New to the Festiva World - Questions

[DrFestiva88]

I have been looking for a Ford Festiva for some time now and I finally got one! I have some questions now

1. Anyone repair the rust (mine is very minimal) in front of the rear tire? Links to pictures? I would love to see the repair.

2. I don't have an external leak anywhere on the original 1.3L; however, it's burning SOME oil and there is a lot of smoke when I take off the gas cap.....what are some tips with this particular motor?

[TominMO]

Dr. Tom prescribes a mini-meet! Dan, John, you guys up for it?

Dan and I live in south St Louis city (not together tho). John is off of I-170 and St Charles Rock Road.

BTW DrFestiva, we are all meeting in Hermann this Saturday. Welcome to the Forum.

[DrFestiva88]

I live in High Ridge MO. I would love to meet up with you guys and go over some information!

[WmWatt]

The area in front of the rear wheel is double walled and filled with silencing foam, condensation cannot escape and rust eventually sets in. The outer sheet folds over the inner sheet along the edge of the wheel well. I clean the edge as well as I can with a wire brush or anything which works and fill the gap with epoxy to keep moisture from getting in and causing rust. Then paint. You can paint some other colour, eg black rust paint is what I use, along the inside edge. I do this every 5 years or so. Due again this year.

I also took the inside door panel off, cleaned out the bottom edge of the door, and give them 2-3 coats of rust paint, being careful to keep the drain holes open. Did this early on, once, and have never had rust along the bottom of the doors.

We get a lot of ice and snow here, along with chemicals spread on the road to melt ice, which causes rust. People get good results with periodic commercial underbody anti-rust sprays. I just spray the underside, inside the doors and fenders (there are rubber plugs to remove to do this) with a mixture of 75% used motor oil and 25% mineral spirits using a discarded manual weed sprayer each October. The mineral spirits thin the oil so it will spray from the sprayer.

[TominMO]

I live in High Ridge MO. I would love to meet up with you guys and go over some information!

Can you come to Hermann Saturday? 10am - 3pm, roughly. You could even arrive late and just call someone who is already there to find out where we were.

[DrFestiva88]

Yes! My festy is not licensed yet, but I can still come up to learn a thing or two!

[DrFestiva88]

WmWatt - I really appreciate the info! I need to weld in some new pieces it looks like...Then I'll follow your recipe! Thanks a bunch!

[drddan]

Yes! My festy is not licensed yet, but I can still come up to learn a thing or two!

Yes, come to the meet in Hermann, Mo ! We will Eat, Drink, and be Merry! Lots of info to learn!

We meet at the Hermann riverfront landing ...and go from there to Stone Hill Winery.

Here is the meet thread:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...y-Hermann-meet

I plan on being there around 11:00 AM (as posted in the thread)