The ongoing journey of Spartacus’ 1988 Fiat Panda

[spartacus]

Aye, I was working that out in my head yesterday as I typed it. 'E' prefix is August '88, so it did 12 years, which isn't bad for a Panda. The low mileage will have helped, it's only done 68'000.

[RobT]

Excellent news on the MoT pass and general tinkering.  Must admit I forgot you had this.

[busmansholiday]

Glad this is back on the road. I commuted for at least two years, 90 miles a day in mine ( seem to remember it was a C reg example) back in 1991 ish. Slow and steady on the motorway with the lorries, but never let me down. Only major problem was when the front edge of the bonnet rotted through and it shot up and blocked the forward view at about 50mph. That's why they have those slots in it, you use them to see through so you can pull over safely!

[stuboy]

panda's are great fun things

[Dan302]

3 of us slept in my mates Panda when we went camping to a cider pub and campsite (cider impaired our ability to set the tent up) I was in the passenger seat with my feet resting on the tool box in the footwell, although I've had better night's sleep it's a great memory

[spartacus]

Where does the time go?

I started using the Panda to drive over to Mrs Sparts place every now and then, it's about 30 miles away, so a decent run. It drove OK but had a flat spot that was bugging me and needed fixing, I wrote a list and started to work through it. Without boring you with all the detail I've fitted new plugs, new leads, cleaned the carb out, replaced the cambelt and fitted a new alternator belt. Non of these things completely solved the issue but I'm happy to have done them, the cambelt was so loose I could turn the tensioner by hand and the alternator belt literally had chunks falling off it.

In my head, when I'm doing these jobs, I'm taking loads of pics and keeping a detailed photographic record of my work...

In reality you've got a couple of pics of knackered belts.

Although, while I had the engine mount off I gave ita quick coat of paint, it's some sort of spray stove paint, goes on well, dries quick and gives a reasonable matt finish.

[spartacus]

But now, tonight's main event!

I picked this car up over four years ago, it's lived in my garage ever since and I've never washed it. Today was the day to change that. The weather was forecast to be overcast, ideal for washing and polishing so I set to. The car was covered in all sorts of crap from the last 20 years, (stored in a garage before I bought it), and I'd heard good things about 'snow foam' type stuff for lifting off dirt and contaminants. I bought a 'Demon Foam' that comes supplied with the gun to fit to your hosepipe. It was shit, the stuff wouldn't come out off the bottle into the gun, so after that initial disappointment I went back to a bucket and sponge. Here's a before pic...

The car has a cassette deck fitted and I've bought one of those adaptors that plugs into a phone. I had Dave Pearce trance anthems on, I was very nearly lost in a '90's throwback, although the doves mentioned in the title are nothing to do with that famous rave pharmaceutical but my watchers for the day...

I can recommend them, they're peaceful, quiet and soothing to have around.

Anyhoo, back to car washing. Because the car is small and it was minging it didn't take long to make a massive improvement, today I went light on it and just gave it a good wash them a quick polish, it came up well I think...

[Skut]

If it's feeling flat I'd replace the vacuum advance on the distributor if you haven't already.   The diaphragm in them pops fairly frequently. There is some test you can do like blow or suck into the hose attached to it but I can't remember.  Just bin the fucker and get a new one.

[spartacus]

Going back to my place I was driving towards a very heavy sky, I had washing on the line and I didn't want to drive the Panda in the rain, for fear it might dissolve around me, I got home just in time for the washing but the neighbours car was blocking my drive and I couldn't get the car into the garage until after the downpour!

Have an arty garage shot.

I've been using a 5l container of Auto Smart trade polish but it's not up to much. It doesn't bead well, or last long. I really like Zymol but haven't been able to get hold of any recently.

[spartacus]

17 minutes ago, Skut said:

If it's feeling flat I'd replace the vacuum advance on the distributor if you haven't already.   The diaphragm in them pops fairly frequently. There is some test you can do like blow or suck into the hose attached to it but I can't remember.  Just bin the fucker and get a new one.

I have tested it and it defo holds vacuum, that doesn't mean the dizzy doesn't need a rebuild though, so that's on the cards. It's satisfying for me to do all that stuff because you don't need any special tools or a diagnostic computer to fix it. That can be a double edged sword though!

[DoctorRetro]

That's a gorgeous little car, I'm so jealous. 

 

[spartacus]

I have to say, it doesn't disappoint. Even with it's minor running fault it's got enough go in it, the handling and feel are so direct, it's a cliche but it's very 'go-kart' like. It's says a lot for it that I'm favouring it over the rest of the fleet ATM.

[spartacus]

I've had a miss-spent youth and as a result I've got a little 'barryboy' left in me. Mrs Spart bought me a set of H&R lowering springs for the Panda, they're one of the better makes out there, it may seem unlikely but there can be a huge difference between good and poor quality springs. I took the chance to give the front legs a coat of paint and fit new bump stops and dust boots too. It's only lowered it by 35mm, Pandas sit fairly high as standard so it doesn't look too 'barried', and the ride is better.

I also bought a brand new grill, the one fitted in earlier pics is from a Selecta, the auto version of a Panda, the original grill was badly damaged and beyond even an enthusiastic repair.

[Grumblespeed]

Right, trip on this morning to see if we can get this old fella running for @spartacus's memorial Roffle. Looks like he got it into decent order and it was running fairly recently so... how hard can it be?

[loserone]

Chodspeed, Grumblespeed!

