Katiegan's Garage | Winter Plans

[Katiegan]

Cleaned the boys up today, ready for a meet tomorrow. It's a retro car meet so neither of them will qualify to be on show but it's nice to clean them up for it anyway. Not sure if we'll be taking just one or both, but I couldn't clean one without the other. One of them might get jealous.

 

[Katiegan]

Bruiser hit the big 100 today!


Please excuse the dust, I'm a terrible person I know.

Not much to update on apart from that, although next week I'll be buying some new bumpers for the Panda finally. £40 for the front and £45 for the rear, in primer from Euro Car Parts. I've been reassured they're insurance approved so I hope they fit properly. If they do, I'll be painting them myself since I can't afford to pay a professional to do it, and I quite enjoy doing things like that anyway. If they don't fit properly, I'll just send them back and try and continue my search for some genuine ones that I can afford. My parents are going away for two weeks on Wednesday as well so that means I'll be left alone with both cars, and while I don't have the courage to go joyriding in Bruiser, I'm thinking of trying to tackle some of his rust if I don't make a complete mess of the Panda's bumpers. I may need to call on @Ibonibo and @CAMAROBOY69 on some assistance with that.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Are you going to try and colour match the bumpers?

I'd suggest a nice shade of orange...

 

[Katiegan]

Are you going to try and colour match the bumpers?

I'd suggest a nice shade of orange...

A Gulf Panda would certainly turn some heads.

I'm going to get some paint mixed at a place not too far that was recommended by a guy at work, he did a full respray on his Mk1 Golf track car himself and got all of his paint mixed there. He said they give you a proper sprayer and they're better than Halfords.

 

[yabiggoose]

Aren't you a panelbeater?

 

[Katiegan]

Aren't you a panelbeater?

Nope, technician. I do small amounts of bodywork here and there, but nothing major.

 

[yabiggoose]

Ohhh right!

 

[Katiegan]

After a year and three months of ownership, I finally have a set of bumpers for the Panda!



Picked them up earlier today from work after dropping my parents off at the airport. I've yet to see if they fit nicely, I'll probably try that out tomorrow, and then get the paint mixed. I'm thinking of deleting the front bump strips since one of mine is broken and the new bumper doesn't come with any, that and I think it'll look nicer anyway, so I'll be getting some filler for that tomorrow too.

Hopefully I don't completely mess up painting them.

 

[Ibonibo]

@Katiegan If you have a question, just ask. Here to help 👍

 

[Katiegan]

Progress isn't going as fast as I'd hoped with these bumpers, typical British weather means it's been raining for the past week so I haven't been able to start painting. Still, got the paint mixed the other day and the guy at the shop was really helpful. Bought some bumper filler for the strips, couple of sheets of varied grit sandpaper, and the guy even threw in a few more extras for free. All of this only cost me £38 in the end.



Weather looks good for tomorrow, I was planning on going to a car show but I might make a start on the bumpers instead.

 

[Katiegan]

The weather was perfect for painting today, so some decent progress was made, I managed to get a good few coats on the rear bumper.



Things didn't go as well with the front though, I messed up mixing the filler quite a bit and I ended up wasting a lot of it after it kept going hard too quick. I'll have to sand back what's on it tomorrow and try again.

 

[MidnightRun85]

Why new bumpers? What's wrong with the old ones?

 

[Katiegan]

Why new bumpers? What's wrong with the old ones?

 

[MidnightRun85]

Say no more!

 

[homeforsummer]

The weather was perfect for painting today, so some decent progress was made, I managed to get a good few coats on the rear bumper.



Things didn't go as well with the front though, I messed up mixing the filler quite a bit and I ended up wasting a lot of it after it kept going hard too quick. I'll have to sand back what's on it tomorrow and try again.

Nice work. If you could start on my MX-5 next...

 

[Katiegan]

Made some good progress on the front bumper today. I decided to scrap the smoothing idea since it was more hassle than it was worth. I wanted to be cool and unique with my custom-made bumper but it was just turning out to be a headache, so I've taken the filler off the bumper and just painted it. It still needs a few more coats but I ran out of paint so I'll need to get some more mixed tomorrow. I'm just going to buy another bump strip for the side that's damaged and then paint them both to colour code it. I'm thinking of colour coding the back as well, and painting the door handles blue too.

