Technical Sump guard

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Technical Sump guard

porta

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Well I spoke too soon, the 2005 panda 4x4 climbing, with 150k + miles is still on its original bash plate, daughters just come for a visit, 2009 Cross and described a knocking underneath…climbs under, the sump guards detached itself, rotted through just before o/s rear mounting…aha, I know where to get one GGB, buggerations, no I can’t…any ideas?
 
Just found this, doesn’t seem to fit the original mounts, unless I’m just being stoooopid:
 
Just found this, doesn’t seem to fit the original mounts, unless I’m just being stoooopid:
Give them a call or email

Try searching for skid plate

Couldn't find anything cheap or secondhand that's any good

Did notice some of the longer ones you have to take off to change the oil
 
Give them a call or email

Try searching for skid plate

Couldn't find anything cheap or secondhand that's any good

Did notice some of the longer ones you have to take off to change the oil
Cheers, neither could I, seem like rocking horse doh-dah
That link I found, they do one with a removable cover for oil changes, £30 more, but, I was thinking, get this and grind out a panel…I’m cheap like that
 
Right, I’ve been underneath it now, lots of fun in driving rain then boiling sunshine, the guard is easily salvageable, it’s the rear mounting bolts, ones rusted off, the others sheared…now doused with AC90 and armed with mole grips, something tells me this isn’t going to be easy!
 
I had two rusted solid M6 under tray bolts. I ground them flat, drilled out and tapped to M8. I coated both sides of the steel with CS-90 anti seize and fitted stainless bolts with CS-90 all along the threads. They have since come out nicely and the steel has not reacted against the stainless.

One was hard and refused to drill. I used a 4mm cobalt bit with the jack under the drill to give a steady pressure. That worked great and I opened it out to 6.8mm for tapping. M6 RivNuts are probably better, but they can be hard to set in awkward locations. I can always drill out the M8 and fit Rivnuts if needed.
 
I had two rusted solid M6 under tray bolts. I ground them flat, drilled out and tapped to M8. I coated both sides of the steel with CS-90 anti seize and fitted stainless bolts with CS-90 all along the threads. They have since come out nicely and the steel has not reacted against the stainless.

One was hard and refused to drill. I used a 4mm cobalt bit with the jack under the drill to give a steady pressure. That worked great and I opened it out to 6.8mm for tapping. M6 RivNuts are probably better, but they can be hard to set in awkward locations. I can always drill out the M8 and fit Rivnuts if needed.
Yeah, the bits of stud/broken bolts are not shifting…time for drill and taps
 
Done, what a job that was on my back in this wind n rain, got a ‘thankyou father, but why is it blue? ‘Because I don’t carry a full range of paint, including metallic green, so you’ve got kubota excavator blue, and who’s going to see it?’
 
Bloody hill holder unavailable is on now…
Luckily it’s appeared on its own this time without abs and eld
 
Tomorrow morning finds a puddle of brake fluid under the new bash plate. Only kidding but does seem odd.
Seems it’s been coming on n off for a while. You know what kids are like, ‘dad there’s a light on dash that’s bulb shaped, I’ve looked and all bulbs are working’ ‘Righto, I’ll go through all lights and you tell me yes/no’ ‘yep, everything is working’…number plate lights! ‘Oh I didn’t know they were lit, where is the front one?’ Give me strength! ‘Where’s your manual’ at mi mums’ dear god
 
Whilst I was under I decided to check everything, lines, pipes, exhaust, sump. Pipe on aircon is adrift, that’s a part to order!
Then reversed it onto ramps and checked rear, including the suspension and subframes. Top shocker bushes need doing but struts fine, have some poly’ bushes, Surface rust but solid on susp, so I’ll do that next time she visits with the lanoguard, keen to see it in operation as not used it so far!
 
Last damn silly questions,
‘How do you know wehn things want topping up and where do you do it, on car I learnt to drive in it has it on caps’
Opens bonnet
‘See that, what does it say, and that, and that….’
‘oil, windscreen, hi/lo (expansion bottle), brake, clutch…ahhhh right’
I’ve also set her speed ‘beep’ to 30mph as she’s been looking at the rev counter…I kid you not
 
Waxoyl has been a tremendous disappointment. I will be interested to hear about Lanoguard.

My diesel was doing a thump over bumps. Actually just after bumps as the damping was not controlling the spring return. I fitted a pair of cheap dampers and compared them to the old ones before fitting. Both felt the same on compression and both had a slight snick at the fully extended end of travel.

New dampers on the car and the ride is night and day different. I forgot how easily we get used to crappy suspension dampers.
 
I’ve also set her speed ‘beep’ to 30mph as she’s been looking at the rev counter…I kid you not
Got to admit Fiat are so annoying with the speedo on the left of the panel. You get the steering wheel comfortable and now the section of speedo you really need to see is obscured. Why is the speedo not on the right of the clock panel? Probably because they've always done it that way since they made aircraft.
 
Have you got a good source for rear damper poly bushes?
I used to have a good supplier but they seem to have disappeared and standard bushes seem to be a bit of a problem at the moment too.
I only ask because I've had 3 or 4 Pandas turn up recently with totally knackered top bushes on perfectly fine dampers but I've also had one of my own which has one side failing after 18 months or so.
 
apparently you can get air shocks for the panda…I haven’t seen them specifically for the panda but I’ve seen them on YouTube fitted to all sorts, small compressor in boot and a controller on dash
 
I got these

The bushes are solid rubber (not the quick fail semi open variety) so might last a bit longer. Road noise is unchanged. I flatted, primed and painted the bottom ends as they always get very rusty. The RHS bottom bolt was a nightmare to get aligned. Next time, I'll try doing that side first (if I remember).
 
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