[hairnet]

Italian car of course the.mechanicals won't be a problem

[Grumblespeed]

Got it running. Of all the daft things there was a tiny crack in the fuel filter. Pump on these pulls from the top so the pipe's never under pressure so never showed up as a leak but when the pipe had drained down and the pump was trying to prime all the way from the tank it was just sucking up air. Got a little vacuum  pump on there (that's when I noticed the bubbles in the filter) and primed the system, dropped some fuel down into the float chamber, new fuel filter (glad I took a spare) some cranking to wake it  up and it spluttered into life. Bit reluctant from cold but once it settled down and the choke was in it ran pretty sweetly. For whoever wins this too, there's a little part missing off the driver's door handle linkage for the internal release. I managed to get it back together enough it'll probably work for a bit but it's not terribly secure so be gentle/ fix it soon.

Love these little cars - so easy to work with.  This one's a credit to @spartacus.

[Grumblespeed]

...Open up and say aah

Right, let's retrieve some fuel....

some stuff happens off camera aaand:

 

 

 

[mercedade]

Absolutely cracking work, cap doffed

[Mrs Spart]

@Grumblespeed is THE Man!!! 👍🏽😊👍🏽

  Thank you again... REALLY is appreciated and I'm sure @spartacuswould've been mega chuffed too 👍🏽😁👍🏽

[wesacosa]

To quote @spartacus, Holy thread resurrection.....

After the epic collection day last month I have gone a bit quiet on the Panda front , mainly because of the ongoing XM nightmare but the Panda hasn't been forgotten

When discussing how to document the Panda progress with @Mrs Spart we thought it would be nice to keep it all in the same thread, as I see my role in the story as a continuation of the  hard work Giles has done on this car 

Since I picked it up, apart from showing it off to friends and family , including Mrs W who was abroad when I got it ( and scaring her when showing off its chuckabiltiy around roundabouts) I have mainly been making a list of jobs to do, and sourcing some of the parts needed. 

First up was to put the original steering wheel on. Giles had a lovely Suede Sparco on there, but despite @Grumblespeed warning me how horrible the originals are, I went back to the original. I just prefer the look of it, but he was right its horrible to hold, even more so than the equally hard plastic wheel on the Favorit

I have been trying to sort out the electrics as the warning lights on the dash were a bit hit and miss. I know from earlier in the thread Giles had cleaned up the earth Hedgehog but when I touched the wires the spades stayed on the hedgehog but the wires came away!  So that needs addressing.

I also noticed the inner driveshaft gaiter looking like it spung a leak

As this holds the gearbox oil in, it needs addressing. We didn't notice this on MOT day so we suspect as we disturbed it doing the outer boot on that side it must have been the final straw for the old gaiter.  New one plus some fresh gearbox oil sourced

The car only came with one door/boot key, but it only seems to operate the drivers door. The boot and passenger are either siezed or not working. I took them out to try to free them off but no joy, and given I don't even know if the key is correct I thought I would try and source replacements. Being an earlier Mk2 Panda it has the separate ignition key and the little metal "Torino" key. 

the later ones came with a single key with a much larger black plastic cover which operates all locks. These seem to be readily available but as I wanted to keep it as original as possible ( and as the keys remind me of the ones for my Dad's old Fiat 128 keys) I managed to source a Brand new set of correct locks from Germany for a very reasonable £35 delivered

I also sourced the missing Fiat and Panda 1000-S badges from the boot lid, the latter proving a bit of a challenge with some clowns wanting £100 for one in a Fiat package and the more sensibly priced ones still looking expensive with shipping from Italy, but managed to source a brand new one for £25 delivered from Italy in the end

Bodywork wise the car is in decent shape,  the bottom of the drivers door rust was on the list but noticed there is a fair bit between Bonnet and bulkhead, it looks like it mainly surface so will try and rub down and treat with rust converter if I can get good enough access

apologies for the probably very dull update but wanted to show the Panda was not being neglected. Now just to get this damn XM sorted so I can crack on with the Panda

[Grumblespeed]

Wondering when you'd go back to this, you could do a full nuts & bolts resto in the time it takes to swap a cambelt tensioner on an XM by the look of it😁

[stuboy]

loved the panda's .. great fun

[wesacosa]

I was surprised just how sprightly and chuckable they are. Handle very well. 

[Mrs Spart]

Nice one @wesacosa👍🏽

  Love it that you've continued @spartacus(Giles) thread 👍🏽😊👍🏽

[wesacosa]

31 minutes ago, Mrs Spart said:

Nice on @wesacosa👍🏽

  Love it that you've continued @spartacus(Giles) thread 👍🏽😊👍🏽

It definitely should be all kept together to keep the history of all what was done on the car and it's story on the Forum

I hope you are making progress with the BMW and the MGB @Mrs Spart

   

[Mrs Spart]

56 minutes ago, wesacosa said:

It definitely should be all kept together to keep the history of all what was done on the car and it's story on the Forum

I hope you are making progress with the BMW and the MGB @Mrs Spart

   

Funny you should say this...

  Watch out for an update tomorrow evening 😉👍🏽

[Mrs Spart]

Hopefully the V5 document was received @wesacosa👍🏽😊

[tooSavvy]

My 750L was a bit weak on the Vroom front.... Can't really afford any losses on such a puny clockwork

I did try the Vac Advance and, yes, it blew straight throo the pipe ... Pooped!

I date my story by saying "A quick trip along to Gosforth Metals and a rummage along the 'FIAT row' had me a Hall effect dizz off very late Selecta Auto.." >>> and I paid washers  

The dizz went straight on, using factory 750L wires, and the car was .... Back OnSong!

Dems wa the dayz

[wesacosa]

1 hour ago, Mrs Spart said:

Hopefully the V5 document was received @wesacosa👍🏽😊

it arrived a few days ago , thanks @Mrs Spart.  I haven't received the speeding ticket (at least not yet) for the camera that flashed. Don't know if they tried to send to you instead or if I got away with it