The restoration Project


"Cheap as chips" from ebay.fr - and no wonder! My car had been owned by a "chasseur" (French hunter) who was selling it as he'd been given a better one. By the looks of it, it had spent most of its life in a muddy field - and quite a lot was still attached to the underneath.

To get the car home I had to drive the 500+ kms from Champagne to Limousin, so a contrôle technique was needed. This involved new trunnions (croisillons), a new exhaust, spark plugs and a battery.
A local garage then fitted a tow-bar, and a new fuel pump as the old one was pee-ing out petrol!

So, this was the starting point - and there's a long way to go!

You can read my diary here

Before During After
IMG_1996.JPG
new fuel pump, but pipe still leaking and no filter fitted 		new fual pipes
all new fuel pipes and filter
IMG_1996.JPG
the passenger door sill 		IMG_1996.JPG
the passenger door sill
IMG_1989.JPG
slight case of rust moth... 		IMG_1996.JPG
oops I scratched the new paint! 		IMG_1989.JPG
various shades of Red!...
IMG_1986.JPG
no wonder the outer joint is well on its way out 		IMG_1986.JPG
outer joint assembled 		IMG_1986.JPG
new brake disk, wheel bearings, inner and outer joints, track-rod end and balljoints.
chassis crack
chassis crack under steering box 		welded
"the man that welds" fixed it
hub
the wheel bearings 		empty hub
out with the old
hub
the RHS, hub removed 		hub
the old wheel bearings
clutch
the clutch bell-housing 		clutch
clutch bell-housing cleaned up 		the clutch works - and no smoke! (bonus!)
the steering box cracked the chassis on the outside too steering box
Mr Fixit fixed it for me 		now the steering is better than ever!
bumper
the bull-bars aren't legal and will no longer pass the Contrôle Technique...		 removed
...so I had to take them off. No wonder the spots didn't work - no wires! 		watch this space for the new look!
fuel leak
that will be the fuel leak then...		 not a standard size pipe of course - a bit of a tight fit! no more leaks
but it does the job - now I can fill up without losing it all

No Lada Niva page would be complete without some links, so here (in no particular order!) are some of the sites/people who have helped me get started: