Niva tuning: 145 photos of ideas on how to improve the VAZ 2121 with your own hands

What can and should be done

Types of modernization work:

1. Make noise insulation of the interior;
2. Change seats;
3. Re-upholstery;
4. Install a “non-native” dashboard;
5. Remodel or replace appliances;
6. Cover with film (carbon, wood, aluminum);
7. Make neon interior lighting;
8. Install electric windows;
9. Replace the rear side windows with opening ones;
10. Install air conditioning;
11. Cover the floor with aluminum;
12. Carry out auto sound preparation;

You can read more about much of this list in the Interior Tuning section.

To imagine the entire scope of work on internal tuning and visualize the result of such changes, we recommend looking at the corresponding photos and videos at the bottom of the page.

Chassis tuning

• The entire chassis has been rebuilt
• Vacuum brake booster 21214m
• New pedal assembly
• Hydraulic handbrake
• Clutch slave cylinder from 2123
• Clutch VALEO
• Gearbox link from Chevy Niva
• Electric transfer case
• 2-row transfer case bearings
• Stretcher
• Uncoupling the front gearbox
• Cardan shafts with CV joints
• power steering
• Rear disc brakes

Often, Niva-21214 owners perform wheel tuning. Standard wheels are only good for driving on dirt roads. Therefore, usually, wheels with an increased diameter are installed instead. For the work to be successful, it will also be necessary to lift the suspension and widen the wheel arches.

Another option for increasing ground clearance is installing Y-192 “mud” tires on standard wheels. As a result, the ground clearance of the Niva-21214 increases significantly, making it possible to drive on rough terrain. Finally, by lowering your tire pressure, you won't have to worry about your car accidentally getting stuck in deep sand.

Interior improvements

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.

Another example of cool tuning of a VAZ 2121 on your own

This car is distinguished by its simplicity of design, easy accessibility to all components and mechanisms, as well as its increased reliability.

If you wish, you can do the tuning of the Niva yourself. To do this you will need:

• have your own garage for work;
• purchase the necessary tools, become familiar with the production process that should be performed;
• consult with specialists; advice from a highly qualified specialist can protect you from possible troubles.

By completing modifications to a car on their own, a person can verify the quality of the work performed, receive great pleasure from the achieved result, and save his money.

If you have insufficient experience, you can involve a master in performing important operations, and become his assistant yourself.

In this case, high-quality work will be done at minimal cost to the family budget.

Also interesting: Repair and replacement of Niva Chevrolet power windows, as well as connection methods without ignition

Modern tuning of Niva 21213

Not so often, but still among Niv owners there are those who do not ignore such “noticeable parts of the interior” - such as the instrument panel, dashboard and the instruments themselves. Which, in turn, can either be slightly modified (for example, changing the color of the scales or the backlight of standard sensors), or completely replaced with others, both from domestic cars and parts from foreign cars.

How to make a dashboard with your own hands?

The process of making a homemade dashboard from plywood is literally “on the knee”.

This instrument panel can be purchased from sellers of tuning parts and accessories. It seems that the choice of alternative plastic dashboards for the VAZ-21214 in online and online stores is relatively large. And if you search, you can find some pretty decent panels.

Often, fans of tuning a domestic SUV decide to completely replace the dashboard or instrument panel with appropriately sized panels from foreign cars. And more often than not, such a replacement is completely justified. Since, in addition to a clear improvement in the visual perception of the interior, comfort and ergonomics are significantly improved.

The first thing you should do in your car so that daily trips in it within the city (and not only) do not lead you into a sad state of a squeezed lemon is to carry out comprehensive sound insulation of the interior.

Before disassembling the entire interior, find the front seats from a foreign car. Seats from Japanese cars have proven themselves well in domestic SUVs. The fact that you need to find rather rare seats from a coupe car should not confuse you.

Any front seats from a foreign car can be easily converted into folding angle grinders with a slight movement - you just need to cut off the stop that limits the forward movement of the backrest.

For safety, we strongly recommend that you do not weld new seats into the body of the Niva, but redesign the slide of the seat itself in order to integrate the lower rails from the original ones. Then the new comfortable chairs will become standard installation locations.

For high-quality sound insulation, you will also need to remove the front panel. Here you will find another key point included in high-quality tuning for Niva 21213 - the dashboard. It can be replaced with a more modern version. A radical solution to changing the appearance of the interior would be to completely replace the front panel with another one.

There is a “comfort” version of the front panel on sale. Its advantages are that there is no need to redo the fasteners, adjust them to size, etc. It has space for both an on-board computer and a tape recorder. The new dashboard and steering wheel will create the complete feeling that you are driving another car. Moreover, every car enthusiast can do such tuning of Niva 21213 with his own hands (photo above).

How much does it cost to prepare a Niva for off-road use?

Hello to all mud lovers. Today I decided to figure out how much money Nivovod will need to prepare his Niva for off-road use. There are several stages of preparation and we will consider each separately.

Well, let’s start with the wheels, because driving a stock Kama through mud is somehow impractical or something. For the Niva, you need appropriate shoes. And here is the first nuance - what you will do in the future depends on the choice of tires.

Rubber

If you install a little more than the standard one, but don’t intend to modify anything in the car, then in terms of size then it’s quite possible to set it to 205/70/R15 with a price tag of 3,300 rubles per cylinder. True, you will also have to buy 15″ wheels; they will cost 1,100 rubles apiece. In total, to install good 15-inch mud tires on a Niva, you will need 17,600 rubles. With a spare tire - under 20k.

