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Panda (Classic) I'm Back With The Panda 750L 1991

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Introduction

My Story

Hi folks, its been a while since I had a panda after selling Purple Haze the Parade and Engelbert the Sisley (to Freebo ) the former I sold because my wife was pregnant and I felt (wrongly) that I needed a bigger (and to my mind at the time safer) car for ferrying my son and wife around in.

A very short while after I sold the pandas I developed Generalised Anxiety Disorder, I have had it now for nearly 2 years and I am FINALLY starting to get better it seems. The paranoid thoughts that I was going to put my son and wife in danger in the panda were part of this in my opinion.

Selling the Parade was a huge mistake on my part (and as older forum members were know it was subsequently written off in a low speed crash by the new owner) though the Sisley is much better off with Freebo as he appreciates the 4x4's (they are not to my taste on the open road but are amazing in a field IMHO) and I have regretted it. I have not had a car for some time now partially due to my illness and partially due to the fact I have lost my job due to my illness, though as forum members will remember I am a Youtuber too.

Fast forward to last night and I was browsing the forum and I came across an ad for a 750L in Glasgow (I am in Prestwick), and it was free but had to be collected today or in 2 weeks time. Being the impatient (and obviously anxious) type, I arranged through a friend of a friend to have it collected today. It arrived at 1pm and I am utterly flabbergasted at the condition. Out of my 3 Pandas it arrived in the best condition IMHO. So I am very thankful to the seller but forgotten their forum name cos the ad has been deleted! So thanks Ian (I am sure you are reading)

Ian reported that it has an oil leak under pressure, and as far as I can tell so far the problem is the oil filter housing which would be a super easy fix :) the rear arches need cut out at the base and refabricated, though this is not a huge job to my knowledge and I have a friend who is potentially going to do that for me all being well. Aside from that as far as I can tell it just needs new seatbelts, a new passenger rear brake cluster, new door locks, the front seat cover sewed up or renewed (the rest is immaculate) and some rust spots in the usual places taken care of. And a good service just to be on the safe side!

I couldn't be happier at this point and I cant wait to share my progress on here and Youtube for you all to see :)

Cameron

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Reactions: Most Easterly Pandas, Dragon Man, The Panda Nut and 3 others
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Phiz said:
Certainly sounds like the one, I'll check the details and PM them across to you.

Bet there are some trim standard trim clips of some descrpition that'll do the job, once I've had a look at the car I might do some research on that. May well buy the door pocket for the time being anyhow.
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thanks man

yeah, ive asked on the facebook group, surely somebody will have a stash/lead on others that would do
 
Got what I believe to be the right clips here after referencing owen's thread. They are 8.5mm. 4 are reserved for phiz assuming they are ok. Only 1.99 so not the end of the world if not. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391398121740?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I also noticed that there was a valve dust cap missing so put on a spare I had in the shed, went to the air pump and put all tyres to 30 psi including the spare, they were all slightly low, and finally I washed and polished and cleaned the car inside and out. First under my care and its come up really nicely, its a little cracker, im very lucky!

 
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onemanmade said:
Got what I believe to be the right clips here after referencing owen's thread. They are 8.5mm. 4 are reserved for phiz assuming they are ok. Only 1.99 so not the end of the world if not. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391398121740?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I also noticed that there was a valve dust cap missing so put on a spare I had in the shed, went to the air pump and put all tyres to 30 psi including the spare, they were all slightly low, and finally I washed and polished and cleaned the car inside and out. First under my care and its come up really nicely, its a little cracker, im very lucky!

Click to expand...

Nice work Cameron (y) Cheers for that.

Your Panda looks like new, not a dent on it from the photo! Remarkable little car, practically concours!
 
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horror of horrors, i started sanding back the drivers door to prep and paint it to repair the rust bubbling through, its a lot of filler and not a lot of door bottom it seems :( suspected it cos of the hammerited bottom section but still not nice to find i guess

for now ive sprayed inside the door skin liberally with rust killer and blocker. its sort of optimistic but if i can make it look pretty by filling it back up and hopefully killing as much of the rust as possible i can come up with a long term plan
 
Today I got the wee car up to 60 mph (think it was actually up to 70 at one point!) and it had no issues though folks on the facebook page have suggested that it is running a bit cool. I will look into this, but I am not too worried as my parade (which had all the cooling ancilleries changed and ran fine as well) ran about the same temperature. In the fullness of time I want to change the water pump, thermostat, radiator and obviously coolant anyways.

