'89 Festiva--feasible for a college kid in 2017?

[TominMO]

One set of Metro 13" rims with Firestone Winterforce 155/80-13 tires. Metro rims are the perfect cheap upgrade.
Another set of Metro rims with 4-season tires, like these.
Use your best 12" tire for the spare, and toss the space-saver tire. I think the 165/70-13 will fit in the spare tire well too, but not sure. It's about 1/4" more diameter.

IMO this is a perfect setup for a stock, DD Festiva in a heavy-snow state.

Make sure your Metro rims are 13"! Before 1995, they were 12".

Other carby-specific tips:
Add gasoline dryer in the winter months.
Keep an extra fuel filter (and the tools to change it) in the car at all times. My rule of thumb is that carby fuel filters last about 10K miles before clogging up. Also, change it in the fall to get you through the winter.

For heat:
Make sure your fresh-air damper is completely closed! Or you will be pulling cold air in, no matter what. Pull the glove box and the fresh-air hose to check the damper door. The hinge has plastic parts that will get brittle and crack, and the door will never fully close after that. You can duct-tape it closed for the winter, and use a window defroster spray. Another way to block it off is to cover the intake (accessed thru the square plate in the engine bay on the pass. side) with aluminum foil and a rubber band/zip-tie.

You can put cardboard in front of the radiator for less heat loss, and cover the bumper openings, and passenger-side grill opening.

When it's cold, let the engine fully warm up at idle, or it will take a long time to warm up when driving.

All this should make it at least decent in the winter, considering you will be wearing winter clothing anyway.

BTW, Aspires have far better heat, and no need to cover stuff or fix damper doors. Plus better brakes, and 13" rims.

[justinhw]

Thanks, the scrapyard around here has a 94 aspire that I was going to pillage the front hub and rear axle off of- does anyone know if the stock festiva shocks/struts will bolt up or do I need to take the aspire ones? Anything else I can take of the aspire to upgrade?

[TominMO]

Thanks, the scrapyard around here has a 94 aspire that I was going to pillage the front hub and rear axle off of- does anyone know if the stock festiva shocks/struts will bolt up or do I need to take the aspire ones? Anything else I can take of the aspire to upgrade?

Yeah, the struts will bolt right up.

Get the Aspire seats too. Better quality and more comfortable; easy swap writeup here.

[ryanprins13]

Thanks, the scrapyard around here has a 94 aspire that I was going to pillage the front hub and rear axle off of- does anyone know if the stock festiva shocks/struts will bolt up or do I need to take the aspire ones? Anything else I can take of the aspire to upgrade?

https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40545

One set of Metro 13" rims with Firestone Winterforce 155/80-13 tires. Metro rims are the perfect cheap upgrade.
Another set of Metro rims with 4-season tires, like these.
Use your best 12" tire for the spare, and toss the space-saver tire. I think the 165/70-13 will fit in the spare tire well too, but not sure. It's about 1/4" more diameter.

IMO this is a perfect setup for a stock, DD Festiva in a heavy-snow state.

Make sure your Metro rims are 13"! Before 1995, they were 12".

Other carby-specific tips:
Add gasoline dryer in the winter months.
Keep an extra fuel filter (and the tools to change it) in the car at all times. My rule of thumb is that carby fuel filters last about 10K miles before clogging up. Also, change it in the fall to get you through the winter.

For heat:
Make sure your fresh-air damper is completely closed! Or you will be pulling cold air in, no matter what. Pull the glove box and the fresh-air hose to check the damper door. The hinge has plastic parts that will get brittle and crack, and the door will never fully close after that. You can duct-tape it closed for the winter, and use a window defroster spray. Another way to block it off is to cover the intake (accessed thru the square plate in the engine bay on the pass. side) with aluminum foil and a rubber band/zip-tie.

You can put cardboard in front of the radiator for less heat loss, and cover the bumper openings, and passenger-side grill opening.

When it's cold, let the engine fully warm up at idle, or it will take a long time to warm up when driving.

All this should make it at least decent in the winter, considering you will be wearing winter clothing anyway.

BTW, Aspires have far better heat, and no need to cover stuff or fix damper doors. Plus better brakes, and 13" rims.

Not so sure about 2 of your heat tips although you could try them.
Depends how cold it is i guess but here if you recirculate cabin air instead of drawing fresh air the windows fog and then ice up in under 5 min even if you try not to breathe.
Letting the car fully warm up before driving? Big waste of gas and if its below -10f that'l probably take half an hour. Its only 6 miles @60mph for it to fully warm up the coolant in -30 without letting it idle longer than it takes to scrape windows.



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[TominMO]

https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40545



Not so sure about 2 of your heat tips although you could try them.
Depends how cold it is i guess but here if you recirculate cabin air instead of drawing fresh air the windows fog and then ice up in under 5 min even if you try not to breathe.
Letting the car fully warm up before driving? Big waste of gas and if its below -10f that'l probably take half an hour. Its only 6 miles @60mph for it to fully warm up the coolant in -30 without letting it idle longer than it takes to scrape windows.

Yeah, depends on the situation. If you're only driving a few miles, then why bother with full warmup, agreed.

With ambient air @ -10F (!), I'd completely block the grill and bumper openings. I use duct/duck tape on the driver side grill opening so I can easily "customize" how much to block it, depending on air temp. Everything else is blocked year round, except the driver side bumper opening on really hot days, since that opening gets to the radiator too.

The Festiva heater is notoriously inefficient and you can't even get hot air from the dash vents, which should be a capital crime. I use Fog Free or something similar to prevent the windows from fogging. Seems to work; you do get condensation still tho, just not fogging.

To prevent breath from fogging the windows, cut a small round hole in your roof and create a snorkel arrangement to breath thru. Let me know how it works out; I haven't done this. ;-)

[Rick the Quick]

I will agree the Festiva has the worst heater of any modern car. However when I am out late on a cold night I remember when I lived in Chicago and owned a 65 VW bus. In the winter I had to have an ice scraper in my hand as I was driving to scrape the ice that formed on the inside from my breath.

[TominMO]

I will agree the Festiva has the worst heater of any modern car. However when I am out late on a cold night I remember when I lived in Chicago and owned a 65 VW bus. In the winter I had to have an ice scraper in my hand as I was driving to scrape the ice that formed on the inside from my breath.

I've been there too. '78 bus.

[jawja jim]

This is making me think back to a 65 VW bus and driving it in the winter wearing a Brazilian poncho that weighed about 25 lbs. and was designed to cover a rider and much of the horse. It had armholes to allow for using the reins, and worked well for a steering wheel, too.