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MG Midget and Sprite General - First time on a rolling road - any tips?

I have managed to get a slot with the MGCC at Aldon RR in November. Having never seen one never mind used one has any old timers got any tips for a first time virgin??

Dave
Dave Price

Make sure you have oil!

Also, from past years, do the basic tuning at home and then there's more time to spend on tweaking - and, most importantly of all ...... Have fun :)
rachmacb

Hi Dave,
I took mine to Aldon last year for my first time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is disconcerting when you see them strapping your car down at the rear and then placing the big fan at the front of the car. The operator sits in the car, engages the gears and takes the car up to speed. Mine is a 1.8 K series with 5 speed box. The car was taken up to 4th gear and was doing 5,500 revs! It would have been doing about a ton on the road. It is very strange seeing your car stationary and being rev'd up. Some of the lads there used super unleaded and pumped their tyres up to help the readings. The guys at Aldon are great as is Dennis Wharf. It's a great social event with everyone sharing their experiences. It's worth making sure your car is warmed up before you go on the RR. I can't make it this year but will try next time.
Neil
Neil K

Very.cool dave, bring a camra, a full tank of gas, and a good nights rest....i cant wait to do mine someday

Im looking forward to the photos and graphs...im guessing they.will do a before graph photo and an after graph photo to compare tje improvements to.

Im looking forward.to your experiance...it should be a fun day

I guess id spend some time learning the lingo and what is involved and the history of a RR, and the various measurments and what they mean
Prop
Prop

Rach - oil?
Dave Price

oil???

thereby MUST hang a tale

But the girl is dead right

oil and be brave ;)
Bill 1

I'm hoping to bring my Dellorto 45's as well as my Hif44 to do a back to a back comparison (if time allows, although I've got no idea how the 45 is set up.
Gary & Gaps

Gary better ensure the throttle cable will operate both properly on both if thats your plan "a"

Previous testing is your friend

There's very little more time consuming (wasting we calls it!) than fekkerin about with cables when you are swapping carbs, remember?
Bill 1

see if Aldon disagree with this:-

a) have your car is a reasonable state of being fully serviced, maintained and repaired - this then covers oil and coolant and state of tune

b) make sure you have plenty of petrol

c) and to p*ss on the parade - the bigger the increase on the day the worse your car was before you got there :)

the glass wasn't just half empty it was cracked and leaking :)
Nigel At

"whale oil beef hooked"

(say it a few times, like a sailor)

Norm


Norm Kerr

Money for the Butty Box that comes around :-)

Dave what time do you think you'll be going past J11 M5 ? maybe hook up on route..
K Harris

Gary need a setup for a delorto?
Been playing with mine and it finaly drives nice
Onno Könemann

Last year there were quite a few people attending (18 cars or so) You have the option of a straight RR power run or some tinkering. The only thing to remember is that if your car is a fair way out of tune it can take some time to correct. In the meantime you will have queues of people waiting behind you getting impatient. In fairness Aldon is in my opinion intended as a bit of fun. If you were to take the car there for it's own RR session it would probably take one to several hours and cost accordingly (£100-250) You will only be paying about £25-40 so don't expect a full on RR session. Last year it started at 9am and finished at 6pm or later. It's great fun though. If you include your email address I can send you a copy of the MGCC Midget Register write up from last year.
Neil
Neil K

Neil - its next to my name!!
dave
Dave Price

HaHa, so it is. Will send this evening after work.
Neil K

It's a great day out. BTW the Aldon 'driver' warms the engine up on the dyno before giving it the beans. This also allows him to assess the part-throttle operation and acceleration fuelling response.

The adjustments are all done on WOT during a series of power runs; trying more and less advance, and more and less fuel (depending on the HC reading).

Every car comes away improved; some (the less well set up ones) very much improved.

A
Anthony Cutler

Perhaps I'll leave the 45 as I don't want to hold people up.
Gary & Gaps

I took an A35 to the rolling road last week. Essentially the routine is to check compressions - mine came out at 190 across the board and keep an eye on idle emissions and A/F ratio under light loading. This showed the needle started out too weak and ending up too rich so a needle and then an air cleaner change later and another run showed some mid range detonation but ending at only 23 degrees. So the distributor was rebuilt with new bob weights and springs to hold the initial advance but allow the max to a more sensible 30 degrees. Two or three power runs followed - the guy never once looked at the horepower needle - it was all about balancing H/C to A/F ratios under load, and I ended up 10 brake better off and £180 lighter. Back on the road the car is a happy bunny. It feels much stronger and accepts full boot from very low revs but cruises at 65 mph on just a whiff of throttle. As others have said make sure the engine is on the money, the head is torqued and valved adjusted correctly. When the car is being maxed out it's not the time to wish you'd changed the oil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC8hQX0kmrU
F Pollock

Oh... don't stand near the rollers... (!)

A
Anthony Cutler

Some good ones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzFGUUR1UDI
F Pollock

Lol sadly no personal experience to tell you about to make you laugh - but OIL!!!

Oil is good at all times and in all ocassions :p
rachmacb

Not to good for putting out fires!
Gary & Gaps

Sure it is just make sure you use enough to take away the oxigen
Onno Könemann

A few of us from the N.W. area of MASC went to Peter Burgess's RR for a power shoot out as described above earier this year. It was great, but it is a bit disconcerting to watch your car having its nuts revved off and going nowhere. Lots of fun and as always Peter is so helpful. A real enthusiast.

Bernie.
b higginson

Mr Pollock - that video has not inspired me at all!!!!
Dave Price

All

Glad to hear that those coming over to Aldon this year are looking forward. In the light of this I have two requests.

If anyone knows Neil Sherry, would you mind letting him know please that the Aldon visit is scheduled for the 19th November. The only contact detail I have for Neil is his email address, and upon sending out the final date details to all those booked for this years visit, Neil's bounced back. The email I have is //neil.sherry@btconnect.com// which is the last one he used to contact me.

Secondly, this week I received two cancellations, (the first year anyone has cancelled), and I would very much like to fill these vacancies. Owing to the number of cars we booked last year, as Neil K has mentioned about eighteen, we all agreed this was really too many, so for this year we have limited the numbers to ten. Currently down to eight, it would be great if I could fill these last two slots.

Many thanks.

Dennis
DR Wharf

Hi Dave, I have emailed you the write up.

I endorse Dennis's comments. Really worth going along. I'm not going this year as my car is running sweet.
Neil
Neil K

LOL.

Hi Fergus, I love the way people cheered when the dyno runs went pear shaped. :)
Lawrence Slater

Dennis, I don't mind going again this year and will be happy to take one of the places.

John
John

Neil - Thanks for that - I am now refusing to look at the links provided by Fergus though!
Dave Price

A different practical advice, take cash instead of credit card.

Roly
Roly Alcock

All

With many thanks to Tim Dalton, Dave Price, and Ian Webb, I now have a full compliment of cars and drivers for another interesting day at Aldon. I'm sure some of you taking will will pass on your tales of the day, and don't forget we will have a full report, with all the figures, published in Safety Fast, probably in the January issue.

Many thanks again.

Dennis
DR Wharf

Den did you contact Neil Sherry?

He has a turbo sprite and it would have been nice to have a shoot out with a similar car?
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

This thread was discussed between 27/09/2011 and 03/10/2011

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