Charlie B Wrote:... As for the Festiva, we had an 88 that we bought new and traded it in on the 2006 Focus. We loved that car but we wore it out. It was designed by Mazda (which Ford owned) and built by Kia, (which Ford also had a big share).
I'm a bit of a Ford guy, too.
The Festiva on the right is a "daily driver" (Fuel injection, 5-spd, shaved head, tube header exhaust, KYB 4-way adjustable stuts with 2" lowering coil over sport springs and 13x5.5" mag wheels with wide, low profile tires.) It has 235+K miles on the clock, runs like a new top and does hard corners dead flat ... almost no body roll! (just enough to pick up the inside rear tire an inch or two!)
hock:
The Probe is a fix-it-up-and-sell-it, bought cheap GT, 2.2L, 5-spd, turbo, intercooler. Nice car, but soon to be gone (model railroad funding!
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The Festiva under the cover is being totally rebuilt from the shell up. It has a Mazda 121 grille, headlamps, taillamps and name badges (all imported from Europe) carbon fiber hood, custom hand laid-up (from my own molds) front fenders (a fiberglass rear hatch in in the works,) deep front fiberglass air dam. deep rear f/g valance, f/g side valences, a re-engineered shift linkage (back 9", up 12") with all new floor sheet metal to accomodate it, fully padded and upholstered racing bucket seats, a full array of mechanical gauges (and a fire extinguisher.) The body is pristine ... not a wrinkle or a wave - I did all the body work myself ... it took me months - but it is "perfect!"
The 1.3L engine has been replaced with a 1.6L unit from a Mazda 323. It has been bored 0.060 over, has 10:1 compression pistons, a shaved head, a 12 lb. flywheel, A Stage Four high performance camshaft, four-into-two-into one tubular header, a large diameter high performance exhaust system, a competition pressure plate and a sintered metallic clutch plate. All rotating parts have been balanced. The stock 1.3L put out 66 bhp ... the "worked" 1.6L is estimated at 148bhp!
There is still some work to be done before it sees the street for the first time, incuding a Metallic Charcoal paint job with two 12" wide satin silver stripes from front air dam to rear valence, but it should be an ABSOLUTE BLAST to drive.
So now you've seen my other hobby.
"Horace Dodge," my Dakota pick-up is off camera, stage left. Gotta have a truck to haul sheets of plywood and bags of mulch!
BTW, my Bro-in-Law a tremendous help in getting me the European Mazda 121 parts when Ford had him assigned to Ford of Europe and he and my sister and their family were living over there. That was maybe six or seven years ago ... he's been promoted again, he's now CFO, Ford of the Americas. Yes, we are definitely a Ford Family!