1982 Lada Niva

Today i spent good amount of time on making the new panhard bar. Started in the machine shop, chucked the tubing and bored face and chamfer the end. Then i worked on the insert for it, drilled, threaded then cut down to the bored tubing size, i made it a press fit. Then i started on the adjuster, cut down the 30mm hex to 20mm and used M20x1.5 threading die, that way i can make adjustment every half turn or 0,75mm. Then i machined two more bushing ends and took them all to the big garage. There i assembled them and welded them, i waited for them to cool down a bit, give them a quick sending and painted it first primer then same top color as the other 4 suspension links.
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Did you figure out how you're going to go about balancing the driveshaft? I'm curious too.
 
I've been working on installing the rear end in the little Niva, i'll be figuring out that next.
 
Today i've been hard at work on the little Niva, started by installing the new bushings in the new panhard bar. Then i installed all the suspension links to the axle, i greased every bushing with as much grease as i could i also submerged all the bolts before installing them in grease, then i rolled the axle to the car and started installing the links, this was easy at first but last couple did put on a good fight then i took couple of measurements and had to redrill couple of holes and adjust the panhard bar, this took me couple of hours to get right. At this point i stopped i'll have to torque all the bolts and attache the shocks, brakes, install the spring, driveshaft later.
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Last couple of days i've had to stay out of the garages to let my eye heal, this morning finally stopped leaking so i got back to working on the little niva, i started to make couple of plates on my lathe for the back wheels to take the space of the brake drum. They were too small at first i wanted to weld them up but because of my eye decided to cut new one that i still have to add on material but much less i used my 4" grinder to cut them off and prep them for welding but just about to start welding them i got a call and had to leave to get something done.
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Today i continued with the spacer plates i was working on yesterday, i welded one of the plates so i can get a 190mm diameter out of a square piece, i'm not worried about the edges, the plate needs to be almost half the thickness it is now. Then i started back on the rear suspension tightening all the links to specs installing the springs, shocks.
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Today i spent some time both in the big garage and in the machine shop. First i finished welding the second plate, then i took the drive shaft apart so i can mount it in my lathe. I took the slip yoke off and mounted a diff flange in the chuck. After indicating the flange i mounted the driveshaft using the factory D bolts, then i used a wire brush on an angle grinder to clean it and take off the old paint, then i checked it it is 0,5 mm out of round at the diff side, 0,75mm in the middle and 0,75mm at the slip joint end , also the slip joint is 0,75mm out of round, all in line because of that i think the centre drill is out. I did spin it up to 2000 rpm as much as my lathe will go, no vibration. Spinning it that high the U joint started to make very little noise and found the pop off valve has unscrewed itself, so i clean it as much as i could and used loctite 243 because it can be used on oil parts. Then i span it slowly and paint it gloss black. And left it to dry in the machine.
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Today i spent some time on my lathe turning the welded up square in a circle. I vent thru couple of inserts because of the interrupted cut but otherwise it turn out good, i'll finish the second one like this then swap the jaws and drill and bore the inside. On another note i need to get rid of the chips in my lathe chip pan they are getting out of control.IMG_20191012_214245.jpgIMG_20191012_214710.jpg
 
Today i got back from work and straight in the big garage to get the rear suspension all button up on the Little Niva. Every bolt got checked with a torque wrench then i maked them with marker paint, also i connected the hydraulic brakes and the handbrake, i had to fight with one of the brake calipers to get it adjusted so both the foot and hand brakes work, also bleed the brakes. Now is ready for a new shake down test.
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Nice progress! BTW was the center-drill hole already there on the tailstock end of the driveshaft?
 
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