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Since introducing the Panda to the FF garage, it's been a fairly busy few weeks for the Panda, for me anyways.

For a while now I'd been planning to get some airhorns for the Panda to give it some extra flair and baby Ferrari-ness, mostly because in reality the standard is a pretty pathetic thing that surely can't be classed as a horn . So bought some FIAMM's for the Panda with some lovely Pingu looking noot noot trumpets which were fitted 05/04/25. It's safe to say this is a proper horn, ultra loud, makes a great noise, makes everyone laugh when you're messing around and makes people completely jump out their skin when used for its intended use. Much recommended upgrade.

Whilst the front bumper was off, some much needed repairs were done. This car has been whacked from both sides in the past, both sides were cracked, nearside completely broken off and offside was splitting. So with a bit of metal fabricating, araldite'ing, rivet'ing, the bumper has got some strength back and now sits how it should rather than being sat low and out on the upper corners.

Also whilst the bumper was off for repair, took the opportunity to take the sill covers off, and while the drivers side had very little dirt inside, the passenger side had potentially a couple kg's of dirt sitting inside, so to anyone who hasn't taken a look inside the covers, do it when you can. However be prepared in advance with replacement clips and some for of adhesive for the covers as they will need reattaching. I'm happy to say that with my Panda it has for the mostpart gotten away very lightly on the corrosion front. Other than a bit on the end of the rear sill edge, there was nothing. And the only other place with some crust was the drivers front wheelarch, which has a little shelf where dirt likes to collect, so clear that out too if you haven't checked. Both areas were treated to some kurust to stop anything that was there surface wise for now, a proper inspection at some stage will happen to see the full extent, but it's a relief to see that this car doesn't seem to be plagued by natural weight reduction.

The following weekend was a lightly organised trip to Caffeine & Machine 'The Hill' which was about a 200 mile round trip for the Panda, which is definitely the most I've taken it in both of my ownerships. It handled the journey more than well, was obviously very fun on the country lanes and b-roads, but was more than capable on the motorway sections too. In total at C&M 7 Panda's gathered, which was nice to see, I'm sure if more professionally organised there would be a greater turnout, but for a first attempt from the Panda group on Facebook, it was a good day. And the Panda managed to achieve an impressive to me MPG figure of 46.3. Which considering the smaller roads around Surrey and Stratford-upon-Avon on either side of the motorway sections, I was very impressed.

Then we come to today where I had two more parts to fit to the Panda. The breather hose which had completely split on all 3 parts. And a rather fancy looking BMC CDA Filter. The original airbox at one stage in its life did have a Powerflow panel filter, but somewhere along the line thanks to one the previous non caring owners, they had thrown that out for a standard paper one, no I don't know what they must've been smoking either, but it clearly led to some very questionable choices Back to the BMC, not the most straightforward thing to fit, some absolutely terribly printed instructions to show how it should sit in the engine bay, pixelated is putting it lightly, may as well have been a photo of a potato. But the wording was more useful, 3 screws on the battery tray had to be sliced off in order to make room, as well as a bracket holding on the plug for the ignition leads, even after that it is sat in the engine bay very snug, so I lined both side with some Tesa tape the give it something a bit softer to lean against if it does move ever so slightly. It's not the neatest engine bay with some wires here and there for the airhorns and other bits and pieces, but hey, it's a project car not a showpiece, so I'm not overly fussed. The breather pipe was the more scary part to change as I've seen many nightmare stories of the inlet manifold piece snapping off, so I took a stanley blade and put it under a flame to get it nice and hot and cut through the pipe like butter to limit any strain on the manifold. And then made sure the new part was nice lubed up and even put some heat on that too so it could just slide on, but even then it was a bit snug, but thankfully it's all on and that should be the end of my oily smell coming from the engine bay.

For now that will be the last of any upgrades/mods for a bit. Next on the cards will be some Abarth seats as the originals are really starting to give up now. Some new front arms as when I was under the Panda it looked like one side was starting to collapse. Will debate whether I stay standard or keep going with more polybushes for the go kart feel. Maybe some new shocks/coilovers all round. A new headunit to make use of the Pioneer speakers.

But the next day out for the Panda will be Autoitalia at Brooklands in May, can't wait

I had been busy with work and missed the 75K service but managed to catch it at 78K.

Just standard oil, oil filter, air filter and general health check for the little Panda.

The butterfly valve in the throttlebody seems to not be gunking up as much as before, perhaps the more regular oil changes are helping?

After a few miles and turning left I'd get a sort of screeching from brakes, I think it was the lower portion of the dust shield contacting the disc, so I bent it back a bit and noise seems to have gone!

Underside is a bit dirty but still not much corrosion.

Really pleased with this little car!

