Hello everyone

I was an active member here at least 5 years ago while I was driving our family heir loom a 1988 Panda 1000CL.
Unfortunately when I was 17 I thought a 306 Dturbo would be much cooler, and subsequently I am now a huge VW mk2 golf fan, owning a mk2 GTD now as my daily car.

However, as with any family heir loom, the panda has been kept but not been cared for in the most ideal way.

It has been in our garage and started and driven occasionally, unfortunately the last time it was taken out it had no oil in the gearbox, even though I warned my dad the gaiter had perished and as a result the car should not be driven.

Anyway it happened, and the gearbox still has no oil in. It is noisy obviously but I feel this is a good time to treat the car to a 1.1 and 5 speed gearbox (if anyone has any opinions on this please let me know, as I am weary of deviating away from originality).

I'm 23 now and in my final year of uni, my friend has just moved to Japan and I thought what could be better than driving my favorite car to Japan and back when I finish uni. I study mechanical engineering and have fully rebuilt my golf's engine last year so I'm fairly positive about what lies ahead for the panda.

Now on to my question! If the car is going to complete a 20,000 mile journey around the world I need a decent gearbox.
What fiat gearboxes would be best to fit? It is currently a 4 speed rod only gearbox, but understand the later pandas has rod and cable which could be fitted if I could find one. Could I fit a cinquecento or seicento box, including their shifting mechanism. I'm assuming they are slightly more durable than the original boxes + can take some obtainable gearbox oil.

Btw, just to let everyone know I fully aim to bring this car back, its an heir loom as I say, but all heir looms have their stories to tell!

Thanks for reading my essay

Will

Leave it there and bring a Japanese one back.

just stick a decent standard box back on. I've just swapped off a quarter of a million mile box just because I figured I should and really looking at it there is surprisingly little wear. Keep it well lubed and 20k is a breeze.

Sounds like an awesome adventure! You could update as you go along (maybe have GPS tracking so we can all see you're progress :slayer.

Panda gear boxes are mostly fine as long as the clutch is working properly and you're not crunching into gear! Oh yeah fit a new clutch and check the oil seal isn't leaking to the input shaft. I got mine to Interlaken in Switzerland and part way back through france the clutch started to slip until it burn't the oil off then all was fine again

Then, just add fuel

Si

The 1000cl's are one of my favourite models, the carbed engine goes really well and is very easy to maintain, important factor for what you want to do. The 4spd gearbox is good too, just have it reconditioned before you go and it will be fine.

Cheers for the support! I've just had a look at the Japanese ones, they look very well specced, but I'm pretty happy with just my rear demister.

I think I will get the engine and box out and look into having the box recconed, are there any guides on how to DIY recon it? I think the Haynes might have some stuff.

The engine runs great, but when I was using it there was a bit of rumble/knocking which didn't sound great. Anyone have a good 999cc engine? I'd like to go with a 1108cc but then it technically wouldn't be a 1000cl!

I managed to get a 33k mile engine and gearbox from an UNO 45s. The UNOs gearbox is a 5 speed rod linkage unit, which I know needs a mouting changing, but can I just swap over the linkage stuff from my panda 4 speed?
My gear stick only has four gear numbers on it but will it allow me to select all the gears properly with the new 5 speed gearbox?
Thanks

Gear stick should be fine I believe