Panda (Classic) Digger the Yellow 4x4

onemanmade · Oct 10, 2014

Wow looks like a great project! I will be following with interest!

panda1408 · Oct 10, 2014

Thanks Cameron, I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to it. It will be abit different to my others as they have been about originality, I won't be worrying too much about that with this one.

onemanmade · Oct 10, 2014

panda1408 said:
Thanks Cameron, I'm looking forward to getting stuck in to it. It will be abit different to my others as they have been about originality, I won't be worrying too much about that with this one.

Good stuff

ive got a similar outlook on my sisley

Palio · Oct 11, 2014

I saw that one Freddy & thought it looked interesting. No good for me as it needed too much work (plus the little matter of the red mk3 having taken my scraggy mk2 budget!), but it should be a good base for your plans.

panda panda · Oct 11, 2014

Hey I was after that one!

The vendor never answered his phone to arrange a viewing though.
Glad a forumer has adopted it though

andyholli · Oct 11, 2014

Great news!
And an excellent colour and name combination.

Can't wait to see the planned modifications too.

onemanmade · Oct 11, 2014

Interestingly a similar colour to the one the postage pandas use in the alps I believe

panda1408 · Oct 11, 2014

Well not too much to report today as I only got time to give Digger a hoover out. I did find a mouse nest and the remains of its inhabitants behind the bulkhead insulation under the bonnet though. Also a few chewed through wires, that'll explain the funny dash lights then! Only two spiders though, the really big ones must have already moved out

kolza · Oct 11, 2014

panda1408 said:
Well not too much to report today as I only got time to give Digger a hoover out. I did find a mouse nest and the remains of its inhabitants behind the bulkhead insulation under the bonnet though. Also a few chewed through wires, that'll explain the funny dash lights then! Only two spiders though, the really big ones must have already moved out

That must be well known spot in mice world.
is it worse then on mine was?

Dragon Man · Oct 12, 2014

yeah Fallout had about 3 mice nests behind the engine bay sound proofing heh

onemanmade · Oct 12, 2014

Same! Weird they must just like it there

Bougainvillea Rosso · Oct 12, 2014

Nice colour that!

panda1408 · Oct 12, 2014

kolza Yours looks worse! Think I got away lightly as I just had some shredded up newspaper and only a few chewed earth wires, they left everything else intact.

Does seem to be a common place for mice, my old 750 had one living in there aswell!

aquamarine · Oct 12, 2014

Loved the look of this one when it was advertised. Glad you got it Freddy!

panda1408 · Oct 12, 2014

Cheers David, yes when we went to look at it something seemed right about it. I was really pleased when I got the second chance offer

panda1408 · Oct 15, 2014

Got Digger on the ramp this afternoon and had a poke around:

Not looking that great, but it could be alot worse and was pretty much what I was expecting. I was able to lift him up on the ramp without too much difficulty so there is some solid metal there. Hes going to need both sills replacing and the rear axle and springs will have to come out aswell as there is a hole on the chassis rail above the front spring mount on the N/S. The rest isn't too bad, although I'm yet to remove the arch liners so we'll see how it is under those, bound to be a few smaller repairs required.

I did manage to pull off a previous sill repair with my hands, the patch itself was still fairly solid, just the original metal around it had rotted

I was hoping I would get away without buying any panels, but I am going to have to remove the bottom of the rear quarter and arch to sort the rot properly so I'll be sourcing some sills and doing a complete replacement on both sides like I did with the mk1s passenger side.

andyholli · Oct 15, 2014

Good news overall, I'd say.

Axle off is easy and quick if the front bolts aren't seized. And only a cut and the sourcing of a replacement bolt longer if not.

Good to see quick progress and I still like the colour alot.

panda1408 · Oct 28, 2014

So some progress on Digger over the weekend. I've stripped the wheel arch liners and bumpers off aswell as the interior to give me proper access to the rusty bits. (Sorry for the photo quality, taken with a tablet in poor lighting so not the best)

The sills are as expected:

But it turns out the boot floor is mostly made of filler and some badly attached patches

All fixable of course and could be alot worse

It also means I will have good acess to repair the hole in the chassis rail from above, which is no bad thing:

There is a hole right in the middle of the front floor under the passenger side seat, a funny place for it to go rotten I thought

I've also got a broken leaf spring on the N/S, explains the lean to the left hand side. Another common 4x4 problem it seems.

Did manage to find a company that could supply sill panels (http://carz2.co.uk/), however I was looking at a 4 week wait for them as I had just missed the cut off for the latest shipment, I then remembered John Dragon Man had bought some for his blue Sisley but never used them, he was more than happy for me to have them, so I took a trip over the Derby last week to pick them up. John has many sheds full of Panda bits so there is no doubt I will back over there for more parts once I work out what I need!

I'm hoping I will be able to make a start on the metalwork repairs this weekend, I will be doing the sills first, I will then have somewhere solid to support the car whilst I remove the axle to sort out the back end.

Most Easterly Pandas · Oct 30, 2014

I'm a bit late to the party, but looking like a good project Freddy

Panda (Classic) Digger the Yellow 4x4

Introduction

Spirito di Panto!

AKA CLS

Panda Wanda

I Void Warranties

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