Sold FOR SALE: LADA NIVA 1.7i 'OLGA' See Page 8

[explosive-cabbage]

Evening all!

 

Here's a quick update for you on the progress made on Olga last Friday afternoon and today.

 

Cylinder head went off this week to Graham at Threshfield Garage who knows somebody who can skim the head for a good price. Boxed up and ready to go!

 

I wasn't feeling up to much serious down and dirty work last Friday so decided to clean up the under tray and sump guard and start stripping out the engine bay to paint it up this week.

 

Starting with the under tray, the corrosion on the original fixings rendered it ineffective.

 

I found some old corner brackets in a box and roughly measured them up and bent them to the right shape.

 

In an hour with a drill and a bench grinder I had fashioned a couple really good brackets, rubbed down the guards with a wire brush, and checked the fit.

 

Perfect!

 

It needed some scrubbing with the brush on the sump guard too, but it is much thicker so no serious rust.

 

Hammerite Hammered Black it is!

 

End Product! Looks great. Needs another quick coat, but that is a job for a rainy day.

 

Whilst the engine is in bits it is a good time to set to and treat little bits of rust in the engine bay then and re-paint.

First job was to remove any remaining ancillaries and the wiring loom.

 

There is many pictures on my camera like this, just to remind me what goes where when piecing it all back together. I don't want to have to rely on my memory and a wiring diagram in Russian!

 

After removing the headlight......

 

I found this:

^ Looks to be some kind of air-pressure controlled headlight adjustment. Indeed the tube led to the dash where I found a knob which had the kind of flimsy spinning motion that suggested it probably hadn't worked since it was commissioned. I thought fancy pneumatic crap like that was strictly reserved for Citroens....

 

After a couple hours it was all out and trussed up to an improv roof rack to give space to clean and paint.

 

Plenty of space to work now

 

After some rubbing down I applied some KuRust and it did its job well. Maybe I was even a little heavy handed? Better too much than too little!

 

A good scrub with a brush and hot soapy water brought the whole lot up beautifully.

 

And a liberal coating of Hammerite Anti-rust primer on the seams and srcatches sealed the lot.

 

Although it was a tedious, time consuming job a good clean up of rust in the engine bay will hopefully extend the life of the car a few more years. I will do the bottom half of the engine bay and sub-rails if and when I have the suspension off, the rust is a little deeper down there and need to be able to get at it from below, and at the moment the worst of it is hidden behind parts of the sub-frame. Its good to see some progress and I can't wait till tomorrow to get a couple coats of paint on!

 

I'll keep you posted.

Will

[PhilA]

Regarding the headlight adjusters- Fiat had a similar system at about the same kind of time. In fact, it looks pretty similar from memory- my handbook said that the system was filled with antifreeze in the pipes. If that's what it's supposed to have in then if it's all gone that'll be why it's all limp and floppy.

 

--Phil

[AeroNautiCal]

 

I'd check all the electrical connections to see if they're corroded anything like this one.

[KruJoe]

Will's doing well with his write-ups, so I won't add a great deal, but I really like this photo:

 

 

Before he took the head off I showed him how to test whether it would turn over, using the jump leads from my Samara held onto the back of his starter. The white smoke is from the unburnt diesel he poured in the bores to free them off.

 

 

Last Friday he left me with this: (note the sheared stud for the heat shield)

 

 

He had to go early to "see a feet bawl" or summert.

 

 

He'd spent a while with mole grips, but not budged it. I got togged up in my best welding jeans and fleece, ready to give it some real pain with the arc welder, but I had a feel at it with this tool first:

 

 

And it only wound it straight out! "Back o' the net!" Those grips have been useless up to this point, just sat in my drawer waiting for their moment. They're possibly as old as WWII, and lucky not to have been weighed in.

 

 

It probably worked because the teeth bit further in as I applied turning effort. WIN!

I celebrated by making myself a new lead lamp out of a catering bottle of Dolmio sauce.

 

 

I digress.

Check this out, the thread is open to the exhaust gas at the bottom end!

 

 

How lazy is that?!

 

Will: your I haven't got around to taking your fannymould back to Olga - it is in the boot of my Samara if you're missing it. Just don't get white Hammerite on my car like you have your mum's front door! Also, there's a small vise in there too, it'll be useful if you want to mount it on your bench.

L8RZ.

[jonathan_dyane]

He'd spent a while with mole grips, but not budged it. I got togged up in my best welding jeans and fleece, ready to give it some real pain with the arc welder, but I had a feel at it with this tool first:

 

 

They're Footprint grips and they are gr9.

[AeroNautiCal]

The American Vice Grips work well for those tasks too (after plenty of heat and Plus Gas).