After a few slow months I have finally installed the Ducati engine and Elite differential into the Fiat!

The biggest challenge was finalizing the belt drive components and getting everything aligned. I ended up redesigning the part to consist of a laser cut splined piece (connecting to the engine output shaft) that bolts to a machined driveshaft that connects to the belt pulley. This worked much better than any welded assembly I could have made!

Once I knew were the engine side pulley was, I needed to align the differential frame to the engine. Drive belts, unlike chains, can only tolerate about .25 deg of misalignment, and with these pulleys being so close, I needed to get them aligned as close as possible. After what seemed like an eternity of aligning and jigging, I finally welded the two frames together!

Now that the two frames were joined, it was time to install them in the car. After a roughly positioning the frame, I wasn't happy with the location of the diff with respect to the wheel arches. These CV angles are already pretty high, so I decided to redesign the mounts to shift everything a bit further back, reducing the CV angles by about 5 degrees. Since I was committed to redesigning the mount, I also incorporated a polyurethane interface to help reduce some of the engine vibration making its way into the car.

With the new mounts installed and the frame in place, it was time to add the last few tubes and officially get this engine and differential installed!

I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Everything clears the rear panel and engine bonnet, but I can totally see myself running this thing without those items, just like in the picture above, with some type of custom bumper to not hide the engine. What do you guys think?

Next up: Rear Suspension!

I started getting the heart-startling mayonnaise on the oil cap and I had that dark thought of headgasket failure.

The car is predominantly used by my Mr's and only does short runs. Hence why I thought maybe just condensation?

I did a few tests and after some research, the culprit was the PCV or the AOS, but I looked and the PCV diaphragm was solid, so I have changed it out.

If you're doing it, get this kit: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25655678...ZpXz_3FQz2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

You WILL damage the plastic cap getting it off so just get a new one. 5 minute job. Will monitor to confirm it's the PCV and not the AOS.

Thanks
Adam

I've replaced the roof struts, that was fun. Took some pictures for comparison

I fitted the Bilstein B14 coilover kit to my 595 Competizione in December and gave it a few months to bed in or 'sag' as most new suspension does.

But, I'm not perfect and got a few things wrong, I got new strut mounts and had incorrectly positioned them, the arrow (which I positioned forward) should have been facing backwards but sorted now. Before this the car had a bit of front caster and had more noticeable bump steer. Having rotated the strut tops the correct way now, this has been eliminated!

I actually raised the front suspension by 20mm and as you can see, has a more OEM finish to the wheel arch gap. I'm not a fan of the slammed look.

Fitted new bolts and attached the splash guard.

Found out one of my front tyres had split or delaminated?

New front tyres fitted with my personal favourite, Goodyear Eagle F1, Asymmetric 6.

Took her a run through the Galloway Forest, she looks so good when clean.

Love this little car.

Yes, after 17 years away it was obvious I'm not coming back, so much to my friend's joy, the bravo was sold on and now his driveway is clear.

It's currently up at a garage in Leeds having a full rebuild! Hopefully the new owner comes on here to keep us updated, but in the meantime, here's a brief look at what's going on with it.

I finally got round to upgrading the standard blue interior to the black and grey from a 100HP.

Old Interior

New seats, and partly through the door cards swap.

Before and after. I swapped the steering wheel and indicator Slip ring / stalk combo so I can use the Steering Wheel buttons.

It looks and feels much better now!

Finally spring is here. It's now somewhat warm enough to be outside for prolonged periods without two coats a hat and a scarf. On Saturday I changed the oil and filter on the CT. Using one of those containers with a little catch surface on the side... but to my disappointment, as the gushing stream of old oil blasted out and didn't hit the little intake hole, it splashed all over the container and subsequently the ground... the messiest oil change I ever did. More than half must have ended up on the ground.. thankfully we have an excess of sawdust from all the wood working machines around that soaked it up. Other than that... it was a nice enough experience. First 'garage day' of the year. We have so many more nice tools now for these things, a big torque wrench to eliminate any doubts over tightening, a special little (mandatory) Toyota fitting that grips the oil filter housing without hassle etc.

After that, I spent a few hours tracing the shapes of the only remaining felt padding insert left in the car, mirroring it for the other side. Then the front doors... tracing it out with a sticky note and a pencil. Third attempt for the front and I got it spot on. I made a mirrored one only to realise that the passenger door card doesn't have that little compartment and has a totally different leather handle... funny little car this is. The Amazon special felt / insert is about 3x thicker than the factory stuff and sticks down so hoovering won't suck it up - I presume this happened to the originals. Can always be ripped off and re-made if for some reason I need to get into the door internals. I did the cupholders and door bins as well, and what a difference is makes. The keys and anything from a packet of Halls, used to rattle when set down. I suppose they cut corners in a lot of places on the CT.

