Is it a drop in?

[Doug Brown]

Will a 1996 stock Aspire engine just drop in and connect up to a stock 1990 Festiva?

My 1990 engine is on it's last legs...

Thanks

[nonamekid]

Yes: http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...-to-be-swapped

[14carrot]

You need to keep the festiva intake and pulleys Thermostat housing exhaust manifold alternator and the pipe that goes from the water pump to the radiator. But as far as the engines go they use the same blocks

[zoe60]

The crank pulley isn't a V groove type and the crank snout is bigger. You will need a pulley off of a '93 Festiva. They have the right size crank snout. You can use the Aspire alternator but you will need the connector for it and you will have to figure out the wiring.

[Bert]

This is not a dead simple 'drop in' at all. Been there done that. Place the two engines side by side and start swapping over stuff that isn't the same. You'll discover (even) that the valve cover and correct gasket that goes with it) aren't interchangeable from one cover to another. You'll want to keep the Festy cover only because of the extra hose and electrical mounts on it. Alternators look to be identical from Aspire to Festy but darned if the V belt pulley doesn't swap with a rib belt pulley (shaft size is slightly different). In your case (small nose crank pulley engine on pre-93 Festys) you may have to switch over to Aspire ribbed belts overall because the crankshaft pulley on Aspire is large nose. The list goes on (exhaust/intake manifolds, motor mounts/water pipes, housings, thermoswitches/sensors, distributor etc).
But it sounds to me like there are good summations and directions of what to do by other forum members.
Hopefully you will ultimately enjoy the more efficient roller rocker-driven camshaft arrangement of Aspire B3s once the smoke clears.

[nonamekid]

You need to keep the festiva intake and pulleys Thermostat housing exhaust manifold alternator and the pipe that goes from the water pump to the radiator. But as far as the engines go they use the same blocks

You don't need the festiva exhaust manifold if you use the aspire downpipe with the aspire manifold.

[14carrot]

You don't need the festiva exhaust manifold if you use the aspire downpipe with the aspire manifold.

True... I wasnt considering that lol.

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[sketchman]

You also don't need to swap pulleys. If you're swapping the engine, just leave the pulleys alone and use the superior ribbed belt for more pleasure.

My swap has an Aspire alt, and it works fine with the stock pulley as the MX-3 used a ribbed belt.