2013-04-26 11.03.06.jpg

Panda (Classic) John Dragon Man's Seat Marbella Fun

Introduction

Well guys and girls. i could not help my self when i saw this come in to our local scrap yard.

1994 Marbella with 20,079 miles on the clock. looks like it has not gone around the clock as the interior and parts of the engine and gearbox still look like new.

heres some pictures of how i came to it at the scrap yard:


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here you can see the melted wire:
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Stand by for some more pictures, and of course online video logs via Youtube!


bit of a story of how i found the car:

A few days ago (on the 23rd) me and a friend, went around another friends house. i parked up and used his (the friend we went around to see's) car to go down to the scrap yard (he is not far from it).
we had a good walk around and my friend found some more sound proofing for Talon (as he is very good at this) and some other odd bits (which i was told i could have for free - best scrap yard ever!).
on leaving the scrap yard a lorry came down the driveway looking for a way through to a business place. we told the lorry driver to follow us to where he needed to go as my friend knew the way to it.

on the way we passed a place i use to work at. as we went past the friend i brought with me noticed a seat marbella parked up in one of the car park bays. i didn't see much of it and only the back of the car, but noted the unusual reg number.
anyway. a day or so later (on the 26th) the same friend who spotted the car went to the same scrap yard we visited on the 23rd to get some bits for his car, and what car just so happens to be sat in the row of cars ready to have all of there vital fluids / environmental hazards removed? the little seat marbella. so he gets on the phone and rings me up.

I then ring up the scrap yard and ask them to hold the car and not to put it through the scrapping process as i would like to know if they would sell it.
they told me that it came in late on the 24th and i was lucky to catch it just in time. they gave me a price of £350 which was quite a bit for me so i was not really that bothered. my friend told me it was in good condition with no rust.
so i was just going to go down after they processed it for scrap as i wanted the rust free doors off it. (i know Sisley owners and Marbella doors.. :rolleyes:)

anyway. this morning (27th) i got a phone call from the scrap yard.
"you were interested in the marbella? i've stuck it to one side for you if you want to come down and have a look at it..."

well i could not resist.. even if it was just to see how good them doors were.. (ohhh those marbella doors..:yum::p:p). i drove right up to the gates and parked up. walked in and was greeted by this happy.. yet sad looking little red marbella.

well i looked around it found i could not get the bonnet open, would not pop up when i tried to open it. i did in the end get it open and soon spotted the "causes of death fault".
a really melted wire leading from the alternator that should of been connected to the starter motor, it somehow worked free and arced to the engine block causing the alternator to lock up and burn the diode bridge out. it also had short run issues like quite a bit of water logged oil in the oil filler (these engines get that, its normal), a smashed front headlight, on the inside the drivers side seat belt has been worn by something causing it to fray, and it is also missing a wing mirror.

inside the car was a notice saying that the car will not start and it was to be towed for scrap at 13:00 on the 24/04/13. i also found some paperwork with the previous owners name and address. (i was later able to track down the previous owner using this and retrieve the super rare parcel shelf! :D)

well despite the niggles that it had.. i just could not help myself... the car was rust free, solid as the first day it was put together.
so i end up talking to the guy on the weigh bridge and he said that i could take it for £325... delivered to my home address.:slayer:

and so, i now own a 1994 Seat Marbella "Fun" :D

it just so happens that my brother is taking driving lessons and i think that it would make the perfect car to welcome him into the life of driving a car.
keep this hush hush.. he does not know yet that this will be his car. ;)

Edits:
As of 17/08/2013 the car is now back on the road after its scrap yard rescue!!! High Five!
soon after the car was put in my brothers name as it made the insurance go down a lot.

Edit: This is a photo of the marbella when my brother sold it:
So if I have understood the theory right there is just one nut holding the strut at the top to the bodywork. Must have happened later in the Marbellas life as Si's has 2 studs like a Panda. Seat must have looked at it and thought how can we make this simpler and even cheaper to make.

Yep that is correct, I'm pretty sure lots of cars are like it, I know VWs use it so maybe it was because of the links there.
 
anyone tell me how i can take the strut out?

i want to lower it down so i can get up in the tower to underseal it.

do i have to use a spring compressor and undo the big nut on the top?
its not like the panda sadly, where it has 2 smaller nuts that can be undone to drop it out :(


You could try having a raised jack under the bottom arm, undo the nut then gradually lower the jack.
 
