Junkyard finds... And possibly saved. (long story, no pics yet)

[jamiec]

Cant wait to see it fitted with the bigger motor. That should make it fun.

[Gealii]

nice find that sure is to nice of a gem to be a junker

[FXSTi]

My neighbor is driving an '89 Festiva as a pizza delivery car. His Little Festy is in great shape.

I had a '93 which I paid $200 for, and drove 80,000 miles before I gave it away. While I owned it I was given two other running Festivas. Great cars, I thought they were a far better car than the Metro, even if they couldn't match the gas mileage.

[Christ]

This one might be getting a turbo put on the stock B3 (1.3L mazda) engine pretty soon, too. It'll only run about 5 PSI because that's about all the stock injection system can handle without mods, but that'll probably help MPG a little, provided I can stay off the Go Pedal.

I'm also in the process of tearing the Golf apart, and I may have a trick up my sleeve in the line of a VW swap into a Festiva, but that's a long way away. I'll be keeping the parts around anyway... most of them are newly installed on that car, so I certainly won't be just junking them.

The front spindles mount the same way, and the lower ball joints might be able to be made to work from the Festiva into the VW knuckle. The tie rod ends are the same thread, afaik, and the strut mounting and cartridges are basically the same, with simple mods necessary.

As long as the track width is pretty close to the same, there shouldn't be a problem with the axles using a stock VW diesel and trans, either, since they'll be going into the same knuckles.

Anyway, wayyyyy off topic for this thread.

[Sven7]

How about swap in a TDI from a Mk3 Golf?

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Sven7

How about swap in a TDI from a Mk3 Golf?

Got a couple grand? I dont even have a job, let alone any want to spend that much money on something that doesn't respond well to recycled fuels. The thought had crossed my mind initially, but for the cost, Id be better suited to build an EV

[kach22i]

I'd put an engine in the backseat and make it RWD.

Some stick on vinyl artwork to jazz it up would be nice too.

Blue Meanie
Blue Meanie - Super Smash YTP Dojo

[Christ]

Google SHOgun. Unfortunately, entirely too much work for not enough gain when, if I wanted anything "cool" like that, I could just as easily stick a KL (Ford Probe) 2.5L V6 under the hood, then with about 30 hrs of head work, a deck job, and an HX35 turbo, be making somewhere close to 400HP safely. Unfortunately, 1600lb dead chassis don't tend to like that too awful much.

On a side note, I did a little "looking around" while disassembling some parts today... I noticed that the hubs from my VW MK2 are basically the same design as the Festiva hubs. Same type of ball joints, the suspension already mounts up with very little modification (elongate a hole and Kia Rio top hats), and the Golf has the same threads for the tie rod ends as the Festiva does (I'm fairly certain. Haven't taken them apart to find out yet.)

That means that if I ever get to the point where I'd like to install one of the numerous VW engines I have, I might be able to do it easily enough, trans and all, and using MKone axles, the track width should match up pretty close to perfectly.

Something to consider when/if I get another Festiva shell, although I've been thinking about keeping the front end of the wrecked one just to try out stupid stuff like that.

[Christ]

So far, I've only been using it to haul stuff around... lately, I hauled a set of fenders, loaded doors, the OEM 12" wheels, a full rear beam and some front knuckles, as well as some small bits from my house to Lancaster to another Festiva enthusiast, which turned out to be a nice meeting and a profitable sale.

I installed the coilovers from my MK2 Golf (they're actually designed for an MK3 VW chassis) on the rear, still waiting to get the correct top hats to install the fronts. The ride is stiff and bouncy over large bumps, but the car handles like a friggin' Go-Kart. I love it, and once I get some weight moved around, it'll be much nicer.

[SiVX]

Pics! Show us the suspension, it sounds sweeeet