Offroad-Express

coming along there now mate. I am getting closer with mine too. Body work is nearly done.

How have you got your rear hook mounted? Just curious. If you show me yours I will show you mine

Looks pretty serious with the tractor tyres on, will be interesting to see how they go offroad.

trucks seems like a bit of a mission mate. good to see your perservering.
There is a guy down here with 2 or 3 ladas sitting in his yard. am happy to inquire about parts if needed. Is a long way from you though

May well be the guy I got the tyres off, he was down in Invercargill and sounded like he had a few, thanks for the offer

Linc they are 50x50 box beams essentially, bolted through the floor and through 3mm plate above, will grab some pics(actually I think there are some on this thread somewhere...) still need to throw a brace between the two and it should be all pretty solid.

Well, mounted the final recovery hook, painted the wheels black, threw some paint I had laying about (sample from a project that didn't go in that direction), pulled all the masking off...

looks passable in pics but in real life.. well it goes as an example of why you do prep... however as it will just be driven into trees and such I couldn't be bothered... couple of litres of rust kill paint for farm machinery/sheds(?) and i think she is about ready to get dirty... so who's out next?

Pre attaching final hook



http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a360/ ... 182511.jpg

looks lada mint bro.
ill be good to go next weekend just gota seal up prep and paint and underboyseal. then add mud.

book it in!!!! fingers crossed it lasts a few minutes haha

you can have a laugh at how awful the prep job is... assuming the paint actually sets lol

no one will see ya prep after a couple cotes of mud mate.
yea i recon my left inner cv is gona let go really soon there expensive as to, even for a lada bit.
and i realy should change over my bent diff housing b4 it buggas the berings if it hasent already.
you must be itching to get out there man good work so far....... there is alwase more work to do with a lada na actually cos you aint immune to the mod bug either, youll see youll get bitt too

Whatever you might think of the final paint job (and from here it looks fine) I reckon you've done a good job there. Just don't land those tyres on the ground with max revs!!
Regards,
John

That looks like a cool paint scheme. I too bought some paint for my Lada this weekend. Just need some clear and hardener, do some quick prep and it will look average.

You will be glad to get out in the mud now.

Looking forward to getting her dirty like mad!

Oh hang on I forgot to snap pics of hook setup... will go take a couple

Here is how mine is mounted anyway. Just for reference

Not sure if that makes it obvious or not? 50mm box x2 bolted through the floor and 3mm plate then braced with 50mm angle

I see what you did there. That looks sweet as.

Other than the fact you cut through the floor sections, I would rate that one of the best hook mounts to a lada..... alot better than the idiots that bolt em onto the bumper and then just rely on the two grub screws that screw into the light weight pipe bumper mount

Just a suggestion add a bit of that angle either side at the back, that way if your in a situation where you have a pull down you've increased the load at the rear

Cheers Reece

edit scratch that last bit I moved to get away from the glear and could see you have a bit of angle there....

Cheers, no cutting of the floor at all, the bit you can see cut and folded is just the rear valance thing, box section bits are bolted through the floor and then through plates to spread the load. The angle sections you can see are welded to the box and bolted up through the floor and through the spare wheel carrier, hopefully to stop too much movement side to side

Plates in the boot like this



Hard to know until I use them and see what, if anything moves but it should be fairly solid I think... can easily jack off one of the box sections (before any of the bracing went in) with zero deformation so I think it is pretty sturdy.

In other news I think the little cooked brake episode has heavily warped the discs :/ pulsing heavily under breaking... balls :/

that valance bit is what I was talking about..... with a Uni-body you have to be carefull about what you cut as the structure in the pannels is the strength
There shouldn't be any issues you still have the structure around the boot the fact you jacked it and there was no flex is a good sign

Ahh, gotcha, that makes sense but yup as I say, all feels pretty rigid in there... probably moreso than factory (even pre-rust holes factory haha)

Ok all you lada build following weirdos (in the nicest possible way lol)

Heading out to Woodhill Sunday for a test run if anyone else is heading out or wants a run you are welcome to join:)

Do you have a rear seat? My mate wants to come too

lol, negative... finish the fiva... you have 3 days :p

Well, it does seem that there's no damage to the head, so it's doable.... But not going to happen lol.

That's ok, I'll just come on my lonesome to fill the scary seat

I shall attempt not to kill you :p

Got any brake rotors/discs/whatever they are called in your parts pile?

Nah sorry, I chucked them on my Lada a while ago. Though I may have the old ones from it laying round somewhere, I'll take a look someday soon (they are still good I think, just need skimming)

All good, a straightish set would be fine... mine have a fairly severe pulse now haha, still stop all good though aka no huge rush to fix

recon you might be keen to do woodhill on sat instead. a few of the norwest guys doing sat.

yeah potentially, let me know what the story is... I was gonna re-bleed brakes and whatnot saturday but I think it will be ok haha.

aa brakes are over rated, trees work just as well at stoping ladas.
yea mate i know of at least two nissans going so they can tow our broken ladas out if/when needed .

i asume we meet at the park around 9 or 10ish. will confirm time. your welcome to swing past mine for a cuppa b4 heading up. maby sp450 can meet u here or whateva.

I may also be keen 4 a murawai run on sunday if no broken bits.

I bet your amped to go.

Sounds like a plan in all regards, will just have to confirm that I can borrow my old mans truck to get the lada there lol. lets assume meet at your place in the morning... 8.30ish? 8ish?

Louis, this work for you??