Snap, crack, and popping noise & slipping clutch...

[walth]

only do one at a time and you shouldnt have any issues

[1988festivazoom]

Don't buy a oem replacment "organic" clutch get a exedy on ebay for 100$ it will never slip.

[ajbremer]

Got a used 5 Speed tranny off of a 1989 for $225...

A little update here.

A couple of days ago I called all over the state (oklahoma) and only found a couple of 5 Speed Festiva transmissions. The lowest price I found was $275. After awhile, I remembered the salvage yard just a few miles down my street and the 1989 Blue Festiva I picked off of in the past. I went over there and looked and it did have the tranny still in it. I ended up getting it for $225 and they pulled it. The only thing is, I'm sure hoping that it's a 5 speed and not a 4 speed, I really don't know how to tell the difference - they both look exactly the same so I figured it's a 5 Speed. Does anyone know how to tell the difference?

Anyway, the first thing I wanted to do was to compare the end play of the input shaft to my bad tranny. There is no play at all in the transmission I got from the junk yard and it sounds real good when I spin it. I can't feel any play at all in the shaft. I am going to replace the input shaft seal though, just to be sure.

Anyway, here's a little video of the comparison of the two transmissions. I will do other videos as I re-install the flywheel (I'll get it turned), the clutch, cv-joints, and the transmission. By the way, I bought a factory Ford Festiva Transmission book for both 4 and 5 speeds so I'm going to try to open up the bad tranny, get a rebuild kit, and fix it. Here's the video link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GLNkT6TOOg

[bravekozak]

shift

I just grabbed the back of the yoke and shifted into fifth gear. To the extreme right and push in. After I verified that, I opened my wallet up.

[ajbremer]

shift

I got in the junk yard car and shifted the lever in all 5 gears, that's how I was able to tell it was a 5-speed. (I forgot that I did that) BUT, I'm still wondering if there is a visual difference between a 4 and 5 speed - if one casting is larger than the other, etc.

[ajbremer]

Transmission done and good!

Just another update.

I faced the flywheel, bought a clutch kit and put it in, cleaned up the junk-yard transmission at the car-wash. And put it all back together again. It runs great and shifts great.

While I worked on it and cleaned it, I protected the half-axle openings by chopping up an old garden hose, increasing its diameter using masking tape, and then I plugged the holes so those splined diameters on the inside won't fall down. It also protected it from getting water into it when I cleaned it at the car wash.

I protected the speedometer opening by simply wrapping electrical tape around its opening.

I noticed that the removable speedometer gear housing/dip-stick is cast aluminum. On both the bad transmission and my 'new' junk-yard transmission, they both were cracked at the base right in front of the bolt. I'm sure that what happens is that people don't seat the speedometer housing all the way down and then when they go to tighten that bolt - it'll crack.

I also put new half-axles in.

I went on eBay and got a Ford Service Manual for all Festiva 4 and 5 speed transmissions. What a great little manual. It really breaks those transmissions down and shows really good diagrams. Maybe if I buy a couple special pullers, I can become a Festiva Tranny man!?

Thank you for all of your help here guys!

al

[JPT]

The cracked speedo hold down tab isn't really a big deal. Mine was broken when I got it and never bothered anything. The gear housing fits in the transmission so tightly that it should never pop out on it's own.