Baxter's Niva Story

In late 1991 the leaders of the former USSR republics issued a declaration that the Soviet Union was dissolved. Only a year before my Lada Niva rolled off the production lines of the largest car factory on the planet. Much maligned often wrongly sometimes rightly, this is my story of ownership of one of those legendary Russian Range-Rovers...

Over 700Km round trip in the Niva - with a nasty vibe at 40kph in a city where all the traffic seems to hover around this speed, and no choke in a cold city. No problems other than shaking the exhaust manifold-to-pipe joint loose. Economy still terrible (not quite 250 from a tank), and performance poor (won't push much over 100Kph at all, and very slow on hills) - but I did still pass a Pinzgauer full of squaddies. Managed to fit in a spot of muddy off-road playing, but sadly nothing serious as I only had road tyres, and no real recovery gear or nearby friends with a 4x4 (and that damn CV boot still needs replaced).

Some decent 600-15 SAT mud tyres obtained on Niva rims, otherwise uneventful month; haven't even really caught up with maintenance. Niva is back in daily service after the CR-X developed a nasty vibe in a hillclimb I suspect is the CVs that have been vaguely noisy for over a year.

I've given up the idea of a supercharging as I'd need to either inject it, or custom fab a intake manifold; both of which would be about the same amount of work and expense as simply re-powering with 2 litre Fiat or Toyota engine.

After a good clean out, cut and polish, and ritual adjustment of the brakes the Niva has a new WOF. And it passed first time without any fails. Took it for a little strop to celebrate, but nothing too messy as I still need to do the damn CV boot.

UPDATE :: April 2010

The Niva was greatly missed a a fixture of the Rally of Otago's service park this year (no WOF).

As always I'm in a constant debate on the best way of getting more grunt. I'm tossing up between a Fiat swap, a Japanese swap, and supercharging.

My buddy who owns a Volmex popped into town the other day and I've been bugging for the Weber jet sizes from the Volmex so I can adapt them for a super-charged Niva - when he pointed out that being suck-through the settings can essentially remain standard (ie air/fuel at the already correct ratio will be sucked through rather than having to stuff around tuning jet settings like a blown through). This is a very good point that will make super-charging much easier than I had thought.

I have found a cheap low mileage Toyota 3S-F carburettor motor a buddy I bumped into in the service park has lying around that will possibly fit the Niva-to-Toyota-2C diesel bell-housing I have; so that's also still a possibility.

I also found how to clean the alloy corrosion out of the Weber 32-36's passages - phosphoric acid. Worked a treat. However, the accelerator jet pump still isn't pumping so the blockage wasn't the issue. Hmmmm.

I found specs from someone who used a wide-band to determine the optimum setting for a 32-36 DGAV on a 1600 Niva and I jetted mine close to these specs. However, after fitting I discovered the 32-36 has a blockage in the very tiny passage in the accelerator pump diaphragm housing that I can not shift - so the chokeless 32-32 is back on it (but has unfortunately developed some spindle wear so can't be set to idle properly).

I have used an adjustable Redline lever arm kit so I can now get full throttle, replaced its F50 emulsion tubes with F66s, converted it to plastic floats (more reliable as they can't puncture and sink, and less bouncy off-road), and re-surfaced the base to get rid of vacuum leaks. The F66s certainly seem to solve bogging while pulling off, but foolishly I only used a single fibre spacer block so now it has hot fuel issues (ie run-on, and won't start easily once hot). Easily fixed, but the WOF test is due in a week or so and will be the top priority.

Niva's back home, and I now have all the bits I need to freshen the 32-36 and sort a linkage length so it gets full throttle, but without acting like a light switch. If only I had the time... :(

The mighty Niva is currently being loaned out to a certain Fiva owner as his daily while he fixes his Fiat DOHC head. The wet choke is now set up on the 32-32 and reportedly works fine, but I have ordered some bits to freshen up the 32-36 DGAV I want to try. Sadly summer holidays have run out so I probably won't get a chance to pop the spare 1600 in soon; more time to set it up properly though I guess.

Fitted another 40-40 DFA Weber, this one with a choke fitted. However, as we couldn't get the wet choke to work properly in time for the holidays so I swapped back to another 32-32 DGAV with a wet choke. Also fixed a couple of vacuum leaks. Runs nice and smoothly, power is ok (though sadly not as good as the DFA of course), exact economy unknown yet, though seems just as thirsty as before.

Fixed the broken seat rail, and added a length of 5mm steel to stop it bending and breaking the rail top again (it's the second or third time I've replaced this rail).

Broke the spares Niva RealNivaMan and I were given by a farmer. The 1600 motor seems in pretty good condition (it had what appears to be less than 60,000 genuine km on it and is likely to re-power my Niva), and grabbed bits of RNM's collection he was biffing out - so my garage is now full to the brim of Niva bits (and the bones of a Fiat swap - now less the head, see above).

Developed bad bogging on partial throttle and loss of power on hills after ragging it on a corrugated road (and recovering a Toyota Surf). After much fruitless swapping of carburettors, fuel pump, and the entire ignition system, the problem appears to have been nothing more than a wiring issue causing poor spark.

Since I had the carburettor off I'm currently trying a 40-40 DFA Weber I swapped on when I thought the initial problem was the carburettor The 40-40 is a synchronous opening monster I had on a hill-climb Escort years ago. I've always wondered if the Niva would handle its flow without running like total arse; and it seems to be (there is some fluffing, and it doesn't seem to handle low-vacuum conditions like slowly climbing a steep hill, but it hasn't been set up properly yet). Certainly a big power improvement now it's got some spark and tons of mixture.

