General Stuart's Mk1 Panda

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General Stuart's Mk1 Panda

Very frustrating night tonight. Just seemed for the length of time I was at the car I achieved very little and feel I'm further away from getting the car done than ever.

First job tonight was to check through all the engine bay wiring and then renew all the black tape as it was in a sorry state.

mk1_panda_wiring_sorted.jpg


Then I swapped the old and new water pumps.

mk1_panda_new_and_old_water_pumps.jpg


And finally just to try to cheer myself up I cleaned and put the chassis plate back on.

mk1_panda_chassis_plate_back_on.jpg


And the front pass wing is really gratting on me now. I've tried 3 places so far and no-one has one.
 
I got a bit more progress today.

Engine before its work over.

https://www.fiatforum.com/gallery/data/3129/mk1_panda_engine_before_painting_3.jpg

And now all painted. It will be tidied up once it goes back in the car.

mk1_panda_engine_painted.jpg


mk1_panda_engine_painted_2.jpg


mk1_panda_engine_painted_1.jpg


Gearbox as it was.

mk1_panda_gearbox_before_painting.jpg


mk1_panda_gearbox_before_painting.jpg


And the whole lot cleaned/painted and ready to to go back into the car.

mk1_panda_eingine_and_gearbox_ready_to_go_back_in.jpg


At long living last (an old Lurgan saying) the engine is reunited with the car.

mk1_panda_engine_back_in_car_1.jpg


mk1_panda_engine_back_in_car_2.jpg


https://www.fiatforum.com/gallery/data/3129/mk1_panda_engine_back_in_car.jpg

Stripped the heater box apart to make sure the heater matrix was ok. Can't believe how good condition it is in after 31 years,

mk1_panda_checking_heater_matrix.jpg
 
That engine looks great...

What did you paint the sump with?

And the gearbox looks like you painted it??

It has the wow factor in the car...(y)

I paint the engine/sump with black smoothrite and the silver (gearbox) with slightly thinned silver smoothrite. After a couple of days the silver sinks into the metal a bit so it looks less bright than now. It also means that when it starts to get a bit dirty looking or you spill oil you can paint back over it. Plus it means I always have a clean engine to work at and I find Hamerite doesn't flake.

I've still to tidy the engine/box up as they get marked when going back in the car and I have the original stickers to go back on to.
 
Well the new front wing arrived today from Germany and its a perfect fit. All being well I'll get it fitted on Saturday.

mk1_panda_new_pass_front_wing.jpg


And last night I stripped the fan and cleaned it and the radiator. I'm not overly happy with the look of the radiator, although its fine some of the vanes are damaged so time to seek out a new one I think.

mk1_panda_radiator_and_fan_before.jpg
 
Up early this morning and got stuck into the wing as its sons birthday party and I'm away all afternoon.

Old wing cut off I discovered a couple of areas in need of a tidy up.

mk1_panda_old_front_wing_removed.jpg


Then I trial fitted the new wing.

mk1_panda_front_wing_trial_fitted.jpg


Which at first I just couldn't get to sit right as it was sitting proud of the car no matter what I did. Then I discovered why.

mk1_panda_keyrings_taped_to_the_wing.jpg


The guys in Germany I bought the wing from had tapped 2 keyrings onto the wing for me to have :eek:

And an hour all in the new wing is on and fitting perfectly. I know I wanted to save the original wing but I should have did this at the start as it would have saved a lot of time and work. I'm always learning :D

mk1_panda_front_wing_welded_on.jpg
 
I'm always learning :D

Aren't we all ;).

Engine and gearbox look lovely Stuart. I plan to paint any alloy parts in the future too, the good appearance does last longer as you say. I didn't do this on my 4x4 as I was trying to keep to original finishes but I am paying a price, appearance wise, for it.
 
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