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And the winner for February FOTM is......................
ejp2fast!!!!!! Congratulations!
Here`s his entry again
ejp2fast!!!!!! Congratulations!
Here`s his entry again
Originally posted by ejp2fast
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Here is my story:
Back in July of 2007 I was looking for an economical car for commuting and with gas prices on the rise. I noticed this little red car on our road by our house that hadn’t moved in about 7 months. One tire was flat, body had a ding or too but in overall nice condition. Hmmm..its a Ford Festiva, I thought. I wonder if this little car runs or not or how much work it needs. So I decided to go up to the door and ask this guy whats the scoop on the car, what he’d get rid of it for. Well, we talked a while and he said that It had overheated, but it still ran. So he went and got the key, and put it in and it fired right up! But it ran rough. He said that he was called the JY and they’d take $100, so he said I’ll sell it to you for $150. Of course in my mind I am jumping for joy, but said I’d think about it. Plus it had a clear title. That’s when I did some research on these “ford Festiva’s” and found this site. So I go back to the guy and say, well, I’ll take it for $100. He said, hmmm “OK”. It’s a 1991 Red GL automatic with 62,000 on the dash, but the speedometer didn’t work and the title had mileage exempt.
So I give him a $100 bill and push the car home, with my wife steering it (only about 800 feet)
Here is the car when it comes home:
I know I need to tear into the head to see what is up..So that’s what I do first. Just the head gasket and upper seals kit, timing belt and water pump. Start it again, and it still runs rough. So I drive it for 3 months running very rough and finally one day it just won’t start. So I let it sit for a while and then tear into it again when I have time (ends up being a burnt exhaust valve #3). Heres a pic:
I do all the valves and rings and lower bearings, this is January of 2008 now. Plus a minor port and polish job on the head.
Before:
After:
Put it all together and whamoo! Runs like a champ! So the speedometer doesn’t work, so that was up next on the things to do and it ended up being the cable.. got one of those at a JY. By the way this initially came with a nice radio (manual turn tuner and cassette deck) and the interior was in great shape! Here is a picture of the interior:
Heres the ’93 RX-7 steering wheel off ebay for $30, plus the Sunpro II tach install:
So by now I am looking for something else to do to the car (See FDD thread) and want to do the 5spd manual transmission swap. I keep my eye open for a 5spd in a JY, and find one for $100 bucks (all related parts included) on ˝ off day at the JY in August. See thread for swap:
Then I got a CD deck from a guy at work for free as the face clip had broke- a little JB weld fix and spring delete fixed that:
Then I also found some 13” wheels at the JY off of a 1981 Mazda GLC. Tires were bad, but stuck new 165/70/13’s on there (stock tires for the GLC were 175/70/13) but that was a little much for the Festiva.
So here is what the future holds for the Festy. I’d like to do a BP or B6T engine swap, when I get my shop done, and maybe redo the ‘purple’ tint job. Plus maybe a round headlight conversion. I got some Swift GT seats from a JY for CHEAP and they'll be going in within the next little bit. Writeup will follow. The Festiva Lives On!
Back in July of 2007 I was looking for an economical car for commuting and with gas prices on the rise. I noticed this little red car on our road by our house that hadn’t moved in about 7 months. One tire was flat, body had a ding or too but in overall nice condition. Hmmm..its a Ford Festiva, I thought. I wonder if this little car runs or not or how much work it needs. So I decided to go up to the door and ask this guy whats the scoop on the car, what he’d get rid of it for. Well, we talked a while and he said that It had overheated, but it still ran. So he went and got the key, and put it in and it fired right up! But it ran rough. He said that he was called the JY and they’d take $100, so he said I’ll sell it to you for $150. Of course in my mind I am jumping for joy, but said I’d think about it. Plus it had a clear title. That’s when I did some research on these “ford Festiva’s” and found this site. So I go back to the guy and say, well, I’ll take it for $100. He said, hmmm “OK”. It’s a 1991 Red GL automatic with 62,000 on the dash, but the speedometer didn’t work and the title had mileage exempt.
So I give him a $100 bill and push the car home, with my wife steering it (only about 800 feet)
Here is the car when it comes home:
I know I need to tear into the head to see what is up..So that’s what I do first. Just the head gasket and upper seals kit, timing belt and water pump. Start it again, and it still runs rough. So I drive it for 3 months running very rough and finally one day it just won’t start. So I let it sit for a while and then tear into it again when I have time (ends up being a burnt exhaust valve #3). Heres a pic:
I do all the valves and rings and lower bearings, this is January of 2008 now. Plus a minor port and polish job on the head.
Before:
After:
Put it all together and whamoo! Runs like a champ! So the speedometer doesn’t work, so that was up next on the things to do and it ended up being the cable.. got one of those at a JY. By the way this initially came with a nice radio (manual turn tuner and cassette deck) and the interior was in great shape! Here is a picture of the interior:
Heres the ’93 RX-7 steering wheel off ebay for $30, plus the Sunpro II tach install:
So by now I am looking for something else to do to the car (See FDD thread) and want to do the 5spd manual transmission swap. I keep my eye open for a 5spd in a JY, and find one for $100 bucks (all related parts included) on ˝ off day at the JY in August. See thread for swap:
Then I got a CD deck from a guy at work for free as the face clip had broke- a little JB weld fix and spring delete fixed that:
Then I also found some 13” wheels at the JY off of a 1981 Mazda GLC. Tires were bad, but stuck new 165/70/13’s on there (stock tires for the GLC were 175/70/13) but that was a little much for the Festiva.
So here is what the future holds for the Festy. I’d like to do a BP or B6T engine swap, when I get my shop done, and maybe redo the ‘purple’ tint job. Plus maybe a round headlight conversion. I got some Swift GT seats from a JY for CHEAP and they'll be going in within the next little bit. Writeup will follow. The Festiva Lives On!
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