Off-road vehicles VAZ, which include the Lada 4x4 ("Niva") and Chevrolet Niva, and in the stock form are characterized by high traffic. This is due to the good geometry of the body and suspension, the presence of an all-wheel drive system with a reduction gear and a center differential with a lock.
However, there is always room for improvement. Moreover, these cars also have obvious flaws, first of all, insufficient engine performance. The rest of the article discusses the preparation of the Niva for off-road driving.
Features "Niva"
The classic Niva, known as the VAZ-2121 and Lada 4x4, is a compact small-class SUV, produced since 1977. It has a load-bearing body, found in 3 and 5-door versions. Equipped with 4-cylinder gasoline engines with a capacity of 80-94 liters. from. with 4 and 5-speed manual transmissions. The drive is full, with a reduction gear and a locking center differential. The front suspension is independent, while the rear is dependent.
Features Chevrolet Niva
Chevrolet Niva is also a compact SUV. It has been produced since 2002. It has a 5-seater body. Most cars are equipped with an 80-horsepower engine from the Niva with a 5-speed manual transmission. The design of the transmission and chassis is similar to it.
Principles of tuning
Preparing the Niva Chevrolet for off-road, like any other car, should be carefully thought out and calculated. However, its tuning should be approached with extreme caution. This is because their design has a small margin of safety, which determines the potential for tuning. That is, the elements of the car operate almost to the limit, and the preparation of the Chevy Niva for off-road can easily disrupt it. This will result in a decrease in both performance and reliability.
So, engines have low performance even for standard machines. If you load them with heavy additional equipment and install large wheels, low dynamic characteristics will become even worse, and the load on an already weak engine will increase, which will lead to a decrease in its resource. Approximately the same situation with the chassis: the elevator by installing long shock absorbers and springs or spacers without additional intervention will lead to poor handling and stability and accelerated wear of both the suspension and transmission elements.
In addition, serious intervention in the design is expensive. Therefore, the stages of preparation of the Niva for off-road are distinguished. And the initial (tourist) involves changing and installing only individual elements, with almost complete preservation of the original design.
The cost of tuning is determined by both the degree of intervention in the design and the level of parts used. As you know, most owners of VAZ SUVs are not rich people. Therefore, the preparation of the Niva for off-road do-it-yourself is widespread.
For the same reason, most owners maintain and repair the car themselves. They are well aware of the Niva. Preparing for the road, photo which we will provide in our article, therefore, they are also able to.
Body
It is imperative for the SUV to provide underbody protection by covering key components such as the engine, gearbox, front driveshaft, front axle gearbox.
Protection is represented by plastic or metal sheets. The first ones are very fragile. Even 1-2 mm sheets of metal can protect only from small stones and weak contacts with the surface. Therefore, for serious off-road use protection 4-6 mm thick.
As for the area, you should choose the widest sheets covering the largest possible surface. In this case, it is necessary to make sure that there are technological and ventilation openings. Such preparation of the Niva for off-road will cost about 30 thousand rubles.
Sometimes they provide body protection by installing more durable metal bumpers and sills (power kit). This will cost approximately 20-30 thousand rubles.
In the case of installing wider wheels, wheel arch extensions are used. The simplest universal options cost about 2 thousand rubles.
The Niva has fragile and small towing eyes, necessary off-road to remove a stuck car. The Chevrolet Niva they are stronger, but located very uncomfortable. Therefore, it is advisable to prepare the Niva for off-road driving by installing a removable tow bar with a 50x50 square socket in the back and front mounts for the winch.
This will allow you to change these devices in places, using a towbar instead of towing eyes, drag trailers and apply hi-jack. The cost is about 15 thousand rubles.
The price of an electric winch is from 20 thousand rubles. From 4 thousand more the fixing system will cost.
