Technical 4x4 rear axle question

[a73uk]

My question is, can a 4x4 rear suspension & axle bolt straight on a FWD model or is the floorpan different?

Ta!

 

[default_user]

Not sure of the year the rear suspension was changed but newer 2WD Pandas have a completely different set-up to the older ones. The newer ones have what's known as the Omega axle and are not interchangable with the older ones.

Older Pandas with leaf spring suspension will take the 4x4 rear axle but it would be pointless as you can't fit the propshaft. The body does not have the necessary mounting points for it.

 

[pandamaniac]

without the 4x4 transfer box you are cream crackered anyway!

 

[Harllequin]

Alas you are unable too. The 2WD model has a different floor pan to the 4x4.

Curiously though the seat Marbella has the same floor pan mounting points as a 4x4 though.

 

[lewey]

SEAT is basically Mk1 Panda. Back then, 4x4 and 2WD were the same floorplan. The Mk1 floor features were retained in Mk2 4x4 models.

 

[a73uk]

Thanks default, pandamaniac & harlequin!

I wasnt going to make a 4x4.. well, not in the conventional way anyway!

Thered be no use for a transmission tunnel in this application.

I`ll have to see if I can get pictures.. The boot floor is the same according to eper, but it has the mounts for the leaf springs, a crossrail & a couple of supports welded onto it.

Eper comes in handly but it only tells some of the story, underside pics would be useful to compare!

Am I right in thinking none of the 4x4`s got the omega type axle? Even the late European ones after the UK had stopped selling the Panda...

 

[a73uk]

I vaguely remember the Seat version getting the omega axle before the Panda, or was it the other way around...

There wasnt a 4x4 Marbella was there? or was there one in Europe!

 

[lewey]

I vaguely remember the Seat version getting the omega axle before the Panda, or was it the other way around...

There wasnt a 4x4 Marbella... or was there one in Europe!

You misunderstand. The Marbella was a Mk1 Panda. They only got license to make these, so they stuck with it forever. Mk1 Pandas used same floor for 2WD and 4WD. They all had leaf springs back then. All Mk2 4WD Pandas until death in 2003 use leaf springs like the Mk1 design. If you think about it, the Omega is never going to work as anything other than a dead axle.

I happened to take underside pics of my car today as I was getting an exhaust hanger replaced after it snapped:

 

[a73uk]

I did wonder if I had it the other way round lewey!

I know the omega was a dead axle, I just wondered if the late 4x4`s went from leaf to coil springing to allow easy fitment of the rear axle.

Wouldnt be that hard to fit hanger mounts for leaves though...

Cheers for the pic lewey, that was handy! now we need the undercarrage of a 4x4 to compare it to...

 

[sutjeska]

I vaguely remember the Seat version getting the omega axle before the Panda, or was it the other way around...

There wasnt a 4x4 Marbella was there? or was there one in Europe!

There's 4x4 Marbella in Poland. My friend, member of polish panda club, made her - underpinnings from rotten Mk. I 4x4, body from Marbella.

Sutjeska

 

[lewey]

There's one of everything, I've learnt!