NickJ

The VFTS body kit is quite attractive to me, very 131r like (dream car)

Thats not a hijack, thats motivation! the twin cam sure looks like it should be there, did you have to fabricate mounts? I have the sway bar for the niva sitting there, i'll have a measure up and if they'r the same i'll put doubling up on the to do list. This guys recipe is interesting, being that a good TC is getting harder to find its quite a tempting option (I still have the Niva's original engine tucked away) http://www.lada.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11097&sid=64bc316f74ec00f2a41411adcabee91b

Awesome, i'm impressed you took the effort to take film pictures! even with smartphones i'm still too lazy to take decent shots!

Shannon had a collection too but i'll happily accept any parts you need taken away! guess a drive out your way will be in order too once shes on the road. looking forward to a cruise, i've only driven it round the block and to my place, suspense!!!

I had the wof guy moan about my mud tyres and that the rims also needed a cert, lame because they are the ones fitted when originally sold in NZ and so have been there for every wof since, also same make & size tyre that went through the cert process! because the cert guy just put OE in all the boxes wof guy said the rims need to be changed, thankfully another wof guy told him to mellow out and not worry about it and I got my wof. Is it worth the hassle making sure that all the fields are filled out in on the cert plate? and is there any central record of the vehicle fitment at the time of cert inspection if it came to an argument?

yeah, would be cool to see how you made it work, I guess its not too different to doing the niva? I just like to see them for interest Just measured up the springs, Fronts, Niva is 16mm (15.6) 2105 14mm (13.6) Rears look the same but i've just had a shower so will get in trouble with the boss if I crawl under to get a proper measurement & count coils! I'll have a closer check next time i'm working on them

I'm heavily considering sourcing some raised springs for the Niva then sacrificing its springs to lower the 2105, planning a morning at pick a part armed with calipers and a tape measure to see whats around, HQ front springs are the way i'm told, just not sure how easy they are to find, guess that means they'd work for the sedan too? Reading your build thread I'll have a look for some shorter bump stops/ copy the shorten trick. Only site I could find that showed how they lowered one they had removed the springs, pretty sure that doesn't fly with the wof man here, + i'm not keen on moving mounts/geometry to make it all work, as of now the sills are 300mm above the deck, if I can drop 100 off it will still make a mighty difference.

Do you have any pics? would love to see them!

That would be an ideal rim, happy thoughts that some turn up for a silly price.... With the two Ladas parked up next to each other the twin cam seems wasted in the Niva, its awfully tempting to swap the engines over! Last night with a beer in hand I had a crazy idea to drop all the springs and dump it onto the stops to see what max low is, just like VG's experience the bloody springs are massively compressed to fit in, no luck at all, i'll have to get a spring compressor onto the job! on the positive side some sort of improved low should be possible, the hunt for springs begins!

Not keen on chopping/certing at this stage, smaller tyres might be the way I remember reading that a while back and had it in my head there was more than chopped springs involved, thanks for making me have a re-read, feeling a tad more positive about making it work, maybe sort some raised springs for the niva and chop the standards it has now

Had Photoshop running so gave a quick chop, looking at the layout of the suspension I think that would be as low as it could go, and most likely on the stops, really need to learn Russian to work out how they do it! edit-added pic of low

Few more checks today, my original Niva engine ran rough the whole time I had it eventually we found the timing chain had jumped a tooth, being I have already found the carb needs a birthday I'm no longer paranoid but I figured i'll check the timing just because, and I get to have a look at the condition of the engine, it all looks amazing in there! (dot should line up with the post, rotates ccw) Cam timing is just behind, not sure if I can be bothered shifting to the next slot to see if it improves, static advance was bang on 10degBTDC, so thats all gravy. Pulled the steering idler out after a small battle with the bolts, bush measures up as 21mm, shaft 19.6mm, that explains the wobble! also the grease inside was dry and took some scrubbing to free up. From the Niva i've found these seem to wear the lower bush and not the top, in the past i've swapped them over to get more life, as i'm ordering a bunch from overseas i'll just replace the lot. Pulled the instrument cluster to get this gauge out, has what looks like mould inside, was hoping I could pop it open for a cheaky clean, sadly it looks like they're sealed, only bonus was half the warning lamp bulbs were missing, add a few bulbs to the growing shopping list... Also took the bonnet off, makes for easy work!

