Voting for May FOTM

[Damkid]

We have 3 official entries this month and they are from:

thered56
Renr002
BigWheel

Here are the entries again

Kay, I'll submit mine! A 92 5-speed.

I bought it late summer, last year. $400. It needed work, but ran well enough for a daily driver. It's seen it's share of work thus far, as well as it's share of miles. It's seen a camping trip where me and two buddies of mine slept inside it for two nights, rather than using our tent! lol It was also on that trip I overshot a spot when I drove up a small incline. I was just looking for a spot out of the way from the main road (backroad) to park for the night. It ended up that we got stuck there the night anyways. haha All worked out though, we pulled it out fine in the morning. But, there's plenty more of those trips to come. My friends like it too! Dubbed the "character car".

When I made the deal to buy my buddies Festiva project (with the B6T) I decided some of his stuff would be better suited to my DD Festiva. Sport interior. Power windows. I also have a gauge cluster with tach and a center console going in. This is in addition to some repairs I've been making, and am in the process of making, using parts in good shape from his extra parts.

The PO made a custom speaker box for the hatch cover. It's pretty good. I put an amp inside it and ran power to that. I did a radio delete with a power supply switch for the amp. I just plug my iPhone directly into that. It works well.

All in all, this is becoming the car I'm most attached to, well especially being as that it shares that attachment with my project Festiva. I'm really into these cars now though, and this car is where it started!

[Damkid]

Renr002's entry

I 'll give it a try:

I was walking down the jy looking for a carb for my 75 lincoln when My daughter asked me if this little white car was an Ice Cream Cart (The one the ice cream man pushe's while he is walking and ringin' the bell)parked outside of th JY so Wife and I laughed and walked closer to the car to see it, and explain to my 6 y.o. daughter that there was no ice cream in it. The owner of the 1993 ford festiva gl asked me if I liked the car and Luna (my daughter) replied;Yes, He told us that he was selling it for $600 bucks and that it didn't passed smog. Since a car in CA needs smog I thought it would be cool to work on it and try to fix it myself.

A couple of weeks later in mid october '08 I called him back to see if he still had the car he did but now someone hit the front fender driver side, since he heard me not that much into the car anymore we agreed to meet to view the car again, while I was test driving it he asked me what was the highest price I would pay for it, and this automatic 1.3 has power and it is a gas zipper and I only had $300 cash with me.

Let me say that Luna Loves her car I just borrow it to go to work and take her out.

This is our first Festiva, and we love our Ice Cream Cart.

[Damkid]

BigWheel's entry

Discouraged and feeling hopeless I had just about lost hope that I would find a Festiva again. I had already owned an 88 in my earlier days and so hated that I had ever sold it. Now, after months of looking, I figured my Festy days were long gone. Then one day while browsing through Craigslist I saw this bright, shiny red 1993Festiva GL needing a new home. As I read the description I began to get excited; 209k miles, runs great, no leaks, good interior, original owners manual…..$2,500.00. I just about wet my pants. I could buy five Festivas for that even with gas at $4 a gallon. So I called the guy. I had to try to talk him down and figure out why so much money. After a lengthy conversation I got him down to $2k but that was it and I hung up and began my search again. After a few days I get a phone call and the guy dropped his price to $1,800 and I politely hung up again. Side note here so that you know the scenario: My wife is driving a 4WD Excursion with a V-10 engine and I’m driving a F-150 with a 5.4. Together, at $4 a gallon, we are spending between $800 to $1,000 a month on gas alone so I’m in desperate need of some relief. Went to pay the bills and realized something had to give so I called the guy back and ran him all over the place trying to get him as low as possible. He finally got down to $1,500 and I blinked. Yep…too much still but after doing the math on gas mileage I could still come out to the good.

The next day I call him and plan my trip from Birmingham to a small town in Kentucky called Elkton. I made it very clear that this better be as advertised and he assured me all was good. That next morning I jump in my truck and drove to Elkton. After 6 hours of driving I turn the corner and there it sits just as clean as the photos indicated. After a quick walk around I got down to business of checking the car out. No rust, no interior problems, no oil spots, no apparent leaks on the engine, fluids all good including coolant, oil, trans & brake fluid. So took him out for a drive. Smooth shifting but slightly rough idle and really nothing that would indicate future problems. So I try talking him down again but no such luck (didn’t help that there was another guy there waiting on me to get through so he could check it out). I finally break, pay and load him up on a dolly for the ride home. Another Festy saved from a life of the unknown.

