How many times have you changed the oil and filter since you've owned it?
jack vines
jack vines
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1982 Lada Niva
- Thread starter GoceKU
- Start date
Once, but i have less then 500 km driven with it. Also have noted that the russians don't specified what oil to use, every manel is different everything from 10w40 to 20w50 and from experience they don't run tight tolerances.
We shall see, i've bought me a big can of 20w50 oil and i'll change it as soon as a get the white elephant out of the garage.
First of all happy thanksgiving to everyone. It's been a few days since the Little Niva blow its lower radiator hose and my garage has been full but today i found some time to get it inside and start assessing what i need to do to it. One thing that is rather strange to me is just how much cold blooded this engine is, last time i had it on a fast road it started to lose power and backfire, i pulled the choke when driving and that fix it. It is eye opening how good modern fuel injected cars are. The filter housing has two inlets and the lid can block one of them so i'll turn it to pull from the hot side. I also figured out that the bottome of the carburator has nippels for heating it, so i'll be pluming them. I also need to activate and dial in the LPG ( propane system), i'm hoping that will help with my throttle response, because this engine is driving more like a diesel than petrol power. I've never driven an petrol engine that hates to rev like this one.
Today i continued working on the Little niva, i connected the carburetor heating, installed an plastic pipe to draw hot air from the exhaust manifold, then i changed the propane evaporator for a know good one. Then i fix the lower hose and filled the cooling system. Fired it up and let it warm up, just as i bleed all the air a small hose from the evaporator also blow so i changed it and top up the coolant. With the engine hot i made a mess when changing the engine oil, the oil is very dark which is surprising because it has less than 500 miles on it and is not a diesel. When i was down undernight i adjust the clutch, replaced the return spring. And finally i turn on the LPG system, i did a quick adjustment to get it going but i'll need to drive it more to adjust it better. For those that ask if the oil grade makes difference in oil pressure, the answer is No. I filled it 20W50 oil and the oil pressure is the same, also check the gauge and is accurate i have around 1 bar at idle and a bit more than 2 bar and anything more than 2500 rpm 
Its improvement time, i know that Lada should not drive like a limousine but i also know it shouldn't rattle and be unbearable. Today i removed both back panels, run the wiring for the back speakers, i had to drill holes to get them thru, i also used automotive insulation and row rubber to secure them. Then i reuse couple of big pieces of insulation from a mondeo to put them in the back quarter panels i also used a lot of rubber adhesive on the top rail to stop the new plastics from rattling and shrinking in the sun, i also installed some thicker foam on the back arm rest and secured everything with a lot more screws. I also found me tool box with as i've found out is most important part of Lada ownership. I also took apart the centre console, removed the gear liver and pumped in 0,5l more gear oil in hopes to quiet down the noisy gearbox and did a bit more tuning on the LPG system which got me a much better throttle response also seems to start better and rev up better but i still think there is room to improve it, i'm considering installing a new contact less ignition system with that i'll get ignition advance and probably stronger spark.
I've been exploring all the aspects to improve the little's Niva engine performance, with the LPG i can regulate the fueling pretty good and i'm around 11,5 to 13 AFR thru the rev range but the engine doesn't want to rev and make power above 3500 rpm, when i started to drive it it won't rev past 2500 rpm with driving it got better but still isn't right. It starts to make more noise and vibration above 3500 sounds like valve train noise. I'm pretty sure is not pre detonation, i can hear an engine pinging and this is the opposite of that. Can it be lack of ignition advance, the distributor is an old type with mechanical advance wich could have sized, any knowledge or experience with ignition advance and testing is much appreciated. I want to avoid replacing the entire ignition system if i don't need to.
Lack of revs could be the mechanical advance, if it doesn't move the engine won't rev, but it would NOT cause detonation unless it was pinging you heard as the revs fall down to idle. The other possibility is the secondary valve linkage or secondary vacuum dashpot aren't allowing the secondary to open on your carburetor. The Lada carburetor looks like a Weber to me, and Webers for vacuum cars have a cold run secondary lockout. The last thing is the distributor signal pickup, cars that had points ignition usually run 9v to the distributor through the ballast resistor. If you installed an optical distributor, it might be a good idea to see if it is getting a full +12v to the sensor.
I dont know much about the LPG fuel system but this is what I remember......I think you are running the AF ratio a bit too high....i recall around 10.5:1 to be about the area you want to be in and I believe its a high octane fuel so it burns faster and needs an fast advance.