Wow look at that! He has a few other ladas in his collection, this one looks alot like the one I scored an alternator from at pick a part a few months back 1990 Lada Samara 1500 by Stephen Trinder, on Flickr

All good, I'd be pretty happy if 195s would fit in there without hassles, don't want to go too wide, keen to keep the steering light & easy

I used to drive an old passenger bus up to cardrona during the winter, it had kero heaters in the back we topped up each day, they put out an epic amount of heat

I now have a sports car and a utility vehicle, by communist standards i'm getting a bit too wealthy for the common good. I'm keeping an eye out for steelies but the only ones I found after a quick rumage at pick a part looked fwd offset, no way can I spoil the prestige of a lada by fitting 4x100 and wobble bolts there was a nice looking set of 13s a few weeks back but they were still skinny as, what tyre width did you run on the 2104 ladaspeed?

Discussion of the build //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49396-nickjs-1989-lada-2105/

I'm going to be sleeping on the couch for a while for buying this but hey, Lada lyfe! As uni is a touch busy progress will be slow, I plan to have her back on the road in 6 months when the Niva wof runs out, then daily it as the Niva is relatively expensive around town. With help from ajg193 we picked up the car on sunday and drove it home leaking plenty of water on the way. Once home I got stuck into making a list of issues, water leak being pretty high up there, stripping back the air filter the heater pipes became a likely target; Somehow plastic fittings have found a way in and broken, easy as to fix that! With the air filter off, another issue made itself known, the vacuum secondary doesn't look like its opened for a while, easy few ponies to rein in there; Added to that, one choke linkage is missing and the other is broken meaning the choke butterfly hasn't moved for a while either, manually holding it back she fired into life first pop, bonus! The running gear seems to be in great order, even with the issues it seems to drive ok, after a tune & tickle I have high hopes. Hardest of all will be the panel work, there are alot of dents all over, mainly the passengers side, this is the part i'm really keen for, will be good to learn a bit of panel bashing! Worst of the damage; A whole new guard is 40usd so if I fail miserably, I'll just import a new one! I'd really love a touch of low and some wider rims but 4x98 is not so common and the amount of low needed is most likely in cert territory, time will tell........ Discussion: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49397-nickjs-1989-lada-2105/

2 brits, an asian and a ruskie walk into a bar......... With snow on the side of the road and a stiff southerly it was such a pity the hiltop had ran out of all tap beers except for stout.

I have access to a tandem trailer spit with bbq and cold boxes if needed Suckling pig inside mutton? can never have too much spit roast action!

Just imagine if both was possible, pig dripping on mutton, mutton dripping on pig, heavenly!

Wof time! Having some time on my hands I got stuck in and gave her a good once over, making a list of to do; Steering box play - adjust Steering idler play - adjust Stuffed tie rod end - replace Rear brakes - adjust Check valve clearance Transfer case alignment Check for any rust and treat Clean out the dust in the rear lights After a few days crawling underneath and beating the tierod end with no effect I borrowed a tie rod splitter of h4nd which worked within 5 min, talk about correct tool for the job! Steering box and idler adjusted up nice, steering is much more responsive now (for a lada) Transfer case alignment I managed to get better but looking at it the vertical position is correct but for some reason its horizontally out, never seen this before and am thinking the engine has shifted a bit on its mounts, its not causing much trouble so i'm planning on keeping an eye on it in case anything changes. Wof check went ok except for a tyre, uni joint and rear brake balance so pretty chuffed with that, quick lap of town to pick up a new tyre and uni joint and she's back to legality again. With all that done, its time for a photo, unpacked a few flashes and set up in the driveway Also sorted out a mount so I could hook the choke cable up to the carbs, its going to be so much nicer to start in the mornings without having to tie the choke back and then having to stop once the engine is warm!

I've managed to re use them, needle nose pliers.... but I've also replaced the lot they're retarded!, including the ones on the brake reservoir.... My radiator always leaks, had it recoed a few times too, found I just have to reflow that top hose occasionally, leave the cap loose or cut the springy seal doofa out so it can't pressurise, they don't seem to like the pressure too much!

I made my own linkages out of sheet steel so I could retain the standard link in case I want to return to the old setup. That one looks like someone has bodged it up to work off the rusty arm on the right. Also make sure the venturi are secure, just turned up a new one for the old man after it escaped at manfield! Keep away from the trumpet and filter route until you get the thing set up, one pop/misfire and the filters are gone. I set up a basic airbox with pod filter to get mine running, looks poo but it works. If you can find it, read the book 'How to build and power tune Webber and Dellorto carburettors' helped me a bunch to get things running and understand how it all works. Welcome to look at my setup to see what not to do!

awesomes