New to the Festiva world!

[miwenner]

I just bought my first Festiva and proud is an understatement! A 1989 Festiva L carbureted with 4 on the floor! I picked it up for 200 bucks off craigslist. The guy before me bought it with a blown engine for a parts car, but decided he liked it too much and got an engine for it put a new clutch in it and dropped it in. Unfortunately that is all the further he got so the rest is up to me... I have never put an engine in a car so this is all new to me. (I know that trying to finish a project I didn't start is an awful idea, but hey it was 200 bucks!) He gave me all the parts he had so I have the complete original engine to use parts if I need. Things that I know are left to do are put the starter in (looks pretty simple just right on top), I have to put the distributer on (this I have no idea he mentioned something about making sure the engine is top dead center first), also none of the electronics are hooked up so any info on that is greatly appreciated, and the exhaust needs to get bolted on. Some more questions are that my clutch pedal has no tension what so ever I am guessing it is just not hooked up yet. The throttle is also not connected at all so some information on the carburetor would be useful. It appears that none of my hoses (vacuum, coolant etc.) are connected. I will try to get some picture up ASAP to show you the engine bay so you have an idea what I am dealing with. If any of you could take some pictures to give me an idea of what to do I would be forever grateful. I will keep updating as what I have done/ found out.

[bobbyspider]

word up. it starts off as curiosity turns into liking morphs to love and will eventually become a full on addiction

what is your location im 100% sure that if someones near by they will help you get it done. welcome

[TominMO]

Welcome to the forum! Where are you? Might be some members near you who can help.

[miwenner]

Just updated my location hopefully someone is near me

[TominMO]

Check out this thread..... http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...d-South-Dakota

[WmWatt]

Connecting all the vacuum hoses to the feedback carburettor can be a challenge. Many questions about them here over the years. If the old engine is still in the car then carefully trace all the vacuum hoses, note where they go, and label them with masking tape. One advantage is in many cases the coloured line on the hose matches the colour of the device to which it connects, for example the coloured solenoids on the rack on the fire wall. You can also find helpful photos and diagrams by searching this site for "vacuum hose".

[miwenner]

Ok so I had some time to get a few pictures today. the first on is obviously straight on, second is the right side, third is left side. If you can see things that needs to be done or if you have a good way to do something I would really appreciate you sharing.
Also I figured out that when the replacement motor was taken out of its original car most all the hoses were cut so it makes it pretty confusing but luckily when the bad motor was taken out of my car all hoses were properly removed so I can have an idea how they hook up.

[drddan]

First ...Welcome to the site! Second .... What a mess!

I'll give what I can.

1st pic ...see the aluminum box thing on the carb air filter? That gets 2 hoses to it. The one hose in pic, attached to a metal tube, coming from the exhaust manifold and can be seen in the pic. The metal tube that has a rubber hose bent at 90 degress goes to the front box connector. There should be another tube and rubber hose in the back coming from the catylitic converter, it goes to the rear box connector.

2nd pic ... the same metal/rubber hose can be seen also

3rd pic ... the thin rubber hose in pic goes to the PCV valve on valve cover (the 90 degree plastic thing on valve cover) They're only about 2 inches apart in the pic and looks like it should go there

If you havent a lot of the needed hoses, tubes and and such, it may be easier to swap to a weber carb or escort carb, in your case, as with these type carbs, you will not need to hook all that stuff up. As a matter of fact, you can get rid of ALL the hoses, vacuum lines, etc!!!
All the hoses and vac lines are to run the stock FEEDBACK carb, and weber and escort are not a feedback design.
You will only need to have vacuum to the disty and fuel to the carb.
All the sensors and a big part of the harness that goes to those sensors can be rolled up into a corner or removed completely

Search weber carb and escort carb in the search function, and there is a heck of a lot of info about these carb swaps

Good luck!!!

[bravekozak]

welcome.gif

You sir have a super rare Festiva.
Very few members have the Ford Festiva cruise control option.
Please take a picture of the steering column next time.
You beat me. My Festiva cost me $248 plus I had to pay extra for cruise.

[miami man]

welcome to the forum in the past i have had 2 festivas and i now have a aspire

[miwenner]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]14216[/ATTACH]

You sir have a super rare Festiva.
Very few members have the Ford Festiva cruise control option.
Please take a picture of the steering column next time.
You beat me. My Festiva cost me $248 plus I had to pay extra for cruise.

Yes it does have cruise. I was a little confused because all the research I saw said it wasn't available until 1990 and it was an option even then! I will get a picture of the column ASAP.

[miwenner]

I got started working on it to get it running and have run into the problem that I have no spark. If I take the distributer cap off it will spark to the plugs but in no certain order, but when i put it back on it will not spark to anything. I don't know what to try next. Any help would be nice.

[TominMO]

That cruise control is just some aftermarket thing, either dealer or owner installed. Had one very similar on my Aspire. Removed it because it took up so much room, and anyway I don't really care for cruise control, even on road trips.