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Panda (Classic) 1993 Fiat Panda Fizz "Pandino"

Introduction

Hey everyone, let me introduce you to my first car! :)

The car is a 1993 Fiat Panda Fizz, 999cc engine with fuel injection, only 26,000 miles at the time of buying. Nicknamed "Pandino" by the previous owner, and I'll make sure that name sticks! :D

Pictures are compulsory of course, so I've attached some of my first images that I've taken of the car. You'll likely find various other pictures in this thread when I get some things done to it! I attached the pictures to this post and I've uploaded one to the gallery so that I can have this one embedded! :rolleyes:
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*Following list is from original post, more has been done since, read thread for more*
What have I done already? Well I haven't even had the car for a couple of days yet, but I've done a few things...
  1. Used upholstery cleaner on the dirty ceiling, definitely needs some more though!
  2. Figured out how to do everything (i.e. parcel shelf removal, putting seats down, seat positions, mirrors etc)!
  3. Cleaned all the windows and mirrors!
  4. Checked all fluids and oil levels!
  5. Checked all lights/buttons!
  6. Checked tyre pressures, which I might decrease in the rear as they're running quite high!
  7. Took out the spare wheel/tyre, gave it a good clean but it is showing it's age, though it's been pumped up so it'll get me home if I need it now!
  8. Took the seal/cover off the heater matrix to remove the forest that was growing within it...
  9. Tried taking off the grille but couldn't get one of the centre poppers off and the front screws look a bit rounded off...
  10. Ran the car and moved it on the driveway!
  11. Put a blanket, a bag, a tool extension and a first aid kit in the boot!

*Following list is from original post, read thread for more*
What I plan to do next...
  1. Clean, clean, clean!
  2. Hopefully obtain new badges for the front and rear as all are discoloured!
  3. Try and clean the garage to fit the car in (or more likely at this time, find a suitable car cover for it)!
  4. Seal doors to prevent rust!
  5. Get some touch up paint for areas where paint has come away!
  6. Buy some Fiat Forum stickers of course!
  7. Potentially buy new number plates or at least replace some screws as they're looking a bit worn!
  8. What ever else I end up thinking of... follow the thread and read for more!

I also plan to go to some Panda classic events with others. I'll keep an eye out, but feel free to invite me to something if you've got something/see something going on!

That's about all I can think of right now! It feels so strange having a car, I'm very happy to have bought a car I really wanted. I've been looking for ages. :worship: If you have any questions about it then please do ask! I'm very happy to talk about my car! (y)
no, this stuff

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/pa...e-paints/halfords-heavy-duty-pu-lacquer-500ml

I have used it on grills and wheels, it don't chip easy at all and doesn't ever yellow from sunlight either which alot of clear does - not what you want, particularly if you paint your wheels white lol.

I have it on my driveshafts on the panda and loads of other bits on the front suspension. Gloss black and then 2 good coats of this. It does NOT like cold though so spray it in a warm place and when doing wheels I warm them up by a radiator or something so they are a decent temp first. It comes out and looks terrible and not at all flat but so long as they thing you are painting isn't cold and it drys somewhere not cold it flattens out really nice and smooth and glossy
 
mates rates do exist though, and mates that do stuff properly... although i agree with your sentiment.... lol

Over your way Owen I use Carson Tyres, its in Bowerhill. No particular reason otehr than they always been professional and polite - and once even stayed open after closing time on a saturday when i had a puncture right at closing time halfway between melksham and chippenham and gave them a call.
 
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/pa...e-paints/halfords-heavy-duty-pu-lacquer-500ml

I have it on my driveshafts on the panda and loads of other bits on the front suspension. Gloss black and then 2 good coats of this. It does NOT like cold though so spray it in a warm place and when doing wheels I warm them up by a radiator or something so they are a decent temp first. It comes out and looks terrible and not at all flat but so long as they thing you are painting isn't cold and it drys somewhere not cold it flattens out really nice and smooth and glossy
Thanks for the info, looks like a similar thing but of course "heavy duty". Maybe it's worth bringing in my current can as I only used it for the grille and complain about it and see if I can get it swapped for some of this stuff. Fat chance probably but worth a shot anyway :rolleyes:
Over your way Owen I use Carson Tyres, its in Bowerhill. No particular reason otehr than they always been professional and polite - and once even stayed open after closing time on a saturday when i had a puncture right at closing time halfway between melksham and chippenham and gave them a call.
Sounds good, I've sent them a message to see what they do.

I was looking on blackcircles website and they had some nice 165/65/R13 Toyo Tyres for £40 fitted per tyre that I'm considering. The original Uno Turbo size is 170/60 but 165/65 has lots more options and is only very slightly different in size so hopefully that would be okay.
This sound a bit contradicting.
Cheaper and better quality does not exist out there.
Or I might be wrong.
Cheaper and better quality doesn't exist, but good quality tyres with mates rates labour charges do (and mates that listen!) - I'd still be paying full price for the tyres but I've been to them before and they've done my weighting for free because I'm a friend of their friend.