Fitted a hybrid of aftermarket side mirrors so I've got large mirrors on standard looking mounts (I think the fold-away mounts that come with the large off-road mirrors look wrong on a Niva; plus I hate drilling into the body if I can avoid it). They're about 100 times safer for lane changes as you can actually see what's beside you (unlike the letterbox slot originals), and you can see all the things you're likely to hit while reversing.

The good news: When to check the timing and discovered potentially why it's been gutless for the last year or so - the vacuum to the dizzy was being shared with the oil breather vacuum feed, and hence no noticeable vacuum was getting to the dizzy. :roll: :lol:
Easily sorted, and runs notably better, but still down on power from what it should be; mind you it's probably due for a decent tune by now anyway.

The bad news: The brand new CV boot has already perished and ripped for no known reason (which is a right pita as it means I can't take it anywhere mucky until it's sorted :( ). Indicator indicator light on the dash has died (and later self-healed itself as only a Lada can), and a lower ball-joint in the front is slightly 'sticky' (makes a small ping heading upwards from full travel down, but no play etc; re-greased it and no better).

New top-left ball-joint, seat rail fixed, surface rust removed - it's slowly becoming a stealthy kind of camouflage with various shades of beige; Light Kashmir this time - negative camber backed off (see below), brand new brake regulator valve, and Nivaman's spare calipers - and it finally has a new WOF. It seems the crappy brake pedal feel may have been caused by the calipers all along, so they'll be in for a re-kit.

Currently I'm running noticeable negative camber on the front rather than factory slightly positive setting, and I've had my castor pulled back (ie positive) a lot (it was miles out) - and the steering's improved dramatically. It has great turn-in, and is notably lighter. I'll see how the tyres wear though as I suspect I have slightly too much negative. Update, at the last WOF it didn't have enough self-correcting (odd, as positive caster should have improved self-correcting), so I've backed the camber off (and a little of the caster) in case it was doing something odd.

Niva is out of daily use: WOF test has produced a long list of fails. Mostly all minor but annoying stuff. :(

I stumbled across some shots of myself and the mighty Niva from a D-Scene article last year:

Took the Niva down to watch some 4WD trials in Clinton. Through the sleet and bitter cold on the way home all was good until we smelt a burning smell we optimistically passed off as mud on the exhaust - and then the heater died. As did the wipers and headlights. :( Being a Lada mobility was not effected of course, and it still made it home despite its electrical issues. :)

The weather's been so bad it was a week until I found a common wire (pin 30 and INT on the ignition barrel), INT had been overloaded and melted the barrel so things didn't connect as they should. Luckily RealNivaMan had a spare from a saloon he'd been hoarding, so all's tickey-boo again. Though I'm not sure what caused it to overload in the first place (my only guess was that I once left my wipers on and they jammed on the dry windscreen) so I'll try and avoid cold, wet and dark evenings for the immediate future. :)

Here's a pic of a very modified Niva from the trials that was one of the more capable entries. It's a very hybrid truck: old Subaru motor, upside down 'Zuk transfer-case, front axle is 'Zuk with Niva hubs fabbed on, air lockers made from Niva/'Zuk bits, etc, etc...

Took the Niva on a jaunt down the south east coast. It returned 340km from a very full tank so economy's better (in fact almost acceptable!); this included many twisty hills where it was at high revs in 2nd or 3rd most of the time - and the beach drive below where it was at max RPM in 1st and occasionally 2nd for near 2km (before I braved driving lower on the beach where the sand is firmer and doesn't suck as nearly as much power).

The jaunt ended at Curio Bay, which is the southern most tip of mainland New Zealand, so unless there's a Niva on Stewart Island it would have been the southern most Niva in NZ; and unless there's an old Niva at Russia's Antarctic base mine would have been the southern most Niva in the world... Anyway, off to the DIY high pressure water cleaning station.

Replaced the vacuum feed for the engines PVC that's been vented to the atmosphere for ages, and ditched the dodgy valve in the line between the carburettor and the dizzy. No difference in power.

Had another fiddle with the rear brakes and got them better, but still not as they should be. I re-inspected the rear brake delay valve, and water has been getting in so it's seized - a new one is on order.

Gearbox is definitely too overfilled - since the top an occasional smell of sulphur wafts in when it's warm. Ahh well, hopefully shan't be long before it's apart anyway. Also I might try a wider multi-grade next time as 2nd synchromesh only reliably works when the 'box is hot after long hard driving.

Adjusted rear brakes and handbrake. Pedal pressure is still unexplainable a little soggy though. Adjusted the clutch and fixed its broken return spring; which explains why it's felt like arse for ages.

And as the Niva is to be accommodation for two on a weekend trip far away - I converted the rear seat into a bed:

I didn't like any of the Russian methods (or at least had nothing capable of neatly bending the brackets :) ) as there needs to be a 2" or so gap between the lower and upper squabs when they're flat that's not accounted for in their method. So I simply put 2" long leather straps between the upper and lower squabs where they're supposed to be hinged, here's how.

It folds down a treat - and seems to lock into place properly in the passenger position (though the base of the upper squab now sits an inch or so back from where it's supposed to be), I gave it a damn good shaking and it appears as rigid as the flimsy original.

A proper solution would be to use some metal extensions fabbed from 2" angle section, and relocate the top mounting plates that clip the seat back (as the extensions would move the upper squab up an inch or 2). And this is what I'll do if there's any hint of the straps being a problem.

Toped the gearbox oil up (it leaks) by driving the passenger side (rhd) up on two tyres with the other side in the gutter. It got on an alarming angle - well to the neighbors anyway :) - and I suspect I actually managed to well overfill the box as there's a good whiff of EP oil when thrashing it up hills and 2nd gear synchromesh is often almost nonexistent. Hopefully I'll be motivated enough to fix the whole 'box in the not too distant future.

