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

[blackburied]

black buried said:

Started on Landlord then moved onto BoltMaker(Best). One of my favourite brewers is TT with it being local.

 

You Sir, have good taste.

Although I have never had any of The Boltmaker's beers, I read about that pub and microbrewery so much in the local Camra mag, and I have never been. Must give it a try sometime.

 

BoltMaker is just TT's rebranding of Best Bitter.

[explosive-cabbage]

back buried wrote:

BoltMaker is just TT's rebranding of Best Bitter.

 

 

 

I wrongly presumed Boltmaker was one of the beers produced at the microbrewery at The Boltmaker's Arms in Keighley... My bad

 

[KruJoe]

Time to introduce Helga!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I first noticed her parked in this field through a hedge, near the next village about 10 years ago, but early this year, Will made contact with the owner via a Lada forum. What could be better than a beige Niva which has spent the last decade gradually melting into the soil..?

[KruJoe]

The previous pics were taken in early spring when a deal was done at the estimated scrap value.

 

FFWD to today...

 

 

The RAV, stripped of the useless bits and loaded with tat rescue kit, sets off on its first mission. We took the tractor along too, to be sure we'd break Helga's long-established bond with the earth.

 

 

No sweat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home!

 

[KruJoe]

 

Next to the top field, a gradient of about 35 degrees. The Rav had all four spinning on the dampness, so Mr J Deere to the rescue once again.

 

 

 

(Off) road train.

 

 

 

And to her resting place.

 

 

 

Surprisingly solid-looking-ish under there. NB: interesting exhaust repair*...

 

 

 

What? Three dumps in Olga's thread with no Olga news?

 

OK, here she is:

 

 

As you may have heard, re-assembly of her heart has commenced.

 

 

These new piston rings seem unsuitable somehow...

 

 

But Will has plenty others in stock. GAME ON!

 

 

KTHNXBAI

[Vince70]

Absolutely an amazing thread,

I wish I had a 10th of your skills, I would have given up after washing the green off Olga,

So what's the plans with Helga.

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant. Love your portable air compressor! Off-road train is great too.

[John F]

Wow! Now with 100% more NIVA...ace! This thread just keeps getting better.

 

What's the chance of them both attending OVROADMONGFEST?

[binhoker668]

EXCELLENT!  Olga is great , but now it's even more of a thread to watch.  Will be happy to do some shitwork on Helga in September.  With a beer.  When conversation gets old.,

[explosive-cabbage]

There is virtually no chance Helga will make it to Mongfest. It needs a new/rebuilt carb, a dizzy, complete brake overhaul and a complete clutch overhall before it will even do doughnuts in the feild!

Bear in mind I have about 8 days free from work before Mongfest to rebuild and re-fit the engine, sort out the brakes and fix any injection system faults on Olga.

Not to mention regular preventitive maintinance on my current daily - an FSO Polonez!

[John F]

Hehe! I like the fact that you liked what you wrote, Will

 

Let me know how you get on with rebuilding the engine, I might be able to find time to help you re-fit it & sort out the brakes.

 

(and I'm sure we can tow Helga down into the field to act as a static display...)

[vulgalour]

There's altogether too many calendar worthy shots to nominate a single one, so maybe we need a Hot Russian Twinz calendar featuring Olga and Helga?

[SambaS]

What's up wi Polonez man?

[KruJoe]

Hehe! I like the fact that you liked what you wrote, Will

 

(and I'm sure we can tow Helga down into the field to act as a static display...)

 

LOLed @ Will liking Will's post!

Yeah, I'd already thought we'd A-frame Helga down to the field so we can use her to brew up in / use as a bar / mobile toilet block.

I might help Edd taking some of his too, if he fancies it...

 

What's up wi Polonez man?

 

Fret not lad, I'm sure its fine, (apart from the alarm(!) sounding every time you pop the bonnet!)

