they were designed simple so repairs could be done by anyone, the soviet union was massive, you dont have a mechanic shop every 2km like you have everywhere else
Aren’t hard, but continuous. We had one when I was a kid (90s). And it always needed repairs, even though it was less than 10 years old. And since Lada’s were very common where I grew up, I know it wasn’t just a lemon. My previous old car was a 2009 Mazda 6, which was definitely NOT loved by the previous owner, yet it barely had any issues at 10years. And the few it had was fixable DIY.
Brit ex lada tech here, 14:17, there is a little pipe just visible in the manifold, it lets excess raw fuel to drip out of the inlet manifold onto the floor, so don't panic about that little drip... a major service was a biggie, you even had to strip the alternator + starter, clean them up + renew the carbon brushes. pretty reliable cars, but boy, did they rust...
1981 My gradndfather bought brand new Lada 2103 in Yugoslavia. That was his 2nd Lada, first he had 2101 somewhere from the beginning of the production and he figured out what he needs to do to rustproof his Lada. First thing he did when he bought 2103 is to pour 1kg of train wagon paint in each rocker panel/sill and then every year wash under the car and put new layer of some heavy duty black stuff with brush. That Lada never seen angle grinder or welder with all factory panels on it untill this present day, still parked in same garage as one of things left by my grandfather...
@@adrianshephard224 Thats rigt - some product TAR based. Tako je, katran/bitulit/kobit ali nisam mogao da se setim u trenutku pisanja kako se kaze na engleskom. :)
Lol. The Lada ad in Canada was "It’s a Lada car for the money" (lot of car for the money). We used to say "It’s a Lada guilt for the money". We also used to say, "Buy a Lada, send a dissident to camp!"
Everything is almost the same, but the Lada-21059 had 120 horsepower with a 2.3-liter VAZ-411M two-section rotary engine. The rotary version of this model was called Lada-21079 and its engine power was already 140 horsepower, the maximum speed was 125 mph, and acceleration to 60 mph was approximately 9 seconds. For comparison, the standard 2107 did this in just 20 seconds.
@mipmipmipmipmip It's simple. No one needed this. Lada is an ultra low-cost car. The development of a turbocharged version of the engine and its subsequent production would make the car more expensive. And the engine compartment of classic rear-wheel drive Ladas is poorly suited for accommodating additional equipment due to the small space and specific shape. Yes, some enthusiasts turbocharge their Lada engines themselves, there are even classic solutions based on the Garrett 1752 turbine, but the increased load greatly reduces the service life of the engine and the entire car as a whole. The car body literally begins to separate at the weld seams.
Before you let it out of the shop... with the engine stopped slightly loosen the cap nut on the block (on the carb side of the engine) which is inline with the timing chain. This releases the timing chain tensioner and you will hear a "ping" when it extends to take up any slack before it hits the timing chain. Tighten the cap nut. Now the tensioner is pre set and ready for oil pressure to keep the correct tension when the engine is running. This procedure keeps the engine from sounding like a bucket of bolts ....most of the time. P.S. That Lada will theoretically reach 94mph... but a 70mph is only just bearable as the engine will be revving quite high..... 60mph is comfortable...... P.P.S. the carb may be Russian but the design is pure Italian Weber... the 32/36 DGV 5a with manual choke bolts straight on...
It's not pure italian weber. It's based on a Weber design, but it's an OZON(ozone). Very finicky and hard to get working correctly, but when it does, it works quite well.
@JohnSmith you missed the step where you need to turn the engine COUNTER-CLOCKWISE, 1 full turn, to relieve any slack on the chain. I do remember the procedure, done it many times and the instructions actually came in the user manual that was in the glovebox.
@@guillermorisso2463 Is that counterclockwise as seen from the front of the vehicle...or CC from the driver's seat... or is it counter the normal rotation of the engine (so you can't use the crank to do this or the starter) you rotate the engine using the fan and fan belt or a socket on the crank pulley against the normal rotation?
You may notice at some point that oil is pumping out of the front oil seal at an alarming rate. Many people have dumped the whole car thinking that it is not worth fixing such an inexpensive car. The problem is usually very easy to remedy. The sump breather tube runs into the air cleaner. After a while, the valve where the tube enters the air cleaner gets blocked. This causes excess pressure in the sump and so oil is pushed through the front oil seal. The valve is just a ball and spring arrangement. Remove the top of the air cleaner and remove the filter. The valve is held in place by a small bolt or screw and is easily dismantled. Remove any gunk from the tube and replace the valve parts. Oil leak solved.
Just had my step daughter's 2007 Nissan Armada break down at a dealership over the weekend and the guy there told her it was the starter. Well she didn't have the money to fix it so we had it towed to our apartment and I ordered a starter from rockauto and it is a pain in the a$$ to replace. Well once I was able to look at it I checked the fuses and relays since I had to wait for the part anyway. Low and behold it just needed a new relay. $28 and back on the road. $140 for a tow that we didn't really need and $100 for a starter that I sent back today to get a refund. But at least I didn't have to dive into engine !😅
@@zaffo757 well the tech was wrong. The starter worked just fine. How does a part not getting power due to another part being broken mean that the subsequent part doesn't work? That's like saying the engine won't work when the fuel pump isn't moving fuel. It's making incorrect assumptions based on a lack of proper diagnosis.
The days of simple cars built to get you from A to B reliably and fix easily are long gone. My own "Lada" experience was a 62 Rambler American with a bullet proof six cylinder engine. The easiest car I've ever owned and worked on.
I re-did a Plymouth Valiant for that very reason. Powertrain is bulletproof, upgraded the suspension & brakes (12" rotors front, 11.25" rear), I can fix anything on the car- and people are always smiling, waving or asking questions when they see it cruising around
The lada is still the same. I remember what people that drove Lada's here in Iceland always said. They bought Lada's because they just worked. And the extras like power steering or a cd player ain't breaking if they are not in the car in the first place😂
I really came to think that it was a good thing that we were producing this 60s car up to 2014, because now not only I can buy an old-school car dirt cheap, but I can also have brand new spare parts for it, since they are still being produced by some factories. Yes, it isn't all that great old-school car, but a nice one nonetheless.
My first car in 80s (used domesticly build Zastava 101) i got when i was 18 i fix everything by my self even i know nothing then about cars.FOr 5 years i drove it i never went to repair shop and parts were dirty cheap and you could buy them everywhere.Now when something goes wrong on my cars even dealers sometimes dont know to fix it and its stays there for few months
I had two of those, a '58 and a '59. Both had a "leaky" #5 cylinder. Those ran a bit hot on that engine (the flathead). Otherwise, a good reliable and simple car.
The lada was based on a Fiat 124 - European car of the year 1967. Some modifications for Russia were made, stronger suspension and better isolation. VAZ stands for Volzhski Avto Zavod, or Volga car Factory. This model stayed in production to 2012.
Not some, but over 800 changes were made. Strengthened body, uprated suspension, completely different engine and braking system. Basically only the hardpoints are what's left of the Fiat. And the gearbox, which comes from the 124S.
Lada's, as do all Russian cars of Soviet desigm, were designed to be uncomplicated and rugged to cope with unpaved Sibirian dirt roads. As well as the harsh winters. There were no such things as car shops, the owner would do the maintenance and repares at the curb or in a tiny parking garage. The waiting list for a new Lada was sometimes over a decade. The design is quite ingenious.
@@docneleDon't be ridiculous... You can get counterfeit Adidas in those markets that still says Adidas. Copyright infringement doesn't translate terribly well into Russian, or Mandarin for that matter.
I remember many years ago when Russia was opening up under Gorbachev, a TV program decided to show Russian motorists picking up their new LADAs from a dealer. A genial Russian new owner was interviewed and asked what he was doing now he had his new car. He replied that he was driving home. When asked where home was, he replied that it was a small town about 750 miles away. At this time, the oil change interval for Ladas was yearly or every 1500 miles !
Not quite like that. There is a burn-in period stated in the manual with rev limits and oil changes at first 500, 1000, 3000km (I think). Normal period after was 1yr/10K km, what comes first. There were some quite recent Japanese cars (Mitsubishi?) with burn-in oil changes that now look strange and obsolete.
@@MrCarGuy Its really a FIAT124 made in Russia Fiat sold them the factory to build the cars also had a military' version and New ZEALAND traded butter for the cars
@@karibakid It's not a FIAT 124. They look similar, but every single part is non-FIAT. Nothing is interchangeable. New parts are easy to find for Ladas, but not for FIATs. However, some Italian/British speed parts like Weber carbs might fit.