Anyway, here's a picky of my interior showing by 'bling bling' chequerplate (c/o RNM) and my accessory lighter plugs. I bought a cheap 3-way extension (even in '70s black plastic to suit the Niva interior), wired and mounted them permanently into the the dash so now I have 4 lighter sockets in total, 3 of which are shallow modern type; great for for running multiple toys; eg MP3 player, pump up a tyre, hand-held light, cell-phone charger, coffee pot... In-line fuses are your friend though.

CV boot sorted. And the Niva is back in daily use at the mo'. Nasty transmission vibe though, that isn't caused by alignment. Looking forward to some spare time to pop the back of the 'box off fix 5th and sort the vibe...

Ironically it hasn't turned a wheel since returning home from its successful WOF test. I started fixing some deferred maintenance, starting with the CV boot replacement. No problems, after a bit of frustration working out how it comes apart and doing it in situ, job done no worries.

No worries that is until I'd put it back together and cleaning up afterwards - when a large ball-bearing cover in nice fresh grease casually rolled out of the stack of rags I'd been using... Feck. Oh the bright side at least I found it before I drove it and destroyed the CV.

Had the x-member welded up, and adjusted the rear brakes (came up pretty good too), and gave it a half hearted wash & wax for the WOF test and crossed my fingers...

And it passed - first time! Here's hoping the hours and dollars spent on it are finally paying off.

Still a few odds and sods to do though: sort the mystery transmission vibe (very likely the 'box and TC mounts), replace a ripped CV boot, lube the drive-shafts, find a new window winder, and finally replace the 5th gear fork / fix the 'boxes oil leak / weld rip in the floor under a 'box mount.

When for a wee play the day before the WOF test, and the Niva performed well, going everywhere the Surf and other Niva did (except a brief section with a nasty diff-height rock I choose to avoid - the other Niva did it, but later discovered his custom front diff mount was bent). The Niva trundled over most bits the Surf was thrashed up and over, and was the only car not not to suffer some kind of damage.

Nice plate welded in for the steering-box, that should be the last I see of that problem.

Got a decent steering-alignment done afterwards, including getting the castor set properly (which was miles out) and a slight bit of negative camber instead of the factory's slight positive. The steering has dramatically improved - no more lurching wildly when it hits a bump, and it's actually got some turn-in, and is notably a bit lighter. The rear axle is still out, but should be easy enough to sort - when I make it adjustable (with a file :) ).

Window winder has broken again :roll: and I've found a large crack in the gearbox mount (which I hope is the mysterious source of vibrations we've failed to find). I'll sort this for the WOF which expires in a few days... So fingers crossed for me please... With any luck there shouldn't be too much to do other than the 6 monthly brake adjust - so I might finally get some time to fit a 5th gear and snorkel...

Still sitting at a mate's exhaust shop waiting for the steering-box fix. Still, other than leaking oil on his floor, nothing's broken this month. :)

I've loaned the Niva to a buddy while he's working on installing a Fiat 132 ZF-style gearbox in his Fiat DOHC powered Niva.

Electronic distributor fitted; it didn't solve the power or economy problems I'd hoped it might, but it does run a lot smoother at high rpms, and of course should be considerably more water resistant (the main reason for fitting it). Window winder cable fixed by my ZF installer buddy, but its cable is a bit naff and will probably break at the least convenient time (ie when I need a locking car).

More concerningly, the steering box mount has re-cracked so it's booked in to be fixed properly with a plate. Gearbox is still leaking like a sieve & TC still a bit vibey, but I have the bits necessary to get 5th gear back and do the seal and hopefully sort the vibes at the same time.

I've collected most of the bits to make a snorkel, have be given yet another roof-rack that's not exactly what I want, and have a lead on some 4.3 diff heads.

WOF issued after a new tie-rod end, 3 new brakes hoses, 2 new rear brake cylinders, repair to crack in the floor under the handbrake, driver's seat replaced, and a couple of other odds and sods. Brakes are still not to my satisfaction and will need further investigation, but hey they passed.

How many different shades of beige, er I mean Desert Sand / Simpson Beige, can you spot?

New brake master cylinder fitted, brakes improved but still no where near 100%. Oil's still leaking out the 'box. Window winder's still broken. Still gets axle tramp on up-hill corners. On the plus side I've finally found a set of the dealer fitted 15" ROH rims (ie with the correct off-set for a Niva).

As usual used the Niva for service-park manager job at the Rally of Otago, but with some Soviet style graphics this time:
Rally of Otago: Service Park

I think I've finally found the source of the Niva's new found thirst - when we were re-setting up the carburettor I noticed I'd used the float measurements for plastic floats instead of brass floats (36.5/44.5 vs 41/49.5). Oops. And the main jets appeared to be the wrong way around. All ultrasonically cleaned and put back together properly. Fingers crossed it's back to 300 plus KM from a tank.

I've also finally got the heater-tap cable connected and working, but it still blows partially warm air when set to 'cold' despite the tap being at the end of its travel, so I think I'll still install a hardware store tap under the bonnet when I find a suitable one.

On the bad side: the driver's window winder has broken again, the grease system in the drive shafts no longer forces grease into the splines, the rear seal in the gearbox is leaking, and I'm fairly sure the brake master-cylinder needs replaced. All easily fixed; with the luxury of time...

Replaced the front dampers with good ones off the 'spares' Niva and the handling is about 100 times better. So much so I'm sure with good dampers the removal of the anti-roll bar wouldn't have produced the terrible handling it did. They also seem to complement the super stiff coils I currently have reasonably well. So now I'm debating going back to the stock coils with the Hoodoo2 lift or staying with the firm coils; it really depends on the articulation it gets with the firm coils. Decent dampers also sorted the problem of one side sitting slightly higher than the other.

