What I'm doing lately (kind of an ecomod)
 

What do you do when you have these two cars sitting around doing nothing:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...1-18173331.jpg

93 Ford Festiva L and 93 Mercury Capri Xr2 (turbo)


Well, you build a "Fastiva" of course.

Okay putting a higher power engine in a car that already gets 45+ mpg isnt exactly an 'ecomod', but think of it as taking the engine out of a car that gets 35 mpg, and moving it to a lighter body that has more mpg potential ;)

The Capri is a decent little car, pretty fun, and probably good for mid-15's at 85-90mph, and I got 35-38mpg when I was driving it, but it had a rotted out chunk of frame rail that took a sizable amount of floor with it.

But at 1800lbs (or less) the Festiva is over 700lbs lighter than the Capri. Put 2+2 together, even if I leave the Capri engine (Mazda B6T 1.6L DOHC turbo) at a stock 132hp and 136lb-ft of torque, the Festiva is probably still good for mid to high-14's and should be able to get at least 40mpg still (I routinely got 48mpg on average in the Festiva). Nobody keeps a turbo engine bone stock though, and 200hp is *too* easy to get to on these engines.

Sounds like a killer daily driver to me.

My progress so far...

I started off by pulling the B6T and G25MR trans out of the Capri. I also pulled the entire engine harness including where it runs through the firewall into the interior. Inside it ends with three plugs to the ECU and then a plug you splice into the Festiva's wiring for things like ignition power and starter trigger.

Heres the Capri engine bay before I yanked the motor... I had gotten started on freeing up the harness and such things here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...w_York2010.jpg

And then the next day or so I had the engine ready to pull...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...w_York2010.jpg


And the next day or so I had it out...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...w_York2010.jpg


Only a couple things I need from the Capri now, the intercooler (Its really not that great but I'll use it for now), and the interior part of the harness (I'm trying to trace it up through the dash so I dont have to extend the wires). I may end up using the brakes off the car as they are a HUGE upgrade to the tiny Festiva brakes. After that the rest of the car will be up for parts.


And now today I started on the Festiva, and got the 63hp Mazda B3 (1.3L) pulled.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...w_York2010.jpg

Even with 181,000 miles and sitting the last year or so the engine ran awesome. It ran a 17.95 at 76.1mph in a car under one ton. I also averaged 48mpg. Probably one of the most reliable engines ever, does its job perfectly. Heres a quick video of its final run, for the record. And incase anyone happens to want it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6weaiVV5u2c

Thats all for now though, I'm hoping to get some more done tomorrow, but its a 40 minute drive to my dads... if not for that, I probably would have it done by now.

Sounds like an interesting project.
Keep us updated.
You took a 1.3L Festiva to the drag strip ??? How long until the laughing stopped?

There was no laughing that I knew of. Its not all that uncommon to take a slow car down a drag strip. Its more for fun than anything, and you can even win bracket races in a slow car.

Some of todays progress...

Got the last of the wiring I needed out of the Capri. The big one is what plugs into the engine harness and then gets wired to the Festiva's ignition switch wiring. The small bundle of wires pointing north is all I need. Two wires deliver current to the fuel pump, a big blue wire for +12v constant, a wire for switched +12v, a wire for the check engine light, and a couple grounds. That big bundle pointing east is unused.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...3-08165750.jpg

The smaller plug with the three wires also plugs into the engine harness, but under the hood. Two wires go to the coil connection and provide tach signal, and one goes to the big main power fuse.


I also ordered a new clutch set off ebay, the old one is toast...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...3-08171200.jpg

The new one is a "XTD Stage 3 Race Clutch", its a 6 puck disc with 'copper ceramic' friction material. Best part is under $160 shipped. I've been told they hold up really well for being a "cheap ebay" setup.

cool project.

nice project cant wait to see it done

Cool!
Just for my interest:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...w_York2010.jpg

Is that motor in some way related to Toyota? it sure looks like it to me.

I can vouch for XTD clutches. I used to beat the stage 2 in my Civic, then switched it for a solid 4 puck and used to beat that even harder, and it never slipped, even in violent burns all the way through 2nd gear. At the end of 2nd, I'd grab third, get a good chirp, and launch like I should have 2 gears ago. :)

Nope its a Mazda B6T (Mazda B engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Good to hear good things about the clutch. Unfortunately Ive also read the throwout bearing that comes with it wont work with my Capri trans... I'll probably have to get that separate.

Haven't had any good progress lately because of the weather. Still working on getting the trans mounted first. Theres actually someone selling taller 5th gears for the trans that I may look into. Stock Capri 5th is .8 I think and this one is .71 I think.

I also need a 2.5" hole saw to cut a hole in the firewall for the wire harness...

I don't have them handy to show you ATM, but often, the only reason a release bearing won't work is the attachment method. They're usually a bearing within a case, attached to a backing plate by 4 bent tabs.

I've rebuilt enough of them on enough cars to figure out that if you need a specific size that you can't find for a specific car, it's not hard to self-manufacture one by taking the old one from that car and making the backing plate fit into the bearing case.

If yours are anything like that, maybe you can make the new one work using the mount plate from the old one?