Northern Auto Tech - ECU and Blue & Me Repairs
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Panda (Classic) Panda Diesel Van.

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Introduction



I picked this little beauty up on Monday.

I already have a red Seat Terra Vista that I plan to use as my work van, but because I have a few mods in mind for that one it won't be ready for a while. Oslo has been on duty in the mean time and is doing a great job but sometimes I need more space, and I'd quite like to semi retire Oslo. I can't fit a towbar to either of the Terra's as they've been converted for wheelchair access so Oslo will still be called upon from time to time.

So, once I get an mot on it, this will be my new workhorse. :)

The initial inspection has shown up a couple of areas of rust where the floor meets the sills. Both bottom ball joint boots were split, and two of the exhaust rubbers were on their last legs. All this has been attended to so it should pass an mot now, although there is a question mark over a couple of other parts, but for now I've decided to put it in and hope the tester is having a good day. We will know the result soon.

As well as the mot prep you may notice that I've changed the look from a Marbella to a Mk2 Panda. Casper donated his old bonnet, the blue clx donated his old front bumper, and Bo the Selecta donated his grille and alloys. I did change the tyres before fitting the alloys though. They are 14" Punto alloys and when fitted to Bo they wore 165/60/14's, I've fitted a mixed bag of 175/60/14's for the van as I wanted to maintain the overall diameter so that the gearing didn't suffer.

Believe it or not I haven't washed it yet! Normally that would be the first thing I'd do, but it needs at least a full day to bring it up to scratch, time better spent getting it road legal as I really need to take a ton of stuff to the dump. :rolleyes:

It drives very nicely. 1.4 diesel with a 5spd gearbox, I think they're sourced from the VW Polo Mk2 but I can't find a great deal of info about this. Mileage is 62k and the engine revs quite nicely for a diesel. It's no racing machine but performance is perfectly adequate for my needs. Really looking forward to using it now. (y)
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Reactions: dave, Giacosa, Palio and 11 others
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Nice to see another offshoot of the Panda family tree in our section. You just need an Emelba Chato now and yo will have the complete set (y)
 
Welcome to the Terra Diesel club. That's 2 of us already.!!!!


Are you prepared for the regular 50 to the gallon?

Are you ready to mod the rear axle so that it doesn't look overloaded when it is?

Are you ready to find that the wheelbase is 10" longer the axle 25mm wider, the rear springs and wheel bearings particular to the model and a gearbox that can keep oil in it?:slayer:
 
Alixcompo said:
Welcome to the Terra Diesel club. That's 2 of us already.!!!!


Are you prepared for the regular 50 to the gallon?

Are you ready to mod the rear axle so that it doesn't look overloaded when it is?

Are you ready to find that the wheelbase is 10" longer the axle 25mm wider, the rear springs and wheel bearings particular to the model and a gearbox that can keep oil in it?:slayer:
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Haha! we must have a club meeting some time.

Nice to know the fuel consumption is good, diesel's quite a bit dearer than unleaded at the mo. Balancing it all out the van should cost about the same as a 2wd Panda to run. (y)

25mm wider eh! no wonder the wheels were more of a squeeze than they seemed to be on Bo. The chassis rails must be further apart too as I had to fit 10mm spacers to be sure the inside of the tyres didn't rub against the chassis seam.

The VW gearbox was one thing that helped sell the diesel version to me, not because it's any better than a Fiat one, I just wanted to see if it opened up any interesting swaps. :)


Put the metal mk1 grille on that and it'll be perfect
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Yes that was my first plan but decided i had far more spare MK2 headlamps and bumpers available than Mk1's. Still may do this though if the right parts become available. ;)

4x4 conversion?
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It was a consideration but I think I'd rather have it fast :devil:.

Looks good with the grille & alloys. A hint of 50 shades of white, but I like that!

I'd call him Logan (as in Logan's Run), if you're looking for a name. Actually I might call him Dactyl, but I'm odd like that.....
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Fifty shades of dirt more like! Caspers bonnet was a good match as it turned out but the grille is too white and will need repainting. Of course it will go back to the current shade when it's returned to Bo :eek:.

We were trying to think of a name for it but had little success, your two offerings are certainly better than anything we came up with.

99% of people don't know it's a Terra so wouldn't make the connection with Dactyl, and 99% of people won't remember Logan's run! :p. So far 'The Van' is favourite. (y)
 
VmanC said:
Haha! we must have a club meeting some time.

