Bought another Festiva

[Eaglefreek]

I painted my wheels and installed new tires as seen in this thread. https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showt...-my-mind/page3

I got an alignment done today. The guy does it out of his garage and is highly recommended by the custom car and race guys in north Alabama.



The right wheel was able to go 0 degrees camber and the left had positive .4 degrees camber when maxed out. So he slotted the left strut to get it to match the right. I probably should have had him slot the right, also to try to get negative camber, but I was also having an issue with the toe adjustment. I've got Escort outer TRE's and there wasn't enough adjustment. He had to take the tie rod end off and cut a little off of it and had to cut a little off of the inner rod to get some more adjustment. The car drives better than it ever has. Even after the last alignment done by another shop, it would follow ruts and be a handful in the wind.

[ryanprins13]

Thats about enough camber but it is going the wrong way here!



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[ryanprins13]

So the negative camber on the rear-is that only from the aspire axle or did you put shims back there?
You just got a wheel alignment so im sure your not going to but before you get another one- on the front you can take a die grinder to the stock struts and aspire knuckle and get -2 degrees of camber on the front. With some shims you could do more on the back. But i did -2 degrees all the way around on my car and the handling difference is incredible!
Did you use kia rio strut mounts?

What engine do you have in there now? A rebuilt aspire b3? Is it still burning oil?

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[errjam]

North Alabama alignment shop ? I'm in florence

[Eaglefreek]

So the negative camber on the rear-is that only from the aspire axle or did you put shims back there?
You just got a wheel alignment so im sure your not going to but before you get another one- on the front you can take a die grinder to the stock struts and aspire knuckle and get -2 degrees of camber on the front. With some shims you could do more on the back. But i did -2 degrees all the way around on my car and the handling difference is incredible!
Did you use kia rio strut mounts?

What engine do you have in there now? A rebuilt aspire b3? Is it still burning oil?

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He slotted the left front to get it to zero. I probably should have had him slot it more and also the right front to get some negative camber, but this is just my daily driver since I've got a 64 mile round trip drive to work. The rear has close to -2 camber. Except for the Aspire brakes, it is all Festiva suspension. I thought about doing the Kia strut mounts, but I it turns pretty effortlessly as is. The engine in it now is a low mileage Aspire engine and it's running fantastic.

North Alabama alignment shop ? I'm in florence

Yes, he's in Athens. You should be able to see his number in the pic of the printout. If not, send me a PM. Text is his preferred method for initial contact since he has a day job. He owned an auto repair shop in the past and also sold alignment equipment for a while. He now works in a nuclear power plant by day, but does this on the side. He takes the extra time to dial it in. He even wrote a book back in the day. https://www.amazon.com/Carsmart-Hund.../dp/0966362748

[ryanprins13]

He slotted the left front to get it to zero. I probably should have had him slot it more and also the right front to get some negative camber, but this is just my daily driver since I've got a 64 mile round trip drive to work. The rear has close to -2 camber. Except for the Aspire brakes, it is all Festiva suspension. I thought about doing the Kia strut mounts, but I it turns pretty effortlessly as is. The engine in it now is a low mileage Aspire engine and it's running fantastic.


Yes, he's in Athens. You should be able to see his number in the pic of the printout. If not, send me a PM. Text is his preferred method for initial contact since he has a day job. He owned an auto repair shop in the past and also sold alignment equipment for a while. He now works in a nuclear power plant by day, but does this on the side. He takes the extra time to dial it in. He even wrote a book back in the day. https://www.amazon.com/Carsmart-Hund.../dp/0966362748

Not a big deal, mine is my daily driver, i never plan to race it but it makes a big difference in how nice it drives.
Anyhow, i hope your drive is all highway! Couple years back i had a 93 mile round trip drive to work. It was all highway cept 9 miserable miles of gravel. I got a different job and moved so now i only have a 68 mile round trip but its through 2 big cities and a town. Takes me longer than my 90 mile commute did many days! And much more frustrating, the longer commute was peaceful and relaxing, now its just hectic. But i wouldnt want to do either drive in a gas guzzling cobalt or something, lol.

They do turn easy stock, significantly easier with rio mounts but their pricey.
Good to hear you finally have an engine thats running nice, it sure took a long time. How long have you been driving it? hows your fuel milage?
You could always do some of the work yourself in a year or 2 before your next wheel alignment. I measured my alignment beforehand, then ground both sides to match eachother the amount i needed to get -2 degrees on a bench. Had to grind a little off the centre of the knuckle there to wrap around the strut body. As long as you do each side the same it shouldnt take him any more time doing the alignment. My car drives way straighter with the negative camber and is a lot more fun on onramps and corners in general


Your alignment guy sounds cool. I think ive seen him before, is this him?

https://youtu.be/n5HX7y1yDi4

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[Eaglefreek]

Not a big deal, mine is my daily driver, i never plan to race it but it makes a big difference in how nice it drives.
Anyhow, i hope your drive is all highway! Couple years back i had a 93 mile round trip drive to work. It was all highway cept 9 miserable miles of gravel. I got a different job and moved so now i only have a 68 mile round trip but its through 2 big cities and a town. Takes me longer than my 90 mile commute did many days! And much more frustrating, the longer commute was peaceful and relaxing, now its just hectic. But i wouldnt want to do either drive in a gas guzzling cobalt or something, lol.

They do turn easy stock, significantly easier with rio mounts but their pricey.
Good to hear you finally have an engine thats running nice, it sure took a long time. How long have you been driving it? hows your fuel milage?
You could always do some of the work yourself in a year or 2 before your next wheel alignment. I measured my alignment beforehand, then ground both sides to match eachother the amount i needed to get -2 degrees on a bench. Had to grind a little off the centre of the knuckle there to wrap around the strut body. As long as you do each side the same it shouldnt take him any more time doing the alignment. My car drives way straighter with the negative camber and is a lot more fun on onramps and corners in general


Your alignment guy sounds cool. I think ive seen him before, is this him?

https://youtu.be/n5HX7y1yDi4

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My go fast days are gone, but I do hit on and off ramps quick once in a while. I take my dog to work with me most days, so I drive conservatively. My commute is on a country highway that goes through a couple small towns and Huntsville, AL with a short jump on the interstate and typically without any traffic problems. I've probably been in 5 traffic jams in the 5 years I've been working here.


Haha, Ron the alignment guy, seems to be a pretty laid back southern guy.