Panda (Classic) John Dragon Man's 4x4 Sisley

[Dragon Man]

money has been spent. quite a bit...

 

[Dragon Man]

hey folks, well on sunday i have been doing some well needed maintenance on Talon.

the brakes. (oh the brakes)
STILL i have bad brakes. pedal that goes to the floor before anything happens.. you all know as i have said it before. i have tightened the hand brake cable up to the max. now it only does two clicks if pull it up quite hard. that seems to have made the brakes slightly better. the rear brakes do bind very slightly but its so small it does not even slow the wheel down if you spin it by hand.

heres a video on it:


i have also replaced the exhaust back box as that was quite rusty. it was a second hand back box to start with, i think it was Bex's one! now a shiny new one from a Y-10! it sounds good now, has quite a nice rasp to it. however i think its will go away with use.

heres a video on it:


i have to do far more work to Talon as the videos show.

the main crank seal behind the flywheel is leaking which sux. the rear diff input shaft seal is leaking. poor Talon needs some care.

i am considering swapping the engine in Talon... even though i said i would never.

am i right in thinking that Fiat did make a FIRE 1.4 v8? it seems quite rare... i would settle for a punto 60 1242cc engine. i have been offered an 1108cc engine which is nice. i already have the 2cm extended exhaust down pipe on Talon as when i welded in the ring for the Bosch fuel injection system i tested out i also modified it to be 2cm longer. thanks past me.

yes, for what i have planned for Talon i think a larger engine would be great.
i want to keep it 8 valve though.. not 16 valve. i love torque.
i was considering using the 1.4 Grande Punto engine.. as that has variable valve timing. so i would get the best of both worlds.. i just dont know if its ECU electronically controlled or just controlled from oil pressure. my plan would be to use the head and block from the 1.4 grande punto but sticky tape the manifolds from a punto 75 engine and hot glue the ECU and wiring onto it somehow. maybe add a bit of chewing gum for added support..
that is if the manifold bolt pattern matches up to the stud pattern on the cylinder head.
ay info on this would be greatly appreciated. i know i can rig up the punto 75's ECU to work on the newer engine as i have used the same kind of ECU system from off a 899cc cinquecento engine on a lawn mower engine. it ran great! (i should NOT have been given the godly use of a 3d printer! making custom intake manifolds to run car throttle bodies on lawn mower engines is just plain cheating.)

the best thing with these early fuel injection systems is that because they have a Lambda sensor on the exhaust, they auto compensate for the engine size difference! its like having a carburettor that automatically adjusts its jetting on the fly!

i could use the original +2cm modified 999cc down pipe.. or i do have a quite nice custom 4-2-1 stainless manifold i grabbed off a scrap Fiat Punto 1.2 with slightly larger diameter pipes. the flexi has gone as it was used on a lowered car but guess who can weld stainless now! quite handy!

Talon continues to be a perfect little car for daily use. this is the most use Talon has ever had i'd wager. besides the odd trip to Cornwall or Scotland a few times. i miss doing long distance.

anyhoo i need to get to bed to get up for work. ive got to fund my tism fueled insanity somehow.

 

[Didge3]

The 1.4 8v was pretty common in the Grande Punto so pulling one out of a scrap car wouldn’t be too bad. The VVT is only on the exhaust valves I believe and was on for emissions, it doesn’t give any extra performance so if you can’t get it working I wouldn’t worry about it. It should suit the 4x4 well, the power is low down, its probably the least ‘revvy’ FIRE engine in existence

 

[PuntoHowTo]

The 85hp 1.2 16v would be my choice, more power, more torque and you have to remember once you get to the engines with VVT even the 8valve engines are interference.

The old mk1 puntos with the 16v 1.2 can be had very cheap due to rot problems on those cars and no canBus, more or less a straightforward swap of the engine and wiring loom into the new car.

 

[Dragon Man]

Hmm ok. Can you fit the cylinder had from the 1.2 8v onto the 1.4 grande Punto block. I really want it to be a 1.4.

Back to work yard manager is at me..

