dont hate me cos its a lada

[ladeda]

Hi everyone

My name is Dustin and im a alcholic........
na not really. bought a nice cheep lada niva when I returned home to NZ from Auz.
Still pritty much stock at the mo. set up a removable winch on the front plans to adapt it for the rear aswell in time.
Ortherwise its all been rebuilds like Gearbox, transfercase, wheel bearing, carb, shocks, sterio etc etc ya get that with a lada.....
Next step will be a set of 30x9.5x15 mudies, so If anyone can sujest good places to go in Aucks to get them and what make i should be going for etc.
Heading out to woodhill this saturday to see if the winch will actually work. Should get plenty of opertunitys as ground clearence is about equal to that of a mini.
Which will be sauted hopefull at the same time as tyres figure a couple inch lift and a torsion diff should get me gooing a bit further.
look foward to making some good contacts on here for futchure mud endevours
cheeres all

[yeti]

welcome mate..few lada owners lurking on here somewhere

[Smurf]

welcome mate..few lada owners lurking on here somewhere

Yeah, Now where did we hide them...
Welcome

[SP450andLE]

I'm here!

Nice to see another Lada owner.

Where are you (Auckland I'm guessing)? You can go to your private messages page, select profile from the left and edit your location etc from there

When I get mine going we can go to Woodhill together, It'll be like a Russian revolution in Auckland or something

Also, have a look at the Lada section here, and post pics of your truck in the 'show us your Lada' thread

[bruntonjm]

welcome along, nothing to be ashamed of, they are good vechiles by all accounts...

[ladeda]

thanks all for primo welcome
will get the missis to put some photoes up for us, im good with ecu's just shit with pc's.
we head out to woodhill quiet regularly but are now looking to go further afield when this blady rain finaly stops, for some camping weekends. just got the 101 off road adventures book, def keen on some overnighters or full weekends away.
cheeres all

[sibainmud]

Hi There.
See you at Woodhill Saturday. I'll be on "patrol", so can haul you out if the winch doesn't cut it.
Welcome to ORE.
I will keep an eye out for you. You're welcome to tag along. I have 4 others already following and Drurban will be there with his MU too.

Cheers,
Simon.

[Drurban]

Yeah looking forward to getting out there have not been in a while, also depends on how long the C.V last's but I always say that .

I will also be on the look out for you ladeda.

Chur

[SP450andLE]

Hi There.
See you at Woodhill Saturday. I'll be on "patrol", so can haul you out if the winch doesn't cut it.
Welcome to ORE.
I will keep an eye out for you. You're welcome to tag along. I have 4 others already following and Drurban will be there with his MU too.

Cheers,
Simon.

I'm sure you won't be pulling a Lada out Simon...

[Hug-o]

Im heading up in the cruiser tomo aswell, couple mates bringing there truck to. See you there!

[ladeda]

yea sory guys made it sunday instead was a wicked day nun the less. didnt break anything cept for bending the mudflaps horisontal (realy gotta sus that lift a) pulled a couple dudes out. slid sideways into a nice deep hole on the way out of the bog hole. snatched out buy a good fulla ( on ya mate) heps of motavation to find the fuinds for mudies and lift. ill start naging the missis now sould come round by xmass.
also keen to do some away trips during the year.

[SP450andLE]

Put the mudflaps on stiff hinges, then no damage when they bend up

[Nivapulledout]

Welcome along mate, good to see another Niva owner, there are a few proud Niva owners on here so you wont be alone in the light hearted banter the rest give out
If you are looking for stuff to do to the lada Baxters site is the ducks nuts for all the little easy mods and fixes to do.

http://www.ladaniva.co.uk/baxter/NivaMainPage.htm

I am in the middle of a build up of what should be a pretty capable Niva, you are more than welcome to steal any ideas and ask questions if you decide to do any of them.

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 18&t=24689

would love to see pics of your little beast.

[ladeda]

Put the mudflaps on stiff hinges, then no damage when they bend up

exactl what i was thinking about doing. havce you done that to yours? does it work well?

[ladeda]

Welcome along mate, good to see another Niva owner, there are a few proud Niva owners on here so you wont be alone in the light hearted banter the rest give out
If you are looking for stuff to do to the lada Baxters site is the ducks nuts for all the little easy mods and fixes to do.

http://www.ladaniva.co.uk/baxter/NivaMainPage.htm

I am in the middle of a build up of what should be a pretty capable Niva, you are more than welcome to steal any ideas and ask questions if you decide to do any of them.

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 18&t=24689

would love to see pics of your little beast.

Hey mate yea thanks been getting all the ideas and links off baxters already. That mans created the niva bible if ya ask me. looking at importing some parts from Russia howd you go getting yours? Did they actually deliver?
Just had a look at booger... WOW good effoert mate. Really like the bmw seats, was there much modding to get them to fit? I confess I alrerady have taken a couple ideas of yours, like the 50x50 box up the front for strengthining up thefront for winching etc. but dont think Il be going that far prob keep the origional 1700 in just try getting it going a bit better by the way of cam, port/pollish, head plane and weber conversion that im in the slow process of doing, next will be lift and tryes and torsion diff.
will try get some photoes up if I can figgue it out.

[SP450andLE]

Put the mudflaps on stiff hinges, then no damage when they bend up

exactl what i was thinking about doing. havce you done that to yours? does it work well?

