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

[rusty76]

Thanks for all the info. Nice work on the fenders.

[theastronaut]

Been awhile since I updated this. I have the bodywork done on the Capri, high build sprayed, and it's blocked up to 220. I need to touch up a couple small spots then it's ready to sand with 500 and shoot the sealer/paint.

I decided to shave the original spoiler and third brake light. A friend is working on 3d printing a duckbill style spoiler instead and it'll attach with double sided tape.






Ready for primer.










This was my first time spraying 2k in forever, I'm used to Slick Sand which is thicker... Thats what razor blades are for.




Wetsanded, checking the reflection to see if it's straight enough or if it needs more work. Since it's just a $450 Capri it was straight enough.




I bought a steering wheel for it, a pretty rare gunmetal version of a Momo Futura.




No one make a steering hub for a Capri so I used a press to punch out the steel insert from the stock wheel center. I'll machine a ring and weld it on to adapt to the six bolt pattern.






And I found a nicer seat on OfferUp.

[theastronaut]

On the Festiva side of things, I've been making a little progress on the new engine for the white one.

The friend on mine that is making intakes sent the final revision of the 3D printed patterns for me to bodywork and paint so they would pull out of the sand molds cleanly.











The patterns used to create sand molds.






The first test casting sent to me for fitting.






I cleaned up the Rio crank and rods, along with the block and main caps.







Made an adapter to hold the crank in the lathe so I could polish the journals.






And I've added a few sets of wheels to my collection.


13x6.5 +6 BMW/Alpina wheels.




15x7 +17 Riken mesh wheels.




And a couple sets that Festiva friends have picked up for me and I'll be collecting at the next Festiva meets.

13x7 -19 Revolution four spokes.




And probably my favorite so far is a set of 14x6.5 +9 Hayashi Techno TRV wheels from Japan. These match the wheels for the Capri, just in a size that will fit a Festiva.

[theastronaut]

Of course no update would be complete without the purchase of another Festiva or Capri, or three...

I saw this '92 GL posted in the Festiva group on Facebook for $250 and had to have it. No rust, not wrecked, and clean title. I commented and said that I'd take it and a friend of mine commented and said that he had a shell that I could have and that I should stop and check it out on my way back from picking up the '92.






So when I stopped to check out the shell this was sitting in his driveway. I knew he hadn't had it before, and he'd never mentioned it so I asked about it. The owner was getting too old to drive so he wanted his daughter to take it by my friend's house to see if he was interested. They'd never met before, the owner just knew my friend was into Festivas by the amount of Festivas in his yard. They only wanted $700 for it so he bought it on the spot. It looked pretty decent and he mentioned he might not keep it so I put my name in the hat in case he ever did sell it.




So I get a text about a month later, and it ended up in my collection.






The body is really nice but the interior was gross so I started cleaning it up, and everything I touched ended up looking new once it was detailed.

[theastronaut]

(I split up the posts so less pics have to load per page.)


The carpet was really filthy so I pulled it out and pre-soaked it with Zep purple degreaser, then pressure washed it.














With the carpet out of the way I started cleaning all of the lower interior surfaces.






























The door panels were in great condition but the stock seats were trashed, so I decided to use a set of GL Sport seats and matching panels. Sport seats/panels have a red stripe insert that is unique to the Sport models. The rear panels never had inserts on any US models, so I wanted to add the Japan/Euro style inserts. I made a WTB post and had a guy respond within the same day with leftover door panel cloth. I used that to cover a pair of panels I molded from ABS sheet, then used 3M double sided tape to install them so I didn't have to drill the panels for clips or screws.












The nearly finished interior. The step plates, arm rests, and lower seat belt covers were cleaned/scuffed and shot with SM Arnold plastic and vinyl dye to restore their color. I stuck all the screws and bolts in a cardboard box and shot them with a light coat of satin black to recolor them back black again. I still need to pull out the rear panels and dye them to hide some minor scuffs that didn't clean up. The rest of the pieces were just cleaned and treated with Duragloss rubber and vinyl dressing to bring back the color and sheen. I'm super happy with the results inside, now I've got to make the outside match.

[4u2nv]

Nice work
Your detailing is top notch
I always enjoy the detail end of things , I think it's the results

[mongocanfly]

Dang John...do you ever sleep?..haha...
Love the Bush can intake...looks good..

[Russell Ashley]

You know how to make a vehicle look like new, inside and out. You've made more people want a Fiesta than Ford motor company ever did, I think. Me included.

