'88 Festiva Motor Cross racing it!

[crwdog]

Keeping this engine swap simple and inexpesive as possible. All I need for racing this thing is for the motor to run - dont need street legal crap! I want to look for something to get me into the 90-100hp range, keep my manual trans. The car is either a '88 or '89, I cant recall which

[FestYboy]

B6-ME swap, 16v SOHC out of an MX-3. of course you;ll have to either swap in the EFI harness or find a carbie manifold for it.

[crwdog]

Tough night of Beter Cross racing. 3rd in heat 1, 5th in heat 2; lost tranny in Final. Tranny would not stay in 1st gear durring heat 2, so most of the race I had to run in 2nd and 3rd instead of 1st and 2nd. 2nd and 3rd are too tall and i was "lugging" around the track. Lap #1 of the final, I lost 1st completly. Lap #2 lost 2nd and the 3rd lap I had nothing but clunking and grinding .......
HMMMMM now this changes everthing for the future of this little Flying Festiva

[eurotiva]

Tough night of Beter Cross racing. 3rd in heat 1, 5th in heat 2; lost tranny in Final. Tranny would not stay in 1st gear durring heat 2, so most of the race I had to run in 2nd and 3rd instead of 1st and 2nd. 2nd and 3rd are too tall and i was "lugging" around the track. Lap #1 of the final, I lost 1st completly. Lap #2 lost 2nd and the 3rd lap I had nothing but clunking and grinding .......
HMMMMM now this changes everthing for the future of this little Flying Festiva

trannies are cheap, and if you can grab an aspire one its geared for more acceleration.

[freshtiva]

.......
HMMMMM now this changes everthing for the future of this little Flying Festiva

I would like to suggest you use a Honda for your next car.

[crwdog]

The Honda CRX and Civics are already well represented. I am the only FESTIVA, and by far the "underdog". Lastnight we had nearly 1200 people at the event, ME and the FESTIVA have developed a little cult following. The track anouncer has given me the nickname "the little flying festiva". If I continue to race next year, I really would like to do a motor and tranny swap to get this thing more competive. Being the odd ball or underdog is fun

[eurotiva]

The Honda CRX and Civics are already well represented. I am the only FESTIVA, and by far the "underdog". Lastnight we had nearly 1200 people at the event, ME and the FESTIVA have developed a little cult following. The track anouncer has given me the nickname "the little flying festiva". If I continue to race next year, I really would like to do a motor and tranny swap to get this thing more competive. Being the odd ball or underdog is fun

Do a motor swap and you'll be the first place flying festiva

[drddan]

Flying Festiva! :thumbup: FTW!

Anybody gonna suggest a G series tranny to this guy? ...... Oh... wait...guess I just did.

[crwdog]

You guys need to be spefic with me..... Whats a G tranny - which cars have that?
I'll start looking for a B6ME or even a B8 - I will start rebuilding this spring after our snowmobile race season

[eurotiva]

You guys need to be spefic with me..... Whats a G tranny - which cars have that?
I'll start looking for a B6ME or even a B8 - I will start rebuilding this spring after our snowmobile race season

E series = stock in aspire and festiva........easy to break

F series = stock in proteges, capris, 323s etc........stronger

G series = stock in 323 gt, capri xr2..........Stongest, but still breakable and hardest to find.

Any b6/b8 will be alot better than the stock b3.

[Tommychu]

F series are much more easily adapted to a festiva, and you don't need the elusive magical unicorn xr2 midshaft. One out of an '86-89 323 would be ideal for your situation, it has the lower final drive, the right axles for festiva conversion (if you donor has useable ones) and a cable clutch (no hydro conversion crap to deal with).

for the engine I would recommend finding a b8me. Relatively easy to adapt physically, extremely common in the junkyards (at least around here- I have seen about 30-50 b8s in my junkyard adventures this summer, about half of which were the 16v sohc variety) and the most power you're gonna get while retaining some simplicity (other than the EFI issue, but it's not *that* hard to convert, especially in a non-street car.) and keeping it all cheap.

That's the combo I would personally run in any sort of 'beater race' in a festy.

[Tommychu]

Being the odd ball or underdog is fun

That sentence sums up my entire existence right there.

[crwdog]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll start putting together a budget and working on the wish list. Maybe after the snowmobile race season, I'll dig into the Festiva

[phyaz91]

b8me rt on 10lbs of boost they limit what kind of tires you have???? just put wider tires then and put aspire springs on it....longer stiffer springs...

[crwdog]

only tire rule is no snow tires - street only. I did put a new set of 13 tires up front. I can pickup a running Aspire for $100. maybe I do that so I can use the tranny and springs