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Panda (Classic) Chris's 1994 Panda Colour Resto Mod

Introduction

My Slammed Classic Panda

hey, im chris from south wales been lurking on here for a while but now seeing as ive started work on the Panda i though id let you in on it ,The cars a 1994 panda 1000 fire Colour , my grandad bought it from new (my nan chose the colour) , it spend most of its life in a garage although it spent a year in my brother ownership so theres the odd dent , but apart from that , rust is minimal and its got an immaculate interior.
my aim is to do a resto mod as the americans would say, restore the whole car , Standard interior,respray, cleaned bay, lowered suspension and nice,possibly widish wheels, possibility by widening the body,maybe
atm heres how it stood up untill last week , only real issues are that its been off the road for two years ,at the time the front caliper was sticking and the rear beam center bush was knocking its balls off. apart from that its a solid , unwelded , one owner car with 66k on the clock.
thanks for the welcome, yeah, its been well looked after,(with the exception of when my brother owned it)
well it currently looks like this , dropped the rear beam off , ready new brake lines bushes and ill be replacing the brakes too.
also got a few pictures of the underneath to show how solid it is .any idea where i can get a replacement centre rear beam bush , like the last one attached?
 

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Hi Chris, nice looking car you have there(y)
As far as I know the official line from Fiat was always that the bush on the beam was integral and replacement means a whole new axle. The good news is that Partsworld are knocking out the whole axle at £100 on ebay which is waaaay cheaper than list. It's a massive bush so I suspect a real challenge to fit a new one even if you can get one separately, and it's a lovely shiny new bit to start your resto:yum:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231010845709?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
 
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Hi Chris, nice looking car you have there(y)
As far as I know the official line from Fiat was always that the bush on the beam was integral and replacement means a whole new axle. The good news is that Partsworld are knocking out the whole axle at £100 on ebay which is waaaay cheaper than list. It's a massive bush so I suspect a real challenge to fit a new one even if you can get one separately, and it's a lovely shiny new bit to start your resto:yum:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231010845709?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649


:yeahthat:

Hi Chris, welcome to the Forum. Will watch progress with interest. (y)
 
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Hi Chris, nice looking car you have there(y)
As far as I know the official line from Fiat was always that the bush on the beam was integral and replacement means a whole new axle. The good news is that Partsworld are knocking out the whole axle at £100 on ebay which is waaaay cheaper than list. It's a massive bush so I suspect a real challenge to fit a new one even if you can get one separately, and it's a lovely shiny new bit to start your resto


Thanks for the advice , I've got a press so fitting a new one wouldn't be a major issue but I've made an offer on the axle on ebay anyway as it's a lot less hassle and it seems way too cheap to ignore.
 
Welcome (y) you can't beat a twin sunnie panda! Especially now the weather is on our side. Looking forward to seeing your progress, particularly if you do a wide body conversion :cool:

yeah hopefully it'll be back on the road ready for some sun soon. once i buy the new wheels i'll know if it needs widening as ill make the car fit the wheels.

Welcome to the forum :)

Usually it's the spring cups which rot through - I guess you just had to be different!

yeah spring cups are solid on mine , tbh the bush looks pretty solid from what i can tell but from the knocking it seemed to be making when it was on the road i'd rather change it , as once it goes back on i dont wanna have to remove it again....ever! haha
 
well seeing as the weather was good again i got busy,

fuel tank out! , ill be getting these made up in stainless steel to avoid them looking like this again.

removed the rear bumper , exhaust and heat shield

then got busy cleaning the wheel arches and the underside


found a little bit of a whole too , only seems to be on the drivers side so the welder will be out next weekend to get that patched up!

 
yeah spring cups are solid on mine , tbh the bush looks pretty solid from what i can tell but from the knocking it seemed to be making when it was on the road i'd rather change it , as once it goes back on i dont wanna have to remove it again....ever! haha

Seems odd to me that the bush would be gone at such a low mileage, especially since it is solid now you have it off the car. Are you sure it was not something else making the noise? Exhaust? Or a dodgy damper maybe?
 
Seems odd to me that the bush would be gone at such a low mileage, especially since it is solid now you have it off the car. Are you sure it was not something else making the noise? Exhaust? Or a dodgy damper maybe?

yeah i think it must have been something else as all the other bushes are in a right state but this one actually doesnt look too bad and doesnt have any obvious play, and seeing as the offer i made on the one on ebay was declined ,( put in a cheeky offer of £75) i think ill just refurb the old beam and try my luck with the old bush.
 
well not got much done on the car itself in the last week but ive managed to pick up :

new set of locks, ignition,boot and both doors (matching)
new driver seatbelt (recoil had died on the old one)
new interior light (scum smashed it when they tried to steal it a few years back)
also picked up stainless steel replacement bolts/washers/nuts for the fuel tank , rear seats and heat shield.


oh and made some new fuel tank straps , my plan is to have every bolt i can, done in stainless and i though id take it upon myself to make new fuel tank straps as the old mild steel ones where , a STATE! sourced the metal , got it cut to size,got bending and bam!,


these will be fitted with stainless bolts and washers to complete the job.

if there's enough demand i could get a few made up for members as these must be a common problem area .


next on my list is trying to find reasonably priced

new rear shocks +bushes
rear trailing arm bushes
rear shoes + cylinders


then i can put the rear back together with the 40mm lowering springs ill be getting for it ..
 
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8 posts and already a donated member! thanks :) well, you will not find better panda help anywhere else in the UK :D

nice work man! i know there's a few who have mentioned fuel tank straps being a pain.

if the old rear shocks are just rusty and dont leak, ill have them of you :D
 
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8 posts and already a donated member! thanks :) well, you will not find better panda help anywhere else in the UK :D

nice work man! i know there's a few who have mentioned fuel tank straps being a pain.

if the old rear shocks are just rusty and dont leak, ill have them of you :D


Yeah this place is awesome when it comes to advice etc

Well if there's enough interest I may get a batch made up , seeing as I've finally found a local stainless steel supplier,

Unfortunately,the old rear shocks are past dead , I don't think they leak anymore , due to them no having any oil left to leak out.
 
well got a few things done ,
picked up some paint for underneath

started cleaning up the rear beam ready for paint too

the beam , trailing arms and anything else will be painted silver

also picked up a new washer bottle (sky remotes there so you can see the scale ), seeing as the old ones too big and the spare wont be there any more as the bay is getting cleaned up and im aiming to tuck all the wires .
 
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