Panda Our new Panda 100

[DaveMcT]

I fitted some long range LED spots with Halo rings. I had to make brackets but the halos fitted perfectly into the bumper light apertures.

I have a pair of these bought for a bike but never used so put them into the 100HP.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=283995397294&_sacat=0

They do have an annoying flashing feature for the main LED, but there are videos on You Tube showing how it can be deleted. The light body is machined from billet alloy and a simple aluminium U bracket is easy enough to make. They have pos and neg wires but earth the body as well LED circuits can be noisy.

 

[rmjbn1]

The passenger side fog is rusty so that'll need replacing, I'm contemplating some fogs with halo DRLs, anyone done this, recommendations?

Forum member @ChrisPRSA did that here
Some other recent threads that might be useful:
https://www.fiatforum.com/members-motors/478032-my-new-2009-100hp-3.html?p=4528872
https://www.fiatforum.com/members-motors/477328-i-got-myself-100hp-finally-2.html?p=4510061
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/462811-100hp-fog-light-replacement.html?462811=#post4359150

If you're new to the 169 Panda, I'd recommend checking the following:

Inspect & treat for rust:

• rear axle spring pans
• coolant return pipe across front of engine
• engine sump pan
• shock absorbers & springs
• mud trap behind front springs
• brakes

The battery and its earth strap need to be in good condition or the power steering can throw a wobbly - it draws a lot of current. As a precaution I always park with the wheels straight and let the battery recover before setting off.

Check the 'duckbill' scuttle drains below the wipers are clear - they block easily. Check the condition of the wiring loom in this area - the loom tape disintegrates.

Monitor tyre wear. Wear most common on front insides & rear outsides. Front lower wishbone rear bush can cause tracking issues. Rear axle alignment is sometimes less than perfect, with no provision for adjustment (can add shims at the hubs or loosen mounting bracket bolts to adjust position).

Climate control has weak vent flap - very hard to replace. Avoid changing airflow direction whilst fan is running.

Other than that, they're great little cars, tough, capable and reliable. I hope you enjoy your 100HP

 

[nitramtpr]

Thanks to everyone that has answered my posts about suspension arms and wheel bearings.
I ordered both the wishbones, and as I'm gonna be in there doing the wishbones got two new tie bars too.
Got another wheel bearing coming too, the seller had one, so I thought I might as well do both!
Ordered a set of new exhaust rubbers too as it is knocking, bound to be the rear one, it's been chucking it down with rain every time I have a spare few minutes to take a shufty underneath so I'm taking a best guess at what the problem is.
The car came with a full set of discs and pads, as I'll be doing all 4, I might as well do a fluid change and I've also ordered a set of hose for the 4 corners!

 

[nitramtpr]

Forum member @ChrisPRSA did that here
Some other recent threads that might be useful:
https://www.fiatforum.com/members-motors/478032-my-new-2009-100hp-3.html?p=4528872
https://www.fiatforum.com/members-motors/477328-i-got-myself-100hp-finally-2.html?p=4510061
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/462811-100hp-fog-light-replacement.html?462811=#post4359150

If you're new to the 169 Panda, I'd recommend checking the following:

Inspect & treat for rust:

• rear axle spring pans
• coolant return pipe across front of engine
• engine sump pan
• shock absorbers & springs
• mud trap behind front springs
• brakes

The battery and its earth strap need to be in good condition or the power steering can throw a wobbly - it draws a lot of current. As a precaution I always park with the wheels straight and let the battery recover before setting off.

Check the 'duckbill' scuttle drains below the wipers are clear - they block easily. Check the condition of the wiring loom in this area - the loom tape disintegrates.

Monitor tyre wear. Wear most common on front insides & rear outsides. Front lower wishbone rear bush can cause tracking issues. Rear axle alignment is sometimes less than perfect, with no provision for adjustment (can add shims at the hubs or loosen mounting bracket bolts to adjust position).

Climate control has weak vent flap - very hard to replace. Avoid changing airflow direction whilst fan is running.

Other than that, they're great little cars, tough, capable and reliable. I hope you enjoy your 100HP

Thanks for that, I'll check those threads out

We come from 2 Panda Punto ( ) MK2s so I've changed the coolant return pipe twice, I wasn't sure if the 1.4 had the same pipe, clearly it does, pain in the bum that it is
The duck bills too seem to be a common issue, I'm not sure if they're inflexible from new but they do block up easily.

All 4 corners are going to be fully refurbed from the braking perspective, I've already got new disks and pads. Carriers, hoses and slider pins are on order. I don't know the state of the calipers as yet, if they're a bit on the dodgy side then they'll be replaced too.

The wishbones are up for replacement in the next week or two (weather dependant!), just waiting on them being delivered, only ordered today!

Lot's to do, gonna get the important stuff out of the way for MOT time in November (not long ), then in the spring it'll be a damn good inspection on the ramps for rust inspections.

