Looking crisp...
General Charmania - chapter two.
- Thread starter VmanC
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General Charmania - chapter two.
Looks good
OP
OP
Fitted some fancy pedals today, a bit more in keeping with the theme of things, and a couple more detail touches inside. These little jobs are all I have time for till the weekend.
Does anyone have or know where I can buy a black door pocket for the passenger side?
Does anyone have or know where I can buy a black door pocket for the passenger side?
Fitted some fancy pedals today, a bit more in keeping with the theme of things, and a couple more detail touches inside. These little jobs are all I have time for till the weekend.
Does anyone have or know where I can buy a black door pocket for the passenger side?
PM me Vern...
OP
OP
Just thought I'd give the state of play at the moment.
As usual other things are getting in the way, but my main problem over the weekend was entirely of my own doing :bang:. I only went and left the locking wheel bolt tool in my 750 Panda, which is with Charmain in Hereford.
Only managed to get it last night so over the weekend I had to do what I could with the front wheels on, the bolts were too short to fit on the back.
Painted the front struts with black Hammerite so they match the rears. Also cleaned up the rear spring seats, the whole of the omega axle is in great nick with most of it still wearing the original paint, but it had flaked in a few places where the spring sits so wirebrushing this and re-painting it has ensured it's life for quite a few years yet.
Also, while I was under there, I touched up a few areas where the underseal had peeled and surface rust had started, but a quick wire brushing followed by zinc primer and fresh underseal should make the next mot a more pleasant experience.
On the interior I've done a few more simple details, new pedal pads, gearknob, chequered steering wheel centre and matching door handles.
Now I can take the front wheels off, it's gearbox out, free off clutch, fit new o/s wheel bearing/hub.
As usual other things are getting in the way, but my main problem over the weekend was entirely of my own doing :bang:. I only went and left the locking wheel bolt tool in my 750 Panda, which is with Charmain in Hereford
.Only managed to get it last night so over the weekend I had to do what I could with the front wheels on, the bolts were too short to fit on the back.
Painted the front struts with black Hammerite so they match the rears. Also cleaned up the rear spring seats, the whole of the omega axle is in great nick with most of it still wearing the original paint, but it had flaked in a few places where the spring sits so wirebrushing this and re-painting it has ensured it's life for quite a few years yet.
Also, while I was under there, I touched up a few areas where the underseal had peeled and surface rust had started, but a quick wire brushing followed by zinc primer and fresh underseal should make the next mot a more pleasant experience.
On the interior I've done a few more simple details, new pedal pads, gearknob, chequered steering wheel centre and matching door handles.
Now I can take the front wheels off, it's gearbox out, free off clutch, fit new o/s wheel bearing/hub.
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I didn't notice the painted Omega axle and trailing links on Sunday... good stuff! The shocks look great with the new springs on; can't wait to see her in the flesh sat down low on those lovely wheels!
Good looking car Vern
OP
OP
Well I've had a bit of success recently.
Removed the gearbox and found that the seized clutch was as a result of the operating arm being seized in the casing. After hitting it back and forth with a hammer, while levering up on it, I was able to remove it completely, clean it up with emery paper, and refit with fresh grease. I think this is worth doing if you have to take the gearbox out for any reason, as it may be that stiffness in this area could be contributing to the common problem of premature clutch cable failure. After a bit of a restle the gearbox is back in.
I've taken this opportunity to tidy up the appearance of the front suspension and brakes. This is not a sandblast and powdercoat type of project, I don't have the budget for it, so I've cleaned everything up with a wire brush and painted the parts with Hammerite, not concours but a big improvement over all that brown stuff. Paint is currently drying so I'll take a picture in the morning once everything has been reassembled.
Saturday was too nice to be in the workshop so I turned to the roof lining, which I could do in the sunshine, in the back garden.
This is how it looked beforehand, a bit dull and grubby..........
I wanted to take this opportunity to bring it in line with the chequered theme elsewhere on the car as well as returning it to looking like new, so made a chequered pattern on it. Sorry for the spots on the lens, no idea what happened there...............
I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. In case anyone else is wanting to improve the appearance of thier rooflining, I will cover how I did it in a new thread. The method doesn't have to incude chequers of course.
Removed the gearbox and found that the seized clutch was as a result of the operating arm being seized in the casing. After hitting it back and forth with a hammer, while levering up on it, I was able to remove it completely, clean it up with emery paper, and refit with fresh grease. I think this is worth doing if you have to take the gearbox out for any reason, as it may be that stiffness in this area could be contributing to the common problem of premature clutch cable failure. After a bit of a restle the gearbox is back in.
I've taken this opportunity to tidy up the appearance of the front suspension and brakes. This is not a sandblast and powdercoat type of project, I don't have the budget for it, so I've cleaned everything up with a wire brush and painted the parts with Hammerite, not concours but a big improvement over all that brown stuff. Paint is currently drying so I'll take a picture in the morning once everything has been reassembled.
Saturday was too nice to be in the workshop so I turned to the roof lining, which I could do in the sunshine, in the back garden.
