Joining the club with my red '92 Festiva L

[asienk]

Just picked her up and drove 125 miles home. She has spent her life in California and has an extremely clean body with zero rust. The car seems to have been maintained very well by an older couple. I apologize for the photos as I got home at night and lighting in my garage is terrible so I had to adjust the contrast to make the car more visible.

This is my first Festiva.

There isn't much she needs other than some pads and rotors up front. Struts have been replaced recently and I'm thinking of lowering her an inch or two. New tires and steel wheels have been painted black.
I will be tinting rear windows with 30% 3M and the fronts with 70%. I'm also planning on adding a 4 inch strip to the top of the windshield, I'm thinking 30% as well for that.

The interior is very clean with no rips in the seats and not a single crack on the dashboard. All though there is some overspray on the dash which I'll have to figure out how to remove. I've considered just throwing a dash cover on it but I don't really like the look, especially since it will be garaged so sun damage isn't much of a concern. The panels in the rear have quite a bit of scratches on them and my plan is to have them wrapped in suede (some think it's a bit tacky but I feel like it would be a cool look, especially in a red suede that matches the paint job).

The seats are in good condition but I want to replace the front with something more confortable. I don't think they're OEM seats but maybe someone can confirm that once I upload pics. I'll probably just go to a pick n pull and find something with good lumbar support for my fractured spine.

I am currently looking for a cargo cover (I've just posted in the for sale section). But something I've been considered is a rear seat delete and a cargo cover that will go all the way to the front seats. I carry a lot of expensive equipment with me that I need to keep out of public eye, hence the dark tints.

I am planning on getting the JDM aero grill and mudflaps next month. I also need to find some nice mirrors as the ones that came with the car are very ugly, but do the job for now. Anyone have recommendations for stylish mirrors with good visibility?

The car also came with the original Manual. If anyone wants pics from specific pages I'll be happy to oblige, but I will not do a full scan of the book as its over 250 pages.

I will be posting pictures of the interior when I have some free time and sunlight.


image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg

[bravekozak]

welcomsign

I am always amazed and appreciate looking at rust free cars.
Nice.

[firebush357]

Congratz! looks like an awesome find. Have the Bumper covers been painted? Iv'e never seen them that black stock.

[asienk]

Congratz! looks like an awesome find. Have the Bumper covers been painted? Iv'e never seen them that black stock.

I believe they have been painted at some point, they're not straight black but do look very clean

[asienk]

Here's some interior pics and another of the outside. I'm about to go on a 500 miles trip up through the grapevine. Let's see how she does on those hills!

image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg

[firebush357]

Nice Seats!

[ryanprins13]

Welcome! These are great cars and were glad you found the forum! How many miles on your festiva? I was going to say your brave for making that long of a trip in a car you just bought but then i remembered that 2 weeks after i bought my festiva i did a 1500mile trip. it was my first car and the farthest i had ever driven in a trip before was 140 miles and that was the day before to get tires, lol. Still my daily driver and lots of good memories in it.
The cover for the back- do you have plans for it? I havent had my back seat in for quite a few years. Think youll make just a cover? Or a thinner plywood box that you can paint and make it narrow enough to remove out the hatch?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[1990new]

Welcome asienk... it helps everyone if you put info about your Festiva in your signature block.
The front covers are not OEM. They look nice though, and I know what you mean about the comfort of the seats. Seems the L model seats had less dense foam in them. A better thing though is to upgrade your seats. The ones in my Trixie are from an 88 Mercury Tracer. I used the Festiva bottom frame with the Tracer foam and covers and the complete Tracer backs. Support is 100% better.
You will find several posts about seat upgrades and how to do them in the forum.

Be kind to your Festiva...give it a name!

