Technical Fuel tank

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Technical Fuel tank

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Jun 30, 2008
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First apologies if this posts twice!
Does anybody else with a late model Panda (mine is a 94 Colour) have one of these fastenings on the strap attached to the heat shield?
All my screwdrivers / screwdriver bits are too small. Any ideas for undoing it?
Thank you. 20200919_162324.jpeg
 
No not yet! I have tried all sorts of screwdriver type bits but then just as I was about to have to resort to a Dremel I have been busy helping my son move, and the whether has been ****e!
Is this a standard fitting? Any ideas?
 
Thank you. I thought it didn't look standard. It's annoying because it held me up. And I couldn't find the Dremel. Turned out my son had borrowed it and I had forgotten. I will get back on it soon. Thank you.
 
Had another go at this today. Apparently it is a roofing bolt that has been put in there by somebody in the past! The head is quite soft so it is churning up very easily which doesn't help.
I can't get an angle on it to punch it round, or grind flats on to it beacuse it is sunk between the fuel tank and the heat shield . I think I will have to see if I can get the heat shield out of the way so I can come at it from the side.
 
Probably the longest time ever for a subject update!
In my defence I have been busy with more important family matters.
But finally today I got back under the Panda and in the end had to drill it out. It was indeed a roofing bolt. Also I discovered the remains of what were probably the original tank straps underneath the more recent rusty tank straps!
So now I have shiny new stainless steel straps courtesy of Panda Colour Chris, but boy oh boy is the fastening that is pretty much underneath the rear axle central bush A PITA to get at. I managed to undo it with miniscule ratchet movements on a 13mm 3/8 socket from the exhaust side just to loosen it, followed by a 1/4 inch ratchet with 2 extensions and a flexible drive to remove it. But trying to do that in reverse seems impossible because of the difficulty in lining everything up straight so it doesn't cross thread.
Has anybody else done it? Don't really want to have to take the beam axle just for 1 bolt but it looks like I might have to.
Any suggestions gratefully received!
 
Yep, having done it I can confirm that it genuinely is easier to just bite the bullet and drop the rear beam. You don't have to take it right off, just remove the big centre bolt and it gives you that bit more wriggle room, you can get away without having to get the brake pipes apart.
 
So I took the beam axle off. Quite straightforward in the end.
I have tried to undo the centre bush bracket just to inspect it but it seems to be a lot tighter than the specified torque. An air impact wrench of medium capacity is not touching it.
Just wondering whether to just leave the bush alone or definitely get the bracket off to inspect it. Car is a 94 Colour on 77k miles.
Any advice gratefully received.
 
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