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

Lamp them?

The little buggers will be sat there, in their deck chairs and shades on!!

oh yes they will!

i have managed to fit the light bar and it has great results! i just need to get a few pictures and a video of it on an unlit road somewhere.

for now, this is how Talon stands:





i really need to get a video up of it in action. it does work quite well

with full load (everything turned on) the load on the alternator is only 68.3 amps! i have LOADS more room for lights! really want to get myself a Berlingo roof rack..

other jobs today i have done,

tighten the alternator belt
add air to tyres
checked oil levels in the rear diff, gearbox and engine
checked coolant, brake fluid and gave some of the wiring a looking over to make sure its all in good condition.
also did a bulb check too. i know the indicator light in the dash is.. intermittent. (and not just because indicators are meant to flash!) sometimes it will work and sometimes not.. i am putting this down to a connector on the fuse box however. nothing some pliers and a bit of copper conductive grease cant fix!

all is good.. though i really wish i could change the tyres on the front (they were on the rear but i swapped them around)
they have no grip what so ever.. one is a winter tyre and the other is.. umm.. a tyre of unknown type. both are made out of wood (as far as grip goes).
i may stick with them over winter as i think they are both winter tyres looking at the tread type. they are starting to crack anyway.

oh and i also now have some replacement 4x4 front dampeners thanks to AndyPanda4x4 and Sam on the facebook group (the chap who had the tyre go flat on the 1st National Panday 4x4 - Peak District) and also Panda1408 for passing them on to me.
i am for now holding off doing anything with them, i'm keeping my eye on kolza's sisley thread to see what springs work the best (ill let you do the hard work ). i do already have a set of Felicia Estate rear springs all painted up and ready to go on but as i have been told, they are way too stiff and make it so the strut is always at max length. (however if you were to add a winch and large bull bar with metal bumper.. maybe they would be ideal!)
theres always plenty of Felicia's in the scrap yard here so its not an issue to get some standard springs.

well thats all for now.

As you're not upgrading to the modified gearbox flange you are limited to max 30mm lift for safety reasons. Therefore estate springs (11.5mm) cut to 10.75 coil is enought if not to much.
Full hatchback springs only (see Henry) with 10mm spacer between strut and top cup ( no need to extend mounting bolts) would give approx. 30mm lift keeping nice ride comfort.

sadly Talon has shed his alternator belt again.. i really need to get this damn multi V belt thing installed...

ok so i went down the scrap yard today (yes in a car that has no alternator belt!)
i had a good look around, i was looking for a 90 amp alternator from a Punto but sadly i didnt find one.

i did however find an old fiat Uno 45 FIRE, that i promptly stripped of all goodies (carb, distributor, etc..) including the alternator belt. oh well as a temporary fix i will just stick the another belt on. i got it for free anyhoo.

i did also get a few punto bottom pulleys and matching belts.

and to top it all off i had a cruse around ebay i found a seller selling a 90 amp alternator for £20 with shipping. so i did get that too. (fallout only has a 60 amp alternator)

when i get it, i'll give it a strip, clean, grease and paint. i'll also check the brushes too.

should i paint it Red, Yellow or ??

all i have to do is just swap the bottom pulley over and install the new alternator. (rather than swapping pulleys over)
if only i did it that way from the start.. the original panda alternator belt is no way near up to the stresses of 90 amps of draw.

Orange. It has to be orange...

i have swapped the alternator around and bottom pulley with belt!
big result and the dampened pulley makes quite a difference to the "sound" of the alternator

you do need to have a spacer on the upgraded alternator!
on the original 45 amp alternator you will have just the spacer you need. so you have to undo the pulley off the old one to retrieve the spacer and put it on the new uprated punto alternator.

to undo the pulleys from the alternators you need a 8mm allen key and a 24mm ring spanner. it helps to put a bar (like a trolley jack handle) on the allen key to get more leverage as it is done up pretty tight.

sadly you will have to ditch a washer from off the shaft as you wont be able to get the 24mm nut on far enough. i dont think its really needed as mine has never came undone in the year or so of me using this design. and it was still bloody tight on the alternator i just took off talon (as for me i had already put the spacer on the previous alternator)

all is well now and all is working good.

those of you who have been in Talon, wonder why he is such a quiet panda.. this is why.
its under everything, all the plastics and carpets!
now you know why i dont really want to go in deep water with him.



Fallout is going to be so loud... it has -Nothing- (but a rubber floor from a 750) in it..

now you know why i dont really want to go in deep water with him.

Click to expand...

yup! soaked with water and with all this add-ons like bullbar, fancy electronic gadgets and this lighthouse equipment on the front plus the radar mast on the hook and we have nissan patrol class heavy weight panda champion

Dragon Man said:

i did however find an old fiat Uno 45 FIRE, that i promptly stripped of all goodies (carb, distributor, etc..) .

Click to expand...

John, If that Uno45 is still there, any chances for complete front drive shafts? And while you're there have a sniff around gearbox flange as that might by the one you're looking for.

ill have a look but it has been take off the website :/

its been AGES since i have done any video updates on Talon!
so here is an update!

The light guards anyone know where to get them ??

THORtenerife said:

The light guards anyone know where to get them ??

Click to expand...

kolza makes them.

