HELP

[FESDIVA]

I have a 93 Festiva LX and I love my car however having a nightmare getting parts. Right now the issue is the shims for the two front wheels between the inner and outer bearings. When my mechanic took the wheels off there were no shims on the car so I guess I have been lucky, we can't find any anywhere and we do not have a clue which size to even start with. We have done a satelite search through Ford here in Hamilton Canada and there are no shims anywhere according to them.

Can any of you festiva lovers help, with the shims and with places to get parts. My hubby is putting pressure on me to get rid of my beloved festiva and I want to keep it.

thanks Lynn

[Gforcefd]

Parts are getting very hard to get for our cars, I don't know where to get the shims, but the size depends on each different variation in the car. You need a mechanic that can determine the size from experience.

Junk Yards are where we get most of our parts

[mattswabb]

http://www.festivamotorsport.com/

They have them or send the spindles to them and they will rebuild them.

[miami man]

i have 2 festivas so when i go to the junkyard a collect parts for the future. i also know the owner of one and he slows on the crushing of them as long as i buy parts from him and he sses that it is profitable for him not to crush them. my upstaires is getting kind of full with the parts now.

[25Horseplay]

There is a procedure for setting the preload on the shims. It has to be done correctly or it will sound terrible (don't ask how I know this). There are 21 different size shims, so you need to know what ones to get. I would try to either send them out or get another set of hubs from the junk yard.

[roycehof]

Would an Aspire brake swap solve this problem? I'm thinking about what are the options if mine go bad.

[Gforcefd]

Yes :-) For a number of reasons, parts are alittle easier to find, and the bearings are built different, they arn't pressed in like the festiva's are.

[roycehof]

There is a possible solution to Fesdiva's problem. Swap the front out with Aspire hardware. Probably best to do the rear also since the brakes might be mis-matched if you only do the front - correct??

[25Horseplay]

^^If you just do the front's you will have 2 different bolt patterns for the wheels. I know of a car that has it that way but his wheels have duel bolt pattern's.

[roycehof]

Yep - I forgot about that. Need to change the wheels too. Still not a bad option instead of rebuilding the orignal front hubs. And the improvement in braking performance is extra icing on the cake.

[monkeyracing]

Is this the bearing pre-load spacer we're talking about? Looks like it should be a fairly common part for a driveline shop to carry, even if it's for another model. Even if they don't have one, it would take nothing for a machine shop, or someone good with their hands to make one.

Jim