Before you begin work on upgrading your machine, you need to have an idea of the end result of your creativity. And even taking into account the fact that creativity is a little predictable process, you still need to outline directions for movement. What specific tasks will your car be configured for: off-road, drift, rally, or a cozy car for daily use. The chosen direction will determine where we need to start and where we should ultimately arrive. For the Lada Kalina 2 hatchback, there is no point in doing tuning and modifications that require serious financial investments, since having a large amount of funds, it would be more expedient to purchase a car of a higher class, or of the same class, but with additional options installed. For a car like Kalina 2, tuning is best done using inexpensive materials and mostly with your own hands. Therefore, when choosing a direction for modernization, it is necessary to take into account your capabilities, both financial and technical. You should also keep in mind that tuning the Lada Kalina 2 is not a quick process, especially when you have to do most of the work yourself. Another important point that should be taken into account before upgrading your car is that you will not be able to cover all the costs invested in it by selling the car. If you are ready for this, you can start.
WHAT ARE WE DOING
A year and a half ago, one of the first commercial Kalina of the second generation appeared in the editorial office. The VAZ-21927 index means, among other things, a new 1.6-liter 106-horsepower engine with an adjustable intake tract length. The car weighs a little more than a ton, many of the tuning company’s solutions were worked out on co-platform Ladas - and we decided to prepare the car for participation in amateur racing.
The RHHCC (Russian Hot Hatch Club Championship) is the country's most popular multi-stage competition, where drivers race around professional circuits in pursuit of the best lap times. There is no contact fighting: whoever covered the track faster wins (Time Attack format). Of the eight classes, our Kalina falls into City-Light with a power ceiling of 150 hp.
TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM
The SS20 brand, under which the Samara NPP Sistema Technologies produces chassis elements, is known to everyone who is interested in the development of VAZ cars. Supports, shock absorbers, springs, stabilizers, joints, steering mechanisms - Samarans have been developing and producing all this for a decade and a half. But, having learned the conditions of our test, the guys became worried: their products of the most uncompromising “Sport” series promise the opportunity to “enjoy the excitement of sports, feel the adrenaline rush from the emotions received and the pleasure of dynamism, sharp control, a more complete sense of the road...”, and in our test It's not the feeling that's going to matter, it's the lap time!
With our help, the company’s engineers obtained a real Kalina ring strut of the “National” class, took the characteristics at their own stand and assembled an original shock absorber based on racing motives. Based on our experience, they selected a spring for him and brought this set to the Smolensk Ring. Yes, not alone, but together with serial products from the “Sport” line.
Unfortunately, the Samara engineers got it wrong with the springs. In ring cars, the rigidity is higher, and the balance of the rigidity of the front and rear parts is different. As a result, the gain on the experimental racks turned out to be disproportionate - only about a second per lap. Even with the serial “Sport” kit we managed to show better results: minus one and a half seconds. But this achievement is not impressive either. This means you need to play with the springs and, perhaps, reduce the ground clearance even more. The Samarans promised to modify the kit to suit our tasks, so we will repeat the experiment in the spring.
Variety of materials for cases
If you do a search, you can find a wide variety of types of covers for such a common car as the Lada Kalina. It’s difficult to make a choice right away. Therefore, before going to a car store, you should still study the general recommendations and familiarize yourself with the models offered.
One of the most popular types of covers for Kalina. Such cases have a number of advantages:
- external attractiveness;
- practicality and wear resistance;
- minimal care;
- providing body ventilation for the passenger and driver.
When purchasing such cases, you need to pay special attention to the quality of their manufacture. Velor covers are highly practical
They are not only pleasant to the touch, but also do not get so cold in winter, which allows you to feel comfortable when getting into the car.
Velor covers are highly practical. They are not only pleasant to the touch, but also do not get so cold in winter, which allows you to feel comfortable when getting into the car.
The upholstery is made of velor
However, over time, velor not only wears off, but also stretches. Therefore, after the first wrinkles appear, the covers will have to be replaced.
Covers for Lada Kalina, combining velor and eco-leather inserts, are in great demand. This combination allows not only to combine the advantages of materials, but also to extend their service life.