I'm hoping that this little thing will be with us for many, many years. If Auto Italia is on next year then we'll be there with the Panda and the wife's Giulietta.

 

[DaveMcT]

I had my rear axle grit blasted an zinc metal sprayed. It's arguably over the top but at £80 I just got it done. I painted over with self etch primer to cover the rough metal spray surface. For another £20 they would have epoxy painted over the zinc. I was daft to not have that done as well.

The rear brakes have two short rubber hoses and a length of steel "bundy" pipe. I fitted a 2ft braided hose from HEL that runs from the end of the under body steel pipe to the caliper**. I went the whole hog with braided all around, but if you don't want the racing pedal feel just retain the front rubber hoses. They supply all the rubbers and grommets you could need for no additional cost.

If the hand brake lever is not sitting down properly when off, it's likely the calipers need to be rebuilt. Mine was doing this and tending to lock one side under hard braking, but I never had a binding brake. I could not get the caliper apart to replace the seals, but new calipers (Pagid) solved it and fixed the tendancy for one side to lock up under hard braking.

** Use some reasonably stiff electrical cable to measure for the new braided hoses. You can lay it out and accurately measure the total length.

 

[nitramtpr]

Thanks Dave. I've used HEL braided hoses on my bikes, I might give them a go. I've ordered OEM hoses for now.
I had my first good look under the car yesterday, she's got Koni shockers, not sure about the springs. The spring pans are quite rusty so the springs are going to have to come off to get them cleaned up, while they're out I might just get some of the 500 ones with the rubbers that you've recommended in the past.
The axle has some surface rust so I'll give that a good wire brushing, kurust and stonchip painting too.
There is a full stainless system, straight pipe from the cat with just a back box, sounds quite fruity, OK for short journeys but I think it would become a bit tiresome on anything longer than 45 minutes or so. The rubbers have a lot of give in them so the pipe knocks against both the floor and where it comes over the axle knocks against the spring
Most of that seems to be caused by the fact there just a single hanger on the back box which causes it to lean towards the nearside and as such has melted a portion of the bumper :bang:
I've found some clamp on hangers on Ebay, just got to measure the box so I get the right one.
Looking at pictures of a standard box I see the hangers sit on the back of the box and point towards the front of the car, the previous owner put the hanger on pointing towards the back, also, to make up for the single hanger he's used cable ties from that side to the other (empty) hanger rubber to try and keep it hanging straight :bang: :bang:
Yesterday I cobbled up a piece of right angle steel, bolted that to the exhaust clamp on the opposite side and hooked that into the empty rubber, it's now sitting straighter and not hitting the spring any more. Due to the slack rubbers at the front and middle it's still hitting the floor though. I'm going to change all 5 rubbers this weekend.
I'm in two minds about this exhaust. I might yet swap it out for a standard system.
At least he bought decent green stuff discs and pads :slayer:

 

[DaveMcT]

The standard system has a long absorbent box in the middle with a baffled box at the back. Removing the middle box will create a gear shift growl that soon get tiresome. Mine has a back box that's too restrictive I hate it but dont want to spend £150 on a fancy Ulter or whatever.
eBay is full of Ulters but they are not stainless so I dont fancy the costs only have rust out in a couple of years.
I will eventually get around to finding a stainless exhaust systems builder to make a back box that does the job.

 

[nitramtpr]

Removing the middle box will create a gear shift growl that soon get tiresome.

Hmm, perhaps I should get a stainless centre box made up to make the exhaust more tolerable. It'd be a shame to get rid of a stainless system and go back to mild steel that needs replacing every 3 or 4 years.

 

[Wazzzer]

Rear plastics around the seats are an absolute nightmare to source; both of mine were cracked when I bought it and so far I've only found one

There are apparently four different colour options but annoyingly they all have the same part number. If you do happen to find yourself some please keep me in mind as well! I'm not sure if the later Dynamic shares the same colour plastics, I really need to compare the wife's to mine but she's paranoid I'll steal the one I need

Abarth seats are a good mod, trouble is you'll want the steering wheel, handbrake cover and pedals too

 

[DaveMcT]

Hmm, perhaps I should get a stainless centre box made up to make the exhaust more tolerable. It'd be a shame to get rid of a stainless system and go back to mild steel that needs replacing every 3 or 4 years.

I'm away from home for a couple of days, but kept my original mid box as a pattern so will post the measurements another day.

These people in Birmingham make stainless exhaust boxes to order. Give them a call to discuss your middle box.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/MIJ-EXHAUST?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

For example - eBay item 233721888863

 

[nitramtpr]

I'm away from home for a couple of days, but kept my original mid box as a pattern so will post the measurements another day.

These people in Birmingham make stainless exhaust boxes to order. Give them a call to discuss your middle box.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/MIJ-EXHAUST?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

For example - eBay item 233721888863

Thanks for that

 

[Wazzzer]

The standard system has a long absorbent box in the middle with a baffled box at the back. Removing the middle box will create a gear shift growl that soon get tiresome. Mine has a back box that's too restrictive I hate it but dont want to spend £150 on a fancy Ulter or whatever.
eBay is full of Ulters but they are not stainless so I dont fancy the costs only have rust out in a couple of years.
I will eventually get around to finding a stainless exhaust systems builder to make a back box that does the job.

