My Niva
Update (July 2004) - I decided to abandon this project because of lack of space and time. This Niva has been dismantled for parts to keep my second Niva on the road. Go to "My Niva #2" link to read about my new Niva.
This page is about my project Niva - the one that I got on Ebay for $541. The guy I bought it from got it from his church in exchange for a donation he made. According to the church, they got it from some military guy who brought it from Canada. When I ran Carfax report on it - it showed that this Niva was in British Columbia until 1997 when it got a Florida title. The mileage on this Niva is high (last known to Carfax was 260,000 Km...about 150,000 miles...a lot...especially for a Lada...although my grandfather's Lada had about 230,000 Km on it when he sold it)...
After I got it in the mail (actually it came on a trailer...) I drove it about 100 yards from a parking lot nearby to my driveway. It started and drove fine...no brakes though - except the parking brake...That was the last time I drove it...It had extensive rust damage...just plain BAD...
Here are some pictures I took right after I got it. Click on the thumbnails to see full-size images.
It doesn't look too bad in the pictures...But then again - pictures always look better than the real thing. Here's a list of body parts I have purchased from Burgess Motors (a former Lada dealer in Canada):
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Both front fenders - rusted through
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Hood - front edge rusted through
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Rear hatch - bottom edge is pretty much gone...
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Rear body panel - ewww...just terrible - you can't see what's under the bumber in the picture
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Trunk floor - it's bad....
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All new rubber seals for doors/windows - the old ones are, well, old and cracked...
Beside all these OEM parts, I got some aftermarket rocker panels (had to get them all the way from England...Lada doesn't have OEM rocker panels). They don't look too bad in the pictures, but it's because some as$%#le "repaired" the rust with some aluminum sheeting he riveted over rusted rocker panels. No surprise, when I pulled all that crap off - rocker panels were nowhere to be found...completely rusted out...Floors under front seats are gone - will replace with sheet metal...Also would have to patch up the rear arches...And around the windshield - can you see the duct tape in the pictures? There was a lot of structural rust as well...
Mechanically - engine/tranny/transfer case/axles were fine...At least I think so...The exaust was gone too...So I got a very cool custom high performance exaust from Sean Huffman (of the Turboniva fame) - it's now on my 1978 Niva. The brakes were dead - the flexible hoses to the calipers were cut...
A huge project that I had to abandon after putting about 200 hours of work into it - that was just scratching the surface...