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

Introduction

Hello!

Well, I have been waiting a long time to do this!

Introducing (Drum roll please!).....

Edit: about half way through the time it took me to get the car on the road it found the name Talon. So everyone Meet:
Talon. My Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley:

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Great Looking car.. As i am sure you all agree!

It has its Good points:

No Horrid noises in any gear and the 4x4 system works and sounds brilliant! Its a Sisley! And it came with some nice extras such as the light grill covers.

and also nice low mileage.
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And it has its bad points... Lots of bad points:

Mid body rust, This is the worst on the drivers side (in the UK) front wing:
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The Doors are Rusty.. Ok, i did expect this as it seems to be a common thing on most Fiats over 10-15 years old:
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And the other Door, Not as bad.. I may be able to save this side!
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"Phantom Electronics" the electronics do what they want to do, when they want to do it. No Switches necessary!

Also the Fuse box now lives here :( That means that a flap has been cut in the pocket :(
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The Exhaust is very broken, in multiple parts. even the down pipe!
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Lastly and by far the worst, Under body rust. Now its not as bad as it could be. The rear sills on both sides have a small 1 - 2 inch hole in them. No biggy.
I have still yet to remove all the plastic wheel arch liners and have a proper look.
Here's a picture from the front drivers side wheel arch, its only a skin so a easy repair:
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A bit of work needs doing to the brakes, pads i think. The fluid needs changing and the drivers side front brake pipe is corroded so i will replace that.

Also the engine needs a good cleaning up, a full on service replacing the water pump, cam belt, tensioner pulley, distributor cap and rotor arm, filters, oil, radiator, coolant and starter motor.

I also need a few things like a locking filler cap, the little clips that hold the air box together, a new boot gas strut and a non damaged back bumper.

Its the car I have always wanted right from when I was a young lad. So you can imagine how I was when I won it on eBay for a grand total of £547. Getting it from Wales To my home town of Derby Cost me £135.

With some love, care and late nights I reckon I can turn it into a cracking motor!

Oh and stay tuned as I will be keeping a Video Log of what I will be doing to the car on Youtube!

This is the video i took just as the car transporter left from delivering it:




See the rest of the videos Here: Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley Restoration Video Logs

See my Youtube Channel >>>Here<<<

Also Click Here for more up to date pictures of this car!

I am so very proud to be the owner of a Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley!

:D:D:D


Edit: this is how Talon looks now:



:eek::cool::cool::cool::yum:

Since then Talon has gained more lights, and now has some blue rust free Seat Marbella doors. I had also converted him to Fuel injection, however the parts i used were old and worn so now it is back on Carburettor.

This thread has its ups and downs but through the years Talon and myself have pulled through.

When you are done reading this thread, be sure to check out the little red scrap yard rescued Seat Marbella thread and also Project Fallout!

Peace all and enjoy the thread, videos and pictures!
If you try to push the windscreen out it will almost certainly crack so as Kev said cut the rubber seal all the way around and just lift it out.

That petrol tank was rough :eek: you certainly are a glutton for punishment.
 
you certainly are a glutton for punishment.

i don't spend money where i don't have to. i am fully able to make a whole new tank for the thing so why not just repair the old one lol. got a whole load of tank seal i pour into the tank and swish it around with. should coat everything in the tank and future rust proof it!
 
well had a good day on the panda yesterday.

did a engine flush+oil+filter change. found out why the oil had not been changed for a while, the sump plug was SO tight that i had to fully extend the jack handle on allen key to get enough leverage to undo the plug! i thought i was going to round it off or snap the allen key!

well to get the engine running took some doing! there was no spark, then we found out it only sparked when you turned the key on and off. turned out to be the connectors inside the electronic points. (as my ignition system does not have points)
cleaned them up put loads of grease on them now so it should not corrode again.
fuel lines in a 5L petrol can and she ran fine, even with all the dash hanging out LoL

today, more de-rusting! Lets Rock!!
 
getting fed up now. electronic points are a nightmare! give me the old style any day.
it explains why the old starter motor was totally fubar.

every time you want it to start you have to take off the small box on the distributer shake it around smack it on the side of the engine keep going back try and start it and just keep doing that till it works.

all terminals are clean and copperslipped up. im getting to the point where i wished i just left the damn engine alone and left it the way it was with all the old stuff still on it! least it ran!

i took the back bumper off and sheared every bolt. so ive got to sort that out now, and when the last one sheared the bumper fell and snapped all the numberplate wires.

i dont know how am i going to weld the back wheel arch up. i want to cut all the bad out, but i dont have small enough tools to get in and cut with.
to be fair i am getting to the point where i am thinking sod it and just plating over it all.

i need a new speedo cable for it as i managed to snap the plastic bit that fits into the clocks.

i think im gonna leave it for a very long time. cos im just sick of it now tbh. its all cost cost cost. i should of waited and bought a fully taxed and tested one.
 
