Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:29 am Post subject: GRM $2008 Challenge-Project Feisty Festy
Some of you may have seen my post about doing an Escort for the $2008 Challenge. We ended selling the car for a decent profit (not intentional) and couldn't find another so we got the next best thing, a half-finished BP swapped Festiva I'll try to keep this thread updated with our progress.
Few pics:
Plans are to rip out the ghetto rigged wiring and hook up the Megasquirt we have and learn to tune. After that we're gonna pull the motor and do a 5spd swap using a Capri XR2 trans we picked up for $150 and (hopefully) slap a turbo on it if we can find something that will fit within our budget. We're in the process of swapping over the suspension/brakes from an Aspire we picked up for $75 and will be using ebay coilovers from a 2000 Civic ($41 shipped).
Currently need:
-BP pressure plate, possibly flywheel (can get one locally for $25)
-GTX manifold/turbo or other turbo setup
-GM IAT sensor for the MS
-Wheels/R compounds
Stay tuned!!
_________________ GRM $2009 Challenge Festy, MS powered turbo BP
'93 SpiT Wagon-180whp/231ft-lbs, 14.5@97mph, parted and sold
'89 Toyota Supra-E85 powered 2jzge-T, 533rwhp/497ft-lbs
'87 Toyota 4-Runner-the hauler, 4.3 V6 swap in-progress
check ebay for used race tires... lots of 13" tires available for damn cheap. since the brakes on that thing are tiny you could probably get some 13x7 circle track steelies and put the tires on those...
_________________
toyota camry transmission swap.
...no, really.
portnpolish97
Joined: Jun 12, 2008 Posts: 37
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:28 am Post subject:
I love those little things. The best little swap candidate ever due to its weight.
Me and my cousin took the wheels off the go kart and put them on her festiva LOL. Unfortunately it was un drivable because the lug nuts where different.
check ebay for used race tires... lots of 13" tires available for damn cheap. since the brakes on that thing are tiny you could probably get some 13x7 circle track steelies and put the tires on those...
That's the plan, have seen quite a few used sets for <$100 shipped, just need to find some cheap wheels to put 'em on...
_________________ GRM $2009 Challenge Festy, MS powered turbo BP
'93 SpiT Wagon-180whp/231ft-lbs, 14.5@97mph, parted and sold
'89 Toyota Supra-E85 powered 2jzge-T, 533rwhp/497ft-lbs
'87 Toyota 4-Runner-the hauler, 4.3 V6 swap in-progress
define "too" We got $200 for wheels and tires unless we score a deal on turbo stuff $2008 adds up quick... Have to see if there are any circle tracks nearby
_________________ GRM $2009 Challenge Festy, MS powered turbo BP
'93 SpiT Wagon-180whp/231ft-lbs, 14.5@97mph, parted and sold
'89 Toyota Supra-E85 powered 2jzge-T, 533rwhp/497ft-lbs
'87 Toyota 4-Runner-the hauler, 4.3 V6 swap in-progress
I built a 2nd Gen, BP-powered Escort GT for the Grassroots $2007, but never ran it in that event due to time conflicts (I didn't want to drive to FLA and back from NJ in one weekend, PLUS run the Challenge).
I am thinking of running it this year in the $2008, if time allows.
SInce I built it, I've run my Escort in four other events, including a 4-Hour enduro at Summit Point. It's kind of fun since most of the cars I run with cost more than 10 times my investment in this thing.
The total, true cost of this car (to me) was under $500 total, including the Diamond 13" X 7" steel wheels ($65 each) and some cast off Hoosiers. And I got eight 14" X 6.5" aluminum wheels with decent Toyo RA1s for $200 a few months ago, but I'm not counting them.
The car was originally my sister-in-laws automatic commuter car (bought new) and given free to me. A fellow on the Grassroots Forum gave me a 5-speed Escort GT parts cars for free, but I had to run out to Ohio one Wednesday (1065 miles round trip!) to get it. I have the motor and suspension from that car as spares (I tossed the tub).
The cage is freebie cut out of a wrecked Protege and modded somewhat to fit the Ford.
If I used the Grassroots "fair market" values for all the stuff I've gotten, I would have about $1600 in it.
It's been a nice, reliable and cheap stable-mate to my AH Sprite vintage racer.
Very nice! We're a little worried about the trip as well, it's a little over 1k miles each way for us which is going to be a fortune in gas. Better start saving now...
