May I introduce my latest addition. How I came to buy another one is a bit of a long story and includes news about a couple I already have. Don't think I've got time to tell at the moment, but will fill you in on the details asap.
General Another 4x4 joins the fleet.
- Thread starter VmanC
- Start date
Currently reading:
General Another 4x4 joins the fleet.
Looks fairly tidy and sound. 
OP
OP
Looks fairly tidy and sound.
Cheers Jon, yep that's a fair description. It did have a few mechanical woes but a couple of hours work now has it driving much better. Gearchange is poor, so is the gearbox, but I have a spare to pop in so will be a cracker then
.
You gonna have to start stacking 'em soon Vern!
What mileage has it done??
OP
OP
You gonna have to start stacking 'em soon Vern!
You're not wrong there, got ten of the little buggers now, and that's just Pandas .I am in the process of reducing the numbers though, so watch this space if anyone's looking for one
.It's showing 39,000 but it certainly feels like more where the gearbox is concerned. I get the feeling someone has used parts from another Panda to make this one good, probably the speedo
. It doesn't make any difference to me as I'm going to be doing quite alot of work on it anyway. My other white 4x4 is far too original to mess around with so I'll be moving that one on once it's finished.
Very nice Vernon
You certainly have one hell of a herd of Pandas there mate...!
As ever, look forward to your updates
You certainly have one hell of a herd of Pandas there mate...!
As ever, look forward to your updates
OP
OP
Got a little more time this evening so here's how I came about owning this one......
Some friends of mine were needing a replacement for thier worn out Renault 5 and thought a Panda would be ideal. They asked me if I could provide one so I suggested they could have LukeP's old Sparky if I carry out the necessary work on it. They agreed, but while I was getting Sparky ready I spotted this 4x4 for sale, it was on here as well as Ebay. They live in the middle of a woods and have to drive half a mile down a green lane to get there so a 4x4 is perfect, it really stretched thier budget but we did a deal and bought it.
Well after a very long trip to pick it up it turned out to be not quite as good as described. Most of the faults were easily fixed leaving just the gearbox to improve.
They were very happy with it for a couple of weeks but then it started rattling from the front end over the very deep potholes they have to negotiate, this and the nasty gearbox seriously tested thier confidence in it so I agreed to buy it from them and let them have Sparky instead, plan A in effect.
Are you still there? good, nearly finished.
The rattling turned out to be the brake pads as they were fitted without the anti-rattle springs. I have a spare gearbox to fit at some stage, so now I have a solid but not pristine 4x4 that I can happily modify, as it is not viable to carry out the masses of work to make this immaculate and original, so I'm happy .
My friends are loving Sparky, plus they now have 60% of thier money back, so not such a worry when driving down the track.
Only down side is that I didn't reduce my stock levels after all, but I will keep trying.
Some friends of mine were needing a replacement for thier worn out Renault 5 and thought a Panda would be ideal. They asked me if I could provide one so I suggested they could have LukeP's old Sparky if I carry out the necessary work on it. They agreed, but while I was getting Sparky ready I spotted this 4x4 for sale, it was on here as well as Ebay. They live in the middle of a woods and have to drive half a mile down a green lane to get there so a 4x4 is perfect, it really stretched thier budget but we did a deal and bought it.
Well after a very long trip to pick it up it turned out to be not quite as good as described. Most of the faults were easily fixed leaving just the gearbox to improve.
They were very happy with it for a couple of weeks but then it started rattling from the front end over the very deep potholes they have to negotiate, this and the nasty gearbox seriously tested thier confidence in it so I agreed to buy it from them and let them have Sparky instead, plan A in effect.
Are you still there? good, nearly finished
.The rattling turned out to be the brake pads as they were fitted without the anti-rattle springs
. I have a spare gearbox to fit at some stage, so now I have a solid but not pristine 4x4 that I can happily modify, as it is not viable to carry out the masses of work to make this immaculate and original, so I'm happy .My friends are loving Sparky, plus they now have 60% of thier money back, so not such a worry when driving down the track
.Only down side is that I didn't reduce my stock levels after all, but I will keep trying
.
Loving your work as ever Vern...
Sparkey is all road going again then?
OP
OP
Sparkey is all road going again then?
He certainly is. Needed a little more welding on the sills, a second hand passenger door, and the exhaust patching up. Hope Luke is pleased too, I know he was thinking of buying him back in a year or two.
OP
OP
Well, not only have I been revamping the engine bay on the good 4x4 but I've been working away on this one too. Cleaned up the paintwork so far, but will also be swapping the engine and gearbox for the one from my Sisley ( Agnes/ Dora ) as the gearbox in this one is past it's best. The Sisley's has only done 42,000 so will sit nicely in this one.
