Italian Stallion: Kiltox’s 1982 Fiat Panda 30!

[cms206]

@LightBulbFun I robbed the plate off a rotten Volvo 760 (E33 XGD) which was purchased from the wife of the original owner in Kilmarnock not too long after the local offices closed - it was allocated E952 HFG, despite having never been anywhere near Brighton.

My Transit was imported in 2004 and got L420 EAB which is also a re-registration series.

[Lacquer Peel]

I was a bit disappointed when the Renault Express got a Norfolk rather than local (to me) plate. I suppose Norfolk is closer to France. 

[Kiltox]

V5 arrived today. Interestingly it just says “FIAT” and has no model description. Bizarre. Means it comes up as “FIAT UNKNOWN” on the MOT history checker too. 

Plates haven’t turned up yet but given I have a dose of the bat flu there’s no rush any more 😔 

[SiC]

Oof. Stay safe and good luck! First time? First few days are usually okay and then suddenly it hits with an vengeance. By day 7-9 you're wondering when the feck it's going to go. 

For most by day 10 symptoms ease off rapidly.  

[mk2_craig]

18 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

modern style mnemonic age related plates are still properly issued on an a location related basis

Correct as far as I know. Example - late 2016 3 Series registered new on a Select mark, which was transferred off 4 years later, car given an FP66 plate. The BMW had never left Leicestershire since being delivered to the original supplying dealer. 

[mk2_craig]

18 minutes ago, Kiltox said:

Means it comes up as “FIAT UNKNOWN” on the MOT history checker too

@Aston Martin wasn’t this your experience when importing a Panda as well?

[Aston Martin]

1 minute ago, mk2_craig said:

@Aston Martin wasn’t this your experience when importing a Panda as well?

 

Yeppers.

[Aston Martin]

However, on a non-dvla car checker it comes up as a Panda.

 

 

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, Kiltox said:

V5 arrived today. Interestingly it just says “FIAT” and has no model description. Bizarre. Means it comes up as “FIAT UNKNOWN” on the MOT history checker too. 

Plates haven’t turned up yet but given I have a dose of the bat flu there’s no rush any more 😔 

 

2 hours ago, mk2_craig said:

@Aston Martin wasn’t this your experience when importing a Panda as well?

how did you fill out the V55 form?

due to how the DVLA computer works, you cant have a custom model in the Model field, it has to be pre-existing on the DVLA computer

so if you wrote "Panda 30"  in the Model field, it would of been dropped as theres no DTP code For "Panda 30" under the Fiat DTP Make code

even KUC915W is also Registered as Just a Fiat, the "Panda" in the MOT checker comes from someone entering that on the DVSA end of things (probably from before it was even DVLA registered, when it got its first MOT)

if the DVLA have a Model code for just "Panda" with no suffix/trim level then you might be able to get things amended such so at least your vehicle shows up as a Fiat Panda

but I dont know if they do or dont they have such a model coded in (if anyone has the registration of a Fiat Panda with no trim level, or an early UK market car I could look up then I could see if "Panda" no Suffix/trim exists in coded form or not, it doesn't have to still exist, just be on the DVLA computer)

 

all vehicle records are stored in coded form and then decoded from a lookup table when they are requested, and if there is no code for the model written on the V55 form it gets dropped when the vehicle is registered

well more specifically it gets assigned the model code 000, and the DVSA's own lookup table decodes that to the word "UNKNOWN" but the DVLA's own lookup table just leaves it blank

 

if your curious on further reading I go into some detail here  

https://autoshite.com/topic/23298-93-mondy-thread-k-reg-foi-update/page/53/?tab=comments#comment-2531439

 

[Mrs6C]

10 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

(if anyone has the registration of a Fiat Panda with no trim level, or an early UK market car I could look up then I could see if "Panda" no Suffix/trim exists in coded form or not, it doesn't have to still exist, just be on the DVLA computer)

JBX 973X

[LightBulbFun]

12 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

JBX 973X

awesome! just the sort of thing i was looking for

its registered as a Fiat Panda 45 (Make Code N1 Model code 034) 

so no, trim-less option yet but at least we know the DVLA does have some model codes for the early machines, I am wondering if there will even be a trim-less option, as im not sure if Fiat ever produced a Panda with no trim level/suffix on the end?

 

But all this is a great example of how the DVLA works in coded form and everything is decoded by lookup table, and why sometimes a vehicle shows up differently depending on what you look it up on

because I noticed no matter what Panda you look up on the MOT checker, the DVSA's lookup table just decodes them all to "Panda" 

clearly someone did not bother assigning the full model names to all the different coded models from the DVLA when they at the DVSA where setting up their lookup table LOL

its not just Fiat Panda's I have seen the DVSA be lazy/generic like this, I have noticed it on other vehicles as well, but the Panda is a good example

[Kiltox]

👌 

 

[Kiltox]

I know they’re not strictly legal but putting modern plates on would be a crying shame (as tempted as I was to get some green stripe ones given it’s 0g/km co2 emissions  )

[Aston Martin]

I wrote Panda Alessi (which exists on insurance databases)

 

But they question marked that and just called it a Panda.

