The ongoing journey of Spartacus’ 1988 Fiat Panda

[spartacus]

Off now in the marvellous piece of vaj... Err sorry vag group engineering that is my mk3 Golf to A frame a Panda about 60 miles, wish me luck!

 

No pics yet, imgur still uploading.

[catsinthewelder]

WCPGW?

 

Best of luck

[spartacus]

 

Pictured is the towing device in question and a bucket of rudimentary tools, along with a roll of hand wipes, so at least if it all goes wrong I'll have clean hands!

[spartacus]

 

Ready to go! Although we've only got about five miles and the current Mrs S has spotted a garden centre, so we've taken up six spaces in the car park and stopped for a coffee.

[ShiteRider]

I was hoping the panda was pulling the golf.....

[Urko]

I was hoping the panda was pulling the golf.....

Me too, well disappointed.

[Twiggy]

Hope it all goes well.......

[oldcars]

Good luck, sure it will be fine. Panda looks nice.

[Barry Cade]

I'd put a different kind of Mortar in the boot of the Golf and drive the Panda home...

[DSdriver]

Love the expression "the current Mrs", I always introduce my wife as "the first MrsD" - just to keep her on her toes like.

[spartacus]

 

All done! Almost completely uneventful, thankfully. One of the rear tyres on the Panda was flat when we set off, we pumped it up but by the time we got back it had gone down again, it was perished anyway though, so no great loss. The Golf pulled the Panda without any drama and felt comfortable at 65.

The Panda isn't too bad at all. I've heard it running but it doesn't start very well, I think an ignition service will sort that out. It's a long term project though, don't expect any heroic levels of work rate! I'll update as and when.

[spartacus]

Thanks for all the 'likes' on this, it's good to get some support! I need to give a massive shout to Mr Bollox, who lent his a-frame to a random person who sent him a cheeky request for it on a forum!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

In 20 years it will probably be a heinous crime to lend someone an A frame so borrow it while you can!!! Good work Spart!!!

[spartacus]

As a bit of a sub story the seller, in the doorway in the loading up picture, had a yard chock full of tat, including an OMGHGF Rover and a diesel Rover. He's near J9 of the M42 if anybody's interested. PM and I'll pass on his number. I'll try and get him to e-mail me a list of all the junk he has.

[Formula Autos]

Love the expression "the current Mrs", I always introduce my wife as "the first MrsD" - just to keep her on her toes like.

"The current Mrs" is a Woganism that I also like to use.

[spartacus]

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

Having had this Panda in my garage since 2016 I thought it was about time I did something with it. When I bought it it didn't start very well, I initially suspected ignition components, the battery is shagged so I nosed my van up to it, connected the jump leads and tried stuff. Unbelievably all the electrical items worked! I have it a try on the starter, it turned but wouldn't fire, not even trying. I don't know why but something was telling me it was the carb, I stripped it down and sure enough the main jet was partially blocked. I gave it alla good clean then threw it back on the car. 

It fired right up, result!

Well no.

The water was low, so as I topped it up I was running the heater fan, then all of a sudden nothing electrical was working, except for the engine. All body electrics have disappeared, confusingly the temp guage is right over on the L/H stop, even with the key out of the ignition. Disconnect the battery and it slowly returns to the R/H stop, where it should be. Two steps forward and one back, it's a start though I guess.

[busmansholiday]

On 2/3/2016 at 12:35 PM, spartacus said:

The Golf pulled the Panda without any drama and felt comfortable at 65.

Thought the legal speed for towing was a max of 60?

[spartacus]

Yeah, that's prolly what I meant...

[Skut]

Clean the earth points. All Pandas do that if left a while. 

[spartacus]

I will, but I can't explain why earlier on in the day everything worked!

[Matty]

My mk1 uno used to do this. Driving along quite merrily with no electricity. Cleaning and remounting earths always sorted it

[Vin]

Yeah, I'd deffo clean the earthing 'hedgehogs'...that tends to sort out nearly 95% of electrical niggles on Pandas...

[spartacus]

So, I've been out and taken a look, predictably the little female spade connectors are corroded, they're very difficult to clean up but I had a go. Then I went round with a jump lead from the battery earth to various earthing points, while doing this I noticed that there is only an earth strap from the battery to the engine, no sign of one to the body, or even from the engine to the body. I did manage to get everything going at one point, then depressed the clutch and... It all disappeared again! 

Tomorrow I'll pick up the earth cable I have at my folks place and make up a decent earth. Hopefully then I can move on and start work elsewhere.

[Skut]

One earth point to the body is behind the passenger headlight on the inner wing in the engine bay. As Vin says look like a hedgehog. Don't just clean the spade connectors but unbolt it and clean where the shell and hedgehog touch. 

[spartacus]

Yeah, I'm familiar with them, I did clean the 'hedgehog' to body interface, they were clean already though. The spade connectors are almost impossible to get a good surface on. I'm fairly convinced that once I get a proper earth strap fitted from battery to body it'll cure it.

Thanks for the replies. Are you a Panda owner, I'm prolly going to need some spares soon!

[Skut]

4 hours ago, spartacus said:

Yeah, I'm familiar with them, I did clean the 'hedgehog' to body interface, they were clean already though. The spade connectors are almost impossible to get a good surface on. I'm fairly convinced that once I get a proper earth strap fitted from battery to body it'll cure it.

Thanks for the replies. Are you a Panda owner, I'm prolly going to need some spares soon!

Panda and Y10. The Panda been sitting in a lockup since 2005. Still got quite a few spares. 

[Vin]

Just thought I'd mention, there is also an earth strap from the starter to the bulkhead, in the area below the heater box.

[spartacus]

Ha ha, there should be! I'm going to whip a couple up later, then see how it goes.

[DoctorRetro]

I'll be watching this thread with interest, I'm a big Panda fan! 

[spartacus]

Are you the man of many Pandas, of which some had to go?