Niva 2131 tuning: how to improve the performance of the installed engine?

Exhaust system upgrade

Oddly enough, even upgrading the exhaust system can increase engine power. At the same time, we note one important point - the load value does not increase. Among the features of such work, we note the following points:

In most cases, tuning the exhaust system involves installing modern exhaust and intake manifolds.
Due to their special design, the collectors make the flow of air and exhaust gases freer. Therefore, resistance is reduced and efficiency is significantly increased.
In some cases, a resonator from the muffler is installed. Due to it, the process of removing gases is simplified, and the sound of the car is improved.

In addition, the muffler can be moved further to the rear axle. This also reduces resistance in the exhaust system and increases efficiency.

Suspension. Can't it be radically improved?

The VAZ-2121 suspension was quite revolutionary for the seventies - before the Niva, such technical solutions were not used in off-road vehicles.

The front suspension is independent, on wishbones, equipped with springs working in pairs and hydraulic shock absorbers. The design includes a stability stabilizer.

The rear suspension is dependent, with mounting to the rear axle beam and a Panhard rod. The suspension is provided by hydraulic shock absorbers and springs similar to those used in the front suspension.

The simplest and very justified step for those wishing to tune the Niva 2121 is to replace sets of springs and shock absorbers. The latest devices are now gas-filled, they are more reliable and handle irregularities better.

You can also recommend strengthening the shaft supports and the front and rear axles by installing special steel inserts - boxes, as well as increasing the ground clearance by using special inserts between the suspension elements.

All these measures will somewhat reduce the discomfort of driving on a bad road, slightly improve the ride and off-road qualities of the car, but they will not be able to radically change anything.

If you need really serious changes, you should think about replacing the rear suspension of the outdated Panhard system with a more modern independent design. This will not only improve the smoothness of the ride, but also significantly improve the vehicle's handling characteristics, especially on hard road surfaces.

Since the Niva is an all-wheel drive SUV, when tuning it is necessary to pay attention to the suspension. The first step is the Niva lift - increasing the ground clearance. This will create an impressive reserve for overcoming various obstacles. The concept of tuning the Niva 2121 chassis, as well as a suspension lift, includes:

Installation of spacers between suspension elements. You can make them yourself or buy them in stores.
Installation of shock absorbers "Rancho"
Installation of springs VAZ 2104
Strengthening the front and rear axles using steel boxes

The Niva 2121 suspension lift is a simple process from a technological point of view that can significantly increase the vehicle's cross-country ability. It must be remembered that lifting is directly dependent on the size of the wheels; the larger their diameter, the more significant modifications will be required. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a balance so that tuning the Niva 2121 suspension with your own hands does not turn into a headache.

Tuning of the Niva 2121 transfer case is also necessary, although this process is largely a refinement. The main problem is the backlash of the front and rear axle shafts. It can be eliminated by installing new components:

Bearings (it is better to install a double-row variety)
Lids
Valov
Flanges

A good solution would be to strengthen the shaft support. To do this, instead of the original flange, install a modernized one, which has an additional bearing and oil seal.

The second common problem with transfer case is leaking seals. The solution here is extremely simple, you should correctly install high-quality oil seals and the childhood disease of the unit will be eliminated.

The third problem is the correct alignment of the transfer case in the horizontal and vertical plane. This is necessary to reduce vibration and, accordingly, wear of the moving parts of the unit. You can do the alignment manually, but it takes a lot of time, requires patience and the result does not always meet expectations.

We carry out work on the oil pump

In order to increase the service life of the installed engine, work is often carried out to modernize the oil pump. There are several recommendations on how to carry out such an upgrade. In this case, you will need another pump, from which you will have to cut off a part of the housing with a parting plane. When carrying out this work, it should be taken into account that the thickness of the resulting pancake should be about 11 cm. After this, the milling process removes the excess so that the thickness is about 10 cm.

The next step in modifying the pump is to remove the chamfers on the edges of the teeth. To do this, the following work is carried out:

The drive gear is being dismantled.
One of the gears is trimmed by 0.75 mm on each side.
The second gear, after trimming, is cut to 11.5 mm.

All the above operations should be repeated with other gears.

Further work involves changing the body. For this:

It is necessary to free the driven gear axis.
A drive roller is used to form a longer axis.
The formed axis is inserted into the resulting housing.
The previously obtained narrow gear is pressed onto the second drive shaft.
The next step is to install the wide gear.
A narrow gear is installed in the housing.

By upgrading the design, it is possible to eliminate the possibility of gears turning relative to each other, thereby increasing the efficiency of the design.

Sidebar: Important: A more efficient pump will move oil faster.
It is oil starvation that often becomes the reason why the engine quickly becomes unusable.

