Panda (Classic) Pandasaurus - 1992 Panda 1000

Ugh. Two lessons here.

1. I'm rubbish at updating the thread
2. I'm rubbish at getting anything done, ever!!


I'll put some random pictures in to keep things interesting (and so you don't have to read all the waffle)

Anyway. When I last updated things, I'd been getting the exhaust sorted.

So - a while back, I took the car to an exhaust place to get them to do the zorst for me. Basically, they didn't want to touch it because it was really rusty and they snapped a stud. Which was odd - I imagine they see quite a lot of that sort of thing



Figured I'd give it a go myself. Used the ol' angle grinder to chop the old front section one in half to get it off, then set about removing the front bit from the manifold. 3 studs there. The exhaust place had already snapped one for me, so two to go.

One:



Two:



Hmm. That looks fun. The two that stuck out a bit weren't too bad - ground a couple of flats on the stud, blasted it with the camping stove and then got it in the vise. Easy cheese.



Had to drill that last one out though. I hate doing that! But, got there in the end.



I'd mentioned previously that I was planning to swap to a Punto alternator from the Panda one. I'm using the multi-V belt/pulley from a Punto (well, it came off a Stilo, but I think it's the same?) too, as per DragonMan's recommendation. It's a ridiculously easy swap, as you might expect. My car has some lame after market battery cables on with really huge terminals on, so no modification was necessary to get them to fit the new alternator. All I had to do was swap a spade connector for a ring terminal to go on the back.

Just for info, here's a picture:



Works faultlessly. Well worth doing if you're considering it, I'll wager

Other stuff too...

The Puller is in action again...



...plus these...



...shiny!

Edit: Don't worry - I have staked the nut now. I hadn't done it at this point as I was going to put the wheel back on to gnarr it up good'n'proper like.



I finally sorted this out as well. Initial difficulties in installing the bearing were overcome by hitting it harder and using a vise on a metal bench (see this thread for more info, if you're especially interested). No more spooge on the drive. Bizarre!



I'm cool and find stuff like gearbox oil interesting. If you do too, then the gearbox is now full of Fuchs TITAN Sintofluid FE SAE 75W. I run Fuchs fluid in the Saab gearbox and it shifts really nicely, so I thought I'd try some in the Panda.

The box does indeed seem to be very happy now - quiet and nice gear changes - which is a bonus! That might be a placebo because the fluid was bloody expensive, or it might actually be better. I'm fairly sure it's the latter...

With the exhaust back on, I wanted to give the engine some love.

Did the 'stat / plugs / distributor - thought I'd re-check the valve clearances too, because race car.

A couple of the exhaust valves were a tad tighter than spec. A shims and a camshaft oil seal later, everything's back to where it should be. Hooray!



I also finally changed the rear brake shoes. How exciting.



...which is about up to date!



Took the car for a cursory MoT on Friday. I hadn't expected it to pass, given the state of the exhaust. Shock horror, it didn't Managed to do this with cursory finger-prodding before I put it back on, so it was unlikely to start with. Fear not, stainlessness will be going on there soon enough!




Failed on blowing exhaust, no indicator tell tale (bah!), and rear brake imbalance because one side isn't doing much. I need to investigate this - I suspect it's a bleed issue, but it may be one of the cylinders. I will find out tomorrow.

Car is booked in to have the exhaust done on Friday! I've done the indicator tell tale already - I love how easy it is to remove the dash on these cars!

I've been messing around inside as well - but nothing revolutionary - mainly to fix the indicator tell tale.

I still think the car needs an ST interior...if anyone has one they'd be willing to let go, give me a shout

Brakes bled, bulb changed, exhaust fabricated (oof!)...

so this mean we shall be seeing it next on sunday at jo's cafe?? he can hang out with Char' in the car park

congratulations on the clean sheet. I don't think I have ever actually seen one of those in the flesh for a fiat. Only on my third one mind. and they keep getting older at about twice the speed time passes

i have many many clean mots with no advisories in the past with fiats... always the other cars i have owned that fail mot's... you know 'sensible german cars' and the like.