Another Newbie

[Aaron]

G'day,

I've just recently joined and have finally got a chance to introduce myself.  I live in Perth, Western Australia

I have recently aquired a 1991 FSM Niki 650 for my weekend tinkering, with the aim to restore to something of a plaything.  I've always had a hankering for microcars, but their availability in Oz is few and far between, my first being a very suicidal Suzuki LJ50V which taught me two things:
1. Oil injection systems on two strokes should never be trusted.
2. All the love and care in the world can't stop rust once the tin worm has set up shop.

I've also had a fascination with older engineering, particularly eastern block engineering, which lead me to own 3 Lada Nivas over 18 years, (and to wear a Vostok Komanderskie mechanical watch on my wrist), recently having an 2 year hiatis while I've played with a capitalist Jeep Cherokee.  However, the eastern european car bug has never really left me, so I recently decided to give a Niki a go as
1. They're at that point down here, where there's still a few around but it is decreasing and they're still cheap to get.
2. The price of available ones is starting to rise
3. Hey they're cute enough in their own way and I'd always had looked on them fondly whenever I was at the Lada dealerships (they were sold at Lada dealers here in Perth for a while).

Photos of the pair are located here:
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad182/aaron_massey/
I'm planning on fixing the bodge job they previous owner has done on the rust below the windscreen and take out the dent in the rear and tart it up to a daily driver standard.

Aaron

[Hobbes]

Hi Aaron
I had a Lada Niva for my first car. People like to bag the old Niva but mine was pretty reliable. It was neat having a hand crank too! 
Your parts car looks OK too. Or is there a lot more rust hiding? 

[Aaron]

Heaps of rust particularly being hidden by copious amounts of bog.  It no longer looks like that now.  It's pretty much waiting for Sims to come and collect it I've ratted it of all useful parts.  Also cut out the windscreen channel and the left rear quarter.  Both to help with the repairs on the good one.  I was going to take the right quarter as well but my god they're a bugger to get off and the foam /glue they use inside where the rear parcel shelf meets the outer skin is very very strong!  Will use the forthcoming long weekend to finally get stuck into the good one.

Yeah having the old crank handle was a good talking point, but what many people forgot was that it was also necessary to tension the cam chain correctly.  Flicking the engine over on the starter just got the tension all wrong.  All three of mine were pretty reliable(really should have been considering I had them for 18 years - or am I just sadistic?), my last one was a 1997 EFi model which I picked up for $700, unlicenced with a broken gearbox, kept that for about 3 years and really only gave up on it because getting anybody who could do repairs on it properly was becoming extremely difficult.  I used to spend equal amounts of time 'fixing' professional repairs as what the 'mechanics' did.  The final straw was when a newly repaired front wheel bearing siezed on Canning Hwy the week before Christmas, not more than an hour after collecting it from the repair shop.

I've seen your youtube vid of the electric conversion - very nice, what sort of a range are you getting out of it?

[Hobbes]

Yeah when I had my Niva did all  my own servicing. Did get a local mechanic to replace one of the CV boots after changing the first one!
I have not really tested the range on my electric conversion yet. Should be able to do about 30-40kms on my small Lead/acid pack. Furthest drive I have done was 25km.