Im sure there is a "top mount" under there , and theres a "cup" what holds it in , Have it on the floor, and crack the nut and then jack the car up ect ect then you know what to do

Im sure Punto mk2 b have a similar set up iirc


Exactly, if you use this or the jack method and there is a second nut holding the spring on you won't need to resort to spring compressors.
 
well that is the drivers side arches and sill de-rusted and re-undersealed. really easy to take the top strut off. the spring does not jump off when you undo it. :D

heres a video of the work i did:




right now for a little help, starting wise the engine acts as if it is flooded. and with the unburnt fuel it chucks out the back, i'd say it is flooded. i have done a little video as sort of an "help me" thing.

if [USER]VmanC[/USER] or anyone else with good carburetor knowledge could have a look at the following video, can you diagnose what the fault could be?
i know the half ECU/Carb setup has been the cause of many marbella deaths. (looking at the Netherlands marbella forum)



i really hope i do not have to do a full on carb dismantle and rebuild and replace the seals etc.. as ill need to get it setup again. i still do not have a exhaust gas analyser.

if that fails i may convert it to SPI using cinquecento 899 pars and a "6F" (codeless) Ecu. looking at it, half the wiring is there. i would just need to wire up a lift pump or make a swirl pot and electric pump to remove the pulsing of the mechanical pump.
lets face it. the 903 is the original 899 before it was played with.. and from measurements i took from the marbella, the throttle body off a 899 would be a direct bolt on fit using all of the adapter plates from a 899 engine.

this would be a last resort however. i really do not like to do any kind of engine related mods. not because i cant.. i think i will be able to.. just because i want to keep it to the original engine specs.



ill do anything to keep the emissions down so it passes MOT. it is a too gooder car to not be road going.
 
Hmmm, Unfortunately John you didn't shut up long enough for me to hear much. :p

When you revved the engine it didn't sound bad but while it was idling it was like a bag of nails! I would have said that engine was running on only two or three cyls. with the fourth piston flapping about like a pr#€k in a shirt sleeve.

Am I right in thinking that you've done a compression test and all was good?

If you are still getting black smoke when the engine is warm and it can't be sorted by a simple mixture adjustment I'd say you've probably got a sticking float valve.

If you can do another video where you film the engine at operating temperature from the front of the car away from the rattly timing chain, stood still and quiet for about two minutes I may be able to give you a better answer. ;)
 
hmm when the engine is warm, it runs better than talons... :/ it only does it when cold.
i did a compression check. results were all 175. however i did a few more checks and cyl 1 was only giving me 140. i was putting that down to not being able to get in to the spark plug with the useless "push on" compression checker i have. we have lost the screw in tester :( i did not do a wet check.
wish i had a set of spark checkers. but we do not have any :/should be cheap on ebay.

ill do another video soon

thanks :)
 
Dear Auntie Vern


Wear that you describe as a ‘p***k’ in a shirt sleeve suggests severe extreme use of the said appendage and for such a young man he must be at it all the time, has he been to Marbella or does he have someone to Panda to his whims.


Do you suggest he needs to visit a proctologist as his bottom end may not be good, a new ring piece and possibly a ‘piston’ enhancement.


Name and address withheld.
 
I've had quite a few that sound a bit like this until they warm through a bit. It's never massively worried me as they all seem fine once warmed up. I'm not saying that means there's nothing wrong, just that it never turned into anything sinister. Not quite sure if its the same noise as I can't remember exactly, am trying to listen on a phone, and filter out John all at the same time! ;)

I'd be interested in hearing a "cure" as I'm pretty sure I've still got a couple doing that. One is a 127 1049cc with an "automatic choke" which is almost certainly to blame unless Vernon comes up with a theory. Both 45CL Panda's hunt a bit on first start up but sort themselves out with a quick adj of the choke or blip on the throttle.
 
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Dear Auntie Vern


Wear that you describe as a ‘p***k’ in a shirt sleeve suggests severe extreme use of the said appendage and for such a young man he must be at it all the time, has he been to Marbella or does he have someone to Panda to his whims.


Do you suggest he needs to visit a proctologist as his bottom end may not be good, a new ring piece and possibly a ‘piston’ enhancement.


Name and address withheld.

Dave, you have far too much time on your hands. ;)

I'm not really suggesting that there is any major wear in the engine, certainly not with those compression figures, it just sounded like it.

The timing chain is definitely due for renewal, a common weakness on this engine. Renewing it would certainly help the engine run smoother as well as quieter because it will improve the cam and distributor timing. You could still have a fuelling problem though, I'll wait for the new video before I pass further judgement on that.

Gavin, auto chokes from that era were pretty poor, hence the popularity of manual conversions.
 
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Thanks John that was much better. :)

Once warmed up it seems to run fine so I think the first thing to set would be the fast idle, I think it needs speeding up.

On a Panda there is a screw that runs against a cam, the cam is the part of the linkage that the choke cable connects to. I would wind this screw in until you have an idle speed of about 1200rpm at half choke.

See how it is once you've tried this.

Also sounds like you have a dry bearing somewhere, could it be your water pump?
 
thanks for the pointers. i will have a fiddle with it and see if i can change it.

the dry bearing is from the alternator. i have rescued the old bearings from out of the cars original alternator. i just need to take it off take it to bits and swap them over. easy job but you do have to take the whole thing to bits to get to the front bearing.

hell i may just go out a buy 2 more. what will i cost? a tenner at max?

anyway. over to talons thread....
 
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