1982 Lada Niva

The little niva has been reliable, i've driven it couple of times a week and it's been getting better. That said the engine is gutless, it has no real power. Raising the compression made it more rev happy but uphill still needs downshifting. So i decided to start collecting parts for a better engine build. I want to keep the original lada engine block and head but i need to get as much power out that i can. Tested theory is to increase its size, so i bought 82,8mm pistons from the newer nivas and i've started looking for 2litre fiat crank. With the pistons only i'll have a 1720cc or with the crank 1948cc compared to 1586cc now. The prices have incrised a lot in the last few months, i paid 80 Euros for the pistons, half a year ago thy word 65e and by the end of summer will be more then 100e. Last i shared some of the forests i've been driving thru with the littel niva.
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Today i took the little niva higher into the mountains, the nature there is very pure, and the air is worth the travel. On the way back i started to hear Tak Tak from the back suspension, after 50km making noise on bumpy trails i got home and thought i should look under it. And seen the upper links just hanging down, I've broken and lost the bolts that hold them to the chassis, still on 3 links i drove back to where i've heard a metal ding and found one of my bolts. But no sight of the other. So got back and made me 2 new studs from some 4140 steel, and got me some new stainless security nuts, i also drill the ends to put caterpins thru but made the studs a bit too short, so i used a bit of loctite, i installed them in my parking lot but forgot to take any pictures. Its seams Lada could make the nivas with a 3 link instead a 5 link suspensions.

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Last few weeks i've been very busy, but i managed to find some time to do some work on the Little Niva. I've driven the first 1500 Km after the rebuild so the engine got some attention. I took off the aircliner, valve cover and check and adjust the valves, only two needed attention, but i did advance the camshaft sprocket by 1-2 degrees. Change the oil and oil filter, oil was dirty but no big chunks of metal in the oil filter, i did used a bigger oil filter, for oil i use thicker 20W50. With those changes the engine is a bit better the power is at about 3-4000 rpm before it was at 2000 rpm now i can maintain some speed at incline. i'm thinking about advancing the timing a bit more to see if i can get more power, any experience to share is welcome.
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I've been using the little niva at list 3-4 days a week, driving 20-120 km a day witch in a Niva is enough to get a headache. The new thicker oil seems to be doing better job, no oil light at idle, also when cold i get as high as 2 bar oil pressure. One thing i found out is that carburetors hate high altitude, it has almost no power. That said i've been using the slow gears more and have come to a conclusion that i must have a bad bearing or gear in the transfer case. It's too noisy in high gear.
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The little niva has been putting in work. I've been using it for towing lately al do towing is forbidden in my country but we still do it. Few days a friend had a catastrophic engine failure on his work van over loaded. After breaking 2 towing ropes we found a chain that hold and began the 90 Km tow home. Mid way i heard a loud bang and few moments later my charging light come on, i know immediately my fan belt has snapped, i could smell it burning. But there was no place to stop and we wore on a steep uphill, i keep going, and could see the temp raise. First opening i pulled in and shut it down, the temp was peg in the red, left it to cool down for few minutes, got a new belt out of the trunk and very carefully replace it, you can see the old one just above the battery in the picture. One trick i did is to manually turn on the fans on low speed the radiator was cold and the airflow keep the heat off my face. Started it with in 2 minutes of idling temp come in the middle, i open the cap fill the expansion tank, it had pushed out about 2 liters and we continued. Those lada engines are durable, i've must have been 10 min temp in the red at full throttle and no issues.
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As long as you have liquid in the head, you're okay. Trouble happens fast when there is gas in the head, be it stream or air.
 
When i build it, i made the cooling system oversized, also did couple of old schools tricks like installing an expansion tank that is oversized and its much higher. That way i can lose few liters and still it will hold temp but in this case with no water pump spinning and heavy load, that van and its cargo was more than 5 ton, its a lot to handle. It had coolant in the head, i even tried turning on the heater but no coolant flow.
 
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