The "Panda" V2

[Astron_Boy]

Didnt want to be greedy

I lol'd.

[d_dan]

hehehehe

[Bennoz]

<--- Greedy

[spetz]

Didnt want to be greedy

Yeah how modest of you!

[d_dan]

What i really want now is a taveon replica spoiler.

[spetz]

Don't be greedy... it's too huge of a spoiler

[d_dan]

Think itll suit the racing look. And wideer arches

[spetz]

Maybe a carbon Evo X wing would suit your needs if it fit properly

[d_dan]

Well I suppose 14 years later it's time for an update

Long story but I lost this car for almost 8 years.
But I've spent the last 6 years restoring and rebuilding the engine.

She's had her first outing on track last week for a shake down and all went well.

Current spec is:
Engine
Magnicor Plug leads,
custom profile exhaust cam shafts with 12° reduced timing on each lobe,
VF35 turbo,
Bosch, 600cc injectors (Custom Bosch EV1 to Denso adapters)
180° rotated and dead head conversion fuel rail
Holley Hydramat
Mishimoto CRX Twin core aluminum radiator,(stacked with IC)
Sytec fuel pressure regulator,
ARP head stud kit,
Blitz SSQV black edition dump valve,
Mishimoto G series intercooler (Stacked Infront of radiator)
Custom hardpiping
Samco hoses
ACL Tri metal trust bearing
ACL Tri metal main bearing
ACL Tri metal conrod shells
Accusump oil accumulator
OBP 10 row power steering cooler (offset divers side wheel arch)
Setreb 15 row oil cooler. (Offset passenger side wheel arch)
HEL multi angle thermostatic sandwich plate


Exhaust
Pro shop idia equal length stainless manifold,
Pro shop idia stainless downpipe,
Pro shop idia stainless turbo intake & downpipe,
Decat,
5zigen Pro racer A spec cat back.


Suspension & Gearbox
Silvers Neomax R - black edition 10k front 12k rear
Silvers adjustable topmounts,
Upper front strut bar,
Upper rear strut bar,
Exeddy 3 puck paddle clutch.
Cusco RS 1.5 way LSD.
C's Short shifter
Full suspension poly bushings& nut and bolt rebuild
Signature Sway bars 18mm front ARB & poly bushings
Signature Sway bars 22mm rear ARB & poly bushings
Hard Race adjustable TOE control arms
Super pro adjustable camber bolts


Brakes
Steel braided hoses front and back,
Pagid RSL29 front pads
EBC yellow stuff rear pads
Alcon mono6, 6 pit calipers
EBC 330mm vented Disks
APR front/rear brake bias
Full stainless steel brake hose plumbing
1 & 1/16 brake master cylinder


Interior
OMP RSPT2 driver's seat
OMP TRS passenger seat
Fia seat rails
Single piece aluminum seat rails
RRS R6, 6 point harnesses,
Harness bar.
Carbon fiber boot to the interior divider,


Exterior
Carbon fiber bonnet,
Carbon fiber boot lid,
Bozz facelift bumper,
Pro shop idia rear apron,
Pro shop idia side skirts,
6k HID low beam's
Carbon look Aerocatch's
Creative adjustable spoiler
Race Louvres center and side bonnet louvres

Alloys & Tyres
17" Work CR KAI 7J - WETS Michelin Pilot Sport 5 225/45/17
17" Work CR KAI 9J SEMI SLICKS Nankang CRS 235/40/17


Electronics & Gauges
Maxxecu Race standalone ECU
CUSTOM plug and play harness
AEM Boost pressure gauge
AEM Air Fuel ratio gauge
Racetech dual oil pressure/ oil temp gauge
Dedicated oil pressure gauge for Accusump and manual oil pressure valve.
Dedicated digital oil pressure sensor for ECU
Individual wheel speed sensors connect to ECU
MTune digital dash

Power
280 crank hp
235 whp
220ft lb
@0.6 bar boost.

20250525_214720.jpg (3.52 MiB) Viewed 3714 times

[aza013]

Better late then never.
Great work and news. More pics and videos needed

But you are doing a lot better than me, my one has been sitting for a good 10 years gathering dust

[d_dan]

Dyno pull is here:
https://youtu.be/NYoiwUvKl1U?si=BvPZ0Zf2IvorbXBp

Pics won't seem to show or are too large for here where do people host them these days?

[bjk]

Oh hey, I think I saw one of your posts on fb in one of the FTO groups not long ago. Talk about a revival!

I used imgur to host for a bit, but it's kinda clunky. Direct uploads are probably safest for longevity, even though the image details at the bottom are ugly to me haha

[d_dan]

https://imgur.com/a/k9Qu6Or


I'll wrap my head around the pics and get some decent ones but here's a few linked that show a complete gearbox rebuild and reshim.