I've also had most everything tuneable in the engine tuned in the pursuit of better fuel economy, and it's going better than ever - though economy still seems to suck.

Went off-roading over the Dunstan Trail with another Niva and a modified Daihatsu (the one extracting me in the picky below, though it's been massively modified since that shot). We didn't get to play much as the Daihatsu buried itself deeply in some very sticky lake-bed mud. We managed to shift it only a couple of meters using a snatch strap (Nivaman broke one in the process!), but eventually it had to be snatched by a more powerful and heavier 4WD using 2 snatch straps.

I was so impressed with more free articulation from removing the antiroll-bar, but so unhappy with the crappy road holding from removing it. I'm trying some firmer 33cm front coils; much firmer. They road holding has improved vastly and the lift is good, but I suspect they're so firm it's now got less articulation than with the antiroll-bar. So more testing to come...

I have had some economy issues - 230kms from a tank - so after a bit of fettling (half the carburettor was loose!) and checking the points, plugs, timing, and valves it now runs like a dream and it's so quiet I think I've stalled it half the time.

I'm also trying running my front tyres at 38psi after Andy from Lada Australia suggested 40. The handling is much better (probably too stiff in combination with my present super-stiff coils) and if feels like there's less drag (eg better economy). Much lighter steering, and hence I assume less wear and tear on ball-joints, steering gear etc. So if there's no centre tyre wear I'll be sticking with this.

I replaced the rubber seal on the gearbox shifter as it looked like the leak was coming from there. However, it's still leaking so either the rear seal needs done, or the synthetic oil is too thin for the seal. Meh, I'll probably just fit another 'box - maybe even one with 5 working gears... :)

Have finally got a WOF and done the Hoodoo2 prototype lift - pictures here, discussionhere.Yay and yay! Just need to find a set of 22" dampers for the rear - and then see how much arch needs to be trimmed to fit the tractor tyres under... :)

I took the opportunity to remove the front anti-rollbar for some extra articulation. Combined with the lift this has made it a great vehicle over lumpy bumpy off-road stuff, but it is very rolly-polly at any speed on the road (probably needs firmer coils). EDIT: I later discovered the dampers were shot and wheel castor was wildly out, fixing these helped considerably, but handling is still not as sharp as with the anti-rollbar.

I've also swapped out the mineral Valvoline GL5 for some Redline MT-90 GL4 gearbox oil. As with the synthetic Valvoline GL5 I tried there was bronzy contamination in the old Valvoline mineral :(. Valvoline is certainly off my xmas card list when it comes to Nivas. The Redline looked alarmingly watery when I poured it in, but it seems to run very nicely and the 2nd gear synchromesh even partially returned after a few days.

I attached some angle iron (from an old washing line :) ) along the length of each lower rear suspension arm to protect them from being bent (WOF test failure) by rocks etc.

On the what's-broken-this-month front: Despite new pads and a good bleed the brake pedal is spongy and no amount of adjusting the rears seems to make a great difference, and the handbrake backs off after a couple of days. The gearbox rubber mount has been found to be the cause of transmission vibes that refused to go away with multiple attempts to align the TC and 'box. And another TC 'gland' and the gearbox 'gland' have developed slow leaks.

When for a couple of strops in Nivaman's 2l Fiat DOHC powered Niva and was very impressed. Not only does it have performance to accelerate up hills in 4th gear, but it feels like it could climb anything - we certainly found the limit of the angle the Weber likes to operate at. :)

Anyway, I finally have word my Niva's been welding is done, which leaves me only a day or 2 'spare' to get it sorted for its WOF/MOT before the xmas break... Then bring on the long awaited Hoodoo2 lift and a third gearbox... :)

Update: Plenty done today - many minor body touch ups, washer motor replaced, rear wiper installed, rear interior cargo hooks installed, metal window winders. Only the rear brake pads to replace and spot more paint, and it's off to find somewhere that'll do a WOF on xmas eve...

But then that's expected since it's been sitting at the welding shop all month waiting for the chassis crack to be repaired....

I finally though it was about time to remove the synthetic oil from the gearbox due to a number of people having concerns about synthetic oils dissolving stuff, and in the vain hope the 5th gear pop-out might be caused by the hi-po oil. Sure enough, there was plenty of bronze in the oil. However, it was GL5 spec synthetic and the deterioration of the yellow metal is probably more to do with it being a GL5. Note high-sulphur GL5 is NOT advised for gearboxes like Ladas with yellow metals; GL4 or low-sulphur GL5 only.

However, I replaced it with EPX (ie heavy duty EP for diffs) by mistake, and as expected the synchromeshs didn't work. Ooops, no problem, I popped in the correct weight 80W-90 (though still a nasty GL5) and it was better, but it still has a very poor synchromesh in 2nd gear. Shame, as the 'box was perfect on the 75W-90 synthetic :( Ahh well, the 'box will hopefully be swapped out for one with 5th in the not to distant future.

In a pre-WOF inspection I discovered it needed the steering-box adjusted, a new ball-joint, and wheel bearing. All that needs done now is the rear brake pads that are sitting on the back seat, and the steering box chassis crack re-welded.

Oh, and I finally got the steering alignment done and it handles 20 times better. It's now on some 205/80-16s ATs. And popped my own transfer-case back in instead of the loner from Nivaman.

Wow - nothing still nothing else broken. Must be finally sorted (other than 5th gear!). Mind you it's recently been retired to my secondary car and is only used in weekends and extreme weather days. :)

Finally got around to having the drive-line greased - and the usual timing chain adjustment. It now runs a bit quieter; in fact so quiet that I can now hear some faint bearing rumble somewhere.

