1993 Festiva with blown engine. Do I Fix, Sell, or Scrap?

[Crosshair]

I tried searching for a walk through for replacing the engine but I couldn't find anything that was start to finish. Is there such a thing? If I know what I am getting myself into I might take a cracked at doing it myself.

Stupid question. Am I able to get the engine out by itself or do I have to take the tranny out with it? I just want to be able to roll it around if needed.

[Bert]

I tried searching for a walk through for replacing the engine but I couldn't find anything that was start to finish. Is there such a thing? If I know what I am getting myself into I might take a cracked at doing it myself.

Stupid question. Am I able to get the engine out by itself or do I have to take the tranny out with it? I just want to be able to roll it around if needed.

The beauty and appeal of Festys is that DIY is one of the highlights (or nightmares) of frugal ownership. Farming these cars out for repairs is bad luck, even more so now that most current Techs rely entirely on read-outs from their electronic gizmos and couldn't otherwise distinguish between a bad bearing or a cooked motor only because the electronic reader didn't tell them anything.
Of course you can remove the engine yourself! Just don't expect to be fast at it first time around.

[TominMO]

Aspire to Festy is not a straightforward 'drop in' like a 90-93 EFI B3 (presumably same as what you've already got) is. 96 Aspire stuff is OBDII and that tranny uses different mounts and all the periphery stuff (pulleys/sensors/intake and exhaust manifolds/dizzie/thermostat housing all have to be swapped over from your original OBDI motor.
On the other hand you do then get yourself a more efficient roller rocker valvetrain and a lo-mile engine.
If your shop tech is skilled and is up for a challenge, and you can get a decent labour quote for the swap, then I'd say go for it. Before you start have the car body checked over to make sure it will survive long enough to recoup your investment.

Bert, that's why I said he has to use the long block only. I did omit the WP pulley and thermostat housing, true. But the basic long block itself is a direct replacement, with (as you say) the roller rocker upgrade.

Looks like he's using the Festy tranny, so no mount issues; but as you mentioned, with the Aspire tranny he would need Festy mounts.

[Bert]

Bert, that's why I said he has to use the long block only. I did omit the WP pulley and thermostat housing, true. But the basic long block itself is a direct replacement, with (as you say) the roller rocker upgrade.

Looks like he's using the Festy tranny, so no mount issues; but as you mentioned, with the Aspire tranny he would need Festy mounts.

Hey, I wasn't trying to contradict or upstage you. But simple little things like discovering that Aspire valve cover gaskets are not compatible with Festy covers are all major irritants especially if you live in Canuckistan where top end gasket sets set you back $175.
Other problem he hopefully won't run into is the crank pulley nose sizing; only 93's Festy stuff is compatible with Aspire B3s

[TominMO]

Hey, I wasn't trying to contradict or upstage you. But simple little things like discovering that Aspire valve cover gaskets are not compatible with Festy covers are all major irritants especially if you live in Canuckistan where top end gasket sets set you back $175.
Other problem he hopefully won't run into is the crank pulley nose sizing; only 93's Festy stuff is compatible with Aspire B3s

Good point also about the different valve cover gasket.

I did mention the big-nose crank issue.

[my3rdball]

I swaped a 94 manual aspire into a 91 automatic festiva it isn't a hard swap it bolts right onto tranny just had to switch flywheel and 90% sensors from old motor to new engine. I'm pretty sure the heads are interchangeable. I could not use my old head because it was warped really bad but if I could it would of saved me a bit of head ache moving vacuum lines and bypassing egr and not being able to use old air intake manifold because it mounts to new head differently it isn't a hard swap and I don't have very much experience at all and i was able to get the new engine running I'm in the process of working out any bugs atm

[Bert]

I swaped a 94 manual aspire into a 91 automatic festiva it isn't a hard swap it bolts right onto tranny just had to switch flywheel and 90% sensors from old motor to new engine. I'm pretty sure the heads are interchangeable. I could not use my old head because it was warped really bad but if I could it would of saved me a bit of head ache moving vacuum lines and bypassing egr and not being able to use old air intake manifold because it mounts to new head differently it isn't a hard swap and I don't have very much experience at all and i was able to get the new engine running I'm in the process of working out any bugs atm

Curious to know what you did about the fan belt arrangement. Did you switch over to Aspire belt and alternator? I did notice a few years ago that even though Aspire alternators and Festy ones look to be identical they do not interchange with regard to swapping the pulley; the shaft size is different.

[my3rdball]

I didn't have to touch any of the belts as the alternator connections were the same I had to remove the ac pulley belt because the 91 festiva didn't have ac installed and I couldn't seem to drop the aspire motor into place with it on it would hit the engine mount.

[Bert]

I didn't have to touch any of the belts as the alternator connections were the same I had to remove the ac pulley belt because the 91 festiva didn't have ac installed and I couldn't seem to drop the aspire motor into place with it on it would hit the engine mount.

Any chance that 94s were not yet OBDII? I only ever tangled with B3 97s (OBDII) and they were chock full of additional gizmos/hoses and other junk that Festys that never had.

[rickbz28]

OBDII didn' start in an Aspire in the US until 1996.

[Crosshair]

Looking through more options and I see a couple 1.6 Mazda 323 engines available. One out of a 92 with 85k. Is this a drop in fit? From what I read it supposedly is depending on other mods done.

From my research I find that the stock tranny will take about 125 hp before it falls apart so I'll have a margin of safety there.

[Chobobulous]

My 89 Mazda engine swapped right in. I used festiva mounting hardware though

[Crosshair]

Did you use an aftermarket clutch or did you just use an oem? Figure it is best to just replace it when the engine is out.

How is the performance with the 1.6? Make a decent sleeper? Not gonna beat a turbo of course.

[Chobobulous]

I haven't gotten to the driving part yet. I got an excedy clutch. I had the same thought process. It's already out why not.

[Crosshair]

OK, So I've been trying to locate a 1.6 from a Mazda 323. Local yard has two of them. They test ran the first one last week and found that it's no good. They said give them a week to try out the other one so I'll call them back tomorrow.

One thing I wanted to make double sure was that there isn't anything to worry about from the tranny with 240K on it. I plan on changing the fluid of course, but anything else I should be aware of?

I downloaded the shop manual and while it is short on diagrams for removing the engine, the instructions seem straightforward. Disconnect everything connected and lift the engine/tranny out in one go?

It says in the instructions that I need "Differential Plugs (T87C-7025-C)" I read that these aren't really necessary as all they really do is keep oil from leaking. Others say they are vital and yet others say just shove a piece of wooden dowel in there to keep them from falling out of place. What say people here?

Also, reading around, I've found a excedy clutch that should fit.

http://www.amazon.com/EXEDY-07068-OEM-Replacement-Clutch/dp/B001B5DAOG/

Found a gasket set as well.

http://www.amazon.com/90-94-1597cc-Engine-Gasket-FelPro/dp/B005GWEF9O

Any problems here?

For fun, I went and compared specs on my co-workers Chevy Spark to what my Festy would have with the 1.6 and I find that while I would have effectively the same peak power and torque, the Festy will be over 600 pounds lighter in curb weight. Haven't put the two side by side, but I think the Festy is roomier inside as well.