'91 Festiva, fun daily build

[parrainx]

Hello all,

I joined this forum back when I had my first Festiva, a '89 L blue with 68k miles on it, it ran like poop and had really old tires, so it made for a very fun 50-mile highway drive home. I made adjustments to the carb, got new tires, civic shifter, new struts, stereo, and speakers and it was ready to go, my wife refused to drive stick, so I had to let her go soon after. So I never ended up posting anything here.

Been missing it ever since. One random day I decided to hop on craigslist and found this '91 L with 146k, I live in Nor Cal so no rust. Drove it home that evening.

It needs some love on the inside and it has small oil and tranny leaks, but overall a good car. I don't have any specific plans for it, but this will be a fun daily driver. Since this is one of my dream cars, something tells me that I will get carried away.


Edit - doesn't seem like I can post photos. Too little post count?

[FestYboy]

Use a third party server like photobucket to post pics.
It's unfortunate that you're on the west coast as that makes engine swaps that much more difficult for legality purposes. Though you could swap a B6 and no one would tell the difference unless they checked the block stamping. And that's totally worth it.
First thing to do though is service/replace the rear bearings and brake system (new fluid, lube slides and pivots, replace pads as needed).

[TominMO]

Hello all,

I joined this forum back when I had my first Festiva, a '89 L blue with 68k miles on it, it ran like poop and had really old tires, so it made for a very fun 50-mile highway drive home. I made adjustments to the carb, got new tires, civic shifter, new struts, stereo, and speakers and it was ready to go, my wife refused to drive stick, so I had to let her go soon after. So I never ended up posting anything here.

Been missing it ever since. One random day I decided to hop on craigslist and found this '91 L with 146k, I live in Nor Cal so no rust. Drove it home that evening.

It needs some love on the inside and it has small oil and tranny leaks, but overall a good car. I don't have any specific plans for it, but this will be a fun daily driver. Since this is one of my dream cars, something tells me that I will get carried away.


Edit - doesn't seem like I can post photos. Too little post count?

1. I thought you meant the wife! :-)
2. Yes you will.

Welcome!

[bravekozak]

welcomsign

I also thought he let the wife go.
Priorities.
Be sure to read the suspension thread.
Also, use the search engine to find mods.
My favorite mods are sound deadener and remote progressive power locks.
I love the light flash and beep when the doors lock.

[parrainx]

Lol funny about the wife, no still happily married.

I was using html to put photos instead of IMG. Now we're in business.




My old one:

[parrainx]

Stripped the interior out to clean everything. Got the seats shampoo'ed, but they are pretty torn, will get some cheap covers for now and probably end up putting my miata driver's seat that I no longer use for more support.



Removed carpet completely as it was pretty nasty and has a lot of dog hair on it,that'll never come out. Might buy a new one down the road.

Looked on ROW52 and there was a Festiva at a Pick n Pull 17 miles from me, it had clear corner lense, so I went there right away to grab them. Made a big difference, especially since one of the originals was fading badly.


Picked up some misc screws, passenger seat pull handle and rear pull knob that were missing. Got lucky that car also had a passenger mirror so got that as well. Sun visors were shot, so found some clean ones from an Escort, and also picked up a bigger arm rest/door pull from rear doors of another Escort (screw holes line up perfectly).

Had a sd card headunit that I had in my previous Festiva, laying around being useless, so it now found a new home.


Painted wiper arms 98 cent home depot special flat (honestly the best, I've used it in a lot of other projects)


Rear panels are pretty scratched up, so I will be taking the interior further apart and get everything painted with a truck bedliner. Basically switching everything to black. Headliner is decent, but has a rip in one area, I might just sticker bomb the whole thing, so my kid has something to look at when she rides with me.

Got an idea for a replacement of the dirty door cards, will post once finished.

Been looking around craiglist for some 14" wheels.

Couple of things on order:
valve cover and oil pan gaskets
$20 kenwood 6.5" speakers (PO ran wires to door already)
civic short shifter & shift knob
4x114 to 4x100 wheel adapters
mk2 coilover
mk2 rear shocks
small sleeves
kia rio top hats
12" 120lbs front springs
10" 120lbs rear springs
seat covers
steering rack boots
led headlight bulbs

[bravekozak]

Made a big difference, especially since one of the originals was fading badly.

Did you switch to orange bulbs in the corner lamps?

What color/pattern is your original seat fabric?

[parrainx]

Did you switch to orange bulbs in the corner lamps?

What color/pattern is your original seat fabric?

Yes I had some amber LED 194s that i put in there.

Its light gray with fabric insides and vinyl outers.
Fabric held up ok and after i sucked a coffee stain out of the passenger side (i hope it was coffee) it looks decent. However, the vinyl pretty much separated from the thread. Also a big chunk of foam is missing on driver's seat.