WOF is due soon, so I'm sure there'll be odds and sod to do though. I've been doing some body-work tidying in the brief bits between the rain in preparation. And have some nice new-ish 205-16s.

Once the WOF is sorted (fingers crossed nothing big), next on the cards is Hoodoo's experimental front lift rings (in the post as I write, yay! ), and swap my own TC back in (I'm borrowing nivaman's atm).

Wow - nothing broken this month! Well, nothing yet. Actually the handbrake won't stay adjusted, so I guess that counts.

The new gearbox is in at last. The good news is that it's from a local diesel-from-new Niva and has lovely SKF bearings in it - and synchromesh into 2nd still works; yay! However, the bad news is that 5th gear doesn't. Well it does work, but keeps hopping out. Damn, still don't have a car I can really trust out of town. :(

I also had the chassis fracture under the steering-box welded up nice and solid. So other than 5th it's all up and go at the mo' and seems to be running well.

I took it off-roading with some guys in Jappers and 'Nivaman' from Difflock. It did a lot better than I expected in the deep ruts -- nothing like having people around to recover you to give you confidence to give it a go :). 'Nivaman' tried most of the hazards the others did and didn't get stuck once. I, on the other hand, let the team down and got easily stuck in a couple of slippery places, and avoided another couple.

To be fair, the others had modern mud tyres and I'm running SATs on the back and original Lada mud tyres on the front, so I have a slight traction disadvantage.

All the same, I'm of course greatly looking forward to the next venture out, and hopefully - if I can find some spare time away from adjusting the handbrake and replacing broken plastic fittings all the time - I'll have some tow-hooks and lift sorted and, fingers crossed, I'll be able to fit the tractor tyres after a wee lift...

Speaking of lifts, I have assembled all the bits needed for a Hoodoo rear lift (bar some longer shocks - but I have an idea for retaining my nice new stock length gas shocks), and a coil lift in the front. However, the coils measured up to be insanely long in a wishbone set-up (5cm longer than desired; ie 10cm longer than stock!), so back to the drawing board for now.

Not much news as work and motorsport etc, etc, has been very busy over the last couple of months; hence I paid someone to tune a car and do a bit of maintenance for probably the first time in my life. They did spot why I had trouble setting the points by sight - the dizzy was stuffed. So stuffed I'm surprised the car ran at all. It wasn't just the shaft play, there were broken electrical bits as well - but here's a good reminder for you to check the wee pad in your dizzy has been lubed lately.

Luckily a secondhand dizzy was on an online auction site (local trader as well) and turned out to be in tip-top order. It was also spotted the slipper pad was stuffed -- well absent to be more accurate -- luckily I had the brand new one from suspecting it was stuffed when I first got the Niva. All running nice and smooth, but a little rich as my carburettor 's jets are probably slightly too large.

Also it seems to be getting quieter, though that's probably either due to me getting more deafened by it - or due to metal filings inside slowly smoothing off the rough bits inside :). It does get quite hot if it does any distance (ie too hot to touch after about half an hour!) and seep oil from the shifter boot so I don't trust it at all out of town, but I'm very impressed by it's ability to keep on going.

The Good News: I now have a farm jack, a very beefy looking Tirfor type hand-winch. It's a Honko Super Til S-35, which is a Japanese made Tirfor type winch that is rated 3 ton lift, 5 ton pull. It has a beefy 16mm cable and is seriously heavy.

And the Good News continues : I also most of what's needed for a 2" lift, bits for a very DIY snorkel, a roof rack with lights (un-wired yet of course), and some bigger sized side-mirrors (also unfitted as yet of course), a spare transfer-case, a hand crank and proper Lada tool kit...

But the Bad News: I no longer have a 5th gear. And 4th is sounding decidedly iffy as well.

Typically it failed late at night, far from home and almost in the middle of no where. The gearbox locked up after slowing from the motorway into a 50kph zone and leapt out of fourth. The box was totally locked and refused to move more than a meter or so without an awful binding up sound. Luckily I also tried reverse which must have cleared whatever broken bits were floating about and it moved. Also typically for a Niva, despite being broken - it still got me home (albeit carefully nursed all the way in 2nd).

I had a wee fiddle (Lada's have a handy inspection plate on the underside of the 'box), but the problem looks serious enough that the 'box will have to be removed to be repaired. Ironically the very day it failed was also the day the 12mm Allen key I'd needed for ages to change the 'box oil arrived in the post. And yes, the 1.3 litres of oil that came out of the dead 'box very much suggests the low oil might have been part of the cause. A cautionary tale to those Niva owners who haven't done the 2-litre overfill yet!

Naturally being summer holidays there's sod all Lada bits for sale locally, but I have finally managed to source a replacement 'box in apparently good condition from deepest Southland. So there's my next couple of weekends taken up - Damn it, I had been planning to get some rock-sliders made from our old washing line, some control arm guards from the same old washing line, and look at sorting a front sump/diff guard. Ahh well, at least I'll be mobile again soon-ish, and as a bonus the replacement 'box has a 2C Toyota bell-housing, which just might be handy in the future.

And while we're on the topic of bad news and typical Niva problems I thought were fine on mine: I've also noticed there's the beginnings of a rust crack under the steering-box which I must get attended too once the gearbox is sorted.

In other news, I had a quick crack at fitting the Honda CR-X seats but was scuppered by the fact that I hadn't noticed that one side of the Niva's seat mount is about an inch and a half taller than the other side. Would be easily fixed by putting a length of box section between the seat and mount on the low side, but that wouldn't be strictly legal here, damn it. I've also had time to start tidying up some of the scrapes and dents, and made some mesh headlight guards on the bull-bars.

