Voting For April FOTM

[Damkid]

Sorry guys for the late start on voting this month, i haven't been around my computer much lately so here we go with voting

this month there are 3 entries and they are from

91blufestiva
jamesmc
festivBS

Here are the enties again starting with 91blufestiva's

Well it's not swapped, but April is my birthday month, so I'll try again haha.
So this is the story.
When I was 15, my dad and I went to an auction, the owner of everything passed away, so all of his stuff was for sale by his kids. We intentionally went there for old tractors to either buy and sell or buy and keep. Well before this, I have been looking for either a festiva or a metro because of the gas mileage, more so much a festiva because i was a ford man. We went to the auction, and I ended up seeing the car there and I talked my dad into buying it. It was filthy and needed exhaust, but I loved the car. My dad got the smart idea to put everything that he bought on the auction, like all the small stupid little misc. items into the car, the car was packed, so that made it even dirtier lol. Once we got it home, i took a good garbage bag and some cleaning supplies and cleaned the entire car out. This guy I'm guessing died from a heart attack lol, because there where TONS of salt packets in the car. Plus a bunch of change lol, so we got some money back. Once I had the car cleaned out, we drove it for quite a while, being very proud of it, and putting new exhuast on it, but somehow we forgot to put a cat back on it? we just put extra pipe on lol. We were very impressed with the 50mpgs that it was getting for us, and we loved driving it, we drove it everywhere me and my dad. But one day my uncle (who isnt very good at stick) tried driving it, and he thought he could shift it without using the clutch, badd idea.. So the tranny started to growl and whine, then one day it wouldn't work at all. The car sat for a while, while we tried to find a tranny for it. We found a tranny for it, then we attempted to put it in, well we didnt get very far, then my dad got sidetracked by other things and kinda just let it sit for a while because i didnt know what all needed to be done.. and wasnt very good at mechanics. Well up to about 2-3 months ago, I actually tried working on the car, and noticed it wouldn't take much to get going. Needed new LCA's and a driver's side tie rod and end. Once I got that done, I hooked up the axles and filled the tranny with fluid. The next day I had a kid weld in a tray for the battery because the frame rail was so rusty that the hole for the bolt was gone. Then i noticed there was a puddle underneath the car. went under there and it was tranny fluid, so i started to worry about what it was. I looked around for a little bit, and I noticed it was the axle seal. So off to the parts store I went, and luckily they had it on hand, so I replaced it quick with help from a buddy. Put her all back together and never leaked again to this day . Then I had to fix the brakes because it would keep leaking fluid and would pull to the right when you put your foot on the brake. I bled all the brakes numerous times and nothing got better. Finally I just replaced the master cylinder, which did it! and made much better brakes! So at about this time the car was about ready to go, but it needed a new tire and rim because there was a bent one on it at the time. I got that done and the car was ready to go again! Well, to be honest, the car still needs a speedometer cable and the master cylinder bleed once more, but everything else is done lol. anyway! onto pics!!













v vid of exhaust v

[Damkid]

jamesmc's entry

Not swapped either, but it looks like we need some competition. The story of getting my Festy is admittedly not that exciting, but What initially drew my attention to these cars was actually a blog post on Jalopnik. It featured a "Truckstiva", a Festiva with the back chopped into a pick-up. A few months passed and I found myself in the market for my first car. I scoured craigslist for a few days, eager to find -something- affordable. The two main things important to me in a car are how reliable, and how fun they are. Fortunately, these cars fit that criteria just as good as any other. The gas mileage is just a very, very nice bonus. A few days later, I found this Festiva and drove it home. Since then, I've loved it way more than I thought I would. Only a few repairs needed to be made to get it running mechanically sound. As for cosmetics, it was pretty faded, but not too bad. I removed all of the interior panels, washed them (cigarette smell...it never goes away) and spray painted to freshen it up. I've added an escort console, escort dome light, tach cluster, and rear hatch cover. I've also spray painted the grille back, because the red paint on it was very faded. Lastly, I fit 5.25" speakers in the door, and 6.5" in the back. A couple weeks ago, I drove it all the way Nova Scotia, a 1000mile drive. It made it's way up there, giving me 50mpg. (Fuelly says 49.9...but that's close enough for me to say 50!) Unfortunately, while I was there it developed a rough running issue. That has yet to be fixed, but should be soon. Still pretty remarkable for a car of that age to perform so well.

