1991 manual -- shifter falling thru floor!

[1990new]

Follow this forum thread to find lots and lots of information about parts from Fourgreen.
They used to carry many many parts for the Pride but now it's getting more and more difficult to get those parts.
https://fordfestiva.com/forums/forum...green-grab-bag

Here is another thread that tells lots about Fourgreen

https://fordfestiva.com/forums/forum/general/general-discussion/53482-4green-part-research

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

The Kia and Mazda parts arrived!

The Kia parts (white nylon upper&lower which hold shifter ball in place, plus boot) all seem to match mine. The boot seems to have a metal ring of sorted embedded into it at its top surface so it stays inside the "cylinder" where the shifter ball with its top&bottom white nylon bushings and spring all live. It's really going to take some careful stretching to get over the place where the lateral bolt goes in at the bottom. Should I perhaps dunk it in some hot water to soften it up? I don't want to damage it with screwdrivers or whatever I use to coax it on.

I also purchased part #14 from the KiaPartsNow diagram -- it's a "3D" superset of the Festiva 2D gasket with the same layout for the four upward-pointing bolts. See photo.

100_6623.JPG

I'm wondering whether I should try to buy part #2 (the rigid connection to the gearbox) to make this more Kia than Festiva. What are the odds that the Kia part #2 is the same length as the Festiva part so that it's a direct swap?

Pretty low, I would think. There wouldn't be any reason for it to be the same.

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Duplicate post -- to be deleted.

[1990new]

You can try hot water... iirc it did have to be stretched quite a bit to get it on but I did get mine out without splitting it. Don't use a screwdriver to help.. use some rounded plastic object that would break before it split the rubber if you need help stretching it. The stabilizer bar that attaches to the transmission in attached to the center part which is attached to the housing by the hardened rubber. I'm surprised that you can buy it separately. If you plan to order it I would make sure I could return it for a refund.

Dont know how to delete the duplicate post but you can edit it and then delete the information in it and then save it.

[WmWatt]

It might help to lubricate the rubber with liquid detergent like when removing tires from rims, a small container from the dollar store and squirt it on.

[1990new]

It might help to lubricate the rubber with liquid detergent like when removing tires from rims, a small container from the dollar store and squirt it on.

excellent idea

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

In case I tear the boot during installation, I ordered a lifetime supply (ten) more of them from Kia at $6 each.

I checked with KIA regarding possibly switching to Rio parts #2 and 6 per the parts diagram. NO-GO on that -- Kia has only one #6 and zero #2 nationwide.

So, now that I know more-or-less how things are put together, I started fiddling with my AK daily driver. I pulled the shifter UP so that the ball/etc when into the cylinder that's still in the car. I fully expected it to fall right back down through the floor, but it stayed right there! I drove it around town a bit and it continued to stay in place.

So .. what's going on? I think maybe all I need to do here is inject some "flexible hardening compound" as mentioned by 1990new in post #6 above and be done with it (at least for now, so I can go fight other fires for a while), Any suggestions on exactly what I should use. How about this "FlexSeal" stuff that the guy with the squeaky voice sells on middle-of-the-night TV infomercials?

[rickbz28]

Urethane used to install windshields