The big news is that after much fiddling with the Lada carburettor to get a best range of 22 mpg (mostly open road), I decided to swap it for a Weber. I choose a Weber 32/32 DGAV from the selection lying around in my garage because it was a bit smaller than the 32/36s I have from 2-litre Ford, and I suspect it's jetted for a 1600 engine as well (I seem to recall pulling it off a Datsun OHC in a scrap yard years ago). For those that don't have a 32/32 lying around I have heard that the larger 32/36 off a 2 litre Cortina/Sierra Weber can be easily re-jetted to suit by fitting slightly larger air-corrector jets (or more butcherously by drilling the originals "one drill size up").

The swap was pretty simple. The only tricky things that needed doing were to bend the brass vacuum pipe (to the distributor) to clear the slightly modified Lada throttle cable bracket (I snapped 3 pipes before mastering it, and have since worked out that if I'd simply spaced the bracket upwards this wouldn't have been necessary), and making a lever to fit the Niva cable (adapted a part off a random Japanese carburettor ). I also took the opportunity to add some extra fibre blocks (and a heat shield off a Sierra) between the carburettor and manifold to help stop heat-soak into the carburettor that can on occasion boil the petrol in the fuel bowl.

The DGAV has a water operated choke than I have bad memories of failing in many '70s Fords. Hence I have not installed the choke yet, and it seems to be fine without it. Winter (and/or when I adjust the idle down to something sensible) might change this, so I might give the 'wet' choke a try if necessary.

I haven't installed a proper air-cleaner box yet either - and have a '70s style RamFlow. At the mo' I have feed the small "crankcase fume reticulation" hose into the air filter (instead of a dedicated vac line it had on the Lada carburettor ), and the larger "gas draw-out hose" into a charcoal filter. When I set up a proper air-box both will be feed into it. The carburettor itself may also need to be altered to cope with steep climbs in the future.

Anyway - WOW! What a difference. A highly recommended mod. Without even as much as checking the mixture etc, it's now got much quicker and smoother throttle response, and more power - especially on hills. Better power through the whole rev range, especially low speed (ie what's needed for off roading). A far more drivable beastie.

As a pre-WOF precaution I scrapped some rust back on the front scuttle - expecting to find horrors underneath. But no. All I found was steel - I'm not used to that after owning a succession of rusty '60s/'70s British and early '80s Japanese cars! Oh, and I finally fitted the rear seat catches. Speaking of WOF time, it must be on for the annual timing chain adjustment as well.

On another trip to Christchurch last month I also finally got to do some decent fords on the some braided rivers. Nothing to extreme mind, but all good fun. The Lada did not disgrace itself. A couple of crossings has to be done foot-to-the-boards-and-hope style, but other than the alarming effect of water slowing the vehicle to what feels like a standstill it was fine. All the same there's a couple of modfications I'd like to do to waterproof the ignition better (and of course get a decent Tirfor just in case).

I finally also got around to oil/filter change. And picked up some 15" 'Zuk rims for $80 with tyres. Very bling bling looking chrome BTW :).

Found and fitted some un-broken window-winders, extra power sockets, and the Cibie Apollos. Also found 4 16" tractor tyres being sold locally on 'Zuki rims; had a wee play - it seemed pretty much unstoppable. The fronts were far too big without some cutting, rears were not to bad and spent the rest of Sunday dollying back the guards to fit. I'll probably change them on to my spare Niva rims, and currently checking legal info on a mild body-lift and cutting away the front guards. Yeah!

Also treated the Niva to a new set of plugs, and now runs smoother and stronger. Must get around to a proper tune some time...

Steering smartened up considerably with an adjustment to one of the front bearings. Still feels like a ’60s truck though. Adjusted rear brake shoes and hand-brake. Refitted the rear fog light. Several hours cleaning mud and other crap out from all sorts of places underneath. And hey presto - WOF passed eventually!

The brakes actually bought the meter up ok, but it was noted that that the pedal could feel better. No worries, went home and bleed them - and now they feel slightly worse! Still stop the car fine, but pedal certainly feels less than average.

Attended to the rear diff leak – several housing bolts were loose! Easily fixed, topped up, some trick snake oil added, and doesn’t seem to leak.

Transfer–case rear seal has been a bit more of a problem though as I haven’t managed to loosen the bolt that holds the flange on yet. I topped the TC up, as god knows how long it’s been leaking, and must have over filled it as it’s made the leak much worse.

I have also managed to acquire some un-broken rear seat brackets, a spare steering box, another set of 16” Niva rims, a pair of Honda CR-X seats, some grunty looking Cibie fog-lights, a pair of 10,000 lbs tow hooks, and a lovely new snatch strap. None of which I’ve fitted yet of course…

I have also picked up a Weber carburettor from a 1600 Sierra (vacuum secondary, and jets should be about right, though the mixture screw is the wrong side and linkage in the wrong place), but am yet to work out what all its hoses do (and some of the ones the Niva’s carburettor !). Plenty to do, so lucky Spring has finally arrived, as have a couple of books I bought about 4WD tracks in my area…

It seems the brand new ‘slipper’ pad currently sitting on top of my PC was not needed - a two minute job to adjust the timing chain, once I got a fine day, and hey presto - death rattle gone. Sigh of relief. Those slippers look a bitch to fit.

A new clutch master cylinder was needed though. It died on the way to have the exhaust fitted. Luckily a mechanic mate got a brand new one at a good price and fitted in about one-tenth the time it would have taken me. Big ups to Big Jake.

I have been rust proofing recently in preparation for its WOF (ie the six monthly New Zealand version of the MOT) test. Amazingly I have discovered nothing too bad at all after poking and wire-brushing underneath for a couple of days. Now all primed, fish-oiled and awaiting underbody sealer after its WOF test.

