Lada Niva

Jus pick up Steve's copy of 4WD Monthly and had a read, there is a write up on Lada Niva's and there are two contacts, both in QLD

Grant White, Lada Autosport
07-32743969

Dave George, Dave George Cars
07-33963073

They may be able to put you onto someone in your area.

Better go and put the mag back before I dog ear the pages

SandyAll my friends have Nissans
I'm the rose amongst the thorns

Much depends on how old your Niva is. I bought one new in 1993 and my only gripe with it was the quality of service offered at the time. Some of the things to look for, mostly in older models, are bad electrics, croacking in the bodywork where the transmission is attached (new ones in Aus were re-inforced at this point). On very rough terrain mine had a tendancy for the transfer lever to jump into neutral - bit scarey but not a major problem. Occasionally in hot weather, when parked on a slope with driver's side lower than passenger side, fuel would leak from the filler cap. Never found out what that was, but I suspect it was due to little or no expansion chamber. Towed a Jayco camper trailer from Perth to Coral Bay (1200k) ad return twice without issue. It was a bit small and so we traded it in on something bigger, but it was a good entry level 4wd for us. I managed to come across an excellent mechanic (cut his teeth on them in Eastern Europe) through the Sunday Newspaper here in Perth.
Happy camping,
Jan and Mike.

Hi,
As you are probably aware the Niva is based on a Fiat mechanicals.

I have worked on them for a number of years and all I can say is that they are a great little bus.

there are lots of knockers out there especially of the japanese ilk.

just ignore it.

They mightn't do it as fast but if it's in good condition it'll get there.

Aston

Hi there is 1 and I think a breakaway Lady Niva Club in Victoria (met them in a camp site near Border track and they seem to enjoy theres).
So check out the NSW 4x4Ass as there may be one there also.

Cheers

Prado TD Auto

I used to sell them new, we had the franchise as a second string to our Jaguar/Rover dealership. If only they had better quality control they would have been great, just about climb a brick wall. Our biggest problem was a resonant vibration at exactly 80kmh, seemed to be from the flexible rubber universal joint, we could improve it ... but never get rid of it.
Good luck with it, you'll probably have as much fun with it as with anything. You can laugh when someone has an $8,000 oops .... you could buy 5 or 6 more Nivas ...LMAO

So far the car is running fine , a mate of mine had a webber on his but just sucked the gas.
Does anyone know if its possibler to put a 1600 fiat twin cam head on one the lada bottom end?

I have a Lada as a 2nd 4by. It will go anywhere, and if you do get stuck they are are a brease to hand winckh out.
I get the local mech to work on it but he wont order parts as he recons they are hard to get. This is a load of bull. I phone larda Parts in Qld and they send down over night. I have not told my Mech as he would put his mark up on them.
Only problem I have with the Lada is the lack of ventelation on hot days,
What part of Syd are you in ?

Regards
Vince

Ardita Spares in Padstow, Sydney are realy good! I used them until I sold my Niva last January.

Ardita Ph:  (02) 9790 0724

Jo

http://www.pad.no/
A viking in a desert :-)