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Panda (Classic) John Dragon Man's 4x4 Sisley

Introduction

Hello!

Well, I have been waiting a long time to do this!

Introducing (Drum roll please!).....

Edit: about half way through the time it took me to get the car on the road it found the name Talon. So everyone Meet:
Talon. My Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley:

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Great Looking car.. As i am sure you all agree!

It has its Good points:

No Horrid noises in any gear and the 4x4 system works and sounds brilliant! Its a Sisley! And it came with some nice extras such as the light grill covers.

and also nice low mileage.
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And it has its bad points... Lots of bad points:

Mid body rust, This is the worst on the drivers side (in the UK) front wing:
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The Doors are Rusty.. Ok, i did expect this as it seems to be a common thing on most Fiats over 10-15 years old:
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And the other Door, Not as bad.. I may be able to save this side!
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"Phantom Electronics" the electronics do what they want to do, when they want to do it. No Switches necessary!

Also the Fuse box now lives here :( That means that a flap has been cut in the pocket :(
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The Exhaust is very broken, in multiple parts. even the down pipe!
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Lastly and by far the worst, Under body rust. Now its not as bad as it could be. The rear sills on both sides have a small 1 - 2 inch hole in them. No biggy.
I have still yet to remove all the plastic wheel arch liners and have a proper look.
Here's a picture from the front drivers side wheel arch, its only a skin so a easy repair:
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A bit of work needs doing to the brakes, pads i think. The fluid needs changing and the drivers side front brake pipe is corroded so i will replace that.

Also the engine needs a good cleaning up, a full on service replacing the water pump, cam belt, tensioner pulley, distributor cap and rotor arm, filters, oil, radiator, coolant and starter motor.

I also need a few things like a locking filler cap, the little clips that hold the air box together, a new boot gas strut and a non damaged back bumper.

Its the car I have always wanted right from when I was a young lad. So you can imagine how I was when I won it on eBay for a grand total of £547. Getting it from Wales To my home town of Derby Cost me £135.

With some love, care and late nights I reckon I can turn it into a cracking motor!

Oh and stay tuned as I will be keeping a Video Log of what I will be doing to the car on Youtube!

This is the video i took just as the car transporter left from delivering it:




See the rest of the videos Here: Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley Restoration Video Logs

See my Youtube Channel >>>Here<<<

Also Click Here for more up to date pictures of this car!

I am so very proud to be the owner of a Fiat Panda 4x4 Sisley!

:D:D:D


Edit: this is how Talon looks now:



:eek::cool::cool::cool::yum:

Since then Talon has gained more lights, and now has some blue rust free Seat Marbella doors. I had also converted him to Fuel injection, however the parts i used were old and worn so now it is back on Carburettor.

This thread has its ups and downs but through the years Talon and myself have pulled through.

When you are done reading this thread, be sure to check out the little red scrap yard rescued Seat Marbella thread and also Project Fallout!

Peace all and enjoy the thread, videos and pictures!
Have a look at this John:



Should give you an idea of how to do it.

I was going to say I would not recommend painting it yourself, painting is not an easy thing to master, definitely better to leave it to the people who do it all the time(y)

Having an immaculate car isn't all that great anyway, you are afraid to use it and worried about the smallest scratch, my Sisley has only been out once this year so far:eek:
 
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thats a good video, but theres an issue with that.. how is he going to rust proof inside the lip once he has folded it over?

my plan was to just use some metal paint, paint that inside the lip while it is open (also put some in side the door so it runs down into the lip) and while the paint is still wet/liquidly, hammer and dolly the (ok rusty.. but rust converted now covered in paint) lip back together again.. then paint it again to cover the hammer marks.

i am not that fussed how it will look on the inside of the lip so long as it looks ok on the outside. like i said.. with what i have planned for these doors, the only way they will rust again is if the paint gets rubbed off the door bottoms.. they will never rust from water being inside the door ;)
 
i had an inspection day today. a day i call a "visual service" where i just take off caps to see how things are, look over things to see how they are wearing, looking for fatigue in things.

now a while back i did notice that the exhaust back box rear end tail pipe was looking a little rough. well it started to come in holes. so i have swapped the whole back box around with the one from off Fallout. (Fallout now is using his original.. slightly battered back box.. should still be fine though)
i think new back boxes are on the list at some point...

i also changed Talons clutch cable today too. the old one was feeling gritty so my guess was that it was starting to go.
the new cable is one that i severely greased. i mean, with pressured grease till it came out the other end.. and i must say that that the clutch feels feather light!. it was fantastic before.. put most hydraulic ones to shame but now its like ohhhhh so good.

ill keep the old cable for now.. till i find a bargain bucket new old part going really cheap.


the old cable had grease in it.. not much but a bit.. new cables when you buy them have no grease in them.. seems a bit wrong to me that...
i am a firm believer in the saying "well oiled machine" i guess the word lubricated would be a better one but you know what i mean.

one thing i will add though, the 2 holes that hold it to the pedal mounting plate were too small! if you buy a new clutch cable, make sure that the bolts will fit the holes on the cable!
i had to drill them out to 6mm to match the original bolts.

i have noted that i have the drivers side outer CV boot leaking again. looks like its been hitting the suspension again. i wish i knew how i could stop this from doing it. i have tried everything! these are OEM spec boots too not some cheap ebay jobbies.

other than that, Talon is looking pretty good all things considering. needs a clean. if i have some time tomorrow i will do it. if not he will arrive to the car show dirty.. well he is a 4x4..
 