I have had a bit of electrical problems. Indeed not two days after I fixed the timing-chain and got an exhaust fitted it appears my starter is shagged. On the bright side it got me to work and back for two days in a row - a new record. Ouch, that looks like the worst starter removal I've ever seen.

Luckily an electrical mate insisted on giving it one more test before removing it. This time we used his jumper-leads and spare battery - and what do you know, both my spare batteries were duff, as were my leads. So good news it's just the battery. However, it also developed a mystery drain on the battery that flattens it over night. So I'm currently running with a battery sitting on the front passenger foot-well with leads running out the sidelights into the bonnet. :)

Most other electrical problems seem to be caused by crappy fuse mountings. Sand, bend, fixed. A couple of new brighter bulbs and some orange paint to re-colour the amber lenses and it's all good. Now only the wind-screen washer and headlight wash-wipe which are steadfastly refusing to work.

I'll also have to change all the transmission oils soon-ish as the transfer-case and rear diff are leaking a bit. Plus I suspect it's been in the sea at some point in the not to distant past so it'd be wise to change all the oils anyway.

The seats are a bit of a head ache. I'd love to just ditch them in favour of some with better side bolster, but after 1990 seats that have custom mountings (as the Lada will need since nothing bolts in) must have an expensive engineer’s certificate. I’ve bullied some Nissan van headrests to fit, and sorted the front seats so they actually lock down. However, the back ones look a bit of a pain as their Heath Robinson style isn't enhanced by bits seemingly broken or missing.

The brakes still need a good bleed (hopefully that's all), and hand-brake adjusted for the WOF test, so all things going to plan I should be away for the test soon. Fingers crossed.

The broken damper was replaced right away with an Australian gas shock. I've since discovered that gas shocks fight the Niva suspension making it unstable on ruts and likely to break the mounts. Indeed it certainly does want to go alarmingly more sideways that straight ahead on ruts.

Mind you that may have hopefully changed since I discovered that 90% of the crappy feeling suspension and steering was due to having one front tyre at 10psi and the others at 15psi. Amazing how we forget basic things. Hey, I've never owned a car with proper off-road tyres before - I swear they looked ok... :)

The ominous red warning light - turns out to be nothing to panic about too much. It’s a low brake fluid light. And I certainly planned to bleed the nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing-shite-are-these-working-at-all?-nothing-nothing-ahhh-thank-the-gods brakes some time soon anyway.

Oh, and the oil pressure problem - since the oil light snaps on and off as expected we're blaming the gauge - apparently it's a common problem on Ladas.

Off to the exhaust shop once the ‘slipper’ is fitted and chain adjusted. I’d hate to be one of the first of the police’s victims of increased boy racer law powers – in a Lada...

At the moment I am, er, in between cars. My supposedly reliable and economical (it was indeed neither) Nissan diesel coach refuses to start for any explainable reason, even after months of various mechanics and electrical folk fiddling with it. And my supremely reliable Honda CR-Xs are both suffering from a case of difficult-to-fix tin worm. My original Honda is nicely rust free and really only needs a weekend or three to do an engine swap and some fettling – but that would be the easy way.

Yes, for years I’ve fancied a Niva as a recreational vehicle because of their off-road ability to embarrass more expensive 4WDs. And perhaps the fact that if you have to leave one rolled at the bottom of a cliff you haven’t lost too much dosh. Sounds like great fun. What could go wrong?

Sure, they can be a bit - shall we say – unreliable; but surely most of their ‘60s technology running gear can be easily maintained and repaired at home, yeah? And probably with nothing more than a hammer, a swiss-army knife, and a adjustable spanner (with which a mate and I disassembled a Triumph Herald one afternoon, but that's another story... ).

So needing a daily vehicle for a few months, and perhaps retire to it recreational duties only after I sort one of the Hondas (or optimistically even my lovely van) a Niva looked like just the ticket. Nothing too bad could go wrong with a well sorted Niva in six-or-so months or so, right?

I’ve been keeping an eye on them on the online auction site and they seem to sell for about $1500 to $2000 for a reasonable condition Niva with a WOF. So no worries, I found one for $1000 that seemed just the business:

The description said something like “1990, 5-speed, WOF, good condition body, no rust, good tyres, tidy interior, just needs timing chain tightened and new rear exhaust…”. So basically sound, with some easy-ish sorting needed. The reality when we got to Invercargill was somewhat different.

After a quick two hour trip we arrived to find a rather sad and scruffy looking Lada in the driveway. After establishing there were no other Nivas in the driveway that better fitted the description and photos on the trader site, pleasantries and cash were exchanged.

At the petrol station we soon discovered that the oil pressure gauge reads around 0 bar at idle(!), and a max of about 3 at full noise - and full noise is literally full noise with the amount of rattle coming from the timing chain. Yes, were I not stuck in a far away town my mechanical sympathy would have parked it up there and then for further investigation. It had the ominous sound of a death rattle.

Once mobile the steering seemed impossibly heavy, even for a Lada with off-road tyres. This was especially so in one direction. Once at motorway speeds it developed into a reasonably serious lurch towards the centre line. This was ‘fun’ to contend with - along with the most un-ergonomic and impossible to find controls (including the clutch, brake and accelerator!) on a wet and dark night.

In the back of my mind I’m already planning a wheel alignment, desperately hoping it’s not a worn steering box as well. Did I mention that there is also a large and ominous red warning light with no clues as to what it’s for that either flashes on-and-off or refuses to go out?

The description also said “cruises along well happily at 100 kph”. Er, no. I struggled to get it much over 85 kph at all, though my mate did manage to get a terminal speed of around 100 to 105 kph. Lucky he was driving for a large part of the journey - as it turns out that it’s strongly not recommended to use 5th gear under 90 kph. But hey, since 1600 Nivas should do 120+ kph – at least on paper - hopefully nothing a bit of tuning won’t sort. Hopefully.

