Here we go then, a thread dedicated to my most recent Panda .

This is my second 4x4 but the first one I can actually use. To recap, I was tipped off about it a few weeks ago and after seeing its potential took posession 3 weeks ago.
It's not been used for 5 years but is in excellent condition and showing 54,000miles. I'm hoping that with a little effort it can be brought up to top condition so that I can attend a few gatherings with it this year. It's not my intention to modify it, other than a set of alloys, prefering to keep this one as a fine original example.

Here's a pic the day after I bought it so we all know what I'm starting from....



As you can see it's pretty good to start with, just as well as I don't have too much time to dedicate to this one.
After driving it home I felt that it was in fine condition mechanically, apart from a little pinking under load.
Interior is 99% excellent, just the plastic trims that hold the carpet at the door apertures and a cracked instrument panel screen to replace.
Bodywork is mostly rust and dent free. I can see very shallow dents in the front edge of the bonnet where people have pressed the bonnet shut instead of just dropping it :bang:, and the same thing next to the drivers door handle, also where someone has probably pushed on a half closed door. Rust is minimal at the bottom of the drivers door and should be easily saveable.

As always I started with a good clean up, followed by fitting of the alloys from the blue clx. They will be coming off again to be refurbised and have the white lettering re-done on the tyres but I was impatient to see how it looked . Better pictures later but here's one for now.....



Next up was an Mot. I checked it over myself first and, sadly, found a rust hole in the inner sill, right at the back in the usual place beside the spring hanger. A bit disappointed to have found it really as the rest of the underside is spectacularly good, but it's there so I'll just have to accept that I cannot say that this one has never been welded .
Only other fault was the front screenwash didn't work. As it had been stood for so long the fluid had turned to gunge in the bottom of the bottle, consequently blocking up the filter in the pump, so a good wash out with hot water soon had this fixed.
Sure enough, when it went in for mot on Monday it failed on the hole, but also the emissions were a little high. Now as it was pinking on the first journey home I think it probably needs tuning, so I may as well give it a full service while I'm at it.
That's it so far, I've already cut out the rust and made a repair piece which will be welded in by the garage who carried out the mot, I'm not set up for welding yet. Tomorrow I shall do the service then it's back for welding and retest early next week, just in time to tax it on 1st of March .

Some pics of the rusty area. I made the hole quite a bit bigger to make sure they'd be welding to very good metal. I also tried to copy the orginal body contours with the repair patch as I didn't want just a flat piece of plate slapped on there, but with no panel beating tools to speak of I have to put up with it still looking a little crude .

Looking good Vernon!

All the best for the MOT

I'm sure she will be in extra condition after your's treatment

Looking good Vern....

Niiice Wheels Kev
I mean car and wheels
You know what i mean, i like your car and the wheels ha ha
Health to enjoy mate

Johnny McC said:

Niiice Wheels Kev
I mean car and wheels
You know what i mean, i like your car and the wheels ha ha
Health to enjoy mate

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You been drinking again Johnny?...... Haha

Thanks for the comments Guys .



This was my engine bay earlier today after starting the service. Now I know head gaskets aren't usually a service item but the day did not start well .
I had oil and filter to change, new iridium spark plugs and air filter, plus Magnecor plug leads to fit, then set the ign. timing and fuel mixture, I've done it hundreds of times before, it's all pretty straight forward........usually.
With all the parts fitted I started up the engine to warm it up ready for the tune. There was an almighty rattle from the engine so I turned it off immediately! I knew exactly what must have happened, something had dropped down a plug hole when I changed the plugs. So I took the plugs back out and turned the engine over in a vain attempt to eject whatever was in one of my cyls. No luck, the head was going to have to come off .
There was no point sulking so I got straight on with it. Along the way I discovered the real reason for my poor emissions, the cam timing was out!
Now I had this with Charmania when I first bought her, so there are alot of people out there who don't know how to change a Panda cambelt. The mistake they seam to make is to line the timing mark on the cam pulley up with the edge of the cyl. head instead of the notch lower down.
A pic to help explain.......


