'88 F*rd Festiva Autocross/Track/Daily Driver Build

[rusty76]

Ouch.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Ouch.

Definitely! Not what I was expecting to find on a "running when pulled" engine...


I have a Craigslist app with saved searches/notifications on my phone and have "festiva" and "mercury capri" saved. A '91 Capri XR2 (turbo 1.6/5 speed) for $425 popped up near Atlanta a couple weeks ago and I texted the owner about it but I didn't hear back from him and I wasn't able to go get it that weekend anyway. He texted back the next Wednesday saying that the car had to be gone by the next day. He was only asking $300 at that point so I loaded up the trailer and went to pick it up that afternoon after work. When I got there I noticed an automatic shifter in the console, so it ended up being a base Capri with a N/A 1.6, and someone had installed a XR2 spoiler/badge. The owner apologized and dropped the price to $200 since he had advertised it as a XR2 with a 5 speed.


I was kinda bummed that it wasn't a XR2 but I can use the N/A 1.6 as-is since it's basically a Miata 1.6 engine that's set up for front wheel drive. It doesn't have the "big nose" crank that the 92-93 cars have so I can't run an ATI damper. I don't know how long it'll live at higher RPMs without a damper so I'm planning on it just being a temporary engine until I can find the parts to build a hotter engine.




I've also been working on rebuilding the 40 DCOE's, just waiting on a few new parts to come in the mail and they'll be done. I'll put them on eBay and find a pair of 45 Dellorto's with around 37mm venturis instead since the 33mm venturis in the Webers will limit flow above 6000 rpm.






I've had some questions about rebuilding the Webers... it's not that difficult, just time consuming and there is a lot of cleaning. I dissasembled, then soaked the bodies and parts in a gallon can of carb cleaner, then glass bead blast the carb bodies. The brass parts are soaked in aluminum brightener acid to clean off any corrosion. I found a couple of vids on youtube that show the reassembly well.

45 DCOE 13 Weber Assembly - Part 1 - YouTube

45 DCOE 13 Weber Assembly - Part 2 - YouTube

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