General Panda progress...

[totnesmonster]

Hi all, been ages since I posted here..

Well, progress has finally been made on the Panda this week, I've finally got round to attacking it with the welder and got rid of virtually all the rust on the shell itself.

A friends Panda met an unfortunate end at the weekend, his son drove it into the back of another car and the front is pretty well mangled . But I've got hold of the wreckage and will be using the mint(!) doors and boot on my 4x4, as well as some interior and other bits and bobs, so at least some of it will live on...

As for swapping doors, does anyone have a guide for removing the plastic rubbing strips? I've tried giving them a bit of a shove here and there but not much movement and I don't want to break them. Any help greatly received.

Next up will be new wings, easier than patching holes, and then painting all the new bits, (not to mention thorough rustproofing of course...!). Pictures to follow....

 

[JimMagill]

Door trim? You just push them off (towards the front wheel??? Can't remember)

Jim

 

[totnesmonster]

Hmm.. I'll have to be a bit more brutal with it i think. The current doors will probably crumble around it before it breaks, which doesn't really matter as they're totally shot.

 

[JimMagill]

Tap it lightly with a hammer and a bit of wood.

it will start moving

and I'm nearly sure it's towards the front wheel as it catches on the front wing trim before coming off

Jim

 

[Tony M]

Petel ahd said you had to hold the front away from the door with your finger nails while someone tapped the rear with a hammer and a block of wood... haven't done it personally yet but he seemed to have it down to an art by the sound of it.

 

[totnesmonster]

Heres some pics of the before and after of the seam in front of the rear wheel. the left side is almost new but the right was completely shot, I can only guess they got bored before rustproofing that corner.... All the nasty stuff now cut out and replaced with new, and soon to be doused in Waxoyl...

Cheers Jim and Tony, I'll give it another go when I get home tomorrow afternoon.

Mike

 

[Tony M]

looks like those front wings are going to come in useful real soon...

 

[totnesmonster]

Aah, yes I just noticed that! cheers for them, yep, they will be coming into use very soon, probably next week.

I've got the strips off the doors now (easy when you know how...), but I'm not sure how the small strips in front of the doors come off, they move a bit but I don't want to break them!

Also are there any tips on getting the plastic clips from the door, i tried to push the inner part outwards on one ages ago but they wouldn't budge. Also space in the door is pretty tight so I can't get to them easily. Maybe I'll have to try and get new ones but I'd prefer to reuse the old ones.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Tony M]

Aah, yes I just noticed that! cheers for them, yep, they will be coming into use very soon, probably next week.

I've got the strips off the doors now (easy when you know how...), but I'm not sure how the small strips in front of the doors come off, they move a bit but I don't want to break them!

as for the front bits once again Petel comes to the rescue (what does this guy do for a living?) he mentions that they slide backwards towards the doors.

looking forward to seeing a *ust (calm down Steve) freed panda...

Steve maybe we should persuade Petel to scribe some of his extensive knowledge onto a document sometime ... that's be sooo useful.

P.S. nice beaver!

 

[totnesmonster]

yep, cheers again, it seems that backwards is the logical way.

i noticed that a beaver had snuck in (ooh-er missus) on one of the pictures too...

 

[totnesmonster]

.....bump.

Does anyone have any tips on removing the plastic clips from the doors that hold the rubbing strips on? As I can't get them to budge a bit. Otherwise I'll have to cut up the doors (they are knackered anyway), but would prefer not to.

One new wing is on, the other to be done sometime tomorrow....

 

[Tony M]

One new wing is on, the other to be done sometime tomorrow....

Jesus that was quick, i don't recall them being snap-fit.

you're lucky i didn't look too hard at my Sisley before deciding to sell them.

 

[totnesmonster]

2 new, rust free wings on the panda! One has even been painted. I would say I have a rust free shell but managed to make a penny size hole on the inner wing when I poked it, easy fix for tomorrow though. Otherwise I'll be attempting to get doors and bootlid ready for repainting and attempting to get those b****rd clips out of the old doors....