smoke/black spark plugs (rich?!)
Despite hours of searching on here I couldnt suss out what was wrong. So I booked i with Slark last Friday (27th) for a Rolling Road session.
After an hour or so on the motorway and getting wound up with the flat spot (which just happened to be between 60mph and 70mph and meant I had to either do 80 which is illegal apparently or do 55 and get overtaken by Caravaners!) I arrived.
First impression? I was greeted warmly by Neil and his Dad and offered a cup of tea. Good start.
Got the Mini on the Rollers and did the first run. 54bhp @ 4648rpm and 98lbs/ft torque. Not bad but Neil agreed something was very wrong mid range. First thing to check - needle.
Here we found issue 1. The needle profile was in Neil's words 'not normal' and 'wouldnt work with just about any motor'. It seemed to be starving the car at some points and flooding it at others. My knowledge here is limited but I could by Neil's reaction (and laughing) that it was a shocker!
New needle in and another run and it was much better. More power and a better mid-range. But the dreaded flat spot/hesitation persisted (although it was getting better).
Over the course of the next hour or so he did all sorts including compression tests, carb cleaning, timing mixture etc etc and eventually we got there. We also removed/blocked off a breather that was causing an issue.
Final run 60bhp @ 4824rpm and 99lbs/ft torque - happy days.
What was most noticeable other than the power uplift, was the huge slug of torque it gained in the mid-range.
A great result and good fun too. Special thanks to Neil for answering my endless mini questions (and there were loads).
I know there are often people on here asking about a good RR centre in the South. Well these guys carry my recommendation.
They were friendly, happy to answer questions, clearly very knowledgeable.
H
Edited by Hughes, 04 July 2008 - 09:38 PM.
