Hi all, i'm all new here to the forum an all ... I have recently bought a not sure of the yr of manufacture fiat panda super, with a 5 speed box, double rack roof and a BLOWN 1000 engine it had still water instead of oil, and orange juice instead of coolant. SO i decided to spend the little money i had left on a 1242 spi (60) instead of a 1000 (45)

new rings, and refurbished the head from top to bottom. new belts, fluids, tensioner, gaskets etc etc .. punto clutch with a panda trust bearing and VOILA now the thing that bothering me is a lot of free play in the wheels ... I was thinking of converting the front wishbones to customized rose joints .. any ideas ??? or maybe some1 has done something alike ?

thanks,
neil

Hi zazza, Welome to the Forum .

Congratulations on your conversion, I too have a 1242 Panda (mpi, 60bhp), makes a significant difference doesn't it . Bought the car already converted from Lewey, also on here. Soon to put a Punto 75 engine in one of my others too, so as a result I've been thinking of ways to tighten up the suspension too.
I don't know of anyone who's done any more than fit stiffer/ lower springs and uprated shocks so anything more than this will be pioneering work. I've considered a full rose joint setup as this would be the ideal, but it would, as you say have to be custom built, but if you have the skills or know someone who can build it for you, go for it!
I think with Pandas at our level of tune a rose joint setup is a little over the top though, so I will be looking into sourcing a poly bush kit. I don't think anyone makes them for Pandas so was going to approach a poly bush company to see what would be involved in having a set made. My guess is they would produce them if I bought a minimum no. of sets. So if anyone would be interested in a set let me know and I'll see if I can have them produced.

If you're after poly bushes, i think you can take the panda ones out and buy loose ones with the same sizes as the panda ones. To do a rose joint conversion you need a bit of space, which i do have and a little bit of time as well. On the 2nd i am a bit limited. The ball joints being a tapered bolt kind of, its a bit difficult to put a rose joint instead, but the pivot like on the wishbone on the inner side, that more likely to be converted to a rose joint in minutes, and also have the advantage to have an adjustable camber at the moment im more into getting it stiffer on the tarmac, since tarmac in our country is a total disaster, especially at noon when the sun is at it's best 35 ish after that i ll have to put my mind on brakes since it's very difficult to stop the little car !!! then I ll try to get a 75 mpi inlet injectors and rail .. but its a bit impossible at the moment i cant find any ;/

A good way to help the handling is to fit a front anti-roll bar from the Lancia Y10 if you can find one.

Y10 in this country is like gold on the streets in the uk it doesnt have the worst handling at all, it's ALOT better than an UNO and for a small car like the panda.. its AMAZING my only problem is that from when i converted to the 1242 the front of the car seems to have gotten higher and the front wheels have a bit of possible camber ( which is noticeable ) ...