Panda (Classic) Pandamonium

[Liquid Knight]

Fantasia

If you recall as while ago I replaced the rear brake cylinders on my Fantasia as one of them was seized and would periodically slow the car down. Once replaced the brakes never felt right. I put this down to how old the fluid looked and set about getting a bleed kit and flushing the system out.

This went well yesterday.

As well as giving me a craving for Guinness the old fluid looked more like I'd done an oil change. Anyway due to the car not having a current M.O.T I used a private farm track to test the brakes and...

...they were the same as before if not worse. :roll:

The pedal would feel firm and the brakes start to bind then the pressure would drop the pedal would travel to the floor before any pressure built up again. If I pump the brake the rear wheels would lock up first and the car would pitch in the direction of whatever rear wheel decided to lock. There is no air is the system as far as I can tell so I pop the bonnet to find brake fluid was leaking out of the master cylinder cap. Could the loss of pressure be due to the cap not being sealed? No, but I changed it for the 750 anyway as it was cleaner and there have been no more leaks from there.

With the rear locking first my next guess was the compensator valve located under the spare wheel. I undid the bolt removed the rubber cover to find the grease had solidified and the piston was locked in place. I cleaned it with some WD40 and a toothbrush and pumped the brake again to see if it would free up but it was solid. Could the compensator valve being stuck be caused by or a contributor to the slave cylinder failing? Again no, it's probably just due to the age of the components. Anyway nowhere local sells them unless I wanted to adapt one from another vehicle to make it fit. As far as I'm aware Cinquecento and Seicento ones are different as well so I had to order one from here...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAKE-VAL...prg=1017&rk=1&sd=260999288682&#ht_2565wt_1139

...fit it when it arrives, bleed the rear brakes again and hope for the best.

Pretty stupid bit of design if you ask me (not that anyone had or tends to) I would have put a bleed nipple on the compensator valve as well as I'm sure air could be trapped in there.

That's three to five day delivery, so Monday is most likely. I'll be cycling to work for another week then.

Much as I enjoy/endure cycling to work I've missed my little car.

 

[panda panda]

Re: Fantasia

3-5 days delivery is a bit poor IMO even if it is through the Royal Snail.

Hope it sorts the problem though

 

[Liquid Knight]

Re: Fantasia

3-5 days delivery is a bit poor IMO even if it is through the Royal Snail.

Hope it sorts the problem though

One of the many problems. I'll update later but I'm a coin toss away from scrapping the bloody thing right now.

 

[firstcar-Y10]

So have you solved the rotting bump stop issue by grinding them out of the middle of the spring seats and pretending they were never supposed to be there then

 

[Liquid Knight]

Fantasia

As I couldn't get the brakes done today I thought I'd have a look at tidying the front suspension. Sadly I noticed a few things while I was under the car.

The passenger side sill has gone in two places...

...near the front where the floor meets the bulkhead...

...and directly under the "B" pillar.

Also both bottom ball joints have perished.

Hmmmm! Bum, poo; butt! (my nephews have been following this thread)

I don't have the £100 for a new sill...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260937383...AX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_2154wt_906

...at the moment so it'll have to be patched for now.

Another £50 for the bottom ball joints...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300629646...AX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_627wt_1139

...and I'm definitely cycling to work for another month.

In the mean time. Today's effort was worth getting wet for.

Won't be calling the scrappy just yet.

 

[panda1408]

You don't need a complete sill to do a proper repair that will last Those holes dont look too bad (famous last words!) so should be alot easier to sort than cutting the whole thing off and welding all the way along.

Why not buy the balljoint on its own without the carrier, only about £15 for a pair then, I'm preuming you have access to a press of course.

 

[VmanC]

I can let you have two new carriers for £30 + p&p.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Fantasia

Fellow PPC Forum Panda fanatic Damon spotted these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-PANDA-SEAT-MARBELLA-LANCIA-TRACK-CONTROL-ARM-L-R-/230647350638?clk_rvr_id=391639954590&VER=single&viewandbid=230647350638&POS=viewandbid#ht_5202wt_1139

...so that's a day fitting those and the new CV boots and about a days worth of welding to get the Fantasia back in the road.

I would have preferred a whole sill as she's the last green Fantasia she should be preserved and patchwork sills are a bit of a bodge. Still when I can afford it I will do it.

Best of all I'll have a pair of hub carriers for the 750 that I can add a bit of camber to.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Updates will be a little scarce for the next couple of weeks. I've just started a twelve day three night shift pattern. It's dark when I leave and when I get home so apart from letting you know when the bits arrive there won't be anything to report anyway.

Ideal bit of overtime as my insurance is due next month and I could pay in one go for the fist time in five years.

