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1982 Lada Niva
- Thread starter GoceKU
- Start date
The weather is insane, yesterday it was 20 degrees and today it's below zero and is snowing, i'm having to go and buy parts so i'll drive the little niva for the first time on snow, this winter we did not have any serious snow. i'll write a follow up how the drive went.
No need for tools, i did took a tow rope and used it to pull out my neighbour out of a ditch. The little niva is a bit different on snow, anything above 40km/h and it gets on top of the snow and floats, the van tires are not bad they grab good, also i've come to a conclusion there is no way to high center it on snow, it's so short and tall it hops over everything, i'm impressed.
Well the restriction for moving are being lifted, we can go out for longer so i wanted to get out of home, so i decided to go for a drive and public distancing is still in effect i took the little niva for a ride over the mountains. The little niva is as always great of road, and i've started to learn her limits on the roads, suprasing it has decent road holding much better with the rebuild rear suspension. But i've found two things that are somewhat strange or need improving, the paint seems to attract bees, perhaps they think is a flower by the color and the back suspension is very weight sensitive, in that picture i have about 60 kg in the boot and you can see how much nose up its standing, if i can find strings that allow me keep the soft ride and get it a bit higher or not to squat so much with a bit of load, may change them.
Today i had many jobs to run around town as there is police everywhere and me jumping the speed bumps at top speed with the little niva make them smile 
i decided to use it, just as was in a hurry it started to loose power on higher RPM 
i recognized it i'm out of LPG, but i still have half a tank of gasoline so no worries, 
drove it till is started to cut out and then when i tried to switch it, it won't fire up. 
It's been long time since i've been around old cars but i know my niva, i've build it. I open the hood and tried squeezing the rubber fuel line, it was hard, that tells me only on possibility, 
the fuel level float is stuck in the carburetor, grab my tire iron hit the carb (proper way to fix a lada) and i can see the fuel line relax. Turn the key fired right up put the hood down just as was going to set off engine died, lifted the hood hit is again set off 100m died, again lifted the hood, hit the carb 100m died, and then the battery died, so i had to call my father to tow me to the gas station so i can put some more LPG in it. We broke the towing strap twice, ones because of a bad driver tried to get in between as, 
so i had to brake and the strap snapped, second time on gear change let go again, but we had a second rope and just use that. Filled it, it fired up running as always but this reminded me how much i hate carburetors and having to make that call to get tow and having to wait on the side of the road where i took that picture made me start phoning at inspection stations to find out can i get it certificate with a peugeot 1,9 diesel. This little niva will be getting a diesel swap some time in the future. I don't know is it a sign but just before this happens i picked up those used mud flps for it and they are from a peugeot. You can see the elastic towing strap that broke next to the mud flaps.
i decided to use it, just as was in a hurry it started to loose power on higher RPM i recognized it i'm out of LPG, but i still have half a tank of gasoline so no worries, drove it till is started to cut out and then when i tried to switch it, it won't fire up. It's been long time since i've been around old cars but i know my niva, i've build it. I open the hood and tried squeezing the rubber fuel line, it was hard, that tells me only on possibility, the fuel level float is stuck in the carburetor, grab my tire iron hit the carb (proper way to fix a lada) and i can see the fuel line relax. Turn the key fired right up put the hood down just as was going to set off engine died, lifted the hood hit is again set off 100m died, again lifted the hood, hit the carb 100m died, and then the battery died, so i had to call my father to tow me to the gas station so i can put some more LPG in it. We broke the towing strap twice, ones because of a bad driver tried to get in between as, so i had to brake and the strap snapped, second time on gear change let go again, but we had a second rope and just use that. Filled it, it fired up running as always but this reminded me how much i hate carburetors and having to make that call to get tow and having to wait on the side of the road where i took that picture made me start phoning at inspection stations to find out can i get it certificate with a peugeot 1,9 diesel. This little niva will be getting a diesel swap some time in the future. I don't know is it a sign but just before this happens i picked up those used mud flps for it and they are from a peugeot. You can see the elastic towing strap that broke next to the mud flaps.