Done my best after finding A LOT of filler to repair the bottoms of the rusty doors. The photos dont look as good as real life in my opinion but hey ho :)

 
Good to hear you're getting out in it and getting the car used:).

Feel your pain regards the door bottoms, as do most Panda owners from what I gather! My door skins look pretty similar to what you have got there, though there is also some rust on the frame itself in places, could turn into a fairly involved job. My plan is to get another pair of rough rusty doors, fit the worse pair to the car for the time being so I've got loads of time to hopefully do a very thorough repair. Hopefully by rust treating your doors you'll stop the decline in yours now, did you use cavity wax or similar inside the door?
 
Phiz said:
Good to hear you're getting out in it and getting the car used:).

Feel your pain regards the door bottoms, as do most Panda owners from what I gather! My door skins look pretty similar to what you have got there, though there is also some rust on the frame itself in places, could turn into a fairly involved job. My plan is to get another pair of rough rusty doors, fit the worse pair to the car for the time being so I've got loads of time to hopefully do a very thorough repair. Hopefully by rust treating your doors you'll stop the decline in yours now, did you use cavity wax or similar inside the door?
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I used XCP Rust Blocker and sprayed loads of it inside the door

long term the bottom of the doors could be refabricated, but this will have to do for now

same as you though i am going to fit worse doors while i get them done. perhaps the forum can have a communal set if doors to pass around haha
 
Communal doors sounds like a great idea, only the length of time each set would need, coupled with the fact that seemingly 90% of Pandas have rotten doors means we'd never get round them all with one pair! Need a stock pile of them:).

Be interested to see the results you got regards rusty scabby patches, you're one step ahead of me on this side of things so tackling all the jobs I've got coming up!
 
Phiz said:
Communal doors sounds like a great idea, only the length of time each set would need, coupled with the fact that seemingly 90% of Pandas have rotten doors means we'd never get round them all with one pair! Need a stock pile of them:).

Be interested to see the results you got regards rusty scabby patches, you're one step ahead of me on this side of things so tackling all the jobs I've got coming up!
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will post photos in the next wee while, just back home, will tag you in them
 
onemanmade said:
@Phiz

Heres my work from the past couple of days, you will see I replaced the 2 rear grommets. 1 because of overspray and 1 because of breaking it with ham fistedness.

I feel a bit better about the paintwork today and I think a polish will bring it up a bit neater.

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Guess a good polish and a bit of a cut will flatten out and shine up any overspray etc. Looks like your scabby bits are a bit more scabby than mine, probably the slightly earlier vintage, hopefully by getting to mine now they will be easier to deal with. Bit of a pain that one right between the window seal and grommet on the tailgate, my tailgate is generally sound, plus no grommets as I've got the wiper and washer jet (though not sure the washer jet does anything yet!).
 
Phiz said:
Guess a good polish and a bit of a cut will flatten out and shine up any overspray etc. Looks like your scabby bits are a bit more scabby than mine, probably the slightly earlier vintage, hopefully by getting to mine now they will be easier to deal with. Bit of a pain that one right between the window seal and grommet on the tailgate, my tailgate is generally sound, plus no grommets as I've got the wiper and washer jet (though not sure the washer jet does anything yet!).
Click to expand...
yeah i think where they are was the issue. i had no problems with the wheel arches etc
 
So I cleaned the drivers door card as it was a little grimy (none of the rest of the fabric in the car is, but I suppose its the h ighest traffic one) took the ooportunity to blast more rust blocker inside the door too. Also I refixed the rubber mat so it sits behind the "hockey stick" trim now. Also gave the car a right good clean inside and out (im obsessed lol) and took it out to the local shopping place so I could get a coffee. A lovely wee day :)
 
I went to the Fiat Dealer near me today to pick up some parts for Phiz and myself, though they only had half of what we need so I will have to go back later this week. Some photos were in order though. I also fitted a clock as it was doing my nut in looking at a blanking plate expecting it to tell me the time, although I still have the blanking plate so I can change it back at any time.

Helpfully rendo labelled all the wires so it was easiness itself to navigate and I didnt have to rely on my memory at all :)

Though just realised my memory is so crap I have forgotten to reattach the heater connector block. Doh!

 
What parts did they have available in the dealer? I'm going to start working at a Fiat dealer soon so I'm wondering what I'll be able to get for my Pandas from there ;)

Neat addition with the clock there, the one in my Sisley doesn't seem to work though which is a shame! Might have to pull it out and see what is up with it at some point :p
 
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