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Panda (Classic) Roofus

Introduction

OK so my new arrival has now been christened Roofus by the family so I thought he'd better get his own Members motors thread since I've done some stuff today.
So, for the sake of the new thread here's the story so far......
Once upon a time, at a show long ago (well, last year) a mysterious Panda showed up and joined our special line up by the toilets. So obviously I decided to do hot dogs in front of it:cool:

It was owned by a nice couple who had originally owned it new, then bought it back a year or so before this pic was taken when they spotted it looking sorry for itself on ebay, and spent a lot of time and money putting it straight. Looked good then and a year or so later I saw it again at another Thoresby show and by now they were considering selling it again. I had a look around it then and was impressed by the condition but I really wasn't looking for another car then.
Fas t forward another few months and it still wasn't sold, and I was looking:D

that was only going to end one way...


So: as I got it Really good nick: Shiny shiny exterior:cool:

Brand new wider steel wheels and tyres which I love!

Brand new twin sunnies just fitted:

Sadly slightly tired colour edition switchgear


Interior mostly good except for a chunk out of the bottom of the steering column shroud, rather weedy stereo and tatty gear gaiter and knob due to use of a big lock on them


So since I am not a big fan of the grey interior plastics anyway a better condition set of black stuff went in:

And clear indicators went on:

And that was it for the first week or so.

Next issue found was rust related, just a wee one to get me started:

So cut away the crusty bits to give me a neater hole to fill:


Look away now if you're squeamish.. repair section fabricated from an old Panda door I had around:


Cranked up the welder (I know but it's my first welded repair:eek:) As you can see I had the welder behind the door so I was reaching underneath to knock the power on. Blasted quite a few holes before I realised I'd flipped it onto a higher power setting at the same time, Doh! Think I managed to get enough metal to metal anyway.

Quick skim of filler and a coat of my own custom mix Hammerite:


That's it so far. Alternating daily driver duties with Grumbleweed at the moment anyway so at least he's getting used. Never actually used the sunroof in anger yet though.
Extra engine and battery earth cables fitted and touch..er..metal the light's out again. See how that shapes up.

There's a sensor in the throttle body, Freddy plugged in a laptop and found out my Colour thought it was -11C causing it to run like the nonexistant choke was out!

I'm guessing that wheel was an impulse purchase :rolleyes:

Be nice to see Roofus and the unimaginatively named Colour side by side one day :)
 
There's a sensor in the throttle body, Freddy plugged in a laptop and found out my Colour thought it was -11C causing it to run like the nonexistant choke was out!

I'm guessing that wheel was an impulse purchase :rolleyes:

Be nice to see Roofus and the unimaginatively named Colour side by side one day :)
Yes but I've had 3 different throttle bodies on without any effect so I don't think now it's any of the sensors on there. The wheel was one of the things that father in law keeps showing up with at random that he happened across because one of his mates bought about 3 of them in different colours on a whim. Happens a lot. Bought the gearknob to go with the wheel. Now If I could only buy a car that went with the gearknob and the wheel.......
 
Yes but I've had 3 different throttle bodies on without any effect so I don't think now it's any of the sensors on there. The wheel was one of the things that father in law keeps showing up with at random that he happened across because one of his mates bought about 3 of them in different colours on a whim. Happens a lot. Bought the gearknob to go with the wheel. Now If I could only buy a car that went with the gearknob and the wheel.......

If he show up with a nice red wheel let me know!

I suspect 2 out the 3 injected ones I have show this fault!

BTW three throttle bodies is just greedy ;)
 
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One of these cables:

http://www.scantool-direct.co.uk/fiat--alfa-romeo-multiecuscan-kkl-cable-and-3-pin-connector-31-p.html

and this free software:

http://iaw-scan2.sourceforge.net/

is all you need (not forgetting the laptop!) to connect to a Panda, pointed me straight to the issues with John's colour and removed any guess work. It would have taken me much longer to sort the problems without it!

I used to have a little OBD computer that showed the status of all the sensors on my Renault Twingo, was quite cool I used it pretty much as a coolant temp gauge and boost gauge...

I saw this post and immediately thought, cool I could do a similar thing and look at all my sensors, completely forgetting that I have a carb and no such thing as OBD (n)
 
One of these cables:

http://www.scantool-direct.co.uk/fi...uscan-kkl-cable-and-3-pin-connector-31-p.html

and this free software:

http://iaw-scan2.sourceforge.net/

is all you need (not forgetting the laptop!) to connect to a Panda, pointed me straight to the issues with John's colour and removed any guess work. It would have taken me much longer to sort the problems without it!
Taken the plunge, seemed to work great with my windows tablet which is a dead convenient setup, right up to the point where it asks you to press f11 or similar, at which point I discovered the windows tablet on screen keyboard doesn't include the function keys and I had to restart the whole thing
banghead.gif
Dug my old netbook out of the crypt so later on tonight or tomorrow sometime (when the creaky old thing has finished booting) I'll try again.
Sadly, from what I did get out of it, no obvious issues, everything reads about where it should as far as I can tell and no faults.
 
on Talons ECU (the Bosch Uno FIRE ie ecu) you can tell it in the software to "ignore" sensors on the fly.

i took great pleasure in shutting down each sensor then watch the ecu go "wtf.. what just happened" and try to keep the engine running.

i kid you not, you can run that ecu with just the injector and air temp sensor plugged in (same plug) with the input from the ignition coil. everything else can be disabled/unplugged!

it runs just as lumpy as if the vacuum advance pipe was unplugged on a carbed panda... but it still revs and drives fine! just runs a little rich.

i know.. even my car's ECU cant escape the torture i put computers through.
 
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Got lows?
Or just siting on a slope? :eek: Looks :cool: (y)
Looks lower than it is on that rear corner as it was on a bit of a slant at the back, but those rear springs do sit a bit lower than they should. Should in theory be the same height as 'Char. Now if I could only get him to sound respectable, exhaust's farting on like a good 'un. All new, just doesn't fit together very well
frown.gif
Long run like that is good for resolving the snagging list anyway.
 
Looks lower than it is on that rear corner as it was on a bit of a slant at the back, but those rear springs do sit a bit lower than they should. Should in theory be the same height as 'Char..
Definitely looks lower at the rear than Char, she sits higher at the rear than the front unless you have 2 rear passengers or a heavy boot full... I'd like to get her a bit more leveled out but no idea how without cutting springs
 
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