Little Festiva on the Prairies..

[darrenryall]

Hey guys..

Thought that I'd share part of my journey so far.

Recently, had the brakes fail on my '87 Plymouth Voyager minivan (5spd std), and we had my wife's 2004 F-150 drop a steamy piece of itself into a cold Alberta ditch at the same time. Limped that home, and then my brakes failed.

So, traded the two of them in on a new truck for the wife. This left me a bit vehicle-less. Drove the backup for a little bit while I was looking for something of my own, and 'lo and behold, I happened to spot a '93 Festiva GL.

Had heard some good things about the Festiva (worked with a lady who drove a '88 in BC), so snapped this one up for a whopping $250 CDN pesos.

Towed it back to my place and started looking it over. Didn't know if it ran, what the state of it was other than the gent said that it ran, had good tires on it, and came with three boxes of parts and a couple of body parts (extra grill, drivers door, back hatch). (still haven't got those yet) Oh yeah, and no proper key, and the spare engine and tranny in the back of the car with a locked hatch.

So, went out and got a new battery, and got the car started (the gent had apparently busted the ignition with a screwdriver at some point). Started within about 5 minutes, not too bad after sitting in a field for 2 years.

So basically, that is my starting point about three weeks ago. 217,000 kms on it (roughly 130,000 miles).

More updates to follow... including, how did I resolve the dilemma of "can't lock the car in the city because I don't have a key to unlock it?"

pix attached...

[JPT]

$250.00 with a spoiler? Good deal!!

[fastivaca]

Let me know if I can help with anything. I'm not that far away!

[lanemeyer14]

Definitely a good deal on that one!

[neanderpaul]

You can rarely get a spoiler for under $125 plush shipping. I've seen them go over $500 on ebay. You scored!

[Tim]

These cars are known for their reliability and durable drivetrain. Sounds like yours needs a good cleaning and some minor TLC and it'll be a daily driver.

Can you get to the bottom of the hatch from inside? There is a lever on the latch that locks/unlocks it.


-Tim

[ejp2fast]

very nice GL! looks cooooold outside!

[wybnrml]

Can you get to the bottom of the hatch from inside? There is a lever on the latch that locks/unlocks it.
-Tim

+1 Looks like a nice score, and its got a spoiler.

[wybnrml]

More updates to follow... including, how did I resolve the dilemma of "can't lock the car in the city because I don't have a key to unlock it?"

In case you haven't resolved it, you can get a blank Ford key from a hardware store and use it to unlock your doors, lots of other Festiva keys also unlock and start other Festiva's.

[92festie]

In case you haven't resolved it, you can get a blank Ford key from a hardware store and use it to unlock your doors, lots of other Festiva keys also unlock and start other Festiva's.

hhhhhmmmmm

[darrenryall]

Let me know if I can help with anything. I'm not that far away!

May take you up on that.. there's not really anyone in my area I can bounce things off.

hhhhhmmmmm

I haven't resolved it yet.. will have to try that.
Thanks guys for confirming what I thought.. it was a really good score.

And yeah, the spoiler is quite nice.. and I have cleaned it up a bit. When the first picture was taken, it was around 0F (-17 or so C).

So anyways, I've started the process of cleaning 'er up a bit. Haven't broken out the rubbing compound yet, but it was warm enough to spray nine over the last weekend. Got all the glass cleaned, the seats started, and almost everything above the body line. Even got some touch-ups done to the grill (which had faded a bit), the occasional scratch, and the more major things, painted the door handles and back hatch and licence lamp area. Looks a lot better red I think.

As well, and I'm cringing a bit to say this, because of not having the right key and needing to lock the car in the city, I had to take a page from an old farmer and put a latch on the outside with screws. I hated to do it, but I *have* to drive the Festiva at the moment, and my work parking is right by the city's Light Rail Transit station. So, I've painted it and the lock to match, and so far a success. Nothing missing, nothing broken into, and I'm driving to and from work in it.

*THIS IS NOT A PERMANENT FEATURE* as as soon as I can lock and unlock doors all the way around, it's coming off and holes will be filled. The drivers door won't even lock from the inside though, and with the broken window mechanism where he busted off the handle, I think I'm going to have to just replace the door anyways, leaving four small body holes to patch. Not too worried about the trim either, if you look at the avatar shot to the left, you'll see I'll be repainting anyways..

Other news, have replaced by back brake lights with Red LED 1157 bulbs, almost as bright and I'm hoping to cut a bit of drag on the alternator and lengthen bulb life in the process. As soon as I get a back deck piece as well, have a solar panel I'm going to wire in to help charge the battery during the day.. my alternator charge light is still coming on, although it still doesn't seem to be hitting the lights or anything else much. When I go to replace the alternator, I'll be looking to drop in a 70 amp one from the JY. Also, I think my brake light problem is connected to the trailer wiring they hooked up in the back.. all fuses are good but no lights at all back then for brakes. 12V power applied directly to the connectors for the plug lights them.. only other place is the brake switch and it's been too wet or cold to get under the dash to check that out yet.

And my radio was gone when I bought the car, however I've got a MP3 player hooked to my USB powered speaker plugged into the cigarette lighter 2 USB charge port adapter I have, so that's working okay for sound for now. Am going to replace it with a nice little AM/FM SD/USB ported head unit I've had my eye on. No remote, but seeing I can roll down the passengers side window from my seat anyways, I'm not too worried.

This upcoming weekend I've booked a day for myself, so I think it's going to be me and the dog heading out to the junkyard and grabbing another couple of coils, maybe a drivers door (which will mean I'll have to figure out how to swap door locks), and see if I can grab some trim pieces.. it's missing them around the windshield.

So it's a bit of work ahead, hope that you guys won't rake me over the coals too much for the latch on the outside of the drivers door. :p Most redneck thing I've done in about four months..

[darrenryall]

(cricket chirp, tumbleweed).

Wow, think I scared everyone off.

Minor update.. 10 minute startup, driving at 55m (90km)/hour and running the temp in the bottom 1/4 of the normal range seems to be allowing me to go back and forth with minimal problems. 20 minute warmup puts underhood too warm, which caused the dying and loss of power this morning. Previous owner said issue is something on engine, as it has its third computer now.

Picked up goods necessary to finish the car clean, and am trying to arrange for a replacement key to be cut (as I currently don't have a good one for the car). Vise-grips are working to tweak up the window on the drivers side.. so things are more or less stable. New LED back bulbs are working well.

Attaching two pictures, first shows a bit of the painting that's been done (check out the grill as opposed to the first shot), and the second nicely shows my key issue.. yes, I can drive the car without it.

[drddan]

Car is shaping up nice (except that barn door lock! ha ha)
When you get the polishing compound, the "new" color will surprise you.
It did me when I did mine.

[darrenryall]

Car is shaping up nice (except that barn door lock! ha ha)
When you get the polishing compound, the "new" color will surprise you.
It did me when I did mine.

Thanks... for what it's worth, I painted the lock to match.

It was ugly and a brutal thing to do, but it means I can drive to work and lock the car now..

I've used rubbing compound in the past. When I had a '64 Plymouth Fury, it took the colour from a distinct "salmon pink" to a deep cherry red. Love the stuff.. just waiting for a day warm enough to go over the car with.

Btw, have a picture of the new red LEDs in use in the car up now..

[GenevaDirt]

you do know about using the passenger lock cylinder to get a new key made....right?
It has the code on it they need to cut the key.

Oh...by the way...welcome to the site