Thursday, February 25, 2010

Cool Web Site: FordFestiva.com

lanemeyer14's modified Festiva - Subcompact Culture
While taking my daily hourly browse through craigslist for potential project vehicles, I ran across a Ford Festiva with a Mazda engine swapped into it. I didn't know people did stuff to Festivas.

A quick search for Festiva enthusiast forums yielded FordFestiva.com. I registered for the forum and found nearly 6,500 Festiva fans. It's a very active site, too. I had no idea there were that many Festiva enthusiasts out there.

It turns out you can do some pretty sweet things to the little Kia-built, Mazda-powered, Ford-badged subcompacts. The Mazda powertrain is a big deal: You can easily swap in much more powerful Mazda engines to replace the car's original1.3-liter eight-valve "B3" engine. The 1.8-liter, 16V DOHC Mazda BP—found in the Ford Escort GT, for example—made 127 hp stock. Put that in a car which originally came with 63 hp and that weighs 1,713 lbs., and you've got yourself a "Fastiva."

LINK
FordFestiva.com (registration required)

5 comments:

festiva_tunner said...

There are a variety of motor swaps we stick in these little cars - Mostly Mazda familia but some others have gone outside and put in Honda, and Ford Sho motors. Alot of guys run them at the drags - where they compete with decked out evo's and actually by fullsized car lengths. The guys that AutoX love them because you can make them turn on a dime - the short wheel base helps this. The biggest challenge and perhaps the biggest thrill of the little cars is the lack of aftermarket support. Its always a search for what parts off other cars will work on ours - weather its body kit, lights, motors, transmission, interiors, and anything else we can bolt on to make it look better, preform better, or feel better.
-festiva_tunner

Hotfordcat said...

Props to Tunner, he hit the nail on the head. The Festiva is one of the MOST cars I have ever owned. I have two running and two parts cars at this time. One is mostly factory, except for the sport version spoiler I added. The other has the Mazda B6 1.6L swap, and is one of the most fun cars I have ever driven.
Cat

JCBGRADY said...

Yes, these cars are simply fun to own. They are cheap to buy and drive, easy to work with and a blast to modify. Swaps include engines, interiors, suspension, brakes and exterior elements. Couple that with a great online community such as www.fordfestiva.com and we're talking awesome project car platform!

Damkid said...

What can i say, i'm swapping a KLZE into my festiva :)

Anonymous said...

Where can I buy parts at ?