Lada Niva "A" class truck

[nivaman]

Hi Stu nice to see you made it over to this site as well, .

[Dr_PC]

What are the rules in relation to having the different engine?? Won't that push it out of A class??
changing the diffs as we have gone through a patch of breaking them, and wonder if the standard diffs, axles etc would handle the National Trials.

Change motor and or gearbox stay with 4 cycl stay in A class, change the diff housing move out of A Class

[De-Ranged]

there is some hope with the diffs... you are allowed to modifiy the internals theres no chance of fitting anything bigger but there is some hope I might be able to stiffen up the diff carriers

which diffs are you killing and whats the damage ??? stripping crown teeth doing spidders??? better yet got any pics

Cheers Reece, De-Ranged Engineering
027 541 8794

[SirGerald]

Cheers for clearing up the issue with the engine. We had planned on getting a copy of the rule book prior to bringing out the big saw, and just assumed we wouldn't be able to enter A class. Might change a few of our plans then if we can figure out a way to strengthen the diffs.

The part that we are braking is according to the manual the "Axle Shaft Gear", not sure if there is another name for it but assume there is. We are basically snapping the teeth of it and in my case nearly all of them were missing, but I had to drive it out of a gully with the broken diff so suspect that this may have finished a few of them off!!

Mucked around for a while to try and figure how to upload the photo into the thread and couldn't figure it out so dumped it onto our website so you can look at it there.

http://www.freewebs.com/teamlada/

This was my first one I have broken, while the "Blue Rusky" has also broken one and another lada that used to be part of the group broke about three or four. I must admit that when I broke mine my right foot was far to heavey, but nothing that wouldn't be required if running national trials.

I have also snapped the front axle on the passenger side, and the Blue Rusky has broken two on the drivers side. All of them broke on the part of the axle that was in the diff where the slots in the axle end (i.e. the slotted part of the axle remained in the diff and the rest of the diff was separate). Sorry couldn't find any pictures of these.

Sorry for perhaps not using the correct terminology as an Accountant by trade and slowly learning more and more about cars (well lada's anyway) but I'm sure you can get the idea.

STU

[De-Ranged]

Thanks for that stu, your discription and pics was very helpfull....

Just for the books the gear that got chewed is called the side gear the small one that drives it is called a spider gear, now for the bad news on the cheap(my budget is very tight ) there is very little I can do about this.... the only thing I can do is pull the diff and strip it and make certain that the side gears are shimmed to the inside limit of there spec's (between the spider gear and the housing is a shim by putting bigger ones in you push the spider gears in tighter so under load they can't ride out on the side gear teeth and then snap them off..... there is a catch you don't want to pack them too tight or they rub hard and heat up, and when they heat up they expand and bind not a good thing)

As for the front axle hmmmm I'll just have to run em I can't play with them on this budget, in fact I'm going to have just enough money to get the cage on and tyres and thats it don't think I'm doing to bad tho
Doubled the HP, gone to an auto, new race seats, new 31" rubber and a rollcage for a grand

Right time for me to go do some work

Cheers Reece, De-Ranged Engineering
027 541 8794

[Dr_PC]

As for the front axle

To make a lada last off road, when you lift the front in the air GET OFF THE THROTTLE real quick, the only breakages that I have seen in lada's was slamming the front back on the ground at full revs, bit like a Jimny CV they dont like it

[icekayak]

Here's a few more for anyone else wanting to get a competition lada comes with plenty of spares...
Could have a lada as a tow vehicle and a lada to compete in, and a parts truck too

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motor ... 554057.htm
Lada Niva's x 3
Asking price: $1,100 Or Near Offer | Closes: Wed, 30 Jan
Lada Niva's x 3. Two complete. One in bits. One complete car has Reg on hold, no WOF and is a runner. With a little extra work could be put back on the road. Other complete car has a dead Reg, no WOF and will run with a bit of work. Will make a good off-roader or farm hack.