Lining up with the edge of the head puts the timing one tooth out, it still allows the engine to run but performance is poor. Charmania is only a 750 so the drop in performance was very noticeable, but the drive home in this one didn't show up anything like as much, due to the extra cc's and high lift cam of the 4x4's. So, finding this out made the whole task of removing the head a little more bearable.
Once the head was removed this is what I found in no.4 cyl.......



Sorry about the orangy pic, not sure what went on there. What you are looking at is a tiny captive nut, the sort you find in a wire hose clip, oh and a 5p piece, it wasn't in the engine it's just there for size comparison .
Someone must have dropped it many moons ago and its been resting at the bottom of the spark plug recess waiting for some poor sod to change the plugs so that it could go that little bit further.
Obvious lesson here is look very closely around your plugs before you remove them!!!!!!
Anyway, I was going to replace the head gasket in the very near future as a precaution, they can rot on a car that's been laid up a long time, but I really wanted to do it when I take the engine out to clean up the under bonnet area. Never mind it's done now, and what a difference! starts instantly, and goes so much better . Now for that retest.

Yep drinking as always!
Multi tasking as usual!!
Really like White Pandas Vmanc!
Glad you got that engine sorted out
Johnny

Johnny McC said:

Yep drinking as always!
Multi tasking as usual!!
Really like White Pandas Vmanc!
Hope you get that engine sorted out
Johnny

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Thanks Johnny , It's all done, just need to get it back to the garage for welding and retest now.

Quite a start Vern....good tip on the plugs...never done that before but I will in the future...

Looks very tidy, I'm not too keen on the alloys though, I think the steels suit it alot better.

Your repair patch looks very neat too, that area seems like a common place for them to go, tricky to get in there to weld though.

Interesting about the cam timing, my Sisley's emissions were right on the line and it's doing absolutely terrible MPG (most I've had is 29) so maybe this is the problem.

Looks great Vern. I actually really like the alloys.

How much did the HG kit cost out of interest?

Peachy

panda1408 said:

Looks very tidy, I'm not too keen on the alloys though, I think the steels suit it alot better.

Your repair patch looks very neat too, that area seems like a common place for them to go, tricky to get in there to weld though.

Interesting about the cam timing, my Sisley's emissions were right on the line and it's doing absolutely terrible MPG (most I've had is 29) so maybe this is the problem.

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Thanks for that Freddy, I like it in steelies too. The trouble is I can't help but put my own personal stamp on everything, even when I'm trying too keep it original .

Yeah, that area has needed attention on alot of the Pandas I've been through, only my blue clx and 750L are still untouched. The other side of this one is fine, just goes to show how vulnerable this area is when even on a good one it can still go.

How much did the HG kit cost out of interest?

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Hi Jon, I got the head set and Bolts from Euro car parts, £37.50 and £9.24 +vat. I get trade discount off of that.

The previous owner had a problem with the cooling fan switch in the radiator, but instead of fitting a new one he'd mounted a switch inside the car so that he could turn it on whenever he wanted. The wiring looked messy as did the switch so I've taken this all out and fitted a new radiator switch, which works perfectly, so I'm at a loss to know why he went to all that trouble, maybe he was a control freak .

Switch was £19.99 + vat Jon .

One of the 750s we got was exactly the same in relation to the cooling fan and switch. Most strange. Lol.

Passed it's mot on Wednesday! Asked the garage to leave the welding bare so that I can finish it my own way, £62 ph labour rate it should be cheaper too. Why did I move so far away from my skilled mates , must get my own welder soon.

Taxed it on line immediately and used it the last couple of days, tyres are a bit noisy but otherwise it's great.

Sounds good Vernon.

Well done mate, great news!

Excellent But £62 ph I hope they've done some very decent welding for that amount!

panda1408 said:

Excellent But £62 ph I hope they've done some very decent welding for that amount!

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Will take some pics when I come to finish off the work, but I'm pleased with what they've done, although I agree it's a little steep.