This one is supposed to have done 38,000 if you believe it's speedo, but I suspect it's done more than that, bodywork is pretty good but it drives like a much higher mileage car, think some swapping of parts has already gone on at some time in it's life.
Someone is interested in buying one of the two white 4x4's from me and is coming a long way at the end of the week to take home one of them, so both have to be up together in the next few days. I had plans for both of them, but in reality, if someone want's to give me good money for one and will treat it well I've got to let it go, it's not like I haven't got any others to play with .
Anyway, here's how she's looking at the mo.........
This one is supposed to have done 38,000 if you believe it's speedo, but I suspect it's done more than that, bodywork is pretty good but it drives like a much higher mileage car, think some swapping of parts has already gone on at some time in it's life
.Someone is interested in buying one of the two white 4x4's from me and is coming a long way at the end of the week to take home one of them, so both have to be up together in the next few days
. I had plans for both of them, but in reality, if someone want's to give me good money for one and will treat it well I've got to let it go, it's not like I haven't got any others to play with .Anyway, here's how she's looking at the mo.........
Last edited:
Looking good Vern. Out of interest are you going to swap the speedos over so that it matches the gearbox?
Edit: might look a bit odd with Sisley clocks in a none Sisley?
Edit: might look a bit odd with Sisley clocks in a none Sisley?
OP
OP
No Jon, speedos can stay as they are.
Nice job V
OP
OP
Engine and gearbox are out of the Sisley, just cleaning them up a little before they go in. The sump is quite rusty so I'll swap it with a very good one that's on the engine that came out of the other 4x4, are you keeping up with this? .
Don't have time to do the same sort of job as I have on the other 4x4, so this one's just getting a quick tidy up and maybe a bit of paint hear and there.
.Don't have time to do the same sort of job as I have on the other 4x4, so this one's just getting a quick tidy up and maybe a bit of paint hear and there.
OP
OP
Well the 4x4 was picked up by it's new owner today after a frantic Sunday/Monday morning to get it finished. It doesn't matter how long you have, you always need another day .
Along the way the engine got a new cambelt and tensioner, s/plugs, oil and filter, and fresh antifreeze. Gearbox also got new oil of course, but despite only having done 42,000 miles third gear syncro was a little weak. On driving back home from my workshop to meet up with David (new owner) I also found that the speedo didn't work, I couldn't have located properly when re-fitting. The Sisley the engine and box came out of had been undriveable for the last 4 years so I had no idea what to expect once it was all fitted, but I was optimistic due to the low mileage. Well, apart from the 3rd gear syncro it all seemed fine, it started easily, and on the 70 mile dash back home the engine felt very strong. Finally, the gearchange was good, even good enough for Barbara to be happy to drive it a short distance .
We (Barbara and I) were also able to clean up the interior, but the front seats still didn't pass scrutiny so I swapped them for another pair which were like new. I checked with David first and he didn't mind the trim mismatch.
Also, I found that the n/s strut was leaking so I changed that for a good used one. When swapping the engines I remove all of the hub/driveshaft, track control arm, tie bar assemblies, and while doing so I noticed that some of the bolts holding all of this were a little on the loose side, so when putting it all back I made sure that everything was good and tight. What a difference this made! the car felt much more solid and stable. It did leave David with a steering wheel to re-align though, best he gets the tracking checked too.
David is an infrequent Forum member so hopefully he will update us from time to time on how it's going.
.Along the way the engine got a new cambelt and tensioner, s/plugs, oil and filter, and fresh antifreeze. Gearbox also got new oil of course, but despite only having done 42,000 miles third gear syncro was a little weak
. On driving back home from my workshop to meet up with David (new owner) I also found that the speedo didn't work, I couldn't have located properly when re-fitting. The Sisley the engine and box came out of had been undriveable for the last 4 years so I had no idea what to expect once it was all fitted, but I was optimistic due to the low mileage. Well, apart from the 3rd gear syncro it all seemed fine, it started easily, and on the 70 mile dash back home the engine felt very strong. Finally, the gearchange was good, even good enough for Barbara to be happy to drive it a short distance .We (Barbara and I) were also able to clean up the interior, but the front seats still didn't pass scrutiny so I swapped them for another pair which were like new
. I checked with David first and he didn't mind the trim mismatch.Also, I found that the n/s strut was leaking so I changed that for a good used one. When swapping the engines I remove all of the hub/driveshaft, track control arm, tie bar assemblies, and while doing so I noticed that some of the bolts holding all of this were a little on the loose side, so when putting it all back I made sure that everything was good and tight. What a difference this made! the car felt much more solid and stable. It did leave David with a steering wheel to re-align though, best he gets the tracking checked too.
David is an infrequent Forum member so hopefully he will update us from time to time on how it's going
.
