good news, bad news

[bravekozak]

Good news
Today, I finally got the set of swoopies from New Brunswick for $25 ea.
+ $20 shipping

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/swoop.jpg

Bad news
They are from two different vehicles and the wiring harness and inner sail plates were not included.

Good news
The ears inside the driver mirror are unbroken and the mirror is rock steady

Bad news
The driver's shell has a small crack on the outside, from a rock or something.
The passenger mirror has both ears broken and it wiggles like Jello.

Good news
I can adapt the Protege mirror pigtail harnesses and substitute a Protege housing in place of the damages Festiva housing

Bad news
The passenger mirror has a slight stripe of blue paint on the bottom edge of the mirror from a poor tape job while repainting the Festiva blue.

Good news
I can fix the wiggly passenger mirror with a whole one. I will be bringing these swoopies to Ohiostiva 2010.

Question
When I have these totally apart, should I repaint them 30 degree black?, or a body color?

[kartracer46]

I like body color, but that is a personal preference.

[doylerl]

If you are planning on selling them, I would paint them black. That would match any member's car, not just a few. Good find BTW!

[bravekozak]

white Protege mirrors

I picked up a couple of white Protege mirrors today. I wonder what white mirror shells would look like on black mounts on a white Festiva?

Zebra effect.

Anyone coming to Ohiostiva in a white Festiva without swoopies?

[91blufestiva]

^ My plan is to do that one day. Prolly tomorrow

[bravekozak]

only customer

I had to pay an off the shelf price. But, I verified that all the ears in both mirrors were unbroken. They took me to the back warehouse where I spent my time inspecting and verifying. I also pulled another Escort wiper gear for Ohiostiva. I hit three yards today.

[bravekozak]

Victoria Day

Went shopping stateside on the Candian Victoria Day holiday today.
Hit a junkyard. One white Festiva with no back hatch. Bad news. It had the rails for the underseat tray. No tray. Good news, nothing else was touched. I was the only one in the yard for three hours. Untouched air. Untouched tilt steering. Untouched power mirrors (non-swoopy style). Must I go on? Fireworks tonight. I'll bring the mirrors to OSX on Saturday.

[bravekozak]

belt moldings

When you wind your windows up and down, the main resistance is from the belt molding. It is a coextrusion which has been flocked. On a long line, a coil of stainless metal is rolled, then etched, then has rubber extruded over it. Usually it is dual durometer. The lip consists of a softer rubber to contact the glass. The continuous stock is cut to length and later timmed and clips added.

Here are some pictures of the process in case anyone is interested:

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/extrusion1.jpg

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/extrusion2.jpg

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/extrusion3.jpg

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/extrusion4.jpg

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/extrusion5.jpg

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/extrusion6.jpg

When the flock is worn away and the rubber has hardened up from exposure to the elements, belt moldings need to be replaced.

Here are the part numbers and prices from Green Sales Company:
Inside L/H E8BZ-6121457-A.: $25.00
Inside R/H E8BZ-6121456-A: $25.00
Outside L/H E8BZ-6121452-A.: $35.00
Outside R/H E8BZ-6121453-A: $35.00

Good news. I was told they had a complete set of them, when I ordered.
Bad news. They informed me today that they do not have the OUTSIDE LH E8BZ-6121452-A.

[bravekozak]

comparison

Belt moldings arrived.

Here is a picture of what virgin flock looks like next to almost raw rubber.

http://bwbronze.com/festiva/belts.jpg

The inner belt has yellow clips.
The outer belt has grey clips.

The most damage always occurs to the outer belt.
I cleaned the glass from the outside where the outer belt was and the dirt was hard and green.

[bravekozak]

Good news. There was a black Festiva at the junk yard today!
Bad news. Someone beat me to it and took the driver door.
Good news. It was a 93 GT.
Bad news. No underseat tray and no spoiler.
Good news. It had a cargo cover and mint blue striped seats.
Bad news. It was rear ended and the hatch wouldn't open.
Great news. Look at what I scavenged off the car today.
The rest can wait for another time. It had a nice black front bumper and nice grille.

I took it with the fuse block, front speakers, etc. I have no use for the radio, headrest, cubby, mirror or white switches. Bye, bye brown dash.

[kartracer46]

Good news. There was a black Festiva at the junk yard today!
Bad news. Someone beat me to it and took the driver door.
Good news. It was a 93 GT.
Bad news. No underseat tray and no spoiler.
Good news. It had a cargo cover and mint blue striped seats.
Bad news. It was rear ended and the hatch wouldn't open.
Great news. Look at what I scavenged off the car today.
The rest can wait for another time. It had a nice black front bumper and nice grille.

I took it with the fuse block, front speakers, etc. I have no use for the radio, headrest, cubby, mirror or white switches. Bye, bye brown dash.

Wish ya had a pair of those head rests, they would look good on my LX seats.

[bravekozak]

I left the other one in the passenger seat. It had two barely visible small cracks near the bottom. I normally only shoot for perfect.

[Safety Guy]

BK, are the "belt moldings" the rubber pieces at the door top where the window rolls down and you can rest your arms with the window open?

Also, where'd you get those pictures of the manufacturing process? Are those for just some other car or for Festivas?

Thanks,

Karl

[bravekozak]

Yes. When you are standing next to the vehicle they are at "belt" level.
I used to work for Depco International, a coextrusion company who made those for all types of GM cars. They are normally dual durometer, which means a hard rubber on the outside and a softer one for the flexible lip, extruded together at the same time over the stainless steel rollstock. The inner lip is then flocked with a #3 denier.

It just came to mind, that there is a mint set of manual seat belts in that black Festiva that I saw yesterday at Cookstown Auto Wreckers, north of Toronto. I didn't have time to take them yesterday.

[Twistiva]

Seatbelts?

It just came to mind, that there is a mint set of manual seat belts in that black Festiva that I saw yesterday at Cookstown Auto Wreckers, north of Toronto. I didn't have time to take them yesterday.

BraveKozak -

If they're brown seatbelts and really are mint, would you mind grabbing the whole set for me? I'll gladly cover shipping plus some extra for your time.