Do you have the middle box removed on a standard system? I keep thinking about deleting the centre box but not sure how loud it would be with the Ulter rear box I have

 

[DaveMcT]

The mid box is just a straight through absorbent type. There is little point in deleting it and you will get an annoying growl at every gear shift point.

 

[nitramtpr]

Well, this weekend we decided to do two jobs. It was chucking it down with rain most of the weekend so we did what we could in between the downpours and didn't take pictures unfortunately.

1. The rear silencer all loose and sloppy.

One of the reasons is the rubbers are on their way out and are too flexible, unfortunately the ones I've ordered have not yet arrived so I've had to re-use the originals for now.

The other reason is the rear silencer (8"x5" oval) was only secured with a single hanger on the passenger side, the previous owner had cable tied that hanger and rubber to the rubber on the other side in an attempt and pull it over, this did not work as it hung over to the kerbside and melted the bumper I also found the clamp bolts holding the silencer into the main pipe were loose and the silencer was just moving around all the time, it was banging against the rear spring and the axle :bang:
I removed the silencer, wire brushed the pipe and cleaned it up as best I could, applied some exhaust putty, clamped it up.
I also bought another 8"x5" hanger from ebay. It isn't too bad, It is a couple of mm too small so getting it clamped around the exhaust so I could put the bolt on was difficult, I had to use a G-Clamp to pull the two ends together so that I could get the bolt in enough for the nut to bite.
The silencer now sits in a good place and doesn't bounce all around the place. The new rubbers have not yet arrived so I could replace those at the front of the car so the main pipe is still a bit too loose.

I've also ordered a standard exhaust for the car, once I have this on I'm going to get the main pipe cut and a centre resonator put in. The hanging rods also do not have any ends on them so the exhaust slides around too much in the rubbers, that needs to change.

2. The other job was a rear wheel bearing.

When we bought the car the previous owner said....there's a bearing in the boot, I never got round to changing it.....

What he really meant was....

I've changed one of the bearings but couldn't get the other side's caliper carrier off because the allen bolts are almost rounded inside so I'll let you have a go....good luck :idea: :bang:

We took the caliper off but when we got to taking the carrier off the allen key wasn't a nice snug fit, upon having a good look with a torch the insides of the allen bolts are quite corroded and do not have nice defined edges to them.
Othe top allen bolt looks like a larger allen key ground down a bit and persuaded to fit could get it off, the other one looks a little worse for wear, I'm going to buy two allen keys one size up and grind them down to fit and see what happens.

Two new bolts are going to be required. I'm tempted to buy new carriers as well.

The other options are...

1. Go round to my brother's as he has some welding kit and get him to weld a bolt into the allen key head and see if it'll come off that way.
or
2. Grind it off, drill it and use a bolt extractor!

Hopefully this coming weekend will be better weather and we can get the carrier off but I'm not hopeful.
My daughter has just started a new job and her boss has a lift that he's said she could use if she needed, as she's only been in the job a week and a half is it a bit early to ask? :devil:

 

[Wazzzer]

The bolts you speak of are horrendously priced for what they are...


46417117 is the part number you're after, happy hunting!

 

[nitramtpr]

The bolts you speak of are horrendously priced for what they are...


46417117 is the part number you're after, happy hunting!

Hmmm, that part number is for the bolts that holds the caliper in the carrier.
I need the bolts that hold the carrier to the hub, which I believe is 13835814. Looking at the picture in ePER it says screw but looks like a pop rivet!

EDIT

Just off the phone with my local Fiat dealers, the part number for the bolt / screw that holds the carrier to the hub is indeed 13835814, they're a massive £1:79 each (+ the dreaded vat of course!). I've already ordered the caliper carriers and they come with the new sliders and bolts so I don't need the 46417117
I found the bolts cheaper at https://www.allcarpartsfast.co.uk/ but with shipping it works out more expensive than getting them from Fiats.

 

[chris3234]

I'd definitely go with the welding a bolt to the top

You'd will struggle to drill a hole and use a bolt extracted due to them.being hardened high tensile bolts

 

[A3jeroen]

Isn't it possible to hammer in an oversized torxbit?

gr J

 

[nitramtpr]

Isn't it possible to hammer in an oversized torxbit?

gr J

It isn't a torx, it's an 8mm Allen headed bolt. I have ordered 2 x 9mm 1/2" socket ended allen keys and will be adjusting them to be a nice snug fit before attempting the welded bolt option!

My order from AutoDoc has finally arrived from Germany, took a week and a bit to arrive from the order date but took a week to get packed Hey ho, I couldn't have done anything before now with them as I've not been to collect the pinch bolts.

The wishbones look proper quality