[jhrusk]

Great detail John. Always enjoy your posts

[rusty76]

What did you use to lean the dash and vents? Did you use the Duragloss stuff? Very nice work as always!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by 4u2nv

Nice work
Your detailing is top notch
I always enjoy the detail end of things , I think it's the results

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Dang John...do you ever sleep?..haha...
Love the Bush can intake...looks good..

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

You know how to make a vehicle look like new, inside and out. You've made more people want a Fiesta than Ford motor company ever did, I think. Me included.

Originally Posted by jhrusk

Great detail John. Always enjoy your posts

Originally Posted by rusty76

What did you use to lean the dash and vents? Did you use the Duragloss stuff? Very nice work as always!

Thanks dudes! Rusty, I used Dow glass/surface cleaner for most of it, we get it from our glass suppliers and it's pretty good for most things. It did slightly streak the glove door, so I may have to dye that. It foams up really well so I spray it in the the vents, scrub with a brush, then use a wet/dry vac to suck the foam/dirt back out. Repeating that a couple of times usually gets all the grime out, then a spray a fairly heavy coat of Duragloss and let it soak in before buffing off the excess with a foam applicator pad.

[rusty76]

Thanks

[theastronaut]

Nothing too major to report, still working on detailing the new '91 in my spare time. Made the trip to Ohio in it to hang out with Festiva friends a couple weeks ago and it made the 1k mile trip with no issues.


The paint was surprisingly clean, very little contaminates came off with a clay bar. I used Jescar Correcting Compound with a wool pad which brought back the color and shine. I'll work my way around all the panels, then finish with a foam pad and swirl remover when I have more time.











I blasted and painted a set of stock wheels for it, and mounted new tires before the trip.




The fender was repainted at some point, I'll have to redo it so it matches better.






Packed for the trip. It got 39 mpg on the first tank, and 37 on the second. I stopped in Johnson City TN for lunch and was stuck in a drive through when a hail storm hit... nothing I could do except sit there and listen to the chunks hit the roof and hood. Thankfully they were small and no damage was done, but that was definitely the most stressful drive through visit ever. I got an email confirming where I added full coverage only about 30 minutes before I stopped for lunch... that would've been a fun phone call to make had there been any damage






A few guys brought rusted out beaters to the meet and thrashed them around Tommy's makeshift back yard dirt track. The guy that cast the intake manifold was there with his test car (the silver one). Got to drive it, and the added power and throttle response on a stock engine was really incredible, and it was keeping up with the 88hp 1.6 sohc swapped cars on the straights. I'm pretty hopeful that my 1.3 build will break 100hp after seeing how well an otherwise stock (63hp) engine ran with just the carbs thrown on and no tuning done yet.

[theastronaut]

A bit more practice port work. The manifold flange is offset a decent amount from the valve, so I decided to see if there was enough material to open up that side of the port wall to straighten out the port. I'll chop it up in the bandsaw to see how much wall thickness is left, and if there's enough I'll finish up the real head and drop it off for a valve job soon.










I opened up the ports from around .940" to 1.240". I came up with 1.124" using Wallace Racing's calculator for the minimum port size needed for a given displacement and rpm. This should keep the port size as small as possible to boost air speed while being big enough to pull to 8000 rpm. I tried to focus material removal in areas that would straighten the port- the roof, the port wall shown above, and rounding the short side turn. This pic shows the difference in port height compared to stock.




I bought a flycutter for the Bridgeport and trimmed the manifold at a 2.5* angle to help match the port angle a little better.




And, the car I've been hoping to find popped up back in January on marketplace and I was finally able to make contact with the owner and purchase it. The original maroon '88 I started this thread with is fairly rusty underneath. I've been torn on fixing it or replacing it, and after finding this one I've decided to swap everything over to this shell. It's really solid other than a couple spots on each rocker, and pretty straight overall. It'll be easy to strip it, then knock out the bodywork and paint so I can swap everything over from my original build.

[mongocanfly]

that little red car shined up really good...
nice port work..!!!!!
congrats on the new car as well

[rusty76]

Very kool

[67ChevyRedneck]

How was that the same car? I'll bet that turned some heads on the highway!

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

What is next a Shogun version?

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Ziegelsteinfaust

What is next a Shogun version?

Nah, wouldn't want to make it handle worse, heavier, and harder to drive at the limit. The only appeal would be for better straight line speed, but I'd just build a drag bug with parts I have laying around if I were interested in that. Short wheelbase cars with a lot of rear-weight bias are really hard to get 10/10ths out of; Porsche (rear-heavy R/R layout) has recently been developing mid-engine 911 track cars to move more weight forward. Having weight over the two wheels that don't steer is a pretty big disadvantage in cornering which the fwd layout overcomes naturally. Porsche has also started adding active rear wheel steering to stabilize the rearward weight bias of the 911 in corners. The Festiva Chassis has rear wheel steering already built into the rear twist beam from it flexing under cornering loads to alter the toe angles, so swapping to a different rear suspension setup is a big downgrade.

