GRM $2009 Project DeathBox

[dok33]

Figured I'd start a thread on yet another forum for our GRM $2009 Challenge Project. Was originally slated for the $2008 Challenge but too much shit happened this year. One team member got diagnosed with lymphoma (all clear now), I got divorced (I guess still in-progress lol), one team member moved 20hrs away, and a 4th bought and remodeled a house.

Needless to say it's been a crazy year, but we've still managed a crazy car:naughty:

Picked up this beauty ('89 Festiva) with a botched Escort GT engine swap for $525. The harness was a mess (the morons used butt connectors for all of the connections lol) and they kept the stock festiva 3spd auto trans (which we sold for $80) that would surely grenade with the 2x hp the BP motor puts out.

We also picked up a Ford Aspire with a blown tranny for $75 the same day (maximized the tow dolly rental) for a suspension upgrade. Hard to believe, I know. Few shots of the aftermath of stripping the Asspy suspension, and yes those are $10 Harbor Freight furniture dollies:

Innovation fueled by kegorator

We also picked up some civic coilovers off ebay ($40) to round out the suspension package:

Next chapter is drivetrain improvements...

 

[dok33]

Next project was to get her runnin. As botched as the harness was we decided to rip it out and go MS. I had a MS-I I bought off SM for $150 and after a few weeks of research we figured out how to mod it and wire it up to the BP motor. We had a few things working against us, namely a ghetto modded MS:

and a dry kegorator, although that was remedied with some NXNW Amber, an Austin original:

After a bunch of troubleshooting and cleaning a massive clog out of the fuel rail she was aliiiivvveeee: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COlOhy8ZOO0

Complete with MKIII turbo injectors I picked up for $9 shipped, thanks SM! Once it was running it was time to rip everything out in preparation for the turbo install and manual trans swap. $160 miata manifold, a T25 we picked up for $40 with a manifold, and an adapter plate paid for by the company we all work for and we had a turbo BP:

We also learned that solo cups don't make good fuel storage containers :biglaugh:

With that done it was time for the trans swap. We picked up a Mercury Capri trans and axles from a couple of local JYs, the Capri intermediate shaft is hard to find and is the only way to use the stronger g series tranny in the Festy. We also stripped the pedal assembly and other parts out of the Asspire before we sold it for $250, $175 more than we paid for it :icon_evil The guys on the Festiva forum said they wouldn't fit, but with a little beer and some persuasion they bolted right on:

We also stripped the interior to get us closer to our 1600lb goal:

A $30 pressure plate (basically shipping) w/coil included, and a $65 shipped clutchnet 4-puck (did some negotiating lol) and we were in bidness. Now came the hard part. With 1mo left before the challenge we were stumped on how to fab the 3 tranny mounts. No amount of beer helped and we soon realized there was no time to get 'er done and make it to Florida by the first week in October with a running car we knew wouldn't blow up at the first event.

It was a little disappointing, but now we've got a year to perfect it and use up the 8 race tires we picked up for $110 shipped :love: If anyone near Austin has fab skills and wants to make trans mounts in trade for beer let me know!!

 

[cruisnhard]

We had a festive that we drove through the woods a lot. It never got stuck. Anyways, this is awesome. Loving the build so far. Looks like fun. I wish they did stuff like this around here.

 

[dok33]

We had a festive that we drove through the woods a lot. It never got stuck. Anyways, this is awesome. Loving the build so far. Looks like fun. I wish they did stuff like this around here.

You're closer to gainesville than I am :icon_razz Find you a car and get building, under a year to go until the $2009 challenge!!

 

[zambini]

bp?

what engine is that?

sorry for the ignorance here..

 

[Isphius]

bp?

what engine is that?

sorry for the ignorance here..

I believe its the 1.8 130 hp or so engine out of the mid 90s escort GT. SUpposed to take boost quite well

 

[dok33]

Yup, also found in the Mazda Protege and MX-3 as well as the Miata

 

[zambini]

well, i must say that manifold looks SUPER sexy!

what are you guys shooting for, mid 200's at the crank? t25s run outta breath somewhere north of that, but DUDE ITS IN A FESTIVA!! hahaha

death box ftw!