_________________ GRM $2009 Challenge Festy, MS powered turbo BP
'93 SpiT Wagon-180whp/231ft-lbs, 14.5@97mph, parted and sold
'89 Toyota Supra-E85 powered 2jzge-T, 533rwhp/497ft-lbs
'87 Toyota 4-Runner-the hauler, 4.3 V6 swap in-progress
Doesn't need to and probably won't, we'll probably just tow it somewhere remote to tune.
And yea, it's a good thing fuel cost doesn't factor into the budget
_________________ GRM $2009 Challenge Festy, MS powered turbo BP
'93 SpiT Wagon-180whp/231ft-lbs, 14.5@97mph, parted and sold
'89 Toyota Supra-E85 powered 2jzge-T, 533rwhp/497ft-lbs
'87 Toyota 4-Runner-the hauler, 4.3 V6 swap in-progress
what did it take to get those diamond wheels to fit the EGT?!?!?!
i wanted to use some of those for drag slicks, but i didnt know if they would clear the front brakes or not.
_________________
toyota camry transmission swap.
...no, really.
aeronca65t
Joined: Oct 02, 2007 Posts: 45
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:49 pm Post subject:
therieldeal wrote:
what did it take to get those diamond wheels to fit the EGT?!?!?!
i wanted to use some of those for drag slicks, but i didnt know if they would clear the front brakes or not.
I made up 1/4" thick spacers (drilled 4 X 100 , of course) and did a little light grinding on the leading and trailing outer edge of the caliper. The caliper is really thick (and heavy) in that area.
I used a 4" grinding wheel followed by a flexible 7" disk sander to smooth things out. I took tiny amounts off and kept trial-fitting the Diamond wheel. I didn't want to overdo it so it was slow going.
I used the same spacers on the rear with no caliper mods.
As far as I can tell, it didn't hurt anything (I've got about 15 hours of road racing on it since I did this...the calipers seem fine).
If you used a 5/16" spacer and longer studs, you could probably skip the caliper grinding.
By the way, with the 13" wheels, it'll pull 7000 rpm in fifth gear at Summit Point.
I made up 1/4" thick spacers (drilled 4 X 100 , of course) and did a little light grinding on the leading and trailing outer edge of the caliper. The caliper is really thick (and heavy) in that area.
Did you use steel or Al for the spacers? We tested our race wheel/tires setup last night and the rear is really close to the strut hat...
Motherload of updates:
Last week we stripped the Asspire's suspension to put on the Festy and hotwired it and made a video of it running as well as tested the A/C (which surprisingly worked) to maximize the amount of beer money we could get out of it since we could only recoup what we paid out of the budget ($75). After much beer and discussion here's how we got the Asspire our of the garage:
Yup, $10 harbor freight furniture dollies Harbor Freight should be an official sponsor of this build as about 1/2 of our equipment is from there. We only had 1 mishap when the front dolly slipped after going down the garage hump. The only place we could get a jack was under the front bumper, luckily it held on long enough to get the dolly back under there...
We ended up getting $250 for it after stripping the suspension and a few other things we can sell (airbags, mirrors etc.) and another $100 for the Festiva suspension we removed So with $350 in our pockets to go towards the next couple of kegorator refills we moved on to the festy.
First order of business was swapping over the Aspire suspension/brakes and getting the coilovers on. Everything went together pretty well aside from having to get creative with the brake lines:
We also stripped the interior and are trying to get some $$ for that as well. This past weekend we picked up some DOT race tires for the Autox portion of the challenge and mounted them on some MR2 wheels we had. The actually fit pretty well but the rears are about 1/4" from the strut housing so we may need spacers:
Last night we picked up Denis' racing seats (thanks again!!) and I repaid the favor by putting my leg through his dad's garage ceiling when I was up in the attic Sorry bout that...
Next order of business is wiring and fixing the timing belt that's off a few teeth (no wonder it wouldn't run). Here's a taste of what we're in for and the reason we're going MS instead of trying to mess with the wiring the PO did:
Thanks for looking!!
_________________ GRM $2009 Challenge Festy, MS powered turbo BP
'93 SpiT Wagon-180whp/231ft-lbs, 14.5@97mph, parted and sold
'89 Toyota Supra-E85 powered 2jzge-T, 533rwhp/497ft-lbs
'87 Toyota 4-Runner-the hauler, 4.3 V6 swap in-progress
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engines, turbos, underdrive pullies, clutches, intakes, exhausts, suspensions, wheels, tires, brakes, drag racing, autocrossing, audio
I'll try to keep this thread updated with our progress.
We got $200 for wheels and tires unless we score a deal on turbo stuff 
$2008 adds up quick... Have to see if there are any circle tracks nearby
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