Especially considering that with the trade embargo and the war in Ukraine, spare parts may become very scarce. I used to see Ladas on the road daily but now they have become really rare, partly because the russians have bought most of the second hand cars back to Russia. Nobody wants them in the west but back there they're still popular. Noisy, polluting and rough, the russian way of life.
@@imupowqk actually, I don't think I've seen a comparison between those cars, and I would really like to see it, since both cars are pretty similar in the base idea.
It says a lot about the Car Wizard that he freely admits when he makes a mistake (even when it is just ordering unneeded parts). It makes all of his other videos just that much more credible, and it shows how he takes what could be a bad situation and makes it into a learning experience. Just one of the reasons I love this channel, and I respect the Car Wizard (and Mrs. Wizard, too!)
I know this might sound silly, but make sure to write exactly what model of car those wheel cylinders are for on the boxes they're in that way no matter where you put them you will never have questions about what vehicle they're for. Even if you put them in the trunk and leave them there make sure to write what they're for on the boxes. It's stupid but it's helped me to make sure I don't end up with a pile of questions especially if I come back to something a few years down the line.
I lived in St. Petersburg, Russia for four years building a factory and getting it up and running. We bought three Ladas for the locals to drive for errands, etc. I came to the conclusion after seeing so many accidents in Ladas that any accident would be a fatality. The Russians bought the complete tooling and assembly line from Fiat.
The ladas were very popular in demolition derby because they are made from relatively thick metal. The car will deform quite bad but keep on going... No modern crumple zones or safety features of course. The basic design is from the 60's.
@@Munakas-wq3gpAnd most importantly, they are cheap, if the car has previous damage, it's dirt cheap. Perfect for the "fun" car, the one you dont care about, but somehow love more than the daily.
@@markellii3093 Funnily enough the prices for Ladas started to go up when they all got bought by the russians. Not by much but anyway... Car prices here are nearly double compared to most other countries due to insane taxation.
@@markellii3093 I remember when I drove my drivers license 2nd phase test drive, I had been driving my grandfathers old 'round eyed' Lada 1300 which didn't have a brake booster. Whenever stopping you really had to stand on the brakes. When I switched the the new Volvo of the driving school, the first braking attempts were pretty abrupt to say the least 😂 The Volvo had feather light controls.
Gas used to smell good because of the tetraethyl lead -- lead is sweet-smelling. Since unleaded gas is no more, it smells sour now. Try smelling avgas, you'll get that old sweet smell.
It even tastes different: when I was kid, I had a "summer place car", and I had to siphon fuel from my dad's Ford to keep running. So, I have plenty of experience of the taste(and plenty of lead in me...).
It was a pleasure to see you actually working on a car and explaining the process instead of just talking about it. BTW... did you know that those cars came from the factory with a hand starting crank? They're redundant due to the North American mandated safety bumpers. There's a hole in the sheet metal behind the bumper to allow the crank (in the tool kit) to be inserted.
My father bought one brand new, then got an instant arm muscle excercise trying to drive it. They sold boat loads of them in the UK, if you couldn't afford one of the UK built rot boxes you bought a Lada or worse still a Skoda ! They were crude but easy to service at home, the only issue was rust, they realy were bad for it, as were most other cars at the time.
@@MrDuncl That is why they sold so well, compared to the overpriced rust buckets from Ford etc they were affordable, they were crude but surprisingly reliable, our neighbours Cortina would fail to start on icy mornings but my fathers Lada always started.
We had plenty of lada's in the uk thay were cheep & reliable. I used to work on some i liked them and some had verneer adjustable distributor so you didn't need to unbolt it & move it to adjust the ignition timing. Great car's.
@@dj_paultuk7052 Russian ship's crews bought them and shipped them back to Russia for parts...YT vids showing a storm at sea with Ladas smashing into each other and falling overboard....
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk I have just been looking and in 1995 there were over 110000 registered in the U.K. By 2015 that was down to less than 200. By then a used engine was worth more in Russia than the whole car in the U.K.
@@MrDuncl Here in New Zealand an Egyptian businessman (around 2007) arranged for two Egyptian mechanics to arrive in NZ on tourist visas. They lived in a shipping container in a wrecker's yard and worked every day stripping all Ladas and Peugeots that were sent there for mechanical parts which were sent back home tp be sold all over Africa.....and Russia That really cleaned out the last vestiges of the Ladas here which originally were traded by the USSR for our NZ butter in the 1980's . Which they then stripped out for butterfat etc. and on sold for more than it cost them originally... and we got Ladas...especially Nivas. I had one myself...on one occasion I drove through a West Coast river with water to the door handle on the upstream side....... driving past a Toyota Landcruiser flooded out...... 32/36 DGV Weber carb off a Cortina gave it better torque response, the largest off road mud tyres possible without any suspension mods gave it the grip....and it surprised many people with where it could go and how well.....
These are the cars USSR people used to be on waiting lists for years. When I was there in 1995, the Russian policeman I talked to proudly stated he was due his new car in a few weeks. He said he was on a waiting list of two years.
It was the same deal in our country Turkey, we had the smiliar cars based on the fiat 131 we had to wait months rather than years though! Its amazing how long Russian people had to wait! Here when they were new they costed around the same price as an apartment floor!
In the USSR, waiting was a way of life! My parents were telling me about how you enter your kids into the wait list many years in advance, so they can get a home closer to when they're ready to move out.
There was a joke about this. A man puts in an order for a new Zhiguli (Lada). He is told it will be arriving ten years from today. He notes it down in his calendar and asks whether it will be in the morning or the afternoon. The salesman says, confused: "It's ten years from now. Why does it matter whether it's the morning or the afternoon?" The man replies: "Well, you see, I already have a plumber coming to fix my toilet that morning."
My grandfather had a Lada 2100 Zhiguli in the Soviet Union we used to ride in. The cars are simple and easy to fix. I also visited Cuba a few years ago and they still buy them, at least the newer ones and they are more expensive than you'd find the Hondas and Toyotas since they make 10x more as drivers as Taxis than being doctors since they get hard cash. Great unique cars for what they are. Keep in mind you would have to wait 5-10 years in line to be able to buy one..and people complain about their cars and what we have here in the good ole USA..
IIRC that Lada was called the Lada Riva and was in production until 2012 at the Togliatti Plant. That car was based on the Fiat 124. In the Soviet Union it was the VAZ-2105 and there was a wagon version that was the 2104. There was also an SUV called the Lada Niva and I think that might still be in production. GREAT VIDEO!
@@yuris6125 Back there they call it the Zhiguli :) I remember my father had a lada station wagon in the 80's (the older model than this one) and it had 'movie tyres' meaning whenever you took a sharper turn the tyres started to howl like in the old hollywood movies :) We had a lot of fun driving it around the city sounding like we were racing it or something 😂
Thanks for the content car wizard, I got off regular TV around 2017 and found youtube content to be superior, I don't even know what shows are on the boob tube now. Thanks again being someone putting out good quality stuff along with the other people I watch. Big thumbs up. It wasn't forced getting off the boob tube it was just natural. I know it was 2017 because I watched Grimm and grimm had the final season.
When these were first imported into the UK, they had to have the brakes looked at. The wheel cylinders used to leak from new and did not pass scrutiny. Having spares is no bad thing.
I spent the first twelve years of my life in communist Czechoslovakia and remember long waiting lists for cars in the soviet block countries. A joke I heard that I liked about this was a guy in East Germany has been working hard and decides to buy himself a Trabant. When he orders it the salesman tells him it will be delivered in ten years time and asks him if he wants to take the delivery in the morning or the afternoon. The guy says make it in the morning, the plumber is coming in the afternoon.
Classical joke, we knew it in USSR. In this variation also as a hint to German punctuality :). Jokes aside, if somebody told me back in USSR how long I need to wait sometime for a repairman now in Canada, I would think they are crazy.
You could buy LADA instantly in Yugoslavia from dealers ,there was no wait .One old men in my neighborhood still have Lada that he bought like 50 years ago In second part off 80s Lada Samara was popular here . If you drived small euro car in 70s and 80s you really did not want to crash in Lada becase their steal was way thicker
Is a multi carburetor engine really easier to live with than a port electronic fuel injected engine? I don't think so. Fuel systems got worse with direct injection. Cars were best between 1995 and 2010. They were worse before and worse after.
