Finished swapping an Aspire B3 into a carby Festiva.... No gas, no start???

[georgeb]

If you're not sure which of the remaining 2 hoses (ruling out the one that goes to carb) is the pressure side, stick them in a can and turn on the pump. If still no gas, line is clogged.

[nitrofarm]

Now I want to hear from you that the sucker actually runs! I'm talking about the car, of course.
I have a lo-mile 97 Aspire engine sitting around waiting for the day I swap it into a Festy (which is an EFI) and there is all kinds of non-compatible stuff bolted on there that has to be dealt with in order to do this. You fellas did well to adapt to a carb car.

Bert this is a piece o cake.We just did this swap @ 3 weeks ago on my sons Festy. We took the extra time to reseal the intire motor since we had it out. In a nutshell you are using the Festy intake on the aspire engine its that simple. Use the Aspire alt & belts,no wiring change. Use the Aspire Header with the Aspire down pipe.My son said he noticed a slight gain in power with the Aspire setup.

[Ray]

Now I want to hear from you that the sucker actually runs! I'm talking about the car, of course.
I have a lo-mile 97 Aspire engine sitting around waiting for the day I swap it into a Festy (which is an EFI) and there is all kinds of non-compatible stuff bolted on there that has to be dealt with in order to do this. You fellas did well to adapt to a carb car.

The whole process was a piece of cake, just time consuming! The Festiva engine had v-belt accessories on it, and the Aspire engine had flat belts on it. Instead of swapping the cams, rockers, valves and accessories over, we kept all of the Aspire accessories on it.

The only thing that posed a problem (other than lack of a mechanical fuel pump -- which you won't need to worry about with EFI to EFI) was the alternator wiring. The plugs were different. All that the alternator had was three wires, and we spliced them with the wiring that was in the Festiva within just a minute or two. Very simple.

Also had to keep the Festiva exhaust manifold, as the manifold has two pipes that provides heat to the carb to warm it up.

It started up first try after pouring gas in the carburetor.

Oh! And a/c. Going from Festiva a/c to Aspire a/c was far beyond my ability (and patience), and it never worked for more than 3 days at a time anyway, so I decided to take all of the a/c parts out. If anyone wants Festiva a/c parts, or an Aspire compressor, let me know!! :p




Going from efi to efi, though.... ugh. Going to a carburated car was simple, because there's really not many wires on the wiring harness. Didn't have to worry about a computer or anything. Can't say what it would be like going to a efi car.

[zoe60]

When I had an Aspire engine I just put the cam and rockers from my old engine in it. Pretty easy and it ran great.

[Bert]

Now I want to hear from you that the sucker actually runs! I'm talking about the car, of course.
I have a lo-mile 97 Aspire engine sitting around waiting for the day I swap it into a Festy (which is an EFI) and there is all kinds of non-compatible stuff bolted on there that has to be dealt with in order to do this. You fellas did well to adapt to a carb car.

[Ray]

Yes that will work fine,and you might want to get a metering jet and JB weld it into the the "Return" portion of your new "T" fitting. Not mandatory but might prevent a high rpm fuel starvation issue.(Especially if the E pump your using is very low volume.) Cant you go back and get the Aspire inertia switch for free? They are so easy to remove and wire up....

No, but I have a generic one on the way. Better wiring that in than burning alive, I'm sure!

[nitrofarm]

Waaaait, I just thought of something. The inline pump doesn't have a third line, the mech pump did. So in therey, I should just be able to cap that extra return line, right? Seeing as how it can't connect to anything on the new pump

Yes that will work fine,and you might want to get a metering jet and JB weld it into the the "Return" portion of your new "T" fitting. Not mandatory but might prevent a high rpm fuel starvation issue.(Especially if the E pump your using is very low volume.) Cant you go back and get the Aspire inertia switch for free? They are so easy to remove and wire up....

[Ray]

Waaaait, I just thought of something. The inline pump doesn't have a third line, the mech pump did. So in therey, I should just be able to cap that extra return line, right? Seeing as how it can't connect to anything on the new pump

[Ray]

Remove the fuel pump and replace the fuel pump block off plate. In case you didn't understand what Nitrofarm was telling you to do: Get one of the fittings pictured below and a couple hose clamps and you can eliminate the fuel pump by splicing your fuel line together. Remember that there are two fuel lines going to the tank (a suction and a return line). If you connected the fuel pump to the return line, it will not pick up gas out of the tank. In lieu of an inertia switch, you can wire in a normally open pressure switch with a "T" fitting where your current oil pressure sending unit attaches to the block. That way any time you don't have oil pressure (engine stopped), your fuel pump will stop pumping also.

The mech pump has a return circuit. I guess you have to have a T connector between pump and carb to run an inline unit unless the inline unit is puny.

Yeah, I got what he was saying. But like what georgeb said, there are three lines running to the mech fuel pump. I have little to almost no knowledge about gas lines, fuel pumps, etc (every engine swap I've done has been pretty much plug 'n play with fuel lines), so please forgive my ignorance

But the three lines on the pump are gas in, gas out, and return, right? I get the concept behind linking the gas in and gas out lines, but what about the third line? Run it to a point before the fuel pump, splice it, and slap a T fitting on there? o.O

[georgeb]

The mech pump has a return circuit. I guess you have to have a T connector between pump and carb to run an inline unit unless the inline unit is puny.

[Nerd Racing]

I wonder if the Aspire cam doesn't have the lobe to run the fuel pump.

BINGO!

[Festy46]

Remove the fuel pump and replace the fuel pump block off plate. In case you didn't understand what Nitrofarm was telling you to do: Get one of the fittings pictured below and a couple hose clamps and you can eliminate the fuel pump by splicing your fuel line together. Remember that there are two fuel lines going to the tank (a suction and a return line). If you connected the fuel pump to the return line, it will not pick up gas out of the tank. In lieu of an inertia switch, you can wire in a normally open pressure switch with a "T" fitting where your current oil pressure sending unit attaches to the block. That way any time you don't have oil pressure (engine stopped), your fuel pump will stop pumping also.

[Bert]

I wonder if the Aspire cam doesn't have the lobe to run the fuel pump.

This is what nitrofarm was alluding to. No cam lobe therefore no turn of a mechanical fuel pump, and therefore a blocked path for fuel via a tagged-on electrical pump on the same fuel line.

[georgeb]

I wonder if the Aspire cam doesn't have the lobe to run the fuel pump.

[Bert]

The mechanical pump has two valves inside. If one of these is in the closed position it will block flow. To test this theory,just get a straight barbed fitting that fits your fuel line. Put this tube in place of the fuel pump & try running it.PS you need to get an enertia switch wired in series for that fuel pump. Dont ever run a E pump without one.

Great advice!

However "Don't ever run an electric pump without one (an inertia switch)" does puzzle me. I'm presuming this is practical advice regarding safety and not at all about operating issues. Truth be known drivers in accidents are usually too rattled to think about turning off the ignition, and an electric pump can potentially empty the entire gas tank to create a spectacular inferno.