Northern Auto Tech - ECU and Blue & Me Repairs
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Panda (Classic) Charmania

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Introduction

Just finished a little project in time for Brooklands, so some of you may have seen it there. Bought just before Christmas coz my Daughter needed to upgrade from a pushbike back into a car, and I wanted to get some ideas out of my head and into the metal ;).

I did lend her one of my Pandas while she waited for this one, so please don't think I made her cycle through the winter just coz Daddy wants to play :p.

Some pictures of the finished item.........











She's a Fiat Panda 750 Mania (Daughters name is Charmain, hence the threads title) Bought from Ebay for £103.
No tax or mot, poor performance, and no exhaust silencer, but bags of potential :). This was her the first day on my drive....





First part of the plan was to get her road legal, briefly, this involved

£80 of welding to inner sills.
Replace o/s/f wheel bearing.
New tailpipe.
Re-set cam timing.
Full service and clean up.

After this little lot the total cost was about £250 and this is how she now looked............



Now for the fun stuff :D.

Again, briefly, this is a list of work carried out to bring her from the above picture to finished.

Go faster stripe made from cutting up a couple of viper stripe kits and making my own design.
Wheels and tyres from a 127 sport, refurbed by myself and fitted with 10mm spacers on the rear.
New standard shocks with new Spax coil springs lowering car by about 40mm.
Replace side repeaters with Rover items fitted with chrome bulbs.
Replace orange front indicators with clear ones, also with chrome bulbs.
Clean and paint suspension and brake parts as I go.
Remove gearbox, free off and lubricate clutch mechanism and gearchange linkage.
Strip interior, refit using light grey trim from another of my Pandas.
Fit Seicento Sei front seats.
Fit sportier pedals, gearknob, steering wheel, and chequered trim to door handles and horn button, plus red/grey overmats.
Make custom roof lining to tie in with chequers theme.
Fit radio/cd player & six speakers (2 x dash, 2 x rear side panels, 2 x rear parcel shelf ).

I think that's everything. If anyone would like to know more,full build details can be seen in these two threads which have been running since before day of purchase..

https://www.fiatforum.com/auction-watch/215832-another-red-mania-birmingham.html

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-classic/219521-charmania-chapter-two.html
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Reactions: Vaam, panda panda, Panda Mo and 1 other person
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Benjammo said:
Awsome job mate, I've gotta come clean, old pandas are a dirty, guilty pleasure of mine, There awsome:eek:

have you shown the last owner what she looks like now? theres nothing better than knowing your old cars being looked after. I'm dreading the day my sei has to go:cry:
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Sent the previous owner a few pics and a brief write up on the mods, here's his reply.......

"Hello, thanks for the photos, you've done an amazing job, the car looks fanatastic. It was a great little car, I'm so glad it went to a great home, and not someone who was going to break it up.
 
Fitted a door pocket to the passenger side today, suitably customised ;).





Also had to move the boat I plan to modify to match. It's clear, even before I start, they are meant for each other. :)


 
firstcar-Y10 said:
look like a lovely couple:)
so you going to try and find a couple more 127 alloys for the trailer then?
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Haha! yea I'd love to but there are a couple of problems with that.

The wheels on it currently are only 10", if I fit 13's I'm not sure that they'd clear the bottom of the boat. I haven't checked the PCD yet either.
The other problem is finding two more 127 alloys!

However, if I could find two more, I'd do everything possible to make them fit.
 
Well this has been a while!

Not much to report, car's been in regular use with no problems at all, until last night :(. Started to misfire on the Bristol ring road then cut out completely, I checked around but could not see anything wrong, there was fuel in the filter and all electrical connections seemed fine, so I resigned myself to having to wait for recovery. While I was sat there I remembered that my tool kit was in the boot so I could investigate farther. I'd had to reset the points a couple of weeks ago so I thought I'd try to adjust them a little each way in case they were out again, a sign that they need replacing, second attempt and she started :D. I didn't have all 40 horses but there were enough to get me back to my workshop where I could swap to the clx for the trip home.

I will be fitting new points to ensure the engine is good and ready to go, but it will be removed soon for something with a little more power. I was going to use a carbed engine to maintian the 'retro look only mods' theme, but I've just picked up some alloys which will look good on her and they're not particularly retro so I've decided to go for an injected mota.

All this has prompted plans for a more modern makeover, so watch this space (y)
 
Not much to report, car's been in regular use with no problems at all, until last night . Started to misfire on the Bristol ring road then cut out completely, I checked around but could not see anything wrong, there was fuel in the filter and all electrical connections seemed fine, so I resigned myself to having to wait for recovery. While I was sat there I remembered that my tool kit was in the boot so I could investigate farther. I'd had to reset the points a couple of weeks ago so I thought I'd try to adjust them a little each way in case they were out again, a sign that they need replacing, second attempt and she started . I didn't have all 40 horses but there were enough to get me back to my workshop where I could swap to the clx for the trip home.
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Sorted this a few days ago :). I had a spare distributor and coil from a 4x4, they're electronic ign. and are a straight swap for the type with points, as the engine will be replaced soon it occurred to me that it wasn't worth buying new contacts (£25) for the old distributor so in they went.
What a difference! :eek: When the contacts were ok the engine went well enough, but now it's super smooth! I really didn't think it would make such a difference, highly recommended. (y)

She was always a little undignified to start too as a dry bearing in the starter motor would screech every time, so finally I got around to swapping the starter for a spare. Just these two little improvements have turned it into a different car, I'm almost tempted to stop there and sell it as it is, but I can't resist giving her a bit more power for hills/overtaking, it has made me re-think which engine I should fit though :confused:.
 
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Really nice panda you got there. :D

oh how i want one lol. I only know about 2 here :( 1 white in a garage, and 1 Green '86 in daily-use.
 
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UnoFan87 said:
Really nice panda you got there. :D

oh how i want one lol. I only know about 2 here :( 1 white in a garage, and 1 Green '86 in daily-use.
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Thanks for the compliment (y).

I'm surprised to hear any Pandas made it to Iceland at all! :eek:. They should do well in the snow though. I am prepared to export, at a price ;).
 
VmanC said:
Thanks for the compliment (y).

I'm surprised to hear any Pandas made it to Iceland at all! :eek:. They should do well in the snow though. I am prepared to export, at a price ;).
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heheh. No problem. ;)

And yes, there were quite some pandas. I'm not sure how many of them were here. But i only know about 2 in existence here. :p

And no thanks! :LOL: I'm nearly broke, I can like just pay for tiny gas on my uno. :p
 
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