[stuboy]

im liking this...

[John F]

Ace update lads, I'm really looking forward to Olga hitting the (off-)road...

[explosive-cabbage]

Hi again!

 

Here's a quick update on what advances have been made on Olga.

I say 'quick' because I forgot to re-charge my camera before leaving home so haven't got pictures of what I have done today, only what was completed last week.

 

I leave from where I left off, an engine bay painted in primer...

 

Last friday morning was spent bent over the engine painting in all the hard to reach places... but the result looked good.

 

In hindsight wish I had used Hammerite White with Hammered Finish, wouldn't have looked as smooth but would have covered up marks and hidden imperfections and poor paint application better.

Live and Learn!

I have given it another coat of paint today to cover up parts where it was a bit thin and I'm sure a great improvement will be seen next week when I upload pictures of the final result. It will look much tidier when all covered up with gubbins and suchlike bolted in.

 

Yesterday afternoon I took the tank out to empty and clean it.

Someone told me once that modern petrol is so full of gunk and shit that it goes 'out of date' in approx 6 months. I guessed by the way petrol was sploshing about in the tank when moving the car that there was a large amount to drain - and its a job that needs doing before the head goes back on.

Instead of going with Joe's idea of hot-wiring the electrics and shooting petrol about with the high pressure fuel pump I decided to remove the tank - it gives me chance to clean it properly, as well as looking for rust etc that is well hidden, not to mention getting used to the ins and outs of the car.

 

Firstly, out came the rear trim panels

 

'Hold on!' I hear you say??

 

Yes the fuel tank on the Lada Nivas are mounted internally, so removing them requires removing seats (which I have none), trim panels, and a floor panel.

It's a good design when considered - protection from bumps and scrapes, protection from a corrosive environment, and protection from the cold (bear in mind they made a diesel Niva and the Russian winters are known to be rather cold). Not to mention the fact that there is a rear drive shaft under the floor which could make it difficult to remove the tank downwards.

 

Trivial question - name another car which has an internal fuel tank like this one....

 

 

Anyway, out it came, nice and easy.

 

No rust or corrosion anywhere, other than a bit on the boot lid I found whilst removing trim... Ouch. Not too bad, just severe surface rust, I don't think it will crunch through.

 

I'm getting more and more convinced the factory workers in Russia were completely blind drunk when they put this car together... First, one of them throws his subway token under the trim in the front, now they are dropping spare washers under the tank. Joe says they were all blind drunk in the Samara factory too...

 

There was approx 2 gallons of old pez when all was tipped out, useful for cleaning engine parts

 

I removed the sender unit and fuel pump and pressure washed the fuel tank out.

 

It was left to dry and there was some paint missing from round the sender unit, possibly from a small leak from the old cork gasket, so I re-painted it today. Might be worth it to source a new gasket, if there are any about...

 

Today has been mostly painting and tidying up engine parts for the big re-assembly when my head has been skimmed. I dropped it off at the garage but they haven't got round to getting it skimmed yet. No rush, there is plenty to do!

 

Here's a smile for you: Lada's idea of a good rattle reducing solution for the trim panels:

 

I'll be back next week with another installment, and hopefully a cylinder head!

Over and out.

[John F]

Smashing! Keep it up, Will.

 

Trivial question reply: the Maserati Biturbo range have internal fuel tanks mounted behind the rear seat back

[explosive-cabbage]

Hi again!

 

Here's this week's update...

 

The parts I cleaned up and re-painted last week look good...

 

Exhaust manifold with new gasket. Apparently the same gasket as the Lada Samara, and of course all other variants of the Niva.

 

Removed rubber from round the fan cowl to re-paint it in Hammerite Black and then re-'stapled' it on using copper wire. Looks nice and tidy!

 

 

Bits of surface rust on the air filter housing and the rocker cover made them worthy of a touch-up too, set to and did that today...

 

When I picked the car up I could tell immediately that it needed some work on the hydraulic clutch and the brakes. As my cylinder head isn't reeady yet I have to fill my time with little jobs, so I decided to dismantle the clutch and fault-find....

Master cylinder came off easy as pie.

 

I was obviously in need of a new clutch hose so the slave might as well come off to to check for perished parts...

 

Hmmmm.

Needs a new boot on the push-rod end. Could be interesting finding one of those, seen as the local parts supplier said he is having difficulty finding the correct clutch hose...

 

Bit of corrosion on the inside of the cylinder but should clean up OK.

 

Master cylinder broken down...

 

Same goes for the slave...