 

[dok33]

Yea, that much power should do pretty well in a 1600lb crapbox We just picked up a new team member who can TIG weld so we should have some pretty sweet trans mounts made up as well as other cool stuff at the beginning of the year when we start workin again

 

[mobes]

I'm still trying to fathom that there exists a car for which Aspire parts are an upgrade.

 

[dok33]

It's pretty mind-blowing :biglaugh: BTW-we still got room on the team if you're able to spend some time away from your mistress next year

 

[dok33]

I'm happy to say there's been much progress made in the past couple of months and the Festy is close to moving under it's own power!!

Continuing our trend of not meeting goals, we blew on past February and March with no engine or trans mounted. Weddings and personal projects took priority and we finally jumped back on full force after a lazy spring. The mounts took a few months longer than we had planned at our slow pace, we were also not drinking as heavily as before, which definitely slowed progress.

We scored some deals on parts along the way, including an SRT-4 intercooler for $30 that fits perfectly and minimizes IC pipe routing:

We spent most of May and June fabricating and brainstorming (and by “we” we mean Andy) as well as telepathically finding Fox body Mustang steering rack bushings that cost $5 and fit perfectly in our home-built mounts alongside a “Help!” rubber freeze plug cut in half. Without further ado, on to the pics!

Mounts Etc.
Frame notched and boxed for trans:

A little wood goes a long way (that’s what she said):

Top trans mount:

Front trans mount:

Passenger’s side motor mount:

Final mount pics, from left to right: front lower trans (crossmember side), driver side frame mount, front upper trans mount, top trans mount, rear lower trans mount:

Fits like a frickin’ glove:

Shifter extension/rotation, using what we have (box tubing):

Fab pics and general tomfoolery
Busch light tastes best through a welding helmet

Cardboard grinding shield

Jimmy’s welding sweater, later to be found flammable

No words to describe these…

 

[dok33]

With the mounts complete and the motor back in it was time to start buttoning things up and get ‘er running with the new manual transmission.

First step was to get the turbo and manifold bolted back on and oil feed/drain lines connected. Luckily someone also pointed out that our aluminum flange adapter probably wouldn’t last long at the EGTs we’d be looking at (oops), so Andy fabbed up a new one out of steel:

We used a pre-fab Goodridge line and restrictor out of a Honda oil line kit for the feed and made a drain out of a Home Depot fitting and some used pushlock hose and fittings scored off ebay for <$20. We also bolted up the stock T25 O2 elbow that we’ll eventually make a downpipe for that dumps under the car:

Next up was mounting the intercooler. We had a bunch of box tubing that seemed like overkill, but we had it and it was scored for cheap so why not?? That said we present you with the world’s first intercooler/bumper with the beefiest mounts known to man:

Once the intercooler was mounted the next task was fitting the $10 set of MKIII Supra intercooler pipes we had. To our surprise we were able to find a clean piping route using the stock pieces with almost no modification!

We also spent some time making the radiator hoses play nicely with the IC piping, not much space in that little engine bay!

With all that sorted it was time to tackle the wiring. Our initial wiring job was just to get the car running and included lots of wire nuts and electrical tape:

The battery was also located externally to the car, so we installed our $10 Summit battery box in the hatch area:

Since we want the car to run more than 5 mins and not catch on fire, we’re in the process of cleanly routing the engine harness and soldering and heat shrinking all of the connections. We will also be tackling the headlight/signal harness to clean it up and make the car challenge legal:

 

[mobes]

Looks like it's come a long way.

I don't think that intercooler bracket will hold though.

 

[Mk3runner]

git-r-done! cool build.

 

[zambini]

hahaha is that the upper IC piping from a 7m?

 

[dok33]

Sure is, using the injectors, BOV, and part of the lower piping as well

 

[ms07s]

What a mishmash of car parts. Looks to be a fun project.

 

[dok33]

What a mishmash of car parts. Looks to be a fun project.

Sure is!

More progress this week, after who knows how long the Festy moved under it's own power tonight!! It hauls ass even with a rough tune, pissed off some of my neighbors spinning the tires thru 2nd in my neighborhood :biglaugh: We'll be doing some more tuning tomorrow night with the slicks so we can actually do some pulls with traction :naughty:

Pics:
Hacked front bumper complete with zip ties

Radiator/fan cutout

Wiring cleanup

"Finished" bay

Elbow with IAT and BOV installed

Interior stripped and back together

 

[Poodles]

Faster than your old deathbox? :rofl: