Main info

This page is all about my 1993 lada niva 1600 (also known as a VAZ-2121). Here you will find a diary of my progress to restore my niva to a condition that is fun to drive, as well as many references to information about the vehicle. If you are looking for insight to restoring this vehicle, want to follow a restoration story, or are just looking for information to restore your own vehicle, this is the page to be!

To your left is a menu column, if you arrived here by mistake you can use the menu button to return to the homepage. It also has hyperlinks to take you to different places along the restoration timeline, as well as a dedicated section called "resources" at the bottom.

Here in the resources area you will find many website links (via wayback machine) to various other amazing persons who have also restored their niva 1600, however please note pages of information are missing from them because they havent been fully archived, and they no longer exist :(

You will also find various manuals for the vehicle. You will find original raw scans produced by me, FoxyBlep, and PDF edits of the scans I made, as well as other manuals produced by other people. Every manual ever printed for the 1600 has an online version for it, all catalouged here.

Immediatly below this is the start of my restoration story. It begins when i first saw it and fell in love with it, and me bringing it home.

Restoration Diary

June 5th, 2024: Getting the Car

I picked up the car! This is a 1993 Lada Niva 1600 (VAZ-2121). A very cute little car. I brought a transport trailer with me, because I suspected it didn't run. The farmer I bought it from said it ran when he parked it last, but he told me the alternator was fried. Because of this, I assumed the battery would be dead, and even a boost probably wouldn't be able to start it. I was correct! It wouldn't even turn over. Loaded it onto my trailer and brought it home. I don't know how much this little car will cost me, I'm going to plan to start with the basics and go from there!

June 6th, 2024: Cleaning with preassure washer

Today I cleaned it a bit! I did not know it would be so white! It almost shine in the sunlight dispite the rust. Got all the mud and cobwebs off it. It's absolutly disgusting inside, I see remnants of mice. This will need a super deep clean eventually, for now I just want to make sure it can go.

June 7th, 2024: Parked!

Here it will stay for a long time, since I am in the middle of moving and still have a job! Days off starts soon and will resume then! Next to the car is a trailer, this is my makeshift workbench if I need it :3

June 11th, 2024: Bought some parts!

Went to my local auto store to see what parts they would have! I was expecting to need to pay a hefty price for shipping costs from it's motherland, russia, due to the war and such but nope! Local store had it all! OE Spark plugs, A spark wire set, New Battery, and an Oil filter! I also purchased some original manuals, so that I can try to find out part numbers for the rest! So far I'm well under what I thought I would have had to pay thank to no shipping! :D

June 14th, 2024: Bought more parts!

The manuals I ordered haven't arrived yet, but I took off the old Belt, Alternator, and Air filter, and brought them to my local shop and they had them in stock! Using my translations of the words and guessing and the faded numbers, we were able to get part numbers sooner and I could bring home more supplies! I also brought with me the old battery, because then I get my core charge back for both the old alternator and old battery! I also had them replace the old lock nuts and bent bolts, for almost free, and placed it in the back of the car with the rest of the stuff. I'm still unpacking, and when I'm not I'm at work, but my day off is tomorrow and I'm excited to work in it!

June 17th, 2024: Blood sweat and tears

A few technical difficulties that I don't want to mention here, but the before and after of the air filter tray is stunning! I already took out the old air filter, spark plugs, and spark cable set. I will install those tomorrow if my hands heal!

June 18th, 2024: Cleaning the carberettor

I am a little confused about what model I have, I don't know where any identification is yet, the manuals should arrive soon. From what I could tell, I have a 2121 or 21211. However, in either model I am supposed to have a choke but I don't? And I have a radio when I'm not supposed to? And why do I have two antennas? And I have a second tank of washer fluid? What is that for? I don't know, but I'm hoping my manuals will answer these questions! I'm having family this weekend over though, not much time before I am busy again!

June 20th, 2024: Installing the new belt and alternator

I placed the new alternator in it's position and placed the belt over it today. I decided to not fully install it because I don't know how to connect the alternator. I noticed when I took the old alternator off that only 2 of the three plugs were connected. I don't want to fry the new alternator so I'm going to wait with the electrical, and the belt will be loose for now. The alternators are very hard to reach, and an absolute pain to get out of their crevice. Also very expensive!

June 22nd, 2024: Manuals arrived!

Didn't do much on my care this day, still had family over but I had some spare time to scan and upload the manual to the website! It's down below! I will edit it later. I also had some time to read it a bit as well, have to be careful with such an old document but I think I know where to look on my car for model version

June 23rd, 2024: Found my car models!