 

It amazed me how easy it all was to take to bits! 10 minuite job

 

Left the internals soaking in clutch fluid and the housings in petrol, now I have them in bits it may be worth looking round to see if I can get a recon kit with rubber seals etc for cheaps. If not its a brand new slave off the bay for £18, a reasonable price. The slight rust on the inside of the slave cylinder will probably clean up fine with a bit of t.l.c. and some scrubbing.

 

Next jobs are cleaning the injector system and re-fitting wiring to the engine bay, I'll keep you posted.

 

Will

[KruJoe]

That's my toothbrush you twunt!

I thought it tasted a bit weird this evening.

[John F]

Looking good, Will... how long till she's up and running, d'you reckon?

[Pete-M]

Probably better built than when it left the factory.

 

Give 'em their due though, those Niva things just seem to keep on tickin' when they're half decently maintained.

[KruJoe]

Will is well overdue on an update - in the meantime, have some more of my piccies.

 

 

There's clearly been a leak from around this cork gasket somewhere, and there's evidence of a black mastic repair*.

 

 

Didn't cork gaskets cause problems on CVH sumps?

 

 

 

Earwax swilled out with fresh pez and nuts:

 

 

The light takes ages to come on in this shed, so Will's mobiles were GR7 for smacking yer face on.

 

 

Last week he arrived here with this:

 

 

 

Coming together...

 

 

 

At this point, I told him if it runs, MOT it this week and run it in down to Shitefest.

 

 

Hooked up to my two good* batteries, we couldn't spin it quick enough to make it fire, so that's where it's at now. He still hasn't seen a spark from it, so he has a few things to check this week. We now know the fuel pump works, because it pissed petrol from the slack union on the spi unit, so that's something.

A few packages arrived here for you this week Will - more shiny new bits methinks.

Am I picking up a battery from Green's for you this week?

[John F]

Is it points & condenser ignition? If so, they might be duff or need re-setting.

 

Otherwise dodgy coil or connection to coil?

[KruJoe]

John F says:

Looking good, Will... how long till she's up and running, d'you reckon?

 

Should be today (fingers crossed). Sorry I missed the update last week, the car was back together and it was 10pm by the time I finished and I still needed to walk the 5 miles to my house in Wharfedale, so didn't have time for an update.

 

 

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm currently at home waiting for the postman to bring my parts from Lada Parts UK....

 

KruJoe says: A few packages arrived here for you this week Will - more shiny new bits methinks.

 

 

Oh. That's where they are... The Olds didn't seem to think anything had come.

 

 

 

Update Tonight!

[explosive-cabbage]

OLGA IS A RUNNER!

 

 

Check back tonight for a picture update....

[John F]

OLGA IS A RUNNER!

 

 

Check back tonight for a picture update....

 

фðýтðÑÂтøúð!

[Jack_Harpers_Teeth]

Did you get yur cylinderhead back?....................oh yes you did...that's handy.

[dollywobbler]

Huzzah! Still time for an MOT before the weekend?

[Shep Shepherd]

OLGA IS A RUNNER!

 

 

I thought she was a gymnast?

 

 

 

But seriously, good job!

[KruJoe]

Should be today (fingers crossed). Sorry I missed the update last week, the car was back together and it was 10pm by the time I finished and I still needed to walk the 5 miles to my house in Wharfedale, so didn't have time for an update.

 

I'm currently at home waiting for the postman to bring my parts from Lada Parts UK....

 

KruJoe says: A few packages arrived here for you this week Will - more shiny new bits methinks.

 

Oh. That's where they are... The Olds didn't seem to think anything had come.

 

Update Tonight!

 

How the actual F did you do that?

How were you signed in as me, you weren't on my computer?!

 

Anyway good progress, I can confirm she sounds sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

 

 

[Andrew353w]

I've only just caught up with this thread and I'm TOTALLY impressed! It makes my efforts with my Lada 1500 seem pathetic! That car's a real beauty and I take my hat off to you, sir!

[Twiggy]

This is fascinating - I`m well impressed.

[explosive-cabbage]

Joe, this computer always wants to log in as you, and I have to re-enter my password and username every time I want to go on Autoshite. Your details must be saved in preferences, and i must have logged on without double-checking.

 

Anyway, THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT GUYS, I HAVE GOOD NEWS TO REPORT!!

 

Last time you guys heard from me I had the engine in hundreds of bits, every possible part of the hydraulic clutch in bits and the cylinder head was 20 miles away!

 

What a lot can change in 2 weeks.... Not only is OLGA running, she is moving under her own steam!

Read on...

### Timewarp back 2 weeks###

 

After finding earwax in the petrol tank I was advised by Autoshite members on how to clean it out: fresh petrol and a handful of nuts rattled about inside.

 

Worked a treat! Thanks guys! look at all the shit that came out!

 

After swilling it out with fresh petrol I added the sender unit...