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yes, i know i will.

i found out today that the panda and the cinquecento use the same ignition barrel. but the door locks are longer so they will not fit.
i grabbed all the locks from off the cinq in the scrap yard as i wanted all the keys and filler cap to match.

also when i took the bumper off i found that the passenger bracket was bent to hell, but it did not take much to hammer it back in to shape.

if i use a heat gun in the bumper i may be able to make it soft enough to bend it back in to shape. will still be cracked though.

just wish i could wrap my head around how to do this back sill/front of the rear wheel arch. do i cut the whole thing to shreds or cut it back enough and just treat the rest with loads of under-seal and waxyol.
if i were to cut all the bad out i would have to totally rebuild a lot of the seems and joins.

its tough.. i know that if air and water cant get to the metal it will not rust any more, so just cut + repair what i can reach with the tools i have then go heavy on the under-seal seems the most doable option given what i have.

i still have the other side to do yet, but i know that its no where near as bad.

i am rather annoyed at the weather as its given it to rain for weeks on end. so to fix the rust under the window screen is going to be quite hard.

i took your advice kev, and had a go at "kneading" the rubber seal around the windscreen on the inside, its actually quite easy to do!
if getting it back in is the opposite it should not be so hard.

my boot lip has a little bit of rust around it, 2 small holes i can fill with the welder and where the 2 skins meet under the rubber seal. i think that if i got a dremmel i could cut the bad bits out and then replace it. to be fair, a good wire brushing over and a bit of paint and i think it would be OK. ill have to look out for a new boot seal, or one in better condition.

gave up with looking for a new fan belt, even taking the old fiat oem belt down and matching/close matching the size of it fails my factors and the local belt and bearing place! it aether too big you cant take the slack up or too small you cant fit it over both pulleys.
i thought a fan belt would be a common thing amongst fire engines :/ i guess ill have to go to fiat to get one.

hope to be getting a phone call tomorrow about a new radiator. hope they can get one in for me. they also do tanks too, as i asked her on a price for a new fuel tank.. just to see.
hell if its going to be around the £60 mark i will order one and keep this other for a spare.

i need to do another video really.
 
yeah i plan to mate, heh i could do with making a huge list of bits i need.

our scrap yard covers a huge area but it never gets a panda in it.

ive got to totally strip the distributor down, so watch out i may be needing one of those soon too!
got to find out why it only sparks intermittently. i cant see it being the HV transformer gone.
as soon as you take the sealed electronic thingy off the distributor and move it about the engine will run. unless its got an earthing fault inside it. and the case is becoming live. if so, meh ill just leave it off

i bet they are like gold dust to find too :(

need yellow paint... lots of thick yellow paint... and i also need to jetwash under the back end of the car and drive-train.
 
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ive got to totally strip the distributor down, so watch out i may be needing one of those soon too!
got to find out why it only sparks intermittently. i cant see it being the HV transformer gone.
as soon as you take the sealed electronic thingy off the distributor and move it about the engine will run. unless its got an earthing fault inside it. and the case is becoming live. if so, meh ill just leave it off

i bet they are like gold dust to find too :(

You almost certainly need the little electronic box thingy (technical term) replaced if yours has it on - my Sisley (and every other I've heard of) has had faults with lack of spark, warming up & cutting out, rough running, etc etc, all coz of that little box.

They are about £35-£40 at a motor factor - usually called an ignition module I think. I'm pretty sure I have at least one spare new one around which cost me £18 though, so give me a shout if you get stuck & need it. (y) I believe that it controls the spark and the cassette points in the distributor which is a non-technical explanation for what's probably up with yours!

Cheers, Gavin.
 
If you are planning on keeping it then do all the rust properly, it will be worth it in the long run as you'll only end up doing it again later on down the line. If you leave rusty metal in there it will only come back regardless of how much underseal you put on it.

Can you find any Pandas in your local scrapyards? Maybe you could cut out some sections of the bodywork you need from them, that would make it alot easier.

Whatever you do don't give up with it though, I'm pretty sure every project reaches that point where you just want it finished, it will be worth it in the end though(y)
 
ahh well good day today!

was in town most of the day (till 4) so didn't get working on the panda till late in the afternoon.

got the windscreen out! no damage! its actually really easy to do lol. knead the rubber seal under the metal lip all the way around from inside the car then when you have done the top and half way down both sides the thing just slides out!

epic win!

well on my way to treating the rust underneath. check out the video!

got the engine running.. FrankenHacked a............. (don't laugh).......... honda step-through CDI to the 5 wires. the engine runs really well now! from what i know about honda CDI's they limit them to 7,000 RPM so that means i can only rev up to 3.500 RPM (accounting the fact the CDI came from off a 2 stroke single cylinder engine) :/

my guess is the capacitor has shot its wad. if they didn't cover the thing in resin i could of replaced it! le sigh..

anyhoo check out the video. skip it a bit to see the windscreen rust repair!



i really dont know what to do with the rear wheel arch its in such a bugger of a place to get in to cut it out.. hmmm.. i will think of something!
 
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well. sanding down my fuel tank and its just full of pin holes all over it, on the top around the sides, i think i should give up with it.

thing is they dont make the tanks any more. ive phoned a few places and every one has told me that the fuel tank that i am after has been discontinued.

the guy breaking the panda on ebay told me the tank was gone.

looks like i have got real big problems now, no one sells them any more.

not worth me doing any more work on it, if i cant get a tank the car is pretty much useless. and theres no way i can afford a custom tank to be made for it.

so guys with panda 4x4's if you see a tank being sold buy it!
 
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For the rear arch, cut the outer skin off and you will have loads of room, then when the inner is done weld the outer you cut off back on again. Video has been removed??

I saw some tanks on eBay not too long ago, I presume you have looked there already though.
 
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get a boat plastic one put it in boot or make a braket for it

Yeah I had thought about doing that in the future too. Something like this looks an ok size
Fuel Tank
Not sure how to do the filler, from memory the filler hose is 50mm diameter. If you can get a fuel proof 50mm bulkhead hose coupling you're laughing.

Also if you do decide to tackle the holes, Chemical Metal stuff is good for fixing the odd small fuel tank hole. Epoxies like that are fuel resistance.
 
The Guy we bought Barbara's Panda from had fitted a new fuel tank to it so he must have found one somewhere, and he wasn't 'motor trade'.

I'd check a few motor factors, let them search their contacts.
 
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