 

[VmanC]

Re: Fantasia

Fellow PPC Forum Panda fanatic Damon spotted these...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-PANDA-SEAT-MARBELLA-LANCIA-TRACK-CONTROL-ARM-L-R-/230647350638?clk_rvr_id=391639954590&VER=single&viewandbid=230647350638&POS=viewandbid#ht_5202wt_1139

...so that's a day fitting those and the new CV boots and about a days worth of welding to get the Fantasia back in the road.

I would have preferred a whole sill as she's the last green Fantasia she should be preserved and patchwork sills are a bit of a bodge. Still when I can afford it I will do it.

Best of all I'll have a pair of hub carriers for the 750 that I can add a bit of camber to.

Ah, are you going to elongate the top s/abs mounting hole?

Have you ordered the wheel arches then?

 

[Liquid Knight]

I was thinking of pressing the ball joints out and seeing if I can mount a new pair further back but keeping it in place and moving to the upper mounts is the better way.

I haven't ordered the arches as yet. Until I decide what brakes, wheels and suspension set up I'll be using there's no point modifying the arches until I need to or know how much I'll need to.

As the Punto GT brakes are taking up valuable shed space I may adapt them to fit to the Panda racer.

If the FINE engine doesn't work or isn't powerful enough I have an interesting alternative on the back burner. My mate has a barn full of Mitsubishi FTO's 200bhp, lightweight, compact V6 with a manual or sequecial gearbox option. I can buy a complete donor vehicle and sell the parts I don't use. The 1300Kg FTO isn't a slouch but the same power plant in a 700Kg Panda should be pretty rapid.

What could go wrong?

 

[Liquid Knight]

Fantasia

Bias valve arrived yesterday.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Fantasia

The ball joints were marked as dispatched today. :roll:

Just as well I'm not in a hurry eh?

 

[Liquid Knight]

Fantasia

The ball joints arrived today.

That's my next day off planned.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Fantasia

Got some work done on the car today and injured myself trying something else.

The old brake compensator valve took about two minutes...

...to replace...

...and once the rear brakes were bled again I adjusted the hand brake...

...and the brakes are now ready for M.O.T.

I thought I'd have a go at the better of the two CV's today as well. I plan to take the whole hub assembly apart, do the CV boot and change the lower ball joints at the same time. This as far as I got the new boot on the cone fitter before I dislocated my thumb and sprained my wrist.

I thought warming the rubber up under a hot tap would help make it more malleable but my thumb clicked out again and I used words that would be inappropriate to repeat on a family friendly forum. So I'll have to disassemble the front corners split the drive shaft without loosing all the gearbox oil from the other end and put it back together again or drain the gearbox oil, take the shafts out completely and replace the CV boots on a bench (that I don't have so I'll cover the kitchen work top in newspaper).

I'm working the next three nights so I'll start the bodywork on my next day off. If I get into it I'll loose track of time and be late for my shift.

 

[firstcar-Y10]

Not that much hassle to get the CV joint off to do the boot, as long as you can find the little circlip buried under all the grease. Much easier than that crazy cone contraption.

 

[VmanC]

Surely the little end of the cv boot doesn't have to stretch to the size of the big end to get over that cone!

The last time I fitted pattern boots they rubbed on the bottom of the strut and wore a hole very quickly, something to check when you've got it back together.

 

[firstcar-Y10]

Surely the little end of the cv boot doesn't have to stretch to the size of the big end to get over that cone!

The last time I fitted pattern boots they rubbed on the bottom of the strut and wore a hole very quickly, something to check when you've got it back together.

That's not just me then. Had the same thing, went through a boot in about a week That's when I got a lot quicker changing the boot over.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Fantasia

The "O" ring that hold the CV together is a pain in the cheeks to get to on most cars I've done. So I look for alternatives first. The cone stretcher only works on the cheaper CV boots and they don't last as long as the original part spec' ones but it was worth a try. I have used a hydraulic stretcher before but having an Escort CV boot split releasing 300ft/lbs of pressure when it split in my hands put me off the idea of using one again.

I always give jobs to lazy people as they more often than not find the easiest way to do it.

 

[Liquid Knight]

Fantasia

So I had today all planned. Passenger side in the morning, drivers side in the afternoon and welding tomorrow/Monday.

Yep in the last two weeks someone had very kindly put my ball joints somewhere "safe" and forgotten where. After a few hours looking (I kid you not) there was a knock at the door and a friend of mine needed some welding done on his van and was happy to pay £30 for me to do it.

Got some welding practice in before I tackle the Panda sills, got beer and pizza and the parts turned up as soon as it was too dark to start working on the car.

So that's tomorrow sorted then.