Time-tested material that allows you to choose any color and pattern. In addition, such covers not only retain their properties for a long time, but can also be easily washed if necessary.
The only drawback of fabric covers may be the inconvenience of use in hot weather. But if the car is equipped with air conditioning, there will be no problems.
Always up-to-date material that creates additional comfort in the cabin. This is due not only to its velvety structure, but also to its comfort of use even in cold weather. The material is quite resistant to wear, but due to the relatively high cost there are not many offers on the market.
This type of car seat trim will not only make the interior of your car look chic, but will also provide the necessary comfort in cold weather.
But such finishing collects a lot of dust and other contaminants; if used carelessly, it will require dry cleaning.
This material is accessible and will allow you to realize any fantasy. But vinyl covers offer minimal comfort because they easily change the temperature to match the outside temperature. Covers made of vinyl practically do not “breathe”.
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Since Sistema Technologies produces suspension components, we decided to try something out on our Kalina. We installed stabilizer bars, original upper mounts and camber plates on the rear axle, increasing the angle to two and a half degrees. There was a mistake with the spacers that widened the track - they did not fit tightly to the hub, and we settled on Proma spacers. This set of measures changed the behavior of the car at the level of nuances and allowed us to remove a couple more tenths of a second from the lap, but again there was no breakthrough.
RUSSIAN SHOCK ABSORBERS
Developments in St. Petersburg are led by Vladimir Olenikov, who previously headed the engineering department of the famous Plaza. Products appear in stores under the Damp brand, and among these shock absorbers there are interesting specimens. How do you like, for example, struts lowered by 50 mm while maintaining suspension travel? Or shock absorbers with rebound stiffness adjustment? We received both sets for testing.
Here the effect is clearer. The struts with adjustable rebound force really change the character of the Kalina both on regular roads (if the asphalt is uneven, it’s better to “unwind” them) and on the track. Lap times are comparable to those shown on the best SS20 kit, but the ride quality remains at an acceptable level.
Installation procedure
Despite the apparent simplicity, you should carefully read the procedure for installing the covers. The sequence of actions may differ depending on the body type - whether it is a sedan or a Lada Kalina hatchback. If you do not follow the rules, the installation process will take a long time, and purchased accessories can easily be damaged even before they take their place.
- At the first stage, you should lay out the covers and examine them for the strength of the seams and fastening straps. If necessary, it is better to immediately replace the fasteners with nylon ones.
- Before proceeding with installation, you should allow the covers to smooth out on a flat surface. This way you can get rid of unnecessary folds, and you won’t have to forcefully pull on the accessories.
- The process of putting on the covers will require dismantling all the seats. Also remove the headrests.
- Covers are put on, starting from the backs. At the same time, make sure that the edging or stitching takes its place, then the cover will not twist or wrinkle. The accessory stretched over the back is fixed under the seat with special hooks.
- The next step is to cover the seat cushion and headrest. Operations are carried out in the same sequence.
- Now you can install the chair in its place, securely fastening all the elements.
- A visual inspection is carried out to determine the presence of protruding parts of the covers and correct installation.
Eco-leather upholstery looks presentable
Removing the front seats can be just as difficult as putting on the covers. However, in this case, you only need to move the seats to their extreme positions on the skids in order to alternately unscrew 2 mounting bolts with a 10mm head on each side. The seat is dismantled along with the slide.
Installing rear seat covers is slightly different from the procedure described. It should be taken into account that both sedan and hatchback cars will have to dismantle all seat elements separately. First, the seat cushion is removed, then the split backrest, consisting of 2 parts.
To remove the sofa cushion, you will need a 10 mm socket to unscrew the 2 mounting bolts. The backrest fastening is easy to find by folding it back. 2 bolts are located on the sides under the decorative upholstery. Here you will need a 13mm socket.
000–109
And the second set, with a more significant reduction in ground clearance, allowed not only to improve the result by two seconds compared to the serial struts, but also endowed the car with new qualities. Handling has become a little less interesting: if the Kalina with the standard suspension willingly turns when releasing the gas, then with the St. Petersburg shock absorbers the steering has become slightly understeer. But the potential of tires on this suspension is realized better: the low ground clearance made it possible to set a different camber angle of the front wheels (-2º), and when cornering the inner wheel hardly slips! Reactions have also become more accurate: while previously you had to set the trajectory in advance, with Damp struts the car follows the wheel almost instantly. Not a bad budget option.