I learned that the oil dip stick, even at the 'LOW' mark is excess to what is actually the required amount for the engine. So this time I filled the level to around mid-way to avoid over filling without a doubt. I'll give it another check this evening. Seems safer this way. Though since I've had the car I'm glad to say that, just like my Panda's, it barely changes the colour of the oil - it goes from a clear 'over hydrated' honey like colour to a normal honey colour on the dipstick over the six months. And it doesn't lower or burn anything so far either, although none of my cars have done that thankfully. The engine isn't the worry with this car... it's everything else attached to it!


Still using 'the good stuff'... maybe the promises of special additives will do something over time...


A photo of the new brake booster they fitted... I found a couple of the factory plastic caps covering the brake line holes rolling around in the engine under tray...



Nearly time for the annual engine bay detail, but it's not gotten too dusty or bad since last April...



Last-last Friday on a day off I spent it just hoovering out the car (first time since November), cleaning the plastics, the upholstery, leather (and fake leather) bits all balmed, glass cleaned. I forgot what an absolute dream coming out to a clean car in the mornings is. When I did the oil change just this weekend past, I gave it another quick hoovering just to stay on top of it like usual. Never letting it fall that far behind again. Putting away a tenner a month in a jar... so that come December, there is £120 sitting there to have it fully valeted inside and out mid-winter... why not?

So far it's cool little thing ,il list all mods when I know exactly what they all are ,gonna be fun getting it into drive way so can empty it and sort my tools at same time !

70miles in,no noises ,temps good ,feels about right for a 1.1 on 14s ,got factory rear shelf with speakers no wiring ,but has remote locking and alarm fitted which is a bonus I guess. Best make most of blue skies this week !

I think in my last update I said something to the effect of this car being very boring / not needing much with the exception of some damage repair with the tyre sensor / wheel bearing on the same wheel. Well, I spoke too soon.

Literally that week in January, I got a few warning lights on: traction, ABS, handbrake (red) and (amber) lights intermittent. But a few days later they came back to stay. I also could hear an electronic charging sound going mad at the same time. I lost brake assist / ABS and the likes but was still able to drive the car. I plugged in the Autel scanner, it showed various codes surrounding there being 'dirt or foreign objects' on the rear right speed sensor - same side as I had the broken TPMS sensor and bearing replaced on..

Headed into the dealer I bought the car from (a Toyota dealer) with what I calculated to be two days left in my '12 month used car warranty'. I asked them to check first if I was right so that I didn't waste their time so much as explaining the issue if it weren't to be their problem. To my surprise they told me the car has warranty until July this year, so not arguing with that. Booked in for an inspection. They suspected the wiring on the speed sensor, as opposed to the sensor itself which is inside of the rear bearing on these cars.

A week later, this was fitted but it didn't solve the issue. They tried a Corolla bearing that was in stock, which apparently fits but also did not solve the problem. At that point they asked for more time with the car and gave me a not-so-bad Yaris courtesy car. They followed the wiring on up the loom, well, actually just replaced the loom (interesting how they don't spend time finding the needle in the haystack of wiring issues, but who can blame them!) but noted no signs of external influence or damage. New loom, still issue present. Next step being the master cylinder / 'brake booster'. A Hybrid (and I suspect EV) specific part for replicating the vacuum function of an engine for the braking system when the engine is off - or, all of the time in this setup maybe even when the engine is on. It has four little tubes coming out from it and appears mated to the master cylinder / brake fluid reservoir and I think only on the CT, it is also attached to the control unit too making it more expensive when it fails. And fail, it does. I could see online that there was a recall ending in 2021 in the US for this part interestingly, but for 2013 and 2014 model cars... and many other threads of people with older CTs having major brake system parts replaced much later on in the life so I trust this is something that might be a 'when not if' job on these CTs. So much for 'reliability' eh?! Maybe it's 'cope' but at least if this happened at 14+ years old, or in another 80,000 miles when the car is worth nothing, at least it's something that won't stop it from driving... whether or not it can pass an MOT without the ABS and traction, is maybe the issue there.