 

 

But the V5 just says Fiat.... Car checkers come back as Fiat Panda.

[Kiltox]

Just bought a carb given my “rebuilt” one leaks like a fucking sieve. Was advertised on eBay for £150 BIN, offered £90 which was in line with the cost of importing one from Italy and the seller accepted almost immediately! 

[puddlethumper]

Further over imports and reg. I imported my van and did it through the Birmingham office. I got a Brum reg, WOL. The van was first reg Dec 88 so I'm fairly sure it should be on an F. Didn't it go Aug to Aug then ? 

Also pissed off with them for putting it down as a GLD instead of a GRD, which is the no fukin options at all model, and would therefore having a certain anti status status by being the only one on the road in the uk, according to Howmanyleft. Bastards.

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, puddlethumper said:

Further over imports and reg. I imported my van and did it through the Birmingham office. I got a Brum reg, WOL. The van was first reg Dec 88 so I'm fairly sure it should be on an F. Didn't it go Aug to Aug then ? 

Also pissed off with them for putting it down as a GLD instead of a GRD, which is the no fukin options at all model, and would therefore having a certain anti status status by being the only one on the road in the uk, according to Howmanyleft. Bastards.

Oooh that reminded about how many left! thanks for that, its a handy website for checking what does exist in coded form and what does not,

since it only lists make and models that are coded and then presents them in a nice list format to scroll down

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/browse/fiat/fiat_panda

and indeed as I thought there is no Panda 30 or "Panda" No trim/suffix, the best a Panda 30 owner can do is register it as a Panda 45, or explicitly have the DVLA register it without a make code, and have "FIAT PANDA 30" as the make (where custom text input is allowed) in theory you might be able to get the DVLA to setup a proper code for Panda 30 but that would probably involve special liaising with the DVLA and a Fiat owners club or even Fiat themselves

 

 

on the Pug 305 front there exists a Model code for GRD

L1 056

is the full Make Model code for Peugeot 305 GRD (L1 is Peugeot and 056 is 305 GRD)

so you could get that corrected if you wanted to!  

 

it looks like as you say they also messed up on the reg mark as you say it should be on an F prefix age related plate

UNLESS the month of first registration was only provided at a later date after the vehicle was registered/declared manufactured 1988? (by default when no month is known it looks like they default to the earliest possible suffix/prefix for the year which for 1988 is E prefix)

(sometimes the DVLA does not retroactively change the plate when new info comes to light)

either way its another thing you can easily request the DVLA to fix if you wish to do so  

 

[Kiltox]

Plate

Dicked around with the carb some more today. Got it running and then turned it off to move some stuff around before driving it out of the unit and it won’t fucking start again!!

[loserone]

On 16/07/2022 at 23:23, LightBulbFun said:

L1 is Peugeot

Oh my.  Now I understand 

[SiC]

Did you try spraying easy start in the carb to check it was fueling not ignition troubles?

[Kiltox]

5 minutes ago, SiC said:

Did you try spraying easy start in the carb to check it was fueling not ignition troubles?

I did not. Tbh I’m thinking about taking it to someone to get it running properly now, not sure I can be arsed with it and I have a trailer it’ll fit on. 

[SiC]

Oh man, what's happening to you! Big exec car and a big exec house, now loosing your car fixing mojo! 😨 🤣

Given these are designed for the average peasant to run around rural Italy, it should be reasonably straight forward to get running. 

[Kiltox]

Anyone got a rough guide for setting up a carb from scratch? It’s running far too rich atm, so it won’t start when even remotely warm and stalls at idle if you let it.

Managed to take it for a quick run around the block earlier but it conked out as I pulled back into the estate where the unit is!

[Kiltox]

Went all sceneyo with the front plate in the window cause I can't find any more sticky pads

[SiC]

2 hours ago, Kiltox said:

Anyone got a rough guide for setting up a carb from scratch? It’s running far too rich atm, so it won’t start when even remotely warm and stalls at idle if you let it.

Managed to take it for a quick run around the block earlier but it conked out as I pulled back into the estate where the unit is!

My experience with all carbs, including small engine and (admittedly SU) carbs is that fully in and then two half turns out is a good starting point. Does HBOL or service manual give any initial starting point on it?

[wesacosa]

UK Haynes doesn't cover the 2 cylinder version but the carb setup for the 4 cylinder carb isn't that helpful 

[SiC]

Get yourself a colourtune. 

[wuvvum]

Presumably a Fiat 126 HBOL would cover the mechanical bits?

[Kiltox]

On 9/21/2022 at 10:08 PM, SiC said:

My experience with all carbs, including small engine and (admittedly SU) carbs is that fully in and then two half turns out is a good starting point. Does HBOL or service manual give any initial starting point on it?

Set the mixture screw to roughly this and it started immediately and ran pretty well.  Took it around the estate where the unit is and it just randomly died out of the blue. 

Wouldn’t restart, so cue the trailer’s first official outing about 300 yards away from the unit 😂 

[SiC]

When it does it next time, spray easy start in the intake. Or carb/brake cleaner if you have none to hand. If it runs/coughs then it's likely fuel related. No difference then ignition related.