adamvarley said:

We have had the CV spacers machined like you already to reduce driveshaft angle.

Off gear in boot? Sorry what do you mean? Burrs off the gear inside the boot?

Yes! Not necessarily uphill though. I had steering wheel wobble on the motorway, between 60 and 65 mph. Anything above or below these figures no wobble at all.

What did you find this was related to? Squatting off the rear? Why?

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Appologies, it should read - ' A lot of travel/camping gear in the boot'
simply more weight in the back then normal.
Oil shocks loose they performance as you drive therefore Gas/oil are much better as the 'foaming' effect does not take place.
In my case rear end was sogging/ squating to much, front end was lifting so front wheels were 'dragged' inbord by the lower arm.

Is your lower arm OE size or already extended?
Your wobble looks like wheel releated so fine.

kolza said:

Appologies, it should read - ' A lot of travel/camping gear in the boot'
simply more weight in the back then normal.
Oil shocks loose they performance as you drive therefore Gas/oil are much better as the 'foaming' effect does not take place.
In my case rear end was sogging/ squating to much, front end was lifting so front wheels were 'dragged' inbord by the lower arm.

Is your lower arm OE size or already extended?
Your wobble looks like wheel releated so fine.

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Jacob yep we have 295 long cranked 50mm lower arm with a 20mm forward centre the wheels can be turned freely when off the floor without any binding
So it's ????!!!! Un known reason .!
Unless it's a gear box problem time / mileage will
Tell there all ways the option of getting. The tripods machined to fit angular rotating bearings or tipods with curved faces Volvo use angular correction bearings !!!

Changed the rear springs this weekend.

During full articulation the leafs would invert. And with the larger hangers sat almost flat in most situations.

So I had a pair of leafs modified. Re-curved to achieve an extra 25mm lift and also had an extra leaf to increase the stiffness.

However they seemed too stiff in comparison to the originals so removed one of the original leafs before installation.






Overall results are great. Suspension slightly stiffer. Car stance is much improved and with no obvious loss off articulation.








Also picked up these gems. Adds on a nice touch to the interior

nice to have good articulation....

Love those seats Lads!

Brian Update!

With Magenta project taking up vital garage space and the project being in full flow. I have had to settle with a semi permanent set up.



Had the gearbox out this weekend.




Damage report: cracking casting and flange, thankfully not past the bearing, so repairable with some careful TIG welding, although not entirely sure I have all of the fragments.



Suspected cause: drive shaft too short, causing tripod bearing to come out the tripod housing. Can see suspect wear on the edges of the roller grooves





Seams to be no damage to the gearbox internally, although a full stripdown and rebuild is next to double check.

Following that, install gearbox, remove springs from struts and fully assess articulation and geometry.

Also noticed that the tie rod bracket mods were taking some stress. Cracks!






Newly modified brackets! Failure no longer imminent.

Glad you've found the cause and hope you're able to get it sorted! Has it damaged the 127 flange? Could it be worth getting one of the modified ones?

Freebo said:

Glad you've found the cause and hope you're able to get it sorted! Has it damaged the 127 flange? Could it be worth getting one of the modified ones?

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Nope, we are looking at the longer offside driveshaft here.

My dad manufactured a 'modified' flange out of both the 127 and stock flange so no problems there.

adamvarley said:

Nope, we are looking at the longer offside driveshaft here.

My dad manufactured a 'modified' flange out of both the 127 and stock flange so no problems there.

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Thats good to know, Where would you get a longer driveshaft out of interest? Trial and error from another car or perhaps the custom route?

Freebo said:

Thats good to know, Where would you get a longer driveshaft out of interest? Trial and error from another car or perhaps the custom route?

Click to expand...

Haven't actually started looking yet but hopefully there is another fiat driveshaft which is 15mm longer somewhere.

We have already installed the Uno driveshaft on the nearside as has Jacob.

