Subaru Justy vs. Festiva

[neanderpaul]

The GTX should be way more compatible. Still AWD in a festiva hasn't been pulled off yet.
There is one guy here who supposedly did it with nissan running gear. He hasn't provided any proof.

[chaosdrifter06]

The GTX should be way more compatible. Still AWD in a festiva hasn't been pulled off yet.
There is one guy here who supposedly did it with nissan running gear. He hasn't provided any proof.

Well, since the 323 was available in AWD and the chassis is similar to the festiva, I'm sure it is possible. I'm not saying that there is an empty driveshaft tunnel under the car, but I'm willing to squeeze out all the potential this car has.

[neanderpaul]

It's totally possible. I hope you do it. I bet you will get a TON of support here on an AWD festy especially if you go mazda for the drive train. Something to consider. The GTX transmission/transfer case was designed for 130 horsepower. The justy 4wd set up was designed for 76.

[neanderpaul]

Drive shaft tunnel, gas tank, trans/transfer case in the bay, engine and trans mounts, trailing arms, different wheel base, totally different rear suspension set up are among your challenges.

[Rocketman]

The festiva floorpan & rearend are nowhere close to the GTX equipment.

Making the GTX bits fit in my Capri (true BF chassis) was a stretch

The GTX tranny is made of glass too, can't abuse it, very hard to find, etc.

Stop by sometime you can see my AWD conversion

[chaosdrifter06]

Drive shaft tunnel, gas tank, trans/transfer case in the bay, engine and trans mounts, trailing arms, different wheel base, totally different rear suspension set up are among your challenges.

In this case, the chassis will have to be cut into to allow this to happen.

I'm pretty much going to have to graft the entire rear end of the 323 GTX into the Festiva if I go that route.

I can also simply cut the area above the gas tank, weld in a hump that goes into the car and raise the gas tank into the area behind the front seats to allow the driveshaft/transfer case to go through. This means I can opt for the average 13 gallon tank most cars have nowadays. Anything that involves the Yamaha V6 and the tranny/transfer case will have to be custom fabricated. The wheelbase issue will be automatically taken of once the fabricator cuts the driveshafts to the correct lengths, same goes for the suspension. Suspension may also have to be custom (at least for the struts and springs), seeing that a V6 will be a lot heavier than an L4. I have connections to some welder who can fab up some of the stuff I may need, and if anyone on here knows someone who can fabricate, please run it by me!

[Rocketman]

explain to me what you are trying to do, please. engine/tranny/running gear

[chaosdrifter06]

explain to me what you are trying to do, please. engine/tranny/running gear

Swapping a Ford Taurus SHO Yamaha V6 into the Festiva to take advantage of its lightweight chassis. I figured that the relocation of the battery to the rear hatch by the previous owner left a lot of open space to work with and allowing a V6 to fit. The AWD will minimize torque steer, as well as stabilize the car and make it handle better. Since I couldn't think of any AWD transmissions that will work with the SHO engine, people on here suggest the 323 GTX drivetrain and find a way to mate it to the engine.

My only problem is now is durability. Since the GTX drivetrain was not built to handle 220hp at 7000RPM (maybe more depending on exhaust and ECU mods required to make it work) my question is to how to strengthen it without having to recreate it out of stronger material. I can't think of any other AWD drivetrains that are stronger and would work.

[Rocketman]

The Toyota Celica AllTrac trans is one, I know the DSM trannys are pretty stout too, but might be on the wrong side of the engine bay?

I'll say that the GTX tranny is *NOT* a good idea. It will blow with even the stock 132hp engine if you abuse it. Launching = a good way to instantly grenade it

Its a Gtype and thusly has the same thin gears, thin shafts, and a lot of people have issues with the transfer case stripping gears /blowing in some manner. High HP/Tq guys experience case flex & strip third gear, even while otherwise treating the trans nice

I'm running a BP+T on a GTX tranny, and I gotta take it easy with it. It kinda takes a lot of the fun out of it. I'm switching to a BP GTX tranny, which is a bit stronger but still not ideal. If I grenade it I'll start looking into an Alltrac trans or something else.

[bhazard]

Hey Matt...how bout you come to OUR meet in May and show off your ride?

Two years ago *I* was the one at the Festy meet with a Capri... lol.

[Rocketman]

I am extremely interested in your meet, would love to come and gearhead! (and show off my ride a bit )When & where?

Also, my meet in the fall is open to the FestyFolks as well

[bhazard]

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33538

Saturday, May 28th.

We meet at Summit Racing Equipment's store. I think its still up in the air where we are going after that, between the usual Moraine State Park and a local car show.

[Rocketman]

370miles...That's within "easy" driving distance, I can do that. Maybe I could just meet up at Moraine state park? thats much closer. My buddy lives 35 minutes away. May 28... hmm not sure quite yet but I'll start planning for it!

[JPT]

The Toyota Celica AllTrac trans is one, I know the DSM trannys are pretty stout too, but might be on the wrong side of the engine bay?

The typical DSM drive line is reversed from the Mazda layout (engine on driver's side).

[neanderpaul]

Since you are working with a ford running gear (yamaha I know but ready to mate to a ford trans) and since the swap is extremely advanced anyway (more advanced than the original shogun by FAR) I wonder if the tempo awd set up might be an option.