| Disclaimer |
This page tells you how I lowered my Lada. There might be a better way.
Also please note that I can't be responsible if you hurt yourself or damage your car. Inform your
insurance company what you're doing. If they don't like it, get specialist insurance, it's cheap
and there's lots of adverts in the back of car mags.
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| Introduction |
The Lada suspension uses coil springs all round. To lower the ride height of the car you just fit
shorter springs. You can re-use the original shock absorbers as long as the ride height is not changed
too much. I don't know how much is too much. The shorter springs need to be uprated, because otherwise
the car will bottom out over bumps. Uprated springs will also improve the Lada's wobbly ride.
I couldn't find any aftermarket spring companies to supply parts for a Lada Riva, but luckily the Lada
suspension is similar to the Fiat 124, and I got a set of Fiat 124 springs from
Spax (part number S010041).
Remember, they fit my Lada but they might not fit yours! Order direct from Spax and you can return them if
they don't fit.
To fit the springs you'll need to get the old ones out, and this requires a special spring compressor
tool (actually a set of tools). I ordered mine from
Machine Mart, but you can get them anywhere. Buy
good spring compressors even if you normally buy budget tools!
|
| You Will Need |
Shorter springs
Spring compressor tool set
Socket set with breaker bar and torque wrench
Selection of metric and imperial spanners including 12mm, 13mm, 17mm, 19mm, 23mm, 3/4"
A 24mm spanner if you have Machine Mart spring compressors
Pliers, mole grips, pipe wrench etc
Selection of hammers, pry bars, drifts etc
Rubber mallet
Balljoint splitter (clamp type)
Axle stands
Two jacks (1 trolley plus 1 other)
The Haynes Manual (torque wrench settings, good illustrations)
Loads of other stuff I forgot
A whole weekend
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| Lowering The Front |
Lower the front first, it takes the most time. You can drive with just the front lowered (looks cool)
but the handling might be a bit suspect as the springs won't match. Do one side at a time.
Step 1 : The Preparation
Soak the following nuts/bolts in dismantly lubricant (e.g. PlusGas) the night before: Anti-roll bar mounts, lower wishbone
nuts (where it bolts to the crossmember), lower shocker bracket nuts, shock top nut, lower balljoint nut,
brake caliper attachment bolts, steering arm bolts, brake disc retaining spigots (those two things that stick through
the holes in the roadwheels), front undertray retaining bolts. Clean the exposed threads with a wire brush as this
will make the nuts come off a lot easier. Measure the wing-to-wheel-centre distance so you'll know how much the
car is lowered. Take a couple of pictures of the car so you can appreciate
how much better it looks afterwards.
Step 2 : The Pre-Stripdown Stripdown
Loosen the front wheel bolts. Chock the rear wheels, put the handbrake on and engage first gear.
Jack up the car and support the front
on axle stands under the crossmember. Don't rest the car on the undertray where it covers the crossmember,
you might need to remove this later. Make sure the car is solid. Remove the front wheels and those chrome
centre caps if they're fitted (they sometimes come off attached to the wheels). Remove the shocker lower bracket and the shock
top nut (might need to remove the air cleaner) and withdraw the shock out the bottom of the spring. At this point
you might discover you need to have the car higher to get the shock out. Now undo the two nuts holding the anti-roll
bar mount to the lower wishbone and pull the bar out of the way. The way to do this is to release it at the other
side as well. Slide the rubber up the bar a few inches out of harms way. If you believe the Haynes Manual, the next
step is to compress the spring, but I reckon you need to remove the steering arm to get to the lower balljoint.
It looks like it will be OK but believe me it won't. To remove the steering arm you need to remove the disc to
get to the heads of the bolts, so first job is the caliper. Undo the two caliper bolts, hitting the breaker bar
with a lump hammer seems to work or you can put a jack under it - don't jack the whole car up! Remove the caliper.
Make a big pile of
wood or bricks at the back of the wheelarch to sit the caliper on out of the way. Don't stretch the flexible
hose. Now undo the two disc retaining spigots. If the flats are rounded, screw one wheel bolt in, brace a pry bar to stop the
hub rotating, and use a pipe wrench on the spigot (or do this before taking the caliper off and get a helper to
press the brakes). The disc can then be removed by a combination of levering at the back and hitting with a (rubber!)
mallet - swearing helps too. Once the disk is off put it somewhere safe, and undo the two steering arm nuts.
The bolts heads need to be held with a spanner - that's why you took the disc off. Lever off the steering arm
and push it out of the way (helps if the steering lock is off). Right, now we can compress the spring!
Step 3 - Compressing The Spring
Fitting the compressor on the spring is not easy as there is not much room around the spring. I ended up putting
two compressors inside
the spring and another one outside, the other way up, on a couple of coils towards the rear of the car. I had
to remove the safety clips to get them to fit. It depends on what compressors you use.