Basically what Blu said - mates do good rates and *usually* do stuff properly as well :D

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A test look for the white wheels. Hubcaps and bolts on there to see the look, I'm liking it...
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Topcoat has been applied to three of the wheels. Giving them the garage for the night so that they can dry, and then they'll be left for a while to harden before tyres are fitted. Still need to apply topcoat to the last wheel at a later date as it needed some more work, but here's a picture of them as they stand at the moment!
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Looking really smart with the black hubcaps/bolts, the real test is how they look on the car (y)
Indeed it is! I painted the last wheel now, all are coated with several layers of white topcoat, letting them dry now. I'm busy with work for a bit now so the wheels have time to harden, after that I'll clean them up and lacquer them if I get some decent lacquer.

After all that, it's tyre time and final fitting (y)

EDIT: And, ahem, forking out lots of money to insurance after fitment as well...
 
On the wheels front! All wheels painted and topcoated so after a long period of time to dry, all the wheels for cleaned with paint preparation wipes and then clear coated on the rear. I'm allowing it a long period of time to dry and harden again, I'll be clear coating the fronts next, though I need to put a quick bit of paint on one of the wheels as there is a scratch on it from where I tried to tidy up some overspray. It looks better bar the scratch, just needs some paint to cover it, and then the lacquer can adhere to the paint after it is dry :)

As some of you may know however, there is a new addition to the Panda crew - my new 88 Sisley 4x4. Therefore, I may not have money for tyres on the wheels for a while, but I'll be making sure they are well kept once painted so that the tyres can go on when I can afford it.

---

Some repairs for Pandino now! I decided to pressure wash the car as normal, but this time some paint lifted from the area on the wing that had bubbled paint, I shouldn't have pressure washed it so hard there, oops! Therefore, when the paint lifted off, it shown the rust underneath. Luckily there was not much, though I still decided to treat it to prevent more, first off was a general sanding of the area, you can see the rusty area in the picture...
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Next up, a wire brush wheel attachment for the drill. This got all the nasty stuff off the wing.
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Then, priming with some zinc primer to prevent it coming back in the future. I used wet and dry with some water to smooth down the primed area after this picture.
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Last but not least, coat of red paint!
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Looks so much better now. A slightly different coloured red is better than rust showing through. Only issue I have now is that there is almost a small "seam", like a slightly thicker part at the edges where I masked off the area for painting, anyone know how to smooth this out without ruining the new paint? Need to be super careful as I don't want to ruin the new finish!

If anyone know how to prevent the seam of paint better or a good way of smoothing it out then it would be much appreciated if you could let me know - cheers, the Sisley will need some of this treatment soon as well!
 
Looks like a good repair, did you put any filler in??

Let me know how you get on smoothing out the line where the tape went to, I'll have quite a few little cosmetic repairs to do coming up so any thoughts on this will help me out too:D.
 
Ive had "seam" on every car ive ever sprayed up till i did the arches recently cos every guide i can find did it the same way as you and it drove me nuts. You pull the masking tape off, big line :( i never found a way to correct it once it has been done sorry :(

But when i did the rear arches i only masked up the wheel and the plastic trim round about the area. Other than that i just sprayed it and used panel wipe from halfords to clear up overspray round about. Hey presto no seam.

Not saying that is the right way to do it, as i said every guide i can find masks off like you did and i have done for years, but it worked for me

Ur doing a great job man :)
 
Looks like a good repair, did you put any filler in??

Let me know how you get on smoothing out the line where the tape went to, I'll have quite a few little cosmetic repairs to do coming up so any thoughts on this will help me out too:D.
I didn't use any filler, there's still some in there, albeit not right to the top, and knowing what I was like with the filler before, I don't think I was ready to commit to sticking filler on the bodywork :p

It will definitely keep the rust at bay though and it looks alright so that's what matters, just need to sort out smoothing that line now, I'll be sure to update once I sort it...
Ive had "seam" on every car ive ever sprayed up till i did the arches recently cos every guide i can find did it the same way as you and it drove me nuts. You pull the masking tape off, big line :( i never found a way to correct it once it has been done sorry :(

But when i did the rear arches i only masked up the wheel and the plastic trim round about the area. Other than that i just sprayed it and used panel wipe from halfords to clear up overspray round about. Hey presto no seam.

Not saying that is the right way to do it, as i said every guide i can find masks off like you did and i have done for years, but it worked for me

Ur doing a great job man :)
Ah I see, yes I was wondering if I did something wrong or not, I was wondering if the masked area was almost "raised" from the surface it will prevent the seam but then you'll get a horrible overspray each side underneath. This might be okay though, if you put some colour restore cleaner and wax it etc to get it to blend? Bet it would blend nicely with a machine polisher too but I don't have one of those!

