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Who knows about Ford Festivas?


Cordell

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So my Dad and I have bought a 1993 Ford Festiva, been sitting for over 10 years so we will have to get it running, not a problem we are both technicians. What I am curious about is modding the car. As dumb as it may sound I have heard of swapping Aspire parts and some of these things being pretty fun. We are thinking about having something to thrash around with just for kicks. Amazingly it has very little rust and the shell is in good condition, and you can't beat getting it for scrap price.

 

So thoughts, ideas? Been searching around the interwebs but it seems a lot of info is outdated and getting lost.

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Didn't rolla (ridenred27) have one of these he was modding? I think he may have had 2 even.

 

If I recall, the popular performance swap was the 4 cylinder out of the mercury capri convertibles. He used to talk them up a lot in terms of power to weight, handling etc.

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I can't offer a lot of specifics, but I would not rule out Mazda bits. I think Mazda made a similar car not offered here.........Mazda 120 or 121 or something. Go JDM!!

 

Yeah its the 121, I'm finding more stuff in Europe then here. I know Ford, Mazda, and Kia all played a part in building these cars. Seems there have been many swaps and things done, just most of the links I find are dead.

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Didn't rolla (ridenred27) have one of these he was modding? I think he may have had 2 even.

 

If I recall, the popular performance swap was the 4 cylinder out of the mercury capri convertibles. He used to talk them up a lot in terms of power to weight, handling etc.

 

Not sure if he ever finished it, but he was convering it to RWD and I believe he was stuffing either a 302 or a turbo 2.3 in it.

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I had a Ford Festiva in college that was a blast. You are spot on that Ford Festiva parts bolt on. I took the struts/springs from an Aspire and bolted right on. My original ones were blown so the car would get dicey at 55 mph. It pretty much turned the car into a go cart with the part swap. It pretty much impossible to get a ticket due to two reasons: 1. you couldn't go fast enough to get in trouble. 2. An officer would look at you in utter disbelief that a festiva was flying around a corner

 

My car was a complete beater that I never rolled the windows down unless it was a thunderstorm. It got great gas mileage and was one of the most fun cars I ever had. Basically the logic was if I ever got in a wreck I would just leave it to get impounded.

 

FYI, the mazda 1.6 and 1.8 can bolt to the trans with fabricated motor mounts. :)

 

Lol:

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My best friend way back in the 90s had a Festiva. I could lift the rear end off the ground with him in the backseat. Light as hell. He was 6.5ft tall and the car was white. It looked like he was hatching everytime he got out of it.
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I had a Ford Festiva in college that was a blast. You are spot on that Ford Festiva parts bolt on. I took the struts/springs from an Aspire and bolted right on. My original ones were blown so the car would get dicey at 55 mph. It pretty much turned the car into a go cart with the part swap. It pretty much impossible to get a ticket due to two reasons: 1. you couldn't go fast enough to get in trouble. 2. An officer would look at you in utter disbelief that a festiva was flying around a corner

 

My car was a complete beater that I never rolled the windows down unless it was a thunderstorm. It got great gas mileage and was one of the most fun cars I ever had. Basically the logic was if I ever got in a wreck I would just leave it to get impounded.

 

FYI, the mazda 1.6 and 1.8 can bolt to the trans with fabricated motor mounts. :)

 

Lol:

 

That Festiva was hurting some feelings, lol.

 

So what your saying is find Aspire struts/knuckles/brakes and just bolt the shit on?

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That Festiva was hurting some feelings, lol.

 

So what your saying is find Aspire struts/knuckles/brakes and just bolt the shit on?

 

Yes sir. For the rears, I would double check on Fordfestiva.com. It had to have been around 2005 so it's been sometime. I clearly remember going down to the junk yard and bolting stuff on without any issues. I just did the springs/struts, but I would lean towards the knuckles/brakes should be fine, but I would research it more. I didn't cut spring, upgrades, or anything. I didn't even bother with a sway bar. Just the springs/struts completely changed the car into shit's n giggles on the turns. It was an odd experience because you knew that you were slow as shit, but it was tons of fun in the process. On the freeway, I would have to be going down hill with momentum to get it about 90. lol.

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Google can yield you loads of info. They are the precursor of the ford aspire which you already know and iirc that led to the Kia rio. One of the more popular swaps is the mercury Capri motor, but many have swapped in pretty much anything you can imagine. The hardest part is the transmission and axles, keeping them alive or finding suitable replacements that will fit without major fab or mods is quite a chore.

 

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/forum.php

 

Yes, there are other forums out there about them too. I've seen many a festiva that have handed out some embarrassing red light runs much to the opponents surprise.

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I have joined that forum, and been reading. Quite a few of their links are dead. Found some decent info searching on youtube and watching vids. Always got to check out CR though, as I've found some members have done this.
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http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/26/video-whos-got-a-300-horsepower-ford-festiva-shogun-jay-leno/

 

I wanted to build a B6T powered festiva myself but gave up when I couldn't find a cheap shell that wasn't full of rust. Most people abuse these cars and throw them away when they are done with them.

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