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Daves Panda. minor fettling


dave21478

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Speedo needles used to be a right problem on Renault 18's. I used to remove the old needle and glue the straw from a can of wd40 on. Looked almost original, I had the same problem with my Maserati but just gently touched the needle on the underside with a soldering iron and bent it back down. You don't seem to get these problems with modern cars any more.

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Things Dave hates doing, number 76.....masking. Cars, skirting boards....doesnt matter, I hate it with an unreasonable passion. I would rather gargle a gallon of the devils jizz than pick up a roll of masking tape. It tears in the wrong place every time, it sticks to things it shouldnt and when you try to stick it to something you want, it just falls off. Doesnt matter if its the pound shop stuff or fancy 3M or whatever. Fuck masking tape.

 

So it was with a pouty face and much tutting that I masked up the Panda today in order to tidy up the shody satin black lower third, which is factory original, but mine had been overpainted using a brush in the past.

 

post-17837-0-20344500-1453309969_thumb.jpg

 

I then sprayed on a few layers of rubberised stone chip. The idea was to hide a few wobbly bits on the bottom and generally tidy it up.

Oh fuck, that looks terrible....

 

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But once dried it reverted to the correct satin finish and I think looks pretty sharp. I like it.

 

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I did the other side too.

 

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And the front valence, which is still in its horridy glossy phase here....

 

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The angles were completely aribtrary, most of it will be hidden behind the bumper etc anyway.

 

 

And while that was going on I mounted the springs onto the new front shockers, which is always a butt puckering job using the wee spring compressors I have.

 

post-17837-0-27902600-1453310023_thumb.jpg

 

Got to work tomorrow, but I will try and sneak a trip into town for a sheet of plywood so I can fit the rear load liner. Otherwise, I am still waiting for stuff to arrive....bearings, discs, pads, bushes etc to build up the front suspension and various gaskets and oil seals to get the engine back together.

 

 

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After a few days of other stuff I got back to this today.

 

First up I wanted to fit the rear load liner.

 

The bulkhead fits to the old rear seat mounts and has two arms that bolt through the wheel arches.

 

post-17837-0-50244700-1453654339_thumb.jpg

 

I made a new wooden floor as the old one was broken.

 

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The liner then slides in. Its held at the rear by the bolts that hold the boot latch and I added a few self tapping sheet metal screw here and there to fix it solidly.

 

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Then the load cover goes on top.

 

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The front part hinges up too to allow acces from the front seats.

 

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To be honest though, I reckon the load liner will end up on a shelf in the garage after the first couple of kilometers.....I think it will rattle a lot.

 

 

Yesterday I received the first lot of parts I ordered. New rocker cover gasket, new sump gasket, new oil seals for both ends of the crankshaft....This meant I could get the engine back together.

 

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I also fitted new boot struts so it stays open by itself without the bit of broom handle it needed previously.

 

I then took the tyres off the rims. The tyres were a crummy selection of snow tyres and knobbly all terrains, all remoulds and all about 20 years old, so I binned them and ordered  new set of All Season tyres for it.

I then cleaned up the wheels ready to paint. I squirt of hydrochloric acid and then the jetwash took all the ingrained brake dust off. Once they are dry I will repaint them. Probably white.

 

post-17837-0-16241100-1453654416_thumb.jpg

 

 

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Off to a good start today when the courier turned up with a load of bits.....

 

post-17837-0-97880900-1453742426_thumb.jpg

 

I bunged the new clutch on the engine, fitted the new gearbox input shaft seal and release bearing and was ready to start, so I cleared a space and put a board down to work on.

 

post-17837-0-22430000-1453742435_thumb.jpg

 

At this point I set up the phone to take a time-lapse video, but it turns out the poxy things screen saver kills the timelapse program. Brilliant. This meant I only got the first few minutes.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbuG8j0xJk0&feature=youtu.be

 

After that I bolted the engine and box together, lifted the shell up, scooted the lot back under the car, lowered the shell, then hooked onto the engine and lifted it up onto its mounts. It was really quite easy actually.

 

post-17837-0-78801400-1453742444_thumb.jpg

 

The bloody exhaust doesnt fit. I knew the fitting was different as the downpipe on mine has been cut down in the past, but I have a sleeve to join them together. Unfortunately the exhaust is slightly bigger diameter than the old one so wont fit my sleeve.....I will have a look tomorrow and see if I can find a bit of tube to make a stepped sleeve. Typically this will likely mean taking the manifold off again as I welded it up, thinking it would all just slip together.

 

I then set about all the hoses and wires. Since it wasnt me that took it apart, this was a bit of trial and error. Im just about done now.

