Introduction and Recommendation

[ltpl4y3r]

Hey Everyone!
I'm a proud new Festiva owner! I picked up an '89 Festiva L (Carbed) for $500 a couple of weeks ago. My plan is to prep it for SCCA Rallycross. Once I get used to slinging the beast around on the dirt, then I hope to move on to stage rally! This is my first project car, so I don't think I'll be doing BP swap real soon, but I am replacing the stabilizer bar bushings, so that I can pass inspection.

Here is a picture of my new baby:




The odometer is reading pretty crazy as well:




The engine is pretty grimy:




It also came with a nice surprise in the back. I hope I can find a good use for them:



So, like I said, I want to get this lovely ready to race on the dirt, much like WTFestiva! I have been pouring over the forums for a couple of weeks now, and there is SO MUCH great information locked away in a million different places! It can be REALLY difficult to find the info you are looking for, even with the search function. I was wondering if anyone had considered building a wiki around our awesome cars to help collate all this great knowledge. I run a DokuWiki for my own personal needs, but I think we could do some great things. I would also be more than willing to help with setup, maintenance, and contributions.

Also, any suggestions for getting this lovely back into tip-top shape?

[blueoval]

welcome and one word of advice do not take the vacuum lines off,if you do have to change them do it one at a time.if you get them messed up it is almost impossible to get correct again,i to have an 89 and it's a grest daily driver but my vacuum lines were messed up when I got it so I put a webber carb on it and fixed all the problems

[ltpl4y3r]

welcome and one word of advice do not take the vacuum lines off,if you do have to change them do it one at a time.if you get them messed up it is almost impossible to get correct again,i to have an 89 and it's a grest daily driver but my vacuum lines were messed up when I got it so I put a webber carb on it and fixed all the problems

Good point! I've been trying to find a bit more info on the Webers. They seem to make the engine a bit more peppy, from what I could find. That might have to be one of my first upgrades, once I find some tires to replace these poor poor bald ones that I have on here.

[bravekozak]

That's a fancy passemger mirror you have there!

[TominMO]

Welcome! As for those GR-2 rear struts, you will need either skinny tires or short tires to clear them, due to the lower spring perch location. You can get Aspire struts (which have a higher spring perch), but not GR-2 Aspire struts. Definitely keep the GR-2s and choose your tires accordingly, not the other way around. I would also recommend painting them, even a clearcoat, because the factory paint will rust pretty quickly.

If you are going to stay with the 1.3 and carbed, then definitely go with a Weber.

Look up Rafe (Prafeston).

[kumalaba]

welcome

[wirebrain]

Welcome.... the rims look interesting...any idea what they are?

[scitzz]

Welcome! Want to compile a Wiki? Deeeeweeeet!

[navdoc101]

Welcome Aboard!!

[ltpl4y3r]

That's a fancy passemger mirror you have there!

Thanks! I have attached a couple more pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Welcome! As for those GR-2 rear struts, you will need either skinny tires or short tires to clear them, due to the lower spring perch location. You can get Aspire struts (which have a higher spring perch), but not GR-2 Aspire struts. Definitely keep the GR-2s and choose your tires accordingly, not the other way around. I would also recommend painting them, even a clearcoat, because the factory paint will rust pretty quickly.

If you are going to stay with the 1.3 and carbed, then definitely go with a Weber.

Look up Rafe (Prafeston).

Thanks for the advice! I was wondering if they would be useful. Should I consider new springs or will I feel a nice different with just the new struts?

Welcome.... the rims look interesting...any idea what they are?

I have no idea what they are. The tires I have on there are 175/80r13. I really feel that I might need to find some 14" rims, so that it is easier to find used rally tires. Attached is a closer picture of the wheels and tires.




As for the wiki, I am willing to put a bit of work into it to get it initially set up. I would love to couple the login to our forum username/passwords, so you won't need yet another login for yet another site. I will need to find the owners of this site first, in order to do that. That being said, I will need all of your help to populate it!

Thanks for the welcoming!

[TominMO]

Keep those springs for a daily-driver, they will do fine; later when you get into racing you will probably want to increase the spring rate. Our best suspension guru would probably be Advancedynamics.

With a 1.3 it's gonna be slow at Rallycross, but then again you might win your class! A good bet for wheels that are not too wide (only matters for the rear, with those GR2s) would be the gen1 Miata daisies. Might want to consider a narrowish snow tire with an aggressive open pattern. For the rear, you could also put in wide studs and use spacers to let you use wider rims/taller tires. The front area is much more forgiving as to tire width.

If you pull one rim, there will be lots of useful info on the inside. I'm guessing they are old AR rims. They look like 4x108/4x114.3 bolt patterns BTW. Also there will be the offset, and rim width should be somewhere on the front.

You will want/need to do the Aspire front brake swap. If it's a rally car, it doesn't matter if the front and rear lug patterns don't match, you won't have a spare tire in there anyway. For the street, you can carry two spares or find one rim with both bolt patters, like an AR Estrella 14" rim.

Another guy doing Rallycross is WTFestiva, but you probably know that....