Here in the UK, these were an object of derision when they were on sale. But a mate of mine had one and he reckoned it was the best car he'd ever owned - yes, it was crude, noisy and not well finished, but it was reliable and robust. He didn't have to worry too much about picking up parking dents and he discovered he could leave it all day in the railway station car park with the keys in it and he didn't have to worry about it being stolen.
15:00 it says ДААЗ (DAAZ) - "Димитровградский автоагрегатный завод" (Dimitrovograd auto parts factory). This factory was built in 1969 to - you guessed it - make parts for VAZ, and later for other Soviet car manufacturers.
It is good practice to keep vehicles clean, engine bay and everywhere one does repairs. Makes it easier to see what is going wrong when something does go wrong.
ВАЗ - “Волжки Автомобилен Завод”, Volga Motor Plants (named to the big river Volga that passes through the Volgograd - known mostly by its WWII name as Stalingrad) 😊. The carburettor box says exactly that “Carburettor repair kit” 😂
That was a funny spelling. Sounded a bit German almost. Here is the correct one."Волжский автомобильный завод". But who cares anyway?:) Had a similar car in the family for years.
During the first year I drove my first VAZ/LADA I was puzzled. Why does it say "BA3" all over the car? Until I realized "BA3" is "VAZ" in the russian/cyrillic alphabet. :)
Australia. Used to know a guy who was a Lada dealer back in the day. Trying to buy a stock of spare parts from Lada was an exercise in futility, so he bought extra cars which he used as his parts source.
Car Wizard, two things you should do to your Lada. #1 - Take the Russian Ozone carb off and chuck it in the trash, fit a Webber carb for better drive ability. #2 - Change the bearing in the Ignition distributor, they are a known weakness, and lead to drive ability issues !
Nothing bad with that Ozone carb, you can tune it up in any way. And if you really want to do replacement like you mentioned, you should consider that the Russian made Ozone and the Italian Weber carburetors have different stud layouts. P.S. Distributor bearings are reliable as hell.😊
Now it's a huge shop for the best in the business. You have come a long way from the humble beginnings and I will say that you are still a great and honest mechanic and person!
03:03 The original (FIAT 124) had discs all around. And they made a version with the Lampredi-DOHC engine. That must have been a nice little car (I had two 124 spiders with Lampredi engines).
The Lampredi twin cam slots straight into these, it was a reasonably common upgrade for sleeper fans back in the 80`s & 90`s, you could even fit the "volumex" supercharger from the Lancia Beta or Fiat 131/Argenta. Top Gear did it (with Lotus) in the early noughties IIRC?
By the way, the Lada 2107 was produced until 2012 with virtually no design changes. Except that in 2003 they replaced the carburetor engine with an injection one. And Lada models 2107 and 2105 are very popular cars for winter street drifting in Russia. Kids simply weld the differential, find an empty parking lot, and let the fun begin.
Customer has NO idea what is needed, but trust JOE the neighbor more than the mechanic. I have written estimates for things just like you and find out what was NOT needed. I had a customer ARGUE telling me the thermostat was causing overheating when radiator leaks would NOT. Asked if she had been adding coolant.......................Another customer wants estimate to replace knock sensor. We learn to ask proper questions sometimes and owner had no idea a tapping lifter was the problem, and not the knock sensor
Nice to see the Lada from Robert here on this channel. As a german with 4 years of Russian in my schooltime I can still read everything but need a translator for almost anything. The Words in the Repairset are as follows: ремонтный комплект для карбюратора - Repairset for carburetor. The name VAZ or ВАЗ stands for Волжский автомобильный завод - Wolschskij awtomobilnyj sawod or in English "Wolga Car factory".
Yeah my old mechanic had a standing policy of not installing owner-provided parts. Ran into too many problems with parts that didn't fit, or were wrong, or bad, and customers getting pissed.
@@dwilliams5334 Feel free to put in the work to find reliable part suppliers on your own then and learn how to validate the parts before you install them. Even if you were charged double for the part, that is cheaper than paying twice for labor or more.
Back in the day there were a fair number of Ladas in Canada. Cars designed for Russian winters had no trouble with Canadian winters. I was half expecting the purchase price to be stamped next to the VIN. Russian products were like that.
Yes, it took me long time to adjust to the world where price is not a set part of the product, probably stamped on the factory. 35 years on it still annoys me mildly that I need to shop for a price of the same thing from different vendors
I saw few when I arrived to Canada in 1993. My landlord had one in the past, just before my arrival switched to Jaguar, which then in 7 years I stayed was him never left a workshop, it seems, was constantly in repairs
Except for road salt in winter, these things had huge scabby rust blotches all over them in just a few years. One of my teachers had bought one new, 3 years laters, fist sized rust scabs on the passenger door, etc. She got rid of it and bought a Subaru.
If you find something leaking it's best to clean it up and see how long it takes to leak again, that way you know how serious the leak is and can repair or monitor as required.
@@VolkerHett There now seem to be more in the USA than are left in the U.K where they sold them new. In 1995 there were over 110000 on the U.K's roads. Since 2015 there have been less than 200
Drum brake tip from an old Greybeard: always bevel the top and bottom of each shoe. This allows for full contact with the drum until they're fully bedded in. I noticed that these weren't. Thanx for all the interesting and informative videos, David! 😁
I grew up in a family that didn't know much of anything about cars. In the 80s as a young boy, I'd see a Volvo 240 and I thought they were Russian until someone corrected me.
The only thing that Lada needs now is a dash cam. When I was in Moscow in 2003 they were everywhere on the streets, sidewalks, pathways through parks anywhere you could fit a Zhiguli on.
Gas has always killed fuel related stuff, making them hard and brittle... It's just better at it today. Ethanol by itself isn't a problem, I actually converted a mini ike to run on E85 ethanol when I had access to the fuel and the carb and fuel lines were fine... Had it in there for 3 years before I put the stock jets back in and returned it to gas to sell.
I remember an acquaintance of my parents had the predecessor of this car (Lada 1500 GL). I drove it once. It lacked all, and I mean all sophistication. But I also liked its honesty. Steering was super heavy and indirect, the throttle and clutch were both on/off switches, making driving a thing you needed to do precisely. The gear box felt like a semi truck. But... it was spacious, luxurious (for the time) and it was reliable. And it rusted, we put on two new sets of fenders in 10 years time.
I had a rich running condition on a 1982 Toyota Celica with 22R that wouldn't lean out with adjustment and discovered the auxiliary pump diaphragm was leaking fuel into the mixture. Common problem on carbureted engines👍
BTW Lada is the name for foreign markets. In USSR the car was knowн as Zhiguli (Жигули) which is a geographical area next to the city of Toliatti where the factory was. The city was named after Italian communist leader as the plans for factory location were finalized in 1964
FYI the Lada is based on the FIAT 124. The Italians were commissioned as early as in 1966 to re-design their 124 sedan completely, then set up an assembly line, train the workers and give the people of Togliatti a product they could be proud of. The VAZ-2101 was ready to hit the streets by 1970
You may also notice that the city was named after the Italian communist leader in 1964 just as it was decided to be the place of upcoming factory automotive factory for Lada's
DIY Tip: Whenever taking the bolts out of anything near the carburetor always manually set the choke closed before starting work. That will help prevent anything from falling into the intake.
@@MK-bv6wn This one looks more like a 125. Slightly bigger than the 124, similar lines. I’m not big on the Lada’s though. Not sure if this one is based on a Fiat 124 or a 125.
Ladas are great in that they're a '60s/'70s design which means if you're vaguely handy they're a perfect do-it-yourself car. I still use an '80s Lada Niva as my 4x4 because of the fact I can fix it in the middle of nowhere with basic tools, unlike like any vehicle with a computer. PS - you don't need to disassemble brakes to get the data about a leak, simply clean the leak stains off and see if the stains re-appear or not.
Driving an old Lada is an adventure even when it's running right! The steering wheel is more of a suggestion than anything, the suspension is a joke, it doesn't have enough power to get out of it's own way. Then there is the world famous Lada asymmetrical braking system that decides on it's own which wheel will be braking and when. Also, their owners are usually the Russian equivalent of Florida man.
@@papplet1 The brake proportioning valve mounted under the car was designed to fill up with mud and water and rust solid... so yes... no proportioned braking... that would normally favour the discs up front with more pressure to the discs than the rear drums.
My French father in law bought one of these, and we drove it while on holidays in the country; my wife called it our Russian Mercedes it was poorly made and the doors were hard to close and leaked gas from the old fashioned glass dome topped fuel pump, I wondered why it was so heavy on fuel and luckily didn't catch on fire, but it got us through during one bad winter of snow and iced up roads on its big Russian tyres!
