1990 Lada Niva

[SP450andLE]

Picked the Lada up today. Drives good, no smoke at all. Some shuddering, but that can be fixed relatively easily I think...
Photos can be seen at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 4a3a5d9b58
I will show what we do to it over time, with relatively regular updates.

[Nivapulledout]

shuddering(vibration that increases with speed) could be the rubber donut between GB and TC, just need to align your TC ,instructions are on baxters site I gave you.

[SP450andLE]

shuddering(vibration that increases with speed) could be the rubber donut between GB and TC, just need to align your TC ,instructions are on baxters site I gave you.

It only shudders at low speeds, mostly in 1st gear, and a little in 2nd...

[Nivapulledout]

is it a vibration or a shudder like the clutch is slipping? the rubber donut can cause vibration at any speed , but does the vibration increase in relation to speed, Ie start off in 1st idle and as you accelerate does it increase in proportion.
also check to see if all your uj's on the driveshafts are good.

here is a link on how to do your TC alighnment.

[SP450andLE]

More of a shudder. And where's the link??

[SP450andLE]

I have now installed a temporary snorkel made from pool vacuum hose. I also took it all over the farm to test how it goes. LOTS of guard rub. So I whacked those in with a hammer and it's a lot better now. So... 4wding at Kaiwaka next weekend...

[lincooln]

How about bleeding the brakes and checking th e pads first so you can stop? get some slightly smaller better tyres and take it for a wof to see what else it needs?

[Nivapulledout]

sorry about the missing link mate, must have been off in the clouds.

here you go

http://www.ladaniva.co.uk/baxter/resour ... gnment.htm

[SP450andLE]

Here's some pictures of the Lada. More to follow soon...

[flyingbrick]

lots of knobs in there!

[Nivapulledout]

yeah bro real 4wds need lots of knobs inside

Looks good man, your dash is in mint condition, normally they all get one split on the left of the instrument cluster to the windscreen, was a tight spot when they made the RHD dash.

one mod of comfort is to bin the seats and put some decent ones in, not to hard with some scrap steel and a mig. Wof guys are always dubious about the standard ones as they wiggle alot, and they are uncomfortable as.

I chucked in some BMW E36 coupe seats and they are Premo, have height adjustment fold fwd to allow access to the rear and are comfy on long trips.

[SP450andLE]

Yeah, I have considered that. I find the standard seats ok for now, but Lincoln has a spare set of Zuki seats that I could probably fit. Although, thse seats in yours do look good.

Also, the whole interior is pretty nice, apart from a few cracks in the rear side trim. All it needs is a decent clean. But then again, It'll just get muddy again soon

Finally, yeah, real 4wd's do have lots of knobs

[Heath]

I was going to suggest Lada's are full of knobs but it would be too easy and too soon to throw shit at ya...

I'll let Lincoln do that.

[SP450andLE]

I was going to suggest Lada's are full of knobs but it would be too easy and too soon to throw shit at ya...

I'll let Lincoln do that.

Haha. Yeah, he has. But then; what vehicle is still sitting on axle stands? And which is at the farm going well?

[Heath]

I was going to suggest Lada's are full of knobs but it would be too easy and too soon to throw shit at ya...

I'll let Lincoln do that.

Haha. Yeah, he has. But then; what vehicle is still sitting on axle stands? And which is at the farm going well?

True enough

[SP450andLE]

I fitted a temporary grille (wire mesh). I also tried to align the transfer case. It didn't really help very much, unfortunately. But on a good note, I got more places on the farm than Lincoln did, even with almost fully worn tyres

[Nivapulledout]

good to hear it is proving itself already, told you they are good little 4x4s.
do the 2" lift and get some good muds on it and you will be amazed at where it will go.

[SP450andLE]

Well, seeing as we now have another Lada, the fate of this one is as of yet, unknown. We will either tidy it up and sell it, or tidy it up a bit and let dad use it for the rough gravel roads around Kaiwaka. On a good note, the New Lada came with plenty of parts, many of which can be used on this Lada.

Decisions, decisions...

[SP450andLE]

While I was at Dad's for the week, I sprayed the spare grille, that came with the Fiva, with some cheap black paint. It looks a lot better for not much money. I have brought the badge that fits on the grille down here to Auckland so that I can paint the background blue, just to have something different.

And that's about it...

[Nivapulledout]

any Pics? we love Pics

[SP450andLE]

Not really. I only had my phone, and forgot to take any pics of the grille. I will take some of the badge soon though...

[SP450andLE]

OK, it's been ages since my last update, so I figured that now is as good a time as any to show y'all the progress.

I had it going at round 3 of the Whangarei trials that were held at Dad's farm, as well as a club run to the pig farm - which is where it temporarily died...

So I set about replacing the accelerator pump diaphragm, sparkplugs, leads, points, condensor, rotor & dizzy cap; and also adjusted the throttle cable and tuned the ridiculous but reliable solex carb, using a colortune kit. I even drove it up and down the road today!

I've also been doing small cosmetic bits and pieces, but that's all boring stuff

Enough talk, so here's proof that it drives:



I'm booked in for mudfest, so I'll be trailering it there, in case it breaks (I haven't had enough time to make sure it's reliable, and I'm still ironing out the previous owner's mistakes/dodgy fixes etc ), and at least we have the trailer there in case Lincooln's 'Zuk breaks down

Oh, and I have to get new discs and pads put on the front before mudfest, so I can stop before driving into any bottomless bogs

[Nivapulledout]

looks pretty nippy bro.

hope it all holds together

[SP450andLE]

High mount alty almost done, some tweaking needed to get it perfect.

Then it's to do the wiring

[SP450andLE]

looks pretty nippy bro.

hope it all holds together

Yeah, everything I've fixed seems to be going well, it's just a matter of fixing everything else that has been neglected by all the previous owners

Can't wait to have it going again

[SP450andLE]

I decided to remake the bottom one. The previous one was a total bodge job, and would make the alignment go out of whack whenever I tightened the belt

So, half way there, this is what the bottom mount looks like:



Please excuse the horrible welds, Lincooln's welder is gasless, and I'm still learning!

[Cameron]

good work wont notice a good weld from a bad one once there's some mud on there.
never pull the carpets up on my citroen if you ever see it. I learnt panelwork on that thing.
Lucky I haven't graduated to anything fiercely cosmetic yet.

[SP450andLE]

lol yeah, this'll become covered in mud/oil/everything else soon enough.

And f I ever see your Citroen, I'll be sure to pull the carpets up, camera in hand Maybe it'll make me feel better about my welds

[Cameron]

lol. it aint too bad. but yeah. you don't need to lay down the lushest of welds all the time.

what other kind of crap do you need to sort on this?

[SP450andLE]

Ahh, the wiring will need to be re-routed for the alty (it was all messed up anyway, so will be good to sort it out), I need the clutch and brake MCs to be replaced (I can get them both from England for a total of $80 (incl postage)), and then further brake work if required - I'm hoping the new MC will fix it, but there's no guarantees there . Apart from that, there's only little fiddly bits to do.