What have you done to your Festiva today!?

[bravekozak]

No eclipses to travel to this weekend.
Time to work on my Festiva.
I cut the center support out of my fender reinforcement and ground off the welds.
Time to see if it really fits.
---------------
I also ran into a problem flaring my hard fuel line.
The distance isn't far enough from the bend to fit in the flaring tool.
The ferrule is in the way.
I will try bending the short line after the ferrules and nuts are assembled.

[ricko1966]

Fixed most of the fire damage from last week. You thought I was kidding when I said always disconnect the battery.

[jjaynes]

Fixed most of the fire damage from last week. You thought I was kidding when I said always disconnect the battery.

Wait...what happened???

[ricko1966]

Stupidest accident anyone ever had! Was changing the fuel filter. Squeezed my factory squeezy type fuel hose clamps with vice grips slid the clamps away from the filter pulled off one fuel line just fine,dribbled a little fuel. Pulling the second line it fought back I ended up bumping my vice grips that were laying under the hood,which the sparked on the starter,which lit the fuel. I had to let go of the filter to get something to put out the fire so when I let go of the filter it added fuel to the fire.NBD A little wiring repair a master cylinder reservoir and a few other minor things. I still can't believe it, the only other more ridiculous battery related accident I ever had was doing an oil change on a customers Mitsubishi Gallant I reached behind the motor to loosen the old oil filter or tighten the new one, my wedding ring touched the positive alternator lead and grounded through the filter creating an instant toaster element around my finger which peeled the skin as I yanked the ring off. No longer married,problem solved.

[Shin Hayata]

Installed NOS Kia Pride mud guards on my car. Imported directly from Korea; paid too much. But they are otherwise "correct", which is important to me. I didn't yet know about the Festiva store when the Kia guards were purchased many months ago. Live and learn.

Sorry, I'm unable to attach any pics here. It seems I exceed the attachment limit no matter how I edit the photo for size. Any hints appreciated.

[bravekozak]

I still can't fit the fender reinforcement over my Kia Pride power antenna motor.
It will require surgery to the lower tube. I tried heat and a hammer, but it needs sawing and welding. I have to cut half way through for about two inches and install an insert.
Next post will include pictures.
I have a slow drip on one fitting of my tee on my stainless hard fuel lines.
I have only one small piece of tubing left. I cannot afford to make any mistakes (either cutting or flaring).
I do know that they have to be tightened extremely well.
The trick to bending the short middle tube, is to install and flare both ends straight, before bending the tube with the nuts in place. You are pushing on the nut and not the tube (no room) to do the bend.
Pictures to follow after I fix the slow drip.

[bravekozak]

Here is the soft fuel line that I removed.

Here is the hard fuel line that I replaced it with.

Now to chrome some carb brackets.

[greywolf200]

Nice

[F3BZ]

guess you can tell how much the GTX sits given the accumulation of cobwebs but that's not the subject. i've owned this 3 years and only just now noticed the twist beam has a torsion bar! DUH! it's 14 or 15 mm. the front one is 24.

IMG_0469 by mike schmitt, on Flickr

[bhazard]

That's very interesting. I wonder if it uses the thicker beam material like the aspire too.

[F3BZ]

i wondered that too but not enough to get the calipers out. maybe this weekend. the beam w/bushings supposedly still available from Japan. but over $500!

[bhazard]

Unfortunately we've already figured out how to make the car handle much better without the bar

[F3BZ]

this no diss. i'm just not quite willing to join the church of charles congregation yet. i can certainly appreciate the advance(d)ments made in the last couple years to extract max handling from the humble suspension and may ultimately follow that path. i have ZERO suspension setup experience but i've always preferred a harder ride than most and willing to trial n error it. i have no aspirations to track the car.
a great track car isn't necessarily a great road car. i also have to put some faith in the engineers at Mazdaspeed who fit even larger front and rear bars than the gtx for their track festiva, not removed them.

[jawja jim]

After driving Pedro over 13k miles since April (through 26 states and 2 Canadian provinces), I can assure you that the car is as good for driving and handling as ANY car I've ever driven. It's not just a track car. Bigger cars may be more plush and have more creature comforts, but it is an effortless road car to drive. If it just had cruise control, I could handle 12 hour driving days with ease.

[F3BZ]

i have no doubt you're very happy with the car as its been well sorted. i might even agree after a ride. i just think the perception of a good handling car is as individual as the driver and the roads and speeds he uses it on and can't be distilled by just numbers. as much as i've devoured the posts in the ultimate suspension guide i can't accept that there really is an "ultimate" setup as things can always be tweaked, added, subtracted, changed and adjusted for a new 'ultimate"