crashed my festiva

[walth]

RE: Post #85

Did the sway bar survive that?

Surprisingly yes. Still haven't wrapped my head around how the lca bent that bad and pulled the sway bar with it but not the front end to that degree. The frame is tweaked somewhere but we didn't see any bends/crumples anywhere.


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[Greywolf]

A couple things/directions my head went in were:

If the sway bar got turned with the bent rod - it could tear out the bolts that hold the sway bar bracket in place, even though the bar itself is spring steel.

I watch the videos Advancedynamix shares and wonder a lot about that front suspension since it IS so basic. I freak out about how strong it has to be, and note also the posts about front cage straightness. Side to side is the rods you showed, front to rear is handled by the sway bar itself, and up & down is all from the shock/spring tower which is McPhereson-like. So it is a three point control system in a stripped down form.

To put a heavier than stock front sway on a Festy risks a lot of damage in a situation like that, but it also adds structural strength I would think because it helps prevent what you showed in the picture. The stronger bar would transfer the energy to the mounting point OF the bar.

By doing so it would transfer it to the front structure though, and could tweak it.

It all makes me wonder about tube frame front cages for the Festiva, or braces that could be added in some way.


Ford Mustang race cars often have bars added that go from the center of the firewall on top, to the tops of the strut or shock & spring towers on each side

While we don't think of ourselves in the same category - I wonder what Advancedynamix thinks along those lines?

[fudge]

Update
this weekend I went to an auto salvage yard that a guy at advance with an aspire told me about. There were two festivas and I was able to get the rest of the parts I need and more. the red fender I got was dented so I am now rolling around with a blue grill and fender. personally I never liked the look of different color panels on cars, never even liked when people made their hood black (or some other color) when it wasn't carbon fiber. so now I have different colored panels as my punishment haha.
My car is back on the road and fully clothed!

Anyways now I am getting ready for my first autocross in my festiva this Saturday. So excited!

A couple of screw heads broke off around my fender and other parts. now some screws are stuck with no head. most importantly the screw at the bottom of the fender. I tried drilling through them but it didn't work too well. I think I just need a better drill bit but what do you guys do when this happens?

[zoe60]

I always start with a real small drill bit and try to drill right in the center of the bolt. then move up in size till you can get it out with an easy out. Sometimes I can drill one to the point where there is not much left and then sort of pick the rest out with something sharp an pointy. You will get the hang of it. Good luck!

[william]

Not sure what screws your talking about bit if it's the ones that go into th wheel liner, then they go into a clip and the clip could be cut or pried out with the screw left in. Then just replace the clip and screw.
If it's a bolt that holds the fender on then do as zoe said

[Dragonhealer]

Mazda and KIA screws are fairly hard. You will want C7 cobalt drills, 135 degree split point. Machine shop supplier or ebay. The short screw maching lengh drills are the most robust.

Don't run the drill too fast, medium pressure, use a cutting fluid, and don't forget safety glasses as this operation can often shatter a twist drill.

[skeeters_keeper]

If any of the bolt is sitting slightly above the surrounding material, I take an old nut, weld it to the bolt, and spin it out. I've found that it works about 9 times out of 10. The intense heat from welding helps loosen it, and then you have a nice hex to grab ahold of.

Of course that requires a welder...

I don't think I'm going to make this AutoX, but I hope you have fun!!

[fudge]

I was lucky that the welding place I go to was able to drill through that screw in seconds hahaha.

So I have now bought 3 sets of lug nuts that all dont work. The lug nuts/ lock key that I have now are all rusting/stripping so I need new lug nuts. problem is with my new extended wheel studs the standard acorn nuts screw all the way on and arent even close to my wheel. I ordered open ended lug nuts hoping that they would solve the problem. they fit fine, but they are 19mm and I cant fit a socket on to screw them on tight.

long story short do you guys know and good lug nuts for extended wheel studs? I just need to find out the ones that came on my car and get a new set of those.

also I destroyed my passenger seat to get the bracket off to attempt to put bucket seats in. It didn't work out and I want a passenger seat again but my parents threw my old one away. I saw many options for seat swaps but it seems like most of them needed parts from the old seat. All I have is the bracket from the bottom of the seat. should I just look for an aspire seat?

[william]

I use ford taurus lug nuts there open end and can be gotten at any junk yard or parts store. Dorman sells them in single packs.

[walth]

You still need the festy seat and it needs to be EFI. I'll ask skeeter if he has one you can have. My car has aspire seats and you might remember them from AX.

no idea how to help you with the lug nuts though. I'd check ebay and scour the pics looking for ones like your old ones.

2017.08.12 Andy Autocross.jpg

pic credit to Cliff Palmer Jr from this weekend

[w4rkry]

How much are you willing to spend for lugs?
Muteki SR48 steel lug nuts are fairly well regarded and open ended, and not bad for 50-70 bucks. If you don't need fancy extended ones, there are cheaper shorter options out there.

[walth]

They have to fit his wheels cuz the access is super tight.


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[w4rkry]

They have to fit his wheels cuz the access is super tight.


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The Muteki are purposely made to be thinner than standard open lugs, so they may work for him.

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[fudge]

You still need the festy seat and it needs to be EFI. I'll ask skeeter if he has one you can have. My car has aspire seats and you might remember them from AX.

no idea how to help you with the lug nuts though. I'd check ebay and scour the pics looking for ones like your old ones.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21379[/ATTACH]

pic credit to Cliff Palmer Jr from this weekend

Oh dang I didnt know there was a difference in festy seats from carb to efi. I still need to give you guys the LCA I have that I ordered.

I looked at the lug nuts recommended but I ended up ordering the same ones that came on my car after I finally found them. Now I have 3 extra sets of brand new lug nuts LOL.

Sweet pic! Do aspire seat brackets line up with the festy mount points? Thats probably an obvious no I'm assuming

[walth]

Correct. They do not but the cushion and seat back will work. We have a passenger rail for you... but...shoot. That might be a carby rail. Maybe we can modify it for you. We're doing a ton of festy work starting Thursday thru Sat/Sun you could hang out. Not sure if we could do a seat mod this weekend but just depends on time.


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