For the engine it was a full rebuild and bar keeping the pistons rods and crank and just having the crank polished almost everything else was rebuilt or new from rings, bearings, core plugs, intake cams were polished and exhaust shafts duration was reduced.

Centre supports for the radiator was removed to allow for intercooler and radiator having a better fitment together

Full suspension rebuild all nuts, bolts and bushings replaced with poly bushings except for the two in the rear suspension that cannot be made for PU.

There's no used parts on the car so everything is brand new with no wear which does make me struggle sometimes with it being a dedicated track car. Many people say I should make it my weekend car but with 2 toddlers at home who am i kidding thinking that I'd be going to a meet or a cruise on my own.
The best I'll get is a trackday every month or two and a few hours in the shed in the evenings.

[AussieGPX]

What a weapon!

[d_dan]

So interesting update for anyone who really in geometry setup and mechanical grip.

After the last trackday I had just about managed to get my new coilovers fitted so it was in need of another alignment.

I dropped the car down to a local shop attempt to get it corner balanced.

But this is where it got interesting.
The car could not be balanced correctly as there's actually so much weight on the right side of the car due to the engine location so there's actually 40Kg of extra weight on both right wheels that cannot be adjusted out of the car without adding ballast or moving stuff around to counter balance the weight but there's not actually much to be moved to even try that.

The spring rates that came with my new coilovers were simply too soft at 8 and 6k so I've ordered 12 and 10k springs hopefully they will arrive on the 27th and I'll get them in for the next track day.

Some more pics:

[aza013]

That’s interesting about the weight difference, is that with you in the car?
Is the interior of the car stripped out?
How is it feeling on the track?
But more importantly are you having fun with it
Edit….. just looked back at the picture on the dyno it looks like yes it’s stripped.

[d_dan]

It's not properly stripped no I swapped the seats up front, removed the SRS airbag steering wheel, carpet, rear seats and rear trim and stripped the boot.

The ABS has been removed, aircon up front but dash and everything behind it including passenger airbag is still there.
Actually weight balance should be better then stock as the turbo and pipework are all over the gearbox side.

I always wondered why the engine mount on the driver's side was aluminum and the rest were steel and I've a feeling this is why.
Yea the car was weighted with 81Kg of ballast in the driver's seat to account for me and my helmet.

The cars a dedicated track car so the only fun is tinkering with it and prepping for the next trackday.

Since the last track day a month ago I've fitted bonnet louvres to help with cooling efficiency and releasing heat from under the hood. They are very aggressive looking maybe too much so but they are wind tunnel tested to improve downforce and cooling.



I've fitted an Evo 6 RS Brembo edition break master cylinder that's 1 & 1/16 size bore and I'm hoping new springs will arrive next week to allow me to up properly harden up the suspension.

You know getting it out for the shake down last month and driving it for the first time in over a decade let alone the last 6 years building it this was very relatable.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOEHihlA ... dsazJ4dA==

I think last time to drive it was so much adrenaline and focus on checking everything wasnt about to fail that I didn't sit back to enjoy it properly I was so excited I couldn't sleep the night before and only got 4 hours sleep.

Going in this time I've fixed the alignment, power steering, cooling, added a lap timer and a go pro. So I'm actually going out focused on driving the car.
I can't wait

[d_dan]

So power steering decided to unload on lap 2 on yesterday's cold and wet track day.


With the GEO setup I finally got around to setting the Creative Sports spoiler.


A little video of a cooldown lap.
https://youtube.com/shorts/KAbLRjQ5DnA? ... kFU8pxYtFb

[d_dan]

First trackday of the 2026 season

Shaved 10 seconds off my previous beat time and achieved 2:18 plenty of improvement to be made still.

Power steering pump seems to have a leak that I cannot find and only seems to happen at high RPM on corners so it's hard to diagnose. Loosened the tension on the bent and the issue was no more (but then again so was the PS fluid )
I'm going to redo the fluid again and see if maybe I've had air in the system and I've bought Redline racing power steering fluid so if this doesn't fix it I'll ditch the whole thing.

As I was getting into the swing of things I was suffering massively with fuel surge coming out of some of the key corners which really killed my corner exit speed and acceleration out of the corners which is where the FTO should have an advantage.
I've decided to pickup a Holley Hydramat to try address this and move to a sponge style pickup instead of the OEM stray style.

Driver skill wise my breaking zones need improvement and also I keep putting the car into too high a gear and sit in 3rd too often when I should be in second and it brings lots of unnecessary gear changes.

Enjoy the pics.

[aza013]

Great to see everything is moving forward and you are still wanting to make it better
Pics look good as well.