New car, new goals. 91 Ford festiva

[paintme205]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

I'd try a fan/alternator delete if I didn't live in Florida. Too scared!

I P&G pretty much the whole way down the road now. On 4 lane roads people see me a long way off and switch lanes, so I'm not in anybody's way. And on 2 lane roads I just pull over and let people go by until it's clear, kinda like if I was driving a tractor

I thought about a kammback, but my wife's ready to shoot me already!

Yeah my car is kind of famous and not in a good way. My wife asked me to park it in the garage. I was like really??

She said it would be better in there so that no one could see it.

[paintme205]

Originally Posted by mikeyjd

,.

Yes, of course, but why stop there?

I use this as a work truck....I actually put a 600 pound engine in the back and drove 500 miles. Was nearly bottomed out the entire trip.

I need the hatch to operate like normal and pretty easily since I am always carting things around and tools.

Current list of new things to do:

underbelly tray
Little wing extensions for sides of kammback
Open small hole for radiator
Delete radiator fan, stereo stuff, and any other weight I can find inside. Hopefully another 150 pounds.

I am considering the alternator delete. I know it will help but I would like to add another battery if I do it. I have two spare batteries, plenty of cable, and a charger. It really boils down to whether I want to deal with the hassle of plugging it in every night. I may just try disconnecting the belt and unplugging the wire and see how it like it initially.

My real question is this, how many watts does a charger use if plugged in 12 hours a day. I pay .09 a watt in Oklahoma.

Second major question is can I get 600 miles out of two fully charged batteries? Assuming no lights or stereo playing.

[cowmeat]

Wish I could do the alt delete, but with my electric fan running all the time, that's not going to happen. Going to have to work around that!

Next up for me is the belly pan - I already have the steel brackets (free) and I just have to grab the plastic sheets and find the time . . . .oh, wait, we have a three day weekend!

After my wife pretty much gotten over the new five dollar paint job, I surprised her with "I'm not done with the mods, you know", at which point she just shook her head sadly and trudged back in the house. I did tell her that the next mod (belly pan) won't be visible, not sure I made a big impact though, she still seems pretty mad

I think it's staring to finally sink in to her now, because we're going to be car pooling in two weeks, and we sure as hell aren't gonna be driving her V8 Explorer! Guess what car that leaves, lol? I'm looking for a small 3-cyl stick anything (with air) and I'm going to pass the Festiva on to my son, but so far I'm coming up dry on a replacement

[mikeyjd]

1st gen insight with a dead IMA sounds like your best bet. They can be had for under 2k.

[cowmeat]

Man I'd love to get one, but I can't touch one in this market for that price. I've scoured the state of Florida (and south Georgia), and there are a only a couple gen 1's between 2800 to 3500, but they have crazy miles on them and both need work

2000 honda insight

There is also one about an hour from my house that says it had the battery replaced two years ago, but they want like 4000 for it, and it has almost 200,000 miles on it

Honda Insight-great Fuel Efficiency

[mikeyjd]

There's one Chicago asking $2100. I bet they'd come down to $1500.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by bhazard

I have, and well beyond ^_^

Ford Festiva 12.50 @ 110 mph in car video - YouTube

I think in my blue auto [gone now], I was holding fast at somewhere north of 100 for at least several miles 'keeping up with traffic' on 283 outside of Lancaster.

I got passed by 3 cops that day with my pedal to the floor, delivering parts to another Festiva owner in that area.

I also still got north of 30mpg for the whole trip. Re-friggin'-markable, to say the least.

[cowmeat]

Jeez man, that's crazy!

Not sure what mine would do on the track, but I'm pretty sure it would only do it once . . . . pretty sure I see why you're driving something else now, lol!

There was a Festiva down here for sale for the longest time that had been rebuilt as a mid-engine RWD Hyabusa-powered, supposedly street legal. He must have sold it, but here's a link to it

Hayabusa Mid-Engine 1989 Ford Festiva

[paintme205]

Thanks for the P&G tips everyone. Managed a new best today of 62 MPG. Still has a little more in it at that speed since I didn't P&G the whole trip. Just pretty steady at 55 MPG.

I'm tearing it down this weekend for a compression check, possible head gasket change and to put a belly pan on. Hopefully that all helps as well.

More pics to follow.

[cowmeat]

Good job, man!
I'm gonna have a tough time hanging with you and Mikey now.