Bought another Festiva

[bravekozak]

eagle, I know you don't want to hear it, but just gentle tapping on the bell with a small hanner along with gentle pressure with a large screwdriver would have centered the circlip so that the axle would have popped out as smooth as butter. You are not supposed to beat on it.

[Eaglefreek]

eagle, I know you don't want to hear it, but just gentle tapping on the bell with a small hanner along with gentle pressure with a large screwdriver would have centered the circlip so that the axle would have popped out as smooth as butter. You are not supposed to beat on it.

I tried the gentle approach for almost and hour without any luck.

[Eaglefreek]

I got the engine in and running last night, but had to wait till this morning for a new axle to come in. I can not get the new axle to go in. It goes in about 3/4" and stops. I even took the clip off to see if that was the culprit and no luck. With the clip off, the old inner cup slides in and out without any issues. I guess it's a Chinese POS. I had a similar issue with another vehicle and new import CVs. :gritteeth:

[Eaglefreek]

Yesterday, before I made the 40 min round trip drive to the parts store, I decided to give it one more try. I rotated the shaft one spline at a time and tried to find a sweet spot. Well, it worked. I found one spot where I could wiggle it in. I pulled it back out, put the clip back on and it went in with a little more force than I would have liked. No hammering, just wiggling and pushing. I hope I never have to try to take it out, because I don't think it will. I was able to drive it and it ran fine except there is a chirping coming from the lower pulley that I am trying to figure out.

[Eaglefreek]

Thanks to bolokid for giving me some guidance of the order of the crank spacers and Ian, fastivaca, for sending me the spacer plate, my Festiva is now back on the road. The chirping is gone and it's running great. Last week I installed new control arms since I noticed the balljoints seemed to be in rough shape and I got an alignment today. A couple weeks ago I installed new window weather seal on the doors and a new radio bezel that I got from Four Green.

[Eaglefreek]

That means the plastic pins on the white collar that seats into the combination switch are probably sheared off. I would be interested to know the Mazda part number for that part too. Let us know if you find it. You have to be careful when installing the steering wheel that the pins line up with the holes.

Well, I was pulling into a shopping center last night and something broke in the turn signal gizmo. When I turn my wheel left or right, it makes the turn signals go on. I had to remove the fuse that powers the signals and unfortunately, it defeats the fuel gauge, temperature gauge and automatic seat belts. Before I tear it apart, does anyone know if I can just replace some of the broken parts in there or do I have to find a good used module (don't know the name with all the stalks coming off of it)?

[Eaglefreek]

I found this on Ebay and hopefully it will take care of the problem. Another week of driving my 12mpg van. violin

[JumboShrimp]

Those rims are awesome! I need to take a trip down south. Your scrap yards would be a gold mine for me. Your car looks great. I wanna see another pic when you get the centre caps on.

[Eaglefreek]

Those rims are awesome! I need to take a trip down south. Your scrap yards would be a gold mine for me. Your car looks great. I wanna see another pic when you get the centre caps on.

Sorry, just saw this. I've yet to refinish the wheels, but I have installed the center caps.

My "new" engine has serious blowby. The whole engine was covered in oil and was losing about a quart every 100 miles or so. I did a compression test and 1,2 and 4 are right at 180 and 3 is at 150. I put ATF in the spark plug whole and let it soak for a while and then added a quart of ATF to the oil and drove for a bit hoping it's a stuck ring and trying to free it, but no luck so far. I steam cleaned the engine and then drilled a large hole in the oil cap and installed a 1"npt x 3/4" barbed elbow and then ran a hose that is about 3' long out of it. I also changed the oil at the same time. Well, I've put about 65 miles on it so far and not a drop of oil on the engine or ground. It usually would drip about a 1/4 of a quart off the engine when I would park. Also, the oil level hasn't moved. I would usually have to add some by now and the oil is very clean where it is usually black in a short time. I know this is temporary until I figure out if I want to put another engine in or sell it, but it makes it driveable for now. It's a shame because it runs pretty good.

[Eaglefreek]

To bring this back up to speed and to keep everything in one thread for my own purposes, I'm going to post this link here. You'll have to read it to get filled in. http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...ght=crossroads

So I decided to pull the engine and see if there was anything obvious.




After disassembly, the top rings on pistons 2 and 3 were broken and the rest of the rings had almost no tension. My dad, a retired machinist, is going to come by tomorrow morning and check clearances for me. I'm going to try to get away with a hone and some new rings and maybe rod bearings. Crank spins freely and has zero end play and doesn't leak at the seals, so I'm not sure I want to touch it.

[Eaglefreek]

The engine checked out good, so I ordered some standard rings, and rod bearings. I honed the cylinders and installed new valve seals. I got the engine installed and running yesterday, but it had a miss. I had installed new plugs and wires just before taking the engine out, so I dismissed them. I changed out the IAC coolant temp sensor and fuel pressure regulator with no change. Inspected all the hoses and used a whole can of brake cleaner to try to find a vacuum leak without any luck. I decided to pull the plugs and the first one I pulled had zero gap. I must have hit with the spring compressor when changing out the valve seals. The other plugs were fine and the miss disappeared. Car is running great and no evidence of any blowby or any leaks.

[Eaglefreek]

Well, hopefully the third time is a charm. The engine I installed still used a quart of oil every 200 miles and ran like crap. As mentioned in another post, I bought an Aspire for it's engine and I pulled it out a couple weeks ago and a couple days ago, I pulled the engine out of my Festiva. I've got the engine ready to drop in, but I wanted to replace my inner tie rods while I had the engine out, but it appears the right bushing is wasted, so I ordered a power rack and waiting for it before I install the engine and transmission. It looks like it would be a bear to replace the rack with the engine still in the car.

[Eaglefreek]

I got the rack Monday and installed it and the engine yesterday. I ordered the power rack from Detroit Axle on Amazon and just like the other forum member, I received a manual rack. I buttoned it up today and it took it for a very brief drive since the tags expired and it seems to run better than it ever has.

[RdstrBlk]

Congrats!! You should be just fine with a manual rack these cars weigh nothing and you'll get more driver feedback

[Eaglefreek]

Congrats!! You should be just fine with a manual rack these cars weigh nothing and you'll get more driver feedback

Yeah, but one of the "tricks" is to install a power rack, but don't install the pump or lines. It has a quicker steering ratio than the manual.