1989 Lada 'Fiva'

[SP450andLE]

Well, I may have gone overboard, but we have now got another Lada. We got it from Stu Good, but it is originally the well-documented conversion carried out by 'Cloggy', also known as Pierre. With the two litre, twin cam fiat engine, which puts out around 112 bhp, it should go well. However, it doesn't go at the moment. However, all it needs is a new battery and the fuel tank to be drained and it should be fine.

It came with loads of parts. In fact, a full load of them inside the Lada, and almost a Pajero boot full of heavy parts (ie diffs etc).

It has been semi-rebuilt, with many things improved etc.

Pic's to follow.

[SP450andLE]

Here's two pictures. More at http://s1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa465/SP450andLE/

[sibainmud]

Nice Lewis, should be able to blow your brother to the weeds now

[Nivapulledout]

Nice little project, if it was cloggys old one then everything should have been done to a high standard.

[SP450andLE]

Yes, Simon. I plan to do that a fair bit.

Also, yeah, you can tell that all has been done to it is to a high standard.

[sibainmud]

Yes, Simon. I plan to do that a fair bit.

Also, yeah, you can tell that all has been done to it is to a high standard.

Ya might be able to follow me now

[SP450andLE]

Yes, Simon. I plan to do that a fair bit.

Also, yeah, you can tell that all has been done to it is to a high standard.

Ya might be able to follow me now

And maybe even pass you occasionly
I hope

[SP450andLE]

Well, we managed to get the Fiva started this weekend. It ran alright-ish, but smoked a little. We discovered diff leaks and gearbox leaks (which drips onto the exhaust mount and creates a bit of smelly smoke coming out the engine bay). The left-hand CV is also stuffed
We took it for a bit of a drive over the farm to test articulation etc, and discovered that the springs will fall out before the wheels leave the ground.
We then took it for a quick drive up the road. It definitely isn't running the best.
But on a good note, I started cleaning the interior a bit, and have decided to, for the time being, have a semi-stripped interior. So we have bare doors, apart from all the handles and the armrests on them.
Also, it looks a lot higher off the ground now that the TONNES of parts are out of it. No wonder our Pajero was struggling to tow it up the steep hills
Pic's to follow

[SP450andLE]

Here are the pics:

Testing the articulation:






All the parts (and the dog):



The spring:


I'm guessing this isn't good. Any suggestions as to what I should do to fix this?

[niblik]

if thats at max droop than ya dont need to do a thing.. its already done.. see how that cone type thing is down the centre? the spring will 'self locate' when the spring begins to seat again..

[De-Ranged]

Nibs is right the bump stop mount will relocate for you.... been a while since I play'd with the rear of my truck but I think you'll find there is a captive mount on the other end so the spring isn't loose
If your after tips and tech for these things have a look at
lada.co.uk theres a guy on there called baxter he's a local lad and his home page has a heap of tech on these things

Cheers Reece

[SP450andLE]

if thats at max droop than ya dont need to do a thing.. its already done.. see how that cone type thing is down the centre? the spring will 'self locate' when the spring begins to seat again..

Yeah, I'm not sure if It has further to go or not. We didn't really wanna try it. But someday we will, just to make sure nothing bad will happen...

[Nivapulledout]

Hay Reece good to see you still around, Is that lada project you had still in the running or has it stalled?

[SP450andLE]

I was just thinking...

If anybody has any suggestions as to what I could do with the Fiva, or any ideas to to with it at all, feel free to pass them on to me.

Then you can say you helped re-build Cloggy's Fiva.

[De-Ranged]

Lada is still there I've had a lot of distractions, going to have a bit of push on it soon
As for pitching ideas for your lada, I kept hitting the fact the diffs are only 6.5" so thats why I changed up to E class its let me ditch them in favor of hilux axles but that creates a whole heap of issues on the front, dosn't help that I keep rethinking the front suspension
from what I've seen with the local guys I'd do something with the steering, they seem to kill steering box's and relay box's.... I came up with a fix by making steering arm stops on the swing arms, you could reinforce the box and steering relay instead

Cheers Reece

[SP450andLE]

Ok. It's got a Toyota Cressida steering box in it, but I dunno id that's much help. I'm not sure about the rest of the steering, wether it's been strengthened or not. A lot of it has been left for me to find out on my own, which doesn't help
I think a lot of it for me will have to be trial and error, and see what breaks and what doesn't
I don't think I want to start changing axles etc, seems too much for the time being.