 

And then dropped it straight back in, easy as pie.

 

First fresh petrol

 

I have been receiving over the last few weeks an assortment of parts from various places... Gaskets and filters and a new fanbelt.

 

Along with a freshly skimmed head.

 

They obviously hadn't cleaned the swarf out, but for £20 you can't complain. Looks like its my job

Blast with the pressure washer, then a blow dry with the compressor.

 

Jobs a good 'un.

 

Next job is re-assembling the hydraulic cylinders... If I can remember which way all the fiddly bits go in.

 

With a bit of help from my workshop manual I had it bossed in no time

 

Now that I have all the parts ready and waiting I can no longer put off the inevitable - putting the whole lot together again and finding the teething problems.

After leaving the lump like this:

It was ready for a head.

 

First, drain off the old oil. Bit grim but nothing you wouldn't expect.

 

Removing the fan belt pulley nut, pulley and then crankcase end cover to get at the timing chain....

^Hellish thing isn't it?? I was lucky that my Dad had this old rusty spanner in a draw of agricultural tools, I didn't happen to have a 38mm socket (suprise suprise, who does?? )

 

After cleaning up the head, head bolt holes and unwrapping my new gasket on the head went.

 

My new toy - wish I had one of these when I had the 205s, could have saved a lot of work.

 

The head went on as easy as should be expected, and soon followed by the cam

 

Timing the engine was really quite easy, marks on the cam and crank and on the block and the head. Simple! Had it right first time. Then it was a case of throwing the crank end cover back on and securing the chain tensioner.... (spring loaded type, just below the thermostat housing, jutting out of the block)

 

I had time to fit the exhaust manifold before bed, and it went on a lot easier than it came off! Remembering always to grease the studs!

 

Taking advice from Neil at Lada Parts UK I checked the injector before bed, instead of presuming it would be bunged up. It was factory fresh! saved me £30 Cheers!

^That mucky mark was before the micro filter, so no chance of clogging the injector.

 

First job next morning was to put the clutch master cylinder back on before the intake went back on.

 

Next the intake, with new gaskets.

 

Followed by the rocker cover, cleaned up.

 

Note: Quiche tins are good for something!

 

Next went on my modified alternator, and a new fan belt.

 

Now for the scarey bit! Tipping out that bag of bollocks.....

 

Trying to get it poked in the right direction was an epic task, and ultimately an important, boring and meticulous affair...

 

In with the radiator, followed by fluids.

 

And all was left was to try giving her a spin... Along comes Joe with the Samara.

 

Which developed a fuel leak and had to be replaced by the French chod...

 

To no avail! They didn't have the cranking amps required to turn over the Lada properly.

 

It was getting late (10pm) and still had to walk the 5 miles over the moor to my house in the next valley. I left in twilight, certain it would run next week.

 

 

 

This week, determined to get her running, I set to and crossed my fingers.

 

 

 

I cleaned the spark plugs, stuck on a charged battery and HEY HO I taste smoke!

 

 

It was quite lumpy to begin with, reluctant, and coughed so much smoke I had to evacuate.

After leaving to run for a while the smoke cleared, she ran smoothly and got temperature up, idled steady and revved well when tested. PERFECT!

 

The damaged bore seems to have no effect whatsoever, when hot the engine ran with no crankcase pressure, no leaks, no bubbles. Right first time!

 

I felt a little bit lost for a while. What now?? Bit of an anticlimax! So much to do yet so much done! This is where we start to freewheel towards the MOT...

 

Where do I start??

 

Clutch, Brakes, Interior, Bodywork?

 

Lets get the mechanics done first, sensible order....

 

The new hydraulic clutch slave cylinder and hose went on easy enough, and the bleeding was done with help from Joe.

 

We ran her up to mark an end to the day and I ran her forwards then backwards 2 feet in the workshop to check the clutch. She moves!

 

That's the second time I have seen Joe with huge grin on in one day!

 

Brakes next. Ill keep you posted.

 

Take care and have fun at Shitefest! (Don't get Joe paraletic again with your nasty southern scrumpy )

 

Regards, Will.

[KruJoe]

Epic write-up Will.

 

I did suggest to him that I might borrow the plates, tax disk and Samara badge from mine (Who would know?), and run Olga down to see y'all in Wiltshire. He didn't look too keen.

 

(Oh, I still gip at the smell of cider.)

[John F]

(Oh, I still gip at the smell of cider.)

 

What, this stuff Joe?

 

[KruJoe]

[explosive-cabbage]

Here's a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure...

 

 

 

 

 

 

She ran well, a bit lumpy and didn't want to start when hot, but a good battery will maybe help somewhat.

 

Ready to start work on the brakes last week.