The other option is an additional spacer behind the wheel bearing (providing there is sufficient thread available for the locknut, and the increased driveshaft angle does not cause gearbox clearance issues as with the nearside stock).

Lowering the engine further is a possibility, although kind of defeats the point of the build [emoji23]

The more expensive route of a custom driveshaft is probably a last resort.

I can measure UNO o/s shaft tommorow, or actually compare it with panda one as still have the outer cv on.

Gearbox disassembly and inspection results.

Used a recently replaced mattress to keep order to everything ( not to self: do not lean on mattress), proved very useful for labelling too.

Please be reassured the mattress was white and stain free when I started [emoji28]



So after I removed the nearside driveshaft to drive Brian out of the quarry in RWD. I forgot to reinstall the flange which holds the differential taper bearing in place.

I now realise what the crunching sound was as I got out of the quarry and took the load off the box.

The entire differential had slipped out of position causing the 4x4 pinion and bevel to misalign:

4x4 drive pinion damage,



4x4 bevel damage,




Fortunately the is no visible damage to the final drive gears. And all other gears and bearings seem perfect.

Next jobs, replace contents into new bell housing casting. Replace 4x4 pinion/bevel drive. Investigate final drive ratio and 1st gear ratio change.

Any useful links or previous work on 1st gear change?

Figured I'd strip down the spare Punto MK1 gearbox to see if anything could be used.

Initially looked promising as the centre distance between the input shaft and main shaft looked to be identical to the panda centre distances

Punto MK1:

Panda MK2 5 Speed (Brain's):


5th gear looked like an oppurtunity to swap over, higher ratio, faster motorway driving! Although sadly, synchromeshes are different types and cannot be swapped over due to distance of selector rod from input shaft; leading to different length selector forks.

Additionally, Pandas 5th gear spline, is different to the Punto 5th gear spline, therefore Panda 5th gear cannot be used on Punto main shaft meaning 1st gear cannot be swapped either.

For reference; 5th gear components: Top 5th gear driven, middle 5th gear driving, bottom synchromesh and selector forks. Panda MK2 left and Punto MK1 components right.





Punto final drive also useless as it looks to be pressed onto differential. Not bolted like Panda.

Punto MK1



Panda MK2 4x4

kolza said:

I can measure UNO o/s shaft tommorow, or actually compare it with panda one as still have the outer cv on.

Click to expand...

Looking on the parts list 815 mm panda 127 fiorino 20 teeth
Uno 868 mm (53 mm longer )
I guess it should be 15-25 mm

A while ago I found a chart on Google that listed the different gear ratios used in the C501 type box across all the different models, can't seem to find it now but if I remember correctly the highest 5th and lowest 1st were the ones used in the Panda. So no easy swapping around and you would be into the realms of custom made gears as we discussed previously.

I've got a couple of spare 4x4 final drive sets and can cut you a gasket set if it helps..

So then, since the September Peak District meet, Brian has been out of action.

I have taken my time rebuilding the gearbox and aquatint a new offside driveshaft since I’ve been doing other things with my time.

However, now the gearbox is finished and installed. Special thanks to David for supplying the replacement gearbox casting!!!

All new bearings and gaskets with a thorough clean. Differential half case gear and 4x4 drive pinion replaces with spares.




With the gearbox in and springs off, nearside driveshaft proved fine.

Offside driveshaft however, was too short as expected.

Tripod position with shock fully extended



Tripod position with shock fully compressed



Time for a new driveshaft, 20mm longer




New tripod location wit shock fully extended ( excuse the poor photo, access was tight)



New tripod location with shock fully compressed

Is it UNO o/s?

Make sure it does not get into contact with central pin

kolza said:

Is it UNO o/s?

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No it’s a bespoke one from csk drivelink I scoured the internet for the correct size but no luck
838 mm The length that needed
Uno 855. But while this was being done I realised that the circlip to the cv could be removed then add 20 packing to the rear drill and tap the shaft 10 mm as the rear half shafts then bolt back
up using a washer and lock tight