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well talon has developed a fault with the fuel injection system.. it now finds it funny to burn out idle control actuators.. its on its 3rd one!

its a damn bad design sadly. some sensor must be giving false readings and causing hell with it.

i guess it was why the original car i got the engine management system from was scrapped... guess ill just have to play the keep replacing things until it fixes it game..

looking forward to getting fallout on the road.. not sure what ill be doing with talon.. i am considering doing a full ECU controlled fuel and spark system rather than this fuel only system that is full of bugs.

that means i need to change the oil pump over with one from off a 1108 or a 1242.. just got to hope that they both fit the 999cc engine.
the only reason why i need to do that is so i can have a place for the cam position sensor to be bolted into.. as it is built into the oil pump housing.

to be fair.. would an engine swap be any harder to do...?? ill have to drop talons engine dow through the bottom to get the pump off...

i am not sure what is involved when you take the oil pump off.. i dont really fancy taking the sump off if you have to do that.. just got to hope you can change just the outer cover.

well it will be things that i will do when i get fallout road worthy.

for now, constant cutting out and low power when you really need it is what i will have to make do with
 
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Would it not be easier to put Talons carb back on until you can sort out a full ECU conversion or drop a factory injected engine in, surely wouldn't take very long and it'd stop the drivability problems for now?
Plenty of P55s around here go for dirt cheap on ebay so would make a swap potentially cheaper? I've always found P60, 75 and the 85s just tend to go for more no matter what state they're in.
 
if i was to go for one, i would go for the P60. as the p75 is hard to find.. i got really lucky with fallouts one. theres more P60's around so my chances of finding one with the same miles as talon are better.

as talon goes, he is ready for a p'60 lump right now.. all i would have to do is swap the high pressure fuel pump, add an electric "lift" pump and mess around with the wiring.

everything else is already modded for the taller engine block.

what would be nice is to just get all of the p55 running gear and stick it onto talon as it would be a direct swap. like i said though, the only thing i would have to do is change the oil pump cover.. if it even comes off as just a cover that is..
 
converted Talon back to carb. only he just wont run on carbs. i have no idea why.

3 different carbs and 2 whole different ignition systems have been tried on it.

ticks over fine.. soon as i put any load on the thing it just instantly dies. choke setting does nothing.

no sign of over fueling.. however it was doing the odd bit of smoke.

you guys do not know how much i hate carburetors. give me an engine management system that i can plug a computer in and it tells me whats wrong any day.

man i am getting so sick of having cars i just cant use. be it constant running issues or stupid insurance prices. i really wished i had not bothered taking my driving test. driving so far has been nothing but a waste of money.
 
converted Talon back to carb. only he just wont run on carbs. i have no idea why.

3 different carbs and 2 whole different ignition systems have been tried on it.

ticks over fine.. soon as i put any load on the thing it just instantly dies. choke setting does nothing.

no sign of over fueling.. however it was doing the odd bit of smoke.

you guys do not know how much i hate carburetors. give me an engine management system that i can plug a computer in and it tells me whats wrong any day.

man i am getting so sick of having cars i just cant use. be it constant running issues or stupid insurance prices. i really wished i had not bothered taking my driving test. driving so far has been nothing but a waste of money.

Sorry to hear your frustration John but look on the bright side, you have built up an incredible YouTube channel partly by filming your car projects and have a lot of friends on this forum :)
 
converted Talon back to carb. only he just wont run on carbs. i have no idea why.

3 different carbs and 2 whole different ignition systems have been tried on it.

ticks over fine.. soon as i put any load on the thing it just instantly dies. choke setting does nothing.

no sign of over fueling.. however it was doing the odd bit of smoke.

you guys do not know how much i hate carburetors. give me an engine management system that i can plug a computer in and it tells me whats wrong any day.

man i am getting so sick of having cars i just cant use. be it constant running issues or stupid insurance prices. i really wished i had not bothered taking my driving test. driving so far has been nothing but a waste of money.
What's the fuel pump like? were you still using it to feed the swirl pot? can't remember how you had it set up. You haven't swapped one of those 866 cams that won't drive the pump in have you?
Or have you taken all the carbs apart and put the venturis back in upside down? Not that anyone would be that stupid
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.... although it does cause exactly those symptoms, idle works, as soon as you open the throttle it dies.... or so I hear anyway.
 
i dont think it is possible to put the ventruri upside down on a panda carb as it is all in one??

Talons original carb was taken apart when i first got him as it.. really.. needed cleaning out.. it was set up using an exhaust gas tester and has never been touched since. it always ran fine on it.. but was always a pain in the ass to start when it was cold.

the other carb was fallouts original, which ran and drove. the last carb was bexes which i know was iffy. however all 3 are now iffy??
 
Sounds like carb is not supporting extra fuel when you open the throttle, often happens when carb was stored dry for several months, deposits gather everywhere but clogs only the narrowest lines, and this "pump iniector"{gren arrow} nozzle is the narrowest.

Remove the iniector, blow air through it, check if it works, then find the softest accelerator pump diaphragm{red circle} from all 3 carbs you have, clean it and install.{green circle}

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ps: check also all jets!
 
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