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Barbara_s_Panda_4x4_004.jpg
Barbara_s_Panda_4x4_004.jpg

Panda (Classic) Barbara's Panda 4x4.

Overview Gallery Discussion

Introduction

My Partner Barbara has finally got her own Panda.

It's a 1990 4x4 in a lovely light blue metalic. New wheels and tyres were added today, new tan interior, engine upgrade, and chunkier tyres to come soon.

Not so much fun is a gearbox overhaul. :(



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purple haze said:
You will never match it.....I turned down a pink because of the interior. Sorry as well vern...:eek:
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emailed the pink panda owner re the seats; reply;seats are grubby, and "fraying" of the drivers bolster, (would need the services of a upholster then?)
ps, sorry to hijack barbara`s thread,
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Get orf moy thread you bu**ers! (To be read with your best Wiltshire farmer accent).:p
 
Well gave the Panda a service yesterday plus some Magnecor plug leads ( they're nice and blue) :).
The air filter was broken, over centre clips missing and cold air pipe cut in half, so I swapped it with a spare I had.
The ign. timing was too advanced but when I set it correctly the engine feels a little flat, I'm wondering if the vacuum advance is faulty so may test another distributor on it at some point.

Also started making plans for the interior, at the moment it's a dark colour, smells of dog, and the carpet has been ruined.



I've already mentioned that we'd like it to be a tan/beige colour and work is already underway to make this happen, progress is aided by the smell of dog! :yuck:. Don't get me wrong I like dogs and never used to mind the smell of my own, a bit like babies nappies :p.

A second hand steering wheel arrived in the post today so this went straight in, it might not stay though, depends on how it looks when everything else is finished, I'm thinking maybe a matching beige or wooden one might look better in which case this one will be transfered to the blue clx.......

 
Good work!
I personally quite like those interiors. I think they go quite well with the exterior colour. Not sure if a light coloured interior would be a good match to that almost turquoise paintwork. Maybe a good clean and an ozone generator would get rid of the dog smell?
Just a thought...
Liking the steering wheel :D
 
leonsdada said:
Good work!
I personally quite like those interiors. I think they go quite well with the exterior colour. Not sure if a light coloured interior would be a good match to that almost turquoise paintwork. Maybe a good clean and an ozone generator would get rid of the dog smell?
Just a thought...
Liking the steering wheel :D
Click to expand...

Thanks LD, you have seen through my using the dog smell as a flimsy excuse to change things around. ;). You're right the interior does suit the colour of the car, and with a good clean up and a new carpet it would be fine, but it is quite a masculine look and as I have to keep reminding myself, it's Barbara's car.

Sorry, enough excuses, what it really comes down to is that I have these beige seats hanging around that I've been itching to use as the basis for a posh interior. I've got an old 1000cl that I was going to use as a basis but this one is a far better proposition. :)
 
Did about 400 miles (Norwich and back) at the weekend, it managed the trip fine but this timing issue definately blunted the performance.

When I set the timing last week I left the vacuum advance pipe connected and set the timing to 16' btdc as the manual says. So today I tried setting it to 5' btdc with the vacuum advance disconnected, it's slightly more advanced than recommended but this can only be a good thing as long as it doesn't pink.

Hey presto! runs great. wish I'd had time to try it before the long trip :bang:.

So for future reference, forget timing the engine with the vacuum advance connected, live and learn.
 
Well, thanks to a dumb taxi driver Barbara's Panda has been taken off the road a little early for all it's mods..........



Not too serious, the wheel took most of the impact. The wing will need repairing, just hope I can blend the paint in ok. Indicator lens needs replacing and the bumper will need re-aligning, also the wheel is quite badly scuffed and will need re-powder coating.

On the upside the tyres I ordered for it arrived today............







Before they're fitted I'll be using them on the white 4x4 to travel up to the Scottish Italian car day. The Univergomma's, yes that is what they're called, on it at the moment look great with their chunky tread but they are very noisy, not what you need for a 1500 mile road trip. These, I hope, will be quieter while still looking chunky enough.
 
Fitted Barbara's new tyres to the white 4x4 today, it's borrowing them for the trip to the Scottish Italian car day. The knobbly tyres it usually wears look great but are just not refined enough for such a trip.

As you can see it looks a lot more tame with them on.........





But wow what a difference when driving! no noise and much more planted on the road, these are definately the tyres to have if you're inside the car, the knobblies if you're outside looking at it.
 
Well the damaged wheel has now been repaired and looks like new, hard to believe it looked like this.....



This set will be put into storage now though as I've fitted the tyres I used for Scotland to a new set of wheels I collected on the way home........



Thanks go to PuntoPaul for selling them to me. (y)

I won't actually put them on the car until the damaged wing is repaired. I was going to knock it out and fill it but I'm going to be carrying out a lot of other work and didn't feel that a wing full of filler was good enough, so a new wing will be arriving soon.

The re-trimmed Dash should be finished soon too so plenty to do :eek:.
 
Picked up the dashboard today, very pleased with the result. :)





The main material is a lovely alcantara, I won 2 1/2 metres of it on eBay for £6 :p. Front roll is vinyl, I asked for a window to be cut in it so that I could use a veneer around the foam roll to create a wooden dash panel of sorts :eek:.

The sun visors have been covered in perforated leather, another bargain. The upholsterer had the leather as offcuts from a job he'd finished a couple of years ago, sold the lot to me for £20, and there's plenty left to put elsewhere ;).





Gavin's dash should be finished next week too, for the Panda Panda project. Looking forward to seeing the result.
 
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Here's a pic of the seats for this one............





They're from an Alfa 147. It's useful that it must have been a 3dr as the front seats have the tilt function. By using 156 seats in the past I've not had this luxury, to get into the back seat with them you have to wind forward the reclining knob.

With this car and the Panda Panda project, which also uses Alfa seats, I'm going to try and make a frame that allows use of the original runners and three bolt holes in the floor to mount them on. This will save having to drill any further holes in the floor.


Nearly forgot, the new wing arrived today.........


 
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Finished the first door panel..............



Three more to go, even though I'm not going to use them now. I've seen a better option for the interior so have to start it all again :( :D.

So if anyone wants to buy a complete custom interior in beige ( Alfa front seats with matching Panda rear, door and rear side panels, matching dashboard ) let me know. Otherwise I'm sure I can use it myself in another Panda, already have two in mind :p.
 
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