2019 POTD Thread Archive

[GoceKU]

Today i had the day off work so i spent the entire day working on the Little Niva. I spent a lot of time insulating the fire wall with tar style sound insulation this process took me few hours then i installed the heater and made new heater lines i also connected the LPG evaporator and the expansion tank with this the cooling system is completed. I also went to get fuel i got 100 octane, 20 liters that should be half a tank. The little Niva is getting close to first fire after the repairs.

 

[jdedmon91]

I went by the local flea market a couple of times. I’ve picked up some punches. I wanted to make a stand so I could keep them on the workbench. So I made up this little stand. Here is the video

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bi11Hudson]

Lost my clevis pin for the Kubota bucket for the LAST TIME ! I don't know why my cotter pins break and the pins walk out , but it always happens at the worst times . 2 6" 3/4" diameter pins with double lock collars are now on . Lets see how long they stay on .

At one time, before life got in the way, I was doing "groundskeeping" on a 5(m/l) acre plot to put a house on. I had a huge crop of clevis pins planted, but they never came up. I never found anything that would stand up for any time, I just kept plenty of extras in the tool box. Frustrating... ...

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[mattthemuppet2]

made a poly V pulley for my lathe treadmill motor to remove the flywheel (too much inertia and a nod to MaxHeadRoom ). Also put in 2 steps to give me a little broader speed range (bit lower and somewhat higher).

installed

works a treat to reduce inertia, slows down considerably faster after turning it off or reducing speed. Still some vibration and motor bounce at lower motor speeds, so I'll replace the belt with a name brand one to see if that fixes it.

 

[GoceKU]

Today i put in some good 10 hours working, welding in the big garage. I spend good time welding on the wheel spacers, i also made door shims for adjusting the doors, i'll have to buy chamfered bolts because i had to drill out the old ones, i'll look for stainless ones with allen key slot. Because my welder is little on the cheap side it overheats easily so i had to wait for it to cool down several times, so i worked on the air filter housing there are couple of ways to get the LPG (propane) in the engine and using a spreader is the best but there is no space to mount it under the filter box. So after lots of measurements cutting threading i made this i think this is the best solution, i'll have to paint the filter housing to mach the rocker cover i also fill the fuel tank with the fuel i got yesterday also transferred some LPG in the high pressure tank (not fun). The plan is to mount the doors and get it fired up tomorrow.

 

[NCjeeper]

When we order something we save the boxes and store them in the attic. I went up there today to get a box and I saw this sticker on a box in a the pile. I had to remove it and save it. I think most of you can relate.

 

[GoceKU]

Today i started to work on the Little Niva very early. I started with mounting the drivers door, i had to heat the hinges to bend them and then to use the shims i made yesterday but was finally able to get it in the middle of the door opening. The early nivas are almost all handmade and it shows, the door is 5 mm too small for the opening, and is twisted , i used all kinds of levers and jacks to get it in this place and closing it is like closing a shed it needs a good hit. After this my neighbors woke up so first i did a systems check and fill the cooling system with coolant, i use -35 degrees celsius antifreeze, i pump the fuel up to the carb yes the russians have put a manual lever undernight the mechanical fuel pump to do this with, then i turned the key and it fired right up, i can tell the starter is much happier with this wiring because is turning at the right speed. I installed the instrument panel temperley to monitor the temp and the rpm and after few adjustments on the idle the little niva is running like a champ, it came up to temperature cooling fans kicked in and the exhaust sounds good, not too loud but has that growl when the second barrel on the carburetor opens. I forgot to mention i visited alamos all hardware stores in my city and managed to find the right stainless bolts for the doors and i'm glad the Niva is a 2 door, because the bolts ware expensive. From here on it will be much quicker progress, i hope you like seeing the little niva go back to life.

 

[Boswell]

From here on it will be much quicker progress

GoceKU, Awesome to see the progress to this point. Thanks for sharing your project with us.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

A tip from another member lead me to thinking that positively tensioning the motor belt (instead of using the motor weight to do so) would fix the motor bouncing and vibration and it did. I'm REALLY happy with this now

In the low speed setting, forgot to take a picture in the higher speed sheave

this shows how the other bolt is clear of the motor plate in the other position

checked the speed ranges in the middle range of the spindle pulley:
250-1500rpm low
450-2600rpm high

both in direct drive, so back gear would drop those considerably. Nice to have options, even nicer to get rid of the flywheel and not have any motor vibrations!

 

[mattthemuppet2]

GoceKU, Awesome to see the progress to this point. Thanks for sharing your project with us.

+1, that must have felt awesome!