What have you done to your Festiva today!?

[Twistiva]

(Saturday).....bought a 93L 5-speed. Already having problems with it.

Not. Cool.

Thread is here: http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...841#post657841

[bravekozak]

Today was rewire for a triple A/C relay day. I discovered I am missing the green wire that goes into the same connector as the yellow/red behind the LF headlamp.

Also, today was install the underlay day.
I figured since I took the seats out, I might as well install new black carpet.
I felt lucky, so I reinstalled the black leather seats again and laid my mats down.
Black on black looks good.

[purg3d]

I took the car around the block after replacing these components with Moog. Steering and tracking have improved greatly, but is still squirrley along strait aways. On ground with steering wheel centered, driver's side is slightly toe-in while the passenger is roughly zero. I'm gonna turn the tie rod out try again.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15719[/ATTACH]

I dream of replacing the front springs/strut/hat with a newer set from 2 kia rios nearby. I'd like to do it before I got an alignment, but we'll see. Would a spring compressor be necessary if the suspension is unloaded for removal?

Uh, see what WmWatt found out:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?53024-Kia-Rio-front-strut-orientation&p=651815&viewfull=1#post651815

He is lucky not to have been hurt/killed!

Thank you very much! I thought there was still force in those springs. Today it goes to a shop that does alignments on race cars. If everything goes well, I'll grab a spring compressor and head to my nearest 01-02 Kia Rio.

[Spike]

Welp, two things I can report.

First time I've achieved over 32MPG with the Weber. I've had a bad alt for a few months (I guess I didn't realize how bad.. it was throwing belts but working otherwise). Just filled up two days ago, 242 miles on 6.491 gallons of gas. 37.3MPG. Woot woot. Most of that tank was 65-80MPH as I didn't expect that big of a jump. Will try a 55MPH tank soon and see what happens.

Second, I did a bad bad thing, but we got desperate. When we bought the '89 the A/C didn't work, didn't kick on. I was planning on having it fixed proper with R12 but never had the cash. I had a can of R134 (don't shoot me@!@) from when I planned to re-do the Auto's A/C, and I decided heck with it. Filled 'er up and it's holding two days so far. Icey cold, have to turn it down to setting 2 driving on the highway in sunny 90 temp weather.

Now we'll see what MPG I get with windows up, 55MPH, A/C on. I'm hoping it's still decent.

I hafta to get a throttle kicker for the Weber. Not liking setting the idle at 1300.

[fastivaca]

Interesting day with the Festiva. Drove my daughter to write a final exam and the car didn't feel right... it was a little 'soft' in corners especially turning right. Sure enough the driver's side rear tire was going flat. Pulled the car into the garage to fix the tire (it had a screw in it) and discovered that I'd run out of the sticky strips you use for plugging holes. I was already running a bit late for a meeting so I decided just to throw the spare on only to discover that it had little or no air in it. Luckily I was at home with the compressor so pumped that up, threw it on and headed to my meeting. Then discovered that one headlight was burned out. Switched that out tonight as I had a spare bulb in the garage.

My taillight gaskets are really bad, particularly the passenger side. Cut a replacement out of an old mouse pad and went to remove the taillight. The bottom two nuts were rusted solid on their respective studs and both sheared off. I have the euro taillights and wanted to keep them so I learned how to repair it. Sorry I didn't take any photos though. I had an old taillight laying around and cut the studs out of it. Went to drill the remains of the studs out of the taillight I'm using. If the drill bit catches the stud will spin out. That happened on one of them but the other one I had to carefully pry out. I then heated the replacement stud with a propane torch until it was hot enough to melt the plastic of the housing and pressed it into the hole left after removing the damaged stud. Made sure it was basically straight and let it cool for about 30 minutes. Reinstalled the taillight, after cleaning and polishing it, with no issues at all. Time will tell if the stud repair will hold.

An interesting day indeed.

[skimsucka]

Interesting day with the Festiva. Drove my daughter to write a final exam and the car didn't feel right... it was a little 'soft' in corners especially turning right. Sure enough the driver's side rear tire was going flat. Pulled the car into the garage to fix the tire (it had a screw in it) and discovered that I'd run out of the sticky strips you use for plugging holes. I was already running a bit late for a meeting so I decided just to throw the spare on only to discover that it had little or no air in it. Luckily I was at home with the compressor so pumped that up, threw it on and headed to my meeting. Then discovered that one headlight was burned out. Switched that out tonight as I had a spare bulb in the garage.

