Putting aside the associated stigmas for a moment has anyone considered using Lada engines? There must be millions of them to be had for next to nothing

same thing for sierras, which most of the kit car industry supports..........so where would the advantage be for a lada?

atb

steve

Thought Ladas where getting scarce as they are exporting them back again?

Seems there's a big market for them as runners or spares in East.

I've seen a few transporters full of them heading for Hull docks for export.

I don't think they are very good engines either. That's being very polite.

I'm sure there is a locost manufacturer somewhere that bases their cars on a lada. Somewhere in europe. Cant remember the name for the life of me though.

There's a company in Estonia who make them http://www.racetech.ee/a/

I looked at the possibilities of importing some of their bits but although the exworks prices are cheap the transport kills it. I work for a company that specialises in moving goods to/from Eastern Europe and still couldn't get the transport costs down enough.

They are a strong, basic engine. With the emphasis on Basic!

They will work well in adverse condition when other cars get temperamental, but are not known for their power or tuning potential.

The back axle is supposed to be worthwhile - very much like the Escort, but a fair bit stronger (probably for the bad Russian roads!)

David

the front susspension is double wishbone needing just 3 bolts to fit too, ideal for off road racing such as grasstracking, i used this set up for ages, spares where 10 a penny, knock a front corner off, 3 bolts, new one on......

Dave Walker in CCC was almost tugging himself off over LA Gold's (Link) that use Lada parts. Recond they were jolly well sorted.

Neil.

...oh yeah, weren't the engines the SOHC Fiat ones (x1/9, Strada et al). I've never heard anyone turning their nose up at a Lada engine saying "I'm not touching that, it was designed by the bloke who did Ferrari's F1 engines"

There are various Lada's around with DOHC conversions. Guy Croft's book "Modifying and Tuning Fiat/Lancia Twin-Cam Engines" has got various examples.

Iron block/alloy head.

Cheers,

Neil.

With that logic you would be driving a sinclair C5.

Same bloke brought computers to the home, invented the pocket calculator, the first integrated circuit audio amp, etc.

But hes remembered for the C5......




atb

steve

Mr sinclair is a bloody legend in my books. Spectrums were great in the day.

Lada engines may be ok to a point but the real weakness would be the gearbox, it is the small Fiat box, whatever model I don't know, but as soon as you put any real power into it it will fail. Guy Croft can give you the low down on that one.
The Fiat 131 box on the other hand is V good and can take a reasonable tuned engine, it also has the added benefit of having the same bolt pattern, clutch fitment as things like the Fiat Twin cam and Lancia Integrale Turbo rocket.
Nick

Bloody hell. Watch wjat you say here, you may end up giving someone ideas!!!

The ideas are all mine and I reserve the right to suffer the heart ache of putting the thing in the car.
Nick

The lada engines were one generation behind the X19/strada/uno lumps and gave less power and a lot less economy. The original fiat engines were a dream to drive, being revvy and reliable, but the lada derivative were made less well, not being balanced (as all the fiat ones were), the fastener quality was abysmal as were the castings. If you touched any bolt, your were almost guaranteed to have to helicoil the hole!

The gearboxes were said to be weak, I disagree, yes, they lost 3rd gear syncro after about 30K, but they all did! If you cannot double declutch, stick to a mondeo. The power handling was more than adequate for the abarth models, the gearboxes were no different internally, and only differed in the stick location.

I would have loved to use a fiat engine in my car but the hastle of sorting a rear drive from a FWD engine was a little daunting. Fiat have not made a RWD (front engine) car in 21 years.

I still may fit a 2.0 ie Chroma engine to my car once the SVA thingy is out of the way