Carbed Festiva Question?

[Gomez]

What do you guys think of the carbed Festivas? issues? maintenance? fuel mileage? anything else?

There is a really low mileage one on ebay that i am interested in. check it out and lmk what you think.

[bravekozak]

You mean the 88 in Dubuque? Any Festiva is great with gas going up to $5 a gallon by June.

[devon527]

I have a 88, I get about 31 mpg's and 37 on highway. My valve guides are out I think so she burns a lot of oil, but still runs like a champ! I don't mind carbed at all

[Gomez]

^^ yes that one. I am also thinking about the gas thing. a month ago I could get on allofcraigs.com and find quite a few Festivas around the country. Today there is zilch. I am seriously reconsidering Pauls '92

[25Horseplay]

I had a carb'd one, it ran great!

[kartracer46]

My 88 carby has 360k and burns a little oil but runs great. It doesn't require any more maintenance than an EFI Festiva.

[Ogrekhan]

Hey,

The carbed festys are great. A word of caution though. My 88 LX looked good when I got it much like this one but had rusted brake lines just like this one. Long story short the rear suspension rusted through causing the rear axle to pivot , and the tire to rub the wheel well. My brave lil festy brought me 48 miles to home with a ratchet strap holding the axle straight at 35 mph, but it was a parts car after that. Here in Iowa what you don't see can hurt you or your festy.

[econoaddict]

I have an 88L and been coomuting 90miles a day 5 days a week now for 4 1/2 years. It has been awesome.
I had the head redone and it runs like a top.
I get 40-50mpg on the freeway.

[Gomez]

Hey,

The carbed festys are great. A word of caution though. My 88 LX looked good when I got it much like this one but had rusted brake lines just like this one. Long story short the rear suspension rusted through causing the rear axle to pivot , and the tire to rub the wheel well. My brave lil festy brought me 48 miles to home with a ratchet strap holding the axle straight at 35 mph, but it was a parts car after that. Here in Iowa what you don't see can hurt you or your festy.

Didn't you have a thread about that happening to you a while back? I guess when it happened. Somehow I vaguely remember that.

Anyway, thanks for the posts guys. For some reason I am gettin' a bad feeling about the one in Dubuque. But I have found a couple other cars that are carbed. Trying to contact the owners of about 6-7 Festivas for sale today.

[25Horseplay]

Gomez keep in mind, if you are considering an engine swap that the carb'd cars require more work to swap but they are good running cars stock.

[htchbck]

I miss my 88LX, didn't ever have a problem with it being carbed, but having the 5 speed instead of the 4 speed was nice. I probably would have swapped it when the motor finally bit the dust, but like Brian mentioned, its a LOT more work swapping an EFI motor into a carbed car, so thats something to consider if you're looking at a possible swap one of these days.

[jesteratc]

Simillar issues. Goes thru oil. Since its winter mine doesnt get off the choke for about 4 minutes in the morning, and my drive is only 5 minutes. So i end up getting bad mileage because its carb'd. But its still better than anything else i have.

[MJD]

Good car

Gomez -- We have an '88 LX, and it has 217,000 plus miles, carbed car. It runs pretty well, and I use it all the time commuting. With gas here now at $3 a gal. I hope to drive it the most. The wife has a '90 L Plus, and I do know hers starts quicker, but I try to baby the '88 because of the miles. If you have a car that has had great care, all the better !!
I would not be afraid of a carbed car, but find out if it has any issues. So many of these little cars are treated harsh, not easy, so their little bodies get trashed ! I rescued our '88 because it had, and has ....a mint brown interior, hated to see it in the car junk yard, still running good too ...

[drddan]

All Festivas RULE! Carb'd or efi! Not much difference in MPG. May get 2-3 mpg more with efi, but carb'd is capable of 40 MPG. I once got 46 with mine.

[Gomez]

Gomez keep in mind, if you are considering an engine swap that the carb'd cars require more work to swap but they are good running cars stock.

I know, that is one of my concerns. Though not the most popular swap, the B8 may find a home in my next Festiva.