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FRONT SPINDLE SWAP

This is how I swapped my Festiva brakes off of my car with larger Aspire brakes. The swap is pretty straight forward. Pull off the old and put on the new. There are a few pieces that have to be swapped with the spindles and brakes. It's not difficult, just get the parts and set a few days aside or make sure you have a ride until the car is done. I spent around $100.00 getting all of the parts used- front and back. Spindles, calipers, rotors, brake hoses, Rear torsion bar(swingarm), drums, pads and all of the brake hardware. The tires and wheels I had kicking around. They are off of a 91' escort. The wheels rub a little on the calipers but I have some 14" GTI wheels I am looking at putting on.

There are some large differences between the Festiva equipment (left pic#1) and the Aspire equipment (right pic #1). The Aspire's rotor's are larger and vented, providing a larger contact area and better cooling abilities. They are also removeable from the front- eliminating the need to press the spindle bearings out to change the rotors. The bolt patterens are different between the two- the Festiva being 4x4.5" and the Aspire being 4x100mm. This means that you will NOT be able to reuse the 12" tires and wheels from the Festiva. The calipers are larger to accomodate the larger brake pads. What this all means- quicker stops, more control entering and exiting turns, and the same bolt pattern most imports use.

In the left picture we have the Aspire tie rod end(left, pic #1) and the Festiva tie rod end(right pic #1). The Aspire piece has a longer shank on it. Which means the Festiva piece won't fit the new spindle. If you are going to use used parts, make sure they are in good working order. The tie rod ends must not have any play in them. If the rubber boots that are on the ends are cracked or have holes in them, think about replacing them.Check all of the bushings on the car. If they are worn and cracked, they should be replaced. Festiva Motorsports has some harder rubber replacements. Calipers- make sure the piston goes in and out of the caliper easily, The ones I got from the junk yard I could push in and out with my fingers. The slides that the bolts go through should be able to slide in and out freely. Make sure the rubber boots around the piston do not have any tears in it. The rotors have to be measured. This should be handled by a shop. I don't like turning rotors, after they are turned, they are much easier to warp. FMS sells Brembo replacements. Check the bearings in the spindle for play. Aspires don't have as much of a problem with bearings as the Festiva's do. If the bearings are bad, replace them with a QUALITY set of bearings. I like TIMKEN brand bearings. Try to avoid NAPA. I went through two sets of their bearings In about 20,000 miles. I put a set of TIMKEN bearings in and haven't had a problem for the last 40,000 miles. Other things to worry about are the CV Half-shafts. Check them for play, damaged boots. Check your struts too. Check the ball joints for any play as well. If any of these are bad or worn, now is the time to replace them. It just saves the hassle of doing it twice. My ball joints were going bad. I purchased a set and plan on putting them in when I do the swap.(right pic) If you want to put paint on any of your parts, you should either sand blast these parts to remove ANY rust or at least take a wire brush to them. Just be careful of any seals or slides. The better the surface is cleaned, the nicer the end result. Not to mention the longer it will last. Make sure you use a HI TEMP paint. prefferably somthing in the 1000' degree plus range.