I decided to drop the gearbox because the clutch was slipping a little. The aftermarket pressure plate assembly seems to have loose spring compared to the old OEM item. I tried to find a heavier 180mm unit with no results. 190mm ones were available but I did not want to change the flywheel at this point of the driving season because this would also require re-balancing of the bottom end. So I decided to try a pressure plate assembly with two springs.

The pressure plate assembly seemed to be put together with some weird rivets that couldn't be found from anywhere. I replaced them with six M8 bolts welded into the clutch cover. Those will accept the nuts that keep the assembly together. I had to dismantle 4 old clutches before finding two identical diaphragm springs...

The nuts must have integral washers in order to prevent the spring ring climbing from its place. If not, the washers will have to be welded in place. The springs have to be cooled with water during the welding.

The nuts were locked by welding.. I don't want to this thing come apart at high revs..

Also the three rivets that hold the pressure plate in place were replaced with bolts. After that, the assembly was ready to be installed in the car.

The assembly was put in place using 12.9 M6 bolts and Nord-Lock type washers. The gearbox installation was extremely difficult because there was not enough room to slide the box in place - the operation took six hours! However, the clutch slips no more. As guessed, the clutch pedal is hard - hope that the clutch cable and the thrust bearing will be ok.

Because of the cam-driven distributor to be installed, the stock thermostat was removed and replaced with the Lada item installed between coolant hoses. A hose coupling was manufactured and fitted into the coolant outlet of the engine head.