Technical Two MK1 Panda questions - 4x4 & Diesel related.

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Technical Two MK1 Panda questions - 4x4 & Diesel related.

Pairofsai

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Two questions 1. How hard is it to turn a standard MK1 Panda into the 4x4 model? Asking this because they rare, according to one recent poster only 50 of them in country. 2. What is the best/easiest Diesel engine to drop into a MK1 Panda? Looking for something that I can fix myself, no part problems, and with a bit of modding going on so can get advice.
 
Looked at doing similar on a mk2 and came to the conclusion there was no point.
FIAT came to the same conclusion after 3 years of producing Diesel Panda. But if you must, only 1.3 from Uno (not the 1.3 Multijet from Nuova Panda and other contemporary Fiats, Opels......). But I doubt you'll find such an engine in UK. IMHO Fiat imported to UK only 1.7D Uno.

Sutjeska
 
With less than 50 in the country very hard as you'd need another mk1 4x4 for the parts so I can't see the point.

Equally a DERV Panda won't be worth doing. Looked at doing similar on a mk2 and came to the conclusion there was no point.

A Mk2 4x4 would be usable as a donor, since the 4x4 bits are all the same. But if you have a good Mk1 2wd then I agree there isnt any point.

A 1.3 multijet Panda would be fantastic imo, but it would be alot of work, again I wouldn't do it to a good MK1.
 
Well a Punto will weigh something like 1200kg and the diesel model probably does something like 65-70 mpg, so you stick the engine in something that weighs 700kg and your easily looking at another 1/4 economy.

Dont really know enough about the diesel engine range to comment much, other than they are not a FIRE engine, so it wont be a 'simple' swap using the same mounts etc etc.
 
With less than 50 in the country very hard as you'd need another mk1 4x4 for the parts so I can't see the point.

Are the parts not available to repair the 4x4?

That was my first thought, but it would depend on what are the diffrences between the two vehicles i.e. is the 4x4 an add on, or did they change the vehicle to make it fit.

Wait one, Wiki says they are different shells.

Austrian company Steyr-Puch supplied the entire drivetrain (clutch, gearbox, power take-off, three-piece propshaft, rear axle including differential and brakes) to the plant at Termini Imerese where it was fitted to the reinforced bodyshell

So you would have to find out what they changed as well, if it possible to replicate.

Equally a DERV Panda won't be worth doing. Looked at doing similar on a mk2 and came to the conclusion there was no point.

So no engine plates knocking about, or no one tried the fiat 127 1301 cc straight-4 diesel(Think this the Uno engine mentioned), or the Panorama. My thinking being the stock engines are the 127s i.e. Wiki says they used parts straight from the stock bin so might be easy. If I was going for speed that would be my first stop. I do wonder if the Diesel 127 made it here though. Be very interesting to know what vehicles this engine went in.
 
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Hi Pairofsai

Just to confirm, there are only 50 "early" 4x4 pandas in the UK roughly. This is only the pre- '86 4x4's with the ohv engine (965cc), not the mk 2 ohc engine ones (FIRE 999cc). There are much more of mk2 classic pandas (including 4x4s) around. (y)

They come up on ebay reasonably regularly, or there is one here on car and classic at the moment:

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C216084/

No point in converting a 2wd to a 4wd, too much work in my opinion.

Hope that answers your questions.

Si
 
Well a Punto will weigh something like 1200kg and the diesel model probably does something like 65-70 mpg, so you stick the engine in something that weighs 700kg and your easily looking at another 1/4 economy.

Dont really know enough about the diesel engine range to comment much, other than they are not a FIRE engine, so it wont be a 'simple' swap using the same mounts etc etc.

I can get 62 mpg out of a petrol mk2 though. Mk3s are not to different weight wise, and they return same as the heavier punto, so I can't see you getting anywhere near the 100mpg area but fair play if you think you could.
 
I think there may be some confusion on this topic as to what is classed as a mark one / mark two Panda...

(As Simon mentions above) The mark one was produced in the UK upto about 1986 and then the mark two was sold until about 1995.
 
I would imagine that making a 4x4 Mk1 out of a 2wd could be done using all running gear from a Mk2 ( 86-95), but ideally you would need both cars standing side by side to see where the bodyshell would need strengthening/modifying before you started. you may find after going to the trouble of acquiring both vehicles that it's not worth the effort.
As for diesel engines, I have a Seat Terra Vista which is a van/estate based on the Seat Marbella, which in turn is based on the Mk1 Panda. Now I have sometimes seen on Ebay parts for sale, and even a whole van once, for a Seat Terra Diesel. This model made use of the VW diesel engine found in the Polo. I would imagine, therefore, that this engine could be fitted to a Panda and may even be straightforward if the necessary parts were taken from a Seat, once you'd found one :rolleyes:.
 
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