That 1.9L turbo puts out over 100bhp, you'll be flying over the speed bumps
John
I know how much they pull the torque is impressive, and the little niva won't sputter when it lands because of fuel splash
I have a story, what happened to me today, after more then 2 months at home and with the restriction because of the coronavirus relaxing me and couple of buddies meet up, at the apartment complex where we grow up. One friend brought a friend / colleague from work that is from asia somewhere. Cool guy, spoke very broken english, started talking car talk from street cars to off road driving like he is a driving king. But he was not fooling me, i love my manual gearbox but i know for pure performance noting shifts quicker then a auto, that was his first lie, and looking at his arms they are thick as two of my fingers i decided to call him out, i went in the little niva so i ask him what have you driven off road, he named couple of solid japanese 4x4 a ask him manual transmission, yes, hm . So i handed him the keys from the little niva and the buddy that was sitting on its hood jumped off and he got in 5 minutes later he tried to start it in gear then he spent the next 10 minutes trying to get it out of gear in the meanwhile i pulled up the commercial for the niva on youtube we had a good laugh then he managed to get it out of gear, start it and spend the next 3 minutes grinding gears trying to put it in gear, stalling it. Than he open the door and call me over first sentence out of his mouth was" Who made this thing", I told him the russian he rolled his eyes and said please show me how do you use those livers. He moved in the passenger seat i got in, dropped it in low gear, he had locked the center diff, selected first and drove straight in the hill site we wore facing, he got real quiet just as we went over the top he started asking what lever did what, made a loop and to scare him as i was explaining i unlocked the centre diff, drop it in high gear and started going thru all 4 gears, i know it level off at the bottom and with disk brakes on all wheels i'll stop in time, men did he got scared, he was screaming like a child. We stopped at the bottom, we got out he had tears in his eyes and was out of breath. The friend who brought him ask what did you do to him, nothing he got scared a bit. The little guy drink some water calmed down, he would not drink beer with us went opened the door and stared at the inside of the little niva. Couple of the guys ask him what are you looking at, how is it possible for any one to drive this, i ask what do you mean, that is the hardest gearbox to use. Then someone said this " that is a manly russian 4 speed" you won't find that at fujica or whatever is called race track you are bragging about, i was laughing for solid 2-3 minutes after that. I got him going he really wanted to drive it, my friend even took a short video of him driving it in a circle with his phone, so don't be surprised if you see a bright orange/ yellow niva beeing driven very poorly in a circle, it wasn't me.
. So i handed him the keys from the little niva and the buddy that was sitting on its hood jumped off and he got in 5 minutes later he tried to start it in gear then he spent the next 10 minutes trying to get it out of gear in the meanwhile i pulled up the commercial for the niva on youtube we had a good laugh then he managed to get it out of gear, start it and spend the next 3 minutes grinding gears trying to put it in gear, stalling it. Than he open the door and call me over first sentence out of his mouth was" Who made this thing", I told him the russian he rolled his eyes and said please show me how do you use those livers. He moved in the passenger seat i got in, dropped it in low gear, he had locked the center diff, selected first and drove straight in the hill site we wore facing, he got real quiet just as we went over the top he started asking what lever did what, made a loop and to scare him as i was explaining i unlocked the centre diff, drop it in high gear and started going thru all 4 gears, i know it level off at the bottom and with disk brakes on all wheels i'll stop in time, men did he got scared, he was screaming like a child. We stopped at the bottom, we got out he had tears in his eyes and was out of breath. The friend who brought him ask what did you do to him, nothing he got scared a bit. The little guy drink some water calmed down, he would not drink beer with us went opened the door and stared at the inside of the little niva. Couple of the guys ask him what are you looking at, how is it possible for any one to drive this, i ask what do you mean, that is the hardest gearbox to use. Then someone said this " that is a manly russian 4 speed" you won't find that at fujica or whatever is called race track you are bragging about, i was laughing for solid 2-3 minutes after that. I got him going he really wanted to drive it, my friend even took a short video of him driving it in a circle with his phone, so don't be surprised if you see a bright orange/ yellow niva beeing driven very poorly in a circle, it wasn't me.