What have you done to your Festiva today!?

[TorqueEffect]

Did a compression test the other day, all cylinders in the 150-165 range. So not a head gasket issue.

Removed, cleaned, and painted the valve cover.

Removed the little platform the stock air filter box sits on.

Found out that the speedo surrounds are different between tilt, and non-tilt steering columns.

[TorqueEffect]

Been a little too wet to do much of anything.

Starting to think headgasket on my coolant usage on my BP. Every time the car is driven now, and I pop the hood, I can see where oil is leaking between the head and engine block.

Plus I did see some pretty sizable puffs of white smoke/steam coming out of the exhaust manifold (Running open manifold at the moment)
and out from under the hood.

Still haven't given it a compression test like I meant to.

EDIT: Or! like I just found on google, could be coolant leaking out of the headgasket onto old oil residue on the engine, making it look like an oil leak.

Will have to clean it, drive it a bit and verify.

[Greywolf]

If captive (captured...) rotor means are the rotors bolted to the hub flange - yep, they sure are.

Okay - the mystery is solved. I finally spotted some writing on one of them that said '91 Capri, and the bolt pattern is sure enough 4.5"

[Advancedynamix]

Soooo clean!

[F3BZ]

took advantage of unusually mild weather here to reinstall bumper cover stay brackets on the X. using stainless hardware when possible.

[FestYboy]

114.3 = 4.5"

Really though, the question is, are they captured rotors or not?

[Greywolf]

Greywolf there is a big difference between aspire and Capri brakes: first off is the bolt pattern, Capri is 4x114.3 and aspire is 4x100, second is Capri rotors are captured like Festivas, third is XR2 rotors are larger than aspire auto rotors in both meaningful dimensions.

I'll look at the bolt pattern soonest. I doubt the guy that had these got them for no reason.....
(?) Is 4 by 114.3 also known as four on four and a half?
Dammit! My camera picked a hella time to crap out


TO ERIC: It sounds like you need to solder on some length to those wires before they become useless.

[bhazard]

Yesterday.. tags. Today put a cheap radio in. It's had 5 not much of a harness left!

Why the crap wouldn't you use an adapter harness?!

[FestYboy]

Greywolf there is a big difference between aspire and Capri brakes: first off is the bolt pattern, Capri is 4x114.3 and aspire is 4x100, second is Capri rotors are captured like Festivas, third is XR2 rotors are larger than aspire auto rotors in both meaningful dimensions.

[ericsmith32]

Yesterday.. tags. Today put a cheap radio in. It's had 5 not much of a harness left!

[Greywolf]

What I got done today was to clear out the shop a lot more, and I think I have found either a matched set of Aspire front steering knuckles and rotors, or they are from a Capri XR2. I noticed the caliper mounting bolts were 4 3/4" apart, vice the Festiva bolts are 4"


THIS BIT is for "fezzy":

One old hotrodders trick is to take the stock cam to a machine shop and have them REDUCE THE BASE CIRCLE on the cam lobes - this results in more valve lift, and since we can't really make the cam lobes taller, the alternative is to make the round part smaller and adjust the slack - or hunt down a trick cam for the car. You should shop about for a camshaft specialty house near you
* If you DO THAT, keep a sharp eye on your piston top clearances

There are also aftermarket ECU's available that can be programmed either when you order them, or if you've got a laptop and the right software and cables. There's also specialty shops that do tuning and re-programming.

You can re-plumb the entire exhaust so it has an easier time breathing. If you can find, rob, and fit a much larger catalytic convertor from a wrecking yard, it will open things up a LOT.

You could always gut it out, but that would be illegal and thus is not highly recommended

One thing you can do without spending much is wait for the car to get stone cold, and do a good valve adjustment on it (I'm pretty sure the cam followers have an adjustment if it's a SOHC, they do on the 1.3l or B3 engines, on the DOHC engines valve adjustment is done with shims.

You can look into having larger diameter valves and seats put into a custom built head for it.

I imagine it wouldn't take much to kit it over to a DOHC 4-valve per cylinder head, and then you couldn't be accused of pulling a complete engine swap.

I dunno if down under allows you to do a B6T engine swap without taking it to an engineer to get their approval.


***My camera has an issue with it's USB cable, so I cannot upload anymore pics or vids until the new cable arrives.

Maybe longer than that if it turns out to be the camera itself :sad:

~Sometimes life gets crummy. Good job then if you know how to make a crumb cake! :cake:

[TorqueEffect]

Nothing, been too busy trying to get my Monte Carlo running again. Had a rusted through trans cooler line (Snapped in two when I pulled it out) and the quick connect fittings on the radiator are such a god dang pain in the butt (Trust me I wish I could use harsher words on this forum.) Thought I had it all together fine and dandy, turned it over, then saw the bottom line gushing trans fluid. Having given up on it for the day, I am going to remove the quick connect fittings, cut them off the end of the lines, and get a large brake line with the proper sized fitting to screw into the radiator.

At least the festiva ones are just hoses running to some barbs on the bottom of the rad.

[F3BZ]

sanded and polished out a blemish on the gtx reservoir splash shield. turned out too good. now i have to do the whole shield.

[ryanprins13]

This 1998 Festiva ( Aspire ) finally got the green light, and on the road.
Have done about 1000 kilometers "test drive" since last week and it went ok, sort of.
Not that there is anything wrong with the car mechanically, everything works, but it's really a piece of shit as far as the factory settings are concerned. I have to be honest, it handles like carpe on a bend, over-steer / wobble. That might be power-steering issue, need to check it out. But it over-steers with a slight delay then all of a sudden it will turn, then ya have to "balance" it to bring it back. Tyres are 14", not the standard factory 13". So I'm wondering if that has something to do with the geometry ?

On a straight path it goes very well, except when on a slight climb on the freeway there is no torque, ya have to drop down a cog. This is pissing me off and it is dangerous cos ya have to let the car behind you pass.
It's a kill-joy and I don't understand why the powers that be "de-tuned" that model car.
Review says similar, 11Kw dip in torque
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Re:

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/carfamilytree?ReadForm&ID=338D8E9AA42F9856CA257125001A1329

Mine is the 1.5, 5 door, 5 spd.
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OK, I hope this forum can guide me where to look first and get some of that due 11Kw + of torque it's owed.
Screw Ford and their frikin restrictions, this drop in power on the freeway is more harm than good for safety reasons on a rise if other cars are behind ya when traveling at 110 KPH. It's a joke.

I'm thinking and searching are there ways to tweak the ECU, ( I know nothing about stuff like that, as I'm from the pre- electronic days, 70's stuff ).

Or do I work on the cam and replace it with aftermarket, work on the head a bit ?

I'm not interested in breaking any speed records,been there done that, but to give this car it's due diligence.

So where to I start to seek out what is hindering it's torque potential, the ECU or the camshaft grind/s ?

Thanks

Hey, you may het a better response by starting your own thread in an engine or maintenance subforum. With the steering- maybe slightly loose tie rod ends or ball joint or sway bar bushings. Wider or taller tires tend to exadurate steering problems. Get the alignment checked too.
With the power what kind of hills are we talking about and what are you comparing it to? If i drive an automatic car, truck or van that is much more powerful than my festiva i notice they downshift going up hills that i wouldnt with my manual festiva. Or they downshift earlier. Downshifting for hills is something most vehicles have to do, but i think you know that so is it downshifting much earlier than you would have to in another vehicle? Do you have the factory diameter tires or bigger? What size are they? How heavy is your car supposed to be and how many hp is it?

[jawja jim]

Replaced the shifter stabilizer bar to transmission bushing.