After getting home I spent a couple of days just cleaning it up. I get out on the road and all is good and I’m smiling from ear to ear loving every mile. All is good and I’m a Festiva owner again. Still not liking what I paid but, with gas prices on the rise and my behemoth rides in the garage, I figured I’d come out pretty good in about 5 months. Two weeks later I’m coming home from work when I notice an odd noise coming from the engine. After getting home and changing clothes I go down to the garage to take a look and there she sits in a bath of oil. In addition, upon checking the coolant, I notice a murky gray in the radiator and my heart sank.

Blown head gasket. DANG!!! So here is a list of everything replaced and/or repaired from that point forward:
• Head gasket
• Seals (cam/crank)
• Valve gasket
• PCV
• Hoses top to bottom
• Timing belt
• Idler pulley
• Fuel & air filters
• Plugs & wires
• Distributor cap/button
• Air intake tube
• TB gasket
• CTS & TBS
All is good again and I’m on the road. Then…oil in the driveway. I had a mechanic replace the HG because it was too involved for my novice skills. During the process he had pulled the head and sent it off to be reworked. During compression tests all seemed to be fine but there was a tiny crack in one of the plug bays. As the engine heated the hole would expand and oil would pool under the car. Here’s the good news….because they missed the crack and their work was under warranty I got a new head at no cost. Now we’re up, running and all is good. Some fine tuning on my part, fixing some issues the mechanics repaired and he’s running smooth and problem free.

Since the mechanics of the car are now good what’s been done since with the cosmetics?
• Cleaned inside and out
• Replaced the alloy rims with painted steel rims & tires I got from Sparky
• Added center caps I got from Lanemeyer14
• Installed a console that I again got from Sparky
• Painted the radio bazel, console, overhead door trims and shifter know to match the exterior
• Replaced the stock steering wheel with a Grant GT wheel
• Painted and fixed the wipers (wipers & rims are painted with a hammered charcoal gray paint that you can’t really see in pics but they look great)
• Repaired broken door locks

Future mods to come:
• Interior will be painted/dyed to charcoal gray & read (no more light gray)
• Seats are going to be recovered to match
• Carpet is in good shape but really needs cleaning so that will be done when the seats are recovered
• Will be putting sound insulation in the doors
• New Stereo system with multiple speakers front, back & sides
• Hood & grill will be painted eventually as both need some help
• Badges will be added
• Eventually will move to 13” or 14” tires

I absolutely love driving Hot Rod as it just makes me smile and apparently everyone else as well. Everyday I have people pulling up behind me smiling and literally taking pictures. It's so much fun.

Well, that’s just about it but one last thing. The name HOT ROD came as a result of me having fun with the guys at work. I often pull up next to them, race the engine and laugh. One day while out for lunch four of us were in the car together. I pulled up next to a true American muscle car and began racing the engine. When the light turned green he took
off and I had to crank my car again. :p






My Beautiful wife!!!



So this is my entry for FOTM!!

Finally....DONTLAF

[Gforcefd]

Is one of the entries doubled? Well I gave my vote for Bigwheel just because of that awsome license plate!

[thered56]

Renr002's entry isn't right...that's mine over...he doesn't have a chance with that one...

[Renr002]

thered56 I really like your cargo cover my vote is yours.

[Damkid]

Renr002's entry isn't right...that's mine over...he doesn't have a chance with that one...

oops ops: i'll fix that

Thanks for pointing it out

[cubstiva1]

wow this is hard, glad i'm not in the running this month.

[Smedley]

Boy! This is hard. I don't know how to decide.

[BigWheel]

Boy! This is hard. I don't know how to decide.

The little girl is really cute but how do you deny a hot wife and great tag? hahaha :p

[Smedley]

The little girl is really cute but how do you deny a hot wife and great tag? hahaha :p

hahaha Plugging your own entry I see. And, I do love your tag.

[Motoxpress]

My vote is in

Will

[thered56]

Tough call, but the cute little girl is really pursuading, it looks like she owns it heheh looks like a sweet kid. I like the car, well I like em both! Renr002 is my vote. Besides, with by post shown for his, he was behind to start! haha

[Sparky]

Hey, BW....how's the repair going on Hot Rod?

[BigWheel]

Hey, BW....how's the repair going on Hot Rod?

Not going anywhere right now. Having trouble with body shops.