Collected her this evening and loving her.

Got some pic's here;


I'm going to take aload tomorrow in the light, and will also do a write up. Really shattered now though and about to go to bed, as I had to drive into Norwich before Ipswich and have done a fair bit of driving today

Jon.

P.s. Never knew the Sisley was a limited edition, limited to only 500

Makes me feel special now

Jon, They were a limited edition initally but they then became a standard car for nearly the full run off panda 4x4 importation to the UK....

you have far too many

more pics

nice, i miss mine, sometimes but then I remember the winter starts

Re: The write-up

Well, been out for my first drive this morning

Took her upto the local holiday camp which our friends owns and took masses of pics. Most are in my gallery, but here are a few;




The car seems to drive fine. 4x4 enguages, and what a difference it makes even when driving just on grass! As you can see from the pic's she isn't in showroom conditon but for £468 (or £400 if you take away the 6 months tax worth £66) she's not a bad buy.

The gearbox feel sturdy, but grides into 3rd sometimes. This is they syncro I was told Is this the start of gearbox problems which the 4x4's suffer with. As far as that goes is it going to become a bigger problem, or something that's ok if I don't mind living with it?

The doors look rust free at the bottom, but the driverside lock causes me concern (see pic).

I've decided that when the 4x4 is re-MOTed I'm going to get the Selecta Sorn and run the 4x4 for the time being. A change is as good as a rest in-all and I think I'm really going to have some fun with her when I go back to college. I've already had a friend with a Defender say we'll have to go to a local 4x4 place to try it out .

Everyone at college seems more excited than I was about getting the 4x4. Can't think why lol.

Come insurance renewal I'm then going to see what insurance want to sting me for covering the 4x4 and Selecta (I've still a soft spot for the auto, the 4x4 hasn't compleatly stolen the show ).

The 4x4 is going in for a timing belt change on Friday, as it's unknown when it was last done (better safe than sorry).

The 4x4 has had alot of work done. Including Clutch, Exhaust, Brakes etc which I have all the reciepts for, so it all backs up the fact that £468 was a bargin!

The only other down side is that the bonnet cable has gone (can't be seen hanging out in a few pics), so I'm to order a replacement from Fiat. How hard are these to fit? When there getting the bonnet cable, I'm also going to order a proper Panda 3rd brakelight (Urchin posted the part number a while back so need to do a quick search). Also there is a nasty chip in the corner of the windscreen which dosen't look repairable and will probably spread, but atleast being fully comp, I can always get a replacement screen for £50.

Now my biggest question is do I keep it stock?

As you know I'm not a boy racer, body kit and alloy's person, but should I fit an Alarm (well think I'm going to anyway) and central locking like I have to all the other Panda's. I'm also wondering if I'm going to miss the tacho meter I have fitted in my Selecta that much

Jon.


Ps, please comment on the pic's.

She looks ruddy good value for money Jon, especially the way the price for the other one is going

Do we see you hunting on fleabay for a driver's door soon ?


Trev

udtrev said:

Do we see you hunting on fleabay for a driver's door soon ?

Click to expand...

Yes, extreamly good value

Yes, going to place a add in the wanted section. I already have a set of white doors rust free, but the driver's on is likly to be having to go onto my White Selecta. Collected dad's from the body shop today and he had a quick look over my car, and he reacons with the door replaced (because of the root around the window) he could do all the rust for about £300-£500 depending upon if I have a respray So we'll have to see about that

But Yes, that 4x4 I have is going to put chelsea tractors to shame! Give it a week of having it a college, and it will be covered in mud!

Jon.

Crunching into 3rd is a trait I've found on all manual Pandas. You'll learn to avoid it with practice but the key is to be smooth. On a 2nd to 3rd upshift you might want to try, say, a quarter-press of the throttle as you make the shift to match the revs up. Same works on downshifts and I found heel-and-toeing quite easy with the Panda pedals, though someone taller than myself might not find it so easy.

You'll be swapping cogs like Scumacher in no time.

FuzzyPanda said:

Crunching into 3rd is a trait I've found on all manual Pandas. You'll learn to avoid it with practice but the key is to be smooth. On a 2nd to 3rd upshift you might want to try, say, a quarter-press of the throttle as you make the shift to match the revs up. Same works on downshifts and I found heel-and-toeing quite easy with the Panda pedals, though someone taller than myself might not find it so easy.

You'll be swapping cogs like Scumacher in no time.

Click to expand...

Ta for the info. So it's not just a 4x4 thing then. Strange as both the 705L and 1000CL have an extra 20K on the clock and no problems with gearboxes (although they're 4 speed and this is 5), I did notice it didn't do it to badly sometimes, so must have been the speeds all matched up well .