When I saw the thumbnail I thought another channel I follow bought a red Lada. Low and behold it's the same Lada. Robert has a great channel with awesome content! I've followed him since his early days of TH-cam.
I remember looking at one of those brand new on the lot in 91…great little car for the money. I ended up buying a Niva the 4x4 sister to that car. Was a decent little machine.
As a former UAZ Patriot owner i can assure you - you don't cry over the parts you order in an advance/mistakenly. You will need them anyway anytime soon. Mostly very soon))))
You are absolutely right about today's gasoline. I have a 1973 Thunderbird and if it's over 85° I have to worry about vapor lock. And what a great design on a carburetor where you can just change the accelerator pump. Without taking the entire top of the carburetor off. These cars were made to basically fix with a hammer!
In the 70s, it was not like that later. My dad got his in 1982, sold in 2004 already in independent Estonia. The car I learned to drive on. And had my first accident 😂
In my home country of Cuba, these were everywhere back in the 80s and 90s. People who owned them have told me that they are pretty good mechanically but in the tropical climate will start showing rust bubbles even when brand new because of the quality of the steel used by the Soviets. This one seems pretty solid in that respect.
It was my first car back in 1996. I got it from my father to drive to the university. Everything I know about basic car stuff is thenks to this. The repairs were super easy, but it was constant fixing. Still miss it today :)
2107 was my first rwd car and I did donuts after rain on parking lot. Seating position is bad but metal overall is strong. Thanks Wizard for this small history piece.
We used to have a lot of these in the UK but they've all gone, not just to the scrap yard, but mostly back to Russia, same for the rest of western and central Europe. Was in the north of Scotland once back late 80's and Russian fisherman were coming ashore to buy Lada's to take home. The fishing boats would come in to load them on deck and take them out to the factory ships for the voyage home.
As a former owner of one of these I can confirm that since not a lot of work went into building one, repairs aren't hard either.
they were designed simple so repairs could be done by anyone, the soviet union was massive, you dont have a mechanic shop every 2km like you have everywhere else
@@shahramtondkarmobarakie1824it's a fiat design though
When I had mine I joked the factory tool kit was a rock and a bottle of vodka, if the rock didn't fix it get drunk
@@Mortonbmx its 90% Fiat, 10% GAZ made it so it survives in frigid winters.
Aren’t hard, but continuous. We had one when I was a kid (90s). And it always needed repairs, even though it was less than 10 years old.
And since Lada’s were very common where I grew up, I know it wasn’t just a lemon.
My previous old car was a 2009 Mazda 6, which was definitely NOT loved by the previous owner, yet it barely had any issues at 10years. And the few it had was fixable DIY.
Car Wizard is having a Lada fun.
Reading that post was complete and total pun-ishment.
That could have been a good marketing slogan if it wasn’t made by a communist country.
watching this... as if I would ever work on a Lada...🤣🤣🤣
Ha ha ha ha get out
He gonna have Lada problems 🤣
Brit ex lada tech here, 14:17, there is a little pipe just visible in the manifold, it lets excess raw fuel to drip out of the inlet manifold onto the floor, so don't panic about that little drip...
a major service was a biggie, you even had to strip the alternator + starter, clean them up + renew the carbon brushes. pretty reliable cars, but boy, did they rust...
And that's why you don't clean the oil/brake fluid, it keeps rust away.
1981 My gradndfather bought brand new Lada 2103 in Yugoslavia. That was his 2nd Lada, first he had 2101 somewhere from the beginning of the production and he figured out what he needs to do to rustproof his Lada. First thing he did when he bought 2103 is to pour 1kg of train wagon paint in each rocker panel/sill and then every year wash under the car and put new layer of some heavy duty black stuff with brush. That Lada never seen angle grinder or welder with all factory panels on it untill this present day, still parked in same garage as one of things left by my grandfather...
@@gosponzak3246 my dad's ford zephyr is rust free, my dad did the same with a liquid mix for 54yrs, the car has sadly outlived him this year...
@@gosponzak3246 That heavy duty black stuff he used brush to coat under is TAR. And you are welcome. I moj je djed isto to radio hehe... 🤣
@@adrianshephard224 Thats rigt - some product TAR based.
Tako je, katran/bitulit/kobit ali nisam mogao da se setim u trenutku pisanja kako se kaze na engleskom. :)
How many shops can you see a Lada in one bay and a Ferrari in the next bay?
frankwhite2650
Are you an 2107 owner.
Fiat parts, imitation too, cheap to keep it running yourself.
Let's be honest at this point a preserved LADA is more of a prestige symbol for car guys than a Ferrari.
Well a lot maybe with other badges because they all are fiats
@@trifontrifonov4297Thanks alot ,I blew beer out my nostrils just reading your comment.
You neglected to add that both are clapped out, ancient pieces of rubbish. You can see this in any number of junkyards, btw...
Lada is the only car where the bugs on the grill are listening to the passengers. 😂
The heated rear window was for those pushing it had warm hands in the winter
Ahhh, good one Comrade!
Lol.
The Lada ad in Canada was "It’s a Lada car for the money" (lot of car for the money). We used to say "It’s a Lada guilt for the money".
We also used to say, "Buy a Lada, send a dissident to camp!"
Nah lots of Chinese cars too.
@@thomascordery7951 Canada fails hard, need a Cheap Honda ? Weather !
Finally actually showing us a repair being done and not just telling us about it and showing the parts! More of that type of content, please.
FunFact: in the 1980s a number of these cars were fitted with a Wankel twin-rotor engine producing 120hp for the Traffic Police and KGB.
And they were even less reliable.
The rotor engine was a clone of the Mazda's, but not a great one.
@@markellii3093 apparently they lasted less than 15,000 miles which was half the lifespan of the original NSU motor from the 1960s.
Everything is almost the same, but the Lada-21059 had 120 horsepower with a 2.3-liter VAZ-411M two-section rotary engine. The rotary version of this model was called Lada-21079 and its engine power was already 140 horsepower, the maximum speed was 125 mph, and acceleration to 60 mph was approximately 9 seconds. For comparison, the standard 2107 did this in just 20 seconds.
The LADA 21079 is the Wankel engined version
@mipmipmipmipmip It's simple. No one needed this. Lada is an ultra low-cost car. The development of a turbocharged version of the engine and its subsequent production would make the car more expensive. And the engine compartment of classic rear-wheel drive Ladas is poorly suited for accommodating additional equipment due to the small space and specific shape. Yes, some enthusiasts turbocharge their Lada engines themselves, there are even classic solutions based on the Garrett 1752 turbine, but the increased load greatly reduces the service life of the engine and the entire car as a whole. The car body literally begins to separate at the weld seams.
Before you let it out of the shop...
with the engine stopped slightly loosen the cap nut on the block (on the carb side of the engine) which is inline with the timing chain.
This releases the timing chain tensioner and you will hear a "ping" when it extends to take up any slack before it hits the timing chain.
Tighten the cap nut.
Now the tensioner is pre set and ready for oil pressure to keep the correct tension when the engine is running.
This procedure keeps the engine from sounding like a bucket of bolts ....most of the time.
P.S.
That Lada will theoretically reach 94mph...
but a 70mph is only just bearable as the engine will be revving quite high.....
60mph is comfortable......
P.P.S.
the carb may be Russian but the design is pure Italian Weber...
the 32/36 DGV 5a with manual choke bolts straight on...
It's not pure italian weber.
It's based on a Weber design, but it's an OZON(ozone).
Very finicky and hard to get working correctly, but when it does, it works quite well.
@JohnSmith you missed the step where you need to turn the engine COUNTER-CLOCKWISE, 1 full turn, to relieve any slack on the chain. I do remember the procedure, done it many times and the instructions actually came in the user manual that was in the glovebox.
@@guillermorisso2463
Is that counterclockwise as seen from the front of the vehicle...or CC from the driver's seat...
or is it counter the normal rotation of the engine (so you can't use the crank to do this or the starter)
you rotate the engine using the fan and fan belt or a socket on the crank pulley
against the normal rotation?
1 full turn in contrary direction of the normal engine rotation
The points spanner and work light that came in the Nivas is genius😊
You may notice at some point that oil is pumping out of the front oil seal at an alarming rate. Many people have dumped the whole car thinking that it is not worth fixing such an inexpensive car.