Its been a while, but i think the time has come to think about getting Talon out into the world again. since the selling of Fallout/Ratchet i feel a part of me is missing.. and well that is the car i drive.
dont get me wrong, i love my van. however i dont know, its not a panda. Talon has been locked away in the garage since mid 2014. i know the underseal needs looking at, and somehow some of the spot lights have been smashed. i dont know of anything else that needs to be done.. i think the tyres need replacing as they are all flat and getting on a bit. for what they cost on these cars i will buy all new top brand stuff.

now i just need to sell my UTV.. which i have tried to turn into a panda by adding bits of panda to it.
hmm well lets get that sold, clear the drive space and get Talon out into the daylight once again!

Good luck, feeling the same about Grumbleweed, been laid up for a few years now too

That would be great John!

Almost 9 years. 9 years since Talon saw asphalt. a month ago i moved car, van, motorcycle and lorry. all to make way for the mighty Talon.
took about a year give or take a few months to actually get everything ready to move but i did it. i sold the UTV and did a whole lot of other stuff, but i managed to slowly work Talon from garage to drive through literally all vehicles above.

Talons insurance could have been quite cheap if i so desired at £92 for the whole year.. however i went for a better cover at near £200 a year. Talon is insured for a guaranteed £7000 payout however.. not that anything is going to happen.

i didnt really do much to Talon to bring him out for road use.. i just bought new tyres. that was about it. the 9 year old oil could do with changing even though it only has about 2000 miles on it. it could do with a coolant flush as its well over the 5 year life of OAT spec coolant. its something ill get around to doing.
i worked it that i could drive Talon to work as down the road from my work is a MOT testers. so i drive Talon to work. the brakes have little to no affect.. nice. so i bleed them outside the mot test station with a little help from someone at the test station (it was 7AM) and a bit of air comes out making the brakes.. umm. do something at least. somehow they pass inspection (even though i would not pass them) and Talon gets a clean bill of health all be the comical yearly "slight play in wheel bearing" advisory which never gets any worse.

well i take my van to work the next day.. and a few weeks on after that.. and eventually i get around to doing a complete brake fluid flush. now my brake fluid flushes are not like any other. after a flush i leave a vacuum pump running on the reservoir all night trying to suck every bit of air i can from the system. only to find it keep sucking air past the master cylinder seals.. sigh. thankfully they are not allowing fluid to pass through them. i guess they are not designed to be under a vacuum. whatever it works and loads of air comes out the system helping firm the pedal up. its still not great however.. braking is very progressive.. almost liner in action. lots of pedal travel only brings the brakes on slightly. almost like they are geared down too much.

i also removed the front wheels and with the engine running while in gear i used a bit of sand paper and a wooden block to sand down the corrosion from the brake discs. this helped quite a bit in how the brakes preformed. however i am still unable to make the wheels lock up, no matter how much weight i put on the pedal. something still needs looking into. talons brakes have never been good however.

well after a few days and a full tank of fuel i notice the fuel tank was leaking. joy. so i took it off and send it, along with all my others, 4 in total, to a acid dipping place to clean them up. we had casualties.. we lost a tank. however it was by far the worst one of the 4. the best one i set to with the welder and welded it all up or so i thought. i used some 2 part epoxy "Tank liner/sealer" which cost an arm and a leg. online reviews say that this stuff has worked that well that the tank completely rotted away just leaving the hardened tank liner behind. well this is not the case for me. having removed all the baffle plates from inside the tank (like why does it even need them, its only 35L!) i welded it all up, taped up all the holes, mixed up the tank liner and poured it in. it went everywhere and completely coated the inside of the tank. after it dried i checked with a boreoscope and it looked fantastic! i left it 3 days just to make sure (ready to use after 12 hours if left to set at 21.c) then painted the exterior of the tank. first with a metal paint with built in rust converter (not that there was any rust) then with some military green paint, then with thick underseal. it was a 2 week ordeal from using the tank liner.
i fit the tank, all is good, drive to work, stop by at costco, brim the tank, drive home, and the tank is leaking. where from i dont know but it must be from the mid seal where the 2 half's of the tank join. heat broken. well its fine if i do not fill it over half a tank. so thats how i have been living with it for now.
i did buy another tank from a guy on facebook but that turned out to be a scammer and i am sadly down £120. ahh well, i am welding up one of the other tanks but for now i am just living with the half a tank way of life.

using Talon the past month has been fine, the rocker cover was leaking so i changed that as well as the O ring seal around the distributor now no more oil leaks!

like a faithful 4 legged companion the second i said "walkies" Talon was ever happy to get out there again. the engine did not complain once as did anything else.. besides that damned fuel tank. 9 years of disuse did pretty much nothing. i even driven it to the MOT place with the 9 year old fuel.

not much stops a panda.. in saying that here is a list of spares i am carrying all tucked up nicely behind the engine bay sound proofing just behind the spare wheel:
complete distributor,
complete carburettor,
4 ignition modules (i know right.. even i didnt know they were all there!)
throttle cable,
clutch cable,
speedo cable,
speedo gearbox drive gear,
bushing kit for gear linkages (even though they feel great!),
alternator belt,
cam belt,
HT leads,
a modern far smaller than the old style coil,
oil pressure switch/sensor,
temperature sensor,
a box of fuses,
and some spare bulbs.

i am ready for bear.

heres a picture of Talon in a Aldi car park a few days ago:


and a picture of the inside from yesterday:


its so good to be piloting Talon again. the bonnet seems HUGE! back to basics, just how it should be.

thanks all for looking.

Nice to see Talon alive and well, one of the OG's from my Panda days, which is unfortunately 10 years ago!