Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,

What can I expect to pay for a session on a rolling road, to identify the optimum needle & dashpot spring? I have a modified 1275 ex-Marina engine, with ex-Metro big valve head, currently planning to use an HIF44.

Can anyone recommend one in the Bristol area?

Cheers Neil

If you do decide on a rolling road you will not go far wrong with the attached:-

http://www.slarkraceengineering.co.uk/r ... d-bristol/

Ok thanks, looks like £100-150 for a session. Is that right in anyone's experience?

As a starter for 10, I'm going to put a BDL needle (MG Metro) in my HIF44.

Planning also on fitting a Piper MB270 camshaft, I will get my existing camshaft reground to this spec, as it's cheaper, and allows me to retain the existing oil pump drive. The pump is only 3 years old, not keen on replacing it.

Once I've got that fitted, then I'll take it on the rolling road to get it set up properly.

Ok thanks, looks like £100-150 for a session. Is that right in anyone's experience?

As a starter for 10, I'm going to put a BDL needle (MG Metro) in my HIF44.

Planning also on fitting a Piper MB270 camshaft, I will get my existing camshaft reground to this spec, as it's cheaper, and allows me to retain the existing oil pump drive. The pump is only 3 years old, not keen on replacing it.

Once I've got that fitted, then I'll take it on the rolling road to get it set up properly.

As an aside, does anyone know what an ADS needle would have been used in? It came out of an HIF38.

philthehill wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 8:19 pm If you do decide on a rolling road you will not go far wrong with the attached:-

http://www.slarkraceengineering.co.uk/r ... d-bristol/

Crikey, do you know if Bryan is still around?

ndevans wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2019 11:16 pm Ok thanks, looks like £100-150 for a session. Is that right in anyone's experience?

As a starter for 10, I'm going to put a BDL needle (MG Metro) in my HIF44.

Planning also on fitting a Piper MB270 camshaft, I will get my existing camshaft reground to this spec, as it's cheaper, and allows me to retain the existing oil pump drive. The pump is only 3 years old, not keen on replacing it.

Once I've got that fitted, then I'll take it on the rolling road to get it set up properly.

I paid just under £170 for a Mini.

I went to Southam Mini & Metro Centre and paid a little under £150, but I miraculously had the correct needle in my toolbox so may have saved a little on parts.

Nice chaps.

So £100-150 is a good ballpark figure by the look of it. Thanks gents.

PoolGuy

As far as I know Bryan is still around but has more or less retired from the business now that they have moved to Bristol.

I believe that his son Neil is now running the business.

They used to be at Amesbury not far from me and of course Bryan is an ex Downton employee.

Many of the ex Downton work force set up their own business locally after leaving Downton.

Phil

philthehill wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 1:16 pm PoolGuy

As far as I know Bryan is still around but has more or less retired from the business now that they have moved to Bristol.

I believe that his son Neil is now running the business.

They used to be at Amesbury not far from me and of course Bryan is an ex Downton employee.

Many of the ex Downton work force set up their own business locally after leaving Downton.

Phil

That’s good to know. We had a few heads from Bryan in the mid/late 80’s, they were always very good and he’d pop along to a few races each season. A thoroughly nice bloke and a bloody good engineer.

Sorry for the slight hijack op.

Has it been on the rollers yet?

No, it's been a bit tricky getting it back together. I only got it MoT'd 2 weeks ago, and then the heater valve started leaking, so now I'm waiting for a new one. I'll have to run it in first, then get my HIF44 fitted, before I think about a rolling road test.

I took my Moggie (1275, HIF44, 123 dizzy, profiled cam, Maniflow etc) to JPR Tuning in Yate, just outside Bristol and was very pleased with John's set up. He very much old school so knows all about A series. Expect to pay £120 to £150 for a set up but more if you need dizzy/SU changes. He also has the kit to change dizzy profiles.

https://www.facebook.com/jprtuning

Used Neil Slark for my geo set up and they too were excellent, transformed the handling.

Hope helps

acrobinson wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 11:05 pm I took my Moggie (1275, HIF44, 123 dizzy, profiled cam, Maniflow etc) to JPR Tuning in Yate, just outside Bristol and was very pleased with John's set up. He very much old school so knows all about A series. Expect to pay £120 to £150 for a set up but more if you need dizzy/SU changes. He also has the kit to change dizzy profiles.

https://www.facebook.com/jprtuning

Used Neil Slark for my geo set up and they too were excellent, transformed the handling.

Hope helps

Thanks, Yate is very local to me, so that's a possibility. I want to get the engine run in and carb sorted first, and maybe a new camshaft.
In other news, I ordered a 5/8"-1/2" adapter for the heater hose today, from Minispares. You'd think a short length of 1/2" cooper E tube would be easy to come by, but no one sells the stuff, and none of the plumbers I know have any off cuts. Hey ho.

Cheers N

Glad helped.

Yes, best to get your engine well run in first as it takes a strong heart/stomach hearing your Moggie being revvved close to 5000rpm on a rolling road. Mine was popping and banging like a bitch at max revs and I must admit to feeling quite concerned but the tester was well happy! He set it up for decent torque rather than max bhp and I loved the result. He's also quite pragmatic so won't waste your money chasing 1/2bhp for loads of time/changes/effort (unless that's your bag?).

My friend took his MG 1275 Midget to a rolling road near Heathrow many years ago and wrecked the engine by rolling roading it before it was fully bedded in. He wanted it setting up early to avoid damaging the engine but didn't tell the tester, who then thrashed the bejusus out of it, so the header pipes were glowing red hot. Nearly as red as my mate's face when he realised his mistake! Ooops.

Can't over estimate the benefit of Neil Stark's geo set up though. He dialled out the understeer, evened out the ride for more rear feel and it's now awesome.

Hope helps