[SirGerald]

from what I've seen with the local guys I'd do something with the steering, they seem to kill steering box's and relay box's.... I came up with a fix by making steering arm stops on the swing arms, you could reinforce the box and steering relay instead

From memory (few years ago now) I think you will find there is a reinforcing strap around the relay box. We put that on when we first purchased it a few years back (no idea if it is still on there but doubt it would have been taken off).

The idea of the strap came from a club member that had hammered his niva a lot.

[SP450andLE]

Well... Yesterday I made a template for the rear carpet, and today cut the carpet and trial fitted it. I was afraid that the edges would fray, so I used some FIRE ( ) to burn/melt the edges to hold them together. It now needs to be trimmed a bit then stuck down. Pic's to come.

Dad and I also tried to tune it a bit. That didn't work out too well, as the carb had different screws to the webers in the two Fiat manuals I have. So I may need to research how to tune it.

So all in all, not much got done

[SP450andLE]

Righty...

Having no school and a fair bit of spare time at Dad's, I have been able to get a fair bit done.

Firstly, I finished the carpet that I had started:





I then started tidying up bits of the vehicle, so removed the radio (it wasn't functional), the speakers and the rear soundproofing. I also painted the indicator surrounds in new gloss black just to tidy it up a little:



I then decided to get the spotlights working properly. I just had to re-earth one wire and it was ok, however, the fuse went kaput when I tried them later that night.
So I replaced that, but then the headlights themselves didn't want to work.
Oh well, just more to fix...

I then decided to check over the dual electric fans. All seemed fine, until I saw the fuse:



I think they come on automatically, so I haven't yet been able to see if they work properly.

During all this, the horn button stuffed itself, so I wired it up directly to the power. The wiring just needs to be tidied up when I have what I need.
I also relocated the horn closer to the grille so that it may be a bit louder, to help me ward off the crap Auckland drivers.

I bought two fire extinguishers, and fitted them both in front of the two front seats, where they are out of the way of feet and also the seat itself, but while still being easily reachable:





I removed the one rubber arch extension, and then removed the tabs of metal that it had been attached to, as well as the tabs on the left front guard:



All this time I had been doing rust-proofing and killing on the body-work. I found some dodgy fixes, such as the underseal on the right front under-arch being put over rusty seams. I got rid of that rust and put underseal back over it:



I managed to get as far as zinc-painting the rear of the drivers side of the body:



I did try to get the front bumper off, but after getting the bolts off, the bumper wouldn't move. I ended up gettiing the standard Niva to tug on it with a short rope, but even that didn't work.
So... That's gunna stay right where it is...

Finally, I managed to make one new doorcard, for the driver's side. I got some old doorcards I had laying around, ans stripped off the vinyl. I then put it on top of the plastic checker-plate stuff I got from Supercheap (which was on special a day AFTER I bought mine ). It took a fair bit of time, tape and hot-gluing to get it stuck on properly, but I think it looks ok:





Oh, wait, one more finally:
During the process of taking the spark-plugs out, the tip of one (the bit that screws on) must have fallen into the sparkpug hole, as when started again, the engine made a reasonalbly loud clattering. A while of vaccuming in the holes didn't work, so it looks like time for the head to come off now...

Oh well, two steps forward, one back.

More photos of whatever can be seen at: http://s1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa4 ... ?start=all

[sibainmud]

Coming along well Lewis
Shame about to srewdriver tip
Reminds me of a surgeon lossing some forcepts during an operation
The damage will be interesting Keep us posted

[SP450andLE]

Righty...

More time at the farm means more progress.

