General silly newbie questions

[pug1234]

right i'm looking at buying a 4x4 and i'm hoping to annoy some of the boy racers around my area.
firstly can you turn a 4 wheel drive panda into a rear wheel drive panda?
has anyone done this and does anyone know how?

and secondly i'd be after a engine swap.
how big can i go for a straight forward bolt in and from what car?

basically i want a saxo eater that'll go side ways as and when i want.
thanks for any info recieved.

 

[Chas Uno]

If you're thinking that a 4x4 Panda with more power will work like a 4x4 Integrale/ Cosworth/ Quattro then you've chosen the wrong car. The Panda's 4x4 system is designed for low geared off road use and has to be switched to 2x4 above 40mph. Put more than around 80bhp under the bonnet and you risk tearing the drivetrain apart.

However, if you're serious about having a "Saxo eater" then you are far better starting out with a 2x4 FIRE engined Panda. All the bigger FIRE engines will fit the standard engine mounts and will hook up to the original Panda gearbox.

A couple of members have dropped in a 1242 Punto engine and run them off the standard carb - you do get a power and torque increase but don't expect to trounce GTi's with it. Panda Sport however has fitted the 16v 1242 engine with MPi into his Panda and that will embarrass Saxos! He's also fitting a Vtec engine to another Panda and has future plans for mid-mounting an Alfa V6 into another.

There was also a Panda with a mid mounted RS Turbo (1600) engine in it on Ebay recently. It's been up many times before though...

There's a thread in this section about swapping in a 16v 1242 into a Panda but I have to go to university now so you'll have to use search and find it yourself!

 

[Alan.D]

or this and he's selling it....

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-classic/135082-someones-spent-serious-time-effort-panda.html.

Gearbox in 4x4 will take no more than 100hp but don't know if the rear dif and prop will take more?

 

[nitro_warrior]

I'm new around this forum and i'm not sure if its been talked about before. You might be able to make it rear wheel drive by taking out the drive shafts and sealing up the holes from the gearbox, off the top of my head I can't see why that wouldn't work....

As 1986Uno45S says in 4x4 mode there is no centre differential so you shouldn't really use it on dry tarmac especially if you put on rubber to suit your asperations as you get "wind up" on the propshaft. However I did read about someone who fitted a viscous coupling from a Subaru Justy to allow his 4x4 to become permanent 4wd. The advantage of keeping it 4wd is you reduce the loading on all the drive shafts, leaving your one weak point of the gearbox. Has anyone on the fiat forum ever done something similar?