Found in a so so condition Seat Marbella 94 0.9L 29kw
The biggest problem is that the gears make noise when going in.
The most problematic are the gears from 1 to 3.

As it is a rather old car and i haven't found any gearbox spares in Estonia Maybe someone knows where to find some in the rest of the world?

PS maybe anyone has found links to a online repair manual for coinciding panda, seat, alfa or smth? I would be grateful for the link.

More of the car:
The lower corners are filled with Polyurethane Foam but still quite strong
some rust bubbles here and there.
Overall condition is decent.

I wonder how many different types of gearboxes did Pandas and it's copies have and are they exchangeable with each other?

ullivilli said:

I wonder how many different types of gearboxes did Pandas and it's copies have and are they exchangeable with each other?

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Marbella's as you may already know share the 903cc engine with the Panda, so if you want a gearbox itself you'll need to find yourself another Marbella or a Panda with the 903cc engine, all the other engines Panda's came with have different gearboxes that don't fit against the 903cc engine.

Or you could just try changing gear slower

So as I understand all panda, Fiat 127 and some other gearboxes work 1:1 whatever the kw etc are, as long as they are for the 903cc motor?


Tried slower but it still makes a painful noise.
+ it is a pocket rocket and will not be as fun if i have to drive it any different to like i would have stolen it

As far as Iam concerned marbella 903 with 5 speed gearbox has different gearbox than panda 903 with 5 speed. Panda 5 speed is old 4 speed , type "fiat-127" with 5th gear added two rods for gear change, and in the marbella you have "fiat-128" type gearbox,one rod gear change, like in seat ronda , seat ibiza 903ccm but with bellhousing to fit 903 ohv not 1.1 to 1.5 ohc like in fiat cars. It is bigger gearbox, bigger bearings thicker shafts, different tripods, everything is a bit bigger because the output power/torque of the fiat 128 family cars was greater than 127 family. At least my gearbox in my marbella 1991 is a "big 5" type with one single rod under the car for a gear change. Marbella 903ccm but with 4 speed gearbox has the same box like 4 or 5speeds box from panda.

So if looking for parts for 5 gear box from marbella try parts for 128, ritmo, regata, uno, itp cars with lampredi ohc under the hood 1.1 to 1.5 liter, or another marbella 5 gears box.

Not too many Marbellas around. Only one 2cyl model in a forum and that's about it in Estonia.

But is there any data laying around to check what kind of box it is and what parts will it take?

Or in the other hand what car gear boxes it is exchangeable with if the spares are hard to find maybe some working gearboxes.
will the a fiat 128, ritmo, regata, uno box sit there 1:1 or unlikely?

As if it takes only 5g marbella boxes were pretty screwed.

I had a engine sent from ebay Italy to the uk.

I am sure you can get a seat gearbox sent from Spain, Italy, France, Germany etc. check out eBay from these countries.

what about a fiat Cinquecento? the 899cc engine is the same as the 903cc engine. i cant see why the gear box would be any different. plus you can get both 4 speed and 5 speed cinquecento gearboxes.
just dont get one from out of a cinquecento sporting as that has the 1.1 FIRE engine gearbox so it would not mount up to the OHV engine.

any cinquecento SX should have the 899cc engine.
worth looking into. as far as i can tell both gearboxes are identical.

Dragon Man said:

what about a fiat Cinquecento? the 899cc engine is the same as the 903cc engine. i cant see why the gear box would be any different. plus you can get both 4 speed and 5 speed cinquecento gearboxes.
just dont get one from out of a cinquecento sporting as that has the 1.1 FIRE engine gearbox so it would not mount up to the OHV engine.

any cinquecento SX should have the 899cc engine.
worth looking into. as far as i can tell both gearboxes are identical.

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Pssst...Sei SX got the 1108 from 2001

thats why i said cinquecento

I would prefer to repair the old gearbox to be sure and not exchange it with a box about what i know nothing about.

But as i understand the parts for the cinquecento might go in as well or how likely would it to find spares?
Maybe it is a better idea to put one together out of two?

ullivilli said:

I would prefer to repair the old gearbox to be sure and not exchange it with a box about what i know nothing about.

But as i understand the parts for the cinquecento might go in as well or how likely would it to find spares?
Maybe it is a better idea to put one together out of two?

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How likely is down to you as you know Estonia better than we do as I guess your not keen to import. Or go to your local gearbox guy and get him to rebuild it.

ullivilli said:

I would prefer to repair the old gearbox to be sure and not exchange it with a box about what i know nothing about.

But as i understand the parts for the cinquecento might go in as well or how likely would it to find spares?
Maybe it is a better idea to put one together out of two?

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well i have owned both cars, as far as i have found the only differences to be that the gear linkages on the cinquecento box is that they are cable. where as the older marbella uses rods.

i would have thought that the internals of the gear box would be identcal given that the engines are about the same, and same(ish) power. about 5bhp difference.
one other thing to take into consideration is that the 899cc cinquecento SX engine also uses the same water pump, alternator, thermostat and oil filter.
in fact the only differance between the 899cc engine and the 903cc marbella engine is the cylinder head. (made smaller on the 899cc engine to pass some law/tax in italy)

hope this helps!

Bartpanda may be able to shed more light on the difference between the two engines and gearboxes. he is very knowledgeable!

Probably the likelihood of finding spares was a bit of a foolish question as in Italy i think it is anything but a problem.

But i found one other rust bucket Marbella on a auction.
Presumably it is a 94 but you never know as papers tolerate aything.
But the seller says it is a 4cyl 896cc engine with 29KW

I can not find anything about the Marbella engine like that but i found it on a Panda.
The main question is are the gearboxes compliant or at least parts of it?
As there is a chance to get cheap it would save some on parts if they are the same. If not, then i have two gear box problemed cars.

So the seller says:
The car has not driven for four years.
And it was left because it had a gearbox problem.
The gearbox has been taken apart but it has all the necesary parts to put it back together.

Can't tell you what kind of a gearbox is in the spares car you want to buy and which I do not see but the main eye-catching difference between small "127 type" gearbox from panda 903ccm{4 or 5 speed} and big "128 type" gearbox from marbella 903ccm 5 speed is that 127 type has two rods for gear change{or one rod one cable or two cables, it depends on the year of production and application}, and the gear change mechanism is always at the top of the box. 128type has one rod down at the bottom of the box. Check the type of box you have and find parts from the same type of box, or buy box from any fwd fiat with 903/899ohv engine, it will fit the engine mounts but there will be some mods with gear change mechanism, since there were at least three types of it , all for different 903 ohv boxes.

Your problem sounds like worn out synchro rings on the gear 1/2 and 2/3, maby the spare parts marbella you are interrested in has them ok, maby ask the seller what was wrong with the box.

Seller said it is a 5 gear box and remembered like it had 5 gears and one stick but i wouldn't be too sure about the sticks.

He said that the box jammed somehow.
What does it mean and how exactly not sure either.
Something like from reverse to first and then no gears went in.

So now we have two Violet Seat Marbellas Ahhhh
The idea is to make one MOT legal and then do the other

And we found a guy who has a few 127 gearboxes so we'll see.


PS has anyone found a good haynes for the Marbella or equivalent panda?
And a parts catalog or smth, like Audi has the Vagcat with pictures, to find the original part codes?

I have no words and i am a bit confused is it a hobby or a sickness



Any way now we have two Marbellas with gearbox problems.

On the plus side, you have a very nice garage...

purple haze said:

On the plus side, you have a very nice garage...

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Out of the frame there are two red taunuses but no working marbella gearboxes