What have you done to your Festiva today!?

[ricko1966]

Transmission swap.I am going to do an abreviated write up just in case anyone wants to know if it can be done this wayI now know it can. loosened driver side front wheel pulled the speedo drive w/cable, unhooked transmission wiring and took out all the perimeter bolts I could get to removed clutch cable bracket and pulled cable loose from transmission. Attached an under hood engine support. Jacked up drivers side and supported it undid lower trans mounts from cross member and unbolted cross member from the car slid it out of the way to passenger side.Unbolted rest of engine to trans and dust shield bolts,undid trans linkage and torque rod,popped both axles loose from transmission. Popped drivers side tie rod end off of steering knuckle,popped lower ball joint painted foward upper strut bearing bolt and nut then removed both upper strut nuts. Pulled the strut with axle and brake caliper attached out of my way pulled the tranny leaving passenger side axle in the car. Put the replacement in lining up my passenger axle and input shaft as I went looped a ratchet strap under the starter to help support things as I lifted everything as close as I could get it then went underneath to wiggle and push the tranny back in.

[ricko1966]

I almost always recommend drilling and retapping.You have no idea ho many times a do iot yourselfer has brought a whatever to whatever shop I was working at with a broken ez out stuck in a broken bolt.Now things just are harder.

[F3BZ]

2 yrs after purchase, finally got the GTX legal with PA emissions and inspection stickers. couple months of good weather left. no pics since being neutered by PB.

[greywolf200]

Put on some new drilled & slotted auto Aspire rotors today.
They are 4 mm thicker than the ones for a manual car.
Bolt-on with auto Aspire calipers.

Nice

[1990new]

Put on some new drilled & slotted auto Aspire rotors today.
They are 4 mm thicker than the ones for a manual car.
Bolt-on with auto Aspire calipers.

Oh No!... I see a brake fluid stain on the concrete there.
Brakes Look and I'm sure work great.

[bravekozak]

Put on some new drilled & slotted auto Aspire rotors today.
They are 4 mm thicker than the ones for a manual car.
Bolt-on with auto Aspire calipers.

[firebush357]

Spent the last few days putting in an old B8 I had in the shop for years ,with a new clutch kit and a five speed fron the parts pile ,next the dealer install ac from 1 of the wrecks in the pasture and building a 2" receiver to haul my wheelchair carrier .Wish me luck going to drive this thing from Dallas Tx to Sebastian Florida next saturday
Takes me alot longer nowday since I got hurt last year but Its going good

If you are looking any parts or some wheels, I have a bunch of stuff south of Jacksonville Fl. Mirrors, Tach Clusters, Wheels, Seats etc... Just PM if you need anything.

[twopass]

Spent the last few days putting in an old B8 I had in the shop for years ,with a new clutch kit and a five speed fron the parts pile ,next the dealer install ac from 1 of the wrecks in the pasture and building a 2" receiver to haul my wheelchair carrier .Wish me luck going to drive this thing from Dallas Tx to Sebastian Florida next saturday
Takes me alot longer nowday since I got hurt last year but Its going good

[firebush357]

We put together a spare engine I had laying around and dropped it into my little brothers car. We could not get the car started even though there was Spark and Fuel so I decided to do a compression test and ended up with 0 compression on the first two cylinders that we tested.... So we gave up for the day!

Come to find out from help and advice from all you guys, I set the timing 90 degrees off.... ooops. I will adjust the timing and try to get her running this coming weekend.

I think I will practice engine building with the old block and head because I think I can revive it and then use it for another one of my cars.

[Greywolf]

Today:

Now I need the new paint to cure before going after any details, but I don't have to worry about rust ruining my work!

[Greywolf]

THIS:

[Greywolf]

The Shopping Go Kart (AKA: Dusty) is now 90% ready to paint. Tomorrow I see myself taping it off to shoot both sides, and the hood.

The next stage after that will be sanding the roof to paint it, and getting a hatch & at least one door ready to go on it as replacements.

I should pull the grill to get it ready to shoot separately

[Greywolf]

I'm beginning to hear thunder, so I guess I quit just in time!

~Wolfie out

[Greywolf]

Today (just ahead of some expected rain) I got some BONDO splotched/squashed onto the "Shopping Go Kart" and did a lot of sanding with a compressor powered D/A palm sander. There isn't that much farther to go before I can start shooting Dupont ChromaBase "Casablanca Tan" onto the car, It has been hotter than Hillary when Trump won here, with MAD humidity... But early today, before the sun was over the horizon, I went out and sanded, BONDO SQUASHED, and then an hour later went out and sanded it all back down to see how much it needed.

~By Bondo "SQUASHING" I am following the advice on a video from House of Kolor that was made by the original creator and driving force behind House of Kolor - who says you want to squash the bondo down as you mix it to drive out air bubbles, and do the same when you apply it.

You can look up a lot of totally cool HOW TO videos on their site. Eastwood.com is another good source of info


ANYWAY - previously what I did to seal all the small holes from someone using a dent puller/slide hammer very badly was to mix J B Weld, smearing it on over the holes (knowing it would form a mushroom shape inside the holes) and covering it with plastic wrap - because I knew it would hold it in place without runs, and that it could be shaped right through the plastic to smooth it out. Since only very special solvent can stick to plastic wrap, I knew it would peel off when I was done - and it did.

J B WELD is NON-POROUS! It seals the holes for good and all, and cannot get rust running underneath it. That is why I used that. I thought about welding the holes, but that's real thin metal and the chances were high I would just blow holes (bigger ones) in the metal if I tried to wire feed weld it. J B W is also somewhat flexible. Not much, but it does flex some being a form of plastic.

I wanted that on there before bondo because bondo IS porous and can enable rust formation that would pop it off later under the paint skin. With high humidity here, that is a serious risk. It would be better to do bodywork in a desert environment, but I do not happen to live in one...

There are only about five minor spots left that need to be final smoothed with more bondo, and a world of sanding, and then this car is one area at a time going to not only change color - but be given a paint skin that is about as high quality as anyone could want.

I plan to paint smaller areas, about a fifth of the car at a time, because I want to pay attention to detail and get everything right. As each part is done, the paint will seal the work, and eventually it will be down to details like door jam areas.

NOTE: "Casablanca Tan" is similar to "Palm Beach Tan" which was one of the original colors that "Cord" automobiles were offered in. Where I got that paint from, it was leftover when an RV dealership that I worked as a tech at closed down. I walked around the shop (being the last tech they had) and raided every single paint locker of everything that was in them


~ It seemed to me that was better than having it all thrown in a dumpster, and that paint is still good today!


* For the TURBO car, I went to a paint dealer and invested in a very light blue metallic that you will have to see to appreciate that is made by NASON. That color is a special one used on certain Volkswagens. It would lend itself well as a background for added graphics

It ran to $158.oo USD for a quart of it + hardener and reducer

TURBO FESTY is still in the shop on jack stands, awaiting a lot of well thought out modifications. The shift linkage for one, is sloppy loose for all the expected reasons.

If you really want to see some cool HOW2 videos about paint and body work - CHECK THIS LINK OUT!!!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClwzztFOntrGxT1iisB8erw

[FestYboy]

Had to drill out the pinch bolt hole in my LF knuckle and fit a 7/16" bolt so that it would stop the ball joint pin from slipping up and down in the hole...

In doing so, it inadvertently "fixed" my high speed mid-corner flop? And here I thought the flop was coming from the rear... I actually kinda miss it though because the flop would actually push me INTO the corner and I could dive in harder.

Admittedly, I haven't been able to get really aggressive in a high speed corner since the repair, but initial impression is that it's gone.