Panda (Classic) John Dragon Man's 4x4 Sisley

Hello!

Well, I have been waiting a long time to do this!

Introducing (Drum roll please!).....

Edit: about half way through the time it took me to get the car on the road it found the name Talon. So everyone Meet:
Talon. My Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley:





Great Looking car.. As i am sure you all agree!

It has its Good points:

No Horrid noises in any gear and the 4x4 system works and sounds brilliant! Its a Sisley! And it came with some nice extras such as the light grill covers.

and also nice low mileage.



And it has its bad points... Lots of bad points:

Mid body rust, This is the worst on the drivers side (in the UK) front wing:


The Doors are Rusty.. Ok, i did expect this as it seems to be a common thing on most Fiats over 10-15 years old:



And the other Door, Not as bad.. I may be able to save this side!


"Phantom Electronics" the electronics do what they want to do, when they want to do it. No Switches necessary!

Also the Fuse box now lives here That means that a flap has been cut in the pocket


The Exhaust is very broken, in multiple parts. even the down pipe!


Lastly and by far the worst, Under body rust. Now its not as bad as it could be. The rear sills on both sides have a small 1 - 2 inch hole in them. No biggy.
I have still yet to remove all the plastic wheel arch liners and have a proper look.
Here's a picture from the front drivers side wheel arch, its only a skin so a easy repair:


A bit of work needs doing to the brakes, pads i think. The fluid needs changing and the drivers side front brake pipe is corroded so i will replace that.

Also the engine needs a good cleaning up, a full on service replacing the water pump, cam belt, tensioner pulley, distributor cap and rotor arm, filters, oil, radiator, coolant and starter motor.

I also need a few things like a locking filler cap, the little clips that hold the air box together, a new boot gas strut and a non damaged back bumper.

Its the car I have always wanted right from when I was a young lad. So you can imagine how I was when I won it on eBay for a grand total of £547. Getting it from Wales To my home town of Derby Cost me £135.

With some love, care and late nights I reckon I can turn it into a cracking motor!

Oh and stay tuned as I will be keeping a Video Log of what I will be doing to the car on Youtube!

This is the video i took just as the car transporter left from delivering it:



See the rest of the videos Here: Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley Restoration Video Logs

See my Youtube Channel >>>Here<<<

Also Click Here for more up to date pictures of this car!

I am so very proud to be the owner of a Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley!




Edit: this is how Talon looks now:





Since then Talon has gained more lights, and now has some blue rust free Seat Marbella doors. I had also converted him to Fuel injection, however the parts i used were old and worn so now it is back on Carburettor.

This thread has its ups and downs but through the years Talon and myself have pulled through.

When you are done reading this thread, be sure to check out the little red scrap yard rescued Seat Marbella thread and also Project Fallout!

Peace all and enjoy the thread, videos and pictures!

Glad you've got one at last!

Looks to be an unmolested example - very unusual to have the Sisley badge still on the front which suggests no-ones been messing with it. Is the interior ok - there were no photos on the Ebay listing though it said it was good?

Looking forward to the updates

Gavin.

ahh yes, the interior.. heres some pictures:






Ive already given it a hoover out, but i have yet to attack it with the Vax. i reckon with some soapy water and a soft brush ill be able to lift the dirt from the seats and they will come up a treat!

Congrats...I love the green. Looks like a good buy. Stick pod speakers in and cover up that horrible hole in the hammock.

yeah this is my intention, i will attack it with the invisible thread then stick some pod speakers in it.
you dont happen to know if any other filler cap from other fiats fit the panda do you?

Fuel cap and key are cheap....or ask on here for a second hand one...I sold one the other day.

You have done well there. It obviously needs a bit of work but It has loads of potential, I like it!

Congrats on the buy, looks like it needs all the usual Panda rust spots sorting, seems like you've got hold of it just in time

The rear of the sills can be tricky as access is poor and it is quite a complicated area, I had to do these on mine. The best way would be to cut the outer sill and bottom of the bodywork off and weld it from the outside, depends how far you want to go with it, you might find the arch is starting to go under the plastic trim anyway.

Your earth problem may be the main earth lead from the battery to the gearbox/starter, it has a terminal half way down that bolts to the bulkhead, it can break off but is hidden from view so not easily noticeable, again I had this on mine!

thanks but the earth lead is fine on this, i checked it when i replaced the starter motor. heres a few videos from yesterday:



and the video of it when i first got the car home:

At last! This is great news, and the car looks like a great start too. I wish you well with it

you do just pull the rotor arms of

Well done Dragon Man on getting one at last.
At least you didn't have to sacrifice a kidney for it.!
As I am only in Chesterfield I can offer advice if you need it
Any luck on the job front or is the Sisley the new job?

All the best

Dave

I keep looking for work, but the job centre was not happy when i told them my car was off the road. mind you, they were finding me minimum wage jobs in Birmingham and telling me that i have to go to them!
i had a bit of flip flop with them and they stopped my payment over it. however i managed to re-apply and its all back to normal now.

didn't do anything with the car yesterday.. damn annoying UK weather. soon as i get a good thing to work on outside the heavens open!

hope my dad can get the welder off his mate at some point in time. i want to have a go at bodging the exhaust. there's a small hole right at the very end of the down pipe.
also, i had to repair the boot lock barrel as the little pin on the end of it snapped off so i drilled, tapped and fit a small bolt into it, then filed it down enough so it doesn't rub on the back plate of the lock. short vid to come..
and, the drivers side lock barrel falls out... yep falls out.. one of the bits at the back of the lock has snapped, it looks like there should of been 2 of them. so i guess one of them held the lock barrel in place.

i was looking at a mk1 punto lock set on ebay and comparing the pictures of the barrels with the barrels the panda uses. they look about the same... i may have to try to replace them. cos i wont use ebay for that, thats a job for the local scrappers!

got to look at the breaks, ive not had a wheel off yet, so i dont know how far down the pads are. for the price and because of the age i am going to change them anyway. the same break pipe has corroded on this as did the cinquecento. so looks like im going to be getting my flaring tool out again! rubber hose looks good on the drivers side.. not sure about the passenger side yet.

best get out there while its not raining!

If it's a small hole in the exhaust to bodge you're better getting a tub of exhaust putty, splodge (technical term) that around the hole then wrap it with the metal from an old coke can and secure with metal hose clips.

From experience, Punto lock barrels are too big and don't fit!

Yesterday i pulled the seats and the carpets out to get a look at the floor pan, and to give them a damn good clean
the floor pan is in great shape. i didn't expect it to be so good!

i stopped the drippy sunroof, some one put a bead of silicone around it to stop it.
i took it all off and adjusted it all and now it seats nicely.

got the welder back >_< now all i need is some good metal to weld into the car.

the front strut is quite rusty. and the dust/splash guard that goes over the break disk is totally gone! any body know where i could get one of these??

anyway here's video log number 2: