Been gone awhile, Festrailer is success!!

[tulsacarman]

I've been out of the loop for some time now but I've had a chance to slow down and to scratch some things off off my projects list.

I got the the trailer pretty much finished and took it on our Christmas trip. It was 500 miles round trip and it pulled awesome, even at over 70 MPH. We had to take it because we couldn't fit everything in my wife's 4-door sedan.

I finally took care of the bad strut and finished lining the interior. I still need to reattach the lid liner better and I'm considering installing lowering springs so that it looks good and level even when empty. We had it crammed full all the way to the top on our trip and it sat just about level though.

It took a hit on the MPG pulling 3 people and a full trailer while cruising at 70 but it still got what the other car does.

[lanemeyer14]

Looks awesome!

[crazyrog17]

that's too sweet! great paint paint job and it's going to look awesome with the new springs you're talking about!

[fastivaca]

That looks awesome! Did you take any pictures of the build? I'm thinking of doing much the same. What I'm most interested in is how you did the frame/tongue.

Thanks

[tulsacarman]

I took pics on the build but can't find them. I know I took a bunch of the cut job when I sliced the parts car and of the fabrication on the front and top. We'll see if they show up.

I used the bottom half of the rear hatch for the backside, the center of a 1970 F100 hood for the front and fabricated the top from square tubed steel and flat stock steel. The top is probably almost as heavy as the rest of the trailer. I had considered re-doing it in aluminum. I covered the interior with fabric and the floor is a 1" particle board covered in the same fabric.

I used two Festiva hatch shocks for the top and it worked well when I had first built it but they are weak and don't do the job now (hence the prop rod at the back).

The tongue is tube steel with a standard hitch welded to it. I ran the "A" frame under the floor and welded it to the cross-member back near the fuel tank area then ran bolts through it and the floor for extra rigidity. So it's welded at the front panel (all the way around the frame rails), back at cross-member and also bolted. I used an aluminum toolbox for the diamond plate that covers the frame. It's nice in that it covers the frame and gives it a cleaner look. It also gives you something to step on if you want to get to the other side.

I had to put the latch that's at the bottom of the hatch up on the top so I had to reverse the handle action to release the latch. I relocated the lock cylinder under the map light cover as well.

[eurotiva]

Looks great.

[CharlieZ]

Very nice fabrication. Did you use the Festiva springs/shocks in their original location? That is, are the strut towers still being used? Spare wheel well still under the particle board floor?
I hope you can find your build pics.

[Grey Vw]

Awesome skills, That could pass as a factory option.

[freshtiva]

Very nice !! Good job :thumbright:

[JPT]

That is so cool! I want one.

[JumboShrimp]

That is awesome, great work!

[tulsacarman]

Very nice fabrication. Did you use the Festiva springs/shocks in their original location? That is, are the strut towers still being used? Spare wheel well still under the particle board floor?
I hope you can find your build pics.

Yes, it's all Festiva underneath. That's the beauty of using the car body for the trailer. The only change that I need to make on the OEM stuff is on the factory springs. I thought it would be heavy enough with the fabricated top to be about a break even on the weight thereby giving me the right stance. I'll need to go with some shorter, stouter springs to get the level right and still be able to carry a load. So you can basically cut the car across the floor at the front of the quarter panels and box it in. If you look at the picture you can see the fabric bulged where the strut tower is and yes, the spare is still there. That's another advantage to using the OEM stuff. All wheels are the same so if I have a flat I have 2 spares.

It's funny, the car actually rides nicer with the load back there.

I was able to use the factory wire harness to hook up the lamps in the rear. It took a flat 4-prong connector and I had to add a 5th wire to get the backups to work. Okay, you don't really have to have the backups but I have a friend that gave me a hardtime about it until I gave in.

[91_festy_Gl]

That is so sick! I love it!

[devon527]

That is so insane! I love it, i like how the paintjob is reversed on the trailer

[sam]

Awesome paintjob! That trailer is sick!