Do-it-yourself turbine installation in Niva

Engineers have long been of the opinion that it is the turbine that provides a surge of greater power due to the active enrichment of the mixture. It is worth considering that installing a turbine is not a complicated modification, but the high cost of the compressor may become an obstacle to such tuning.

The design of the installed turbine is usually quite simple:

The central part is a shaft that receives rotational motion.
The impeller of the supercharger and turbine is installed on the shaft.
The exhaust gases become a kind of drive, which also makes it possible to significantly increase the efficiency value.

The fact that the shaft does not receive rotational motion from the crankshaft itself or related mechanisms can significantly increase the efficiency of the installation and its power. It is possible to install the turbine yourself, but due to its relatively high cost, about 40,000 rubles for the simplest model, it is better to entrust the work to professionals.

Replacing the standard crankshaft with a modernized one

Another common tuning method is installing a lightweight crankshaft instead of a standard one. This kind of modification requires partial disassembly of the internal combustion engine design.

The features of this type of tuning include the following points:

By reducing the shaft mass, the design efficiency is significantly increased. This is because the motor requires less energy to rotate it. Lightweight versions of the crankshaft still have high strength and reliability, which are achieved by using special alloys at the time of their manufacture.
The power of the power plant is also increased by increasing the stroke of the rods. This is due to the fact that due to this, the volume of the combustion chamber increases slightly, and the force released during fuel combustion is greater.
Many experts recommend replacing the piston rings at the same time.

Such modifications allow:

Increase power.
Increase smoothness.

However, it is worth considering that as the rod stroke increases, the fuel consumption rate also increases. In addition, an increase in the amount of released energy causes increased wear of the structure.

Refinement of the gas distribution mechanism

The timing also largely determines the power and other technical features of the engine. Tuning the gas distribution mechanism consists of increasing the diameter of the valves followed by sealing. As practice shows, such modernization allows increasing power by almost 10%.

In many cases, when improving the engine part in question, the pushrod is replaced. Its improvement consists in increasing the intake and exhaust tappets, which can significantly increase the engine power rating.

The modifications under consideration make it possible to improve the smoothness of the ride, reduce wear of parts, and significantly increase the power rating. Of course, there are other methods of engine modification that can achieve attractive values. An example is the case of modifying the oil pump, which also makes it possible to make the engine more torquey.

Boring the cylinder block of an installed engine

Rarely, but still, cylinder boring is carried out. Today, not many people carry out such tuning, which is associated with a fairly large number of various disadvantages:

The complexity of the work determines not only its high cost, but also the likelihood of a defect, due to which the work period is reduced. Of course, modern equipment allows you to check the correctness of the geometry, but this indicates that it is impossible to do without the intervention of specialists.
Due to boring, the volume of the cylinder block increases, which means that much more fuel is burned over a certain period of time. In other words, the tuning in question causes an increase in fuel consumption.
When boring, other structural elements of the internal combustion engine are also replaced. This also causes a significant increase in the cost of work performed.
When metal is removed, the walls become thinner and the load increases. This leads to the fact that the engine lasts much less, and the heat transfer process worsens. Therefore, with such tuning, problems may arise with the operation of the motor under load.

With so many different problems that arise when boring an engine, power increases insignificantly. Many other tuning methods can also increase this figure without reducing the service life of the structure or increasing fuel consumption.

Carburetor modernization is a common Niva tuning option

The carburetors installed by VAZ are, to put it mildly, low in efficiency. That is why many people start tuning by changing this element. The features of the work carried out include the following points:

The pump accelerator nozzle is being updated. It often causes air turbulence, which reduces the efficiency of mixture enrichment.
In almost all cases, a jet with an indicator of 1 cam is replaced with 2 cam. This also allows you to significantly increase the efficiency of the carburetor.
It is recommended to clean all unevenness and roughness, as this leads to increased air resistance during operation. For this, files and sandpaper are used.
The structure should also be cleaned of various soot or other combustion products. This may require a special cleaning agent. Some craftsmen use special baths to remove dirt.

In the case where an injector is installed, it is almost impossible to carry out modifications yourself. Only a professional who knows the features of such a design will be able to change the basic indicators to increase power or reduce consumption. Self-tuning in this case can lead to serious malfunctions.

Expert opinion

Anton. When I bought the Niva for fishing trips, I was initially pleased; it couldn’t be compared to my sedan in terms of cross-country ability. But after some time I realized that due to insufficient power, I still needed to look for easy ways. Friends advised us to modernize the engine or install a new one. There was no money for a new one, but I was able to modify the already installed one.