The fact that Will has had time to piss about with Nivas this week shows just how reliable Polly is.

[trigger]

This is just brilliant! Hats off to you lads!

[hairnet]

just read all that in between bits of ybf and who do you think you are

 

both utterly insane

 

ill buy yers a brew/gasmask/tin of easystart :D/old peculiar hen etc

[KruJoe]

tin of easystart

 

Hey, that might serve well as piston in cylinder number four - it'd probably fit better than the piston we have for it...

[SambaS]

LOLed @ Will liking Will's post!

Yeah, I'd already thought we'd A-frame Helga down to the field so we can use her to brew up in / use as a bar / mobile toilet block.

I might help Edd taking some of his too, if he fancies it...

 

 

Fret not lad, I'm sure its fine, (apart from the alarm(!) sounding every time you pop the bonnet!)

The fact that Will has had time to piss about with Nivas this week shows just how reliable Polly is.

One day I was at the car boot sale an my mate ran over and said Edd your alarm is going off... I looked at him for a second before telling him to fuck off! But he dragged me over to the car park and low and behold the Polonez has an alarm.... there is a relay to turn it off, pull the relay out. otherwise I have no idea why it has activated. Gave me trouble for a week, then never again, dunno what stopped it, D/C the battery for a bit maybe?

[explosive-cabbage]

One day I was at the car boot sale an my mate ran over and said Edd your alarm is going off... I looked at him for a second before telling him to fuck off! But he dragged me over to the car park and low and behold the Polonez has an alarm.... there is a relay to turn it off, pull the relay out. otherwise I have no idea why it has activated. Gave me trouble for a week, then never again, dunno what stopped it, D/C the battery for a bit maybe?

Yeh I just pulled the relay out Edd, car runs fine without it. Its rattling about in the glovebox atm!

[Micrashed]

This thread has so much WIN about it I have had to have a little lie down as I was quite overwhelmed.

 

Top work

[hairnet]

RAV4 LEGALZ?

[KruJoe]

LEGALZ* on our own private* highways.

 

Fettleing has occurred, Ravinda update due.

[KruJoe]

We lost last week's update in the accidental cull, but I'll bring you up to speed now, with some more progress from today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creeping out under her own steam:

 

 

Will had to get her on the wonk to bleed the rad properly!

 

 

That done, this evening's fun:

 

 

(JohnF was standing off to the left with a crossbow, firing arrows into Will's neck.)

 

After hours on his back under Olga with a heavy hammer, I persuaded Will to try a more 'direct' measure to remove the half-shaft.

 

 

That shifted it! We had to chain the other side to one of the three Rovers to stop Olga sliding sideways. Will was most pleased with the result.

 

 

He can now get in to replace the mangled brake backing plate.

I hope that bearing goes back in ok - we don't have a press or owt like that, only hammers and lateral thinking!

[John F]

You have a tractor, Joe. That's just a kind of large mobile press...

[explosive-cabbage]

Just clocked over 10,000 miles in Olga

[KruJoe]

Aye, she hit the road again a few days back, pressed into action gathering all our bab together for Shitefest this weekend.

 

[John F]

That's ace news.

 

OVROADING without Olga would have been like communism without the Gulags.

[explosive-cabbage]

Those of you who went green laning with us would have been aware of a clunking coming from the back of the Lada, probably the diff. This started on the first lane of the day and got progressively worse.

I have time today to take a peek:

 

Lifted the Lada up with the tractor, onto high axle stands.

When it was up like this we span the wheels and found that there was no drive to the driver's side rear wheel.

So I've been off-roading in a 3 wheel drive Lada. Excellent!

 

 

 

Brakes, handbrake, radius arms, panhard rod, imput shaft all off.

 

This is the splines of one of the half-shafts. I previously took this one out to replace a brake back plate. Looks fine to me - conclusion - it's not my bad work practice that is causing the clunk noises, its mechanical failure in the diff!