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Hmm ok. Can you fit the cylinder had from the 1.2 8v onto the 1.4 grande Punto block. I really want it to be a 1.4.

Back to work yard manager is at me..

I see no reason you couldn't but what effect that would have I don't know? The blocks are essentially the same but if you went for a much more modern block then there might be casting changes and hole or studs that you wouldn't get on an older engine so you would have to do some research.

The Panda HP is essentially the 1.2 16v with a bigger capacity and probably a different cam. I have seen over 100hp is apparently doable on the 1.2 with a new cam

 

[blu73]

Do you know Paul that owns my old turbo seicento @Dragon Man ?? He's just put a 1.4 8v into a sei sx - he maybe able to answer many of your questions. Don't think he ever comes on the forum anymore though.

 

[Dragon Man]

Do you know Paul that owns my old turbo seicento @Dragon Man ?? He's just put a 1.4 8v into a sei sx - he maybe able to answer many of your questions. Don't think he ever comes on the forum anymore though.

I don't.. but I want to! I'll try to get hold of him elsewhere...

 

[Dragon Man]

well my sister, her boyfriend and myself all went to the Moira Furnace Car Show last sunday. i managed to get a few photos!


so we have Talon, my sisters green mk1 MX-5 and my sisters boyfriends mk1 Eunos Roadster (Jap import MX-5).








some old FiatForum flyers but some were taken!


Talon getting more attention than the MX5s haha


good day out and the only car show i had attended this year! (so far)

as you can tell, Talon was not cleaned or detailed in any way. still dirty from traveling up to the woodlands.
i was the only Fiat! no other Fiat branded cars turned up to the event.

prime spot though right next to all the catering hehe.


still awaiting on the package from Italy...

 

[cybertruckino]

For the rear brake issue, do you have the drum brakes without the spring tensioner? (So the h-shaped bracket that pushes the shoes to the side when the handbrake is engaged?)

I did my rear drum brakes too and it was baffling me why I couldnt get the drum on after replacing them. I then slackened the handbrake nut like you did, and got em to fit on. But as I was tightning it again, I noticed that one wheel was binding and the other one wasnt. I have a second panda in the shed now and it does the same.

What ended up being my issue is that the shoes can move up or down a little bit. Depending on their positions, it might be good enough to get the drum on, but it means it might rub on one side. Its a very tedious process but basically take the drum off, tap the shoes inwards first (rubber mallet) to make sure they are fully seated and then tap the underside to move the shoes up a bit, or upper side to tap em down. Whilst doing this, regularly refit the drum and use the locator pin to lock it and turn it to see if it turns freely. Once you get to this point with both brakes, enable the handbrake and try to feel if they are fully engaged. You can best try this with the wheel on for more leverage. Repeat on both sides.

If they are, great! If not, then it means you need to do further adjustments. According to Haynes, the handbrake should be fully engaged after 4-5 clicks. It being very loose at the beginning is a sign its not properly adjusted.

I hope this explanation makes sense! Glad to see Talon is still on the road. Its been very educational seeing your posts and tutorials whilst restoring my own panda .

 

[rmjbn1]

Panda and mx5 a cracking combination!
I'm also not sure which I prefer.
Actually no, I'd have been in the queue to admire Talon too

 

[Dragon Man]

Talon is quite rough now. The paint is totally shot and I cringe at my "body work" skills back then. I am going to get some fishing wire and try to cut off all the plastics I glued on with tiger seal.. in prep for a paint job I think.
It will be a rough job but it will look better than it does now. I have a lot of Olive drab paint left over from my army scout scooter project and also the HGV motorhome my brother and I bought between us. It's all on my YouTube
There's a lot of things I need to redo/rework on Talon.

 

[rmjbn1]

I prefer scruffy cars. I don't like them when they're tarted up too much. That's my excuse anyway So don't overdo it on Talon!

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I prefer scruffy cars. I don't like them when they're tarted up too much. That's my excuse anyway So don't overdo it on Talon!

There appears little risk

 

[blu73]

lets be honest though, can you go to a car meet or show and there not be mx5 there? I like them too but you see them ALL the time, everywhere. You don't see pandas anymore