General Panda 4x4 help, again.

[Fagan]

Hello all. Does anyone know if the front seats from any other fiat would fit my 1990 Panda 4x4 without to much reworking? Checked all the local scrap yards but Pandas are now becoming very thin on the ground. Also after a second set of wheels to fit with winter tyres but again no luck. Does anyone know if standard Punto wheels would be the same as Panda ones? Anyone tried Malatesta trac tyres? Are they any good?
Sorry for all the questions, maybe should of had three different threads.
Thanks in advance Kev.

 

[VmanC]

Hi Fagan,

All your questions have been covered in previous threads but I guess it's just as easy to repeat the answers here as it is to find them all.

1. I have so far fitted seats from a Seicento sporting, a Diahatsu sportrak, and an Alfa 156 into a Panda. All will fit relatively easily, but the Seicento seats needed the most modifications, so don't go looking for other Fiats for seats as other makes can be less hassle. It's really a case of checking out the frames, taking some measurements, then buying them cheap so you don't lose too much money if your calculations are wrong.

2. I have the tyres you're looking at on my 4x4 and they're great. Prior to that they were on my clx and were great on that too. They really look the part and work well in the slushy stuff. They are noisy on the road though, but I find that a small price to pay.

3. Haven't tried Punto wheels on a Panda yet but from what others have said they will fit with small spacers. I do have a set so maybe I shoud try them some time so that I know for sure.

Hope this helps

 

[Fagan]

Thanks for that VmanC. Will order tyres on Monday and fit them to my Panda wheels. Will put existing tyres away until I manage to source another set of Panda wheels to fit them to. Regarding seats, did you manage to fit new seats to the existing Panda floor rails or or fit new rails to match the new seats?

 

[VmanC]

In all cases I bolted through the floor between the Panda rails. You do need to strengthen things up with large body washers though. In the case of the Seicento seats I had to cut out the Panda seat rail nearest the door to give clearance, this is why I don't recommend fitting these.

 

[Fagan]

Thanks again VmanC. Thats me off to the local scrap yards first thing Monday morning, complete with tape measure and spanners. Will definitely give Seicento seats a miss. Will post how I come on and what seats I eventually fit, might just save someone a bit time in the future.

 

[VmanC]

One other consideration is height. The Diahatsu seats went in as they were, including the rears!, but the Alfa's sat too low and needed spacers of around 50mm, each corner was a slightly different size to make the seats sit level.

Good luck, look forward to seeing how you get on .