General And so it begins

[Harllequin]

Well Sunday was day one of the Panda resurrection.

I have taken photos of the before
Not been able to post any yet due to being too busy but I’ll try and get them sorted ASAP.

Fist job was to get it running. Renewed all the fuel lines to the carb. Easy job just annoying due to the cold weather making the pipes all hard and a pain to work with :bang:

Turned the ignition and there was life!!!!

Next came the clean up. First was a good coat of de-greaser. Then a might blast of hot water from my jet washer. Alas this blast also included the kitchen as the hot water made the hose pipe a little too soft and it blew off the tap :bang: Her who must be obeyed was not amused
Under all that oil and dirt was actually an engine!

Then came the tedious job of drying it all out again. Mind aren’t plugs 2 and 3 designed very stupid. There is a natural well where the plugs go that makes the water level over half way up the plug

Off came the rocker cover next and while off I took the time to fully clean out the breathers. They were so full of ick that only petrol/paraffin mix would shift it proper. A new gasket and 2 coats of instant gasket later and hay presto the rocker cover oil leak is no more. Score one for our side.

Change the plugs, air filter, dump the old oil, put 2 lots of flushing oil through it and then change the oil filter and then refill with a nice good 15/50 oil.

Ignition timing checked via a strobe light and lo and behold it was spot on

Downed tools for the night at 4pm.

Today (Monday)

Happy with the engine now running sweet and starting within the first 3 turns I moved onto the breaking system.

The rear wheel cylinder did not in fact have a leek. It had a bloody fountain
Alas I didn’t get a pic of this as my hands were slightly covered in what can only be described as thick graphite style grease :yuck:

Cleaned it all up with degreaser, petrol and paraffin. Attempted to remove the break pipe from the cylinder but it wouldn’t budge. So cut the pipe flush at the cylinder and made a new end using my break pipe gubins. Replaced with a new cylinder and set about bleeding / flushing the entire breaking system.

That done, I tackled the rear shockers. What an easy job that was! I had been wire brushing the nuts most of the day and applying WD40. This seemed to have done the trick as they came off very easy. Just need the new ones to arrive at my local motor factors.

Changed the Tailgate and reconnected all the electrics and water and fitted my old lock to the new door.

Downed tools again at 4pm and chilled out in readiness to come to work for nightshift tonight

With the new shockers coming tomorrow it’s M.O.T. time.

I’ll let you know how that goes if the new shockers arrive.

Here endeth Panda saga pt 1


Darren

 

[Harllequin]

Shockers here today and all fitted but alas no M.O.T.

They cant get me booked in untill Thursday.

Oh well i'll just have to play with it some more untill then, weather permiting :yuck:

Darren

 

[pandafan]

Well done that man !
It took me about six months to get as far as you have..................

 

[Harllequin]

Well it is now decided. Tommorow I'm going to change the discs on the front

I bought them today at the outlandish cost of 14 quid for 2

A day without work on the Panda is just not good at all.

I also booked an internal Valet for the car for Friday. I explained the state of the inside, the oil covered seats, pipe smoke yellowed paintwork and head cloth and the absolute stink of old tool box and christ knows what else.

They say 30 pound and 2 hours work

 

[HP]

Good work that man, always a good feeling when you breathe new life into a motor

 

[JonnyBoy]

Good to see an old motor being resurrected hope it all goes well!

 

[Steven]

You're not hanging about anyway!

If you are having problems hosting the pictures email them to me and I'll host them for you.

 

[Harllequin]

Thanks Steve butr I have space with my isp. Just not the time to get em onto the comp and uploaded.

Although i could do them from work here tommorow

 

[Steven]

No bother. Looking forward to seeing them.

 

[Harllequin]

Changed the front disks today and renewed the pads.

Then attacked the rear of the car where the tailgate is with the good old angle grinder. The came the plating. Almost late for work I was haveing too much fun

I have my camera in at work so once it's quiet i'll be loading the pics on here

 

[Harllequin]

Here are the pics of the car body and a close up of one of the rust spots.

 

[Harllequin]

Here is the nice and black engine

 

[Harllequin]

This is the first of my welding jobs. I have included the before and after.

I find there is no point just cutting little holes. Best to cut back to good solid metal then plate away after that. Makes the job a lot easier and last longer.

Tommorow i'll add the filler and you will never tell it's been plated

 

[Steven]

Good job with the welding! Much tidier than I can manage...

It's obviously been neglected for quite a while, it's a rough wee car. It does have a rather cool Fiat accessory aerial on the passenger door hinge cover. I'm looking for one of these!

Your neighbours must think you're mad, at least that's if they're anything like my neighbours.

 

[Steven]

Oh, and was it resprayed at some point. I've never seen a two tone Panda that colour before.

 

[pandafan]

Hey Darren, I'm more than a little impressed so far, my friend.
But.............I have a feeling that you're going to 'pretty it up' so that it's off-road capabilities are compromised. Please; prove me wrong.

 

[Harllequin]

Respray is being too kind. More like a re brush

Killing the Off Road aspect of the car will not be an option! However who said it cant look good covered in mud!!

Pandafan did you get my mail ok?

 

[pandafan]

e-mail ?..............don't know. I'll check again in the morning !

 

[Giacosa]

Cool welding Darren , Que lots of panda owners setting fire to their trousers with MIGs Did you use a mig welder? How easy was it to fabricate the flange where the two pressings come together Im suprised you didnt remove your rear bumper!

 

[Harllequin]

There was no need to remove the bumper as the metal was good within 7mm of the lip. The actual fabrication was very tricky

Cut a long section from a flat sheet of metal, bend it to 90 degree in a vice. Hold in place with mole grips, weld the whole bottom section first, then start with the top where it meets the original flange. Then it was just a case of weilding plates into place at the top.

All in all not a tricky job at all.

Next job is cutting out the rot in the front and rear wings / apex.
I'll do a before, during, during and after on that too.

So far my findings are that the bodywork is indeed very thin, however only where you haven't cut enough of the old rot out.
If you cut back to good un tin-rot metal the chance of blowing holes in the area are very slight. So far it's truely a pleasure to attack with an angle grinder and mig welder.

Oh BTW MOT sorted today and it's on the road