Panda (Classic) Project Diesel Monster Panda

[koalar]

Nice

Needs moving to the classic panda section for more veiws

Reminds me of this



Panda body on a fiesta rally car I beleive

 

[Didge3]

Definitely will be watching with interest, best of luck to you

 

[FDNY21]

Can't wait to see what you do with this! Still remember when I first saw it in the flesh, much more ripe than I had ever imagined... enjoy!

 

[Dragon Man]

So that the panda as far of a shell as i can get it before i start taking suspension components off.
engine, gearbox, drive shafts, prop shaft, whole interior, bumpers, pedal assembly, brake lines, fuel system, pretty much everything bar whats needed to keep the wheels on the car so i can roll it around.

here's a picture of the platform chassis i will be mounting everything to the Suzuki SJ with Jimny suspension.

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• Dragon Man
• Dec 27, 2023
• 1

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• Dragon Man
• Dec 27, 2023

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• Dragon Man
• Dec 27, 2023

as you can see it stands pretty tall.


and tomorrow i will be collecting some bits from a BMW 335D F31

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• Dragon Man
• Dec 28, 2023

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• Dragon Man
• Dec 28, 2023

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• Dragon Man
• Dec 28, 2023

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• Dragon Man
• Dec 28, 2023

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• Dragon Man
• Dec 28, 2023

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• Dragon Man
• Dec 28, 2023

that is a rare(ish) 8 speed automatic gearbox with torque converter, and (the best bit) the twin turbos from the 335D engine which i can bolt onto any old N57 engine (and with mods the older M57).
the whole reason why i am not buying the engine with all this kit is because the engine had a bottom end bearing fail.
now on the N57 this is because the auto box holds the engine RPMs too low (for emissions reasons naturally). i will be sure to have the box mapped so that i am able to choose what RPM the box will change down at rather than it lugging the engine causing low oil pressure and killing bearings.

ill also be getting some other bits too like the front and rear prop shafts and maybe some parts of the wiring loom. we will see.

thats all for now!

 

[Dragon Man]

Had delivery of the suzuki SJ late on the 27th. mot history says it was last on the road in 2018.. pre coil spring mods. ill have to give it all a good going over and make sure its all in good shape. it does seem that is has a few issues.. just lifting the thing up looks to make the coil springs fall out of the spring cups which is nice. ill have to address that somehow. the most easy way is to limit the axle travel. ill loose articulation but meh.. im sure ill come up with something. its also missing the anti roll bar from the front too which i would like to get back.. however again that may limit the articulation of the axles. hey if its not there it cant fail right? again we will see what i can do.

next on the agenda is to find some decent larger rims to support larger brake discs... and maybe converting the rear brakes to discs too. i dono drums are a little.. old.. it would be nice to have 2 sets of wheels, one for more off road/green lane use and one for day to day road use.

i am tempted to do away with the SJ/land rover transfer box and use the one already on the back of the 8 speed transmission. it would be permanent 4x4 but at least it would have a differential between front and rear axles. though saying that the land rover "LT230" transfer box does come with a differential if you get the right one. the only issue i have is that i will need to make an adaptor plate and shaft to convert the output shaft of the 8 speed auto to the input of the LT230. theres a place that makes them but its over £1000 to buy it

i also managed to get the ECU for the BMW F30's N57 twin turbo engine. i have got to get it "unlocked" aka have the immobiliser taken off it which sadly is a £400 job. i can just post off the ECU and it will come back done. at the same time i am going to have all of the emissions regulations taken off it too as i wont be fitting a DPF, EGR, or swirl flaps to the engine.. i am not really bothered about "remapping" for extra horse power as i think i will have enough. i would be interested in an eco map however as they not only unlock a bit of power, they also make the engine run a lot more efficient and i am all for efficiency.

not thought about the interior yet. ill be saving some stuff from the SJ but a lot of it i dont want.
the roll cadge is kinda cool but i will need to cut it up to take the shell off as its been welded directly to the chassis.

ill try and get another video up when i get more things together. i hope to be doing a bit of welding to the panda body at some point. however i seem to waiting on the weather quite a bit. the weather is limiting me a lot on this sadly.

i have a mk1 mazda MX5 in the way at the moment so i cant do any chassis and shell testing for a while. its suspension components are in for powder coating but as soon as they get back and installed i should be able to get the SJ down the back of the house next to the panda. oh yeah i do have a bit of welding to do on the mx5 too. i should sort that..

well till next time. lets hope for a break in the rain! be my luck it will be beaming sunshine while im at work and chucking it down as soon as get off work.