Further, being that the vehicle was unregistered one likes to keep a low profile. However, the exhaust that was described as “…not loud enough to annoy the cops” turned out to be muffled by a single small muffler and indeed even in lower rev ranges would easily be more than enough to annoy the police.

Indeed it was far too loud to drive across town at 1am in the morning when we finally arrived home (from what is normally only a four hour return trip). So it was abandoned outside my mate’s place that helped drive it back. Lucky this mate has a ‘spare’ car and is very good about loaning it to me for more than the two weeks or so I though I might be without a car. Welcome to Lada ownership I guess.

A few days later when I was up to facing the vehicle again, a quick inspection to see what was needed for the exhaust revealed a rear damper in two pieces - and hence the coil completely out of its seat and ‘resting’ between the chassis and the trailing arm! The break in the damper shaft was well rusted and must have been like this for some time, and the coil has done minor damage to the chassis rail where it was jammed. Feck!

The interior was surprisingly as described and indeed ok. And the body is reasonably straight-ish and seems good rust-wise (though not nearly as straight and tidy as it looked on the ‘net). And that’s the good news. Pretty much all of the good news.

I couldn’t seem to find two of the “good tyres” as per the description. As they sure aren’t the two on the front which don’t even have enough tread to pass a WOF test. Indeed the seller agreed to sort this problem and went halves with me in four ok condition tyres on Niva rims.

New shocks have already been bought and fitted (well one of them anyway). I have since discovered the timing chain needs to be tightened every 10,000kms or so on Nivas, and there are potentially fatal repercussions for the head of not doing so.

I fear my Lada might be one of those about to suffer these fatal repercussions, and indeed I’m not using it until the slipper is replaced. Hence I’ve found a place in the North Island (Gee Motors) that seems a good parts supplier, indeed a new ‘slipper’ is sitting on top of my computer awaiting a correlation of me not working, a mechanic mate having ‘spare’ time, and ideally no rain.

So it might work out good yet. But still, I’m glad to know that Fiat engines can be relatively easily fitted to Nivas. Shame though that the profusion of rusty cheap Fiats seems to have dried up in the last few years.

Future plans

Electronic dizzy coil: Swap my old style points coil for one that's meant to work with an electronic dizzy...
Speaker upgrade: Mount and wire some 3-ways pulled from a Toyota, rewire accessory lighter plugs.
Gearbox mini-overhaul: Repair 5th gear selector fork and rear seal leak, maybe thrust bearing and input bearing, replace 'box mount, weld floor tears, and realign (status: have most bits - just need the time...).
TC brace: If the above doesn't sort the vibes.
Finish lift: 22" dampers or some extensions in the rear (and check brake-hose), and maybe some thick washers under the coil base to correct the banana-ing (and gain another cm or so).
Fiddle brakes: I'd love an LSD or locker, but can't really justify the expense to get a Niva one (it'd cost about what a Niva's worth). Cable operated fiddle brakes look cheap and relatively easy to set up and try (and easy to bin if they're rubbish). Need some (MR2?) hand brake arms, steel to mount it one, and some cable joiners.
Fire extinguisher: Mount in a better place than rolling about under my seat.
Seat swap: Have various suitable seats, need some box section (size?).
Snorkel: Have most bits, need pillar clips and bonnet cut (and paint matt black); final design depends on final roof-rack design.
Tow hooks: Have 3 or 4 rated hooks, fit to front; rear will depend on rear bull-bar final design.
'Monsoon' shields: Have some, need to solve the IQ puzzle of their mounts.
Heater cut-off tap: buy and fit; though another try at adjusting the in-car valve wouldn't hurt as well.
Electric radiator fans with kill switch: Have a donor fan from a Lada saloon, need thermal switch.
Reversing bright light: Have light, need to mount and wire.
Fog/driving lights: have Cibes, need to wire relay and switch.
Roof lights: Have 4, need to mount and wire once roof-rack is sorted.
Roof rack: Have 3 in bits I've plans to hybrid, but ideally I'd like a decent alloy one, big enough to take a roof tent (or better, a proper roof tent to go with my existing half-rack).
Rock-sliders: Have some very heavy tube, need square section for mounts (size?).
Rear bull-bar & tyre mount: Have bits, need to have them welded up.
Sump/gearbox/TC guard: I'll probably go for an all-in-one design if I get my hands on a suitable piece of metal.
Wheel-arch trim: Removal of more steel to fit 32" tractor tyres is a possibility, but depends on interpretation of local legislation.
Wheel-arch flares: Have some, need to get mount plates off spares Niva.
4.3 diff swap: Chasing several fruitless leads; may consider the "French" TC crawler mod if I can't find any.
Roll bar: Have bar, need to work out mounts and hopefully how to make it relatively easy-in easy-out.
Cargo safety barrier: Have barrier, need to make mounts and/or work out how it works in with roll-bar.
Fiat 2 litre re-power?: No firm plans as yet, but it's the likely destiny for the Niva. Other ideas I've flirted with are: Toyota 2C/3C diesel (could happen if a set of mounts turn up); Toyota 3F or G (which apparently bolts up to my 2C bell-housing); Supercharging (I'm less liking as it'd be the same power as a Fiat swap, less reliable, and potentially more work to get it sorted); or a Mitsubishi 4G63 with Pajero 'box and TC (low rage would be too high which is a problem, body would need cut, custom mounts, etc); and the Fiat swap still comes out the winner (if I could just find a decent 2l locally for not silly money).

Baxter's Niva Story/Saga.

Future plans