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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.
Great colour of the car, it reminds me my fiat dino ,which was almost the same green when he left the factory in 1968{verde petrolio or something like that}.But please practise welding on something else before makng other repairs;)For now it looks like quote from "Apocalypse now" ......horror, the horror.....horror:D
 
Looks a hell of a lot better than what the previous owner did when welding fizzle in the same place!

I'm getting a bit of a soft spot for the later grey interiors, I may take those bits off you and convert LVJ's interior if you don't want to keep them yourself?

Got an engine upgrade on the cards?
 
hmmm.. you know if you have a really long thin paint brush, you can actually poke it through the drainage holes of the sills and paint then inside of where you just welded..

i have been doing it on fallout >_<

as for an engine upgrade, theres plenty of punto 60's about. 60bhp with single point injection using the very common 16F ECU.
 
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No, no engine swaps for this one. I know it's not the neatest bit of welding but it was rather getting to the point I just wanted some metal in there instead of a hole, and it is not visible with the door seal there. Thorough soaking in cavity wax underneath through the drain hole so I'm hoping that keeps the rot at bay.
 
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.

Its a lovey car this, The Turchese and the COLOUR instruments are cool.

Didnt you weld a patch on scruffbags sill before?
 
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Its a lovey car this, The Turchese and the COLOUR instruments are cool.

Didnt you weld a patch on scruffbags sill before?

Good memory, don't really class that as a 'repair' though as I would never have let an MOT tester see it. That was more 'practice'. Not turchese though, just plain old Verde apparently. Still a lovely colour though I reckon.
 
how much wider are the wheels over standard? any noticeable difference when driving?
Wheels are 5" rather than the standard 4 or 4.5 if I remember right but with the normal wider option 155/65 tyres. As to a comparison, well it's about 15 years since I drove a standard one... From past experience same tyres on wider wheels tend to just feel a bit firmer as there's less movement on the sidewalls. I mostly just like the way they look on this car.
 
So you know when you're driving home from work in your 2nd Panda in the rain and you think " well, at least with that gearbox knackered I'm in the one where the windscreen wiper doesn't have a habit of falling off today......... Oh.":(

..I'll be back in the Peugeot at this rate:(
 
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So you know when you're driving home from work in your 2nd Panda in the rain and you think " well, at least with that gearbox knackered I'm in the one where the windscreen wiper doesn't have a habit of falling off today......... Oh.":(

..I'll be back in the Peugeot at this rate:(

Can highly recommend the wiper conversion from dragonman, so much so that I will be getting the sisley one done too.
 
MOT coming up Wednesday so I'm just going round picking off odd issues on Roofus. Found a split on the O/S CV boot and bone dry so probably been there a while so I ordered up a new joint. Finally got round to fitting it today, nice quick job until I had nearly finished re assembling and realised I'd left out the little spacer from the end of the driveshaft. Back to bits and try again..
Then just putting the wheel back on and noticed an alarming amount of play in the virtually new wheel bearing, so apart again and swapped that out for an OKish one from the garage. Then pulled it all apart again to put the stupid spacer back in I'd forgotten again
banghead.gif

















one corner done....
 
MOT today! Looking out the window I think I may have to change the wiper linkage about now. Pretty confident the wiper will stay on long enough for a few swipes on the ramp but a 40 mile drive to the garage and back in the rain/sleet? I'm not confident
frown.gif
 
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