Get the compressors around as many coils as you can, and try to space them equally around the spring. Once they're
in place (easier said than done, I promise you) tighten them equally until the spring isn't putting force on the lower arm, or
until you get scared.
My compressors can be driven from either a 1/2" square drive or with a 24mm spanner. I
tightened the two inner compressors using an extension bar from underneath, and the outer one using a spanner at
the top.
You need to compress the spring quite a lot.
Step 4 - Stripping Down The Suspension
OK so now you need to completely remove the 23mm nut on the lower balljoint, then split the joint. Getting the
splitter on is not easy but it can be done. Once the splitter is good and tight, hit the top with a lump hammer
(you'll need a long drift as there's no room to hit the splitter directly). After about 30 minutes when you have
hit your own hand several times and sworn a lot the ball joint will suddenly split. If you get dispirited have a
cup of tea then carry on trying - it WILL split in the end. I put a trolley jack under the lower wishbone with
about an inch clearance in case the spring wasn't fully compressed. Don't jack right up under the wishbone or
the balljoint won't release. Now undo the two 3/4" nuts which hold the suspension arm to the crossmember. You can
just about get a socket on with a short, slim breaker bar from above. Hit the end with a lump hammer, but make sure your 3/4"
socket is a good fit or you'll round the nut. If the bolts start turning you'll need to remove the front
undertray and wedge a screwdriver blade between the square head and the crossmember to stop it turning. Once the nuts
are off, lever the lower wishbone off with a pry bar, with a trolley jack underneath to catch it when it goes.
A large hammer also helps but watch those shims - they have to go on exactly the same as they came off. Try
holding them back with a bit of tape or some grease so they don't fall off while you're hammering. When all the bits are
in a pile on the floor, remove the spring and carefully remove the compressors a bit at a time. Phew!
Step 5 - Fitting The New Spring
Good news - the new springs are shorter and therefore easier to fit - you can get away with 2 compressors
inside the spring. Fitting it all together is the tricky bit. Compress the spring a bit (use your judgement)
and assemble the spring and wishbone on a trolley jack. Put the second jack under the balljoint, but not under
the grease nipple or it will break. If you're working in the road, put this second jack at an angle so you can
jack against the kerb as this will help. Mess about with the two jacks until the holes in the wishbone match
up to the bolts on the crossmember, then use the outer jack or a big hammer and drift to push the wishbone onto the bolts.
Swearing helps a lot. Don't forget all the shims. The bolts might push out the other side of the crossmember, so
remove the undertray if you
haven't already and hammer them back from the other side. The threads will get damaged a bit but there's no other
way as far as I can see. Make sure the anti-roll bar is not trapped the wrong side of the
wishbone or you'll have to take it all apart again. Watch the compressors don't foul anything, including the inside of the turret if they
stick up that far. Once the arm is on, replace the two 3/4" nuts, and tighten. After that, the balljoint is a
piece of cake, so do that as well then have breather. If the balljoint rotates, jack up the arm until the
taper engages and locks the joint. Torque all the bolts now as it will be really hard later. Remove the spring
compressors.
Step 6 - Putting All The Bits Back On.
Refit the steering arm, the disc and the caliper. Clean the disc first as it will have greasy fingerprints
on it - I use meths as it works well and I have some in the garage. Lever the brake pads apart slightly to
get the caliper on.
When refitting the disc don't forget the wheel spacer type thingy, and check it's all true by spinning
the hub. Don't refit the anti-roll bar until you've done both sides. Put the shock absorber back in - to get the
top nut on, jack under the wishbone until that side of the car is sitting on the jack, then put your weight
on the front wing as you lean into the engine bay. Bounce the car a bit if necessary, but remember not to push it off
the stands.
Step 7 - Doing It All Again
Now do it all again on the other side. When you've finsihed, refit the anti-roll bar, put the wheels back on and let the car off the
stands. Tighten the wheel bolts now before you forget. If the stance of the car is disappointing, check those
"before" photos and measurements to see what it used to look like. With the Fiat springs from Spax you should
have gone down 40mm. You might have to drive back and forth a bit to get the car to settle to it's new height.
|
| Lowering The Back |
Don't dispair, the back is much easier than the front. It'll probably take you around half a day with tea
breaks.
Step 1 : The Preparation
Soak the following nuts/bolts in dismantly lubricant (e.g. PlusGas) the night before: Shock absorber lower
mounting bolts, upper radius arm to axle, lower radius arm to body, panhard rod to body, propshaft
centre support to body, brake bias lever to axle casing. Clean the exposed threads with a wire brush as this
will make the nuts come off a lot easier. Measure the wing-to-wheel-centre distance so you'll know how much the
car is lowered.