This is how it looked beforehand, a bit dull and grubby..........
I wanted to take this opportunity to bring it in line with the chequered theme elsewhere on the car as well as returning it to looking like new, so made a chequered pattern on it. Sorry for the spots on the lens, no idea what happened there...............
I'm really pleased with how it's turned out
. In case anyone else is wanting to improve the appearance of thier rooflining, I will cover how I did it in a new thread. The method doesn't have to incude chequers of course.
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Jeez Vern...I'm very curious how you did that????
That looks awsome vernon!
what do you use to clean the head lining? washing up liquid?
what do you use to clean the head lining? washing up liquid?
Snazzy!
OP
OP
Thanks Craig, all is explained here.......
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-classic/235379-headlining-revamp.html?p=2478707
OP
OP
Well, finally back on all fours, and with her new lower suspension . All I need now is something to sit on and I could actually drive it.
. All I need now is something to sit on and I could actually drive it. 
OP
OP
Well she is now officially finished!!! . Unofficially, of course, they never are, and I do have a list of little details to do if I ever get it back, Charmain's had two people interested in buying it already and she's only had it a day!
Didn't have an SD card for my camera till yesterday so some of the finishing stages are missing pics, but all the main stuff is covered, hope you like the end result......
Carpet is original and cleaned up as best as I could, overmats are just the right colour but very cheap, so if I can find some better quality ones in the near future they will be changed.
Rear seat and side panels, with speakers, were the last bits of trim to come from Farmyard. The speakers are duff though, so some replacements are on my list. The rear parcel shelf also has speakers so six in total. I may try some black fabric paint to colour the edges and centre section of the rear seat to help it tie in with the fronts, but will test it on something else first as I'm not sure how successful spraying fabric is.
Front seats are finally in and match the rest of the interior pretty well I think. I'll do a separate thread to cover the fitting of these, luckily I uploaded the pics before I lost my SD card.
Brooklands was the deadline for this one, because Charmain was booked to drive it there and take it home with her straight after, and here's the proof she made it.............
Driving impressions and final tally of costs tomorrow, as I still need to catch up a bit more on my sleep now.
. Unofficially, of course, they never are, and I do have a list of little details to do if I ever get it back, Charmain's had two people interested in buying it already and she's only had it a day!Didn't have an SD card for my camera till yesterday so some of the finishing stages are missing pics, but all the main stuff is covered, hope you like the end result......
Carpet is original and cleaned up as best as I could, overmats are just the right colour but very cheap, so if I can find some better quality ones in the near future they will be changed.
Rear seat and side panels, with speakers, were the last bits of trim to come from Farmyard. The speakers are duff though, so some replacements are on my list. The rear parcel shelf also has speakers so six in total. I may try some black fabric paint to colour the edges and centre section of the rear seat to help it tie in with the fronts, but will test it on something else first as I'm not sure how successful spraying fabric is.
Front seats are finally in and match the rest of the interior pretty well I think. I'll do a separate thread to cover the fitting of these, luckily I uploaded the pics before I lost my SD card.
Brooklands was the deadline for this one, because Charmain was booked to drive it there and take it home with her straight after, and here's the proof she made it.............
Driving impressions and final tally of costs tomorrow, as I still need to catch up a bit more on my sleep now.
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Got to say not only did the seats look good but they felt fantastic...Headlining was amazing!!
That headlining really is the mutts crown jewels.
OP
OP
Final list of costs :-
£103.00 purchase price.
£ 20.00 fuel for collecting.
£ 31.41 exhaust tailpipe.
£ 80.00 welding.
£ 5.75 4 x spark plugs.
£ 2.50 Oil filter.
£ 13.10 4lts semi synthetic oil.
£ 1.99 air freshener.
£ 6.70 hub bearing kit.
£ 6.99 silver viper stripes.
£ 5.72 grey viper stripes.
£ 4.25 grey pinstripe.
£ 20.49 Wheel bolts ( 12 x bolts, 4 x locking bolts ).
£ 12.00 Alloy wheels with tyres ( 13" x 4.5", 155/70R13's ).
£ 5.25 Autoglym alloy wheel silver paint.
£ 40.00 Re-fit & balance tyres.
£ 9.00 Wheel centre caps.
£ 94.95 Spax lowering road springs.
£ 13.78 Light grey baize 150cm x 200cm
£ 12.00 Felt table top protector 110cm x 100cm.
£ 8.30 contact adhesive.
£ 5.38 Chequered self adhesive vinyl.
£ 28.00 Steering wheel s/h.
£ 41.00 Steering wheel boss kit.
£ 4.99 Floor mats.
£ 0.99 Gearknob s/h.
£ 8.99 Pedal set.
£ 4.99 Chrome indicator bulbs x2.
£ 4.99 Chrome side repeater bulbs x2.
£ 11.99 Rover side repeaters x2.
£ 55.00 Radio/cd player head unit.
£ 8.50 Gearbox oil 15/40 2.5 ltrs.
TOTAL COST £672.00.
A few things to note from the above list....