My taillight gaskets are really bad, particularly the passenger side. Cut a replacement out of an old mouse pad and went to remove the taillight. The bottom two nuts were rusted solid on their respective studs and both sheared off. I have the euro taillights and wanted to keep them so I learned how to repair it. Sorry I didn't take any photos though. I had an old taillight laying around and cut the studs out of it. Went to drill the remains of the studs out of the taillight I'm using. If the drill bit catches the stud will spin out. That happened on one of them but the other one I had to carefully pry out. I then heated the replacement stud with a propane torch until it was hot enough to melt the plastic of the housing and pressed it into the hole left after removing the damaged stud. Made sure it was basically straight and let it cool for about 30 minutes. Reinstalled the taillight, after cleaning and polishing it, with no issues at all. Time will tell if the stud repair will hold.

An interesting day indeed.

I have repaired many the exact same way ahah funny that we both came to a solution using extra old parts. Better luck to you and the festy!

[defprun]

i need to seal my taillights I can keep goldfish alive for 2 weeks with mine

[Damkid]

^^lmao

[bravekozak]

I was at Able's on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation today. Lots of hungry female mosquitos. Anyway, someone removed the driver's window winder, headliner, rear hatch and hood off of her. I got the door latches and sawed off the right side of the dash between the radio and the glovebox. They never asked why I sawed it or cut off a bunch of connectors. I wouldn't have told him anyway. I got everything except one of the important things I came for, the red/blue wire that goes between the passenger door switch and the wiring harness at the bottom of the driver's door. I could not get the seat out. The mosquitos weren't helping, either.
Anyway, I got the steering wheel hold down nut. I think that's an important thing to have. Since I used a puller to remove the steering wheel, the white cam had both vanes present. Mine now.
There is a nice white Aspire in the yard. It hasn't been picked over yet.
I took a bunch of photos at a classic car meet in the park in Lewiston after.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4
Pic 5
Pic 6
Pic 7
Pic 8
Pic 9
Pic 10
Pic 11
Pic 12

[Twistiva]

Today was rewire for a triple A/C relay day. I discovered I am missing the green wire that goes into the same connector as the yellow/red behind the LF headlamp.

Also, today was install the underlay day.
I figured since I took the seats out, I might as well install new black carpet.
I felt lucky, so I reinstalled the black leather seats again and laid my mats down.
Black on black looks good.

Wow! Those cargo side panels look "mint"! Drool....

[Twistiva]

I was at Able's on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation today. Lots of hungry female mosquitos. Anyway, someone removed the driver's window winder, headliner, rear hatch and hood off of her. I got the door latches and sawed off the right side of the dash between the radio and the glovebox. They never asked why I sawed it or cut off a bunch of connectors. I wouldn't have told him anyway. I got everything except one of the important things I came for, the red/blue wire that goes between the passenger door switch and the wiring harness at the bottom of the driver's door. I could not get the seat out. The mosquitos weren't helping, either.
Anyway, I got the steering wheel hold down nut. I think that's an important thing to have. Since I used a puller to remove the steering wheel, the white cam had both vanes present. Mine now.
There is a nice white Aspire in the yard. It hasn't been picked over yet.
I took a bunch of photos at a classic car meet in the park in Lewiston after.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4
Pic 5
Pic 6
Pic 7
Pic 8
Pic 9
Pic 10
Pic 11
Pic 12

Brave -

WOW! Those are some mighty clean cars! Maybe we in the Festiva community will eventually get to that stature!

Where in the world would you get parts for the truck/wagon in #6?

[bravekozak]

In my personal opinion, rhe nicest car there was an old charger that was mint! I regret not taking any pictures of it. It had the tiny turn signals in the crevice of the hood + iflip up light grille appeared to have been hardly driven. Sorry guys.

[greywolf200]

I took a bunch of photos at a classic car meet in the park in Lewiston after.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4
Pic 5
Pic 6
Pic 7
Pic 8
Pic 9
Pic 10
Pic 11
Pic 12

Your taste in cars seems to be just as eclectic as mine, thanks for sharing.

[greywolf200]

Where in the world would you get parts for the truck/wagon in #6?

There is a whole universe of Corvair owners(I've had 4) out there, just like Festivas. I know a guy with two pickups and about half a dozen vans. I've also recently picked up a Capri. Should have it running shortly.

[Captain Burrito]

Took the side trim off my festiva yesterday. The double back tape took paint with it so I'm gonna end up rattle canning the lower part black tonight. Thinkin next weekend ill do the rest of it dark blue.