I started by removing the rear bumper, and cleaning it. I then did some rust repairs in behind where the bumper fits.
I also zinc-painted the fitting plates for the rubber strips, after getting off the light surface rust.

I then sprayed the tow hook that fits to the rear bumper in red zinc, to make it stand out, and look different.
The same was done with the front hooks too. These need tidying up later, but are ok for now.

Then I sprayed the front bumper with plain black paint, just to tidy it up.
The grille was also sprayed black at the same time.

I also finished the undersealing on the wheelarches, so that is all good and clean for now. But not for long, hopefully...

Just before I left, I managed to zinc-paint and under-seal the sump guard, which will be fitted when I get the correct bolts. (Do you like my makeshift stand for the spraying? )

I didn't attempt to get the sparkplug tip out again. I need a decent jack first...

[SP450andLE]

Just wondering... What sort of way can you hold down the bottom of the springs?
I ask this because, when at full flex like this:



The spring can be removed.

Can the bottom bit be drilled, and some sort of tie used to hold the spring down?

[sibainmud]

Hey Lewis,
Most trucks I've seen that have longer shock travel than the springs, tie one end of spring using similar methods to what you asked and have a conical re-locator at the other to guide the spring back into place without it falling out
need to see if you can get hold of some with the same diameter and see how that works.
Cheers,

[SP450andLE]

Righty...

This is a little delayed, because I couldn't borrow a card reader for a while. I really should get my own...

WE GOT THE SPARKPLUG TIP OUT!! As somebody on the Lada forum suggested, we rolled the vehicle back a bit, on the side of a bank, so that the thing would roll down to one side of the engine.

We had a vacuum with a smaller hose connected, and a washer hose connected to that. After trying for a bit, I went off to do something (probably sob ) and Lincoln called out, as he managed to make the tip stick to the hose.

Success!
So, here's the s/plug tip now:





I did try to start it after, but the two wires that go into the dizzy (elec. ignition) fell out of the plug, and I didn't know what way they were meant to go. It didn't start, so I'm assuming that is why.

I'm thinking there wont be too much damage to the piston or anything, because of the s/plug tip being squished so small. - The thing was squished instead of staying in-tact and scraping the hell out of the piston.

Also, I painted the timing gear cover red, after dad and Lincoln said I should. It should match the air filter housing, and brighten the engine bay up a bit.



Well...
That's all for now.

I'm starting Uni at the end of this month, so I probably wont get as much done. Oh well, Every little bit counts I suppose...

[Drurban]

It is starting to come alone nicely now louis, Looking forward to it on club trips.

[SP450andLE]

It is starting to come alone nicely now louis, Looking forward to it on club trips.

Thanks Ruben. I'm keen on having it at club trips, too. At least when it is going, I should get through most places in woodhill.

[De-Ranged]

Hey just curious as to how your bumpers attach, standard they are only held on by a single grub screw on each side pushing onto the mounting tube.... not something I'd want to trust considering you have your hooks mounted to the bumper.....

Oh and good to see a lada on here just bought one for my son so he can come 4wd'n

Cheers Reece

[SP450andLE]

Hey just curious as to how your bumpers attach, standard they are only held on by a single grub screw on each side pushing onto the mounting tube.... not something I'd want to trust considering you have your hooks mounted to the bumper.....

Oh and good to see a lada on here just bought one for my son so he can come 4wd'n

Cheers Reece

Front bumper is mounted via 'chassis' rails, by two massive bolts each side. When the bolts were removed, the thing wouldn't come off, even after tugging on it with the other Lada, so that's not going anywhere .

The rear bumper is mounted in roughly the same way, but I think its just an upgraded version of the standard ones. Still strong enough though, as I think it's been like this for quite a while...

[SP450andLE]

Oh and good to see a lada on here just bought one for my son so he can come 4wd'n

Cheers Reece

You have a lucky son
Tell him not to listen to anyone who insults him because of having a Lada. Also, tell him to join ORE and put a build thread up, too

[Drurban]

Nice Lewis, should be able to blow your brother to the weeds now

You will deffinatly be able bet lincoln now with this truck, I have heard they are built strong and can take quite a beating