[De-Ranged]

I've finally posted an update

Cheers Reece, De-Ranged Engineering
027 541 8794

[De-Ranged]

Got another small update, been busy with clients so this has been pushed back a bit
Update

This week isn't looking terribly full so I should be able to get serious

Oh and on a side note this my become "Team Serious Racing" there might be another lada coming into the shop for a trials build

[nivaman]

Check out http://www.ladauk as the site has a good bit about preparing the Niva for Dakar.

[De-Ranged]

Tried that link and failed
Did a search and pulled an interesting referance from another BBS they are having security issues, the site may have a virus, the date on the posts was recent too....
Will give it a go in a while

[nivaman]

Ah yes there has been some disruption caused by a virus, could go to http://www12.asphost4free.com/baxdesign ... inPage.htm he has a lot of good stuff there.

[xj]

Howz about -
"Sharapova" sexy Russian chicks name on an ugly russian truck......
"Sha-rollova-pa"
"Pavalova" Flaky puffy russian named dessert... falls apart on a whim....

Speaking of Chase Rodda in earlier posts.... on the show two weeks ago it was noted in the class placeings that he drives a Jeep.... anyone know exactly what Jeep

And while on the subject of the sunday 4x4 entertainment.... why has the gorgeous blonde been replace by.... well... someone quite the opposite of gorgeous blonde.....???????????? WHASSSUP WIT DAT??????

[Furgus]

Speaking of Chase Rodda in earlier posts.... on the show two weeks ago it was noted in the class placeings that he drives a Jeep.... anyone know exactly what Jeep

His co-driver is called Jeep

[skid]

Speaking of Chase Rodda in earlier posts.... on the show two weeks ago it was noted in the class placeings that he drives a Jeep.... anyone know exactly what Jeep

His co-driver is called Jeep

he drives a B Class, coil sprung prado with a supercharged commy V6

[xj]

Speaking of Chase Rodda in earlier posts.... on the show two weeks ago it was noted in the class placeings that he drives a Jeep.... anyone know exactly what Jeep

His co-driver is called Jeep

he drives a B Class, coil sprung prado with a supercharged commy V6

A prado being called a Jeep..... well dont that just rip ya kilt!! Someone needs ot sort that shit out

[nivaman]

Any luck with the Lada Reece?.
I for one would like to know how you would strengthen the front diff.

[De-Ranged]

I've been playing with the rear at the moment looking at options.... I"d like to fit a 4 spider carrier into it but being a 6.5" ring gear is a stalling piont I'd like to retain the ring and pinion if I can the engineering gets a bit intense if I have to machine another pinion bearing mount into the housing.... rules only allow for internal modifications so I can't do the ford escort diff swop, if I can find something either with bigger carrier gears or 4 spider I'll replace the axles with resplined hilux ones.... any ideas would be appreciated any boy racers out there that know whats hot and whats not worth looking at
Might do a rear disk conversion on the spare rear axle yet if I can find some cheap free suzuki disks, I've got a set of hydro/cable calipers here that I got to use for dics conversion but have a bastard mount so not something I can use commercailly, if I could find some used disks these could be used as they are of no value hmmm just thinking about it I do have a spare set of lada front disks and calipers hmmmmm

The front diff housing is able to be strengthened with some supports on the inside the gears them selves hmmm thats gona take a bit of money or luck I'll be doing the bracing but the $1000 budget can't stretch for any more stuff I keep looking at the seats and thinking of other things I could have spent that money on
Same deal with the steering box I'd like to have done that but the budget can't handle it so I'm making a brace to stop the original one taking the stress that kills them and go with armstrong steering

there will be somemore updates soon

[nivaman]