Almost everyone seems to comment on this car, which I love because I can (and will) talk about this car for seemingly forever. Now that gas prices have gone up, every week I'm getting people that want to buy it. Pretty impressive for an 18 year old car! So far, I've only done light modifications to it. I hope to do an engine swap someday, but on a college-kid budget everything is expensive.

[Damkid]

festivBS's entry

Might as well...
December of 2009 I bought a 92 capri xr2 with intentions of swapping the motor into the 93 festiva that I bought in February of 2010. Once we pulled the b6t out we cleaned everything up and painted the block and valve cover also replacing all the gaskets and adding a new water pump and timing kit. We also did kyb shocks all the way around with QA springs (150 in the front and 350 in the back) and the aspire front sway bar along with the capri brake swap. My next big purchase was the 16g td05hr turbo with a megan racing manifold off of an evoX for $150! Little did I know, this decision would alter soooo many things later in the build. To get the megan racing manifold to fit, i had to order the Miata exhaust manifold and chop the flange off of it and weld it to my existing flange and port match the holes and also drill the holes for the bolts (not easy at all since it was stainless steel, went through 4 $20 cobalt bits). Once we had that all situated we had to get our radiator hooked up. Long explanation short, the turbo and manifold are in the way so we had to notch the frame a little bit and use a civic radiatior which barely squeezed into place. From there we had to make a maze of hoses and copper fittings to avoid our transmission mount and the turbo. Then we relocated the battery and added a cut off switch for it, built a custom exhaust that is 2.5" all the way with a 3" electric cut out up front going to a 18" glasspack and ending with a silencing tip. From there we installed a civic short throw shifter and an autometer memory tach and AEM digital wideband and AEM tru-boost. The intercooler kit came from ebay and we used 2.25" piping with a tial knock off bov. Also going to have things that i left out i'm sure. Future plans are some nitto drag radials and a rocketchip! Hoping to see 12's at the track
here's a link to all the pictures i have http://s882.photobucket.com/albums/ac28/festivBS/

[kartracer46]

good entries this month, it was a hard decision.

[Twistiva]

OK, stupid question here. How do we vote? Do peons like me get to vote or is this up to the moderators?

Disregard....I see the voting button.

[devon527]

FestivaBS where did you get or make those headlight housings for your festiva??

http://i882.photobucket.com/albums/ac28/festivBS/shelack014.jpg

[91blufestiva]

Damkid, if I'm not allowed to put new pics on as of today, just delete this post.

Painted the wheels black today!

[jamesmc]

Damkid, if I'm not allowed to put new pics on as of today, just delete this post.

Painted the wheels black today!

Looks nice! I just got a set of 13" Metro steelies. They're in pretty rough condition, so I'll be sanding/painting them soon as well. Not sure if I want black or stock-looking silver yet. I like the black wheels on yours. :thumbleft:

[91blufestiva]

^ thanks! I think black wheels look good on any car, and it really makes a difference in how the car looks. A little advice on sanding them, take a wire brush on the end of a drill, makes things 10x easier.

[Damkid]

91blu - once voting has started i don't see it being fair to update entries, so for that reason i didn't update your entry

[91blufestiva]

^ understandable

[Twistiva]

jamesmc's entry

jamesmc -

NICE looking Festiva. I LIKE the exhause pipe add-on! What brand & model # is that?

[jamesmc]

jamesmc -

NICE looking Festiva. I LIKE the exhause pipe add-on! What brand & model # is that?

Thanks! It was installed by the previous owner. I actually like it too, doesn't look "rice". I'm not positive on the model #, but I'm pretty positive it's this one I found on autozone's website.

[Twistiva]

Thanks! It was installed by the previous owner. I actually like it too, doesn't look "rice". I'm not positive on the model #, but I'm pretty positive it's this one I found on autozone's website.

james mc -

The one on your Festiva has the 3 external bolts to hold it on? If so, that's it. $12.99. Will look nice with the custom wheels I plan on putting on eventually.

Thx!

Twister

[jamesmc]

james mc -

The one on your Festiva has the 3 external bolts to hold it on? If so, that's it. $12.99. Will look nice with the custom wheels I plan on putting on eventually.

Thx!

Twister

Yes. I just looked at it again to double check. That's definitely it.