Low-growing berry: tuning Lada Kalina 2
Concept
The main parameters when choosing a base for the project were a pleasant appearance, large wheel arches, a hatchback body and the ability to install a 100-liter subwoofer in the trunk. In the winter of 2014, Andrey bought a Lada Kalina 2 – new, from a car dealership. Of what was included in the package2, we can only note front power windows, power steering, ABS and a driver's airbag. However, this is how it was intended: the construction of a stans project does not depend on the configuration. And nothing was required from the engine other than reliability, so the 8-valve 1.6-liter unit with a capacity of 87 horsepower was quite suitable.
Outside
Good stans starts with lowering and wheels. Andrey was lucky enough to purchase original 16-inch BBS RS wheels of different widths. True, with a bolt pattern of 5x114.3 (Kalina has 4x98) - so they lay there for a while and waited in the wings. To install the disks, hub adapters (40 and 45 mm thick) were ordered in Rostov-on-Don. After installing the air suspension, BBS RS wheels and the corresponding wheel alignment, Lada Kalina acquired a completely different appearance, which was conceived from the moment of purchase at the car dealership.
Andrey often travels around Russia and is fond of snowboarding, so he installed an aerodynamic Thule WingBar rack on the roof with fasteners for two snowboards, and when traveling it is replaced by a top-end “basket” Thule Xpedition 821 (99x158 cm). Later, a Thule Fairling fairing was added to this set for better aerodynamics.
Inside
The process of interior improvements began with the purchase of a Starline alarm system with additional channels so that additional equipment could be controlled remotely. Andrey picked up a 2-DIN Pioneer radio with the Mirrorlink function, rare at that time. Its main feature is the ability to control all the functionality of the phone, from calls and SMS to launching any applications, from the touch screen of the radio. Navigation, music from the Internet, movies, YouTube, radar detector - all this is always at hand.
When winter came, Andrey added a few little things to the salon to his liking. He added additional buttons to the heater control unit (responsible for turning on/off the radio, adjusting the brightness of the backlight and an additional on-board computer “State”, which displays a lot of useful system information via the CAN bus), redesigned the heater design and the backlight. Then I installed chrome air duct regulators from Ford, an armrest, a handbrake handle from Lada Kalina Sport, chrome deflectors from Renault, chrome door lock buttons and door sills.
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The next step was to install the music. There was no goal to prepare a car for competitions or auto shows; I just wanted to install personalized acoustics, achieve pleasant sound and deep, soft bass that could not only be heard, but also felt, without disturbing others. Having selected Morel Tempo Ultra speakers in the front doors, an Alpine amplifier for them, having successfully stumbled upon an amplifier for a Sundown Audio 3.5 kilowatt subwoofer and adding an AGM Narada 170A gel battery, we set to work. First, the doors were assembled, and then the trunk was assembled step by step - in a homemade box. Next, all additional buttons in the interior were engraved in the factory style, but with individual designs.
Technique
Andrey ordered an air suspension kit from Pnevmo Lider, and his friends helped with its installation. The kit includes: collapsible racks with a lowering of -70 mm on PL 6022 sleeve-type air springs, a 12-liter KAMAZ receiver, a Berkut R20 compressor, a Camozzi moisture separator and a block of 8 electric valves.
The whale was made with high quality. The only thing we encountered during installation was the issue of laying highways to all four wheels, the most compact arrangement of equipment and organizing its control. The guys also installed four body position sensors from Land Rover, an MFtech air suspension controller, and thanks to the presence of additional channels for the alarm, they made the air suspension remote control (up and down).
