My new Festy

[Zenfrizbee]

Picked it up monday, i stalled quick shifter and had friend machine bronze bushings. Notchy and super tight. Tightened loose lug nuts and did safety inspection.
Tues. Buffed the last five years off the paint (pic later) and will polish it soon. Fixed corroded battery cables, alcohol washed windows and biocleaned dash and doors. Pushed dent out in roof and adjusted hood fit, mine is super loose on both sides and is latch high, going to have to adjust
Wed. Installed hood strut mod, had to order two more ballstuds, so only half done20180423_172637.jpg20180423_172622.jpg20180425_155029.jpg20180425_155047.jpg

[Zenfrizbee]

Did not figure pic problems out yet. Thanks for the tons of information. Planning a pair of Rio motored 5speed cars, one wide body, both retuned for milage. Aspire swap with coils sooner, the thing is scary at speed right now. LoL have not smiled so much since i quit driving Type-1 VW's, mostly due to really bad bushings all around and cheap 12" tires

[ryanprins13]

Welcome to the group! These are fun cars how do you plan to tune them?
You are planning to do the 'advanced' coilover setup most of us do right? Makes these cars handle better than you would believe.
Have you owned a festiva before or is this your first one?

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

[Zenfrizbee]

my first Festy, had a GLC for a couple months in the nineties. i may pay for dyno-tune, but may start by getting a programmable and spend the time myself.

yes, the advanced suspension is what i am planning. Rio front end, lca and sway, is the plan for the front, standard Aspire seems good enough for the rear, i would like disks.

i am concerned the ride will be too stiff, been looking into vw mk1 rear conversion because the cars are similar in weight so may transfer after fabbing the mounts. the MK2 is twice the weight, getting stiffer than stock KW shocks for a car that heavy seems to be over dampening, am building one for the wife to commute in so it cannot be a race car. if it was as firm as my 2010 Golf TDI i would be super happy. tend to do my fast driving on twisty, bumpy, roads so travel is a must.

[ryanprins13]

my first Festy, had a GLC for a couple months in the nineties. i may pay for dyno-tune, but may start by getting a programmable and spend the time myself.

yes, the advanced suspension is what i am planning. Rio front end, lca and sway, is the plan for the front, standard Aspire seems good enough for the rear, i would like disks.

i am concerned the ride will be too stiff, been looking into vw mk1 rear conversion because the cars are similar in weight so may transfer after fabbing the mounts. the MK2 is twice the weight, getting stiffer than stock KW shocks for a car that heavy seems to be over dampening, am building one for the wife to commute in so it cannot be a race car. if it was as firm as my 2010 Golf TDI i would be super happy. tend to do my fast driving on twisty, bumpy, roads so travel is a must.

Sweet! The 120/105 springs seem to work very well for everyone. I drove one car with it and its a little firmer than the stock 100/85 of course but the cornering and handling that gives is amazing. Its absolutely nothing like driving a civic with 400 pound springs....

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

[CyberEric]

Nice car! Are you going to do go megasquirt for ECU tuning?

Regardless, I'd love to hear about your results.

[loudrango]

welcome aboard!!!

[firebush357]

Welcome to the Community!

iirc I think someone told me to flip the hood strut so the rod faces down, this keeps oil on the seal and keeps it from drying out. Don't know if it makes much of a difference but just passing that along.

[w4rkry]

Welcome to the Community!

iirc I think someone told me to flip the hood strut so the rod faces down, this keeps oil on the seal and keeps it from drying out. Don't know if it makes much of a difference but just passing that along.

Yup, flipping it the other direction will greatly increase it's lifespan

[Zenfrizbee]

Thanks for the flip tip.
Drove 180 miles threw tight corners and steep bills with 3 people (780 pounds) and still averaged 41.5 mpg.
Really needs suspension and exhaust, now not later... smoking less, lifter noise quieting, but starting to surge, e haust or likely a vacume leak from old dry hoses

[bravekozak]

Yup, flipping it the other direction will greatly increase it's lifespan

The rod lays horizontally in the closed position 99% of the time.

[w4rkry]

The rod lays horizontally in the closed position 99% of the time.

I guess that depends on what kind of life you're engine bay leads

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

[bravekozak]

I guess that depends on what kind of life you're engine bay leads

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

Thanks for reminding me that I need to get back to my homemade Festiva car cover project.

[Zenfrizbee]

Which is why it was important to get the easy open hood, i figure the first six months for upgrades and another for tuning and cleaning up the things i wish i had done different. then build the wife's car to be easy, comfortable and super gas mileage for the commute.