A look back at our gone, but not forgotten, 1993 Lada Niva Project, originally published on 27 December 2012

The 1993 Lada Niva – ремонт (Repairs)

The Independent Front Differential Support kit arrived from Lada World Denmark in 14 days, 4 days to land in Canada and the other 10 for it to cross the country and be delivered. During our wait we didn’t do much with the Lada aside from make plans of action and pick up oil and a filter. Shawn had visited Italmotors in Edmonton, where he found a filter and was invited to return with the Lada once it ran. Italmotors had been an actual Lada dealer during the time when they were still being imported to Canada, and the owners still had a soft spot for them. They also mentioned they had plenty of factory and maintenance parts left in inventory if we needed any, this would prove quite useful in the future. (Foreshadowing here)

Since the differential kit had landed in my mailbox on the 12^th of December we decided to use the very next weekend to repair the Lada and we had hopes of making a small off-road excursion when the job was complete.

Shawn removes the tires

That Friday we parked the Niva in the heated splendor of the Grand Touring Concepts garage and once it had thawed a little we Shawn and I set to work. We had the vehicle on stands and the wheels off in no time, Shawn used this opportunity to inspect the front brakes. We were pleased to find lots of life left in the pads and were surprised to discover 3 piston calipers, something never seen on a North American vehicle.

Shawn inspects the brakes.

We removed the axles and noted all of the CV joint boots were damaged, some worse than others, but all would need to be replaced to ensure a long life from these difficult to find (in Canada) items. Luckily, we had expected this and knew that the local Canadian Tire (parts store) stocked various universal replacement CV boot kits for a reasonable price. As it would happen, one of the lower shock mounting bolts was seized into place and no matter how carefully we worked at it, gave us no choice but to snap it off. This wasn’t a big issue, but GTC’s stock of metric bolts and fasteners is somewhat limited so we made a note to grab a replacement during our parts run for CV boots the next day.

Since we still had some time to burn in the evening we were quick to drain the front axle housing and install the rear portion of the independent differential mount. It consisted of a steel plate, which replaced the factory aluminum plate & drain plug, with two bushings that clamp over the front swaybar (located near the firewall) providing a solid but isolated mount.

We also noticed that the Independent differential kit as supplied was slightly different from the Diesel Lada parts described in the manual pictures. In the manual, they appear to house the axle seal and be made of aluminum. Ours were made of cast steel, and since they had no provision for the axle seal, bolted over the factory housing ends, which are fixed to the CV axles. This wasn’t a deal breaker, but would make installation a little bit of a juggle and would require us to procure longer axle mounting studs.

The next day, after a quick parts trip we returned with the items to finish this job

100cm (36”) M8 “all thread” rod to make into 6x M8X40mm studs for the axle housing, these would replace the factory M8x35mm studs and allow us to install the new front differential  “arms”.

1x M10x55mm Nut & Bolt to replace the lower shock bolt.

And;

4X Universal CV Boots

Shortly after we’d begun working, we’d realized that the metal CV boot bands suck and that we were out of the requisite sized zip ties to stand in, however we did have a Jesse “Hotwheels” Guerette on hand to send on a quest for some ties. Meanwhile Shawn and I resumed work on the Lada.

Jesse had been gone for quite some time, and the run to the nearby Bumper to Bumper

Jesse “Hotwheels” Guerette with an unrelated chili dog.

parts store was a mere 30 kilometers round trip, what was keeping him? After 1 hour and 15 minutes had elapsed and we’d run out of things to fix, I called Jesse to find out what had become of him. He quickly answered and reported he was on his way back, but had stopped to help out “two fine ladies” in a large SUV who were stuck in the ditch. I left him to his driving while Shawn jokingly wagered that Jesse had attempted to tow out their stricken vehicle with his Hyundai Accent, knowing Jesse, I declined it.

