Hullo all,

Just picked up an 08 100HP yesterday for 5.5K, which I think is a fair price (has 17.5K miles on it).

What a great little car! I effectively swapped my 06 MX5 Sport for it, and while the MX5 was obviously 'better' in some respects, I love it! It reminds me a lot of my old 205 GTi's, while the engine reminds me of my old MG Maestro's in terms of free revving.

A couple of questions though, hope you don't mind, a quick search hasn't turned up any obvious answers...

1) Are 'red' badges direct replacements for 'blue' - the red ones look to be slightly bigger on the vertical axis

2) The wheel nuts are rusty as hell (which seems to be common) - are they 19mm? I'll get some covers to put over them

3) The steering wheel has some 'wrinkles' on the top where the leather/plastic has delaminated - common? Any solutions?

4) The top of the gearknob (not the leather bit) is worn, typical plastic problem - any idea how much a new one is? And where can you get them from given the 100HP is discontinued?

Help welcomed, and if I have missed obvious bits in previous posts, a link would be welcome and thanks for your time!

Chris

1) dunno, but the answers are on here
2) They are bolts, not nuts - M12 x 1.5, head size can vary from 17mm to 19mm, yours are 17mm if standard
3) Common. If it's knackered, then it can't be brought back to life, but you can have it recovered completely by a specialist for around £100.
4) No parts have been discontinued from the 100HP yet and will all be available from a dealer. Have to buy whole knob, part number is 55349649, £85 or so. You will destroy the old knob removing it.

1) A fair few have changed their badges from blue to red. I don't recall that there would be any difference in size of the wheel centre, so can't see why they wouldn't fit.

There are plenty of threads on here about putting red badges on.

Just one cautionary note - for those who recognise the wrinkly steering wheel, and may have a gear knob that's worn on the top - how many miles have you done? My 100HP has done just over 22,000 miles and there's no discernible wear on the gear knob, also no sign of the wheel going wrinkly. The car is garaged and I suspect that the steering wheel problem may be to do with sitting in the sun - though you'd imagine that an Italian car would be immune to that here. How sure are you about the mileage?

babbo_umbro said:

Just one cautionary note - for those who recognise the wrinkly steering wheel, and may have a gear knob that's worn on the top - how many miles have you done? My 100HP has done just over 22,000 miles and there's no discernible wear on the gear knob, also no sign of the wheel going wrinkly. The car is garaged and I suspect that the steering wheel problem may be to do with sitting in the sun - though you'd imagine that an Italian car would be immune to that here. How sure are you about the mileage?

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You make a good point there, but may I point out a few flaws in the argument:

1. The car is in Britain, which doesn't have sunshine. Well, certainly not at the weekend.

2. It's made in Tychy rather than Tuscany! They have nice summers in poland though. I bet when the new Pandas are assembled in the old Alfasud factory they'll not be quite as well made....

3. The car may have been owned by Jimmy Saville. The jewellery and cigars will have contributed to excessive wear on the gear lever and wheel, as he scrambled around trying to find a Jim'll Fixit badge and the button for the door-mirror heaters.

There's a red 57 reg Panda 100hp with 4.8k on the clock at Direct Cars in Sheffield. They've had it almost a year and have not moved the price from £6500 yet!

Hello and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on the new purchase!

1. Badges:
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/112316-red-fiat-badges.html

2. Wheel nut covers:
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/231743-black-wheel-bolt-covers.html

3. Steering wheel delamination:
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/242599-steering-wheel-delamination.html

4. Gear knob cap:
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/243811-panda-100hp-gear-knob-top.html

Can you tell that I have a day off today?!

LeanMeanRacing said:

Hello and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on the new purchase!


Can you tell that I have a day off today?!

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Thanks for putting your day off to such good use!

One more question - I can't pair my iphone with the car - I entered the (hand written) PIN in the handbook (0000 1111 - tried all combinations) - the audio display lights up with 'Phone' briefly, and the stereo then says (very quietly) something (possibly rude!) in Italian - and my phone says PIN not accepted.

Any clues, and what exactly does the pairing do? i.e. make calls through stereo, play music? Sorry for idiot questions!

Pin is: 1234.

It's bluetooth. You can make and answer calls with the steering wheel controls. Handsfree, as is the fashion.

Our gearknob started to show a bit of wear at about 40k still looks fine and so is the wheel fortunately. Not garaged and spent 2009 in italy getting roasted daily.

When i was looking at multiplas most the leather gearknobs looked well worn at 20k.

Hope you enjoy the car.

lewey said:

You will destroy the old knob removing it.

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Surely if you were careful and covered everything up, you could respray it with it still attached?

trackdayqueen said:

Pin is: 1234.

It's bluetooth. You can make and answer calls with the steering wheel controls. Handsfree, as is the fashion.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that - it works really well!

Yimkin said:

Thanks for that - it works really well!

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Glad you got it sorted. Enjoy.

W23AJH 100HP said:

Surely if you were careful and covered everything up, you could respray it with it still attached?

Click to expand...

If you are referring to the plastic cap, then you can just prise this out and do what you want with it. Otherwise, not sure why you want to respray the knob though?