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And the Winner for October FOTM goes to.................
Freshtiva with his car "Jerry"
Congratulations Marcus!! (sorry for the late announcement)
Here is his 2 part entry again
I located Jerry back when finding Festivas for sale was fairly common. I was on a buying spree and was picking up some fairly cheap festys. In most cases the Festiva had a problem that was going to cost more to fix than the owner was willing to put into it. That was Jerry‘s situation. I saw it advertised for $150 in St Joseph which is about 20 miles from me. It had been driven by a science teacher who confessed to liking the car but I suspect it was really just the gas mileage that he liked. He had a considerable drive each day and I found a notebook in which he dutifully kept track of his mileage. He said the car had gotten hot and wouldn’t start anymore. I offered him $100 for it. He said “ okay I just need to get this car out of here, my wife hates it and wants it gone ASAP.” and it would be scrapped soon if no one bought it. So with only 178,000 miles under its belt Jerry moves to the ranch.
I initially messed with the car some. I got it started and drove it a short distance, long enough to determined that the factory air still worked and that yes it indeed was getting hot. The overheating problem I determined to be a warped head. With a solid body and the cleanest interior Id ever seen in a used festiva for sale I rolled it to the back of the shop with the intention of getting back to it when time allowed. I looked at it from time to time but time never allowed especially knowing the engine work it was going to need.
Booger:
A couple of years later ( not sure the exact time line )I came across a [FS] listing on FFC for an 1989 L plus just like Jerry for $100 in Liberty Missouri about 25 miles from me. There I found Booger with licensing/registration issues and for a crisp Benjamin moved it to the ranch. Booger had a rebuild motor and transmission per member CappyG who had been a ford tech. and who would attest to the quality of the motor/transmission. Booger had some parts removed from it but they were all inside the car . I started putting the parts back on and to my surprise booger started up and ran beautifully. Now I was in a dilemma Id bought Booger for parts but it was to good to part. So both Jerry and Booger sit side by side in the back of the shop for a couple of more years. (Again not sure of the timeline.) I devised a plan to get booger on the road. Probably not legal but hey it was a good car and a festiva . My plan included the following items in the picture below.
Although the Festiva Ranch has a “ No Festiva Left Behind “ policy it was superseded by the “ Not going to Jail “ policy and with much reluctance I decided to use booger as a parts car for Jerry. At least I’ll have a complete parts car for Jerry as needed.
The Swap:
It would have been much easier to use Jerry as the parts car for Booger. Booger didn’t need a lot and I liked the black color but that’s not the way it worked out. In Jerry’s favor it had a lot straighter body panels and as mentioned the cleanest interior I’ve ever seen in a Festiva for sale. Plus Boogers previous owner was a cigar smoker and must have smoked most of his cigars in the car. The science teachers car was clean. Besides that Jerry is the only known “Springer” edition Festiva ever produced. Thus the name Jerry. Get it ? Jerry Springer. Lame huh ? After the decision to use the car to build one I started on the swap during a week of vacation in 2010. Here are some pictures. The whole swap/build tread can be found at the following link.
http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31051&highlight=Jerry
Like most 22 year old cars Jerry needed most of its steering and suspension parts replaced.
Oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil
I did a complete brake line swap from Booger to Jerry, Boogers brake lines were like new. Jerry’s brake line not so good. That was fun.
Also had to correct this rust problem. Really the only bad rust problem on the body.
[img]http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p240/freshtiva/critter%20pictures/vactationproject003.jpg[img]
I did all the ordinary thing you do when the motors out and its easy to do like replacing the timing belt, water pump, etc. although the “old “ stuff looked fairly new to start with, then dropped the motor in.
Bought and installed all the stuff. Steering rack boots, tie rod ends, LCAs, new axles, etc. Also bought a graphics removing wheel and removed all the graphics from the side of the car except for the “Springer” designation. Did a lot of stuff too numerous to mention here but on is the build thread.
Below is a video of the first start.
And here are some picture of the project nearing completion with its siblings.
I’ll get some glamour shots soon.
