is coming at the start of April and I'm working on getting a house after that so those kind of take priority right now.

I'll definitely do my my homework here before pulling the trigger on any parts, I want to keep the B3 for now and just rebuild it into a fun reliable daily, as the Batstiva is primarily going to be my wife's car

Promise me that you will never repaint the body of this car. It's perfect.

Just enough to fix the rust and clearcoat it =]

[Dex~]

Finally got a few more pics up

Sticker explosion


Fox is my copilot until I get the tach installed


Interior shot


And finally the crusty old B3

[Dex~]

Got the tach mocked up, I know it's overkill but it was on sale and I'm basically a giant five year old

[sc72]

Don't worry you will fit right in.