Sublime Panda-monium II

[Relentless Rob]

The Van Aaken conversion set a bench mark back in the day but I'm hoping to keep things simpler with the Panda. The advantage of the carb' and dizzy engine is you don't have to re-loom half the car, use an ecu and about a dozen other things that could go wrong. So a sealed supercharger instead of turbo. I won't need to mess about with the front of the car, plumb in oil lines, intercooler pipes and so on. A blow through set up through an 80's hot hatch carb'. Easier to set up than fuel injection and keeping with the period of the car. I wanted to use a Volume-X charger but couldn't find one and the Merc' unit for £87 is (hopefully) a bargain.

Keeping to the period look I'll be after a flame thrower coil and yellow HT's next.

[Relentless Rob]

New Grille

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140708091226? ... 351wt_1139

[Relentless Rob]

I knew the linkages for the Seicento were different, if I can't get the Cinquecento gear box to fit I'll have a spare engine, box and bits for Guff racer for half the price of the new Alternator if the listing was accurate. Anyway the Seicento's fixed, I'll tell you more about that later. I'm now taking the Panda across the country to collect the eBay Cinquecento engine and gearbox.

Well prepared for any eventuality...

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/qeBFQAdx[/url]

[Relentless Rob]

362miles / £45 (of petrol) x £6.36 (£/Gallon £1.40 x 4.54L) = 54.82mpg

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/TfJ0DbAD[/url]


At mostly 50+mph with an engine and gearbox in the back for the return journey. Also the clutch didn't slip at all and even though I used the crawler lanes the little Panda pulled like a train. Barely flinching 5mph up the hills of the A605. What a great little car.

[Relentless Rob]

So yesterday morning I repaired the Seicento engine...

You guys know the drill but for those who may not here's what happened.

First off you need to get the jacked up, take the driver side front wheel off and remove all the plastic trim so you can get to the crank pulley. Lock the alternator drive/crank sensor wheel with a small spanner or screw driver and remove the sensor wheel with the three outer 13mm bolts.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/rIZh0C1F[/url]

As you can see there are ball bearings under the crank wheel. Remove the belt and in this case what's left of the adjuster.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/GgHyRM5N[/url]

To this day I have never known a belt failure on an eight valve Fiat Fire engine.

Line the engine up to TDC (50/50 chance you won't get the timing a hundred and eighty degrees out)...

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/TDyPJNfN[/url]

...fit the new belts, test the engine (if it starts carry on if not line up TDC again, take the belt off and turn the cam' pulley a hundred and eighty degrees and try again), put the other bits back on and drive away.

So while I had the tailgate open on the Seicento I had a look at the usual Polska Fiat rust spots and found...

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/A1Veen3T[/url]

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...holes.

So that's the plan today. Also when I took the car for a run around the block the rear brakes were next to useless and the front wasn't much better. I have a spare set of shoes, drums and linkages from the Guff racer and pads are an extra tenner. New oil and filters then the car's ready for M.O.T next month.


This afternoon I'll be collecting the Supercharger and the bidding ends on a couple of carb's later so hopefully I'll have decided between blowing through a Metro or Renault 5 Turbo carb' or drawing through a Webber or pair of bike carb's by then.

First off I have to get the Cinquecento engine and gearbox out of the Panda.

[Relentless Rob]

How to get an engine out of the back of a Panda...

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/I72XemNf[/url]

I got the Seicento on ramps, took the bumper and lights off, had a tap around with a small hammer and found those holes are a lot worse than I first thought.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/1hkPmoKV[/url]

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Fix or break for spares?

I'll take the grinder to it and see how much car is left after I find clean enough metal to weld before I decide.

[Relentless Rob]

Auto-test Seicento?

[mjslonergan]

Mmmmmmm speedholes
(Homer Simpson for those with bad memories and no social awareness)

[Renrut]

So is the plan to sell on the Sei once its fixed? I wouldn't try and have 3 projects on the go, that'll end up with none of them getting done. If you're not going to make it the main project I'd tidy and sell on - its what I should have done with my Sei!

I patched my seicento in exactly the same place on both sides. Took an afternoon and wasn't pretty but it was all hidden by the bumper and wheel arch liner anyway. That drivers side on yours looks a bit worse. Someone with your skills should be able to sort that relatively easily I would have thought.

[Relentless Rob]

Drivers side's done mate.

I've had a couple of people ask me about the car already.

[Relentless Rob]

That's all the welding done. I need to drill a couple of holes for the bumper mounts tomorrow and that's the bodywork done for M.O.T.

I can see where you're coming from Will but it's minor repairs and consumables rather than a project (I have to remember not to get carried away). With the M.O.T due next month I don't want to sell the car only for it come back with a fail sheet and an unhappy buyer. Get it sorted, fresh M.O.T and Tax'd for the new owner. It would be worth more with twelve months test than one anyway so the potential profit is greater although that is not my incentive.

Back to the Panda and a shorter road trip tonight to collect the Supercharger from St Ives. With the crate engine in my shed I can work out how it's going to fit there first. I think I'll need a bonnet bulge so I bought so new metal for the job. I'll see if I can get hold of a bonnet to play with rather than cut up the green one.

[mjslonergan]

I'll need a bonnet bulge

Even if you don't, make one anyway, just for aesthetics

[Relentless Rob]

I'll need a bonnet bulge

Even if you don't, make one anyway, just for aesthetics

Not exactly stealth though.

I have never known a belt failure on a Fiat Fire engine.

Until today.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/KiitgfUJ[/url]

I somehow knew that was going to bite my arse as soon as I said it. I'm glad the car decided to prove me wrong three miles away from home instead of 180miles away with a spare engine and gearbox in the boot.

So another day another belt change. I've used the one from the Seicento for now as I'm back to work tomorrow. Unlike the Seicento and Cinquecento the Panda was designed by a person and not a computer. The Seicento took about an hour and a half and you'll be lucky to do the belt on a Cinquecento in under an hour. The Panda however went from broken down and bonnet up to back to perfect in twenty three minutes.

Here's why...

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/gfrys8ro[/url]

...there's enough room for a person (rather than a midget oompalumpa crossbreed) to get not only their hands but tools to the job as well. That's another thing I love about the Panda, designed by people for people, not designed by a computer for some committee in Brussels to give marks out of ten.

[Relentless Rob]

Just had a look at the service history. The cam' belt was last changed at 21,000 miles in 1998.

30,000 miles and fourteen years can't be bad eh?

[Relentless Rob]

Just did a run into town and back. I think the timing must have been out before as the car is smoother now. It took a few seconds to register that the belt had gone so I was worried that out of sequence compression may have blown the head gasket, but the car is running just fine.

I'll run with the Seicento belt until the new engine's ready to fit.