Festiva at the junk yard has all fabric seats that are pretty dirty, but not torn. Not sure if i feel like paying $70 for dirty seats though. Plus these seats got zero support and i want to corner this thing eventually, so a Miata seat is a better idea IMO. I'll just need to strip the frame off the original seat and make a few brackets to attach the miata seat. Seems simple enough at least in theory.

[Advancedynamix]

Are you in CA? What part? We have meet ups in San Diego once a year and you're welcome to come hang out. I had the same blue 89L that I restored and sold to a guy in San Diego. Thanks for posting your progress!

[parrainx]

Are you in CA? What part? We have meet ups in San Diego once a year and you're welcome to come hang out. I had the same blue 89L that I restored and sold to a guy in San Diego. Thanks for posting your progress!

Hi,

Meet would be awesome, but I'm in San Francisco, going to be quite a trip. When does the meet take place? It might be a possibility if the time is right.

[parrainx]

Got some more stuff done last night and tonight.

PO had installed new CV axles, front brakes, newish battery, gave me drums and shoes.

BRAKES ::

Checked front brakes and lubed everything, replaced shoes and drums and cleaned it all up as well. Bearings and seals looked good, so I ended up re-using them, but replaced the grease.

Passenger side rear spindle nut was completely stripped, so I ended up driving back to the junk yard to get one, this one is the reverse thread nut.

WHEELS ::

Found 14" wheels. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, so ended up with BMW bottle caps, 14x6 30mm offset (with the adapters I will be at 5mm offset, should be a nice flush look), these will look good and only paid $30. Tires were shot, so ended up picking up some 155/55/14 for that low profile look, $36 a piece. I should weight them and see the difference between the stockers. I want to paint them dark gray.


GASKETS VALVE COVER / OIL PAN ::

Replaced oil pan and valve covers gaskets, checked plugs and gapped to .040 (any recommendations for NGK part#?). Ended up stripping one of the studs on the exhaust when I took the downpipe off to do the oil pan, so I had to pull the manifold off, drill and tap. All good, just a small snag.



INTERIOR ::

Painted almost all of the trim and panels inside. Truck bed liner for rear panels. Flat black AB pillar trim, kick panel, door sill, window crank, and door handle.


Made new door cards out of textured ABS plastic from local plastic shop. Got 2 sheets roughly size of the door. Stripped out old door card and used it as a template and then cut it with sheet metal scissors. Used hole saw for speaker, arm rest, and window crank holes. Used jigsaw for the door handle cutout. Put some sound deadening around the speaker for good measure. I think those Escort arm rests looks pretty good. I painted them black with vinyl paint. Got front seat covers installed.


Black carpet will finish the interior off pretty good.

[FestYboy]

Looking good! That spindle nut is a common issue with these cars and inexperienced mechanics, you're lucky the spindle was still good, they're getting scarce.

[Advancedynamix]

I didn't even know there was a 155/55-14 tire available. That's awesome!
The build is looking great! You'll need some negative camber to flush mount a 5mm offset. I'd guess -3 degrees.

[TominMO]

I didn't even know there was a 155/55-14 tire available. That's awesome!
The build is looking great! You'll need some negative camber to flush mount a 5mm offset. I'd guess -3 degrees.

Right here! Economists, but H-rated, not V.

[parrainx]

SHIFTER ::

Installed the Civic short shifter, no pics as we all know what it is. Does anybody have specs for the proper bolt to use since the stock bolt does not fit in the hole and I used what I had in my random box of bolts for now, its smaller then the hole and probably not ideal. I guess I will take it out again and go to ACE hardware to find something that will be snug.

SUSPENSION AND WHEELS ::

Installed wheels then rolled the fenders.


Assembled the suspension.


Slammed look before I adjusted the suspension.



For those that wonder, I don't think its possible to be this low because the toe adjustment was maxed out and I still had plenty of toe out. Do different tie rod ends allow for that? There's also about an 1" of clearance at the pinched panels inside the wheel well, I suppose these can be hammered out of the way, but I'm not about that life, plus who knows how well it'll ride at that height. I also had to use a washer at the back and I'm sure that added some toe in and thus extra wear on the rear tires.


Adjusted the suspension, it sits at about 21 1/2" or so in the front. Camber was eye balled. Toe was eye balled.
Once I rebuild the rack and pinion I will have it aligned at the shop. Removed the washer from the back, no rubbing so far.



Does anybody knows what this sensor/box is?



Also I drove it on the highway at the adjusted height and I had something weird happening to steering as if it was binding at the center. Like when I would try to turn, it would be nothing then it'd sorta snap and turn.

I drove it again today on the streets and did not notice anything weird with the steering, so maybe it went away on its own, or its still a problem just manifests itself on the freeway.

Can be due to tie rods angle? Too straight? Looks like some cars are at this height or lower have they done some adjustments?

On the miata I was able to space the rack higher to avoid bump steer when I lowered it, but the way the rack is mounted I don't think there's any possibility for adjustments to create some angle.

I guess I'll see if its still a problem when I'm on the highway next time.