Some parts I've used are not shown above as they didn't cost me anything, parts from my spares car for example, this is because the spares car now owes me nothing due to selling off some of the other items. The other major freebee was the front seats, although they did require alot of time to get clean.
My tips for keeping costs down would therefore be......
1. Get a spares car if you have the space.
2. Make good use of Ebay and other classifieds. If you have a project in mind start looking for parts straight away, the longer you give yourself to find the parts you need the more choosy you can afford to be.
3. If you see an Item at a bargain price that didn't originally figure in your plans don't be afraid to change things a little to accomodate it. Sometimes the parts that become available can have a more beneficial influence on the project than your own ideas.
4. Be creative and open to using less obvious parts and materials.
Both Charmain and I have driven this car a total of 400 miles since finishing it and we agree that it is even more fun to use thanks to the seats, steering wheel and lowered springs, the latter still giving a nice ride when fitted in conjunction with new but standard shocks.
The gearchange is also worthy of note, it's the best Panda gearchange I've experienced. Changing the oil, lubricating all the linkage pivot points when re-fitting, and surprisingly, the added weight of the heavier new gearknob have all played thier part I think.
Charmain has also commented on how quiet it is. I think this is mainly because she's been using my 750L which is only a four speed and has no rear interior trim or roof lining, but I did notice myself that it is a very refined little panda, maybe the new roof lining offers a little more insulation.
So that's it, I now have to consider what to do next from a choice of about four options.
Anyone remember this? ........
£103.00 purchase price.
£ 20.00 fuel for collecting.
£ 31.41 exhaust tailpipe.
£ 80.00 welding.
£ 5.75 4 x spark plugs.
£ 2.50 Oil filter.
£ 13.10 4lts semi synthetic oil.
£ 1.99 air freshener.
£ 6.70 hub bearing kit.
£ 6.99 silver viper stripes.
£ 5.72 grey viper stripes.
£ 4.25 grey pinstripe.
£ 20.49 Wheel bolts ( 12 x bolts, 4 x locking bolts ).
£ 12.00 Alloy wheels with tyres ( 13" x 4.5", 155/70R13's ).
£ 5.25 Autoglym alloy wheel silver paint.
£ 40.00 Re-fit & balance tyres.
£ 9.00 Wheel centre caps.
£ 94.95 Spax lowering road springs.
£ 13.78 Light grey baize 150cm x 200cm
£ 12.00 Felt table top protector 110cm x 100cm.
£ 8.30 contact adhesive.
£ 5.38 Chequered self adhesive vinyl.
£ 28.00 Steering wheel s/h.
£ 41.00 Steering wheel boss kit.
£ 4.99 Floor mats.
£ 0.99 Gearknob s/h.
£ 8.99 Pedal set.
£ 4.99 Chrome indicator bulbs x2.
£ 4.99 Chrome side repeater bulbs x2.
£ 11.99 Rover side repeaters x2.
£ 55.00 Radio/cd player head unit.
£ 8.50 Gearbox oil 15/40 2.5 ltrs.
TOTAL COST £672.00.
A few things to note from the above list....
Some parts I've used are not shown above as they didn't cost me anything, parts from my spares car for example, this is because the spares car now owes me nothing due to selling off some of the other items. The other major freebee was the front seats, although they did require alot of time to get clean.
My tips for keeping costs down would therefore be......
1. Get a spares car if you have the space.
2. Make good use of Ebay and other classifieds. If you have a project in mind start looking for parts straight away, the longer you give yourself to find the parts you need the more choosy you can afford to be.
3. If you see an Item at a bargain price that didn't originally figure in your plans don't be afraid to change things a little to accomodate it. Sometimes the parts that become available can have a more beneficial influence on the project than your own ideas.
4. Be creative and open to using less obvious parts and materials.
Both Charmain and I have driven this car a total of 400 miles since finishing it and we agree that it is even more fun to use thanks to the seats, steering wheel and lowered springs, the latter still giving a nice ride when fitted in conjunction with new but standard shocks.
The gearchange is also worthy of note, it's the best Panda gearchange I've experienced. Changing the oil, lubricating all the linkage pivot points when re-fitting, and surprisingly, the added weight of the heavier new gearknob have all played thier part I think.
Charmain has also commented on how quiet it is. I think this is mainly because she's been using my 750L which is only a four speed and has no rear interior trim or roof lining, but I did notice myself that it is a very refined little panda
, maybe the new roof lining offers a little more insulation.So that's it, I now have to consider what to do next from a choice of about four options
.Anyone remember this? ........
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Vernon, going back a few months, can you remember how long the viper striopes you bought were? and how much of the length was used?
Want to try something similar soon. just nervous about mucking it up and getting it all wonky
Want to try something similar soon. just nervous about mucking it up and getting it all wonky
OP
OP
They were 4m long, x 2 of course. I did have some left over but I haven't measured how much. Good luck with it
.
cheers Vernon
did the 4m cover one side or both? do you reckon the would be enough left from one side to do a stripe over the boot lid too?
did the 4m cover one side or both? do you reckon the would be enough left from one side to do a stripe over the boot lid too?
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