Does this seem like a decent deal?

[TaylorDFW]

^There is no link!

Whoopsie!

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32846&highlight=replace+valve+seals&page=3

[drddan]

It took maybe 30 minutes to change the valve seals. Used the "loan-a-tool" at O'Reilly's for the spring compressor. So no cost for the spring comp tool. Seals and gasket price is under $40 and a lot less work than an engine swap.
(but maybe not as fun :p)

[TaylorDFW]

It took maybe 30 minutes to change the valve seals. Used the "loan-a-tool" at O'Reilly's for the spring compressor. So no cost for the spring comp tool. Seals and gasket price is under $40 and a lot less work than an engine swap.
(but maybe not as fun :p)

Man, after a tiny amount of preliminary market searching for B8 donor candidates, I am finding loads of mint (running, no smoke, AC!)1990-94 Protege's for $1000-1500. As much as I want a Festy, this is really making me think twice. Check this one out...

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/2457973668.html

UGH!!

Edit: For some reason they don't seem to get as good gas mileage as the Festy's. Hrmm...

[drddan]

Protege. Its a lot heavier car. It is hard to beat a Festy on MPG. With some easy slight mods 50+ MPG is a reality.

[TaylorDFW]

ALSO, important side note regarding the Festy I am going to check out tomorrow. The guy selling it says it USED to have AC but the compressor has since been removed.

Is it difficult(both in scarcity and depth of installation) to replace an AC compressor? He said the mounting bracket is still there, just no compressor or other components. I live in North Texas, and visit San Antonio eight days out of the month, so a working AC is definitely needed!

Taylor

[TaylorDFW]

Protege. Its a lot heavier car. It is hard to beat a Festy on MPG. With some easy slight mods 50+ MPG is a reality.

Also wondering what you think might be causing the idling problems? Could the valve seals/ valve gaskets be causing this as well?

Taylor

[Larry Hampton]

I think you ought to go tour some salvage yards to look for Festy parts. We don't seem to have many to choose from up here.

[Zanzer]

Also wondering what you think might be causing the idling problems? Could the valve seals/ valve gaskets be causing this as well?

Taylor

Burning oil could have started to foul the plugs. You'll just need to pull them and check condition and possibly replace.


As far as specialty tools...all you really need is a $20 valve spring compressor and a piece of rope (free if you walk around and look LOL). An air compressor does make it easier but it isn't a requirement.


If it were me, I'd get the car running right and then go from there. If you want to do an engine swap then you have a running car which allows you to source a motor and take your time to rebuild it properly without having your non-running car sitting in the driveway waiting for a new motor.

[htchbck]

Also wondering what you think might be causing the idling problems? Could the valve seals/ valve gaskets be causing this as well?

Taylor

I have also seen a bad distributor O-ring let traces of oil into the dist and cause all sorts of stumbling/idling problems under 2000RPMs.

[TaylorDFW]

Burning oil could have started to foul the plugs. You'll just need to pull them and check condition and possibly replace.


As far as specialty tools...all you really need is a $20 valve spring compressor and a piece of rope (free if you walk around and look LOL). An air compressor does make it easier but it isn't a requirement.


If it were me, I'd get the car running right and then go from there. If you want to do an engine swap then you have a running car which allows you to source a motor and take your time to rebuild it properly without having your non-running car sitting in the driveway waiting for a new motor.

Thanks for the tips! Just out of curiosity, what do you need a piece of rope for? Thanks!

Taylor

[TaylorDFW]

I think you ought to go tour some salvage yards to look for Festy parts. We don't seem to have many to choose from up here.

Same here, this is the third Festiva within 500 miles I've found in over a month. Once I get something to start with, I will definitely start combing the local yards and report my findings.

[Oren09]

I use this

http://www.picknpull.com/check_inventory.aspx?Address=76065&Lat=32.480463&Lng=-96.963862&Make=Ford&Model=Festiva&Distance=100

It's my ZIP code which is a bit south of Dallas, but still shows all the DFW yards and one in Waco.


Also, the rope is used to keep the valves from falling into the cylinder.

[TaylorDFW]

I have also seen a bad distributor O-ring let traces of oil into the dist and cause all sorts of stumbling/idling problems under 2000RPMs.

Thanks, I have read this somewhere as well. So far my list of things to check/clean/replace to reduce the smoking and improve idle are:

-Dist. O-ring
-Valve cover gasket
-Valve stem seals
-Clean throttle body/ Idle air control valve(do festy's have these?)
-Run some Seafoam through a few times

What else am I missing? TIA!

Taylor

[TaylorDFW]

I use this

http://www.picknpull.com/check_inventory.aspx?Address=76065&Lat=32.480463&Lng=-96.963862&Make=Ford&Model=Festiva&Distance=100

It's my ZIP code which is a bit south of Dallas, but still shows all the DFW yards and one in Waco.


Also, the rope is used to keep the valves from falling into the cylinder.

Thanks for the link! I put my zip code in instead of yours and found this at the picknpull in Fort Worth:

Ford Festiva 93 0053 05/16/2011
Ford Festiva 93 0060 06/28/2011
Ford Festiva 92 0057 04/22/2011...

a '93 was dropped of on the 28th of June Gonna check this out today if nothing else.

Another thing, and something I didn't quite understand from the various videos and how-to's I've found regarding Valve seal replacement: several of the tutorials involved using compressed air pumped through the spark plug hole to keep the piston at top dead center. I understand this is important to keep the valve from falling in, and also why you guys recommend using a rope, but from the way it looked the valve seal sits on top of the head? I'm not really seeing how it would fall in. But then again, this is all just from videos and tutorials.

Thanks!

Taylor

[Oren09]

I've already checked it out. Nothing special.
I'm going to look at the one in Dallas South that was put on the yard yesterday.