Panda (Classic) Pandamonium

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Panda (Classic) Pandamonium

I know you are not doing this engine for 100k miles reliabilty and such but don't be surprised once it is all together, if that timing belt will give you grief. It will be noisy if too loose(not to mention the risk of skipping a tooth or two under load) or you have a big risk of snapping it if too tight.
A measurement with a tape might be an indicator on how to get the length close to ideal, but i would really look at getting the tensioning right. An oversize or undersize tensioner might be necessary.
Just a thought...
 
No risk no reward. Also it's a Panda; so if a belt snaps it's a twenty minute job to change it. ;)


My two 1108 engines decided they didn't want me to use either of their crank wheels...

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...on the 1368 block. The Punto one came off without incident and the Cinquecento ones both sheered the location points.

The only other one I have is on the Repo-Seicento and there are nineteen watcher on it at the moment. Pulling the listing so I can use the crank pulley wheel would be expensive to say the least.
 
Guff II

Belt and cam cover gasket arrive today. :)

I have a new and interesting problem with the engine that I need to work out next.

So this morning I went to my local suppliers and bought some lip panels to use as sills. Got the car up on ramps and took the door off to get to the sill and inspect it properly.

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Turns out the passenger side is solid apart from the lip at the back where the plastic trim was a water trap. As I'm widening the arches anyway I'll leave it until then. While I had the door off and raw materials I decided to fix that instead.

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Drilled the Aluminium plate off...

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...cut as much rust away as necessary, welded a lip in place...

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...and ran out of gas. Went into town to get more and someone very kindly put my hammer through the window for me.

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Seam welded and flapped a panel to the door...

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...once the door was hanging a quick coat of yellow...

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...to protect the bare metal from the rain...

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...that arrived just after I covered the window frame with plastic.

In other news. The Repo-Seicento is sold to Kev' as his latest van of death decided it didn't need a clutch any more.
 
Guff II

It's unbelievably ropy mate. ;)

Because the door wasn't straight (at all) welding a straight panel to bend door looks worse.

Today's issue...

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...the Punto crank is 5mm wider than the Cinquecento one so I need to either find a pulley that fits the 25mm crank and 15mm belt or retrofit the 20mm belt drive and find a longer belt to suit.

Or just fit a complete engine.
 
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The Panda formally known as Guff II

http://guff-racing.com/

Crap it already exists. It didn't when I did a search before but it does so now I have to change the name and colour scheme of my Panda. :-(

Great minds thinking alike rather than plagiarism.
 
The Panda formally known as Guff II

I've come up with a solution to the belt and pulley problem. Hopefully it will work. To get things running I have been looking for a manual choke conversion for the X-1/9 carb'. The cheapest one I've found was £25 plus V.A.T and postage. Then I found this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230790697...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_500wt_1373

...manual choke Webber for a Fiat for a Tenner. :)

Made a pair of templates...

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...just need get hold of some 3mm steel and a bit of pipe to make a manifold adapter.

Just need to get a sump sorted and hope the pulley idea I had works. Then it's just brakes, suspension, wheels, paint, mount the seat, mount the harness, make the polycarbonate windows and replace the windscreen for M.O.T.


In about five days spread over the next four weeks.






Gulp!
 
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The Panda formally known as Guff II

So I've been experimenting again.

I've put the 1368 crank pulley back, retrofitted the 1368 water pump and replaced the cam pulley.

I tried the original belt...

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...too short. So I tried the Punto 75 belt...

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...perfect fit and enough play for the tensioner not to foul the head...

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...the Grande Punto belt has 124 teeth so I guess I need one that has 128 or 129.
 
Racer and Fantasia

The post 2005 Grande Punto has either the 124 or 129 belt and I asked this lady to count the teeth on hers before I bought it for £9.99 :)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120918889...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_500wt_1385

This could be controversial. I've stuck new Panda script on a Mk II Panda...

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...because I couldn't find an original badge and was fed up of the holes and scratches where the badge was taken. :(
 
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£999 Challenger

Ford badge on a Fiat? Better have an ST engine as well. ;)

With new belt number three on it's way I thought I'd spent today getting the engine ready to fit it.

I needed to make the 2007 Panda pulley fit the 1996 cam'.

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Easy enough with MS Paint but more fun with a grinder. ;)

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I left a gap big enough to lock the washer in place with a nut and bolt and weld the two together.

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Due to the different sized holes on the new Panda pulley the outer rim is counter balanced.

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The counter balance weights on the rim of the pulley foul the head where the cover bolts in. I solved this problem with a grinder as well. ;)

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I also needed to fit the wider tensioner from the new Panda head. First the shorter mounting bolt had to come out...

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...and fit the mounting bolt from the new Panda head as well. Well worth the £1 it cost me eh? ;)

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I needed a 3mm washer behind it to clear the core plug at the end of the 1108 head. I fitted the top pulley to make sure it lines up perfectly to the water pump...

