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Panda PANDA 60HP

A "cleaned up" version of a Fiat Panda, a little lower, a little stiffer and I think better looking as a result.

Introduction

Bought as a standard 1.2 car in order to use as a car to teach my children to drive...

...now it feels like the pet I didn't want, but can't be without!

It still gets used for carrying the dogs about, doing the tip run, but now feels like it doesn't scratch it's door handles on corners. Good fun on the twisty roads where I live, without risking my license.

My son went on to buy a Panda 100HP, which was what inspired me to me create the 60HP badge.

Latest updates

I finally got round to upgrading the standard blue interior to the black and grey from a 100HP.

Blue Interior.jpg


Old Interior

Black Interior.jpg


New seats, and partly through the door cards swap.

Before & After.jpg


Before and after. I swapped the steering wheel and indicator Slip ring / stalk combo so I can use the Steering Wheel buttons.

It looks and feels much better now!
I fitted an ATOTO F7 XE Headunit.

https://m.myatoto.com/index/productDetail?productId=1585249312276316161&country=US (The UK site is out of stock)

It was largely straightforward, but the mounting of the unit in the aperture was a mission. The fitting kit I bought was no use, in the end I only used the frame from the kit and modified the existing bracket for the OEM Stereo as I was unhappy with the fit using the supplied kit.

I ran the DAB Aerial wire up the NS A Pillar as well as the Microphone wire, this has been well documented on here, and was a nice neat job thanks to the cable management in the A Pillar (Good job Fiat).

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The main issue was holding the unit in the dash, a quick search online suggested that Chinese Headunits such as the ATOTO are not the same size as "proper" Double Din Units, and so there were no guarantee of fitting properly.

So, my solution was to "modify" the OEM cage and use the mounting locations from the original stereo.

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By "modify" I mean hack off all the bits apart from the mounting plates that screwed into the dash.

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Then, using some mounting foam pads, I trail fitted the position of the plates and offered the unit into the dash, this was a lengthy process of trail and error, but we got there. Once I was happy, I clamped the plates together with vice grip pliers and drilled holes for blots to mount it securely.

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.

Bolts fitted and tightened.

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Thankfully nothing moved and it fitted like the OEM stereo with the 4 screws. It is really solid.

I then cut off the plastic tabs from the surround kit (as these now fouled the bracket) and fitted it and the bezel.

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The bezel kit is not great, but overall it looks fine.

I hope this is useful for someone.

I expect this is slippery slope now, and I will be upgrading the speakers at some point!
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Vehicle information

Registration
GF10***
Mileage
157,853
Tax Status
Taxed
MOT Status
Valid
Category
FIAT Cars
Added by
Bipedalmale
Views
714
Updates
2
Last update

Vehicle specification

Colour
Yellow
Trim
1.2 Dynamic Eco
Year
2010
Fuel Type
Petrol
Engine Size
1242cc
Gearbox
Manual
Doors
5

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