Rear plastic wheel arches onboard,they are not original fiat, but some italian aftermarket designed for 4x2 panda post 1986, therefore cuts here and there. I am 90% happy with how they are fitted, the remaining 10% is to improve the upper lip using the heatgun, bend it towards the outer plastic trim.

Winter brake in panda-building, nothing happens, just a quick pic. of panda and regata 16v.

Talking about front plastic wheelarch covers, I was always annoyed with the lack of match at the bottom between 4x4 wheelarch and the front fender. There is a gap ,which allows the mud water salt etc to go and build under the arch, great settle place for the rust . The "gap" is not the lack of care while making the mould for the plastics by fiat but it is supposed to be like that, to accomodate original front rubber mudguard. But mudguard was optional and most 4x4 dont have them, instead have rotten bottom of the front wheelarches/fenders

4x2 wheelarches are "full", they do not lack the part under the optional mudguards, therefore better for 4x4, if you do not have original rubber guardsStill it is possible to attach DIY front mudguards and have no salty gunk under the plastic covers.




my car with 4x2 plastics:


4x4 with mudguards

Since we all agree that old pandas are super, and my particular panda has no rear seats and boot floor from panda cityvan with lots of space avialable, like in a grown combi........


.............. there is no reason not to call it SUPERCOMBI ! A mk1 fiat ducato badge I find fancy


Plus bella received front mudguards, old but in good nick original Valentini fiat items. Must make a cardboard temeplate to find the best position for them before cutting to shape.


Happy new year guys!!

No snow but cold here, today minus 19 in the morning, yesterday a bit colder.

Have prepared shocks , fronts are y10 4x4 Boge units transformed to fit to panda 4x4, rear ones are Monroe panda 4x2 80-86 2cm longer units. All painted with fancy "fiat shocks blue" paint {ral 5015}

"Check first, paint later".... naaah who would bother ?.....

:bang::bang: must remove some material from the front shocks with trustworthy angle grinder, to allow the front hub to "swing" a little on the lower bolt, and to change the camber/use upper beans. This problem did not exist with standard panda 4x4 shocks....

Done.

Though I am sick with sinus infection I can't stand sitting at home, so today I have made small garage trip and installed new rear shocks.

Tinkered further the front shocks, pieces of rover 25 shock-absorber welded to the base to secure the rover 25 spring. Have also drilled one spare lancia y10 shock with 4mm drill through the m6 brake-hose securing bolt, to check if it is possible to change oil, make it a bit tougher, but what most important if it is possible to use m6 bolt with copper gasket and seal with it the hole, to make it leak free, and to allow to adjust damping with new "oil mixtures" tightness not tested yet, there is 150 ml of oil inside if someone is interested, and it is probably the factory value, since this one particular shock was working fine, with no leaks, and with full damping through the whole piston movement{ the other one was dead though}

Test subject no. y10
day one:

no leaks, filled with 160ml of old oil mixed with leftovers of thin Pennol 5W fork oil, plugged with 8.8 m6 bolt and copper washer, pumped several times up and down, "new shock" feel acheived no leaks between shock pipe and cast iron element, no leaks near the copper washer.Will give it few days trial

Ok, front struts finished, with Rover 25 springs.I have replaced the oil in both shocks, used 15W in the passanger side one and 10W in the driver side, elf fork oil, because they were "uneven" when expanding by hand. Now both works more equally. No oil leaks, so it might be a good way to extend life of lancia y10 shocks.



Tooth fairy has left me a gift, 4500lbs winch will be happy a bit overpovered maby,120amps, but the price difference for parts to build 90A and 120A alternator was not that big. All parts new except the pulley, must check if panda v-belt pulley is 4 or 5 rows.

Bart, have you modified the R25 coil spring top rubber mount to fit into panda top cup?

I tried to modify it, but it is to big to fit without cutting a portion from it{ cutting from its diameter did not help, it rolled in the panda cup}. I used stock r25 coils{ full length} and skoda favorit/felicia rear top rubber mounts. Have bough new set, and just cut off a bit of rubber from its diameter to fit to panda cups{ see pict.}


R25 spring + skoda favorit rear top rubber element

Wow guys !, what a difference, silly piece of pressed cloth makes really significant difference in terms of acoustic comfort. I've just started spring "garage cleaning" to prepare it for further panda bodging and have found bonnet soundproofing from trekking 4x4. A bit molested but still in one piece, so I ordered 15 new plastic fasteners and here it is. I also have one piece front soundproofing, from trekking, the element around the heater housing and behind the battery/spare wheel, much thicker than marbella's economic version, incomplete in my car, part around the battery is missing.Anyway, bonet soundproofing makes difference! especially when you have noisier than modern "fire", 0.9 ohv pushrod.

count the bears

Another spring "garage-cleanning" find was a rear seat from parts car. Before throwing it to the bin I removed the cloth from the seat, nice colorful stripes matching my front lancia prisma seats. And voila! "new" front door cards

"Demarbelisation" continues.... it allows to use {for now } stock panda 4x4 shocks without top spacers . Dragster effect reduced,Nice few cm gain at the front,

I had an old roof rack in the garage, it was damaged but still both crossbars were OK., so after an hour with drill, grinder and black paint{ to cover the shiny bolts/washers} I have a completely not necessary space for some junk on the roof The holes in the railings were already there so it can be streched, or additional two bars can be added.




I also made cardboard fake mudflaps to find best position for them, but I run out of time today to finish the job

Finally I could try out the new set of wheels and... yes they rub at the front with wheels turned, but its because someone ,someday before I bought the car had changed the caster angle by adding two more shims for each wheel, why?maby to make turning the steering wheel easier? the effect is that the front wheels are moved a bit back from their "center" position and bigger wheels tend to rub a bit the plastic wheelarch . Plus there is significant amount of play in my worn out front susp , it adds to that, but with new front susp all'll be ok.

Wheels are bit to big 5.5x13 Benzoni Sportline from 1981. could not find anything narrower and still good loking at the time I was buying the wheels, but they are "tarmac" wheels so Iam not complaining.

As a "cheer prize" for not having a car ready and not attending in this years "panda raid 2016" the winds brought very tiny sand particles from Sahara over Poland and we had "yellow rain" for a few days.

Yellow "flour", from Africa with love