The problem is usually very easy to remedy. The sump breather tube runs into the air cleaner. After a while, the valve where the tube enters the air cleaner gets blocked. This causes excess pressure in the sump and so oil is pushed through the front oil seal. The valve is just a ball and spring arrangement. Remove the top of the air cleaner and remove the filter. The valve is held in place by a small bolt or screw and is easily dismantled. Remove any gunk from the tube and replace the valve parts. Oil leak solved.
Just had my step daughter's 2007 Nissan Armada break down at a dealership over the weekend and the guy there told her it was the starter. Well she didn't have the money to fix it so we had it towed to our apartment and I ordered a starter from rockauto and it is a pain in the a$$ to replace. Well once I was able to look at it I checked the fuses and relays since I had to wait for the part anyway. Low and behold it just needed a new relay. $28 and back on the road. $140 for a tow that we didn't really need and $100 for a starter that I sent back today to get a refund. But at least I didn't have to dive into engine !😅
Todays petrol has a sort of dry and dusty smell, not at all like the rich powerful aroma of real five star petrol.
The tech wasnt wrong 😂. ...the starter wouldn't work.
Glad to hear
@@zaffo757 well the tech was wrong. The starter worked just fine. How does a part not getting power due to another part being broken mean that the subsequent part doesn't work? That's like saying the engine won't work when the fuel pump isn't moving fuel. It's making incorrect assumptions based on a lack of proper diagnosis.
@@Randyplaysguitars think linearly.
ДААЗ(reads DAAZ), as written on the carburator, stands for Dimitrovgradsky Avtomobil'ny Agregatny Zavod(Dimitrovgrad's Automobile Aggregate Factory)
Sounds like a mouthful o shit
@@samspianos it's very descriptive, you know exactly what the factory does and where it is, just from the name.
@@samspianos it looks you're very stupid and arrogant.
@@hamr9601 Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino. F.I.A.T Italian Factory of Automobiles in Turin
Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino. F.I.A.T Italian Factory of Automobiles in Turin
The days of simple cars built to get you from A to B reliably and fix easily are long gone. My own "Lada" experience was a 62 Rambler American with a bullet proof six cylinder engine. The easiest car I've ever owned and worked on.
I re-did a Plymouth Valiant for that very reason. Powertrain is bulletproof, upgraded the suspension & brakes (12" rotors front, 11.25" rear), I can fix anything on the car- and people are always smiling, waving or asking questions when they see it cruising around
The lada is still the same.
I remember what people that drove Lada's here in Iceland always said. They bought Lada's because they just worked. And the extras like power steering or a cd player ain't breaking if they are not in the car in the first place😂
I really came to think that it was a good thing that we were producing this 60s car up to 2014, because now not only I can buy an old-school car dirt cheap, but I can also have brand new spare parts for it, since they are still being produced by some factories. Yes, it isn't all that great old-school car, but a nice one nonetheless.
My first car in 80s (used domesticly build Zastava 101) i got when i was 18 i fix everything by my self even i know nothing then about cars.FOr 5 years i drove it i never went to repair shop and parts were dirty cheap and you could buy them everywhere.Now when something goes wrong on my cars even dealers sometimes dont know to fix it and its stays there for few months
I had two of those, a '58 and a '59. Both had a "leaky" #5 cylinder. Those ran a bit hot on that engine (the flathead). Otherwise, a good reliable and simple car.
The lada was based on a Fiat 124 - European car of the year 1967. Some modifications for Russia were made, stronger suspension and better isolation. VAZ stands for Volzhski Avto Zavod, or Volga car Factory. This model stayed in production to 2012.
They sold them briefly in Canada, you could hear them rusting.
at some point they changed engines to injector ones without changing body much.
@@truantray Yes, those as well as the Hyundai Pony rusted.
Not some, but over 800 changes were made.
Strengthened body, uprated suspension, completely different engine and braking system.
Basically only the hardpoints are what's left of the Fiat.
And the gearbox, which comes from the 124S.
@@truantray Probably rusted slower than Fiat 124s TBF; Lada had thicker steel.
Lada's, as do all Russian cars of Soviet desigm, were designed to be uncomplicated and rugged to cope with unpaved Sibirian dirt roads. As well as the harsh winters.
There were no such things as car shops, the owner would do the maintenance and repares at the curb or in a tiny parking garage.
The waiting list for a new Lada was sometimes over a decade.
The design is quite ingenious.
FIAT design !
@@lucasrem not fiat, it was changed a lot.
You need to wear full Adidas in these videos
Or at least "Adios" from the local market :)
And in one shot he has to do the Slavic Squat.
Not just any Adidas, it's the black tracksuit with the white stripes and a gold chain.
@@docneleDon't be ridiculous... You can get counterfeit Adidas in those markets that still says Adidas. Copyright infringement doesn't translate terribly well into Russian, or Mandarin for that matter.
@@jochenstacker7448Full Gopnik style
I remember many years ago when Russia was opening up under Gorbachev, a TV program decided to show Russian motorists picking up their new LADAs from a dealer. A genial Russian new owner was interviewed and asked what he was doing now he had his new car. He replied that he was driving home. When asked where home was, he replied that it was a small town about 750 miles away. At this time, the oil change interval for Ladas was yearly or every 1500 miles !
Not quite like that. There is a burn-in period stated in the manual with rev limits and oil changes at first 500, 1000, 3000km (I think). Normal period after was 1yr/10K km, what comes first.
There were some quite recent Japanese cars (Mitsubishi?) with burn-in oil changes that now look strange and obsolete.
Неправильно. Первое обслуживание через 1500 км. Дальше обслуживание через 10000 километров.
@@FreeZLO If it is a Zastava Kragujevac SKD Lada like my father's 2101 was, Zastava rules apply.
Having spare parts for an odd ball car is never a loss!!
Lucky he could even get the parts
@@MrCarGuy Its really a FIAT124 made in Russia Fiat sold them the factory to build the cars also had a military' version and New ZEALAND traded butter for the cars
@@karibakid It's not a FIAT 124. They look similar, but every single part is non-FIAT. Nothing is interchangeable. New parts are easy to find for Ladas, but not for FIATs. However, some Italian/British speed parts like Weber carbs might fit.
Especially considering that with the trade embargo and the war in Ukraine, spare parts may become very scarce. I used to see Ladas on the road daily but now they have become really rare, partly because the russians have bought most of the second hand cars back to Russia. Nobody wants them in the west but back there they're still popular. Noisy, polluting and rough, the russian way of life.
Kswap it
I spent a year in Moscow, these cars were always beat up but running.
Lada Niva is a really cool 4x4!
ΝΙVA is the best 4x4 the hunters in Greece are using them because NIVA can go were the other 4x4 can not go.
@@xristoslazarakos9250 Same in Australia !
@@xristoslazarakos9250 Except Suzuki Jimny.
@@xristoslazarakos9250 lemme introduce you to the MIGHTY UAZ 469
@@imupowqk actually, I don't think I've seen a comparison between those cars, and I would really like to see it, since both cars are pretty similar in the base idea.
It says a lot about the Car Wizard that he freely admits when he makes a mistake (even when it is just ordering unneeded parts). It makes all of his other videos just that much more credible, and it shows how he takes what could be a bad situation and makes it into a learning experience. Just one of the reasons I love this channel, and I respect the Car Wizard (and Mrs. Wizard, too!)
I know this might sound silly, but make sure to write exactly what model of car those wheel cylinders are for on the boxes they're in that way no matter where you put them you will never have questions about what vehicle they're for. Even if you put them in the trunk and leave them there make sure to write what they're for on the boxes. It's stupid but it's helped me to make sure I don't end up with a pile of questions especially if I come back to something a few years down the line.
Lada co uk they ship worldwide if you ever need parts.
I lived in St. Petersburg, Russia for four years building a factory and getting it up and running. We bought three Ladas for the locals to drive for errands, etc. I came to the conclusion after seeing so many accidents in Ladas that any accident would be a fatality. The Russians bought the complete tooling and assembly line from Fiat.
The ladas were very popular in demolition derby because they are made from relatively thick metal. The car will deform quite bad but keep on going... No modern crumple zones or safety features of course. The basic design is from the 60's.
@@Munakas-wq3gpAnd most importantly, they are cheap, if the car has previous damage, it's dirt cheap.
Perfect for the "fun" car, the one you dont care about, but somehow love more than the daily.
@@markellii3093 Funnily enough the prices for Ladas started to go up when they all got bought by the russians. Not by much but anyway... Car prices here are nearly double compared to most other countries due to insane taxation.
