Ultimate festiva discussion

[Festiver]

The rod ratio is more of a problem than the strength of the rod. Look to the DOHC 1.3 in the Festiva GTX for your holy grail.
I have been toying with trailing links like what the Rio uses since my first build. The problem is getting the flex matched to the vehicle weight and TQ. The factory sway bar is pretty amazing, but it would probably be better if it wasn't connected in the middle.
The factory sway bar is an arc made of spring steel. It flexes under driving torque and allows these little cars to hook up like they do.
At 181hp, Tweak will still hook up in the rain under full throttle. This is amazing! 3 times the factory TQ rating and no TQ steer or traction issues.

Lol ok so b6t stock is great and and suspension is great besides the know advanced setup anything you'd change like hiemlink LCA mounts or solid swaybar mounts?

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[FestYboy]

Remove the swaybar if possible, this allows greater articulation at the corners and also better control over rough corners.

[ryanprins13]

Ultimate festiva discussion

Sorry about that street car/ autox beast ok

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So if i understand correctly you want to keep this thread to an ultimate street/autox festiva? You can have a lot of ultimate festivas that are completely different.
1. Drag festiva: I think eurotiva had an 11second fwd, ive seen 2 rwd drag festivas with massive slicks. Smaller but possibly better version of that is the shogun.
2. Track, street, autox festiva: read the threads about pedro, tweak and ultimate suspension
3. Mpg festiva: i havent heard of one holy grail build, everyone does something different. Ive Never heard of the engine advance mentioned above. You could probably read a ton of threads and make a super fuel efficient festiva but as always, it would cost more than you save and thats usually the point.
4. Hauler festiva: depends what you want to haul, alaskaguy had boat pontoons on his roof, ive had 700 pounds of sheep wool in the back and some guys tow big trailers, all that requires different builds but i haven't seen an ultimate one for any of those. Most buy a pickup. I am trying to build a roadtrip/towing festiva. If you add a bigger engine to what i plan to do it may be something someone would want to copy, i have to try it first though.
5. Iceracer: theres a bunch of guys around here who do well with them, i think icedawg's is the most documented but not sure
6.snow festiva: never seen one built. If my cross canada trip works nice, and my summer trip to the arctic works nice the following year i want to build the ultimate snow festiva to pull a trailer north of the arctic circle in the winter. Lifted a bit, tall skinny tires, good chains, bigger motor, auxillary heater and lots of other goodies. Thats at least 5 years off though.
7. Sled pull festiva: just a daydream of mine that no one would ever build. I envision a C-15 or some big diesel semi engine mounted in a cradle in the front, rear subframe for the rear axle and hitch but no extra support in the middle. Then proceed to twist a festiva right in half. I would love to see that. But a full frame would be cool too.
I love watching this stuff

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ8mnHicafM

^i think the one at 1:55 is the best, i would love to see a festiva doing this. Britstiva comes right after the one at 1:55 lol
8. Ultimate speaker/jukebox festiva: Some guy on here was building one but i cannot remember who
9: my lunch break is over, :p

[Fecomatter]

reading charlies comments makes me happy.

[Advancedynamix]

Lol ok so b6t stock is great and and suspension is great besides the know advanced setup anything you'd change like hiemlink LCA mounts or solid swaybar mounts?

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Just poly lower control arm to body mounts and poly sway bar to frame bushings if your stock ones are damaged. Under extreme cornering, the stock rubber control arm to body bushings displace. I use supertech bushings. I have supertech sway bar bushings on my current car and they seem to work well. Stay away from excessive use of heim joints and spherical bearings on cars that use radial tires. You want flex in your components or things break more often.
So often I see people focusing on making their cars rigid. To me, this seems like a poor way to set up a car. Grip is the most important part of going fast. If you want a fast car, you have to let it flex and follow the surface that it's on. I have taken "race" parts off many professionsl road race cars and replaced them with factory components in order to get flex back, and it has always reduced lap times. Laying down 500hp in a 1500lb car sounds great on paper or an internet forum, but fast lap times are not always about acceleration, they are about maintaining speed throughout the entire course. This is a game of fenesse and balance. Learn how to dance a compliant chassis and you'll be fast while looking slow. The most important component of the ultimate street car is in the drivers seat.

