James' Panda Levin Notchy

[Jimmee1990]

After all the hassle of trying to keep my last 86 on the road, I decided this time I would start with a clean slate rather than endlessly fixing other people's terrible efforts like on my previous cars. I waited and waited for about 2-3 months until this one finally popped up for auction and I had to have it.

Specs so far:
1986 Panda Levin Gt-Apex 2dr
Full interior, power steering, power mirrors and very complete. The roof lining is stained terribly though, but i'll be dyeing this black at a later stage I think.
Foglight grill with yellow fogs, and apart from a couple of tiny spots of surface rust completely rust free.
100% standard, never been modified which was a big plus.

I've been collecting parts since before I sold the last one, so as soon as complaince and rego is sorted i'll be getting stuck into it straight away.

Parts waiting to be installed:
Shockworks coilovers
Cut and shut LCA's
T3 RCA's
Short shifter
AJPS traction brackets
Toda timing belt
Toda 0.8mm headgasket
My flowbench developed bigport head and bigger cams.
Stainless harness bar and driftworks harness for the drivers side
ARC adjustable cam gears
Cusco catch can
Put my wheels and tyres on

Also need to buy some stainless mandrel bends to make up an exhaust and extractors, but this can come later too I think.

Anyway, everyone likes pics. I got a bit over excited and decided to put my zenki lip on tonight

[dove grey 64]

awesome. where is the engine bay shot, interior too. i can help out with your headlining too if needed

[shift_rook]

Looks good! How are you going with the compliancing? If it's registered we should go for a drive asap!

[Jimmee1990]

Compliance and rego hopefully done by next week/week after, then i'll definately be keen for a drive Chris! Been for a few drives in it already, standard suspension is pretty exciting haha.

[Jimmee1990]

Interior shots



And just imagine your engine bay if it had never been cleaned, having a hard time cleaning it even with degreaser and brake cleaner. I'm not too fussed about a little dirt though, it can wait until I build a tough bottom end for it.

[Jimmee1990]

So I decided to clean up a few things with this tonight, I've never liked the shift boots 86's came with so I made an alternative with some left over plastic sheet I had and a holesaw. I think it turned out pretty good. Put my short shifter in at the same time that my gf bought me as an anniversary present too. Also got rid of the cb radio it had in it, was wired in really well so pretty easy to remove except they glued the bracket for the aerial onto the bootlid and not keen on damaging the paint so it can stay there for the time being.



Put my wheels on it as well to see what it'll end up looking like, pretty happy with it so far. And after going over the whole car very closely just to make sure there wasn't going to be any nasty surprises this is the only spots of rust I've been able to find. Very impressed with Pro-K as an importer, anyone even considering importing an 86 would be crazy not to talk to him.

[Jimmee1990]

Not much of an update, so far i've put my personal wheel on and some decent wheels and tyres and the lip and just been driving it heaps. Pretty sure it has some decent shocks considering how flat it sits even with the standard springs, and the balance seems to be really good. I also touched up the whitelines and the mudflaps because they had faded pretty badly.

Just waiting on my Shockworks gear to come in, then i'll put my RCA's and traction brackets etc in at the same time. Also got my hands on some 13 x 8's that i'm going to run formula ford slicks on for trackdays, so definately won't be lacking grip when that's all done haha.

[Jimmee1990]

Got the shockworks gear in as well as traction brackets, RCA's and an adjustable panhard and fuck me it corners well now. The standard gt apex drivers seat feels like a bench seat now around corners, so a fixed back has moved up to the top of my to-do list. Also have some money to get the final machining done on my Group A based bigport head, and i'll put my cams and 0.8mm headgasket in at the same time. Also, if anyone wants to see what the shockworks gear is like i'm happy to take you for a drive.

[dove grey 64]

big smiles, we should do a donna run =)

[Jimmee1990]

Big smiles indeed, way too many cops going up to Donna now though man.