What have you done to your Festiva today!?

[fastivaca]

While replacing the rear wheel bearings on the driver's side I noticed gat the gas tank was wet. Didn't think anything of it at first then realized that the car had been in the garage for a couple of days. Turns out that the tank has a leak by one of the seams :-(

Time to find a new gas tank.

[Advancedynamix]

Sorry to hear that Ian. Has anyone tried the 100 dollar replacement on eBay? Looks uncoated, so it'll surely need a good coating of rubberized sealer.

[crazyrog17]

What have you done to your Festiva today!?

Yep, I think when I got it it was on sale. 89.99 shipped. I coated the crap out of the seam and top with this penetrating water repelling silicone lubricant gel. No more leaks and I could finally top off the tank! If I could do it over, I would definitely have roughed it up and sprayed on some rubberized bedliner.

Forgot to mention, it's not bare metal. There is a thin coat of silver paint.

[fastivaca]

Ordered a new fuel tank from Rockauto! I got the Spectra Premium part number F40B. Worked out to about $200.00US delivered to the door, about the same as buying from the cheapest seller on e-bay.

Ian

[bravekozak]

OEM bends the tank seam up on purpose. Bend it down so that salt water sheds off and doesn't stand.

I saw my Festiva today, for the first time since Christmas. I replaced the valve cover and installed a different set of old Nissan Sentra stainless wiper arms (the one with the small anchor covers, not the ones with the round caps). Removed all traces of butyl sealant left on the inner door surfaces, with mineral spirits (Varsol). Installed a NOS distributor. Jogged engine to prove battery did not discharge much after being stored over a month in the deep freeze. Worked for four hours in below freezing temperatures (engine block heater made it bearable)

[DriverOne]

Gonna get that tank too if I can, Ian. I'll take it one step further and spray it with Line-X. That may add $50 to the price, but it'll keep the rust away!

[TorqueEffect]

Not done, but what I plan to do today.
Is finally change out the perished rubber insulators on the rear springs with some rubber hose. Mainly because one side the insulator fell out of position when I was doing the rear aspire swap this past September, and the spring squeaks and pops and bangs, especially when someone is sitting in the back seat.

Also going to do a phonebook fender pull/roll, the rear aspire swap has moved the rear wheels out too far, so now the 175/70/13s rub the fenders if anyone sits in the back.

Also should clean all my garbage that has accumulated in the car over the Winter, should probably do this with the Monte as well.

[TorqueEffect]

Changed out the perished coil spring insulators on the rear with some rubber hose.
Applied truck bed coating to the rear plastic interior panels, metal bit between the bumper and trunk area, and rear bumper.

Pulled the spare out and found a good inch or two of water in the bottom, so my hatch seals are leaking, even though they are still perfect and have no dry rot at all.
So popped the drain plugs and let the water drain, and now just letting the rest evaporate.

[crazyrog17]

There are flanges where the rear sheet metal met for spot welding that I found was rubbing the rear tires when I went to 175/70 R13. Bend the flanges out of the way with pliers.
Usually water in the spare well is because of the taillight gaskets. Replace with craft foam sheets or mousepads like others have.

[bravekozak]

Pulled the spare out and found a good inch or two of water in the bottom, so my hatch seals are leaking, even though they are still perfect and have no dry rot at all.

Torque, are you certain it's not the tail light gaskets that are leaking?
Time to buy two mouse pads.

[TorqueEffect]

Torque, are you certain it's not the tail light gaskets that are leaking?

I'm pretty sure you guys are correct, because they are really really bad.

[1990new]

On my blue 90L Plus water was leaning around the plastic vents in that are in the channel outside the hatch seal.
I use a bead of clear silicone around the black plastic vent to stop it.

[David88]

^ this +1

[unclepossum]

Today I discovered that the speedo cable is where I add trans fluid and that it id VERY hard to get to! Then I went to adjust my parking brake and the adjusting nut snapped off. GRRRRR. Cannot seem to find a replacement anywhere and am not looking forward to crawling around in the mud at a junkyard. :pottytrain4:

[200KGPGTP]

"Never buy a car you can't push!"

That is hilarious. I just had to push my Festy the other night to get it rolling down a hill to clutch start it cause I left my headlights on too long with the car off(they were shining into a storage unit) and thought "Thank god this thing is light"