 

[Dragon Man]

well here it is!

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• Dragon Man
• Jan 13, 2024

somehow i have to fit a rather large engine into this. hmm.

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• Dragon Man
• Jan 13, 2024

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• Dragon Man
• Jan 13, 2024

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• Dragon Man
• Jan 13, 2024

get that roll cadge and body off!

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• Dragon Man
• Jan 13, 2024

nothing new to report other than this really. i dont like the wheels. so i need to change those. the smallest wheels i can fit are 15 inch due to the brakes getting in the way. standard SJ steel rims will be perfect.

about every bolt that holds the cab to the chassis sheared off. somehow the body is not as rusty as i thought it would be. the chassis is in fantastic condition no rust on the chassis. perfect!

the mk1 MX5 has been taking most of my time up but i have finally finished all of the welding on it. i have also picked up most of the suspension components from the powder coaters too so as soon as the wheel arches are painted up i should be able to fit them and get it back on its own wheels.


well till next time!

 

[Dragon Man]

oh ok.. so things have changed.

the suzuki SJ with Jimny suspension was just too floppy. you could pull out the coil springs by just lifting one corner of the vehicle. so i sold that one and bought another rolling chassis. it needs pretty much everything replacing including all the leaf springs as they had cracked or just snapped. both axles leaked and rust had eaten its way into almost eveything but meh.. i am use to rust!

so i have now stripped the chassis, cleaned up, painted and now stored on its side tucked away. (in keeping with the chassis must be on its side theme we have going on)

in other news. i did it.

i managed to find the most rare thing of the project. an inline 6 cylinder diesel engine with a 3 litre capacity. the M57TU2. the all aluminium version of the M57 engine range. it was a facebook market find, and quite local. i messaged the seller and managed to pick it up on the barrel trailer with Talon as the tractor unit. after getting it home and off loading it onto a sack truck i bought from costco (really recommend them) i set to taking it apart.. finding out that the engine had spent many years sat outside in the weather.. the injectors were stuck, the engine was.. leafy.. and the plastics were UV damaged from the sun.. but i had one! a BMW M57! and the best of it is, it was from out of a 325 3 series! so its lived its whole life de-tuned.

a rough looking thing, but this is what i LIVE for.

i then managed to find a scrapped engine stand at my work, so i made use of it! (note costco trolley)

the injectors were stuck good. they usually just pull out on these engines after undoing the injector retaining clamps but not these oh no. so i made myself a backwards hammer injector puller: (costco trolley yet again heavy engine is nothing to it)

thats a little win. some of the best tools i have are the ones i have made myself

i sadly found out that whoever left the engine outside, also left all of the common rail connecting unions unscrewed. this caused water to get inside the common rail, injection feed lines and high pressure pump. the water in the high pressure fuel pump must have froze and blown out its core plugs. not even the injectors were spared. what a mess.
all have been replaced with second hand parts from running cars.


anyway and after many many many hours stripping down, rebuilding, checking tolerances, cleaning, cleaning cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, then painting i have ended up with this:

the finest quality autism inspired paint job later and this is what we have ended up with:

what a transformation.

pretty much all parts have been replaced with FEBI (oem) parts. no cheap ebay parts!


still, i have got to wonder if it runs... i do have the wiring loom on it now but i have no where to bolt a starter to.
anyway

i have set work on to the axles and found the rear one to be very thin.. rusted away so i am on the hunt for a replacement one.
yes i may be able to fix it but i think it will need its strength.

the front axle is in good condition mostly because of the amount of oil everything was covered with. i am however giving it a overhaul, replacing seals and bearings.. jut making sure it is all good. every component will be being cleaned up and painted on the whole car. no rust anywhere.

i am in touch with a guy on one of the facebook SJ groups to help me gt hold of a better rear axle and some springs to help with the extra weight.

i managed to get a full adaptor kit for the engine, auto box and transfer box. the engine and auto box wont fit together and the transfer box definitely wont fit to anything so adaptor plates all the way.
i even have to go so far as to cut a new slot in the bell housing for the starter motor!
all the kits are available from The House Of Torque's website which has made this way more easy. even down to the wiring looms and control boxes.


...

well i would like to write out more but im 3 hours into this post as i keep falling asleep. so.. stay tuned.

 

[Dragon Man]

i think i am doing it correct. chassis sits on the shell, right?