Panda (Classic) Charmanda(er) - mania continued......

Right so tomorrow i am going to my mothers where there is a vice in the garage i can use to fit these blasted bushes in the gear selector rods..

Been a while now since i took the bushes out and my memory fails me. The rod that has a bush at either end.... can someone confirm the bushes both point the same direction on that rod cause i really can't remember for sure, its my feeling they do and the eper (although not the best diagram) seems to indicate they point the same way too but just to be sure, do any of you know off top of your head? I'm gonna be pretty upset if i go to put this back together and I have done it wrong lol.

Tiny update, all the blanks and bits of pipe I ordered arrive, all the unused vac and coolant ports on the throttle body are now blanked off and the TB itself is on the inlet all bolted down and sorted. I still hadn't put the driveshafts in the gearbox after dropping engine in but they are now in.
I dunno if i mentioned in here that i had cut the front spax springs just to see how it sat but they ended up being too short and could become unseated with no weight on them, so I have had some new stock springs sat here a while, I have taken the spax spring off one side and measured it against the stock spring and then cut the stock springs so its ever so slightly longer uncompressed. I have only fitted one of these springs so far, still need to do the other side but its no longer dangerous and the springs are a bit softer so it should in theory sit a bit lower. Something that needed doing as the MOT has run out since this little engine swap started and there is no way it would have passed an MOT without doing something, considered fabricting somekind of spring retainer to hold them seated which i may go back to depending on how it sits like this - will have to wait and see though as there is not a lot of point dropping on the floor as of yet.

Also there is a CSC 4-2-1 exhaust manifold in the works for the car, i need to pay and collect it at some point but plenty i can get one with between now and needing the exhaust on.

Just gonna pop out and take the front indicators lenses off now, possible swap for some orange ones with Owen tomorrow, if he the indecisive boy can make a decision on which he prefers in less that 3 million hours lol .

think thats it for now.

Had a quick look at my gear linkages but mine only have the ball joints at one end on both rods. Maybe a difference with Mk2...will have to leave this question

cheers for looking Si. I guess I will just go offer it up under the car and double check before i set off in morning.

Same way - just double checked the spare in my shed

Many thanks!

right the bushes went in successfully, was still pretty damn tricky. Also I used the vice while i was there to push the rod into the bush at bottom of gear lever and i can tell its gonna be a task to get the other 2 balls pushed in the bushes while lying under the car, totally regretting not taking the bracket off the box and taking with me so I only had one to do not with the vice at a bench instead of 2. Hey-ho, live and learn and all that.

As promised I have started putting a few things up for sale - only what i have boxes for so far so there will be more stuff in the future, click the link in my signature to my ads

Balls in bushes !!

blu73 said:

right the bushes went in successfully, was still pretty damn tricky. Also I used the vice while i was there to push the rod into the bush at bottom of gear lever and i can tell its gonna be a task to get the other 2 balls pushed in the bushes while lying under the car, totally regretting not taking the bracket off the box and taking with me so I only had one to do not with the vice at a bench instead of 2. Hey-ho, live and learn and all that.

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Tip for getting the front of that rod back on the ball:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20-40mm-B...836835?hash=item58b6410663:g:smYAAOxyhS9ThEqV
easily manouverable under the car and just the right size to get round that ball and give it the requisite controlled squeeze.

I feel like i might have had one of them at one point but if i do I have zero idea where it is now... one day i will get a proper size garage/workshop and everything will have a proper place, currently its hard to merely find a spanner the right size :bang:. I think I will just attempt it with some big grips first cause i know where they are from doing a diy plumbing task last week lol.

A large set of water pump pliers never fails for me! I do cheat and do it with the car on a ramp though...

yes, thats exactly what i mean, never knew proper name for them but a google search of waterpump pliers brings up what i meant. I will take the bracket off the gearbox and do that out the car, just leaves one to do lying on floor. Eklipze3k has given me the nickname 'Hulk-Hands' so I'm sure I will manage

Well I have been quiet.. nope not really done anything but postman just handed me my cheapo fuel pump holder from China so I suppose I should start building the fuel setup soon...

Another small piece of the puzzle, decided as i am using an inline pump i wanted a fuel check valve so the pump stays full of fuel even when its been sat a while - not a cheapy crap one from china this time - don't want this to fail lol.

Pardon me for asking, but does the Star Wars sticker have any relevance on the final vehicle ? ( said he warming his feet in his Star Wars slippers )

That's just one of the stickers on my laptop and that's where it will stay...

New old stock grill badge I found and thought why not...

So I really should be getting on with the panda when I have free time. I know this but for some reason messing with other people's projects always seems more fun. So far this week I have fully stripped an fc rx7, its being collected by scrap man 2moro.











I will do something to the panda one day I promise.

I did another buy... early style grill to go with that new grill badge. It's brand new but not oem genuine part. Looks decent enough though.

blu73 said:

I did another buy... early style grill to go with that new grill badge. It's brand new but not oem genuine part. Looks decent enough though.
View attachment 173438

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Where did you get this one from? Most the ones I see around of the early style mk2 seem to be oem but have a faded or missing badge!

I got it from Ricambio.. They had it listed on their site for ages but not in stock, i dropped Franco a line about if they had some coming in or what not and he said they had a few but were trying to source grill badges for them before they put them up as in stock - said i could buy one without though and I just went and found a grill badge myself. Its not the best - i had to spend a few mins trimming some excess off from the mould but all in all it looks great. Not correct for the car but always been my fave style grill on a panda. Totally unnecessary purchase but an attempt to get my enthusiasm for the project back, need to get some indicator lenses now though - still not got any since i left the clears with you lol.