1982 Lada Niva

There's nothing like the weekend to mess up your schedule. The plans to have the little niva up together ready to drive come and went but i did manage to get couple of things done, first i determine which pipes and tubing i'll use to make the new suspension links, the round pipe is seamless, roll cage material very thick wall staff, the lower suspensions links are first things to get damaged when off roading so i plan made them from the biggest strongest square tubing i could buy. Then i realised i don't have a piece for panhard bar so i drove to my metal supplier and bought me a piece. When i got back i started planning, i drill and tap couple of holes in my table so i can bolt down the ends in the right spots then come the part that i hate that is shaping the ends to match the curves of the bushing ends so it will have more surface area to be welded on. By the time i got finished with the third bar it was almost midnight so i stoped.
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Today i finish grinding on the bars i had started. Then i bolted down the bushings sleeves, place the bars and welded them, i did 2 passes on most of them at 160a where my mig welder maxes out not the prettiest welds but should be stronger than the originals also the materials are thicker and better quality also no rust. I wanted to paint them today but they were too hot to handle. As for the panhard bar i need to start on it, the plan to have an adjuster with left hand and right hand thread may have to change as china post lost my threading die, so i may make ti single thread so it needs to be unbolted to be adjusted.
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Thank you AL, unfortunately yesterday when grounding the tubing the cutting stone cracked and a small piece got in my eye, has happened many times before but this time i couldn't get it out myself, so i went to the hospital and got my entire head wrapped in bandages to hold the eye patch this took all the time i had for the day i'll be more careful next time. My eye should heal in a few days if i did not catch a cold from all the others in the hospital fingers cross.
 
Yeah, next time i'll duck quicker, i'm not big on safety. That says i managed to ground the suspension links, wipe them down with acetone, paint two coats of black primer and one top coat of grey/blue. Using only one eye to paint and doing everyday tasks like driving is challenging my depth perception especially at night is bad. Thankfully the doctor said few days should be back to normal.
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Today i finally got all the bandages of my eye and could see, a bit fuzzy but better then reaching for a door handle a metre before the door. I thought it will be unsafe to work on the lathe so i got to pressing in the new poly bushing in the suspension links, they put on a good fight, they are much tougher than rubber, pressing the sleeve in the middle made them mushroom at the ends but should be fine i got them all dirty and oily from the grease i was using. Then i got to work on the drivers side brake line, i cut it to size bend it installed couple of rubber sections as insulators, installed the fitting and flare the end now the rear end can get installed.
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When it comes to fitting polybushes like that (we use them a lot in Land-Rovers) water with dish soap works very well as a lubricant. Just an FYI...fitting those is a lot like fitting a tyre on a rim.
 
Yeah i did use liberal amount of lithium grease, on the bore, on the bushings on the sleeves and is different than stretching a tire, this is squeezing a bushing thru hole half its size, they are advertised to outlast the vehicle i'll see if that's the truth.
 
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