Another FNG Gas Saving Nut

[bnmorgan]

Not exactly the green enviro-nut, just someone who travels too far to work. In North Central Mississippi. Just picked up a $750 '88 Festiva, 250k miles, no major problems, AC even still works. Needs odds and ends. I need a manual and repair manual. Anyone have digitals?

Anyone have good suggestions of things for me to do? I have a VW Turbo off a 1.8l Engine.....hah, not going on this thing though. that'd be a hoot.

Thanks.

[UfoTofU]

Welcome, I Googled "1988 Festiva manual" and found Ford Festiva Repair Manual - Partstrain.com and Welcome to FordFestiva.com, which you may be able to use for general information

[bnmorgan]

Thanks. I dunno why i hadn't already found those. The forums will definitly be a tool, and amazon has the book for <US$10 shipped.

Any tips or suggestions where I start on modifications, economy wise? I like the skirting idea, belly plates, and front smoothing. Kinda wondering about something to relieve the big swirling bubble behind too.

[bnmorgan]

vac you mean? I've got a volt, oil press and oil temp gage set on my shelf somewhere, never opened. I wonder if it's got metric fittings. I'll add a vacuum gage next time i'm somewhere to get one. high vac = good, right? This whole thing is backwards from my usual. I have been driving an old bmw 70 miles a day, with all the mods i could do to get the max power. Now i'm basically going the other way, or seems so. my driving habits are going to be the toughest fix.

any supply houses online that you suggest? best price and least shipping?

[bnmorgan]

sucks that MPGuino doesn't work with carbs I've been an Ardu head for a while now. Was even using one to control some fancy intake stuff on my bimmer based on temp differentials and throttle position.

[bnmorgan]

I live in Mississippi.....a 70 mile commute isn't bad. Living on paid for land in a paid for house, wife is close to her job in a family business (makes more than I do) and I have what's nearly a dream job (with outstanding benefits to boot). A better and closer job is almost non-existant here. And only about 40% could be telecommuted (I'm an engineer, which includes lots of lab time), and the company doesn't seem to like the idea of it anyway.

And the driving habits, while most effective, are also the hardest to fix

[bhazard]

Festiva LE? You probably meant LX.

$750 seems a little steep for 250,000mi but Im sure it will still save you a lot.

Anyway, yeah you have a carbed engine, which can probably get as good a mpg as the FI cars. Is yours a 4sp or 5sp? If its a 4sp you can swap in a 5sp and drop a good 500 rpms at cruise.

As far as wheels go, the easiest swap to bigger is metro/swift wheels, I have 175/70/13 and 155/80/13 on metro wheels and they are a bit big of a tire, the 155/80 is like 8% taller than stock which throws the speedo off a good bit.

I would personally do the "aspire swap" which you can look up on fordfestiva.com. You get bigger brakes that are actually roadworthy, a functional e-brake, much better rear suspension (with a swaybar), and 4x100 bolt pattern which is WAY more common than the stock 4x114.3. You can run those super light honda vx alloys at that point with a tire thats close to stock diameter.

Advance has direct fit mufflers for like $25 by the way.

[bnmorgan]

Sounds right. limited something or the other. The aspire swap sounds interesting but I don't want to put too much more money in this thing for a while. Correct, Carb+5 speed. The car is in pretty good shape, little bits and pieces of stuff that I need to replace, nothing expected to be expensive. Money is just tight, y'know.

[Frank Lee]

Oh. Well then tune it up and see which of the 65+ efficiency mods catch your fancy.

[bnmorgan]

How do i get my vehicle tag in my signature? And can i use it off ecomodder?