 

[opelgt1969]

Is the color of the bumper matching the body of Mr./Ms. Panda?

 

[Katiegan]

Is the color of the bumper matching the body of Mr./Ms. Panda?

I haven't actually tried the bumpers against the car yet to see if they match, but when the paint was mixed the guy came outside and matched the colour to the car itself, so I presume it matches.

 

[sems4arsenal]

How much of a hassle is it to spray them yourself?

 

[Katiegan]

How much of a hassle is it to spray them yourself?

It's not that difficult, although I have got some experience from spraying a few things at work, but the bumpers are the biggest thing I've had to paint yet. As long as you prep everything properly and build the paint up gradually in even layers it shouldn't be too bad. And if you make a mistake, it can be easily fixed. I made a few mistakes with the front but it's nothing I can't clean up.

 

[GTP_Ingram]

colour code

Sounds like a good idea, should suit it well 👍 I'm considering doing the same for my Alfa, but bizarrely the black rubbing strips on the 156 can't be detached from the rest of the bumper. Sort of defeats their purpose..

 

[Katiegan]

Sounds like a good idea, should suit it well 👍 I'm considering doing the same for my Alfa, but bizarrely the black rubbing strips on the 156 can't be detached from the rest of the bumper. Sort of defeats their purpose..

Luckily the ones on the Panda can, but annoyingly Fiat don't sell them separately. A replacement N/S strip for the front is going to set me back about £30 for one from eBay.

 

[Zyla]

Took me a while to finally wander back into your thread, but those new bumpers are looking nice. 👍

 

[Katiegan]

Horrific photo quality, but I spent yesterday morning fitting new boots to Bruiser.



The tyres are Landsail LS388s, a budget tyre but very decent for what they are. Lots of good reviews for them and they have a C rating for wet grip and a C rating for fuel economy (A being the best, G being the worst), and we use them a lot at work. At £35 a tyre (225/40/18), they're a perfect choice for my parents' (and my own) tight budget.

The Panda's bumpers are slowly getting there, the weather's been very intermittent recently so it's been hard to get out and paint them. The rear one is done now, I just need to wet sand it and polish it to get rid of the orange peel roughness the aerosol left. The front one could probably benefit from one or two more coats, but it's mostly done too. I've also got my eye on these wheel trims.

 

[Sage Ages]

Same wheels? If so, what are they?

 

[Zyla]

👎 on the wheel covers

 

[homeforsummer]

👎 on the wheel covers

Seconded. Though I'm not entirely sure @Katiegan was being serious. Either way, bare steelies or OEM covers are where it's at.

 

[Clark]

Paint the steelies white

 

[Katiegan]

Same wheels? If so, what are they?

Yep, same wheels. They're Team Dynamics. About 10 years old, mostly made of filler now and nowhere near round anymore.

👎 on the wheel covers

Seconded. Though I'm not entirely sure @Katiegan was being serious. Either way, bare steelies or OEM covers are where it's at.

You've got to admit though, £25 isn't bad for BBS reps...

As much as I hate to admit it, I really dig the look of banded steelies, but I don't like the idea of driving around on wheels that have been cut apart and stuck back together. I've been told they're also illegal, unless you can prove they were done by a professional company, but I'm not certain on that.

Paint the steelies white

That's an idea I've had for a long time, but I'm sheepish as to what my insurance will say. I've heard a lot of horror stories. A guy at my college had his insurance voided because his car had red calipers that he didn't declare.

 

[homeforsummer]

As much as I hate to admit it, I really dig the look of banded steelies, but I don't like the idea of driving around on wheels that have been cut apart and stuck back together. I've been told they're also illegal, unless you can prove they were done by a professional company, but I'm not certain on that.

Yeah, to be honest I'd not bother. To take the default GTP stance, do as little as possible beyond basic maintenance to the Panda, and allow it to serve as your necessary transportation until such point as you can afford something faster/more fun/modifiable. Or even keep the Panda and get something daft on the side that you can experiment with, without harming the Fiat's legality or its ability to get you to work and back.