22 replies to this topic

[Big_Adam]

Okay,

Finally got around to phoning a rolling road place.

Just wanted to check if the price was good or bad. Their prices are:

£80 for the 1st hour then £50 for every one on top of that.

Being a very cheap man this is a very large amount of money for me. I think they may also need to do my tracking too as El Odio pulls to the left while driving.

So good or bad price?

Ta.

[Rob Himself]

Is a little above average to me ... Though usually it does take only about an hour, and £80 isn't toooo bad.

[alexcrosse]

depends, if you say your 'cheap' dont go for a rolling road session... what carb are you using? SU you can get close enough because theres only 1 needle without the nessecity of a RR unlike a weber.

Still, £80 as standard is a good price. Shouldnt take more than an hour.

[WiredbyWilson]

I have paid £85 plus VAT and that includeda couple of jets for a weber. I have only ever been quoted for a "session" and not per hour.

[Dan]

SU you can get close enough because theres only 1 needle without the nessecity of a RR unlike a weber.

Ridiculous, there are thousands of different standard needles to choose from and each can be very finely adjusted to suit the engine (unlike a Weber) by a skilled tuner. There is just as much need to get a car with an SU on the rollers as there is for a Weber and you can get just as much out of it. There is no need for a standard car to go on the rollers because the standard needle has already been designed for that engine build but once it is modified in any way the standard needle needs to be assessed to see if it still works and that can only be done on a dyno.

It's an average price I'd say. It should include needle fettling but may not include a needle swap.

Edited by Dan, 10 March 2008 - 10:41 AM.

[Big_Adam]

Well, the dizzy need tweaking as well.

Grr, looks like I have to pay people money then. If the guy isn't like 90 years old though I'm going to be annoyed.

[miRon]

the guy's that build my engine are like the 'old gits' from the harry enfield show.

but they know everything,they had fuel injection minis in 1965!!lol

[alexcrosse]

SU you can get close enough because theres only 1 needle without the nessecity of a RR unlike a weber.

Ridiculous, there are thousands of different standard needles to choose from and each can be very finely adjusted to suit the engine (unlike a Weber) by a skilled tuner. There is just as much need to get a car with an SU on the rollers as there is for a Weber and you can get just as much out of it. There is no need for a standard car to go on the rollers because the standard needle has already been designed for that engine build but once it is modified in any way the standard needle needs to be assessed to see if it still works and that can only be done on a dyno.

It's an average price I'd say. It should include needle fettling but may not include a needle swap.

are you joking? do you no how hard webers are to get right? Main jets, emulsion tubes, idle jets, air correctors, venturies, chokes, pump jets, idle screws etc etc. And any of these can COMPLETELY throw the weber off. Most people i no with a weber have had them rolling roaded to get them close because of this difficulty in calibration, but what percentage of people are running SU's that have been RR'ed?

My SU ran fine and never went on a RR, perfect mixture after i rang someone up, asked what needle i needed, bought it and put it in. Rang up someone to ask what weber jets i should start on and when i got em and put them in it was even further off the original. So no, you dont need SU's set up on RR's all the time.

[Jammy]

I think your basically arguing the same point...

Lets not forgot though, a rolling road is not just used for carb tuning.

[imabitnaughtyxx]

SU you can get close enough because theres only 1 needle without the nessecity of a RR unlike a weber.

Ridiculous, there are thousands of different standard needles to choose from and each can be very finely adjusted to suit the engine (unlike a Weber) by a skilled tuner. There is just as much need to get a car with an SU on the rollers as there is for a Weber and you can get just as much out of it. There is no need for a standard car to go on the rollers because the standard needle has already been designed for that engine build but once it is modified in any way the standard needle needs to be assessed to see if it still works and that can only be done on a dyno.

It's an average price I'd say. It should include needle fettling but may not include a needle swap.

Spot on love, when we took manfred last week the guy had hundreds upon hundreds of su needles all a tiny micron in difference and some modified. he tried 5 in our carb then settled on a modified (filed) needle from a totally different car.
many things however were checked during the session. 2 hours plus needle £94 inc vat.

[alexcrosse]

5 needles :S southam got everyone bang on first time i believe, just SU's, just 1 needle, 1 profile, based on engine spec. Rolling road only makes it easier and a tiny bit more accurate so that other 0.0000001bhp can be achieved.


and you can check timing on rolling road under load... but with timing it makes no difference if its under load or not, strictly on rpm.

Edited by alexcrosse, 10 March 2008 - 12:03 PM.

[Jammy]

I'll inform AC Dodd, and all the other top engine tuners around the country that they've been wasting their time tuning all those SU equipped Minis then!

[alexcrosse]

we had an series 1 etype jag with 3 HS6's i believe on it. All balanced at home, needles set up at home, on a 4.2 litre straight 6. NEVER BEEN ON DYNO. Always ran fine. Got a 1946 MG TC with twin HS2's, balanced and set up at home in the garage, run beautiful, never been on dyno. Both of dads mini's he had never went on dyno's. So is it really that critical? or are they rolling road people just willing to do 30 mins of work for £80 and send people away with a number to tell people down the pub about.

[Jammy]

Or maybe people haven't got the equipment or knowledge to do it themselves, and would rather pay someone with much greater experience than themselves who will probably achieve better results, and who can also check the whole condition of the engine.

For example. I remember Dan telling me about his experience from when he took his girlfriend's Mini for a rolling road session at ML Motorsport. Once it was on the rollers they were able to tune the twin carbs, alter the advance curve to suit, and also inform him that, IIRC, the valves or the valve guides would need redoing within X amount of miles. How many times have you been able to do all that when home tuning?

Rolling roads are not just about carb tuning.

[alexcrosse]

welp, i can tune twin carbs, a balancing kit n colortune costs pennies, a timing light is an investment for anyone running a mini with a non standard or high end engine (twin carbs would hint that it is a tuned engine) and i can tell if my engine is going myself, all they would have seen was a little bit of oil being burnt out the exhaust so they said the valve guides are getting worn.

People who dont want to do it themselves probably wont be running high performance 1380 jobbies, just standard 1275's and 998's with stage 1 kits on em. Which do not need rolling road sessions.