@@markellii3093 I remember when I drove my drivers license 2nd phase test drive, I had been driving my grandfathers old 'round eyed' Lada 1300 which didn't have a brake booster. Whenever stopping you really had to stand on the brakes. When I switched the the new Volvo of the driving school, the first braking attempts were pretty abrupt to say the least 😂 The Volvo had feather light controls.
@@Munakas-wq3gp yeah, the steering booster will really change the experience too.
Been a mechanic 40 years. 4.6 minutes after you send the un needed part back the one you have will fail.
Not in our experience. We actually have higher regard for Lada Nivas than American cars. Jeeps etc.
@MikeJones-mz5ig who is we lol? Pretty sure he was speaking in general as well..
@@shivermetimbers9316I'm in Oz. Where they were once imported like Canada.
😂
The carb float on my 79 Lada broke off at the pivot arm. The replacement float that came from the Lada dealer came in a parts box that said "Fiat".
Those Lada’s often used licensed Italian parts. The whole car is a (redesigned) licensed fiat
Gas used to smell good because of the tetraethyl lead -- lead is sweet-smelling. Since unleaded gas is no more, it smells sour now. Try smelling avgas, you'll get that old sweet smell.
It even tastes different: when I was kid, I had a "summer place car", and I had to siphon fuel from my dad's Ford to keep running. So, I have plenty of experience of the taste(and plenty of lead in me...).
Avgas is still leaded and likely will be forever
@@fbboringstuff G100UL fuel is already flying.
And probably cancer too. No, thanks.
But seriously, thanks for the explanation.
It was a pleasure to see you actually working on a car and explaining the process instead of just talking about it. BTW... did you know that those cars came from the factory with a hand starting crank? They're redundant due to the North American mandated safety bumpers. There's a hole in the sheet metal behind the bumper to allow the crank (in the tool kit) to be inserted.
My father bought one brand new, then got an instant arm muscle excercise
trying to drive it.
They sold boat loads of them in the UK, if you couldn't afford one of the UK built
rot boxes you bought a Lada or worse still a Skoda !
They were crude but easy to service at home, the only issue was rust, they realy were bad
for it, as were most other cars at the time.
Advertised by comedians (Cannon and Ball). I just found an old advertisement and the major selling point seemed to be the £99 deposit.
@@MrDuncl That is why they sold so well, compared to the overpriced rust buckets from Ford etc
they were affordable, they were crude but surprisingly reliable, our neighbours Cortina would
fail to start on icy mornings but my fathers Lada always started.
You omitted Wartburg and Moskvitch, but admittedly that was in the 1970s.
@@HowardLeVert So were the Lada's but they were advertised more.
Cheap basic transport that was affordable and easy to maintain.
Barbarapape.Only stupid people bought them new, unable to have skills too buy a used car !
Freaks only !
We had plenty of lada's in the uk thay were cheep & reliable. I used to work on some i liked them and some had verneer adjustable distributor so you didn't need to unbolt it & move it to adjust the ignition timing. Great car's.
Yeh i used to remember loads of Riva's on the road, and pretty much overnight they all disappeared.
@@dj_paultuk7052
Russian ship's crews bought them and shipped them back to Russia for parts...YT vids showing a storm at sea with Ladas smashing into each other and falling overboard....
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk I have just been looking and in 1995 there were over 110000 registered in the U.K. By 2015 that was down to less than 200. By then a used engine was worth more in Russia than the whole car in the U.K.
@@MrDuncl
Here in New Zealand an Egyptian businessman (around 2007) arranged for two Egyptian mechanics to arrive in NZ on tourist visas.
They lived in a shipping container in a wrecker's yard and worked every day stripping all Ladas and Peugeots that were sent there for mechanical parts which were sent back home tp be sold all over Africa.....and Russia
That really cleaned out the last vestiges of the Ladas here which originally were traded by the USSR for our NZ butter in the 1980's
.
Which they then stripped out for butterfat etc. and on sold for more than it cost them originally...
and we got Ladas...especially Nivas.
I had one myself...on one occasion I drove through a West Coast river with water to the door handle on the upstream side....... driving past a Toyota Landcruiser flooded out......
32/36 DGV Weber carb off a Cortina gave it better torque response, the largest off road mud tyres possible without any suspension mods gave it the grip....and it surprised many people with where it could go and how well.....
These are the cars USSR people used to be on waiting lists for years. When I was there in 1995, the Russian policeman I talked to proudly stated he was due his new car in a few weeks. He said he was on a waiting list of two years.
fake news back in 1995 there was no soviet union
ironically 1995 is post soviet russia, the amazing liberal shock therapy westerners proudly proclaimed to be russia's salvation at the time
It was the same deal in our country Turkey, we had the smiliar cars based on the fiat 131 we had to wait months rather than years though! Its amazing how long Russian people had to wait! Here when they were new they costed around the same price as an apartment floor!
In the USSR, waiting was a way of life! My parents were telling me about how you enter your kids into the wait list many years in advance, so they can get a home closer to when they're ready to move out.
There was a joke about this. A man puts in an order for a new Zhiguli (Lada). He is told it will be arriving ten years from today. He notes it down in his calendar and asks whether it will be in the morning or the afternoon. The salesman says, confused: "It's ten years from now. Why does it matter whether it's the morning or the afternoon?" The man replies: "Well, you see, I already have a plumber coming to fix my toilet that morning."
My grandfather had a Lada 2100 Zhiguli in the Soviet Union we used to ride in. The cars are simple and easy to fix. I also visited Cuba a few years ago and they still buy them, at least the newer ones and they are more expensive than you'd find the Hondas and Toyotas since they make 10x more as drivers as Taxis than being doctors since they get hard cash. Great unique cars for what they are. Keep in mind you would have to wait 5-10 years in line to be able to buy one..and people complain about their cars and what we have here in the good ole USA..
IIRC that Lada was called the Lada Riva and was in production until 2012 at the Togliatti Plant. That car was based on the Fiat 124. In the Soviet Union it was the VAZ-2105 and there was a wagon version that was the 2104. There was also an SUV called the Lada Niva and I think that might still be in production. GREAT VIDEO!
Correct, although it wasn't called the Riva domestically.
@@yuris6125 Back there they call it the Zhiguli :) I remember my father had a lada station wagon in the 80's (the older model than this one) and it had 'movie tyres' meaning whenever you took a sharper turn the tyres started to howl like in the old hollywood movies :) We had a lot of fun driving it around the city sounding like we were racing it or something 😂
@@yuris6125 Riva in the UK, certainly.
@lvsqcsl
RIVA was the US name only, VAZ 2107 it is.
@@yuris6125 RIVA was the US name only, VAZ 2107 it is.
Thanks for the content car wizard, I got off regular TV around 2017 and found youtube content to be superior, I don't even know what shows are on the boob tube now. Thanks again being someone putting out good quality stuff along with the other people I watch. Big thumbs up. It wasn't forced getting off the boob tube it was just natural. I know it was 2017 because I watched Grimm and grimm had the final season.
GARAGE54 is looking for their Lada
Don't let them get anywhere near this one!
LOL
i really wanted him to start with "hey there fellas"
Great channel
@van_trippin5260 the only Vlad I want to hear from or about
When these were first imported into the UK, they had to have the brakes looked at. The wheel cylinders used to leak from new and did not pass scrutiny. Having spares is no bad thing.
I think they replaced the Russian tyres with a European quality brand and put decent friction material in the brakes.
I spent the first twelve years of my life in communist Czechoslovakia and remember long waiting lists for cars in the soviet block countries. A joke I heard that I liked about this was a guy in East Germany has been working hard and decides to buy himself a Trabant. When he orders it the salesman tells him it will be delivered in ten years time and asks him if he wants to take the delivery in the morning or the afternoon. The guy says make it in the morning, the plumber is coming in the afternoon.
One or Ronald Reagan's favorite jokes!
Classical joke, we knew it in USSR. In this variation also as a hint to German punctuality :). Jokes aside, if somebody told me back in USSR how long I need to wait sometime for a repairman now in Canada, I would think they are crazy.
An old soviet joke haha!
You could buy LADA instantly in Yugoslavia from dealers ,there was no wait .One old men in my neighborhood still have Lada that he bought like 50 years ago In second part off 80s Lada Samara was popular here .
If you drived small euro car in 70s and 80s you really did not want to crash in Lada becase their steal was way thicker
Hard to find a honest mechanic these days you definitely one of them.
This is why I still drive an old car. No computer or complex electronics, no warning christmas lights on the dashboard. Very easy to maintain and fix.