For those who are interested in how the air suspension works, we will tell you about its structure here. The air suspension consists of ordinary struts, only instead of springs there is a cylinder into which air is pumped under pressure, thereby raising/lowering the car. All four racks are connected by lines to a valve block, which, when one valve is activated, lowers or raises one or another rack (each can be controlled separately), there are 8 valves in total (4 up and 4 down). Based on body position sensors, the controller understands what position the car is currently in, corrects it and transmits this information to the owner. Air is supplied to the valve block from the receiver, in which a pressure of 12 atmospheres is automatically maintained using a Berkut R20 compressor. The MFtech controller has three customizable programmed heights in memory and an “auto horizon” function (the car levels out on unevenness, rolls, and diagonals).
Exploitation
Pneumatic control looks something like this: you park, move away from the car a couple of meters - and the car goes down to the very bottom and is armed. Then, at any time, you can remotely pick it up, get into the car and drive straight away. Convenient and effective.
Lada Kalina 2
Brief technical specifications
Engine: custom engine protection made of 5-mm sheet steel Electronics: MFtech air suspension controller Suspension: Pnevmo Lider air suspension kit Exterior: Thule WingBar trunk Wheels: mixed-wide 16-inch BBS RS wheels Audio system: Pioneer AVH-X8500BT head unit
However, since the car comes from Arkhangelsk, where the roads for the most part leave much to be desired, I had to find a solid sheet of five-millimeter steel and weld the engine protection from it. Already a week after the suspension installation was completed, Andrei got used to driving low and began to evaluate the situation on the road in a new way.
Plans
So gradually the Lada Kalina, first inside and then outside, changed and transformed, eventually turning into a neat and stylish stance project with equipment that was maximally tailored to the owner’s wishes. However, this is far from the final version; further life will introduce many more minor improvements and nuances to the car - after all, Kalina is used every day.
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List of improvements:
ENGINE
- Custom engine protection made of 5 mm steel sheet
ELECTRONICS
- On-board computer "State"
- Four body position sensors from Land Rover
- Air suspension controller MFtech
- Pneumatic signal
SUSPENSION Air suspension kit from Pnevmo Lider:
- collapsible racks with lowering -70 mm
- Sleeve type air bags
- KAMAZ receiver 12 liters
- compressor Berkut R20
- Camozzi dehumidifier
- solenoid valves for each rack
INTERIOR
- Chromed air duct twisters from Ford
- Armrest installed
- Handbrake handle from Lada Kalina Sport
- Chrome door lock buttons
- Door sills
EXTERIOR
- Deflectors with chrome from Renault
- Top-of-the-line Thule WingBar
- Thule Xpedition 821 basket for trunk
- Thule Fairling trunk fairing
- Fog lights installed
WHEELS AND TIRES
- Mixed-width 16-inch BBS RS wheels
- Hub adapters (40 and 45 mm thick)
AUDIO SYSTEM
- Pioneer AVH-X8500BT head unit
- Morel Tempo Ultra 602 speakers
- Subwoofer Sundown Audio X-12
- Alpine MRV-F300 amplifier for speakers
- Sundown Audio SAZ-3500D amplifier for subwoofer
- Gel battery AGM Narada 170A
- Installation of Slav Audio
Survey
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AST SUSPENSION
The Dutch company AST Suspension has been designing and producing suspension components and kits for 35 years; The range has different lines - for ordinary roads and for sports. In Russia, the sale of its products is carried out by the company, which is headed by former rally driver Alexey Kovalchuk. It’s nice that the Dutch are upgrading their kits taking into account operating experience in our conditions.
It was possible to choose the extreme 5200 model - with remote reservoirs and various adjustments, but, firstly, such a design is not allowed by the RHHCC regulations, and secondly, the price of such a kit is a third of the cost of Kalina. Non-professional athletes have no use for this.
Fighting squeaks
The dashboard may begin to creak in the cabin of the Kalina-2. More precisely, the lining of the standard radio most often creaks, if we talk about “Lux” trim levels. We looked at how to disassemble the central part of the console earlier. Having removed the cladding, it can be covered with a self-adhesive foam profile from the inside along the perimeter. After which, the unwanted effect disappears forever.
Well, if the seats emit a characteristic metallic squeak, they can also be easily modified (this applies not only to Kalina-2). You will need to unscrew 4 bolts that serve to secure the entire structure to the floor, and then fill the holes with the same WD-40. After assembly, according to reviews, nothing creaks at all.
