What to look for when buying a Festiva?

[cmhunt]

What should I look at when buying a Festiva? What are the big problems I should watch out for? I've seen an '88 for sale and I'm thinking about buying it. The ad says that the e-brake and the speedo don't work. How hard are those to fix?

Thanks for your help!

CMHunt

[WmWatt]

The e-brake could be a few things, rusted broken cable, rusted frozen links (clevis pins behind brake drum). I replaced my cable for $130 from Ford back when they still carried Festiva parts. Aside from tight bolts it was not a problem. Some people fix broken cables with cable clamps. To free the clevis pins I took the brakes apart, put the pins in a vice, and sprayed and tapped them for a week to brake them free, then replaced the pins with drilled bolts. For advice on speedometer cables search back posting in this forum as there have been questions about it before.
Good luck.
PS You should add the city to your profile.

[ejp2fast]

speedo cable is pretty easy to do... unplug from trans, then take the 5 screws out of bezel and unplug connectors.. then pull the cluster towards the steering wheel (make sure the cable grommet at the firewall is pulled down)..

[David88]

Look at the metal brake lines where they run along underneath the floor of the car. They are under the car where the gas filler door is on the left hand side. The fuel lines and brake lines all run together and is they are flaky rusty you may want to look for a different car. Look at the CV shaft boots for tears. Look for rusted exhaust pipes. But if you live outside of the rust belt you should be ok as for rust. Check under the oil fill cap/inside the valve cover for sludge.

[ejp2fast]

^hey, you can't be THAT picky on a 16-21 year old car... but yeah, things to consider needing replaced eventually...

[drof 89]

If it's a few hundered bucks buy it!

[hawkdoc60]

Check underneath the car very good for flaky rust on the frame rail. I had to make one of mine a parts car because of this. Both frame rails were rusted through and I could see the car bowing slightly underneath in that area.

[ejp2fast]

If it's a few hundered bucks buy it!

few hundred or ONE HUNDRED! I'm Home of the $100 Festiva baby!

[Ogrestiva]

RUST!RUST!RUST! especially around the support beams and under the bumper, and check the C/V joints and control arms

[CharlieZ]

Front crossmember especially where the transmission support attaches. Unibody structure at rear suspension attach points. Brake lines, as someone said above, AND inside the front wheel housings where the lines make a 90 degree bend at the hole from the engine compartment.