andrewlutley
New member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2017
- Messages
- 6
- Points
- 2
Hi everyone
Andrew here, from Ashtead, near Epsom, in Surrey.
We already have a Fiat Panda Sisley in the family, currently being driven by one of my daughters. She is keen to go on the Mongol Rally, hopefully in 2019, and I have bought another Panda (E314PFL) so that we can go in a mini convoy.
My Panda was bought in May and I thought that it would be a good idea to tell the story of its restoration on this forum. Others may learn from my mistakes and it will be a good discipline for me. I have a tendency to start projects without finishing them, so regular posts here will help me to keep my eye on the ball. Any suggestions will be very welcome.
The first task was to collect the car from Glinton in Cambridgeshire, 147 miles away, so my daughter drove me up in the other Panda. There was a noticeable smell of petrol on the way back and the windscreen wipers were perished.
I fitted new windscreen wipers: front (Bosch SP16) and rear (BoschSP13). They needed adapters to fit the wiper arms (possibly not original),which Halfords supplied from a Halfords wiper set.
I then took it to my local garage for the MOT. It failed on a U/S offside rear light (defective earth) and a leak in the fuel tank, which explained the petrol smell.
Sourcing a replacement fuel tank was not easy. In the end I bought one from C.T.R. SAS in Italy. They offer two thicknesses of steel and I opted for their heavy duty version. The fuel tank is exposed underneath the chassis and if I am going to be driving over the Mongolian Steppe, I want to minimise the risk of another hole in the tank.
With the new tank fitted and the earthing problem dealt with, it passed
its MOT.
Next instalment: the window blow out.
Andrew here, from Ashtead, near Epsom, in Surrey.
We already have a Fiat Panda Sisley in the family, currently being driven by one of my daughters. She is keen to go on the Mongol Rally, hopefully in 2019, and I have bought another Panda (E314PFL) so that we can go in a mini convoy.
My Panda was bought in May and I thought that it would be a good idea to tell the story of its restoration on this forum. Others may learn from my mistakes and it will be a good discipline for me. I have a tendency to start projects without finishing them, so regular posts here will help me to keep my eye on the ball. Any suggestions will be very welcome.
The first task was to collect the car from Glinton in Cambridgeshire, 147 miles away, so my daughter drove me up in the other Panda. There was a noticeable smell of petrol on the way back and the windscreen wipers were perished.
I fitted new windscreen wipers: front (Bosch SP16) and rear (BoschSP13). They needed adapters to fit the wiper arms (possibly not original),which Halfords supplied from a Halfords wiper set.
I then took it to my local garage for the MOT. It failed on a U/S offside rear light (defective earth) and a leak in the fuel tank, which explained the petrol smell.
Sourcing a replacement fuel tank was not easy. In the end I bought one from C.T.R. SAS in Italy. They offer two thicknesses of steel and I opted for their heavy duty version. The fuel tank is exposed underneath the chassis and if I am going to be driving over the Mongolian Steppe, I want to minimise the risk of another hole in the tank.
With the new tank fitted and the earthing problem dealt with, it passed
its MOT.
Next instalment: the window blow out.