 

Red air filter housing for added power.

 

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And I got the final coat of white on the wheels before I stopped this evening.

 

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The battery is totally dead and wont take a charge, so that needs replaced. Tomorrow I will need to buy a few wee bits and pieces and I will head to the scrappy for some stuff I am missing and to figure out the last bits of wiring I am stuck with, and then I can get the suspension and driveshafts on.

 

 

 

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Another top thread that I had missed entirely. I had a similar Panda 4x4 as my daily years ago, when I lived in the back of beyond and apart from running out of petrol when I bought it (the seller had kindly not left enough in to get to the nearest petrol station) and the consequent dirt in carburettor problem for a short while it was great, it still had the hammock style rear seat which was enjoyed by my German Shepherd.

 

Sadly the rust bug had taken hold and it eventually went in a complicated part-ex deal on my Series 1 Land Rover. I wasn't selling the Panda but the wife of the vendor of the Land Rover took a fancy to it and it was easier to make it part of the deal than to sort out picking it up again after I had taken the Land Rover home. I wouldn't mind another, but the decent ones have gone pricey and I don't need the hassle of a bad one.

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Off to a good start today when the courier turned up with a load of bits.....

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20160125_120036 (Medium).jpg

 

I bunged the new clutch on the engine, fitted the new gearbox input shaft seal and release bearing and was ready to start, so I cleared a space and put a board down to work on.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20160125_122205 (Medium).jpg

 

At this point I set up the phone to take a time-lapse video, but it turns out the poxy things screen saver kills the timelapse program. Brilliant. This meant I only got the first few minutes.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbuG8j0xJk0&feature=youtu.be

 

After that I bolted the engine and box together, lifted the shell up, scooted the lot back under the car, lowered the shell, then hooked onto the engine and lifted it up onto its mounts. It was really quite easy actually.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20160125_134342 (Medium).jpg

 

The bloody exhaust doesnt fit. I knew the fitting was different as the downpipe on mine has been cut down in the past, but I have a sleeve to join them together. Unfortunately the exhaust is slightly bigger diameter than the old one so wont fit my sleeve.....I will have a look tomorrow and see if I can find a bit of tube to make a stepped sleeve. Typically this will likely mean taking the manifold off again as I welded it up, thinking it would all just slip together.

 

I then set about all the hoses and wires. Since it wasnt me that took it apart, this was a bit of trial and error. Im just about done now.

 

Red air filter housing for added power.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20160125_173935 (Medium).jpg

attachicon.gifIMG_20160125_173948 (Medium).jpg

 

And I got the final coat of white on the wheels before I stopped this evening.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20160125_174924 (Medium).jpg

 

 

The battery is totally dead and wont take a charge, so that needs replaced. Tomorrow I will need to buy a few wee bits and pieces and I will head to the scrappy for some stuff I am missing and to figure out the last bits of wiring I am stuck with, and then I can get the suspension and driveshafts on.

Connect another good battery in series with the knackered one then charge. It may kick start it.
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Frustrating day today, spent fannying around not achieving much.

 

I put the front struts together, which was annoying as my brother in law had just bunged all the bolts and clips and stuff into an ice cream tub, so the whole rebuild has involved sorting through this mess to find the right length and thread pitch of fasteners.

 

post-17837-0-21605600-1453826311_thumb.jpg

 

All for nowt though as the balljoints I bought are the wrong size.  :roll:

 

I then rebuilt the driveshafts with new grease and gaiters. I also did the final length of propshaft and fitted it but no pics of that.

 

post-17837-0-33523400-1453826320_thumb.jpg

 

Went to town to get oil and a few bits. In Le Halfords I went to the counter and asked the metrosexual pretty boy with three different hairstyles going on at once where the exhaust paste was. He looked at me like I had asked where the 5 litre bottles of soy sauce were; "we dont sell stuff like that here." Weird. I assume he didnt know what I was talking about.

 

Didnt get to the scrappy either.

 

:neutral:

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I dont think so. The pistons dont drop down far enough in the cylinders to expose the little end holes, so there is no way the clip could have got into the sump from there. Even broken up, the bits are too big to fit in the gap between piston and cylinder wall.

 

It ran fine before, so no reason to assume its suddenly going to have problems due to this clip which may well have been in the sump for decades.

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I dont think so. The pistons dont drop down far enough in the cylinders to expose the little end holes, so there is no way the clip could have got into the sump from there. Even broken up, the bits are too big to fit in the gap between piston and cylinder wall.

 

It ran fine before, so no reason to assume its suddenly going to have problems due to this clip which may well have been in the sump for decades.

You are far better off NOT having it in the sump!

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