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Panda (Classic) Axel the Sisley 4x4

Introduction

Hi All, as you may be aware I purchased a certain Sisley 4x4 from @onemanmade a week ago.

It was a long (ish) trip up north of the boarder but well worth the trip!

We made it back without too many hitches, first problem was I brimmed the tank and subsequently lost several liters after it seemed to just come straight out the top of the tank. Don't know if something hasn't been fitted correctly after the tank was taken off or I did try to squeeze a little too much in causing it to come out the over flow :p Second issue found on our way back was as well as the clutch bearing being noisy (which we knew of) the clutch is slipping big time, you can accelerate if you do it carefully but if you just plant your foot the engine just revs and the clutch disengages.

Anyhoo I knew it would be a rolling project and the fact its had all the welding done means its a very good place to start :)

So lets crack on with some pictures!

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Meeko also had to inspect, she approves

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So a 'To Do' list is in order:
Clutch
Fan switch mod
Lift Kit
Swap bull bars
Roof Rack
Plumb in the CB
Second set of wheels (with chunky offroad tyres)
A spare numberplate for our trailer!
Investigate Fuel tank
Investigate Temperature issue
Adjust Handbrake

PS: Some of you may have noticed I have changed the name! Can anyone guess my theme yet?
Good news! We made it to the Great Yorkshire Show and back without issue. Bad news is I wasn't needed to pull anyone out of the field :(

Still rubbing a little on the drivers side bumper and a smidge on the passenger side.

Ride is alright, corners are interesting and my speedo is now actually accurate! Though I didn't really wanna do 70 on them, they did sit at 60 well. They are noisy as expected but no where near as bad as I thought they'd be!
 
So, bit of an update. No this much is new it's currently with Freddy for some fettling for its MOT and some other modifications following our Wales trip. Tyres are holding up well but some fouling on the rear passengers side with the wheel arch has removed some rubber.

Still have the issue with the temp gauge but the fan is cutting in as expected. Some discussion on Wales may have lead me to the issue, the wiring loom was chewed through at some point and was repaired by Cameron using terminal blocks, I suspect these may be causing some resistance or something meaning the gauge is misreading the temp. Me and Par are going to look into soldering the cables with a more permanent fix in the future.

Alas some updates Pictures:
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So, bit of an update. No this much is new it's currently with Freddy for some fettling for its MOT and some other modifications following our Wales trip. Tyres are holding up well but some fouling on the rear passengers side with the wheel arch has removed some rubber.

Still have the issue with the temp gauge but the fan is cutting in as expected. Some discussion on Wales may have lead me to the issue, the wiring loom was chewed through at some point and was repaired by Cameron using terminal blocks, I suspect these may be causing some resistance or something meaning the gauge is misreading the temp. Me and Par are going to look into soldering the cables with a more permanent fix in the future.

Alas some updates Pictures:
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oh yeah! it had been parked up in London for i think 5 years when i got it and the bulkhead had rats at some point chewing the wires.
 
As some of you may know Axel is in with Freddy at the moment for some TLC and it's MOT. One of the things being done is the long overdue sump guard modifications. Based off Andy's sump guard Freddy has made this:

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For anyone interested this weighs around 22Kg, a standard sump guard weighs about 6.5k. For reference the bullbars weigh 9Kg and the spare wheel weighs 10kg.
 
So, Panda went to Freddy's for some work following Wales. The MOT was due so got Freddy to do that too...

List of issues resolved:
Wheel Alignment
Gearbox oil leak
Accelerator Sticking
Outer front CV Boots
Drivers side inner gaiter
Prop shaft gaiter
Rear brakes
Gear Stick bracket incorrect
Air box seal
Rocker cover gasket
LHD Headlamp converted
Coolant leak
Sump Guard Modifications

A long list indeed but this was unfortunately just the beginning... Rust was found and unfortunately failed the MOT, Freddy has reluctantly done some patches (I know his OCD wanted full proper repair but unless he did it FOC a patch was more cost effective).

Interestingly one issue Freddy found was that one of the brackets relating to the gear stick was a bit too long which had pushed out the gear stick, I hadn’t noticed it myself but Freddy's keen eye certainly did!

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We suspect that this is perhaps from a 2wd Mk2 and is longer than what should be on a 4x4, this had led to all gears being pushed backwards, i.e. 3rd was where neutral should have been, reverse is right up against the driver’s seat etc..

This has been replaced with a spare Andy had on his 'to chuck' pile and all is now good, 5th has become less vague which is a bonus though it appears 4th grinds a little more than usual, I will see how it goes..

On to the rust, not too good unfortunately, two main areas of concern, the jacking point on the driver’s side and the boot seem in the drivers wheel arch. I knew something was up with the jacking point area as when I last used the panda jack the sill just went up rather than the car!

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Freddy has now patched these and has removed the old panda jacking mount as it was useless anyway, with the lift kit you weren’t able to actually jack it enough to take the front wheels off the ground, I have kept the bracket in my spares collection just in case its ever needed again!

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With the welding done Axel sailed through the MOT with no advisories. Some modifications were also made to hopefully stop/reduce the tyre rubbing/cutting on the rear arches:

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The High idle was also resolved, nothing mechanical, turns out it was a piece of foam behind the accelerator pedal that had expanded and wouldn’t let the accelerator fully go back :eek:

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Freddy also did an oil service purely because it was going to be difficult getting to the sump plug following the sump guard modifications.

List left to do:
Carb Rebuild
Permanent Wire Repair
Fan Override Switch
Plumb in new Head Unit
Spark Plugs and Air Filter

Sure there’s other things to do but these are the highest priority at the moment :)
 
Onward and forward slowly slowly catch the
Monkey soon be there !
 
Well did some work on Axel today. Managed to take a look at the stereo wiring. It was plumbed in but wasn't in too good of a state, no speakers connected and when I traced the cables found them coiled up under the carpet so will be why there was no sound!

Also removed the rear bench and belts for some extra space. I also tried to lube up the window winding mechanism on the drivers side, seemed to be getting quite stiff.

Dad also managed to solder all of the cables which had previously been chewed through. New cable/switch/connectors ordered for the fan override since it's a 25amp circuit, also ordered new audio cable/connectors and a pair of new speakers to go with my shiny head unit thanks to AndyPanda4x4.

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It’s been another tough year for Axel. More rot has happened, Freddy has willingly cut out and patched but is alas likely the final year for Axel. Hadrian’s door also gave us a helping hand when it came to Mr MOT as gaffer tape is no longer sufficient to hide sharp edges..

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