[firebush357]

Just poly lower control arm to body mounts and poly sway bar to frame bushings if your stock ones are damaged. Under extreme cornering, the stock rubber control arm to body bushings displace. I use supertech bushings. I have supertech sway bar bushings on my current car and they seem to work well. Stay away from excessive use of heim joints and spherical bearings on cars that use radial tires. You want flex in your components or things break more often.
So often I see people focusing on making their cars rigid. To me, this seems like a poor way to set up a car. Grip is the most important part of going fast. If you want a fast car, you have to let it flex and follow the surface that it's on. I have taken "race" parts off many professionsl road race cars and replaced them with factory components in order to get flex back, and it has always reduced lap times. Laying down 500hp in a 1500lb car sounds great on paper or an internet forum, but fast lap times are not always about acceleration, they are about maintaining speed throughout the entire course. This is a game of fenesse and balance. Learn how to dance a compliant chassis and you'll be fast while looking slow. The most important component of the ultimate street car is in the drivers seat.

He's right... It's really hard to drive a race car without a Drivers Seat!

[Festiver]

Just poly lower control arm to body mounts and poly sway bar to frame bushings if your stock ones are damaged. Under extreme cornering, the stock rubber control arm to body bushings displace. I use supertech bushings. I have supertech sway bar bushings on my current car and they seem to work well. Stay away from excessive use of heim joints and spherical bearings on cars that use radial tires. You want flex in your components or things break more often.
So often I see people focusing on making their cars rigid. To me, this seems like a poor way to set up a car. Grip is the most important part of going fast. If you want a fast car, you have to let it flex and follow the surface that it's on. I have taken "race" parts off many professionsl road race cars and replaced them with factory components in order to get flex back, and it has always reduced lap times. Laying down 500hp in a 1500lb car sounds great on paper or an internet forum, but fast lap times are not always about acceleration, they are about maintaining speed throughout the entire course. This is a game of fenesse and balance. Learn how to dance a compliant chassis and you'll be fast while looking slow. The most important component of the ultimate street car is in the drivers seat.

True true hopefully gonna get some track practice the 30th but ok I didn't think the festiva was that close to being great factory ok so best street track combo is a festiva with poly bushings a stock b6t and the advanced suspension huh that's pretty easy lol

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[Advancedynamix]

That's what has amazed me about these cars since my first track day in one. The chassis is far superior to 95 percent of the street cars at the track. Here is a list of the most beneficial mods.

1. Properly set up shocks. The stock shock valving is way off the mark for a good handling car. The front needs way slower rebound dampening and slightly slower compression. The rear needs more compression dampening and the shock length is about 3“ too long. Contrary to popular belief, chassis tuning is NOT a matter of spring rates and sway bars. You need to start with proper valving. I wasn't the pioneer who first used VW mk2 Coilovers on the front and MK1 on the rear. I was simply the first to freely pass the secrets on to everyone. This trick has been used on many many lightweight cars. This chassis is the best one I've done this to though. The suspension that has been come to known as “Andvance“ for these cars was being used on Tim DeRonne's SCCA ITD race Festiva while I was still wasting my time on Rolex Cup Porsche 911s. Carrera built him a setup like what I freely exploit on this site. I doubt it hurt their bottom line at all, but I can't take credit as the original tuner to use this formula. In short, get your valving right, then your spring rates and then add anti roll if needed.

2. 180-200hp engine with smooth reliable TQ curve. (B6t is the easiest way to bolt this in and go). There are lots of ways to skin this cat, but why waste 2 years and thousands of dollars on an engine build when there is a great option already available for cheap?

3- Sticky tires on good racing wheels. These cars have one of the most dialed in chassis that I've ever driven, and it shines on race rubber. This will take all that extra money that you were going to spend on trick engine stuff and fancy 1 off control arms. At the heat of my testing I was dropping 600-800 a week on race tires. The Festiva has big potential, but little tiny tires. When you're turning Porsche GT3 lap times in a car that has 1/8th the rubber, they get a workout. It was worth every penny spent.

4. Quicker steering rack ratio. The Festiva or Aspire power rack is an awesome upgrade. Your arms will thank you and your skill level will improve faster as lines are easier to connect when you don't have to spin the wheel like a pirate ship in a hurricane.

5- Racing seats and 5 (or more) pt harnesses. The stock seats are a joke. These cars will hold over 3 lateral G's in a corner for a couple seconds at a time on race rubber. It will make you really really sore from trying stay in your seat. A good comfortable race seat will support you and let you focus on your lines.

6. Weight reduction and placement. Weight is a big deal in these cars. Don't add uneccessary bracing and bars to the car to try and look race (if it ain't broke, don't put bars on it.) Try to remove as much weight as you can from the entire car. Weight behind the front axle line will work against you, so make everything back there as light as possible. The further back the weight is, the more it contributes to the pendulum effect that will reduce the speed at which you can corner. Corner speed and stability are where a well set up Festiva will shine.

