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Before I review the car here’s a little background on myself. Up until I did this swap, I’m not sure I had even changed a tire on a car, maybe once or twice. My mechanic abilities are questionable at best and I get nervous just thinking about it. I’ve never been around cars, never really ridden in any fast cars and I’ve only owned two other cars, an Acura TL and a VW Passat. The fastest car I’ve ever been in was a 400hp Acura Integra Type-R, it could spin its wheels in 3rd. The following review, as you can see, will be compared to the very few experiences I’ve had.
I got my B6T Festiva back from the muffler shop today and finally got to see what the little car was all about. It has a B6T, obviously, Probe GT intercooler, 255lph fuel pump, cone air filter, stock downpipe and what I thought was 2.5” exhaust, but actually has 2.25” ID, Aspire brake swap front and back, and I believe I’m just running stock boost according to my boost controller valve.
First off, the suspension and brakes; I have all new parts, KYBs in front and back, 175# and 150# 10 inch springs (which raises the back way too high by the way, it feels like you're getting dumped out of the seat), Miata Daisy wheels with the cheapest tires from a chain tire shop and ebay brakes. That being said, it feels like it only rides slightly better than stock and 35 MPH feels like 50 MPH. The turning radius…haha… is probably one of the worst radiuses I’ve ever seen, especially for a car that is hardly longer than a Hummer is wide. It barely holds the road, my Passat can take turns faster than this thing, and this may be the cheap tire issue. Speed bumps suddenly turn this thing into a 1970s Buick with blown suspension; it’s just loud and rough and feels like what it costs. The braking is laughable, really have to stomp to stop quickly, but maybe my pads just to need to be broken in, after all, I went with the cheapest of the cheap.
On to the engine. This car pulls hard! Even getting a little torque steer! Remember, I’m only on stock boost. I haven’t gone all out, but from the dozen or so pulls I’ve done, it’s up there with the fastest car I’ve been in. After ~2750 RPM it just screams. As I was driving home from the muffler shop I did a little pull in 2nd, and about a minute later some little ricer passed me while mean mugging the hell out of me. He knew this $500 beater just did a harder pull than his $25,000 Acura will ever do. If I could have it all, I’d want more low-end power, the lag is just a little much, maybe a combo-charger or something, that’d be pretty farfetched though. I'm also using the stock Festiva 4-speed transmission, which is just not meant for speeds over 50. I’m interested to see what happens when I give my chipped ECU a try and turn up the boost, and for the future, a vj11 hybrid, bigger downpipe and g25mr. I’d also like to lower the car quite a bit as it rides kind of high, yet the tow hooks still hit the ground.
Overall, for the cost of this whole project, I’m real happy. Anyone looking for a good power to cost ratio swap, this has to be up there with the best.
I got my B6T Festiva back from the muffler shop today and finally got to see what the little car was all about. It has a B6T, obviously, Probe GT intercooler, 255lph fuel pump, cone air filter, stock downpipe and what I thought was 2.5” exhaust, but actually has 2.25” ID, Aspire brake swap front and back, and I believe I’m just running stock boost according to my boost controller valve.
First off, the suspension and brakes; I have all new parts, KYBs in front and back, 175# and 150# 10 inch springs (which raises the back way too high by the way, it feels like you're getting dumped out of the seat), Miata Daisy wheels with the cheapest tires from a chain tire shop and ebay brakes. That being said, it feels like it only rides slightly better than stock and 35 MPH feels like 50 MPH. The turning radius…haha… is probably one of the worst radiuses I’ve ever seen, especially for a car that is hardly longer than a Hummer is wide. It barely holds the road, my Passat can take turns faster than this thing, and this may be the cheap tire issue. Speed bumps suddenly turn this thing into a 1970s Buick with blown suspension; it’s just loud and rough and feels like what it costs. The braking is laughable, really have to stomp to stop quickly, but maybe my pads just to need to be broken in, after all, I went with the cheapest of the cheap.
On to the engine. This car pulls hard! Even getting a little torque steer! Remember, I’m only on stock boost. I haven’t gone all out, but from the dozen or so pulls I’ve done, it’s up there with the fastest car I’ve been in. After ~2750 RPM it just screams. As I was driving home from the muffler shop I did a little pull in 2nd, and about a minute later some little ricer passed me while mean mugging the hell out of me. He knew this $500 beater just did a harder pull than his $25,000 Acura will ever do. If I could have it all, I’d want more low-end power, the lag is just a little much, maybe a combo-charger or something, that’d be pretty farfetched though. I'm also using the stock Festiva 4-speed transmission, which is just not meant for speeds over 50. I’m interested to see what happens when I give my chipped ECU a try and turn up the boost, and for the future, a vj11 hybrid, bigger downpipe and g25mr. I’d also like to lower the car quite a bit as it rides kind of high, yet the tow hooks still hit the ground.
Overall, for the cost of this whole project, I’m real happy. Anyone looking for a good power to cost ratio swap, this has to be up there with the best.
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