Nice to know the fuel consumption is good, diesel's quite a bit dearer than unleaded at the mo. Balancing it all out the van should cost about the same as a 2wd Panda to run. (y)

25mm wider eh! no wonder the wheels were more of a squeeze than they seemed to be on Bo. The chassis rails must be further apart too as I had to fit 10mm spacers to be sure the inside of the tyres didn't rub against the chassis seam.

The VW gearbox was one thing that helped sell the diesel version to me, not because it's any better than a Fiat one, I just wanted to see if it opened up any interesting swaps. :)




Yes that was my first plan but decided i had far more spare MK2 headlamps and bumpers available than Mk1's. Still may do this though if the right parts become available. ;)



It was a consideration but I think I'd rather have it fast :devil:.



Fifty shades of dirt more like! Caspers bonnet was a good match as it turned out but the grille is too white and will need repainting. Of course it will go back to the current shade when it's returned to Bo :eek:.

We were trying to think of a name for it but had little success, your two offerings are certainly better than anything we came up with.

99% of people don't know it's a Terra so wouldn't make the connection with Dactyl, and 99% of people won't remember Logan's run! :p. So far 'The Van' is favourite. (y)
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Isn't that betterer? I like it when people have to ask a daft question & "why is it called Dactyl" scores big points. Nearly as many points as the people who look at the Abarth and say why does the plate read EssEss - I send them round the back and ask them to read the foot wide chrome EsseEsse badge on the back :devil:

Please use Dactyl or I might be forced to buy a little Terror/Terra, just to use a good (or bad!) pun! :rolleyes:
 
Palio said:
Isn't that betterer? I like it when people have to ask a daft question & "why is it called Dactyl" scores big points. Nearly as many points as the people who look at the Abarth and say why does the plate read EssEss - I send them round the back and ask them to read the foot wide chrome EsseEsse badge on the back :devil:

Please use Dactyl or I might be forced to buy a little Terror/Terra, just to use a good (or bad!) pun! :rolleyes:
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Ok, that's decided it then. I'll let know if I see any for sale. :p
 
Palio said:
Isn't that betterer? I like it when people have to ask a daft question & "why is it called Dactyl" scores big points. Nearly as many points as the people who look at the Abarth and say why does the plate read EssEss - I send them round the back and ask them to read the foot wide chrome EsseEsse badge on the back :devil:

Please use Dactyl or I might be forced to buy a little Terror/Terra, just to use a good (or bad!) pun! :rolleyes:
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why not lay in a couple more to use 'pin' and 'hawks' while you're on
thumb.gif

VmanC said:
Ok, that's decided it then. I'll let know when I have any for sale. :p
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fixed that for you.
 
Alixcompo said:
How good is that heater that is warmed up within 100yrds:slayer:
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Oh yes, best of any Panda I have. :D

Well I finally managed to wash it today, and polish, and wax, and vacuum the interior. First Panda i've needed a ladder to clean. I don't think the roof had been cleaned for at least ten years :yuck:.

So, picked it up on Monday looking like this.......






And so far it now looks like this.......



Interior received a little attention today besides the vacuum. These were the original seats...........



Good clean condition but not comfortable for long trips so, and I know I'm repeating myself here, but........



I just happened to have some spare Alfa seats kicking around, in fact the whole transformation has been made from spare bits and pieces. It was great to use them up but now I have just as many Seat parts :rolleyes:, which will be even harder to make use of.

The Alfa seats are not only a better fit in a Mk1-esque shell but they are easier to fit too. No subframes were needed this time, I just cut the runners off a pair of Mk1 seat frames, unbolted the runners from the Alfa seats then welded the Mk1 runners to the Alfa frames........



Still have a couple of jobs to do, fit a radio and change the reflective window tint for limo black, but for now it's done. :)


be a nice upgrade from 35? hp
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I think it must be a little more than this John as it goes at least as well as the Petrol Terra which has 45bhp. Apparently the supercharger from a Polo G40 can be made to fit. :devil:

No, it's not going to happen.
 
looks really nice.. i really miss our marbella. ive no idea how it is.. :(

hmm i would be tempted to try to unlock as many horse powers as i could from a diesel.

the more you get it to make "on a rolling road test" the more economical it will be on normal driving.

its what i love oh so much about diesel engines..
 
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