Good news and bad news. The good news is that I know now my car models! Bad news is, yes, there is more than one model in my car. This explains the incosistent features I found before. My entire dashboard is from a 2101, and my engine is from a 2109! My body is an original 2121 like I thought because of the lights. I feel a sudden lack of motivation, repairing this car got a lot more difficult. I dont' know why I assumed all parts would be original, I knew that this Lada shared parts with other Lada cars, I was expecting that I would need to take other Lada parts and use them in this car, but for some reason never figured someone else would have already done that! It's ok thought, it will run even with a different cars engine, I just need to buy more manuals, study them and connect their pages together to make sure it's all assembled properly. This is very doable! Just very hard... closing the hood for now :(

June 24th, 2024: Removing the dahsboard and studying electrical

Motivation is back! I opened the hood again and studied as much as I could while I wait for the extra manuals I ordered to arrive. These manuals are rare and very expensive! That's why I'm handling them with car and scanning them for preservation, and sharing them online so that others don't need to pay thousands on manuals! If they could even find them. I took off the dashboard and... Oh that is a mouse nest of wires. Nope, hood back down will tackle this when I have some manuals to hold my hand.

June 25th, 2024: Moving the vehicle to a new spot

Unfortunatly I have been a bit too busy to work on my vehicle lately, however I was told my vehicle was not allowed to be parked where it was! It is supposedly too close to the other property, so I pushed it on the road in front of where it was. It's still not on my property or in my way, and this new parking spot is allowed because anyone can park on residential roads. I am still waiting for those manuals, I am scared of the wiring in this vehicle. Instead, I have been working on some carpenty. Building a desk, a Bed, a Dresser, a Shelving unit, and a Nightstand.

Resources

Here are some resources! There are a collection of various manuals and amazing websites of restoration details and communities. Feel free to absorb any information you find relevant! I do recomend using "page fit" option when veiwing the PDFs as it fits the screen better.

All manuals are for the VAZ 2121 (and it's side models, the 21211, 2121 special make, and 21212, which are all nearly identical but their differences are included in these manuals) The manuals I have are NOT for the VAZ 21213 or newer!

The VAZ 2121 is the first niva version, it's last production year was 1993, when the newer 21213 was produced along side it. You can tell the 2121 and its side models apart from the newer 21213 and beyond easiest by the tail lights, horizontal is 2121, vertical is 21213 and beyond

Copyright rules: thinking about them. I honestly don't care what you do with my stuff, spread them with butter if you like, but you may need to follow copyrights already set by others? Be responsible I guess, these manuals are not available to avoid other copyrights, they are available here for acrhival and preservation purposes

Before you click the link to access the manuals, I advise reading more below. It explains what the file types are and the manual types. Access link to the navigation pages for the manuals:Resources

There are 5 Manual types currently archived for the VAZ 2121:

• Instruction manual: This manual is given with new owners of the car. It includes description information, rules, how to use the appoitments, how to drive it, and basic maintence instructions.
• Repair manual: This manual is given to workshops, it is an extremly in depth manual for troublshooting and repair every aspect of the car. It is not usually given to the car owner though. If you are an owner planning to make your own repairs, or would like to give this manual to your local repairshop to help, this manual may be of use to you. I personally have found the this manual to be priceless.
• Parts manual: This manual is a simple collection of exploded diargams of different systems in the car, with the only goal to identify OE part numbers. I haven't had much success with part numbers crossing over at my local part supplier, but it can be helpful on google. I think this manual was also given to workshops, but I'm not certain.
• 3-in-1 Manual: This is simply the three manuals found above, combined into one edited PDF for easy printing. No new info not found in the edited PDFs of the other three. Page numbers and table of contents have been updated as well.
• Diagram Manual: This manual has colored diagrams and cross sections of majoy systems, but I'm not sure what model it's for.

There are various file versions for these manuals, explained below:

• Raw Scan:The first file under the file section of the first three manuals is a raw scan directly from my printer of the original manual, produced by me, FoxyBlep. This is basically as clsoe to getting the original book you can get without actually having it.
• PDF Edit:The second file under the file section of the first three manuals is a PDF version of the scanned manual manual. This PDF is created by hand by me, FoxyBlep. It contains footnote translations (translations provided by me, FoxyBlep, to the best of my ability) and includes comments by me, quotes from other comments, a Table of Contents and a Table of Figrues. There is no information missing from the original scans, just added information and a better formatting for printing. I recomend using this file, though it may not be perfect I am still updating it.
• Other Files:Any files past the second file under the file section of the first three manuals are any manual(s) produced by anyone else, if there are any. Their soruces included. My issue with these is that they seem to have pages missing, and no longer receive any updates, but are otherwise fine to use.

Websites:

• Baxters Temple (Via Wayback Machine): http://web.archive.org/web/20191226092312/http://ladaniva.co.uk/baxter/NivaMainPage.htm Unfortunatly it is no longer operated, only portions of it are archived so stuff is missing. This is a gathering of communities and resources.
• Davids Restoration(Via Wayback Machine): https://web.archive.org/web/20180410094344/http://ladaniva.co.uk Unfortunatly it is no longer operated, only portions of it are archived so stuff is missing. This is a diary of davids restoration progress accross time.