 

First introduction to our newest member - chavinthecorner. Dan is a dab hand at 'agricultural engineering' and always up for getting his hands (and hoodies) dirty. Nice one Dan, thanks for the help.

 

2 man job, lifting the axle out.

 

 

 

Stripping down to remove the other half-shaft.

 

 

Diff out the axle.

With help from Sol and fellow Autoshiters we used an empty* water bottle to re-fill the diff with oil on one of the tracks.

Water remaining in the bottle created an emulsion with the oil and causes the 'mayonnaise' effect, that is why this oil looks milky. It will all have to be cleaned out.

 

 

Oops! Somebody has lost a tooth!

 

 

Aha!

 

 

Stipped down. One of the gears on the end of the half-shaft was shagged. Teeth missing and generally not very happy. The smaller planetary gears took a battering too from all the sharp edges.

 

 

This is the worst one! :-

 

 

Mucky job, but it's an easy fix, off the shelf parts probably. May have to wait for parts from Russia but I have Helga for a diff if not.

 

I'll have it bossed.

[explosive-cabbage]

Sorry, it has been a while folks.

 

This is how we left it -

 

 

 

The rear diff had chewed itself to bits off-roading, I had the rear axle off and stripped down.

 

Anyway, the parts did come for the rear diff, about 3 weeks later. Special order from Russia.

 

All the parts laid out and clean ready to go back together, new drive cogs from Russia are top left.

 

 

Diff back together

 

 

 

 

New gasket installed!

 

 

Back on the car

 

 

I threw the whole lot back together, and it ran perfectly, bar the fact I had not bothered to bleed the brakes through!

 

 

Olga was more or less out of MOT, and I was too busy with a new project to get it through another. Here is a hint:

 

 

 

This meant Ogla was unfortunately mothballed. It has been driven out of the shed once every few months in order to move stuff around in the shed and just to check she still ran.

 

Priorities in my life have changed - I am now happily running the re-built 205 on vegetable oil, I have stopped using all my petrol cars, and have little or no use for them as practical vehicles - pez is too expensive to buy compared to free veg oil from work. Olga gulps fuel at a rate of 25/30 miles to the gallon, running it is an expensive hobby - and those who have driven a 205 can imagine which is more fun to drive on the road.

The Samara is in the process of being moved on after a vast welding job, and I have bought a Lancia Beta 1.3 twincam on a whim as a car for summer drives over the moors and up to the Lake District. Both the Samara and the Lanica need a lot of work.

The 205 with the 1.9 XUD is a constant ongoing project maintaining and adjusting to keep it running perfectly as a daily - it is an awesome car and faster than my old 206 1.4 XS with a jetted carb.

That brings me to Babushka, the Lada Niva off roader I recently bought on a whim. It has a veg-munching XUD has been propperly tweaked for off road use, diff lockers, external roll cage, winch, lift kit, chopped into a pickup etc etc. And its fucking awesome off road.

 

This change of direction regarding fuel, combined with the purchase of a Veg Niva means petrol Olga is now redundant to an extent.

 

I will be selling her to allow someone else the enjoyment.

 

Recently I have been in talks with another Shiter about buying it, he has always been very enthusiastic about it and need a car for his other half, and I know he will take care of her, unfortunatley we could not agree on a price so the deal fell through.

 

I will take some more recent pictures in the coming weeks and put together a full list of known faults and make up a for sale thread, anyone with a careing touch is welcome to PM me regarding purchase.

There is no rush to move it on, and I would much prefer to sell it to one of you lot than eBay it - it is in reasonably good condition and is a fairly good example of a low mileage Niva, bodywork is slowly deteriorating and the engine may need work,  but it would be a shame to butcher it for an off roader or a mud plugger.

 

Please form an orderly queue.

 

Regards, Will

[MrDuke]

Oh, FFS. One of my top ten - no, five, absolutelyMUSTown cars and I can haz no moniez.