Save the Panda - an ongoing thread of discovery

[BeEP]

1 hour ago, SmokinWaffle said:

Does anyone have or know of where I can download a Haynes manual for the Panda?

Haynes (very belatedly) produced a combined Panda/500 manual.  Having seen it I certainly wouldn't waste any money buying it!  I couldn't find anything downloadable a couple of months back.

[Ian_Fearn]

I looked for something a while ago but didn’t have any luck. I only really wanted something for torque figures but always found by asking a question on the FB Panda page I got an answer within minutes. 

[SmokinWaffle]

On 11/11/2020 at 5:54 PM, Ian_Fearn said:

I looked for something a while ago but didn’t have any luck. I only really wanted something for torque figures but always found by asking a question on the FB Panda page I got an answer within minutes. 

They are a very helpful bunch!

Went to replace the wipers tonight for something to do, put them on and they were basically touching. Didn't look right at all. I knew I ordered the right size and I researched it for a while. Measured it against the old ones and one looked a bit longer. 

Checked the Euro's order I made and I ordered a 23" (which is correct) and they gave me a 24". Swines! Good thing I'm going there tomorrow to pickup some copper slip and brake cleaner.

After that annoyance I busted out the cheap universal one I got for the rear and....was stumped. Couldn't figure out how to get the old one off as it was mounted on a mostly enclosed weird plastic arm. Bit of googling shows that you need to buy an entire arm which is between £10 and £25.

Luckily someone on a forum suggested slipping off the old rubber off, taking the new rubber off of the blade you bought and swapping it onto the clips - and it worked perfectly! Took off the rubber and the two metal strips off of the new one, put the strips back into the rubber and after some fiddling, got it on fine! 

Chuffed for £6.

I also got a magnetic LED light from Aldi for £5 or something. Deffo an awesome purchase for working on cars. Shame the BX has a plastic bonnet...

The old blade was rock hard and was easy to snap in half to get it off. I would have got pictures of the other two - but there was basically nothing left of them after I pressure washed it the other day.

[mercedade]

On 08/11/2020 at 08:58, stuboy said:

block of wood on striker plate, window down and bend back?

Was here to say exactly this - they bend back fine, just need that extra few CM of movement to get it straight again

[SmokinWaffle]

37 minutes ago, mercedade said:

Was here to say exactly this - they bend back fine, just need that extra few CM of movement to get it straight again

From the looks of it my slamming/bending exercise has solved it, but I'll double check at the weekend.

Got the right wiper from Euros along with some Copper grease, brake cleaner and upholstery cleaner. Brakes and oil/oil filter this weekend, tyres by some sort of mobile fitter then off for MOT I think.

[SmokinWaffle]

Wipers - done. Yay.

Had a crack at the interior today - gave it all a good wipe down with a weak bleach solution (1 TBSP to 5L water) to kill the mould spores and nasties, then went to town with a £5 can of spray upholstery cleaner that I got from Euros that smelt awfully nice indeed & some cloths/scrubbies.

Before:

 

During

 

After

 

Last picture you can still see some marks where I hadn't wiped the cleaner off totally but you get the picture. It's a lot, lot, lot better and smells much nicer. No more weird musty smell. Did the carpets with what little was left in the can too - happy with it for the price. Gave it a final once over with the weak bleach solution just in case. Left the windows open for an hour or so outside to air out.

Thought I'd also change the oil while I had some time. Put it on ramps yourself? I can't see why that would be ha-

Ah. Darn.

No damage and a scissor jack quickly solved it - but lesson learnt. An old boy was walking past at the time and I think I nearly gave him a heart attack when I came slamming down!

I got it up on the ramps again under the watchful eye of my beautiful other half - and then realised that I don't have an allen to fit then sump plug. I think the chap helping me with the brakes tomorrow might do - if not my dad does and I can do the oil change whenever so not a biggie.

Seats were still damp after 10 minutes with the heater blasting (petrol light came on too) - so I'm leaving a big ol' dehumidifier I happen to have lying around in it overnight to take the moisture out and maybe the remainder of the must:

I even found an air freshener still in the packet when I was clearing it out so I put that in it too. Shame the previous owner didn't but hey ho.

Hope you are all enjoying the little updates - I'm enjoying doing it and learning as I go.

[Dan302]

I hate driving onto my ramps for fear of that very thing happening! Glad there was no damage.

[SmokinWaffle]

So....the dehumidifier got all the damp out! 

 

And dumped it all over the passenger seat for some reason. Spent the last 45 minutes with a hairdryer drying the floor and seat out so all good, just some massive tide marks on my lovely clean seat!