Step 2 : The Stripdown
Loosen the rear wheel bolts. Chock the front wheels really well, put the steering lock on, jack up the car and support the rear
on axle stands under the rear chassis rails in front of the axle. Remove the rear wheels. Remove the shocker
lower bolt and push the shocker out of the way. Undo the prop shaft centre support as otherwise the axle won't come
down correctly. Position a trolley jack under the diff and raise the axle slighty.
Undo the bolts which hold the upper radius arms to the axle casing and push the arms
away from the axle. Disconnect the brake bias lever from the axle. Disconnect the
panhard rod at the body end. Finally disconnect the lower (long) radius arms from
the body. All the main bolts will be very tight and will require a spanner on the
bolt head to stop it turning. I found the best method is to fit a breaker bar with
a 3/4" socket on the nut, put a 3/4" spanner on the bolt head, then jack up the
breaker bar with a bottle jack. The bolt will rotate until the spanner fouls
something (e.g. the underside of the car). Continued jacking should release the
bolt. Not the official method but it works.
Step 3 - Removing The Springs
Do the springs one at time. Replace the first spring before removing the second one.
For each spring, lower the axle until the spring comes free. I found that the brake
lines went taut first so I compressed the springs a bit to get them out. I fitted two
compressors on the outside of the spring and it was relatively straighforward. Lever
the spring out with a pry bar towards the front of the car, then remove the compressors
from the spring.
Step 4 - Fitting The New Springs
The Fiat rear springs are not an exact swap - the length is half a coil different,
so the spring won't sit in the mounts. To solve this, pry out the top mount with a
screwdriver - you need to remove the metal part and the rubber part. Rotate the mount
180 degrees and refit, rubber part first. It's a tight fit so bang it home with a
hammer and drift. Now the spring can be inserted, with the aid of spring
compressors if necessary. I only needed to compress the first spring, the second
went on easily.
Step 5 - Putting All The Bits Back On.
As they always say in the Haynes Manual, "refitting is the reverse of the disassembly procedure", and in this case
that's pretty much true. Just remember to put all the bits back on and torque them up correctly. Dont forget
the prop centre support. If you have any
bits left over, start worrying.
Step 6 - Adjusting The Brake Bias.
The Lada uses a mechanical system to stop the rear wheels locking under heavy braking. When some plonker pulls out
in front of you and you stamp on the brakes, the rear of the car lifts, your mother-in-law's false teeth fall out,
and a mechanical linkage on the rear axle
operates a bias valve in the brake line which reduces the brake pressure to the rear wheels. If you lower the car,
this valve will no longer operate correctly and you will do dangerous but impressive rear wheel skids. To complete the
lowering procedure correctly you must adjust (i.e. bend) the linkage so it operates correctly at the new ride
height. Unfortunately I didn't get around to adjusting mine (oops) so I can't tell you how it's done. You're on your
own with this one. When I get around to doing it I'll post details here.
Step 7 - The Test Drive.
Choose your favourite route past lots of shop windows and check out your reflection! Also make sure the brakes work,
and do some cornering tests. After about 2 weeks of use, check nothing has come loose.
|
| Future Enhancements |
Once you have super race car suspension you will start driving your Lada harder and all the other shortcomings
of a Lada will become apparent. The following modifications are recommended although I haven't done any of them.
Fit wider wheels - Lada/Fiat stud pattern wheels with RWD offset are not the easiest to find but I'm told Fiat X19
wheels fit a treat. With all that extra grip you can now tackle roundabouts without having to carry spare underwear.
A rear anti-roll bar will help the handling, I have it on very good authority that a Fiat Argenta will yield just
the parts you need. Check these pics from the Hungarian Lada Club
1
2
3
4
5
6
7.
As you can see, the Fiat suspension arms are used, they need modifying slightly for clearance.
Adjust the front end geometry - the data on how to do that can be found at the Lada Louts
car preparation page. The camber
is adjusted by adding/removing shims behind the lower wishbone, so do this at the same time as lowering if you can.
More power - there is a Weber carb conversion available and you can play with cams etc but I reckon you're
better off with a larger engine. Either buy a more powerful Lada or fit a Fiat twin cam, like
John Beardmore did. A Rover V8
would fit, go on I dare you!
|
| Update 2006 |
Well the Lada has been "slammed" for about 4 years now, just thought I'd let you know what I've learned...
1) When you lower a car, you need to loosen off all the bushes in the suspension and retighten them with the car on the road at the new ride height. If you don't do this, the bushes will wear prematurely.
2) After lowering the car, get the wheel alignment done. Lowering can change the front end geometry.
3) Check you can still change a tyre with the standard jack. Do this from a completely deflated tyre. Otherwise you might be caught out by the roadside.
4) If you have old standard shocks, expect premature wear after lowering. Prepare yourself for the bill.
5) Stiffer lower suspension makes a good DRY weather car. Take care in the wet!
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