Use the Niva front disks and machine down the Niva axles to fit inside the disks, machine down the backing plate that the brake shoes used to sit in and use that as a cover to stop rubbish getting into the axle housing, now you have a Niva rear diff with disk brakes.
For the calipers you will have to make a suitable bracket and if you do it right you can make it bolt to where the backing plate bolted to.
You can use 124 rear calipers and hand brake cable, Fiat Uno Turbo calipers and VW calipers (i think?) with the 124 set up it will bolt on and run.
If you can find one use a 124 steering box as these have needle bearings not bushes like the Lada box has, should make the steering a tad easier.
Brace the area around the steering box.
The Ford Escort diff housing is too short but the diff centre will fit and if your lucky, you may find one with limited slip diff.
If you want to use another diff housing go with a Hi Ace van diff housing, it is the approx size, it will need converted to five stud but it has better axles, disk brakes and some come with limited slip diffs, also you could use Hilux axles and diff pumpkins in them.
You could also convert the Niva rear diff housing into a front diff housing using the original one as a guide.

[De-Ranged]

Thanks for the bit on the brakes thats pretty much what I had planed exept I'll probably use the front calipers with the line in on the leading edge and hydro the handbrake using a hilux clutch master to the trailing pot on the same caliper.... allow me to set up wheel brakes to don't need a cable handbrake as its not going to be warrented

Thanks also for the heads up on the 124 steering box, the issue with this isn't what to replace it with Its just that I want to keep within my thousand dollar budget for the whole project, and I don't have any spare not even $30 to buy a box off a cressida (should be able to make fit) one of the reasons for this project is to show people that you can setup a competition capable truck for next to nothing, and a bit of work
Heres the basic budget
Lada ... freebee (this isn't uncommon I've now been given 2 )
Motor, trans etc $200
Cage steel $280
Harness's freebee's
Seats $410 starting to think I'd be better off without them and just some cheap car seats hmmm

Stuff I've sold off this Lada
Motor gearbox $100
Seats $75
Doors $100
Tires $200
Still got a few other bits I'll fling on trademe

This leaves me $585 to spend on tires which I'm going to see if I can get a bit of sponsorship for (I will detail how i go about this later when I've done it hopefully with some results ) currently I've been offered a new set of savero's for $15 more than I have in the budget so its deffinitly a happening thing and that wasn't really trying

As for the diff housing ideas they are all no go as I'm not allowed to modifiy/change the outside of the housing or diff member housing dosn't mean I'm gona give up on finding a stronger option... just makes it a bit harder to sort I like a challange... if the axle starts to cost I'll still do it just put it aside for when I kill the original that way its not part of the budget

[nivaman]

With the seat you can use second generation Honda Prelude seats, still give you plenty of support have to fab up mounts but should be cheap as chips.
I am looking at doing the conversion to power steering and am looking at what other power steering boxes are suitable, have already got the power steering pump (Fiat) as i have a Fiat in mine.
Will be interesting to see how you deal with the rules as these are a very capable truck out of the box.

[rotordogg]

Hello, I've been reading this thread for a while, and have a couple of questions:
How much of the roof can be cut off for a-class? I've seen class guidelines in old magazines saying that you can take everything off down to the window sills, but also been told that you can only take off as much as a 'factory soft top' would have removed??
Is there a set of guidelines or class rules online? I've had a search, but couldn't find anything.
How's the truck looking for cometition for easter?? the other boy's and I from 'Team Lada' (manawatu) are planning on coming for a look.
I'm planning on following in my lada into A-class in a few years, will be interested to see how your build goes.
Thanks.
Phil.

[De-Ranged]

Hello, I've been reading this thread for a while, and have a couple of questions:
How much of the roof can be cut off for a-class? I've seen class guidelines in old magazines saying that you can take everything off down to the window sills, but also been told that you can only take off as much as a 'factory soft top' would have removed??

The comment about cutting down to the sills is a good one, so long as you are cutting pillers and not body its all good

Is there a set of guidelines or class rules online? I've had a search, but couldn't find anything.