7. Brake pads. I use Aspire brakes on my cars. They work great and you can still fit 13" wheels (Race tires are available in 13" that fit under a festiva) and Performance friction actually makes a race pad for them. When you're first getting used to a 180hp sub 1800 lb car on the track, you'll heat your front brakes up hot enough to start normal pads on fire. I went through 2 sets of pads a day (track day with 6-8 sessions) until I found the PFC pads. At 180hp in a 1700 lb car, your now in supercar territory. Keep that in mind.

8. Have Fun. These cars make everyone smile at the track. They draw a crowd like nothing I've brought out. There were times when I couldn't get to Tweak to rotate my tires because the crowd that was checking out the car. It was fun for me to make the car look as stock as possible. I didn't put "race" looking parts on that car because I wanted it to look like the car came from the factory capable of devouring corvettes on a race track. That was fun for me, but you may be different. Whatever makes you smile, do that.

[Festiver]

That's what has amazed me about these cars since my first track day in one. The chassis is far superior to 95 percent of the street cars at the track. Here is a list of the most beneficial mods.

1. Properly set up shocks. The stock shock valving is way off the mark for a good handling car. The front needs way slower rebound dampening and slightly slower compression. The rear needs more compression dampening and the shock length is about 3“ too long. Contrary to popular belief, chassis tuning is NOT a matter of spring rates and sway bars. You need to start with proper valving. I wasn't the pioneer who first used VW mk2 Coilovers on the front and MK1 on the rear. I was simply the first to freely pass the secrets on to everyone. This trick has been used on many many lightweight cars. This chassis is the best one I've done this to though. The suspension that has been come to known as “Andvance“ for these cars was being used on Tim DeRonne's SCCA ITD race Festiva while I was still wasting my time on Rolex Cup Porsche 911s. Carrera built him a setup like what I freely exploit on this site. I doubt it hurt their bottom line at all, but I can't take credit as the original tuner to use this formula. In short, get your valving right, then your spring rates and then add anti roll if needed.

2. 180-200hp engine with smooth reliable TQ curve. (B6t is the easiest way to bolt this in and go). There are lots of ways to skin this cat, but why waste 2 years and thousands of dollars on an engine build when there is a great option already available for cheap?

3- Sticky tires on good racing wheels. These cars have one of the most dialed in chassis that I've ever driven, and it shines on race rubber. This will take all that extra money that you were going to spend on trick engine stuff and fancy 1 off control arms. At the heat of my testing I was dropping 600-800 a week on race tires. The Festiva has big potential, but little tiny tires. When you're turning Porsche GT3 lap times in a car that has 1/8th the rubber, they get a workout. It was worth every penny spent.

4. Quicker steering rack ratio. The Festiva or Aspire power rack is an awesome upgrade. Your arms will thank you and your skill level will improve faster as lines are easier to connect when you don't have to spin the wheel like a pirate ship in a hurricane.

5- Racing seats and 5 (or more) pt harnesses. The stock seats are a joke. These cars will hold over 3 lateral G's in a corner for a couple seconds at a time on race rubber. It will make you really really sore from trying stay in your seat. A good comfortable race seat will support you and let you focus on your lines.

6. Weight reduction and placement. Weight is a big deal in these cars. Don't add uneccessary bracing and bars to the car to try and look race (if it ain't broke, don't put bars on it.) Try to remove as much weight as you can from the entire car. Weight behind the front axle line will work against you, so make everything back there as light as possible. The further back the weight is, the more it contributes to the pendulum effect that will reduce the speed at which you can corner. Corner speed and stability are where a well set up Festiva will shine.

7. Brake pads. I use Aspire brakes on my cars. They work great and you can still fit 13" wheels (Race tires are available in 13" that fit under a festiva) and Performance friction actually makes a race pad for them. When you're first getting used to a 180hp sub 1800 lb car on the track, you'll heat your front brakes up hot enough to start normal pads on fire. I went through 2 sets of pads a day (track day with 6-8 sessions) until I found the PFC pads. At 180hp in a 1700 lb car, your now in supercar territory. Keep that in mind.

8. Have Fun. These cars make everyone smile at the track. They draw a crowd like nothing I've brought out. There were times when I couldn't get to Tweak to rotate my tires because the crowd that was checking out the car. It was fun for me to make the car look as stock as possible. I didn't put "race" looking parts on that car because I wanted it to look like the car came from the factory capable of devouring corvettes on a race track. That was fun for me, but you may be different. Whatever makes you smile, do that.

Haha true thanks for all the help also roll cage? with all the high speed cornering involved and festivas know for being... Less than crash friendly did you put a cage in tweak or was it a just don't crash sort of safety measure

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[festyfreak39]

That's what has amazed me about these cars since my first track day in one. The chassis is far superior to 95 percent of the street cars at the track. Here is a list of the most beneficial mods.

