Beating a dead horse with Thor's Hammer.

[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.

[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?

[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?

[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]

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.

[DriverOne]

Re: Beating a dead horse with Thor's Hammer.

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!

There's a way to add a cone filter as well.

[MiltonHavoc]

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!

[MiltonHavoc]

@ Bert. Good think I am a year over ;-)
A morris mini or a Mini will be my next car. I just hope it has as much room as a Festiva.

@Karl: Sounds like a good step up.

Thanks everybody for the advice and putting up with my questions and such. Its been a real help in the introduction to understanding this car.

P.S.
My name is Greg.

[Bert]

Engines that are turbo-charged right from the factory are strategically engineered to handle the stress whereas when you throw a turbo on to an ordinary engine the lifespan of it drops like a stone. Small example: via a race camshaft and OEM doubled (an inner and outer) valve springs I got another 2500 rpm out of a British Mini engine 40 years ago. First off the ordinary valve seals (50 cents each) blew out the moment the engine fired ("S" seals were like $2 each) and then the valves constantly burnt and had to be lapped every 1000 miles. Only because they weren't sodium-filled (@10X the cost)! Every week it was something else that came apart. Sure, the car went like stink but never for very long. I toyed with the idea of a supercharger (I don't think there were turbos back then) but didn't have deep enough pockets.
No doubt if you are cautious and keep the boost well down something like this could work but when was the last time someone under the age of 30 ever listened to advice?

[Safety Guy]

B6 SOHC and Aspire brake swap would make her a new car. You'd be going from 63 to 82 hp. That's about a 30% increase in power, with better brakes to stop it. Relatively easy to do with hand tools and a couple of wire splices. When the engine comes out, it's the perfect time to freshen the compartment up with new steering boots, cleaning, new clutch, etc. Win-win-win-win all around the block.

Karl

[MiltonHavoc]

Right now though, she is dead on the side of the highway. I think I'm getting low gas mileage.
The driving conditions are as follows: My highways speed I try to limit it to about 70. The speedlimit here is 75. I have two major hills to get over. the rest is basically flat or downhill.
I changed the sparkplugs yesterday. They were white oxidised (?) at spark-side. I'll look that up later.
Changing the plugs helped with the idle some. Its less aggressive now.
I still get this shaking at idle, while holding the brakes. It lessens if I ease off the brakes.
Oh and the brakes are mush so I'm doing the brake swap after thanksgiving.
I need to change my thermostat as I am plagued with the ice cold heater.
I will also delve into the O2 sensor as I read that could be a sub-issue of my low mpg.
Injectors will get changed, but I'm still searching for the info of an upgrade or just new injectors all around. I'll ask outright if I cant find it by searching.

I have the alternator squeal as well. Im thinking I might just tear her down during the week or take her to a mechanic (my garage is full) and do a top-end overhaul all at once. ( timing, o2, thermostat, waterpump,belts,injectors,etc.) Also head gasket and new studs.

[MiltonHavoc]

But now I'm reading more and it says: Out the box the b6t is pretty much a go fast swap. While the b6 is a good improvement over the b3 and has room for potential.
However: The Bp swap is a good (semi basic) swap, that, with the addition of a turbo will outperform a b6t. And still keep 40mpg POST turbocharger.

[MiltonHavoc]

@Bert: I think we are confusing each other. I do NOT mean the b6t. I mean the b6/t or b6-t. Sorry, In nomenclature I'm used to: that means adding a turbo later or that its an aftermarket turbo. From now on I will say b6.

this is where I got the idea of the progression of the swaps.

Honestly, in my opinion, I would recommend a simple B6 swap for a first timer. A quick test of mechanical skills, its nearly fool-proof. No mounts or fancy wiring needed. Basically if you can pull a festy engine and reinstall it, youll get the B6 swap done.

A B8 is the next leap forward with a custom mount (and maybe a trans swap, as youre reaching the breaking point of the stock trans)

After that youre looking at some wiring and trans swaps, the latter of which makes things a lot more complex.

[Bert]

Have not so far done an engine swap myself but the standard single cam B6 is almost a dead ringer size-wise and fit to a B3. Things get more complicated once you start looking at twin cams and/or the 1.8 litre engines.

[MiltonHavoc]

Thanks Bert.
I have come across two b6t engines for sale here in Colorado in the past two weeks...

I think I get confused with all the B's.
I was reading where it said that the b6 was like dropping in the b3 as far as complications go.

Then I read about the BP which was a good "all around" engine as in terms of mpg/power, put that was the swap that required fidgeting with the frame and cutting some material from part of the trans or something in that area.

I read the b8 required that and something with the axles..?