Not exactly what I want to be doing at midnight on a Saturday when I'm two Disaronno sours deep... 

hopefully come out with a wet vac / shampoo though - maybe that's fates way of telling me to clean them more. Either way, it's just a seat and its now dry so I'm trying not to beat myself up about it, as I have a tendancy to get irritated and over worked about small stuff. Happy thoughts. 

[SmokinWaffle]

19 hours ago, SmokinWaffle said:

So....the dehumidifier got all the damp out! 

 

And dumped it all over the passenger seat for some reason. Spent the last 45 minutes with a hairdryer drying the floor and seat out so all good, just some massive tide marks on my lovely clean seat!

Not exactly what I want to be doing at midnight on a Saturday when I'm two Disaronno sours deep... 

hopefully come out with a wet vac / shampoo though - maybe that's fates way of telling me to clean them more. Either way, it's just a seat and its now dry so I'm trying not to beat myself up about it, as I have a tendancy to get irritated and over worked about small stuff. Happy thoughts. 

A picture of my nice clean seat, now sullied by watermarks:

Boooo. Still - could be worse. It's just a seat. I'm sure it'll shampoo out. Rest of the car is dry and I'm glad I noticed it and dried it out before I went to bed - otherwise we would have had another 8 hours of it leaking!

Brakes were rained off today - but I cleaned up the garage:

Which is nice. Also when there was a break in the rain I got some WD40-esque spray on the various brake calliper bolts so that should be easier when the time comes. From what I can see there is plenty of meat on the pads and disks don't look too bad....odd. I'll replace them anyhow for piece of mind I think!

[SmokinWaffle]

Did the brakes today. The old disks and pads were actually okay - the right one was seized with gunk and crap - brake cleaner and a wire brush really does wonderful things. Had a helper who has done it before.

Old:

Those two little sticky out bits were a pain, 12mm but socket wasn't long enough. Before we discovered we could just use a spanner we mullered it a bit. Ended up whacking an 11mm over it to tighten them back but still all good.

Comparison:

None of the pads but they literally looked nearly new. I thought as I had them I may as well do them - and learn how to do it. Only had to push the piston back a little bit.

After:

Ignore that cable tie, the clip that holds the brake hose in place went missing. Still holds it fine as it's just to stop it coming out of the metal vice bit. I also copper greased the whole back of the pad after this shot

Got some fuel in a Jerry can and gave it some fresh, took it around the block and the brakes are....still low on the pedal/poor.

I assume I might need to bleed the system/flush? That's the only thing I can think of. 

Still - glad I did it as I learnt a lot and now at least I know it has fresh disks and pads. I would happily give it a go on another car!

[SmokinWaffle]

Just watched this:

 

That doesn't seem too hard - especially as it's drums on the rear

Anyone know of any good/cheap kits?

[Ian_Fearn]

Gunsons pressure bleeder is my preferred tool but you can do it easily without anything (although a bit of clear tube helps).

On the Panda the pressure bleeder works brilliant but on some cars, it just won’t seal on the master cylinder so I get a helpful assistant to pump the pedal 3 times and then hold it on the 3rd pump. Open the bleed nipple, allow some fluid through and then tighten before helpful assistant releases the pedal. Cheap, easy and effective.

[Barry Cade]

If you still have a long pedal, you might need to adjust up the rear shoes. Can't remember offhand if these still use friction adjusters,  but often gave a carp pedal on Fiats. Have a look, and check the rear cylinders before bleeding.

[SmokinWaffle]

Would anyone be interested in this?

Tempted to move it on and stick with old shite - still needs the brakes bleeding, MOT and tyres changing....just a passing thought for now. It's been on pause for a while due to...life - and it keeps reminding me it's there whenever I go in the garage

[Barry Cade]

2 hours ago, SmokinWaffle said:

Would anyone be interested in this?

Tempted to move it on and stick with old shite - still needs the brakes bleeding, MOT and tyres changing....just a passing thought for now. It's been on pause for a while due to...life - and it keeps reminding me it's there whenever I go in the garage

Where are you?

[SmokinWaffle]

 

Probably FS if anyone wants it!

[SmokinWaffle]

This was Roffle'd and @motorpunk won - work done in the meantime before collection:

• Rear brakes replaced/sorted
• Tyres fitted
• MOT Passed
• Alternator died

I'll leave it to him whether or not the thread is carried on - cheers all.

[motorpunk]

Thanks ‘waffle and WorkdOfCeri, this now lives on the drive of my ex wife’s boyfriends parents... ready to be given as an 18th birthday prezzy to my youngest daughter next month. She loves Italian cars, and would love an Abarth. Well, shiters can’t be choosers...

🇮🇹👍🐼