Victor. VAZ is not famous for its engines, and Niva is proof of this. Almost all installed models have very low efficiency, reliability, and wear resistance. Many people talk about high maintainability, why would it be if the design did not fail so often. Therefore, I installed a different engine on my Niva and did not regret the choice.

Alexei. Niva is Niva: noisy, does not stand well on the highway, there is no comfort, but off-road you feel comfortable. I began to modernize mine gradually, and it came down to the engine. What can we say: there is a lot of work, almost everything requires improvement, it is not a fact that the tuning performed will lead to the desired result.

Maksim. I did the tuning myself. I started with the simplest thing - replacing consumables with better ones, then it came to more complex work. Of course an increase of 30 hp. cannot be called significant, but it also allowed me to feel more confident on the road surface.

Interior improvements

Most Niva 2131 4×4 owners do not like the operation of the car’s standard heater. Due to the fact that the car interior is almost constantly cold in winter, many of them resort to solving this issue on their own. Some people change the standard interior trim, choosing modern materials for reupholstery. Others take a simpler route and install a centrifugal fan, which can be “borrowed” from a VAZ 2108.

Modification of the standard stove of Niva 2131

First, to modernize the Lada stove with your own hands, you will need to purchase a “snail” from a VAZ 2108. Then you can start doing the work. We dismantle the upper grille of the Niva’s interior, after which we take the “snail” and cut off all the protrusions from it. You need to make 2 cuts in the upper casing of the SUV. Then we lower the “snail” so that its exhaust is directed downward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TArQwdGdLTg

The next stage of tuning will be warming up the “snail”. To do this, take a hairdryer and heat the part, after which it must be compressed. To control the stove, you will need to take a 10-position switch from an old radio station. The resulting heating system can be connected to the battery via a separate relay. After this, the interior of your VAZ 2131 4×4 will always have a comfortable temperature.

By upgrading the interior, many car owners try not only to increase the level of comfort of the vehicle, but also to emphasize their individuality. There are many options for improving the interior of your car.

This is the easiest way to tune the interior of a Niva 4×4. With prolonged use of the car, the seat upholstery becomes dirty, wears out and loses its aesthetic appearance. Reupholstery requires a lot of time, certain skills and considerable costs. Today, car shops offer a wide range of car covers made from high-quality materials in various shades, which greatly simplifies the selection of the necessary accessories.

As already noted, many people do not like the operation of the stove in the car; it does not heat the interior well enough. One option is to replace the interior trim using modern thermal insulation materials. Another option is to install a centrifugal fan, which is used on the VAZ-2108.

To improve the operation of the stove using the second option, you will need:

Buy a “snail” from a VAZ-2108.
Remove the interior grille.
Cut off the protrusions from the acquired “snail”.
Lower the part with the exhaust pointing downwards.
Pass the tube from the “snail” to the air inlet. Air will then circulate through this tube.
Warm up the device.

Also interesting: VAZ Niva 2121 tuning recommendations

You can connect the heating system using a separate relay connected through the battery. Thus, it is possible to achieve a comfortable temperature in the cabin during the cold season.

Despite a wide range of modifications, the Niva's interior requires improvement. When tuning the Niva's interior you need to:

produce high-quality sound insulation using modern technologies and materials;
secure the torpedo better, eliminating squeaking when moving;
improve the interior trim, it is advisable to get rid of the original plastic, which tends to crack;
A good advantage for the driver will be an armrest, a comfortable steering wheel, and pedal pads.

It all depends on the wishes of the owner. You can improve the heating system and install seat heaters.

conclusions

Engine improvement work is the most costly and problematic. However, even with a modern suspension and a comfortable interior, it will be quite difficult to enjoy driving the car. This is due to the fact that the lack of proper traction has a bad effect on cross-country ability; the car begins to stall when overcoming difficult terrain. Do not forget that some modifications can significantly increase wear resistance and other qualities.

Many experts recommend upgrading the motor in stages: from simple to complex, if possible. Of course, during significant dismantling, all available work should be carried out so as not to repeat disassembly and assembly work again. If you do not have the necessary skills or equipment to carry out the work, then it is best to entrust it to professionals. This is due to the fact that even if the operation of such a complex mechanism as an internal combustion engine is incorrectly adjusted, operation for several minutes can lead to critical damage to the main elements.

Experts' comments

Michael. We provide services related to engine chip tuning. Some customers assume that the process is simple and can be done independently, which only requires a computer, adapters and special software. As a result of independent work, the engine may become completely unusable due to mistakes made, which should not be forgotten.

Stanislav. They gave me chip tuning of the Niva engine. At first I thought for a long time about how to increase the power, otherwise the car behaved somehow poorly off-road. Friends recommended trying to flash the installed on-board computer. I'm quite pleased with the result.