Will have to see what I can do about the seam as it's there now anyway, if I find anything cunning to get it to go then I'll let you all know - thank you!
 
1993 Fiat Panda Fizz "Pandino"

Looks like a good repair, did you put any filler in??

Let me know how you get on smoothing out the line where the tape went to, I'll have quite a few little cosmetic repairs to do coming up so any thoughts on this will help me out too:D.


You need not mask it off on a spot repair a larger area has to be rubbed down then feathered in then over sprayed. Dusting in is the term we use then polish back Dust once more polish with 2000 s paper then lacquer. Twice polish cut
Back with cutting compound
 
Re: 1993 Fiat Panda Fizz "Pandino"

You need not mask it off on a spot repair a larger area has to be rubbed down then feathered in then over sprayed. Dusting in is the term we use then polish back Dust once more polish with 2000 s paper then lacquer. Twice polish cut
Back with cutting compound

I'll start with the least visible areas (y)
 
Re: 1993 Fiat Panda Fizz "Pandino"

I'll start with the least visible areas (y)


Also that method fades in paint
Metallic colours are lacquered.
This needs to be feathered out fine paper 1000 ++ any paint that
Is over sprayed will cut back !
Don't get to close 35cms is fine
Don't over wet area
Go to a professional paint mixer
A spectrometer will be used if no paint code avalible
matching with sample before mix
Base coat paint and lacquer should be £28-35
Don't be mean it's better to do a larger area to a body break line
I.e. Trim / crease / edge
Rattle can finish is quality these days. High finish depth of colour



Not Halfords or similar
 
Re: 1993 Fiat Panda Fizz "Pandino"

Pandino got a snow foam clean yesterday, though after two hours drive to Rugby was dirty again anyway... was a great event at ForzaLIVE! and nice to see a few other fellow Panda owners there. There was no way we could go without a group photo! :)
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The sun came out a bit later on, makes things a bit art-like. The red shines nice in the glistening sun!
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Pandino attended Summer Action Festival in July with the other Fiats as seen at Castle Combe (the event was previously Classic, Kit and Retro but with Summer Action Festival the aim seems to have shifted over to having just any car there rather than focusing on the older stuff but there was still a good turnout!)
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I took the event as an opportunity to swap the CLX bonnet vent on instead of the single big vent type. Pandino was allowed a quick trot around the track as well...
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Not long after, Pandino ran out of MOT and as I still had the 4x4 insured, I transferred daily status completely to the 4x4! Now, after several additions to the to-do list on the 4x4, and with insurance turnaround up this weekend, the Fizz is now back as the daily and the 4x4 is designated off-road (pun intended). This means that Pandino is in for an MOT tomorrow... wish the little guy some luck :p

I had the car run up to temperature and a quick drive down the driveway a few times while it sat for these couple of months.

This weekend has been MOT prep, so checking over things and tidying things up - in between all the rain we have been having, that is...

Engine oil, coolant, washer and tyre check to start, then checking all the lights are there. One number plate light was out, but it wasn't the bulb - after closer inspection it turns out the plastic tab holding the metal to the cover had broken off and the metal contact wasn't holding the bulb snugly enough. A bit of glue and fitting it all back together properly fixed that one up.

I wanted to focus my main attention of the weekend onto winter preparation for driving around as well. The sills have lost their protective coat and some of it was bare metal along the seam, as you can see in the following picture...
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A lot of masking preparation and some stone chip shield later, the sills now look a lot healthier. Any surface rust that had appeared due to the lack of shield before was rust converted. One of the drain holes looks like it is starting to go a bit unhappy in terms of rust though as some of the metal on the seam was splitting, I closed it up, converted and sprayed as best I could on this part but my assumption is I'm going to need to weld this part at some point in the future. Still really impressed with the rest of the condition though, at least my eye on buying the car wasn't too bad ;)
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I also topped up the waxoyl coating in the rear arches, I had only done one side before - this should keep it much sweeter this winter!

Next up... hopefully pass the MOT, cavity wax those sills as best as possible, and then enjoy the car without a long list of things to do! Not so much can be said about the 4x4 though, I'll be doing lots of things to that in the meantime :p

I'm planning a certain surprise sooner rather than later for the Fizz as well... stay tuned :slayer:
 
In a nutshell, the Fizz passed the MOT with no advisories. Well done, Pandino :D

The exhaust is rubbing slightly against the underside though so they suggested tweaking that soon, which I will do - I'll put some underseal back on where the exhaust has rubbed a small section away!

Tax is 150 now, was 100 when I paid for my first year last year. If it keeps going this way, I'll have to worry about it as much as I worry about insurance! :rolleyes:
 
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