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...cam pulley to tensioner...

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...and finally tensioner to crank pulley.

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Other things I needed to make sure about. The Panda engine mount, alternator and distributor. :)

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The alternator is bloody close...

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...but lines up well.

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Marked TDC and as soon as the belt arrives I'll finally know it the top and bottom timing is synchronous.

That's about it. I spent the rest of the day playing with a two stoke and rotary engine. That's all gardening is to me. Have a weekend of dirty welding ahead. :)
 
£999 Challenger

Instead of the "Fully Integrated Robotised Engine" How about the "Fabricated In Norfolk Engine" FINE being ironic if it doesn't work eh? ;)
 
£999 Challenger

So a day of ups and downs for me. Starting with an all time low. I used P40 filler for the first time since I bought my first welder. :(

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If I had taken the time I could have spot and popped the pannel straight but the £999 challenge isn't a concourse event I had a lot to do today.

First I needed to get the bonnet M.O.T friendly so cut away the holes in the front corners (sharp edges) and filled with new metal.

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To make up for my P40 indiscretion I used a safe amount of welt so I could grind and flap it back...

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...and a little filler (Grrrrr!) to tidy up the flap groves. ;)

Okay before I go on. I hate filler! The guidelines suggest you use a pea of hardener for every golf ball of the stuff. In my opinion (sorry I this causes any offence) if you need a golf ball of filler you haven't done enough metal work and should give up and start again.

So next on my list of things to do was door number two.

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Seam welded along the top and stitched the bottom lip.

Grind, flap, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, wet and dry, prime, paint, leave to dry and re-hang.

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I also finished of the rear quarter filling and tidied the passenger door.

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While I had the filler out I finished the bonnet and refitted it.

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In other news the belt arrived so.....


....ladies and gentleman....



....boys and girls....


....I present to you...


...the Fiat FINE engine. :)


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I cranked the engine by hand and the TDC marks lined up perfectly every time. So in theory at least the engine should work. ;)
 
£999 Challenger

Sump...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221038510...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_500wt_1385

...check.

Brake discs...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190641823...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_2420wt_1368

...check.

Mirrors for M.O.T...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260785756185?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

...check? ;)

I love it when the Payday fairies visit.

Dirty welding (sills, floor and inner wings), paint, finish mounting the harness, build and fit the engine, fabricate the exhaust, fabricate the inlet manifold adapter and (time and budget permitting) Polycarbonate the rear windows.

FOUR WEEKS TO GO!!!!!!
 
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£999 Challenger

Okay another pesky M.O.T job taken care of thanks to an eBay purchase.

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I found a use for the discs I drilled out of the seat last year. :)

Luckily I know a very understanding M.O.T tester. ;)
 
£999 Challenger

My friend Kev' suggested I should paint the cage with a brush to give it an aged look.

Do you know what? I think he was right...

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...perfect for the old racer dragged out of storage look I'm going for instead of a new build.

Of course it isn't unusual for me to be playing with straps on a Sunday afternoon.

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That's another M.O.T job done. ;)

Weather permitting I'll be doing the dirty welding tomorrow. Two problems with getting the car painted this week; first I only have one bottle of thinners, thanks to the extended bank holiday can't get any more and second damp air is rubbish for painting. :(
 
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£999 Challenger

Sorry about the lack of photo's today. I've been busy working on the car rather than being a shutter bug.

Anyway the sill is patched, rear arch replaced and I've cut the rusty filler hole out and replaced the metal, cut a hole big enough for the cap and screwed the neck in place.

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Now I have a dilemma. If I drive to work this month I can be home in time to do quiet jobs to the car, but if I cycle to work this month I'll have quicker reaction times for the quarter mile and weigh a bit less.
 
£999 Challenger

I've had to sit and work this one out and it appears by my calculations (not taking the weather into account) that the 750 will not be ready for the £999 Challenge June 29th. All the parts have come together and the FINE engine will be ready. It all comes down to two factors. I only have three days off work between now and then to do it and the DVLA still haven't sent a log book out, an essential part for the "four wheels and an M.O.T" rule.

I want to lift the Fantasia engine out for a spruce up, strip down and rebuild anyway so while I'm doing that I can fit the FINE engine, enter the event and put the car back to standard later.

The whole reason I wasn't disappointed that I won the 750 on eBay was because I didn't have to put the Fantasia at risk on track but yesterday for every step forward I took three back. Typical day with a rust Fiat I know but I'd rather get the job done properly than quickly and having to rush means I'd be going against my own ideals.

I have three days to get the car ready and it'll be a day to put the engine together fit it and get it running. A day for paint and another for the M.O.T pass or fail.

Realistically the Fantasia is my only option. :(

On the plus side I'll have a year to get the 750 ready. ;)
 

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