Beating a dead horse with Thor's Hammer.

[MiltonHavoc]

I saw the link for that at one point. I think it was tied in with "airbox" mods thread or something like that. Ill look for it again in a bit.

[GenevaDirt]

Well, the thermostat issue is gonna be an interesting one.
After reading,I learned that the festiva does not blow hot air through the front vents. I did not comprehend what that meant....Well now I do.
I have a "decent" heater, and when I run it , the temp gauge now goes up to 1/4 of the way hahahah. This has helped gas mileage a little bit. I am now from about 19(20 maybe) to a good (25 maybe 26). I say that because it was taking almost half a tank to get 70 miles....at 65-70 mph.

after getting some seat time under my belt, I can now say I have an entry level feel for this car. I am gonna need bearings and bushings.
Aspire brake swap definitely. I plan to order a new manual rack off a member here this paycheck or next.
Well Im going to drill holes in the air box and get more seat time hahahahah!

I hope you are actually checking the mileage with the amount of gas you put into the car and not just going by the gas gauge. No way to tell at all like that.....the gauges in these cars can fluctuate a lot.

[MiltonHavoc]

Yes, and my needle is pretty stable as of so far.


Ok, more questions:
1.) I read the threads of the alternator squeal. There were a couple. But no one really posted results after doing what was suggested. Did re-tensioning work? did you replace belts and torque to factory specs? Did you just upgrade the alternator?

2) Where do you guys find new headlight fillers/brackets. are most of whats left on ebay? I saw that junspeed had ones from an early model pride. But I also read that there were fitment issues. No one posted how they overcame these issues. That and there are a lot of dead links.....

3) can we please condense all the trans threads into one sticky lol. Especially the ones for those of use who want to stay automatic for now.

4) where get Haynes Manual? :-)

5) ...I had something to go hear but my old age won that battle.......

6) I remember: aside from ebay, and junkyards; where do you guys source parts?

[MiltonHavoc]

So I have a pretty major shaking/clunking coming from what seems like close to the firewall.
When I drive its not there, but when I'm at a light it starts. When I hit the brake its loud. when I let off the brake it goes away. If I put it in neutral (automatic car) it stops, but starts right back when I put it in drive. I thought it was a mount, but from visual inspection my mounts are good. Its too cold and snow on the ground to get under her and look real good. Any ideas? im gonna take a flashlight and check the under carriage real good when it gets a bit warmer.

And I started to develop the Alt squeal more predominantly now. The belt feels like it has teeth instead of ribs, but again too cold/wet to check good right now.

P.S: what are some of the things you guys have found on the festiva that kill gas mileage? I remember reading the air filter and broken motor mount were two surprising ones?

[Team Lightning]

Get someone to help you, let them hold the car with the brake just as you would at a stop light. (obivously with motor running and trans in drive).
Have the hood up and watch the motor. Have your assistant lightly bump the accelerator while you watch the motor. Please don't hold your head under the hood while someone has their foot on the brakes. Just watch the motor for movement from a couple of feet back from the fender. It shouldn't move but a slight amount. Thats one way to check the motor/trans mounts without getting under the car. I"m sure someone on here can be more detailed about how much it should move without a mount being broken. I"m thinking no more than 1/2 -1" is all the movement you should have.