My KLZE Ford Festiva build thread

[Damkid]

the axles arent even a big deal. any drive shaft shop can fab them up for you. and thats if your too lazy to not just swap hubs and make hybrids which pretty much anyone can do.

Its not a question of being lazy, the hubs on my car are already an upgrade for festivas, so if you can tell me what hub will work on my car and keep the same bolt pattern as what i already have on the car, and not stick way out passed the fender to be able to use the BG axles, then maybe i'd consider swapping hubs plus i was not about to spend money to get custom axles made when at first i didn't even know if the engine would fit

So lazy has nothing to do with me getting a set of axles to work with my swap

this build will get done for sure! i'm curious to see your design for the front engine mount.

any ideas yet?

I do have ideas and it shouldn't be that hard to do lol

[Mazda_Powered]

sweet, ya i've got a couple ideas too haha. all depends on room tho. i'm thinking you might be able to use the bracket, but just change the mount to something custom.

[Damkid]

I'm actually going to make the mount from scratch since i don't have the bracket that goes on the tranny

[Damkid]

Well i pulled just the motor today so i can get the tranny positioned right for a few measurements and i'm bringing the tranny and crossmember into work tomorrow so i can fab up the mount

[monoxidechild]

take lots of pics if you can. seems like the mount will be the hardest part of the swap.

[Mazda_Powered]

nice man!!!

[Damkid]

Here's the freshly made front tranny mount, its not fantastic but its strong and will do the job, i still need to paint it and install it but that won't be til tomorrow




And i just picked these up from the post office today, brand new real clear corners, the clear corners were only available on overseas versions of the festiva so they are very hard to come by in North America



As compared to my home made clear corners which were cracked and don't look as nice

[monoxidechild]

wow, those corners look great!

and yea, your originals... not so nice. lol

[Damkid]

wow, those corners look great!

and yea, your originals... not so nice. lol

lol thats what i was thinking too about the lights, i was going to put the stock orange ones back on til i seen these for sale




Alright so i couldn't wait til tomorrow to put the motor/tranny back in with the new mount so here's some more pics

Painted mount bracket




And a few randome pics of the clearances with both the tranny mounts complete, some space has been free'd up, which is nice lol

[mx-3_4evr]

wow! looking good man!

[Mazda_Powered]

sweet jesus that's a shoe horn haha, the mount turned out great though!! i bet you're happy with it!

so do you think you'll have to notch your engine bay out to fit the rest of the accessories in?

[mx-3_4evr]

Are you going to get aftermarket headers? Looks like you can actually get the long tubes ones from pacesetter. Sorry if this has been asked already

[white-lightning]

The weight distribution front to back is going to be interesting. Looks good though. What kind of radiator are you going to use, a civic one?

[monoxidechild]

unless its a road race car, it shouldnt be a big deal. specially if its primary use is drag. then it matters even less. plus the fact the KL is an all aluminum motor, when the stock was a cast block. that will even it out a bit better. not perfect, but it helps.

[Damkid]

sweet jesus that's a shoe horn haha, the mount turned out great though!! i bet you're happy with it!

so do you think you'll have to notch your engine bay out to fit the rest of the accessories in?

Oh ya i'm happy with the mount lol since this engine doesn't have the engine mount bracket or any of the accessory pullies i can't finish up the mounts or know if i need to knotch the frame, but i probably will need to

Are you going to get aftermarket headers? Looks like you can actually get the long tubes ones from pacesetter. Sorry if this has been asked already

Ya its been asked but thats alright lol yes i will be buying some headers for it and probably heat wrapping the rear manifold since it's nice and close the steering rack, don't wanna melt any bushings lol

The weight distribution front to back is going to be interesting. Looks good though. What kind of radiator are you going to use, a civic one?

I haven't looked into a rad yet since i'm waiting to see the room i'll have to work with, but an aluminum civic rad would probably work good

unless its a road race car, it should be a big deal. specially if its primary use is drag. then it matters even less. plus the fact the KL is an all aluminum motor, when the stock was a cast block. that will even it out a bit better. not perfect, but it helps.

This will be my street driven summer car that i'll take to the track every now and then