Is a multi carburetor engine really easier to live with than a port electronic fuel injected engine? I don't think so. Fuel systems got worse with direct injection. Cars were best between 1995 and 2010. They were worse before and worse after.
No joke there.
How old and how many miles. I drive 00 Xterra 2.4 with a manual. Personally, I like fuel injection and OBD2.
@@bindingcurve compared to the current model vehicles; your Xterra is a simple to fix dinosaur. :)
@@piercehawke8021 my coworkers call it a relic. But it still has a computer. Hell, my 1990 had a computer 🤣🤣🤣
Here in the UK, these were an object of derision when they were on sale. But a mate of mine had one and he reckoned it was the best car he'd ever owned - yes, it was crude, noisy and not well finished, but it was reliable and robust. He didn't have to worry too much about picking up parking dents and he discovered he could leave it all day in the railway station car park with the keys in it and he didn't have to worry about it being stolen.
15:00 it says ДААЗ (DAAZ) - "Димитровградский автоагрегатный завод" (Dimitrovograd auto parts factory). This factory was built in 1969 to - you guessed it - make parts for VAZ, and later for other Soviet car manufacturers.
VAZ, DAZ or DAG ZAS ort ZAG? Basicly the state all.
FIAT factory it is.
U can remove the drum using these aligning dowel pins. just wrap them in the threaded holes.
glad im not the only one who buys parts before fully inspecting
You should replace it all, disc brakes, Wankel engine etc !
It is good practice to keep vehicles clean, engine bay and everywhere one does repairs. Makes it easier to see what is going wrong when something does go wrong.
ВАЗ - “Волжки Автомобилен Завод”, Volga Motor Plants (named to the big river Volga that passes through the Volgograd - known mostly by its WWII name as Stalingrad) 😊. The carburettor box says exactly that “Carburettor repair kit” 😂
That was a funny spelling. Sounded a bit German almost. Here is the correct one."Волжский автомобильный завод". But who cares anyway?:) Had a similar car in the family for years.
@@KLUKVOBORApologies, I just studied “руский язьк” in school - I’m not native 😊
LADA A SWAN
During the first year I drove my first VAZ/LADA I was puzzled.
Why does it say "BA3" all over the car?
Until I realized "BA3" is "VAZ" in the russian/cyrillic alphabet. :)
@@KLUKVOBOR He spelled it in Bulgarian
Australia. Used to know a guy who was a Lada dealer back in the day. Trying to buy a stock of spare parts from Lada was an exercise in futility, so he bought extra cars which he used as his parts source.
Car Wizard, two things you should do to your Lada. #1 - Take the Russian Ozone carb off and chuck it in the trash, fit a Webber carb for better drive ability. #2 - Change the bearing in the Ignition distributor, they are a known weakness, and lead to drive ability issues !
Гораздо дешевле поставить российский солекс. В продаже есть кит комплекты.
Nothing bad with that Ozone carb, you can tune it up in any way. And if you really want to do replacement like you mentioned, you should consider that the Russian made Ozone and the Italian Weber carburetors have different stud layouts.
P.S. Distributor bearings are reliable as hell.😊
Now it's a huge shop for the best in the business. You have come a long way from the humble beginnings and I will say that you are still a great and honest mechanic and person!
03:03 The original (FIAT 124) had discs all around. And they made a version with the Lampredi-DOHC engine. That must have been a nice little car (I had two 124 spiders with Lampredi engines).
The Lampredi twin cam slots straight into these, it was a reasonably common upgrade for sleeper fans back in the 80`s & 90`s, you could even fit the "volumex" supercharger from the Lancia Beta or Fiat 131/Argenta. Top Gear did it (with Lotus) in the early noughties IIRC?
By the way, the Lada 2107 was produced until 2012 with virtually no design changes. Except that in 2003 they replaced the carburetor engine with an injection one. And Lada models 2107 and 2105 are very popular cars for winter street drifting in Russia. Kids simply weld the differential, find an empty parking lot, and let the fun begin.
It needs a flashier color and wheels. That how we Russians did it in the 90s.
VAZ translated from Russian means: Volga automotive factory
The colour's actually pretty great as background for the hammer and sickle decal.
Fiat twin cam engine lol
The car didn't need a LADA help. Wizard so many cars to troubleshoot. Amazed at the knowledge of all the cars.
The Wizard didn’t much appreciate his gift :-(
Customer has NO idea what is needed, but trust JOE the neighbor more than the mechanic. I have written estimates for things just like you and find out what was NOT needed. I had a customer ARGUE telling me the thermostat was causing overheating when radiator leaks would NOT. Asked if she had been adding coolant.......................Another customer wants estimate to replace knock sensor. We learn to ask proper questions sometimes and owner had no idea a tapping lifter was the problem, and not the knock sensor
My ideal car (that doesn't exist), has the ease of working on and maintenance as older cars, with modern safety features.
And no nonsese systems like GM Antitheft system
Nice to see the Lada from Robert here on this channel. As a german with 4 years of Russian in my schooltime I can still read everything but need a translator for almost anything. The Words in the Repairset are as follows: ремонтный комплект для карбюратора - Repairset for carburetor. The name VAZ or ВАЗ stands for Волжский автомобильный завод - Wolschskij awtomobilnyj sawod or in English "Wolga Car factory".
my mechanic has a big sign as soon as you walk in, "the parts you buy, you install in your garage, the parts we buy we install in ours" love it
The parts we buy and double the price.
Yeah my old mechanic had a standing policy of not installing owner-provided parts. Ran into too many problems with parts that didn't fit, or were wrong, or bad, and customers getting pissed.
@@dwilliams5334 blame the companies that charge for a monthly/yearly membership fee to be able to purchase parts from them for the upcharge
@@dwilliams5334 Feel free to put in the work to find reliable part suppliers on your own then and learn how to validate the parts before you install them. Even if you were charged double for the part, that is cheaper than paying twice for labor or more.
Doesn't fly around here where it's extremely competitive. Anyone can get OE parts from the same source as the local Euro mechanics do. FCP for example
Love Rob and Ageing Wheels! It’s really the only EV channel I really watch because he features some of the coolest stuff I have zero knowledge about 🤣
Back in the day there were a fair number of Ladas in Canada. Cars designed for Russian winters had no trouble with Canadian winters.
I was half expecting the purchase price to be stamped next to the VIN. Russian products were like that.
Yes, it took me long time to adjust to the world where price is not a set part of the product, probably stamped on the factory. 35 years on it still annoys me mildly that I need to shop for a price of the same thing from different vendors
I saw few when I arrived to Canada in 1993. My landlord had one in the past, just before my arrival switched to Jaguar, which then in 7 years I stayed was him never left a workshop, it seems, was constantly in repairs
Except for road salt in winter, these things had huge scabby rust blotches all over them in just a few years. One of my teachers had bought one new, 3 years laters, fist sized rust scabs on the passenger door, etc. She got rid of it and bought a Subaru.
Canadian regulation did that !
You should service it yourself, so iis the design made.
A valuable lesson - unless it needs replacing anyway, don’t throw parts at it
%The Car Wizard has been infected by Jeremy Clarkson and his hammer.
its Nuclear!
If you find something leaking it's best to clean it up and see how long it takes to leak again, that way you know how serious the leak is and can repair or monitor as required.
Is this your 1st new video that lets you work on Euro Supercars exclusively
He said exotic cars and a Lada certainly is exotic in the US :D
@@VolkerHett There now seem to be more in the USA than are left in the U.K where they sold them new. In 1995 there were over 110000 on the U.K's roads. Since 2015 there have been less than 200
Drum brake tip from an old Greybeard: always bevel the top and bottom of each shoe. This allows for full contact with the drum until they're fully bedded in. I noticed that these weren't. Thanx for all the interesting and informative videos, David! 😁
The 1991 Lada looks like one of the finest cars available in 1967.
I grew up in a family that didn't know much of anything about cars. In the 80s as a young boy, I'd see a Volvo 240 and I thought they were Russian until someone corrected me.
The only thing that Lada needs now is a dash cam. When I was in Moscow in 2003 they were everywhere on the streets, sidewalks, pathways through parks anywhere you could fit a Zhiguli on.
@ 17:25 todays ethanol gas kill carb gaskets and rubber stuff
Cheap Russian vodka too.
Gas has always killed fuel related stuff, making them hard and brittle... It's just better at it today.
Ethanol by itself isn't a problem, I actually converted a mini ike to run on E85 ethanol when I had access to the fuel and the carb and fuel lines were fine... Had it in there for 3 years before I put the stock jets back in and returned it to gas to sell.
