NickJ

The general rule of owning an old car, don't look too close, there's always something to fix/$$$ to spend.... I Had planned to drop out the front suspension and give it a paint, but thats a whole other mission in it self, so I made the call to just focus on the engine and gearbox, but the years of leaking oil had made a decent mess on the front diff so I took the chance to remove & clean it, mainly because to remove the diff sucks arse and is much easier with the engine out, I could then make sure I had the sump built up right. With the diff out, why not replace the seals? sounds fair, so I removed the front drive shafts, popped the seals and that afternoon had a new set thanks to SIL, only to find the cv gumboots are stuffed, bugger, will be back on the phone monday morning hopefully to get them sorted, but still a delay after hoping to have the engine in monday. Then I found this: Somehow I've dented the side of the oil filter casting, is this repairable? or does anyone have one they feel like letting go to a lada? Thoughts/suggestions //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45307-nickjs-lada-niva-twincam/

Yay!!! Goodies from mother Russia Full set of gearbox bearings, seals and a 'made in the USA' tube of gasket goo, soviet/american relations must be getting better Biggest score was the brake master cylinder, anyone who has played with a lada/fiat master knows the stupid plastic fittings some have for the header tanks, I've broken a few just removing the hose this one came with metal fittings!! but I also picked up a few new fittings to try repair my broken cylinder.... And a pile of brake & clutch grommets/o-rings/seals/thingys, only whats what..... Now, Friday night, time for a beer and hopefully a good weekend of tinkering!

Still waiting on parts............. come on postie With the engine sitting in the lounge I had to put all the bits together and stare at it for a bit Can't help but think its too nice for a lada! All going well i'll have the gearbox bearings this week, get the engine and gearbox mated up and back in the hole.... Hopefully!

Well thats a pain in the arse, ordered gearbox parts from Europe a few weeks back and due to a 'clerical error' they haven't left yet, right now I have the motor ready to go back in but figure its easier to drop the two in together. The pain of just wanting to take your car for a burn. Nice and clean without a home Have machined up some 30mm venturi to try, in need of a polish but fingers crossed they work

Is it a standard system or something a little more exotic, I've never really looked to see if there is a bolt in option?

Few tasty bits back from laser cutting, big bonus, all the holes line up! Tacked the first runner in and checked for clearance, this mad idea may just work.

Quite possibly, I have a pair of drla downdrafts ready to go but its still unknown how well they will run, my current carb has worn around the shafts so idle is inconsistent which brought on the replacement, i'll keep it in mind if I have troubles! So you have cloggy's niva? his build helped me set mine up originally, good to see its still alive, whats the plan with FI? I was going to give that a hoon but the cert plate is for carbs, would be interested how much efficiency can be tuned.

With the engine rebuilt its now time for a real challenge, fitting downdrafts........... With the distributor mounted on the block, the factory manifold won't fit and with the motor being in a lada, aftermarket manifolds that fit will need the firewall cut into, so back to solidworks. after spending far too much time researching manifold design all I can work out is with all the variables you don't know til ya try, so i'm hoping this will work! the plan is to fit 30mm chokes and with the longer runner lengths push for torque, after all it is a 4wd!

Stripped the head down for inspection and a clean, quite surprised with how good condition it's in, with a bit of care I've bead blasted the cam boxes and sent the head away for a decent clean and surface. Closer look at the exhaust valves and they're necking a bit, so a new set obtained, old and new.... Spent a bit of time with a wire wheel on the block, with the bottom end giving me no reason to doubt it I made the call to leave it alone, could easily be another grand in bits if I started poking around

Finally, add a coat of bunning's finest, Ready and waiting to go

Cheers for that, I'll use $30 as a starting point, if only they made the two ends the same diameter, would have made a cheap alternative easier! With so many bits and pieces needed I don't want to email Mal every 5 min for a price, then find an alternative, if I ask smaller suppliers for a price its more of a formality, and I intend to follow through with a purchase, I appreciate the specialist knowledge and don't want to waste too much of their time.

Here's a few more on the sump, After 4-5 iterations I settled on a design, main design change was to make sure I could fit it on the steel I had and that it could be bent with minimal welds, this is also my learn to tig project, less welds, less holes! Capacity is just over 4l at max, with drop to the plug to help with oil changes, printed out full size and glued to the steel. 5min in the sheet metal bender and a big lesson in tig welding later. The clearance between the diff and the crank, far to close but just enough to sneak through. Had to trim the oil pick up also, not ideal but keep her full of oil and it should be sweet, hence the 4l min capacity.

Pretty sure that guy is going for the longest listing on trademe, price has always been just too high for what it is, but I'm sure it will sell, I brought this one for less than a grand, the last few on TM have gone for over, another 10-20 years and it will be worth 4k Yip, Mal is my main contact for parts, although I think he may be a robot, very quick to reply to emails, knowledgeable and shipping is way too quick for a one man show. Its just a basic thing I thought there might be another solution? I cracked it taking it off and being that i've replaced all the gaskets and seals to stop oil leaks I'd rather replace it now.

Cheers mate, The car has a bit of history, so repainting any other colour was a no go, managed to find the original paint code and mixed to suit, also had the decals measured and copied, pretty stoked with the result!

Manky block out of the car and ready for a good scrub, anyone know of a alternative to that 90deg rubber hose to the oil separator? scared to ask what a genuine replacement is worth! got onto solidworks to design the new sump and screwed the flange to a solid piece of lumber to resist warping

Lada jokes go here : //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45307-nickjs-lada-niva-twincam/

Chat away Building here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45306-nickjs-lada-niva-twincam/

Not sure where a car like this exists in the world but figure you lot would be the most understanding of all automotive forums! Here it is, my 1980 something Lada Niva, I brought it about 8 years ago and haven't had many things not go wrong with it, Short list, electrics, front diff, gear box, drive shafts, oil leaks and engine mystery illnesses but luckily, a life spent in central otago has meant no rust, until I took her north, so 3 years ago she had a re-spray, a year later the 1600 gave up and an 1800 fiat twin cam was offered to me, without better options that was in and certed. After a few years happy service the gearbox once again gave trouble, most likely a bearing. with that out and confirmed I thought hey, why not drop the engine and sort out the oil leaks? good idea, bad idea! anyhow stumbling on Azzuro's fiat thread reminded me how nice these engines are and so the mission began. The 'Before' shot To put the twin cam in a lada needs a few quick alterations, engine mounts shifted an inch rearwards and the sump modified to fit around the front diff, engine mounts were easily fabricated and the sump, well my initial attempt was a touch dodge so the plan was to re-do that as well to a standard a wee bit nicer on the eye. I also wanted to finally fit a pair of downdrafts that this lovely piece of italian engineering deserves. I'm hoping that with the few other fiat guys on here any questions I may have will have a solution! Cheers Nick