What have you done to your Festiva today!?

[XFSE71]

I backed #30 out of the garage and smelled smoke ... burning electrical wiring ... shut it off bailed pulled the neg batt cable (I leave it loose). Now I have no MIL and no throttle kicker. Car won't idle AC on and falters with any electrical load. Now I'm looking at the wiring to the ECA for where the damage is .... hope it's not in the ECA itself. I see no burned insulation.

[neanderpaul]

I left the wife drive it to work. She couldn't find her keys to her protege5. We will see if it survives! JK. I have to give her credit. She has never killed a clutch.

[scitzz]

So, on the way to Lincolnton Saturday, the car was really walking all over the road. Anything over 60. No weird sounds. Turned around, went home. Shook both wheels, play both up and down, and side to side on the drivers side. Closer inspection said it was the bearing. Crud. Go buy bearings and seals. Pull the knuckle, and the play is wild. Good 3/8's of an inch of play, at the inner bearing! No howling either. This is weird.

Pull a knuckle off of Silver, my future trailer, and put it on, head down the road. Within 5 miles, the howl is LOUD from bad bearings in it!

Bust it apart with the trusty Rotunda kit, pull the outer bearing off the spindle, put on the seal and the new bearing. Knock out the inner race out, and it pops out like butter. Go to put the new one in. Seat it nice and tight, pop in the bearing, put in a new seal, go to pop the knuckle back together...and the bearing races comes out of place.

What?

Pull it apart. No matter what I do, once I seat the race, all the way to the lip, I can reach a finger in there, wiggle a little, and out comes the race. Give up for the night.

Fathers Day.

Well, I have this aspire in the driveway, see. So I figure, if I am going to spend money on the front end, spend it on the aspire swap, right? I have a noticeably bad LCA on the passenger side , the tie rod end on the drivers side is meh, OK, but not long for the world, to heck with it, Aspire swap the front at least!

Turns out to have been a good idea! The passenger side, with no real play when shaking the wheel, nevertheless has the same play at the inner bearing! WHAT????I kid you not, no play when shaking the tire!

So, Baby Car got her front end aspire swap, stock struts for now from the donor car, damping was tight, and aspire wheels with generic 175/70/13's. Rotors and pads were in great shape with lots of meat, kept those for now. Brand new McParts tie rod ends. Moog LCA's to be ordered soon. the passenger one doesn't move with the wheel attached, but it was too easy to move by hand for my taste. Will try to do the rears next weekend. I already have Festiva front springs back there anyway.

Also, taught the daughter how to do her spark plugs, she did three of them, then showed all the kids how to do rear wheel bearings on her Festy, plus they all helped with the Aspire swap, so they learned about that as well!

The alignment, much as I tried not to disturb it, feels a touch off. The response is a little twitchy, but pretty tight, so I might just need to get used to it I took it up and down the road for a quick spin, pulled a little to the right in the curves, ran into the shoulder once, could have been driver error though...

So, a decent end to a bad situation!

Now, if Greg ever gets back to me about those wheels!

[frankenfester]

Will this work with the aspire swap? Or do i need to find a differnt lug conversion set? How hard is this to do?

I have the stock festiva setup. I cant help you there.
But doing it is easy. Just brush out the threads then slap some blue loctite on And screw them in place. I'd wait 24 hours before mounting the wheels or driving Just so the loctite can cure

James says, "Hate on it."

[Powerstiva]

Not sure on the length But this is the exact kit I bought $40(with shipping) And the acorns are perfect because they have an extra little Bit of thread beyond the acorn. id say full length is around an inch and a half or more. More most likely Pics below

http://adaptitusa.com/12mmx150lugboltstudconversionkit20pack.aspx

James says, "Hate on it."

Will this work with the aspire swap? Or do i need to find a differnt lug conversion set? How hard is this to do?

[frankenfester]

What length studs did you go with? looks like a good length for what I need.

Not sure on the length But this is the exact kit I bought $40(with shipping) And the acorns are perfect because they have an extra little Bit of thread beyond the acorn. id say full length is around an inch and a half or more. More most likely Pics below

http://adaptitusa.com/12mmx150lugboltstudconversionkit20pack.aspx

James says, "Hate on it."

[muleskinner]

Did the rattle can paint job on my Festiva Saturday with my g/f helping!

Take a look:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?48207-Update-on-the-look-of-my-Festiva/page2

[Skrapbob]

One side done. Removable loctite used m12x1.5 screw in lug studs. 19mm acorns.

James says, "Hate on it."

What length studs did you go with? looks like a good length for what I need.

[M3NTAL]

Picked up some Miata Daisys with tires for $100 bucks of craigs today for the project car

[frankenfester]

Finishing the other lca And having a brew at noon. It's t5 o'clock somewhere

James says, "Hate on it."

[frankenfester]

One side done. Removable loctite used m12x1.5 screw in lug studs. 19mm acorns.

James says, "Hate on it."

[frankenfester]

Doing the lug conversion right now

James says, "Hate on it."

[frankenfester]

Yes! It's awesome!



Got mine aligned today, it's now drivable. :lol: It was downright dangerous before.

Groovey man!! Gkad it appeals to people who think its awesome.

James says, "Hate on it."

[200KGPGTP]

Yes! It's awesome!



Got mine aligned today, it's now drivable. :lol: It was downright dangerous before.

[frankenfester]

I freaking love your festy.

Really?

James says, "Hate on it."