Aspire's Salvage Potential

[91mcnasty]

its weird that you say the trannies are weak, because when i bought mine( for the brake swap ) about the third time i "speed shifted" lol the trans started binding up like it lost a bearing or something(fluid level was good) so i....... dumped the clutch and got her going again i figured ill get as close to home as possible before she blows!!!! i was NOT NOT NOT being excessively hard on it either, i realize no matter how fast you shift a 60 HP car its still gonna be a slow. the festy has taken 60X the abuse the aspire got, and the aspire only had 95K!!!!!

EDIT: PAUL DONT MESS AROUND WHEN YOU DOWNGRADE A FESTY!!!!!

[georgeb]

There might be some disagreement on the "upgrade is always better" mentality.

[neanderpaul]

I'm interested in doing an aspire brake swap in the near future, but I'm trying to decide whether to go to a junk yard and spend the day cursing rusted fasteners while I work frantically with minimal tools... Or would it be worth my while to look into a parts Aspire? Granted the Aspire would cost more, but could that investment be offset by other salvageable goodies?

My question is what is an Aspire worth to a Festiva?
-Brakes/Suspension
-Wheels/Tires
-Engine (unsure of OBD-I/OBD-II configuration)

With patience you can get a whole dead aspire cheaper and in better condition than the junkyard parts rusting in the mud. I've bought one for $250 with 86k and another for $300 with 160k. You can totally make a profit doing this. Cruise craigslist daily, ask when you see them parked. Keep tabs on the local drivers in your area. When you see that a driver hasn't moved you can often buy them dead for cheap. Patience is your friend. The beauty of dealing with cars on the bottom of the food chain is that when they are broken down when can buy for dirt cheap. Even if $100 stands between dead and running the people are often too sort sighted to see that throwing that hundred at it keeps them mobile. Their loss is our gain.

[neanderpaul]

Another interesting tidbit I've found is that most aspire owners are tight wads. And that is compared to festiva owners. For instance I've sold festiva power mirrors for over $150. I've seen stock spoilers go for over $500. Parting out most of the aspire parts was like pulling teeth. I'm still sitting on a bunch. Fenders, hood, alternator, ac compressor, etc etc. Festiva guys are willing to throw money at their festys because they love them. They don't drive them because they can't afford anything else. They drive them because they are their first choice! The aspire guys act like their back is against the wall. They want a pair of good mirrors for $20 shipped. No thanks. I'll sit on them before I make about three dollars after spending shipping and my time and supplies.

[Safety Guy]

Paul wrote:

"The aspire is soft and round like a short plump girl."

What's wrong with short plump ladies? :p

Roger has told me that the 5 speeds in Aspires were not Mazda units, but were made in Korea and that their bearings were not as good or long lasting. Or something like that. (He said the auto transaxles were all still made by Mazda though.)

The main problem with Aspires, from a non-modder POV, is that Ford specced a Festiva replacement with around 400 more pounds but no meaningful increase in power.

The only reasons I'd do an Aspire build:

-Get a really good deal on one that is in really good shape (too good to hack up).
-I wanted/needed a four door.
-Everything falls in place to allow me to do a Z5 swap on a two door for long trips, with a later model Rio front brake upgrade. (The Aspire might make a better "touring" car if set up right, due to the heavier weight and better aerodynamics.)
-If I got hold of a nice SE in great shape. (You should see Dave and Wendy's white '95 SE!)

Truthfully, I'd rather do a B8 or BP Rio Cinco build instead of an Aspire. The Cinco has a lot more room and the main drawback is the stock interference engines that go bad through neglect. So you can get 'em cheap. Just gotta see if there can be an easy enough OBD-II BP swap to do on them.

What really turns me off about Aspires are their first gen "assault style" airbags, designed to save idiots who didn't buckle up at the expense of those of us who do. I'd probably get rid of the driver's side bag and keep the passenger's (just for liability purposes).

Karl

[loknlode]

by NP; "The festiva has angles and fender bulges. It straight looks masculine. The aspire is soft and round like a short plump girl."


are you having sex with your car? - froid woulda had a field day with that one bud,lol:p


bulges, mmmmmm so you're saying that while I'm driving a short plump girl which is pretty close to the truth btw, you're driving a ..............a masculine car with a bulge in its pants, er fender. (froidian slippage)

[Safety Guy]

"Froidian?"

You mean "Sigmund Freud," the famous pioneering psychologist and inventor of the Vienna sausage?