Nah, I haven't. But I had planned to, just didn't get around to it, and the thing is still sitting round not doing anything anyway (so I'll do a high-mount radiator swap in the meantime)

Also, here's links to my two Ladas (just in case you wanted to see them )

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 18&t=22947

http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/ ... 3389=+fiva

[Nivapulledout]

the parts from russia were good. The guy I was buying off was from ebay but he is not on there now. parts took a couple of months in russian post but slipped through our customs here ok so did not have to pay import duty(customs cant read russian I guess he he)
The LSDs I did not get to try out but the fiat car guy I sold one to put it in the rear of his race car and says it is wicked. And the other guys with them say they are great. I have kept one just in case I pop one of my lockers or want to play around later on with maybe having it in the rear and a locker in the front.or vice versa.

Bmw seats are wicked and make the biggest difference out of any mod in comfort and adjust-ability, highly recommend them. Specially as they change height so you can get a good view over the bonnet.

Box section is the god of bumpers and I will be doing the rear end when I get home again next time(well I hope I get home)

good luck and where the hell are the pics

[Nivapulledout]

[ladeda]

verry true totaly missed that one. clearly underestimated the forces i see.
have a look at theese and let me know what ya think. cheeres mate.

aproach angle maintaind by keeping it up high.

[ladeda]

this is looking down behind bumper bar,

this is looking up.

wouldnt of thought could of broken that +- 200mm of plate but then again didnt think about leverage and twist did I

any ideas on how to work around the bumber bar maby just welding a srtip of steel to the plate.

Input greatly appreciated.

[Nivapulledout]

I would make the diagonals out of flat bar something like 75x5 or 100 x 5.

I have had another look and the only way I can see to help brace against the fwd leverage is the triangle gussets, maybe not as big as I drew but that is where the strength needs to be, I would cut them from the flat bar that you use for the diagonals and then just put a grinder cut into the bumper so it slips over them.

Otherwise It looks fantastic all fitted together. Like the look of having the bull bar. I wanted to put one on mine but wanted to keep the weight down as much as I can.

keep up the good work.

[Dr_PC]

Hi there and a late welcome to the forum. Wont hate you becasue it's a Lada, only if you're a f.Wit and dont listen. Doing dumb things tho is okay as we have all done them or are going to some, more than others, that ma only be me.

Highly underated vehicle, and only by those that have nevered owned or driven one.

Dan

[ladeda]

I would make the diagonals out of flat bar something like 75x5 or 100 x 5.

I have had another look and the only way I can see to help brace against the fwd leverage is the triangle gussets, maybe not as big as I drew but that is where the strength needs to be, I would cut them from the flat bar that you use for the diagonals and then just put a grinder cut into the bumper so it slips over them.

Otherwise It looks fantastic all fitted together. Like the look of having the bull bar. I wanted to put one on mine but wanted to keep the weight down as much as I can.

keep up the good work.

Thanks for the advise mate
I will definatly be doing the extra suports when I get a chance.
IT'll all be put off for a while though as moving house soon.

[ladeda]

Hi there and a late welcome to the forum. Wont hate you becasue it's a Lada, only if you're a f.Wit and dont listen. Doing dumb things tho is okay as we have all done them or are going to some, more than others, that ma only be me.

Highly underated vehicle, and only by those that have nevered owned or driven one.

Dan

Hey, late is better than never
Thanks for the welcome Dr Pc
yea na recon ill see your dumb things there and raise ya a few more myself
Best way to learn isint it???
Nothing teaches ya a lesson like a screwdriver in the back of the hand.

[ladeda]

[Nivapulledout]

first pic triangular gusset is spot on should help alot. I am guessing that is as big as you can go due to clearance to the bumper.

bottom pic I am not sure what that gusset is for?? that existing bottom brace is ok how it is because not much side loading on those more longitudinal load. I would leave them how they are unless there is another reason for them.

I had a closer look at your pics with the bumper on and I can see why you cant do the diagonals without carving up the bumper alot. So the only think I can see that will strenghten those uprights to side loading is welding in a piece of flat bar like so. you can move it back further I just drew it to show you what I mean. see what you think



Hope it helps , keep up the good work.

Craig

[ladeda]

Thanks mate.

With those gussets that will be the exact location where I will weld them i.e. with a slight overlap of uprights, reason for this is if I but weld to uprights it will foul the bumper brakets. recon this should be OK?

What I was getting at for the bottom pick is im thinking of getting rid of the tow hooks and welding those plates on each side to beef up steel to 15mm thick, then drill a hole through to use as holes tow points with a bow shackel, reason behind this (my thinking, that may be way off the mark) is with no hooks there is no hooks to break, ie the simpler the better??? whats ya thoughts?

Suspension lift is coming along slowly, also started making up a raised alternator bracket in the meantime aswell.
thanks again for the advise.

[Nivapulledout]

no I would not overlap the gusset, you want it inline with the upright so it will let the stress flow through it. what about modifying your bumper and brackets like mine, would have to weld on a little bit longer 50x50 box but you would end up with clearance for the gusset and stronger bumper brackets. I was always bending the original ones up that is why I did mine like I did.



post pics of everything before you weld and I can double check for you. saves grinding off welds and redoing

[Nivapulledout]

Forgot to say that your Idea of shackle/tow holes is a good one. try and move those bracing plates up till they hit the 50x50 box if there is room with the bumper. once again for side loading the closer you can get the shackle holes to the cross member the more sharing of side load will happen.

[ladeda]

yea I thought you might say that
I have been thinkin of weather to just cut the bumper bracket a bit so can weld gusset inline with uprights. or to change brackets completly to something like what you have done.
My issue there is, because of the 50x50 Xmember it leaves no room to get access to the two inner most bolts of the bumper to bumper bracket bolts,

will maby look at doing some kind of slide in type mounts.
will see how we go.
thanks again
Ill put up some more picks befor I go anyway.