Expensive?

Then we narrow the bar and take simpler tires - Kama Flame size 205/70R16 - their price tag is also about 3300 rubles per cylinder, but on wheels the savings will be 4400. However, know that the Korda’s cross-country ability is exactly 2 times better than the Flame’s. It has more teeth, the tread is more aggressive.

Next - if you want cooler, then you need to take 29″ tires - size 235/75/R15. However, before installing them, you will have to properly prepare the car itself, and this will not be cheap. See:

Arch cutting and lift

To install 29-inch tires on the Niva, you will need to cut the arches. In principle, you can get by with one sharp cut, but it is better to also make a 5 cm lift, then in the maximum diagonals there will be nothing to rub anywhere. You can cut the arches yourself, fortunately there are a lot of video instructions.

The elevator will cost you the purchase of a special elevator kit, the price tag is around 5-6 thousand rubles.

Replacing GP (main pairs) - for tires 29″ and higher

So, lift + cutting of arches - you can already install 29″ tires. However, the wheels turn out to be too large and it will be difficult for the engine to turn them. Therefore, replacement of the GP (main pairs) immediately suggests itself. By default, Niva has GP 3.9, and for large wheels you need to take GP 4.3. And then the dynamics of the car will not decrease; it will pull perfectly along the highway and uphill. And if you drive 3.9, then your maximum gear on the highway is fourth, and then uphill. No, of course, you can ride off-road with 3.9, there’s not much difference. But on the highway you will immediately feel it. Replacing the GP with 4.3 will cost you the purchase of new pairs - the cost is about 9,000 rubles.

Next up are 29″ tires. There are a lot of options, you can choose a cool one for 5-7 thousand rubles.

So, the tires are set at your discretion - either regular or requiring modifications from the car. Next - body kit and external tuning.

Power thresholds and bumpers

Thresholds are needed primarily for jacking with a hijack (see below for what this is). Power thresholds are plus 4-5 thousand.

Bumper - or, as it is also called, “silovik”. A power bumper is an indispensable attribute of any SUV that is being prepared for off-road use. You can cook it yourself or buy it at a specialty store. It’s better, of course, to get it from a store to avoid problems with the traffic police, but it won’t be cheap.

For example, a very popular front bumper costs 25,000 rubles. It comes with headlight protection and a hole for a winch. Looks cool and the quality is top notch. But protecting the headlights also sometimes annoys the traffic police, it turns out like a kangaroo, which they like to get to the bottom of. Therefore, it is better to take a model from the OJ company - it is cheaper, 18,000 rubles and the bumper is not as noticeable as the Rif one.

Winch

Winch - where would we be without a “swan”. It will help in the most hopeless situations, but its price tag is comparable. The cost of winches for Niva is from 18,000 to 22,000 rubles, if you take inexpensive ones. super brands already cost from 40k and I think Nivovod shouldn’t spend so much money. It would be optimal to take the 6000 model Runva or Come Up - winches that have been tested by time and rides. Models from the T-Max brand have also proven themselves to be excellent.

Expedition trunk

You have to put all the junk somewhere, of which there is simply a lot of it even on fishing trips - tents, sleeping bags, fishing rods, additional equipment. Well, screw it, the Niva’s trunk is extremely small, so an expedition vehicle is simply a necessity. For money, you can look on Avito, where you can find a quite tolerable trunk for 3-5 thousand. If you take a store-bought stainless steel one, it’s about 8 thousand.

Snorkel

Also a necessary thing. Niva also often has to cross water obstacles, and therefore it is very desirable to have a snorkel. It is needed to prevent the engine from flooding with water. Essentially it is an air intake for the engine. And it helps not only in water, but also when you drive along sandy plains - the pipe is usually installed on the roof of the car, and there is much less dust there.

Hijack

Since we will often get stuck and no matter what kind of wheels you have, we will need a normal jack. An ordinary one will not work; you will need to take a special device for offroading - a rack and pinion jack. A branded normal one will cost 5,000 rubles (from hi-lift companies), if you take Chinese ones, you can get it for 2-3 thousand rubles (from Enkor, Matrix, Sorokin-Instrument, etc.). However, very often they break, so I personally prefer not to save money and take a normal American “Jack”.

Self-blocks

Well, not mandatory, but improvements that greatly improve cross-country ability. Self-blocks in axles are most often installed in the rear, although it is possible in both. They are needed so that as many wheels as possible rotate when hanging. The Niva has inter-axle blocking by default, but when it also has inter-axle blocking, the cross-country ability will be higher. In terms of money, Val Racing self-blocks cost around 9,000 rubles. Installation either yourself or in the service (+2500 rubles).

So, to summarize, if you decide to “pump up” to the fullest:

— Tires 235/75/R15 — 30,000 rubles with a spare tire — 15″ wheels — another plus 5,000 rubles. — Cutting arches — independently — Lifting — 5000 rubles for a lift kit — Front power bumper — 25000 — Winch for it — 20000 - Rear bumper — 16000 (OJ company) — RIF power thresholds — 9500 — Expedition trunk — 5-8 thousand rubles — Snorkel — either yourself (for materials 1000, or take a ready-made kit — 4000 rubles) — Self-blocks — 10000 for the rear axle — Replacing the GP with a 4.3 — 12000 rubles (with labor) — Hijack — 5000 — Protective camouflage covers for the seat