I Am New Here...

[Festie]

Well as it says I am a newb...anyway a friend of mine just bought a Festiva for 500 bucks and just had to replace the ball joints. Anyway he does not have internet access so I will be posting for him. Anyway here are a few questions that we have about the car. He got all the new parts on and it was running great...great enough that he sold his other car and made this is DD. Well he was on the way to work the other day and on the way he noticed a loud humming noise coming from the front of the car. He thinks that this is tranny related. Anyone ever have anything like this before.
I was looking through the site here and it is a wealth of information. Seems to be really one of the better places on line for this type of thing.
Also I had a few questions about adding some performance to the car also. What is the main way that people go about making these cars fast? Boost? Swaps? I belong to Michigan Grand Prix Club (MIGPC) and I have access to a few L67 (supercharged 3800) blocks and tops ends. Would it be worth it trying to stuff one of them in there. Anyway thanks for the help in advanced.
Dan

[jglutz]

The noise...what kind of tranny? All speeds? All Gears? Gets louder as the car speed increases? Any vibration in the stteering wheel?

[Axlander9289]

If it's a manual tranny, pull out the speedometer gear which acts as a dipstick and check the fluid. It may be a good idea to check to see if the CV boots are intact as well, especially if the noise is more pronounced in turns or during suspension travel. Check the archives for performance mods. There's a ton of engine swaps people have done. As far as I know, no one has ever stuffed any V6 in the front of a Festiva. The back is another story, but that's all about how much modification you want to do, and how much your buddy wants to spend.

[Festie]

Sorry I should have been more detailed...he said that when he was going down the highway it just started humming bad I think that he said that it was all gears. I also think that he said the CV joints are new so he dont think that is is.

As for the V6 I got to looking under the hood of his Festie and under the hood of my prix and I do not think that there is any way that this is going to work out. I may crawl under there with him and take a look under and see what all is going to have to be done.
Thanks
Again
Dan

[Maxtiva]

Swap this Festiva with a BP (1.8 DOHC Mazda engine) and you almost double the HP. This is the best performance upgrade that I did on my Festiva.

[jglutz]

^^He's right...when your done change the front wheel bearings.
CV's: Humming is not the typical noise as much as 'clicking/grinding" when turning.
Transmission fluid: Buying a used car...good idea to drain and refill the tranny fluid...measure the amount you take out. It should be realtivly clean if there is no internal problems. When the cv's are changed the fluid is drained out first, if not, it will drain when the tripods are pulled...just wondering if it was ever refilled properly.
Wheel Bearings: Make the noise you describe...lift the car and spin the wheels..they should make very little noise. Also grab the wheel at the 12 and 6 o'clock position and shake the wheel...repeat at the 3 and 6 o'clock postion...the wheel should be very secure...While you have the wheel up...pull the wheel cover and look at the spindle nut...the perimeter area should be clean and be covered with CLEAN grease. If the wheel rattles, it not necessary wheel bearings. I fthe grease is black, dried, filled with grit it most likely is.

This is just a start.

[scitzz]

I would suspect the wheel bearings, going by your description. Also, most cv's are remanned. I once had one SNAP on me 2 days after install!