With the engine done and the suspension parts proving too expensive, I was due to leave the garage when the spare ramp suddenly became available. I thought this would be a good opportunity to turn my attention to the bodywork which turned out to be much worse than I had expected.

I'll keep you updated as I progress with the repairs.

Here's a couple of pictures showing the reconstruction of the nearside sill panel.

Looking fab

looking good.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Looking fab

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mrloon said:

looking good.

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looking tragic but will look fab and good

Thanks for the replies.

There's an awful lot of work to be done, hopefully the end result will justify all the effort. Most people seem to think I'm nuts putting all this work into a Panda, however I'm quite enjoying it and there's no doubt I'll do it again, probably on a classic Fiat 500 next time.

weta said:

Thanks for the replies.

There's an awful lot of work to be done, hopefully the end result will justify all the effort. Most people seem to think I'm nuts putting all this work into a Panda, however I'm quite enjoying it and there's no doubt I'll do it again, probably on a classic Fiat 500 next time.

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They must be the unenlightened masses

This looks familure! But it's the right way to do it, chop out all the crap and weld in fresh metal, will be good for years to come. Indeed longer as Fiat put F-all squared underbody seal inside the sills.

Beautiful work mate!!

Makes me feel like a lazy bugger doing it with a bare steel chassis!
Love the carefull work on the sills. It's amazing how alike all our weld locations are.

Good work - looks very neat - much better than the work I had done on mine recently!

Thank you again for the comments.
I'll never look at a Panda in quite the same way after this, much more work than I ever anticipated.

I know how you feel, they are there to be welded no matter what others say

That shell is looking good now though, keep up the good work!!

Some excellent work going on there I'm surprised its so bad considering its one of the later ones.

Where do you live and how much do I have to pay for it?

Have to be honest, if every Panda I've had to do work on in the past started out as good as your's seems to be I'd be very happy, I've lost count of how many rolls of mig wire and sheet metal I've used on all of Jim, Steve's and my own Panda's.

Your doing an excellent job and remember the only reason you need to justify it is that you "want to".

Stuartl: The project appears to be very similar to your MkII 4x4, however I'm repairing several items which you changed, involving more work. I'm sure you've worked on worse cars, however the few photos I've posted only scratch the surface, I'm finding more and more repairs to do as I go along. There's simply not the time and opportunity to photograph and record everything as I'm sure you know.

Thank you for your comments.

Didn't get much done this week, more prep work and repair plates some of which are shown above.

weta said:

Didn't get much done this week, more prep work and repair plates some of which are shown above.

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This week coming I'm starting the resto on my panda and I'm not looking foreward to it! haha

What thickness material are you using for your repairs? Are they structural or just body?

Good luck with your restoration.

Both types, I keep as close as possible to the original gauge, sometimes slightly heavier.

weta said:

Good luck with your restoration.

Both types, I keep as close as possible to the original gauge, sometimes slightly heavier.

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What is the original? Is it 18 or 22 or something.

I have quite a lot of structural welding to do around the rear coil spring area. Unfortunately its quite intricate and the repair patches will have to be pretty complex. Not to mention its upside down! lol

It's all a learning curve though,

Can't say I've done it wrong untill I've tried