I picked it up on Friday. And sure enough, it feels and drives like new - absolutely as quiet and smooth rolling over the ground as I felt the first time I test drove it. I actually got on quite well with the Yaris courtesy car, 2024, 1400 or so miles, self-driving features and the newer Hybrid system. It reminded me a lot of my 2017 Panda in terms of how fresh / new it felt, the size class, it was delightfully easier to park with the same spaces in the city I park the CT in always having a bigger margin of space. I could go back to a smaller car tomorrow practicality wise. What I did notice was you can hear and feel the hybrid kit more, and the engine coming on and off. Not bad or alarming, but you actually notice it. The whole frame of the car has a little shudder when the engine kicks in in a hurry. Somehow, the eCVT gearbox on the Yaris manages to be quieter. Either they have improved the design since the 2010 CT iteration or the much smaller lighter car doesn't strain it as much, I think the Yaris is 400kg lighter than the CT which is not nothing. The fuel and mpg on the Yaris also reminded me of the Panda days where you could forget it had a fuel gauge and it rarely bothered you with a fuel low light. My 2016 era estimation that 'for everything a small car lacks, it makes up for with something else' is quite true. The MPG, ease of use, and all that are also not nothing. For a lot of people that's well worth it over a gas guzzler and sound deadening. And that's not to say the CT is bad on fuel, but relatively to the Yaris or any Panda I've had, it is noticeably worse and you do notice it money wise if you care to look.

I am so glad to have the CT back though. It feels solid to drive, it's very quiet, the controls are right at your hand, the way the needle on the speedometer rises and drops even feels more relaxed and on the drive back from Belfast on Friday night, I was able to turn off the screen and dim everything right down, turning off the ambient lights and footwell, and completely focus in on the drive with only the bare minimum interruptions from the car. While it is just a Toyota with a bit of fancy bits thrown here and there, they definitely made the right decisions and you do feel like everything has been intentionally done to try and 'delight' you. For all the hassle / expense, it can feel redeeming much of the time.

The Yaris gave me reassurance that the now coming 8 year old Hybrid battery and motor on my CT are actually in optimal condition, I always presumed that with the age and sitting around this car did, that it was likely below average in function. That's not the case, the Yaris with its much lower weight load and new, fresh batteries and motor and next-generation system kicked in more I would say and earlier and seemingly didn't stay on electric up hills so that's nice to know about the CT that it is operating as new in terms of the electric part of the drivetrain.

What's the plan now?
If this had have happened outside of warranty I'd have been in a really bad position. I'd have been paying Toyota (or worse, Lexus) to play part roulette with the sensor wire... bearing... loom... and then brake booster probably over weeks or months before getting a resolution and completely derailing my saving / investing in other areas just to pay for that without resorting to debt. A forum member here suggested that I take advantage of the Toytota / Lexus 'Relax' warranty. Meaning if I let Lexus service it they add one year / 10,000 miles of warranty to the car until it's 10 years old or 100,000 miles. This would cover me for all the major non-wear and tear repairs. I spoke with them on the phone, they did indeed confirm that this brake booster and related parts would have been covered and had been covered on other cars - no arguing or hassle. That makes, what I previously felt wasn't worth the money, worth the money. Sure, there is the argument that it might not go wrong but I could have said that after the TPMS or the first bearing issue... then this. So the smart option seems to be for the next two and a bit years to just take the financial shafting of dealer servicing at Lexus for that last little bit of warranty and after that, leave it up to fate. £330 this year... £585 next year.

It might be further 'cope' too, but given the shape of this car from the last owner and what I suspect was a rough couple of years for it, the bearings and whatnot - especially given that they're both on one, the same side, seem to be from misuse rather than some shortcoming in design or quality. Since the other sides show no signs of issue either, that's what I believe currently. Perhaps now the car will be fine and free of any repair needed for anything like this.... but I'd better not speak too soon like last time.

So the exhaust has made an appearance on the MOT advisory sheet two or 3 times and been welded at least twice if not 3 times.

As leisure lounge regulars know it died and broke in half round the centre silencer and the rear box dropped onto the rear suspension.

So here we go again...

Just a "cheapy" at 400 quid but it looks like the OEM system at least which isn't always guaranteed...we'll see how long it lasts.

Edit.. Ok interesting A2A is apparently a UK built exhaust and they have a 3 year guarantee...I assume the various fast fit centres were marking their stuff up a treat then.

Will say underside of this is surprisingly rust free..

サンルーフ仕様です

Someone hit the car in a car park and has written it off. I'll miss this car dearly, it was so much fun to pootle around in.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for the help over the last few months.

So the day has finally come, I hadn't driven him since the end of October. Listed for sale and after a month or so he finally sold to a young couple looking for a small project. They "fell in love" on the test drive so I am hopeful he will be treated well.
I hooked up the battery having left the negative off and he fired right up, drove the short journey home, I forgot how frantic it feels, old school cable throttle so it does whatever you tell it to and shift rods not cables so (IMO) the gear change feels more direct (certainly more than my Abarth 500's does)

I will miss him dearly, a did a hopeless wash in the pouring rain and took a rubbish final picture sheltering indoors

And the obligatory "watching your pride and joy drive away" video

Goodbye old friend, its been fun.

Led lights on Front Headlights
And Blue Led in center console