Nope theres a few bits of the rule book online, the roll cage rules are one example, talk to your local club find out who is competting and get a copy from them, all compeditors are issued with a rule book when they get there licence

How's the truck looking for cometition for easter?? the other boy's and I from 'Team Lada' (manawatu) are planning on coming for a look.

At this stage I'll say I'm on target... I've still got to sort out the controls for the auto the guy I bought the auto off dosn't know where the trans computer is mounted in his silvia and dosn't want to strip it just to find it.... and so far I haven't been able to find a mechanic who has worked on one so I don't have a computer yet, once I get this then I need to work out what the feeds are to get each gear and build my manual control box so I can convert it to tiptronic
Dosn't help I've been talked into helping an arbourist friend out over the next month so I'm not gona see to much shed time todays my last free day I'll try keep the updates coming

I'm planning on following in my lada into A-class in a few years, will be interested to see how your build goes.

Do it I don't know how compeditive it will be, but thats not my thing ( well till I get there ) I'm intending this more as fun
still don't know about the running gear under it..... hell I've built go karts with heavery running gear I guess its just gona be a case of do what we can and wait and see, got a couple of ideas for the rear axle if I can find the right parts... a bit involved but would bomb proof it, as for the front hmmmm I can stiffen it up and possibly shoe horn a surf 7.5" diff carrier in there... but we are still at the mercy of the front axles which arn't allowed to be modified

[wjw]

What model of Silvia & Trans I'll see what I can find

[Rotazuk]

Well just wasted 1/2 hour tring to cut out the auto info out of the FSM I have here but its still 80mb

I am out of cd's at the moment but I will get one tomorrow and send it to you if you pm me a postal addy . It has all the crap in it you will need to sort it if you are not going to use the auto ecu . As I was scaning through it I think I even saw a table that showed the position of all the vavles to get all the gears .

It is from the states so the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the picture and its a CA18DET but there are only two extra engine wires ( they run a heated oxy sensor ) . It has a full ecu wiring diagram and all the trouble shooting etc etc etc . Unfortunatelty lots of the pages are out of place and for big sections it runs backwards , I was slowly fixing this as I needed it , everything is there somewhere thou .

Chris

[Dr_PC]

[quote="De-Ranged At this stage I'll say I'm on target...[/quote]

Keep at it mate I'm looking forward to seeing this at Easter

[De-Ranged]

What a performance today.... new engine mounts all done, motor sits just nicely under the bonnet.... with a bit of clearance work on the sump
Had a slight issue with the rubber mounts discovered one of the new motor mounts was on its way out after I'd started building the mounts for them.... and its gona cost to replace (no more money in the budget so...) so I've addapted the lada ones in to fit had to use a couple of 10mm spacers ontop of them to line them up right.... fingers crossed they'll be up to the job, only twice the hp they are used to be dealing with
... the bs of fitting them took up most of the day so not much else got done, looks like I'll be up for a few nights to catch up...

oh and sorry no cammera with me, I'll take some pics tomorrow for you'll

Thanks for the help guys, I think it was an s12 or s13 model, PM'd ya Rex

[gimmemud]

do you need the auto ecu?? i know a guy that doesn't use it for a prado auto for a supra and just has four buttons for different gears.

[De-Ranged]

do you need the auto ecu?? i know a guy that doesn't use it for a prado auto for a supra and just has four buttons for different gears.

I know it can be done, got a mate that bought a truck from CHCH with it all done.... I'm after both, use the auto (computer) for normal 4wd'n and climbing as it shifts quickly and without the shock loading you get from manual clutches... then at a flick of a switch I turn it into a tip tronic box for technical shit and decents best of both worlds

At this stage the tip tronic setup will be done last.... since I'm not gona be working at the shed for to many days this month I'll need to concern myself with the basics

[nivaman]

You shouldnt see much trouble from the Niva engine mounts, they are what is used when the Fiat twin cam is fitted to the Niva's and what is fitted to mine with no problems yet.