93 Festiva A/T Speedo Cable

[93festarosa]

Hey everyone im new here and i just picked up a 93 Festiva GL Automatic for a winter car. The speedometer/odometer are inop. I removed the cluster and cable and found the cable is broken. The gear inside the tranny is ok i could spin it with my finger. The cable is broken inside its housing. I am getting ready to go to the junk yard and try to find a cable. Can someone please give me other vehicles i could get a cable off of besides a festiva? I couldnt find a new cable anywhere online for a 93 with automatic tranny? Any ideas on that if i come up empty handed at the junk yard?

[David88]

I dont know that any other will work. I have an NOS one sealed in the package. No longer available from Ford. $50 shipped.

[93festarosa]

Cool man thanks, i will let you know. I couldnt find a automatic festiva at any of the yards i went too. I ended up picking up a cable of an aspire its 2 inches longer then the festiva cable so im going to give it a try and see then will let you know.

[93festarosa]

I grabbed a speedo cable off of a 96 Aspire automatic at the yard and it worked on the festiva

[Bert]

I was initially thinking the longer Aspire cable would work nicely in tach cluster retrofits but the length is not really necessary if the cable is threaded beside the steering wheel bracket instead of through the bracket. Obviously you didn't change over the speedo drive unit that mounts on to the transmission; they're different between Festy and Aspire.
Has anyone by chance tried an early Kia Rio cable (if there is such a thing and the part hasn't gone electronic)?
In any case, good for you 93festarossa.

[93festarosa]

I routed the aspire cable the same way the festy cable was routed. Your right i just used the festy drive unit. I will have to look into the Kia Rio cables...im a Kia Tech at a dealer so i am curious of what all Kia parts will work on the Festy's. Is there a thread on here somewhere with all the compatible parts from differet makes/models that will work on festy's?

[nitrofarm]

I routed the aspire cable the same way the festy cable was routed. Your right i just used the festy drive unit. I will have to look into the Kia Rio cables...im a Kia Tech at a dealer so i am curious of what all Kia parts will work on the Festy's. Is there a thread on here somewhere with all the compatible parts from differet makes/models that will work on festy's?

No but there should be.First on the list.Find out how we can put a kia rio knuckle on an Aspire. .But the sway bar is an issue. We cant get bushings for the front mount points of our Festys/Aspires.And the Rio uses a different system. I would love to be able to get a brand new and bigger sway bar on my car. Its really a thorn in our side.Its one item thats super important and we cant really do much with it. Lots of us are driving around with dry rotted rubber front mount bushings. Bigger sway bar & poly bushings is one of the first things you go after if you want high speed corner stability.And we are totally at the mercy of "not available" in this relm.Thanks for any help you can offer.And welcome to the forum festarosa!

[93festarosa]

No but there should be.First on the list.Find out how we can put a kia rio knuckle on an Aspire. .But the sway bar is an issue. We cant get bushings for the front mount points of our Festys/Aspires.And the Rio uses a different system. I would love to be able to get a brand new and bigger sway bar on my car. Its really a thorn in our side.Its one item thats super important and we cant really do much with it. Lots of us are driving around with dry rotted rubber front mount bushings. Bigger sway bar & poly bushings is one of the first things you go after if you want high speed corner stability.And we are totally at the mercy of "not available" in this relm.Thanks for any help you can offer.And welcome to the forum festarosa!

I havent messed with the older Rio's to much. We dont get many in, if we do its because the customer didnt change there timing belt and the timing belt broke and sent the valves crashing into the pistons. Has anyone on here tried to fab something up? Like maybe weld something to the festy knuckle and find a sway bar off any random car and figuring out a way to secure it to the festy and attach it to the knuckle with regular stabilizer end links? Im not too familiar with the festy yet i just got it a week ago and have been working on getting it in decent driveable condition. It has a terrible shake and howling noise when driving down the road.

[nitrofarm]

I havent messed with the older Rio's to much. We dont get many in, if we do its because the customer didnt change there timing belt and the timing belt broke and sent the valves crashing into the pistons. Has anyone on here tried to fab something up? Like maybe weld something to the festy knuckle and find a sway bar off any random car and figuring out a way to secure it to the festy and attach it to the knuckle with regular stabilizer end links? Im not too familiar with the festy yet i just got it a week ago and have been working on getting it in decent driveable condition. It has a terrible shake and howling noise when driving down the road.

Well the Knuckles are cast iron,so making a weld that you know if safe is questionable.And as far as the sway bar goes,its half of the lower control arm.So really modify its attach point is somewhat impossible.FYI if the bushings in the LCA/Sway Bar are failing. It puts a huge stress on the inner attach point for the LCA's.The "Torque Box's" (my carry over name from fox chassis) are not that strong.So once that sway bar starts moving in reward directon from hitting potholes etc. It doesnt take long to damage the spot welds & flanges that the inner LCA attach bolt sits in. All that being said. Do the Aspire swap on your festy.Its what Kia/Mazda/Ford should have put in this sweet little car. You have an advantage though.You get a discount on Kia parts. So when you do the swap,you can use many 02 Rio parts.Like the following-
Strut/Strut mount from the kia. The Kia has a bearing making slow tight turns easier. Rubber spring isolater. Hub,you can use the Aspire but the Kia is the same size.Inner/Out bearings are same. LCR/Sway Bar bushings use the Moog,they are nice and solid.Rotors use atx they are thicker & vented (I'm not sure if the Rio rotor fits) but Aspire atx does.
What some of us have been wondering.How can we mount a Rio Knuckle on a Festy/Aspire. The Aspire/Festy Knuckle/Hubs are not available new.You have to get them used.
But using a Rio knuckle is going to require using the odd 2 piece swaybar/control arm from the Rio.You will see what we are talking about once you get in there. Good luck and welcome to the forum!

[93festarosa]

Well the Knuckles are cast iron,so making a weld that you know if safe is questionable.And as far as the sway bar goes,its half of the lower control arm.So really modify its attach point is somewhat impossible.FYI if the bushings in the LCA/Sway Bar are failing. It puts a huge stress on the inner attach point for the LCA's.The "Torque Box's" (my carry over name from fox chassis) are not that strong.So once that sway bar starts moving in reward directon from hitting potholes etc. It doesnt take long to damage the spot welds & flanges that the inner LCA attach bolt sits in. All that being said. Do the Aspire swap on your festy.Its what Kia/Mazda/Ford should have put in this sweet little car. You have an advantage though.You get a discount on Kia parts. So when you do the swap,you can use many 02 Rio parts.Like the following-
Strut/Strut mount from the kia. The Kia has a bearing making slow tight turns easier. Rubber spring isolater. Hub,you can use the Aspire but the Kia is the same size.Inner/Out bearings are same. LCR/Sway Bar bushings use the Moog,they are nice and solid.Rotors use atx they are thicker & vented (I'm not sure if the Rio rotor fits) but Aspire atx does.
What some of us have been wondering.How can we mount a Rio Knuckle on a Festy/Aspire. The Knuckle/Hubs are not available new.You have to get them used.
But using a Rio knuckle is going to using the odd 2 piece swaybar/control arm from the Rio.You will see what we are talking about once you get in there.

So on the festy i can use 02 rio struts and strut plates? As well as inner and outer wheel bearings on the front? If anyone needs kia parts let me know and ill see what i can do.