1. Properly set up shocks. The stock shock valving is way off the mark for a good handling car. The front needs way slower rebound dampening and slightly slower compression. The rear needs more compression dampening and the shock length is about 3“ too long. Contrary to popular belief, chassis tuning is NOT a matter of spring rates and sway bars. You need to start with proper valving. I wasn't the pioneer who first used VW mk2 Coilovers on the front and MK1 on the rear. I was simply the first to freely pass the secrets on to everyone. This trick has been used on many many lightweight cars. This chassis is the best one I've done this to though. The suspension that has been come to known as “Andvance“ for these cars was being used on Tim DeRonne's SCCA ITD race Festiva while I was still wasting my time on Rolex Cup Porsche 911s. Carrera built him a setup like what I freely exploit on this site. I doubt it hurt their bottom line at all, but I can't take credit as the original tuner to use this formula. In short, get your valving right, then your spring rates and then add anti roll if needed.

2. 180-200hp engine with smooth reliable TQ curve. (B6t is the easiest way to bolt this in and go). There are lots of ways to skin this cat, but why waste 2 years and thousands of dollars on an engine build when there is a great option already available for cheap?

3- Sticky tires on good racing wheels. These cars have one of the most dialed in chassis that I've ever driven, and it shines on race rubber. This will take all that extra money that you were going to spend on trick engine stuff and fancy 1 off control arms. At the heat of my testing I was dropping 600-800 a week on race tires. The Festiva has big potential, but little tiny tires. When you're turning Porsche GT3 lap times in a car that has 1/8th the rubber, they get a workout. It was worth every penny spent.

4. Quicker steering rack ratio. The Festiva or Aspire power rack is an awesome upgrade. Your arms will thank you and your skill level will improve faster as lines are easier to connect when you don't have to spin the wheel like a pirate ship in a hurricane.

5- Racing seats and 5 (or more) pt harnesses. The stock seats are a joke. These cars will hold over 3 lateral G's in a corner for a couple seconds at a time on race rubber. It will make you really really sore from trying stay in your seat. A good comfortable race seat will support you and let you focus on your lines.

6. Weight reduction and placement. Weight is a big deal in these cars. Don't add uneccessary bracing and bars to the car to try and look race (if it ain't broke, don't put bars on it.) Try to remove as much weight as you can from the entire car. Weight behind the front axle line will work against you, so make everything back there as light as possible. The further back the weight is, the more it contributes to the pendulum effect that will reduce the speed at which you can corner. Corner speed and stability are where a well set up Festiva will shine.

7. Brake pads. I use Aspire brakes on my cars. They work great and you can still fit 13" wheels (Race tires are available in 13" that fit under a festiva) and Performance friction actually makes a race pad for them. When you're first getting used to a 180hp sub 1800 lb car on the track, you'll heat your front brakes up hot enough to start normal pads on fire. I went through 2 sets of pads a day (track day with 6-8 sessions) until I found the PFC pads. At 180hp in a 1700 lb car, your now in supercar territory. Keep that in mind.

8. Have Fun. These cars make everyone smile at the track. They draw a crowd like nothing I've brought out. There were times when I couldn't get to Tweak to rotate my tires because the crowd that was checking out the car. It was fun for me to make the car look as stock as possible. I didn't put "race" looking parts on that car because I wanted it to look like the car came from the factory capable of devouring corvettes on a race track. That was fun for me, but you may be different. Whatever makes you smile, do that.

Do you have the PFC part number? or a place you can buy these pads by chance? I tried the search function with no success

[william]

0466.20 is the pn I found for a 95 aspire on there site.

[Advancedynamix]

Haha true thanks for all the help also roll cage? with all the high speed cornering involved and festivas know for being... Less than crash friendly did you put a cage in tweak or was it a just don't crash sort of safety measure

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I personally don't put roll cages in cars that I use for track days, Time trials, or Autocross. Tweak only has a harness bar to support the shoulder belts.
When I first started driving Tweak in Pro Autosport events, the organizations founder, Larry Pond, went right to work to research the Festiva. He had gotten lots of complaints about how unsafe it was for me to be driving such a car at such high speeds with no roll cage, and he himself was concerned. As a retired safety engineer for several OE manufactures as well as racing equipment suppliers, Larry has access to all the SAE data on any vehicle that was imported into this country. What he found amazed him to the point where he started looking for a Festiva for himself! This is a man who raced right along side the greats like Baunderaunt and Shelby.
With that said, I would avoid hitting anything solid at high speed in these cars. I drive them like I'm riding a superbike, hitting things at speed is not an option.