Panda (Classic) My Purple Panda Parade Progress log

[onemanmade]

Good luck and have faith :thumbup:

Cheers Andy, I will report back tomorrow!

 

[onemanmade]

So my indicators and all lights are now working perfectly thanks to the part sent to me by Aquamarine I made a video discussing it, and visiting inside the ruins of a Scottish Castle! I included the video in my project log video because I made a point of visiting the place which has one of my earliest memories of old fiats and great family memories, its a very dear place to me, so thought it belonged in the video

 

[onemanmade]

Its that time of year again folks, MOT time! Mine is on Saturday at 10am. Its one of the ones that only do MOTs, so we will see what they are like (my usual garage closed down )

Trying to think what it could fail on but cant think of anything, apart from maybe the handbrake pulls up too far for the testers liking perhaps, but there were no advisories last year. But there is enough time that if something does turn up I can get it fixed in plenty time

 

[neeny09]

Washed PH yesterday, thought I would post photos I've been doing a lot of work to my house recently and have been using PH to take mass amounts of stuff to the dump, he has held up incredibly, folding the seats down creates so much space! I didn't take any photos of that though. Just wanted to say how capable and versatile a car it is! I gave two workmates a lift home the other day, and at a section of the road there was a burning smell coming from a field but they were convinced it was PH, I tried to explain that it wasn't but they didn't listen, I don't get the panda hate, but I kind of enjoy it because they always are surprised when I say it passed its mot last month with no advisories

Thanks to Alixcompo I am now the proud owner of purple ronnie's grille, which will be fitted to PTP soon I wanted a change from the black grille and thought I would go for the parade standard danish blue (or purple as it usually referred to )

Good Stuff I wonder if Neeny09 still keeps tabs on it. So youv'e fitted the 135/80s then?

I apologise for my silence I've got a bit disenchanted with the forums due to all the stupid. However I took a little thought as to how PTP is doing today and decided to come read this wee thread. Being a typical woman I'm sitting with a lump in my throat at how looked after and loved our old wee car is. We made the right decision.

The work you have done is awesome I love all of it especially the grill always loved it being colour coded. I prefer the alloys but I understand the want to make it look original and the wheels are a personal thing. It all looks fantastic.

And as usual I am in awe of the Panda community you guys all deserve the praise for the car and your own ones. You all do the cars proud by keeping them looking good and on the road I'm glad that we were a small part of it for a while and i hope that one day we get the chance to be again, however it will be at a time when we can offer a wee orphan panda as much love and respect as onemanmade has done to our purple haze.

I am thankful that we sold the car to you we know it's in good hands now
much love panda peeps

 

[onemanmade]

I apologise for my silence I've got a bit disenchanted with the forums due to all the stupid. However I took a little thought as to how PTP is doing today and decided to come read this wee thread. Being a typical woman I'm sitting with a lump in my throat at how looked after and loved our old wee car is. We made the right decision.

The work you have done is awesome I love all of it especially the grill always loved it being colour coded. I prefer the alloys but I understand the want to make it look original and the wheels are a personal thing. It all looks fantastic.

And as usual I am in awe of the Panda community you guys all deserve the praise for the car and your own ones. You all do the cars proud by keeping them looking good and on the road I'm glad that we were a small part of it for a while and i hope that one day we get the chance to be again, however it will be at a time when we can offer a wee orphan panda as much love and respect as onemanmade has done to our purple haze.

I am thankful that we sold the car to you we know it's in good hands now
much love panda peeps

Hi Neeny, what a nice message, high praise indeed!

I am very glad that you and stuart feel that way, I am doing my best with PTP and I hope it shows! The real test will be tomorrow when he goes for his second MOT under my care I'm actually really glad you quoted those photos because I forgot just how happy I was that he had passed his MOT with no advisories, I am going over a few things tonight and in the morning, but I dont see any reason why he wont pass his MOT. This last year and a bit has been a great time for me, I've done a lot of growing up and I feel like PTP is growing up with me (thats a wierd thing to say but it makes sense in my head) buying him is one of the best decisions I have ever made

I wish you and Stuart all the best, I hope the 126 and Marea are coming along well and I hope that you get another wee orphan panda at some point! The community here is one of the best things about owning a panda Great to hear from you, and Im very pleased you like what I have done with him Did you notice the coachlines?

 

[onemanmade]

Well folks the verdict is in:

MOT PASSED WITH NO ADVISORIES!!!!!

couldn't be happier about this the guy used to own a panda, and he was really pleased to get a wee drive of mine he let me help him do the mot. And he couldn't believe the condition of it! He was EXTREMELY thorough as well which he told me, as it is an older car. But he couldn't fault it, although I had my battery retainer on backwards and he let me sort it so i didn't fail. Really happy though and he is letting me use his ramps to underseal the car absolutely brilliant wee day

And when I pointed out that I needed to adjust my backbox so that the middle pipe wouldnt be fouling on the underside of the car he went next door to his friends custom exhaust place and he brought round a tool to bend the hanger mounting slightly to allow a couple of centimetres, great guy

Next is booking the campsite for panda camp!

 

[onemanmade]

So the bad news for today is that on the way home PTP seems to have sprang a bit of an oil leak, it was present at the MOT but was only slight and I thought it was from the cam cover at the time where I knew there is a very slight leak, but with this I cant tell where it is coming from, can someone help me from the photos please?

