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

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by 69gmcc10

Thanks for sharing your story with this little car, this is so cool!

Originally Posted by rusty76

Awesome.

Thanks guys!!

[theastronaut]

A few days ago I started getting the Capri engine ready to pull. The driver side axle gave me some trouble, but I finally got it out with some advice from the Festiva forum members.






Yesterday I stripped everything off the engine, then cleaned and painted the block. I originally bought a Honda F22 header to try to modify and make it fit the Capri engine, but it wasn't a good match for the oil pan notch. I bought a MX-6 header that looked like a closer fit and cut the flange off so I could see how it's going to line up on the b6d. Looks good, so I'll go with it. I also reinstalled the compressor to check for clearance at the #1 pipe, fits much better than the F22 header.




The b6d flange I found on eBay is pretty crappy. It was missing two holes, and five of the others didn't quite line up. The ports are a little off too. Nothing a carbide burr and drill press can't fix.






Figured out why the engine didn't want to turn over easily when I tried to do a compression test... that's the nose of the starter housing.




Today I installed a new timing belt, water pump, cam/crank seals, and I detailed the valve cover. I tack welded the header to the flange to hold it in place for mock up in the car. I'm off tomorrow, so I'm hoping to pull the B6t/G series out of the blue car so I can get the trans cleaned up and ready to mount to the B6d.

[rusty76]

The engine looks good.

[Low Elco]

Can't wait to see how the little roller skate boogies!

[theastronaut]

Got a lot done and not a lot posted...


I swapped out the interior from a nicer/higher optioned LX. This included a tilt column.






Pulled the original 1.3.








Bought a pair of 45mm Dellorto DHLA's.




Cleaned the engine compartment.




Transfered the front bracing and radiator support from the mock up car to this one, and made lower radiator mounts. Radiator is aftermarket for a Honda Civic.








First test fit in the car.




Heated and bent the header tube to fit the flange better. Also cut out a pie shaped piece from the end of each tube to angle the bottom of the header back away from the radiator.




Current state. Need to hook everything up still, but it's in.

[rusty76]

Wow. What did you do to clean the engine bay? Very nice work

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Wow. What did you do to clean the engine bay? Very nice work

Pressure washer, then scrubbed with Purple Power. It was still wet in that pic so it looked better then then it does dry.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Watched your youtube videos, that little booger scoots!

Those carbs look ridiculously cool!

[theastronaut]

Been super busy with a project at work so I haven't had time to work on the '88. The dually I bought a couple months ago was killing me on gas ($100 bucks a week) so found and I bought a pretty clean '89 a couple weeks ago. Found it on the back of a used car lot, cleaned it up, and stuck the suspension from the '88 under it so I could autocross it the next day. My best run was a 54.752, the fastest of the day was 50.652.

Ford Festiva Clemson Sports Car Club Autocross...

[rusty76]

I’m starting to really dig these things. Cool new ride.

[theastronaut]

No progress on the red car, it's been a crazy busy last few months. The white car developed engine problems, mainly lack of compression on a few cylinders and the crank pulley bolt loosened. That caused the timing belt hub to chew up the end of the crankshaft.

I ended up using the original short block leftover from the red car, rebuilt/ported a head from a parts car, and swapped in a five speed from the same parts car. It got all new seals, belts, hoses, water pump, tune up parts, CV boots, clutch kit, and I converted it to use an early 80's Escort carburetor which is basically a progressive two barrel Weber. It should be good to go for a long time.

I had to rush to finish the white car since I had signed up for a track event at INDE Motorsport Ranch in Arizona with the FordFestiva.com group. I got the car running the day before we left out with only 80 test miles, so I ended up trailering it out there just to be safe. It ran great from the shop we met at to the track (~150 miles).

At the track it ran good enough to set a new track record for fastest original engine (1.3l b3) Festiva. The old track record was a 2:22.xx. I was running 2:23 with a 215 pound passenger and a 20-30 mph headwind down the 2200 ft front stretch, so I figured I had a shot at beating the record. With no passenger I ran a best of 2:20.26 on Saturday with a string of back to back 2:20.xx laps; the car was very consistant. On Sunday there was very little wind and I was able to run multiple 2:17.xx laps, with the best being a 2:17.14. The ported head, along with the Escort carb and sticky tires went a long way in getting the car around the track that quickly; I ran within a second of a 1.6 DOHC swapped car with summer tires, and another 1.6 swapped car wasn't able to pass me on the 2,200 ft front stretch without me letting off to let him pass.

The best part of the weekend was watching Charlie (he's the guy in the vids I posted earlier, and who developed the suspension I'm using) outrun a new GT350R Mustang in his old 180 hp turbo daily driver Festiva. The guy driving the Mustang slowed to let Charlie pass so he could "reel him back in", but Charlie was ahead by half the front stretch in only two laps.


Pulling the parts car out to steal the cylinder head and 5 speed, along with the A/C parts for Charlie.






Porting the head.









New parts.




Original engine pulled.

[theastronaut]

The old engine leaked like crazy so the engine bay was filthy. I pressure washed it then scrubbed it with Purple Power degreaser.












After.










New engine in.




Had some trouble with vacuum leaks, and I didn't find out that the idle mixture screw was blocked until after I'd installed the carb. I also forgot to trim the fuel cut solenoid stem so the car wouldn't idle at first...

[theastronaut]

So I barely had the car ready to go in time but no wheels for the track tires I bought. I had ordered 165/55-14's so I could use the wheels I already had but found out that they were backordered until late Feb. I ordered a set of 165/50-15's and started looking for 15" wheels that would fit. Found a set of Riken mesh wheels that were the perfect offset and size but the seller kept making excuses when I tried to meet him to pick them up. Ended up leaving out for Arizona with tires but no wheels, so I was constantly checking craigslist along the way out. I found a set of Audi 100 wheels in Arkansas not far off the interstate and was able to buy them and get the tires mounted before we arrived at the track.


