Technical Panda 4x4 Antarctica very low miles, some queries

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Technical Panda 4x4 Antarctica very low miles, some queries

GEM? Just googled it - Guild of Experienced Motorists? Who, what, why, where? I'm intrigued, never heard of them.

Used to be know as the CVM (Company of Veteran Motorists) which was a motoring club for the aspiring motorist in the 50's and 60's my dad was a member for many years and used to have a big V badge on his car. He even had a badge bar. Each year they would send a small plastic disc with the drivers years of experience. I remember it was knocking on 50 when he was chucked out after being done for careless driving that resulted in a collision. Now they let anyone in, hence I joined. GEM has come along since. I got a pretty large discount for being a RoSPA Advanced driver It saved about £60, The breakdown cover is apparently highly rated so there are three of us covered for any car, even if a passenger - costs about £130 which I think is good value. Lots of other stuff and a magazine a few times a year which is quite readable. The expert seemed to know his stuff and we had a long and interesting chat about the benefits and dangers of adding a catch can with atmospheric vent. I have decided to pass on that for the time being!
 
Used to be know as the CVM (Company of Veteran Motorists) which was a motoring club for the aspiring motorist in the 50's and 60's my dad was a member for many years and used to have a big V badge on his car. He even had a badge bar. Each year they would send a small plastic disc with the drivers years of experience.

Oh wow! Sudden flashback being experienced! My Dad, kneeling in front of his brand new 3.8 Mk2 Jag (his pride and joy) fixing his old yellow and chromed AA badge and that "V" badge to the badge bar! Haven't thought about my Dad (died many years ago) in some time due to being so busy with grandchildren etc. Feeling quite emotional!
regards
Jock
 
Oh wow! Sudden flashback being experienced! My Dad, kneeling in front of his brand new 3.8 Mk2 Jag (his pride and joy) fixing his old yellow and chromed AA badge and that "V" badge to the badge bar! Haven't thought about my Dad (died many years ago) in some time due to being so busy with grandchildren etc. Feeling quite emotional!
regards
Jock

While staggering down memory lane - we appear to be the same age and (though I'm a committed sassenach) I was at the Royal High School in Edinburgh 60 years ago - if you were in Auld Reekie at the same time we may have played rugby against one another. At the time I'd found a 1932 MG J2 in a scrapyard and my father and I were restoring it - dread to think what it's worth now.
 
While staggering down memory lane - we appear to be the same age and (though I'm a committed sassenach) I was at the Royal High School in Edinburgh 60 years ago - if you were in Auld Reekie at the same time we may have played rugby against one another. At the time I'd found a 1932 MG J2 in a scrapyard and my father and I were restoring it - dread to think what it's worth now.
At that time I would have been 12/13 years old, based in the Scottish Borders and being packed off to an obscure boarding school in the highlands. We played a lot of "character building" games followed by cold plunge baths! Rugby featured strongly - which was a pity because although in the 1st XV I never really enjoyed it! We played the likes of Lathallen, Strathallen, Fettes, Gordonstoun and others. I don't remember playing the Royal High, but maybe we did.

Spookily, at around that time I also found a car in a scrap yard - 1930 two seater Morris Minor found in "Jonny" Mid's yard (It's a Tesco now!) - like you I wish I still had it, wouldn't be worth J2 money I'm sure but still quite desirable I would guess? Unfortunately I pretty much wrecked it by "rallying" it around my Dad's and next door's farm fields during the school holidays. I also had an old 350 AJS scrambler which I roared round the same fields. Taught me a great deal about car/bike control though which has stood me in good stead on a number of occasions.

I didn't "discover" the big city (Edinburgh) until after having failed spectacularly to excel academically at school, in my late teens, I was packed off to a "crammer" in Edinburgh under dire threat of "excommunication" if I didn't get enough qualifications to go to college!
 
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Car going into McLennan's next Thursday, purchased all parts myself with the help of you guys. Sent an email to Stewart and spoke to him on phone he seemed very nice. This is the work that will be getting done

CARRY OUT SERVICE = ALL PARTS SUPPLIED
(OIL, OIL FILTER, AIR FILTER, POLLEN FILTER, COOLANT, SUMP PLUG, SPARK PLUGS, REAR PADS & DISCS)
REMOVE FRONT BRAKE PADS, CLEAN OUT CALIPERS & REFIT PADS TEST BRAKE FLUID & CHANGE IF REQD.
RUN DIAGNOSTIC SCAN & RESET CONTROL UNITS
FIT 2 TYRES & FIT BEST TYRE REMOVED TO STEEL SPARE WHEEL

He has sent me a quote and I think its pretty reasonable, what kind of money do you guys think!

Thanks again for all your help
 
Main dealer would want £800 maybe for all of this. What tyres have you gone for? Car will then be as mechanically perfect as it's going to get. I'd happily use yours confident won't be any issues. :) Thankfully as you've a Panda that doesn't run permanent four wheel drive you don't need 4 tyres. I had all 4 as wasn't much in remaining life. And in winter cheaper to stay in one piece. You have to have 4 winter or 4 summer tyres by the way.
 
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Its the original winter tyres that's on the car, so purchased the 2 175 65 15 84T tyres that The Panda Nut had for sale. Putting the 2 new ones on the car and 1 of the removed tyres is going on my new PSW PW7355 6.00Jx15 4x98.00 ET35.00 steel wheel for a spare.

The quote that McLennan gave me for the work is £225 so as I said really happy with that. The car is due it's MOT in June so everything should be good.

The only other thing I was thinking about was the timing belt and water pump obviously not because of the mileage but because of the age, going to discuss this with garage.

Thanks
 
The auxiliary belt is what used to be known as a fan or alternator belt.

It runs off the crank pulley at the front of the engine
(remember this is a transverse engine so the front is the other end to gearbox) and powers the alternator and air con compressor, both of which are on the blind side behind the engine (bulk head side).

you can see here
http://www.auto-power-girl.com/imag...twinair_engine_with_85_hp_at_geneva-3988-9449

That does appear to be the right belt, twinair with air con. (the pic is a generic image)

Access isn't great, but it's quite simple once you get at the tensioner.
You don't need to slacken off the alternator mounts and rock the alternator forward like older cars, just lever the tensioner over to detension and slip the belt off, fit the new and when your release the tensioner, it puts the belt back under the correct tension.
There's usually something like a 1/2 inch cut in the tensioner to fit a ratchet or socket bar in to lever it over, though there could be a special tool to do these.

The timing chain is almost maintenance free.
They will wear and stretch like any chain, but it has it's own tensioner that will take up this slack to a certain level, though these tensioners can wear as well.

Generally, they are good for the life of the car if the oil is changed regularly with the correct grade and spec.

VW had a recent problem with dodgy, cheaply made chains that snapped, but it appears the one in the Twinair is better quality, not heard any horror stories about them.

I would leave the water pump well alone if it's not leaking.
It's common practice to swap them when changing a timing belt as when they fail they can take the belt out with it, and when the timing belt goes it takes the engine with it.
With the Twinair, I seem to think water pump driven direct from the end of balancer shaft.
 
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Very happy with how the car has been running this last week after the service at McLennan's. When I picked the car up Stewart was really informative and easy to talk too.

The car is due it's MOT on the 11th June, so decided to take it back to McLennan's.

I am away on holiday this week so left Pingu Panda with my brother, but he has been well warned to look after him.

Would really like to thank everyone for all the input and help, the forum does a great job.

Thanks
 
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