And a good thing I did too…

Once Jesse got back, Shawn began to finish up the CV axles for re-installation using the ties Jesse delivered, while I began to press for the story. Jesse excitedly told his tale, he’d been driving along when he spotted an Acura MDX lodged in the snowy ditch, inside were two girls, and feeling the call of gentlemanly duty he pulled over to help. Using his ever present tow straps, he hooked his 2009 Hyundai Accent onto the big SUV, despite his determination he was unable to dislodge the Acura MDX. Soon, a fellow in a Chevrolet pickup came along and pulled in to help. Since the pickup owner didn’t have any tow rope, Jesse had to stay until the vehicle was extracted. At one point, he said, the pickup had taken a running start and when the rope came up tight, it tore the Acura’s screw-in recovery lug out of the bumper, destroying the threads and rendering it useless. He said they hooked on to “something else” (undisclosed) and completed extraction. Only then was he able to continue onwards for the zip ties we required.

Jesse’s 2009 Hyundai Accent during the 2012 K-Spec shakedown

By the time Jesse had finished up his story, Shawn had the CV axles taken care of, with new boots and packed with grease. We also removed the last remaining piece of the original differential mount and found it too was cracked, this one last piece that stood between the entire differential falling out on the ground. Something to consider when we were informed by the seller that the previous owner had driven it out of the wood where it had originally failed. Next up we started turning out axle housing studs from the “all thread” rod and running them in with blue Loctite compound. Shawn mocked up the front parts of the differential mount and tack welded the front mount brackets into place. It became clear that in order to install the bolts which held the mounts to the brackets we would need to clearance the oil pan on our 1.6L gasoline engine. We didn’t need a lot of room so we were able to massage the passenger side of the pan (of our left-hand drive Niva) with a ball-peen hammer. Using a few slim washers as spacers we were able to make the whole works fit and after the brackets were finish welded, and some Napa 80W90 gear oil added, we were complete with the install.

We also used this opportunity to change the oil for a 10W40 conventional, using a Made in Canada “Lada Line” filter over the Fram we removed. Fram oil filters are not held in high regard in our shop and we are looking into alternate part numbers for when the supply of Lada ones dry up. Just before remounting the wheel we decided to bleed the brake and check for leaks in the system as we noted the brake fluid reservoir was completely dry when we recovered the Lada. We bled the whole system and didn’t find any obvious leaks, but the brakes did still leave something to be desired.

For the short term we wrote it off to being a Lada, and based on people’s descriptions of poor braking performance we simply lowered our expectations. Just the same as we had with the noisy engine, and other “Lada” issues.

It was after 11pm and -15 degrees Celsius when we went for our first road test, filling the 42 Liter fuel tank at the local Husky gas station we immediately noticed a strong fuel smell in the cab. This was something that we wondered if it was just another “Lada” thing as many owners complain of fumes, or if we should inspect, we decided to do that another day if it lingered. The Niva ran surprisingly well, the Weber carburetor worked alright, and owner reports of 120 km/h being the top speed and slow acceleration were accurate.

The engine seemed most happy at 80 km/h and had a noticeable power spike around 3500 rpm, but once it hit 4200 rpm it felt very sluggish. The overall vehicle noise in the cab was substantial, nearly rivaling the MLVW trucks with their V8 Detroit Diesels I had driven in the Army. The heater managed to keep the windows clear but had little more to spare for the occupants, we had checked the heater control valve and it was brand new, so perhaps the radiator needs to be blocked up for winter use.

When leaving from a stop we noticed there was a lot of driveline noise under the transmission tunnel and each of the three sticks (Shifter, High-Low Range, & Differential Lock) each danced their own independent jigs. That was something that would need attention before too long we figured.

Testing on a snowy covered dirt road, the Lada would a little animal in Low range with the center differential locked; it pulled cleanly and found traction no matter the road surface. It was even capable of 80 km/h in low range!

Also the brakes, they sucked, they got us stopped, but felt unassisted, something else that would get looked into. After we returned home another swing past the Husky station for fuel gave us our first report for fuelly:  66.46 kilometers, 13.427 liters, 11.7 US MPG (20.2 L/100km)

Follow the Lada on fulley here: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/darren5l/niva

While  the Lada still had some bugs to work out, we decided it was fit for a short off-road trial the day .