My sister and brother in law came along on the trip. We used his tow dolly to pull the car most of the way, though I did take it off in New Mexico to get some miles on it before going straight to the track.









We arrived in Phoenix wednesday night and everyone started working on getting Charlie's track car ready.

[theastronaut]

We left out of Phoenix Friday afternoon to go to the track with a convoy of 17 Festivas.








I was busy driving so I didn't take many pics while at the track, and my camera mount broke so I wasn't able to get any videos from inside the car. I got about 200 miles in on the track.





Tires after the first day on the track. They held up very well, especially compared to a few other guys who were running summer or all season tires that didn't make it through both days. They wore evenly from inside to outside so the alignment was good. I'm runnning -3* camber and zero toe all arouind, caster isn't adjustable. I run the same alignment on the street and there was no noticeable tire wear from driving the car back home from Arizona.

[theastronaut]

A bit of info from the lap timer app. The car ran very consistant lap times when I wasn't entering/exiting the track or slowed down by traffic. There were a few times where I had no traffic and was able to click off 4-5 laps within a second of each other.






The app keeps up with your best time over sections of the track, and pieces your best sections together to create your best possible "virtual lap time". Theoretically the car had a 2:16.85 in it, so I'm really happy with my 2:17.14, only three tenths slower.




The car was pulling over 1.2g's in the corners, which is very impressive considering the Camaro ZL1 1LE does 1.11 and the GT350R does 1.10g. Even more impressive that it does it on a set of tires that only cost $382 shipped and will last 10,000 miles on the street with a few autocrosses on them. Tires on a GT350R or a 1LE would cost more than I spent on the whole trip, including tires and track costs, and hotels.




Street tires after the trip home.




3,419 miles total on the trip.




My best mileage was 35.4 mpg in Atlanta traffic. This will go up once I rejet the carb, it's running a bit rich.

[theastronaut]

Here's the video from inside the car that outran a GT350R. Charlie was running 2:03 - 2:04 laps. You can see the GT350R at 4:45. He was on a cool down lap about to get off the track, but saw Charlie and decided to let him pass so he could chase him down. He never caught up and was losing a few seconds a lap every lap.

Festiva Insanity 2018 "Tweak" -...

[rusty76]

Awesome updates and trip. Way to go on the record. By far my favorite non truck build on here.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Awesome updates and trip. Way to go on the record. By far my favorite non truck build on here.

Thanks!

[theastronaut]

One of the guys that went to INDE with us named Joe posted a vid from inside his car, and you can see me up ahead a few times. The camera car has a ~120 hp B6d engine and Federal 595 SS tires (260tw summer tires) and the same suspension setup I'm running. The other guy in the car giving pointers is Charlie, the guy who developed the suspension.

You can see me in front of Joe from 11:20 to about 22:30. This was shot on our first day on the track so we were still learning the lines. Another B6d car (blue) pops in with us at 18:00.

I'm back in view at 27:32-30:00.

My favorite part is 35:40 to 38:00. Joe lets me pass on the front stretch and then works to keep up with me through the infeild. This was shot on the second day so we had figured the track out and were really pushing the cars hard. There was a lot less of a head wind on the front stretch so speeds were 5 mph higher too. Our best times were only about .7 seconds apart- I had more grip due from the stickier track tires but he had a lot more power. His top speed on the straight was 10 mph faster than mine. In this part of the vid he has a passenger slowing him down a little so we're pretty even.

Festiva Insanity 2018 NON-STOP MEGA MIX V2 -...

[theastronaut]

I ran into a local guy a few weeks ago at a car show in Myrtle Beach and he told me about a Festiva in a scrap yard. I was needing to scrap the Capri leftovers so I went Saturday to drop off the Capri and check to see if they still had the Festiva.

Mercury Capri at Scrap Yard - YouTube

They said the car had been there for years and was in a back corner, and were willing to sell it whole at current scrap price. It's an 88 or 89 L, four speed with A/C, seemed really straight and had no rust that I could see. I'll try to go back this week with the trailer and bring it home.

[rusty76]

Cool vids. Can’t wait for more updates.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Cool vids. Can’t wait for more updates.

Thanks, hoping to get back to the red car next month.

[theastronaut]

Bought another last week, a '90 L Plus with A/C and 135K miles. I'll clean it up and give it to my mom to drive, she's been wanting a gas saver. I originally found it on facebook marketplace back in February when I was on my way home from Arizona. I sent the owner a message saying I was interested but it sold before I made it home and could go check it out. I popped up again last week so I went and bought it.












It came with a lot of the original paperwork from when it was bought new.











The interior is in pretty good shape overall but needed a thorough cleaning so I pulled it out last night and pressure washed the seats and carpet today.













After two rounds of pre-soaking with Purple Power and pressure washing.

[rusty76]

That is so crazy you can pressure wash seats like that. Never considered that. Awesome. Also today I saw one of those Capris rolling down the road. I’ve never seen one in person till today. Lol.

[69gmcc10]

What a difference!!! It is amazing how much human slime and dirt can accumulate in a vehicle, even one that was taken care of and loved. I have pulled out a filthy carpet and power washed it before, but never done it to the seats. the carpet took like 2 days to totally dry, so I can only imagine how long the foam in the seats took to dry completely. When it comes to seats and light carpet stains I "borrow" my wife's carpet cleaner vacuum with the upholstery attachment, it makes a big difference. I am impressed you keep finding theses gems, all the Festivas I see for sale or see driving around are beat to within an inch of their life.