Fiat Panda
Matt races to prep his Panda for our big winter adventure
This little Panda wasn’t meant to be a major project – more a light recommissioning ahead of our Winter Warmers adventure (see p66). As is always the way, though, things escalated when I got stuck into it. But working to a tight deadline does wonders to focus the mind. With the driver’s door swapped for the painted replacement that came with the car, I chopped the rot out of the bottom of the passenger door with great optimism. Then I moved on to the mechanicals.
Drip, drip, drop…
Former owner Theo Ford-sagers told me that a leak from the crankshaft main seal was what took the car off the road in 2015. The cambelt was off and in the boot, and it didn’t take long to whip the bottom pulley off to discover the issue. The seal was certainly leaking – and had clearly suffered considerable damage. A rummage around in the boot amid the parts Theo had removed years before yielded another clue – one of the bolts which hold the pulley for the alternator belt to the crankshaft was longer than the others and, when wound in, protruded slightly out of the bottom. It had essentially machined itself into the oil pump housing at the end of the crank.
I attempted to fit a replacement for the wrecked seal, but the damage to the oil pump housing made this difficult.
Result: one more wrecked seal. So, I tried again. I managed to persuade the second seal home and got everything back together to enable me to try a start-up: I timed the cam, refitted the cam belt, reassembled and fitted the distributor from the various components found in the boot, and replaced the fuel lines and filter. I then cleaned out the carburettor, added some fresh fuel, changed the engine oil and filter, removed a wire from the coil and turned the key. By the time oil pressure had been achieved, the new fuel filter was full of fresh petrol.
I reconnected the coil and went for a start. The engine burst into life immediately. But to my dismay, fresh oil poured from the crank seal as the engine ran. Time for Plan B. Help came from the Fiat Panda Owners Club following a post on its Facebook group. I was able to purchase a good secondhand oil pump casting as well as a replacement for the broken rear light and a nearside front brake caliper carrier to replace the damaged original. While I awaited the arrival of these parts, I remembered a conversation I’d had with Theo on the way to collect the car.
Stretching the limits
He’d replaced the head gasket after it had failed, but had re-used the original stretch bolts, only later receiving advice that this wasn’t the best of ideas. I was in two minds as to whether to rectify this. The car had been driven for a couple of years subsequent to the head gasket being changed with no ill effects;