'88 Festiva S

[DriverOne]

In the works, for those of you who remember my unusual choice of sports car , is my Festiva S. Currently an LX, I'm upgrading to 'S' or Sport, and although a Festiva Sport was built, the only thing that made it so was a red-striped (like the tie) interior. No upgrades at all.

I have a carbureted B3 engine and stock 5-speed trans. The stock Festiva suspension, sway bar, brakes, and wheels have been removed and replaced with stock parts from a Ford Aspire, and the Enkei BAT2 wheels at 12lbs each are wrapped in Toyo Proxes T1-R's in 195/45 R14. Interior is stock, with the exception of a Grant Challenger steering wheel. That's actually the stock steering wheel size.
Here is the donor car which I will be taking several parts from:

A 1991 Mercury Capri XR2. This car has a B6T Mazda engine and G25MR transmission. A T25 turbo will add extra boost, then comes the port polish, exhintake cam swap/mod, Miata pistons, SRT-4 intercooler, 2" exhaust Y'ed out to a dual exhaust (because I want to), AEM wideband, stage 2 clutch, and hopefully an LSD.
The independent rear suspension subframe of the Capri can be modified and mounted under the Festiva. The rear disc brakes have a 4x114.3 bolt pattern like the Festiva, which would be awesome since the front discs are 10", but due to the design of the hubs front and rear, the disc is mounted to the back side of the hub. That means that after the disc is worn, you have to pull the whole hub out and possibly replace the bearings at the same time. $$$ when you don't have it. No turning rotors on the cheap either. Therefore I'll be pulling the hubs out of the front of a Ford Aspire to slide those in the IRS knuckles. The calipers on the front of the Festiva are going to the back, and new Ford Escort GT calipers and rotors are going on the front to replace the Aspire discs which will be mounted on the rear hubs. Both of those use the front-mounted disc design, and keep the current 4x100 bolt pattern.
The interior will receive two Corbeau GTS-II racing seats, custom door panels, and I plan to rebuild the rear seat to match the design and function of the front seats, while retaining the complete hideaway ability it currently has.

The exterior, with a few other mods, will end up looking quite like the Rieger 4 VW Golf.



So, a 1,850lb, 1.6L turbo 5-speed at almost 150HP with LSD and all-wheel disc brakes with a REAL interior. I'm looking forward to finishing this! Oh, and I'm going to paint it KIA Racing Red.

EDIT: The body panels from the XR2 will all be for sale later if anyone knows someone who needs anything.

[jedimario]

Sounds like a plan, keep us updated!

[humjaba]

Looks like fun. I personally would keep it stock looking, because I dont think any kind of body kit would ever look good on a Festiva... Keep it looking as crappy as possible for maximum sleeper effect xD Have fun.

[Mr.Rauq]

(06-26-2011 12:24 AM)DriverOne Wrote:  ...A T25 turbo will add extra boost, then comes the port polish, exhintake cam swap/mod, Miata pistons, SRT-4 intercooler, 2" exhaust Y'ed out to a dual exhaust (because I want to), AEM wideband, stage 2 clutch, and hopefully an LSD...

I lol'd

[DriverOne]

Dual exhaust on a 4-cylinder is inherently ricer, I realize, but I like a visual balance. A few fordfestiva.com members have dual exhaust, and only one of them actually has a twin-bank engine (KLZE). That is, the only front-mounted 6. I'm sure you've seen the Shoguns. I've thought to go sleeper, and until I do rock that kit I will be, but the intercooler sticks out of the bumper like Tow Mater's teeth on Cars, and I'd like something more attractive to wrap around it.

Incoming part notice: Picked up a digital dash for an '86? 323, and so I've solved both the tach and speedo limitations presented by the stock 6krpm, 85mph tach. The digital conversion is also a visual plus, and in the direction I had hoped to go.

[Mr.Rauq]

4 cyl != rice though. When duals are the only thing you've done to the car, then yes definitely. When you've already hit up the motor, suspension, and brakes, anything you do to make it rice is just a joke, IMO. Will we get to see the finished product out in clemtown? Can't say I know who you are unfortunately.

[DriverOne]

humJaba, check out the Festiva Motorsport kit for the Festiva. The change is a nice one. The gaudy stock bumpers are what kill the look of the car.

[DriverOne]

Mr. Rauq, you don't know me, but I've seen you drive in Clemson and at races. You've passed me without noticing, I assure you.

EDIT: And, viva la red team! En garde! Hahaha

[Mr.Rauq]

(07-16-2011 07:03 PM)DriverOne Wrote:  You've passed me without noticing, I assure you.

Haha probably. That's why you need a fart can a la Escobar and his Sentra.

[humjaba]

You mean this thing? D:

[Mr.Rauq]

Reminds me of a ford shogun.

[DriverOne]

Yeah, that's the one. It's one of two kits available for the Festiva. Mr. Rauq, the Shogun body kit is awesome in my opinion. Here's the V6 in the Festiva I was mentioning earlier:


That's a P5 (of course) next to it, with the same setup.

[gimpstang]

just be careful with those early B6Ts. the shortnose crank like to eat the woodruff keys and destroy the crank. my old 323 GTX had a shortnosed crank and I had to really work hard to prevent that from happening to mine.

[DriverOne]

That's good to know, Gimpstang. Thank you. Any idea if a crankshaft for the later model is compatible with the early block? With as many miles as are on the engine currently (162K) I'll be looking for that damage as I do the rebuild.

[gimpstang]

Swapping to the longnose cranks is pretty much the only way to "repair" a bad shortnose crank. I think everything else is the same so its just a matter of swapping them, assuming that the shortnose is bad.