Styling Camel trophy panda.

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Styling Camel trophy panda.

Albert Alfvag

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Joined
Jun 30, 2015
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Uppsala
Hello everyone. Just thought I'd share my little project with you for fun, since I've been asking questions on here for years but never really shown much.

The plan is to turn my trusty white 1988 panda 4x4 i.e. into a camel trophy panda, idea shamlessly stolen from an old post on here.

Mind you this is not a full restoration thing. This is my daily driver since almost five years and this is just to turn it into something a little more interesting, so no repainting on the inside or things like that.

Before painting I hade to get some rust sorted out, this is sweden and salty winter roads aren't the best thing.

Biggest problem was where there are three layers of steel right beside the front leaf spring attachment. The innermost layer was completely rusted up and had to be replaced. To tight to get up in there from the inside so away came the outer panel. The factory spotwelds along the bottom seam had also detached about half way down the seam so I basically replaced half the outer sil.

Alot more difficult than I imagined, this was really my first real welding project so I was nervous as s*it welding near old cavity wax and all, don't wanna burn the car down.

Turned out alright though, and managed to fit the replacement outer panel quite nicely.

More to come.

/Albert
 

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After welding it was time for paint prep. The paint that would be used was PPG Deltron 2K which I ordered in lrc 361 sand glow.

I sanded the whole car with 600 grit foam backed papper on a random orbit sander, and sanded hard to reach areas and details by hand. After that I gave it a good cleaning and de-greasing and started the masking process. The spraying would take place outside, so I put up a way too small party tent to give some cover and shade.

Degreased the car again after masking and just before starting the spraying I wiped the whole car with a tac-cloth. Then it was just a matter of spraying away. Result are good enough and I will wet sand the car with 1500 grit and give it a good polish.

I didn't bother painting the boot because I'll be replacing it with a behind from a panda van which I was finally able to find in italy. Still sits in my friend's garage in italy though so that's yet to arrive.

Forgot to ask a question above. Now with the welding and all, I need to renew the thick, black, rubbery thing that the outer sils are painted with. What kind of product is this?

/Albert
 

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Hi all.

Work continues. I have raised the rear with my 3cm kit from rialzi4x4. Also replaced with new leaf springs and to my surprise the hight gained was probably around 8cm total so I guess my old leaf springs were a bit tired.

Moving on to the front. This is a bit weird to me. The only things longer in the front lift are the springs, not the shocks. Wouldn't that mean that the hight gain only comes from making everything stiffer? I'm not sure I want a stiffer ride, I just want it higher.

Here you can see the longer spring fitted to the new but standard length shock. You can actually see the curve in the spring because it's so compressed. Have a feeling it won't have an inch of travel once fitted. Not sure I'm even going to bother fitting it tbh.

What do you guys think?

Albert
 

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I decided to fit the new front shocks anyway just to try it out.

Very strange things happen. When I go forwards a bit and then look at the wheels, the alignment seem ok, but when I reverse a bit, the toe out becomes absolutely insane! Any ideas as to why this might be happening? Plus I can't get the tie rod ends lock nuts of so things are not going well atm...
As always, advise most welcome.

/Albert
 

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Have you done anything to correct the camber at the front? You will need to slot the top hole on the hub carrier to allow you to set the camber back to the correct value. Once you've done that you can adjust the track rods as you will currently have massive toe out due to the lift. Once the geometry is correct your reversing problem should go away.
 
The lift kit I bought came with eccentric top bolts so hopefully I won't have to slot the hub carrier.

Driving today to the local mechanic who did my last wheel alignment so hopefully he can get it sorted, so I can move on to the fun stuff with bullbars and whatnot.
 
Hello guys. I kinda forgot to update this thread as I progressed. As the pictures tell the build is very nearly complete. I have yet to fit the roof rack, the engine skid plate and the side tubular protection, but other than that it's basically done.

And finally the van attachment finally arrived. I looked constantlly on an italian buy and sell site to find one for sale, and they popped up once in a while, but finding a seller willing to ship it to Sweden was a whole other beast entirely. Eventually after six months I found one kind soul.

But when he went to ship it there were problems with swiss customs so he had to ship it to my friend in italy who in turn could ship it to me. It sat in his garage the whole summer.

So six months after paying for it I finally recieved it. I feel very confident that this is the only panda "van" in Sweden, especially since the panda itself is extremely rare.

In the end I ended up paying more in total for the van bit than I did for the whole car back in 2014.

The only downside is that I liked the feel of driving the car better before I raised it, since this is longer springs fitted over standard length shocks (front) the effect is stiffer front, so at some point I might buy longer shocks to go with the springs.

The rear is fine, but holy crap what a hight difference changing the old leaf springs for new ones did. That combined with the nylon riser blocks the rear hight gain was about double what I'd expected.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures. I'll probably upload a few more with the roof rack and stuff attached.

All the best.
/Albert
 

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Hey Albert good work on your project where did you get that plastic wind deflector for the rear (seen on the first set of pics) i think it looks awesome and i want one too :D
 
Hey Albert good work on your project where did you get that plastic wind deflector for the rear (seen on the first set of pics) i think it looks awesome and i want one too :D
Thank you! I bought it on a swedish buy and sell site akin to craigslist or something similar. But the part itself is manufactured by a company called autoplas I believe. They have a facebook page and you might be able to get a hold of one through there. The box it was delivered in looked very 80s. If that's just the style of packaging or if it's old stock I couldn't say. Hope that helps. ?
 
This looks fantastic Albert! Love it! Some real effort done here and I love the whole look coming together.

A question if I may, where did you find your rear bullbar? I'm looking for a similar style in the UK, I think they are available in Italy, I imagine I'll have to buy from over there!
 
This looks fantastic Albert! Love it! Some real effort done here and I love the whole look coming together.

A question if I may, where did you find your rear bullbar? I'm looking for a similar style in the UK, I think they are available in Italy, I imagine I'll have to buy from over there!

Thank you for your kind words, much appreciated!

I bought the rear bullbar from italy. A webbsite called rialzi4x4. They have alot of stuff and have a fixed shipping prize so it really isn't bad.
 
Hey Albert good work on your project where did you get that plastic wind deflector for the rear (seen on the first set of pics) i think it looks awesome and i want one too :D

Hello.I just got a facebook page suggestion automatically about a page related to the louvres. Maybe something for you?

It's called "rear window louvers jalousigitter autoplas thermoform auto plas new old stock" That's a mouthful but that's what the page is called. Maybe you can ask the guy behind it if he has one for the panda.

All the best,
Albert
 
Hello.I just got a facebook page suggestion automatically about a page related to the louvres. Maybe something for you?

It's called "rear window louvers jalousigitter autoplas thermoform auto plas new old stock" That's a mouthful but that's what the page is called. Maybe you can ask the guy behind it if he has one for the panda.

All the best,
Albert

Interesting I don't find it on FB any chance that you can link it ?
BTW I will start a new thread with my build pretty much right now.
 
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