I'll get used to it, as long as it dosen't mean the box will die in 3 months time

have you tried the 4x4 on road, mine worked on grass but found it was broke when driving on tarmac

gaz.d said:

have you tried the 4x4 on road, mine worked on grass but found it was broke when driving on tarmac

Click to expand...

What 4WD? I used it on grass as far as accelerating and front wheels spinning and when 4WD is enguaged it don't spin, but the whole car shifts!

On tarmac when cornering, you get transmtion wind-up, which causes the rear wheels to jump/hop. You can hear this and it's not doing the system any good nor the tyres.

So what happened you yours on tarmac then

nice car i want to get one at some point, nearly got one off of here but it fell through but i'm more than happy with the sedici at the moment.

just how good are they off road though?:chin:

Jon...it looks like RED OXIDE PAINT on the bottom of your doors.
I coated the inside of my doors with the stuff (and other places) on the cars i owned in the 70's and 80's. Seemed to always work great in stopping the rust!!!!
Might even start using it again....just need to apply it to clean area after treating any rust.
There is prob better stuff on the market (modern times and all that) but always worked for me.

kev

Most Easterly Pandas said:

What 4WD? I used it on grass as far as accelerating and front wheels spinning and when 4WD is enguaged it don't spin, but the whole car shifts!

On tarmac when cornering, you get transmtion wind-up, which causes the rear wheels to jump/hop. You can hear this and it's not doing the system any good nor the tyres.

So what happened you yours on tarmac then

Click to expand...

exactly what your describing surely it not meant to happen, my car wouldnt move with it and didnt do the new red tarmac'd road i live on any good

Jon, try changing the oil to something more 1980's....

I got some vintage 90 gear oil and it does make the box quieter and cuts down on crunching but it makes it harder to get into gear when the oil is cold

Jim

Looks lovely ! I like the sunroof.

gaz.d said:

exactly what your describing surely it not meant to happen, my car wouldnt move with it and didnt do the new red tarmac'd road i live on any good

Click to expand...

Yea, it's basic's of transmition wind up because it's a locked differential, and both rear wheels turn at the same time, so it means when turning full lock the inside wheel is turning less turns to the outside wheel, but because the diff is locked, it won't let it.

Not sure if it's constantly locked. Must be I suppose even when 2WD is engauged.

e505jpy said:

Jon, try changing the oil to something more 1980's....

I got some vintage 90 gear oil and it does make the box quieter and cuts down on crunching but it makes it harder to get into gear when the oil is cold

Jim

Click to expand...

It does sound tempting. A project for college maybe. I know the stuff I think. Seen it in some auto shops. Only thing it a gearbox oil change has been done within the last 12 months (got invoice somewhere) so tempted not to if you know what I mean

zulu705 said:

Looks lovely ! I like the sunroof.

Click to expand...

Thanks. Yea the sunroof can be compleatly removed in seconds by pulling a few clips, so will be ideal for someone to stand out of Lamping when I get back to college. I can see us having so much fun in her.

I'm looking on eBay at the mo, for a roof mountable light bar for some spots (the removable type, almost like a single roof rack bar).

Jon.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

I'm looking on eBay at the mo, for a roof mountable light bar for some spots (the removable type, almost like a single roof rack bar).

Jon.

Click to expand...

Jon,

could you not do the normal 4x4 thing and get a standard roof bar and add spots to it ?

If you are green laning try to get thin lights and mount them UNDER the bar so branches etc miss leave them be (a camera could be mounted there too).

hmmmmm night laning, 4x4 porn - time for a cold shower !

Trev

zulu705 said:

Looks lovely ! I like the sunroof.

Click to expand...

udtrev said:

Jon,

could you not do the normal 4x4 thing and get a standard roof bar and add spots to it ?

If you are green laning try to get thin lights and mount them UNDER the bar so branches etc miss leave them be (a camera could be mounted there too).

Click to expand...

When you say the normal 4x4 thing what do you mean

I was going to buy this; http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7988691115&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT (mainly cos I got a £10 eBay voucher to spend on P+P, so it will only cost me £37 )

Is there anything else out there which would be better?

That's a good idea about mounting them under the bar, and the camera

Jon.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

When you say the normal 4x4 thing what do you mean

I was going to buy this;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7988691115&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT (mainly cos I got a £10 eBay voucher to spend on P+P, so it will only cost me £37 )

Is there anything else out there which would be better?

That's a good idea about mounting them under the bar, and the camera

Jon.

Click to expand...

Jon,

I mean that a lot of 4x4 guys who go for roof mounted lights go for a roof bar (1/2 of the normal roof bar set up, ie the front bar only)

The cunning ones then mount the lights UNDER the bar so that they don't get knocked off.

To illustrate



If you have the lights back a bit on the roof they do not reflect off the bonnet



Trev