Freshtiva with his car "Jerry"
Congratulations Marcus!! (sorry for the late announcement)
Here is his 2 part entry again
Originally posted by freshtiva
View Post
A Festiva Rescue Story
Jerry:I located Jerry back when finding Festivas for sale was fairly common. I was on a buying spree and was picking up some fairly cheap festys. In most cases the Festiva had a problem that was going to cost more to fix than the owner was willing to put into it. That was Jerry‘s situation. I saw it advertised for $150 in St Joseph which is about 20 miles from me. It had been driven by a science teacher who confessed to liking the car but I suspect it was really just the gas mileage that he liked. He had a considerable drive each day and I found a notebook in which he dutifully kept track of his mileage. He said the car had gotten hot and wouldn’t start anymore. I offered him $100 for it. He said “ okay I just need to get this car out of here, my wife hates it and wants it gone ASAP.” and it would be scrapped soon if no one bought it. So with only 178,000 miles under its belt Jerry moves to the ranch.
I initially messed with the car some. I got it started and drove it a short distance, long enough to determined that the factory air still worked and that yes it indeed was getting hot. The overheating problem I determined to be a warped head. With a solid body and the cleanest interior Id ever seen in a used festiva for sale I rolled it to the back of the shop with the intention of getting back to it when time allowed. I looked at it from time to time but time never allowed especially knowing the engine work it was going to need.
Booger:
A couple of years later ( not sure the exact time line )I came across a [FS] listing on FFC for an 1989 L plus just like Jerry for $100 in Liberty Missouri about 25 miles from me. There I found Booger with licensing/registration issues and for a crisp Benjamin moved it to the ranch. Booger had a rebuild motor and transmission per member CappyG who had been a ford tech. and who would attest to the quality of the motor/transmission. Booger had some parts removed from it but they were all inside the car . I started putting the parts back on and to my surprise booger started up and ran beautifully. Now I was in a dilemma Id bought Booger for parts but it was to good to part. So both Jerry and Booger sit side by side in the back of the shop for a couple of more years. (Again not sure of the timeline.) I devised a plan to get booger on the road. Probably not legal but hey it was a good car and a festiva . My plan included the following items in the picture below.
Although the Festiva Ranch has a “ No Festiva Left Behind “ policy it was superseded by the “ Not going to Jail “ policy and with much reluctance I decided to use booger as a parts car for Jerry. At least I’ll have a complete parts car for Jerry as needed.
The Swap:
It would have been much easier to use Jerry as the parts car for Booger. Booger didn’t need a lot and I liked the black color but that’s not the way it worked out. In Jerry’s favor it had a lot straighter body panels and as mentioned the cleanest interior I’ve ever seen in a Festiva for sale. Plus Boogers previous owner was a cigar smoker and must have smoked most of his cigars in the car. The science teachers car was clean. Besides that Jerry is the only known “Springer” edition Festiva ever produced. Thus the name Jerry. Get it ? Jerry Springer. Lame huh ? After the decision to use the car to build one I started on the swap during a week of vacation in 2010. Here are some pictures. The whole swap/build tread can be found at the following link.
http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31051&highlight=Jerry
Like most 22 year old cars Jerry needed most of its steering and suspension parts replaced.
Oil in the coolant and coolant in the oil
I did a complete brake line swap from Booger to Jerry, Boogers brake lines were like new. Jerry’s brake line not so good. That was fun.
Also had to correct this rust problem. Really the only bad rust problem on the body.
[img]http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p240/freshtiva/critter%20pictures/vactationproject003.jpg[img]
I did all the ordinary thing you do when the motors out and its easy to do like replacing the timing belt, water pump, etc. although the “old “ stuff looked fairly new to start with, then dropped the motor in.
Bought and installed all the stuff. Steering rack boots, tie rod ends, LCAs, new axles, etc. Also bought a graphics removing wheel and removed all the graphics from the side of the car except for the “Springer” designation. Did a lot of stuff too numerous to mention here but on is the build thread.
Below is a video of the first start.
And here are some picture of the project nearing completion with its siblings.
I’ll get some glamour shots soon.
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