[asienk]

Welcome! These are great cars and were glad you found the forum! How many miles on your festiva? I was going to say your brave for making that long of a trip in a car you just bought but then i remembered that 2 weeks after i bought my festiva i did a 1500mile trip. it was my first car and the farthest i had ever driven in a trip before was 140 miles and that was the day before to get tires, lol. Still my daily driver and lots of good memories in it.
The cover for the back- do you have plans for it? I havent had my back seat in for quite a few years. Think youll make just a cover? Or a thinner plywood box that you can paint and make it narrow enough to remove out the hatch?

The car has 177,000 miles on it. I just made it to Tulare (1 hour south of Fresno) from San Diego. No issues and the little car made it through the grapevine without any issues. I was surprised that I was able to keep my speed up those long steep hills in 4th gear.
As for the cover, I'm considering removing the rear seats and making a cover out of plywood. Although a box doesn't sound too bad, I could even add a lock to it and maybe bolt it down.

[asienk]

Welcome asienk... it helps everyone if you put info about your Festiva in your signature block.
The front covers are not OEM. They look nice though, and I know what you mean about the comfort of the seats. Seems the L model seats had less dense foam in them. A better thing though is to upgrade your seats. The ones in my Trixie are from an 88 Mercury Tracer. I used the Festiva bottom frame with the Tracer foam and covers and the complete Tracer backs. Support is 100% better.
You will find several posts about seat upgrades and how to do them in the forum.

Be kind to your Festiva...give it a name!

Thanks, I updated my signature but I still haven't thought of a name for it. I've never named a car before lol...
I'm probably just going to buy some cheap racing style bucket seats.

[lessersivad]

First of all, Welcome to the forum!

Now that's out of the way here's a suggestion.

IF your Festiva definitely needs the front rotors, you may as well start planning a brake swap. Do a search, you'll find loads of info.

The reason I'm saying this is the front rotors are 'captured' by the hub. Which means the hub assembly needs to come apart to replace the rotors. (You may already know this being you have a repair manual).

Where as if you upgrade your brakes to an Aspire or Kia Rio setup the rotors can be removed WITHOUT a complete disassembly of the hub/knuckle.

Plus it gives you a more common wheel bolt pattern and bigger brakes. Being you posted you haul expensive equipment that is probably only going to add weight (depending on whatever kind of stuff you're hauling).

Even more reason to upgrade the brakes before you start adding 'bling'.

[asienk]

First of all, Welcome to the forum!

Now that's out of the way here's a suggestion.

IF your Festiva definitely needs the front rotors, you may as well start planning a brake swap. Do a search, you'll find loads of info.

The reason I'm saying this is the front rotors are 'captured' by the hub. Which means the hub assembly needs to come apart to replace the rotors. (You may already know this being you have a repair manual).

Where as if you upgrade your brakes to an Aspire or Kia Rio setup the rotors can be removed WITHOUT a complete disassembly of the hub/knuckle.

Plus it gives you a more common wheel bolt pattern and bigger brakes. Being you posted you haul expensive equipment that is probably only going to add weight (depending on whatever kind of stuff you're hauling).

Even more reason to upgrade the brakes before you start adding 'bling'.

Thank you for the advice. I'm getting the pads and rotors replaced right now, $80. The equipment I carry doesn't weigh anything, about 20-30 lb. so I won't be doing a swap just yet but it is something I will be planning for the future once the wallet allows it. I also really like the look of the steel wheels, so I'll be keeping them until I find a set of wheels that I like more.

[ryanprins13]

Thank you for the advice. I'm getting the pads and rotors replaced right now, $80. The equipment I carry doesn't weigh anything, about 20-30 lb. so I won't be doing a swap just yet but it is something I will be planning for the future once the wallet allows it. I also really like the look of the steel wheels, so I'll be keeping them until I find a set of wheels that I like more.

Thats cheap. I think i was quoted $300 per side about 7 years ago. Must have found a good deal on the bearings, pads and rotors. Actually, labour would be more than that per side here! How did it go? They did replace it all for $80 and it works good or what?