@@volvo09 Rubber car parts made after 2000 should be ethanol resistant in general, but not before.
As we know on the lake with old carb outboards :(
@@volvo09 Ethanol absorbs water if left in the fuel system
I remember an acquaintance of my parents had the predecessor of this car (Lada 1500 GL). I drove it once. It lacked all, and I mean all sophistication. But I also liked its honesty. Steering was super heavy and indirect, the throttle and clutch were both on/off switches, making driving a thing you needed to do precisely. The gear box felt like a semi truck. But... it was spacious, luxurious (for the time) and it was reliable. And it rusted, we put on two new sets of fenders in 10 years time.
Love the "Russian" music when the car goes up and down on the lift!
Italian music ?
I had a rich running condition on a 1982 Toyota Celica with 22R that wouldn't lean out with adjustment and discovered the auxiliary pump diaphragm was leaking fuel into the mixture. Common problem on carbureted engines👍
VAZ is the manufacturer of the Lada, which served as its marketing name. It is based off the Fiat 124.
BTW Lada is the name for foreign markets. In USSR the car was knowн as Zhiguli (Жигули) which is a geographical area next to the city of Toliatti where the factory was. The city was named after Italian communist leader as the plans for factory location were finalized in 1964
FYI the Lada is based on the FIAT 124.
The Italians were commissioned as early as in 1966 to re-design their 124 sedan completely, then set up an assembly line, train the workers and give the people of Togliatti a product they could be proud of.
The VAZ-2101 was ready to hit the streets by 1970
You may also notice that the city was named after the Italian communist leader in 1964 just as it was decided to be the place of upcoming factory automotive factory for Lada's
Is that the car that Jeremy Clarkson couldn't dent with a hammer?
No, that's the Trabant.
It was.
Also the inside of the drum is cast iron, only the surround is aluminium for heat dissipation.
Why does a Lada have heated rear windows? To help keep the people their hands warm who are pushing it in the winter!!! 🤠👍
In Russia, Lada works on YOU!
(what? No one remembers the russian reversal???)
In Soviet Russian you don’t work on car , car works on you
Y. SMIRNOFF!!!!
Meanwhile, somewhere in Soviet Russia, some guy with a hammer ..
In Soviet Russia, you don’t hunt Bear. Bear hunt you.
In Mother Russia, you don’t break law. Law Breaks you.
DIY Tip: Whenever taking the bolts out of anything near the carburetor always manually set the choke closed before starting work. That will help prevent anything from falling into the intake.
This car is actually Italian, russians bought the brand later.
It's based on the Fiat 124 which VAZ bought the manufacturing license to. The lada has thicker steel used for the bodywork and heavier springs.
No. They made a shyte copy of one.
@@TheAllAroundManthe engine is later ohc fiat design, not russian
@@alexanderstefanov6474 I scrubbed that part of my comment thanks for the correction
LOL
David, I am a committed car guy and I have learned so much about shops and what they are up against from you!
Great video!
It looks like a early 70's Fiat.
That's because it is. VAZ bought the rights to build them in the Soviet union under the Lada name.
Watch James May’s cars of the people.
It is modified licenced Fiat 124 stronger body, OHC not OHV engine etc.
@@MK-bv6wn This one looks more like a 125. Slightly bigger than the 124, similar lines. I’m not big on the Lada’s though. Not sure if this one is based on a Fiat 124 or a 125.
It's a FIAT 124 ,
Ladas are great in that they're a '60s/'70s design which means if you're vaguely handy they're a perfect do-it-yourself car. I still use an '80s Lada Niva as my 4x4 because of the fact I can fix it in the middle of nowhere with basic tools, unlike like any vehicle with a computer. PS - you don't need to disassemble brakes to get the data about a leak, simply clean the leak stains off and see if the stains re-appear or not.
Driving an old Lada is an adventure even when it's running right! The steering wheel is more of a suggestion than anything, the suspension is a joke, it doesn't have enough power to get out of it's own way. Then there is the world famous Lada asymmetrical braking system that decides on it's own which wheel will be braking and when. Also, their owners are usually the Russian equivalent of Florida man.
Florida's man Russia named kubanoidy
My lada usually locked the rear brakes before the front ones, which were interesting on gravel roads 😂
@@papplet1
The brake proportioning valve mounted under the car was designed to fill up with mud and water and rust solid...
so yes...
no proportioned braking...
that would normally favour the discs up front with more pressure to the discs than the rear drums.
I'm glad that your LADA didn't need a LADA work
Gas used to smell nicer because of the lead, which is also why older cars ran better on leaded gas, they were made to run on it.
Perhaps this is the first of the 'exotics' Wizard will be dedicating his channel to, (because it's been his dream from day one. Remember?)
My French father in law bought one of these, and we drove it while on holidays in the country; my wife called it our Russian Mercedes it was poorly made and the doors were hard to close and leaked gas from the old fashioned glass dome topped fuel pump, I wondered why it was so heavy on fuel and luckily didn't catch on fire, but it got us through during one bad winter of snow and iced up roads on its big Russian tyres!
When I saw the thumbnail I thought another channel I follow bought a red Lada. Low and behold it's the same Lada. Robert has a great channel with awesome content! I've followed him since his early days of TH-cam.
Lada is a great name for a dog.
they were called zhiguli originally, but the british couldn't pronounce it
Only if it has vodka for breakfast....
Lada is actually a female name
@@shahramtondkarmobarakie1824 They were called Zhiguli in USSR through all Soviet times, not just originally. Lada was an export name
I remember looking at one of those brand new on the lot in 91…great little car for the money. I ended up buying a Niva the 4x4 sister to that car. Was a decent little machine.
As a former UAZ Patriot owner i can assure you - you don't cry over the parts you order in an advance/mistakenly. You will need them anyway anytime soon. Mostly very soon))))
You are absolutely right about today's gasoline. I have a 1973 Thunderbird and if it's over 85° I have to worry about vapor lock. And what a great design on a carburetor where you can just change the accelerator pump. Without taking the entire top of the carburetor off. These cars were made to basically fix with a hammer!
You know that the average Sovjet citizen had to wait 6-10 years to get one.
They took pride in their cars also and kept them for a long time.
If ordering new, and a person of no importance. If you get used/black market, or had some pull you could get quickly
They were a pile of shit. If you get a new one you have to disassemble and assemble it again otherwise you won't go far.
They all ended up in Cuba.
In the 70s, it was not like that later. My dad got his in 1982, sold in 2004 already in independent Estonia. The car I learned to drive on. And had my first accident 😂
Back in 1992 when I was in the University, one of my best friends own a white Lada Niva. It was the coolest car then, and a beast off road
I wonder if he liked the smell of leaded gasoline?
Love the smell of Tetra Ethyl Lead in the morning
I guess that's it. As I kid I really like the smell of gas exhaust ...
Love 2107…car is like tank…simple repair when needing…Has everything you need - nothing you don’t . Accessories- radio and ashtray 🙌🏼
That Lada is so fucking good looking
Looks like a shrunken Volvo 240.
Nice basic easy to fix car
Said nobody... Ever... LOL
@@Tsakinnen im in love with their boxy shape. So I said it.
The Italian s did well
Garbage in reality.
In my home country of Cuba, these were everywhere back in the 80s and 90s. People who owned them have told me that they are pretty good mechanically but in the tropical climate will start showing rust bubbles even when brand new because of the quality of the steel used by the Soviets. This one seems pretty solid in that respect.
In Soviet Russia, car fix mechanic.
It was my first car back in 1996. I got it from my father to drive to the university. Everything I know about basic car stuff is thenks to this. The repairs were super easy, but it was constant fixing. Still miss it today :)
Those fuses ouch, I remember pushing one in and it instantly melted, with my fingertip on the conductor- it took years for the scar to go down
2107 was my first rwd car and I did donuts after rain on parking lot. Seating position is bad but metal overall is strong. Thanks Wizard for this small history piece.
Nice to see the Wizard actually working on something vs just telling the story. Let's see more of it. :-)
We used to have a lot of these in the UK but they've all gone, not just to the scrap yard, but mostly back to Russia, same for the rest of western and central Europe. Was in the north of Scotland once back late 80's and Russian fisherman were coming ashore to buy Lada's to take home. The fishing boats would come in to load them on deck and take them out to the factory ships for the voyage home.
Export versions had some improvements over domestic ones, and were prized more back home
@@dmitripogosian5084also, they had a stricter quality control at the factory for the cars made for export.