 

[Bartpanda]

front camshaft seal?

 

[onemanmade]

front camshaft seal?

Its looking likely at the moment, my dad is coming over tomorrow to help me. And hopefully bringing spares he has.

Bit of a mixed bag of a day, was so happy to pass the mot so convincingly

 

[AndyPanda4x4]

Well done mate really pleased for you on the pass!!!

 

[onemanmade]

Well done mate really pleased for you on the pass!!!

Cheers Andy, that's my second year in a row with no advisories! I've still got a long way to go with PTP but today was a real confidence booster apart from the oil leakage of course, but hopefully it shouldn't be anything too troubling, I don't think the heavy sustained revving at the emissions test helped things though.

I think its just one of those things that was going to happen due to age related seals or something, I am feeling a bit dissapointed with myself after such a good mot result though.

 

[AndyPanda4x4]

Yes that's a fair accomplishment with zero advisories - Oh and you should see my oil leaks!!!

 

[onemanmade]

Yes that's a fair accomplishment with zero advisories - Oh and you should see my oil leaks!!!

I'm a bit worried incase I have done damage to the engine, to be honest though I didn't hear anything untoward, no warning lights on the dash and it ran beautifully. Its just by chance I lifted the bonnet to check my oil after noticing the small leak during the mot, it was lashed up the inside of the bonnet and the side of the engine

 

[panda panda]

I wouldn't worry too much about the engine Cameron, they can be well abused and still run fine - look at my 4x4 - ran with no coolant and very little oil, wet through by some clot with a pressure washer, and still goes like a sewing machine!

Most engines leak a little oil at some point, stops the sump from rusting from the outside

 

[onemanmade]

I wouldn't worry too much about the engine Cameron, they can be well abused and still run fine - look at my 4x4 - ran with no coolant and very little oil, wet through by some clot with a pressure washer, and still goes like a sewing machine!

Most engines leak a little oil at some point, stops the sump from rusting from the outside

Thanks John, I really hope so, I would be really disappointed in myself If I've caused some irreparable damage

 

[Bartpanda]

Most engines leak a little oil at some point, stops the sump from rusting from the outside

Yep! fiat knows how to protect the sump from rust , unfortunately mitsubishi engineers dont, and my girlfriends mitsu lancer is a 9 years old car with bone-dry engine and sump so corroded that we 'll have to replace it this summer in fear of perforations and possible engine damage .

 

[onemanmade]

So I changed the Oil today and put on the Timing Belt cover (Finally!) Mileage was 84232. Cant tell where the oil leak was coming from, but there are 3 possibilities which I will find out hopefully over the course of this week, it doesnt leak under idle, so will have to use it normally (I travel mostly short journeys) to see where the leak is coming from. The possibilities are:

1-Camshaft Oil seal (Left side of engine)
2-Crankshaft Oil seal(Left side of engine)
3-Rocker cover where there was a bolt which didnt thread on the casing, so have replaced this with a longer bolt which goes right through and has a nut on the underside, so this is tight now. Not sure if I used the correct terminology here.

I looked the oil seals up on ebay, but not clear which ones are the ones I am looking for, I also need the bracket from the front of the engine which the timing belt cover mounts onto, its only on two bolts at the moment. I have included a photo to show which one I mean, and will needless to say be contacting aquamarine to see if he can provide this

 

[Bartpanda]

Oh, and one thing more to check, engine breather pipe, the one from the rocker cover to the air filter box. If it's blocked it will cause the pressure from inside the engine to push the weakest seal out and cause sudden oil leak. Often it pushes just the oil dipstick out, but if it sits firmly the pressure can damage some weak seals somewhere in the engine block. My breather pipe was blocked this winter, I have not cleaned it for three years and some moisture/oil deposits{ the mayo} froze to stone when it was minus 20 this winter. In my breather pipe there is a little metal wire brush inside, like in older sohc/dohc fiat engines, It looks like a mini spiral bottle neck brush, it works as a separator for oil drops, they are stopped on this brush from being pushed into the air filter box. As I said I dont know if it is a original panda part, or just someone used it from older fiat engine, but it is the place of oil and mayo condensation, and it can freeze to stone in winter{ not British winter I suppose, but in Poland it can happen }

 

[onemanmade]

Oh, and one thing more to check, engine breather pipe, the one from the rocker cover to the air filter box. If it's blocked it will cause the pressure from inside the engine to push the weakest seal out and cause sudden oil leak. Often it pushes just the oil dipstick out, but if it sits firmly the pressure can damage some weak seals somewhere in the engine block. My breather pipe was blocked this winter, I have not cleaned it for three years and some moisture/oil deposits{ the mayo} froze to stone when it was minus 20 this winter. In my breather pipe there is a little metal wire brush inside, like in older sohc/dohc fiat engines, It looks like a mini spiral bottle neck brush, it works as a separator for oil drops, they are stopped on this brush from being pushed into the air filter box. As I said I dont know it is a original panda part, or just someone used it from older fiat engine, but it is the place of oil and mayo condensation, and it can freeze to stone in winter{ not British winter I suppose, but in Poland it can happen }

I have removed and cleaned the breather pipe, and have for the moment removed the flame trap to decrease pressure slightly, I have cleaned the flame trap thoroughly as well and well be refitting once I am sure where the leak has been coming from and have sorted the problem.

 

[onemanmade]

I have posted in the wanted section to see if anyone has the bracket I am looking for