Karl

[neanderpaul]

by NP; "The festiva has angles and fender bulges. It straight looks masculine. The aspire is soft and round like a short plump girl."


are you having sex with your car? - froid woulda had a field day with that one bud,lol:p


bulges, mmmmmm so you're saying that while I'm driving a short plump girl which is pretty close to the truth btw, you're driving a ..............a masculine car with a bulge in its pants, er fender. (froidian slippage)

The fender bulges are triceps. And as Karl pointed out it's Freud and a Freudian slip.

The festiva is a man's car.

[zoom zoom]

Not trying to turn this into a personal thing, but you told me you scrapped every piece of the aspire you didn't use for your brake swap because nobody wanted to pay for the parts. I needed the passenger side fender, mines still warped front to back and no amount of bondo will fix that. I sent a guy your way for parts too, so where's all these parts at?

[neanderpaul]

Lol, so safteyguy doesn't like saftey..wanting to delete an airbag, if he had a choice, which he doesn't in a festiva..

He's saying they are the primitive unsafe first gen airbags. He does like safety.

Np..you told me you scrapped all the aspire fenders you had..actually you told me you scrapped everything you didn't use for your brake swap a couple weeks after the swap because nobody wanted to pay for the parts you had fs.

I don't remember that. I may have been at my wits end and ready to scrap. But I didn't. I still have two fenders and a hood. I'm happy to sell them to you for $25 each plus shipping. Also have an AC compressor, maybe starter?

Maybe we're not tightwads, maybe some people are just greedy? I see no reason to pay 500$ for a wing on a 500$ car, just doesn't make sense. It's also calling the kettle black if you say someone is cheap, yet you wait and wait and only buy the cheapest possible deals you can get...then ask price+20+$+shipping for an item.

If I buy a car for $250, haul it, and part it out then I am the one taking the risk, doing the work, removing the parts, listing them, and shipping them. If I'm going to invest my time I'm not going to lose money. If an A.C. Compressor is $135 new and I am asking $60 shipped then I am HOOKING UP someone who is not willing to do that. That's not greedy.

Of course friends get and give the hook ups. We trade and pay shipping. We even trade without a clear trade in sight. As in I give you a transmission and you give me nothing. Later you give me a head and a fuel pump and on and on and on. I'm that way with one local friend and several friends on here.

I would never pay $500 for a wing on a $1200 - $3500 festiva. Yeah that's what they're worth. Even book is now $1200. But I would pay $150. No aspire guys do that.

The real reason for Aspire trannies not lasting as long is probably because they take more abuse from the more powerful engine. (yah all 5-10hp)

Round=better aerodynamics.

Try again. The aspire has a little LESS horsepower due to the the more restrictive exhaust manifold.

To be clear there is ONE hot aspire. That is festymick's.

[neanderpaul]

And I should be coming to Ohiostiva.

[rockin86ranger]

can you harvest the manual seat belts out of an aspire and use them in a Festiva, Both of mine have auto belts and i hate them (almost had a friend get killed in a set once, and i don't find them as comfortable as a manual belt) And there aren't any Festiva's around here but there is an aspire at a junkyard here.

I also disagree with the second gen being better than the first, in almost every vehicle i would take a first gen over a second gen.

[Safety Guy]

As I understand it, the Aspire exhaust manifold is different because it may provide a bit more low end torque.

As for the 1st gen airbags, they were designed with more power than necessary for those who wore seatbelts because the extra power made those who didn't buckle up a bit safer.

Just like the auto seatbelts were made for those who didn't buckle up. Those who did got shortchanged with moving, less safe seatbelts.

Not Ford's fault, but mainly the NHTSA's, trying to go against "Darwin's plan" for getting rid of those who don't think anything bad could ever happen. There are "good choices" and "bad choices" for safety and health. I try to make the best choices but can't claim I always do, especially in regards to chocolate, sugar and other tasty things.

Ranger, I've thought about, but never actually tried, the Aspire manual belts in a Festiva. They may work, since the cars are so similar. Heck, the same could be true for early Rios as well. Just has to be tried out for fit and operation.

What I do with manual belts is to use the old originals and get them rewebbed and checked for operation. I'd prefer not to use seatbelts much over ten years old when possible.

Karl

[Movin]

can you harvest the manual seat belts out of an aspire and use them in a Festiva, Both of mine have auto belts and i hate them (almost had a friend get killed in a set once, and i don't find them as comfortable as a manual belt) And there aren't any Festiva's around here but there is an aspire at a junkyard here.

I also disagree with the second gen being better than the first, in almost every vehicle i would take a first gen over a second gen.

They put the "A" team engineers for the first gen...

[rockin86ranger]

not only that but 1st gen engineers and designers pretty much have free reign on what they want to do so it works and looks good. Second gen engineers and designers are trying to retrofit something old into to something new and the designs/ mechanicals usually have faults for that reason.