Many professionally trained SUVs are equipped with an expeditionary luggage rack. This device, of course, does not increase patency. However, using an off-road vehicle is often associated with transporting a large amount of cargo, which may not fit in the cargo hold. For the cars in question, this is especially true, since they both have small trunks. In addition, the Niva spare tire is located in the engine compartment, so it loads the front part, impairs engine cooling and safety.
By installing an expeditionary trunk, you can solve these problems by moving the reserve there. In addition, many options have mounts for additional equipment. When choosing a trunk, you need to pay attention to the method of fastening it: it is better if it is prepared for installation on factory rails, gutters or arches, since permission is required for rigid fastening.
Many modified SUVs have additional lighting fixtures. Standard headlights may not be enough on the road. In addition, they quickly get dirty in the mud. Therefore, additional lights are installed higher - usually on the roof. Many expeditionary luggage carriers have specialized mounts. LED chandeliers cost from 3 thousand rubles.
Engine
As noted, the engines of the cars in question are very weak for off-road, where they lack traction capabilities. This is especially evident in the heavier Chevrolet Niva. The situation is aggravated in case of weighting the body with additional equipment and the installation of large wheels. There are 2 ways to solve this problem: replacing the engine with a more powerful one or tuning the original motor.
For a swap on a Chevrolet Niva, VAZ-21126 and Toyota 3S engines are most often used. 3S is also most often installed on the Niva. The cheapest way to buy it is (from 30 thousand rubles).
As for the modifications, the same technologies and methods are used here as in the sports tuning of VAZ engines. Only the target nature of the engine differs: in contrast to sports, when off-road tuning they seek to get maximum torque at low revs.
The main off-road modification for the engine is a snorkel. This device is an external air intake, which is carried out to the roof to exclude water hammer and ensure the intake of clean air from above, where there is less dust. In addition, snorkels are equipped with separators. Their price is the same and starts from 3 thousand rubles.
Transmission
To ensure uniform rotation of the wheels, the machine is equipped with front and rear cross-axle differentials with locks. Cost - about 15 thousand rubles. Both off-road vehicles have a center lock in stock.
As was noted, both cars have low-performance engines, not high-torque for serious off-road. You can solve this problem without interfering in their design. To do this, change the gear ratio of the main pair. Price - from about 3 thousand rubles.
Both cars have a reduction gear. However, there are lowering whales that further reduce the gear ratio. Cost - from 10 thousand rubles.
Suspension
The most important suspension parameters for off-road suspension and clearance are. Standard cars have high ground clearance and good geometry. However, over time, especially when operating under load or on the road, the suspension may sag. To avoid this, springs and shock absorbers are replaced with reinforced ones. They are characterized by increased rigidity, but have better energy intensity and are more durable. They cost from 12 thousand rubles.
Increasing ground clearance requires a significantly more serious intervention in the suspension design. If you simply install spacers or longer shock absorbers and springs, the service life of CV joints and cardan joints will be significantly reduced, and controllability, stability and braking efficiency will decrease. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a significant amount of work with the replacement of a large number of elements to ensure the durability of the structure, which is the preparation of the Niva for off-road do-it-yourself. Photos clearly demonstrate its implementation.
Wheels
To a large extent patency is determined by tires. Standard tires are not suitable for serious off-road. Off-road tires provide better traction on dirt, loose soils and other surfaces. There is a specialized off-road rubber for winter. Therefore, replacing tires is the simplest preparation of the Niva-Chevrolet for off-road do-it-yourself.
It should be borne in mind that without increasing ground clearance and expanding wheel arches on the Niva, you can install wheels no larger than 15-inch 215/75 or 16-inch 215/65. The first option is more relevant, as it provides better ride and a larger selection of tires, and the deterioration in handling is not very significant for these cars. Such preparation of the Niva for off-road will cost from about 16 thousand rubles.
Interior
For off-road use, the interior is finished with simple, easy-to-wash materials. Most often, the flooring is changed with aluminum panels. Otherwise, the interiors of the cars are very simple.
Sometimes install additional equipment, depending on the equipment of the car.