We have a standing challenge that any mid-engine swapped Festiva that can outrun a prepped stock-chassis/fwd Festiva around a road course gets all of their track expenses paid for. No one has been willing to take us up on it.

For anyone interested, this topic goes deep into why the Festiva chassis is such a great handling car as-is with only minimal mods like springs, shocks, wheels, tires, and an alignment.

https://fordfestiva.com/forums/forum...tiva-advantage

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

Nah, wouldn't want to make it handle worse, heavier, and harder to drive at the limit. The only appeal would be for better straight line speed, but I'd just build a drag bug with parts I have laying around if I were interested in that. Short wheelbase cars with a lot of rear-weight bias are really hard to get 10/10ths out of; Porsche (rear-heavy R/R layout) has recently been developing mid-engine 911 track cars to move more weight forward. Having weight over the two wheels that don't steer is a pretty big disadvantage in cornering which the fwd layout overcomes naturally. Porsche has also started adding active rear wheel steering to stabilize the rearward weight bias of the 911 in corners. The Festiva Chassis has rear wheel steering already built into the rear twist beam from it flexing under cornering loads to alter the toe angles, so swapping to a different rear suspension setup is a big downgrade.

We have a standing challenge that any mid-engine swapped Festiva that can outrun a prepped stock-chassis/fwd Festiva around a road course gets all of their track expenses paid for. No one has been willing to take us up on it.

For anyone interested, this topic goes deep into why the Festiva chassis is such a great handling car as-is with only minimal mods like springs, shocks, wheels, tires, and an alignment.

https://fordfestiva.com/forums/forum...tiva-advantage

Ford did it when the SHO Taurus came out, and technically it was mid engine. With 4 wheel dually like flairs.

Supposedly it was quite the little car for a test run.

If I were mad, and not just insane. I would use the Fiesta ST drive package. That way you have one hell of a Mexican party

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

The Mexican party machine with video

https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/a1...-ford-festiva/

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by Ziegelsteinfaust

What is next a Shogun version?

I'd like to see one on a shortened blazer Chassis

[mongocanfly]

here you go Jesse ...could this be Johns as well?

[theastronaut]

Tons of wrong info in that article. The Festiva was a rebadged Mazda 121, Ford only imported and sold them, much like the "Chrysler" Conquest/Mitsubishi Starion. Not sure where the mexican affiliation came from; the Festiva is a Mazda design, built in Korea with Japanese Mazda drivetrain, and the Fiesta has always been of European origin. They weigh 1700-1800 pounds, not 2190 like that article states and they had a better to power weight ratio than most of the other small cars they competed against. Magazine articles about them always said they were peppy, even the lower hp 88/89 models.

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/vint...ord-festiva-l/


Just like the development of the Festiva, Ford never actually had anything to do with development of the Shogun; Chuck Beck and Chris Titus developed and built them on their own. Ford wouldn't even sell them the engines/parts to build them so they had to buy complete SHOs to use as donors- hence the big price tag when new.


As far as a Fiesta ST drivetrain, it's a common question in the Festiva forum; it's too big to fit and the power delivery is all wrong for a lightweight hatchback- too much low rpm torque. A lightweight fwd car needs minimal torque down low and horsepower that peaks at high rpm to maintain traction. The guy that developed the suspension setup I'm running has developed an engine derived from a Miata 1.6 block that is destroked and has longer rods for a much better rod ratio (smoother power delivery) and a ZMde cylinder head. The torque curve is moved up the rpm scale that way. It's making roughly 280 hp at 8000 rpm in intial testing at low boost, around only 15 psi. It's built for 9500-10k rpm and nearly 30 psi.

Here's a post from the first time attack event he took the new build to. This is with the stock Festiva chassis and most of the stock suspension components- stock front sway bar, stock rear twist beam, stock mounting points, no rear sway bar- just coilovers, tires/wheels, alignment, and upgraded front brakes. The rear brakes are deleted since the rear of the car is so light. Nothing has been cut to remove weight yet and very little has been done to improve aero. HL0 is an unlimited class and he has some really serious competitors- google the names of the top guys on the time sheet.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ford...1516794924959/

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

What is a Fiesta?

That is what Fiesta people sometimes called them especially the ST version.