I think they're trying to rip me off

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Dantiri - 07 Jul 2003 18:16 GMT

I fitted a stage 1 on my 998 and took it in today for a rolling road tuning
session. I left the car this morning and at 6 pm this guy calls me saying he
could not do any tuning because the parts are not at all right. He said that
the exhaust and the inlet manifolds are too big for the valves and that
there is no chance and no point in tuning it unless he changes valves and
all sorts of other parts. I live in Italy and obviously the mini isn't the
most seen car. I bet the guy had never seen a stage 1 kit before... has
anyone got any susggestion on what to do or say to the guy or has anyone had
the same things said when tuning a stage1 kit? help is appreciated
Cheers

Dantiri
PS: I have an HS4 carb and the engine is a 99H (high compression ratio 9:1)

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DaveG - 07 Jul 2003 19:41 GMT

The stage 1 kit was developed for that engine, so you should see a good
improvment without needing big valves.

You need a rolling road tuner, who is familiour with the S.U carberetter, to
get the best from your stage 1 kit.

If you need a suggestion for what needle to use, download a program called
winsu http://www.winsu.co.uk/ there is a demo version where you get
10 free go's. This should sugest a close needle.

> I fitted a stage 1 on my 998 and took it in today for a rolling road tuning
> session. I left the car this morning and at 6 pm this guy calls me saying he
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Dantiri
> PS: I have an HS4 carb and the engine is a 99H (high compression ratio 9:1)

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Dantiri - 07 Jul 2003 21:36 GMT

what about setting the right idle, mixture and timing? do you think it's a
task I can do by myself? I have vizard's "tuning the A-series engine" and
"how to modify your mini" but I can't really find anything specific enough.
can anyone give some advice on doing the tuning mysel? (obviously not
rolling road)
Thanks

Dantiri

> The stage 1 kit was developed for that engine, so you should see a good
> improvment without needing big valves.
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
> > PS: I have an HS4 carb and the engine is a 99H (high compression ratio
> 9:1)

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xsplam - 08 Jul 2003 08:19 GMT

> what about setting the right idle, mixture and timing? do you think
> it's a task I can do by myself? I have vizard's "tuning the A-series
> engine" and "how to modify your mini" but I can't really find anything
> specific enough. can anyone give some advice on doing the tuning
> mysel? (obviously not rolling road)
> Thanks

The guess and check method is the other one that those books mention, it
works well :) Get your self a carb adjusting spanner, a spanner for the
dizzy clamp and a hill, and drive up and down it changing things slightly
and seeing if they improve ! - Follow the haynes for adjusting carb/dizzy.

splam

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Dave Taylor - 08 Jul 2003 21:15 GMT

> > what about setting the right idle, mixture and timing? do you think
> > it's a task I can do by myself? I have vizard's "tuning the A-series
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>
> splam

Lol...that's how I did it too! I can even give you the address of the
hill if you want! One hint...don't be tempted to run it too lean. You
should be shifting a bit more petrol with this set up so if you aren't
something's not quite right

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-AD- - 08 Jul 2003 07:49 GMT

And Dantiri was sitting next to Elvis in the spaceship, which I thought
was kinda strange, but then they turned to me and said:

> I fitted a stage 1 on my 998 and took it in today for a rolling road tuning
> session. I left the car this morning and at 6 pm this guy calls me saying he
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> anyone got any susggestion on what to do or say to the guy or has anyone had
> the same things said when tuning a stage1 kit? help is appreciated

Translation: "I have never seen an SU carb before, and I don't have a clue
how to calibrate it."

The manifolds may well be mismatched to the valve sizes, but that
shouldn't prevent the dyno operator from setting up the fuelling and
ignition correctly.

I guess he's making excuses because he doesn't want to be bothered working
on a car that he's unfamiliar with.

Signature

(-AD-) <uniqueid 'at' lineone.net>
http://website.lineone.net/~uniqueid/
ereh saw icniV ad odranoeL

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Dantiri - 08 Jul 2003 19:12 GMT

> And Dantiri was sitting next to Elvis in the spaceship, which I thought
> was kinda strange, but then they turned to me and said:
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
> http://website.lineone.net/~uniqueid/
> ereh saw icniV ad odranoeL

I saw the guy today and had a long chat with him. As soon as he noticed I
knew what I was talking about he suddenly changed his mind, the stage 1
parts were no longer oversized and he could give it a good tune without
modifing the head or putting new valves in. He also changed his mind about
the oil chamber being in horrifying conditions when I said, "well there
aren't many twelve year old minis which don't lose a drop of oil every once
in a while". I gradually realized that the guy knew all about SU carbs and A
series engines, and was only trying to rip me off, but once he noticed I
wasn't totally ignorant on how an engine works he suddenly changed his mind!
Apparently he had been tuning race minis for years, he showed me all the
pictures and trophies. By the time I left all was settled, he is going to do
the job as normally anyone would do on a stage1'd mini. I'm not happy with
the way I was treated initially but once I realized the guy is not a bad
mini specialist I decided to put my trust in him and told him he could order
all the SU needles (not easily found in italy) and do the tuning. Anyway
it's typical of italian mechanics to try and rip off people who don't know
anything about engines :-)))
Thanks for the advice guys!

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