It's My First Car Please help

[grafstar1]

im 17 and i just got a 1988 ford festiva lx 2 door 5 speed and its my first car but when i got the gas Gauge doesn't work it is always on empty and the front fender is bent and hangs to the right side and hits my wheel when turning hard and the door has some bends in it and was just hoping i could get some suggestions and tips that you people know of or just any kind of help I'm really interested in fixing it up and who made it a rule that your first car has to be a p.o.s so I'm gonna do my best to make it a very impressive first car

[batstiva]

A hundred bucks says a new fuel sending unit will fix your gas guage, just did that with mine. Don't know if yours is carbed or FI, either way it's about a 30 minute fix. Carbed engines are a little harder to find parts for as they were only made for a little over a year. As far as the fender, at worst, find one in a junkyard and change it. Again, took me about an hour tops to change mine after hitting a deer. And that includes trying to paint it in sub-freezing weather. Couldn't bear a black Festy with a fire-engine red fender. UGGGHH! :evil:

[batstiva]

Oh, do yourself a big favor, buy a Haynes Festiva Repair Manual. You'll find there is quite alot you can do yourself. Festivas are relatively easy to work on. Good Luck and welcome to the best car Ford/Kia/Mazda ever made.

[festivakid88]

hey! festys make great first cars... 8)
if you can, post pix of it... i (we?) like pix
How you repair the dings and dents, bumper, etc all depends on the kind of time/money your interested in putting into it.. proly best to replace the bumper, can't see it tho so i'm not sure.. lol. If your really looking to make it nice and modded, think about an FMS replacement... festivamotorsports.com

you can try to wack/pull the dents out of the door, replace the whole door from the JY, bondo/sand it... if you want to paint it all that is. like i said, all depends on what you want to put into it!

[grafstar1]

about the replies I'm going to be doing this on a 7.10 minimum wage job the car is a LX and it is not fuel injected i will try to put pics up just keep the help coming thanks

[Tim]

I don't even have a job but that doesn't stop me...

[batstiva]

You probably will not get as lucky as I did, but the sending unit should not run you that much, and the repair manual should be less than 10 bucks. Your best bet, if you have the time, is to check junkyards.

Good Luck, and by the way, it's the American way to spend money you haven't earned yet. :lol:

[Tim]

Junkyards are your best friend when it comes to Festiva parts.

I'm fortunate to be in an area swamped with junkyards and found myself a place where I get parts for practically nothing.

Besides, these cars are pretty low maintnance. If you search the post archives you'll see very few about serious engine problems.

My car looks like a piece of crap but it still commands respect and I'm proud of it.

Regards,

Tim

[grafstar1]

i went to the junk yard and found a 89 festiva snatched the front right amber light and am gonna put that on but still need the fuel gauge fixed

[grafstar1]

how much do you people think it would be to have my festiva painted nothing fancy but just a nice new blue paint job also i find myself defending the festiva to me it seems like the festiva is a unaccepted car

[batstiva]

Yep, agree that the Festiva is an under appreciated car. Get used to being told that you should get rid of it and get a "real" car.

I hear this from people whose "real" car is in the junkyard while my Festy keeps going.

Don't know what color your Festy is now, would like to see pics. I know Matt's Blue Festy looks awesome. Check it out in the gallery section.

[grafstar1]

my festiva is red

[grafstar1]

ya one of the people who told me my car was crap and should get rid of it there REAL car blew up yesterday but im still driving around

[Tim]

Red.

90% of the Festivas in the junkyards here are Red.

Mine's silver, and I've not come across a single decent one in the junkyards.

You shouldn't have too much trouble finding parts in Red.

Or do what I saw some guy did. He had mismatched fenders, doors, trunk, seats and bumpers. Probably unintentional but it really grabbed my attention.


Regards,

Tim

[grafstar1]

im not into the multi color car thing and the only festiva in the junk yard was white what about you sending some parts that i will pay for