Carb tuning in North East

[Loose_Cannon]

Seems to be a dying art...can anyone recommend someone to tune/balance/whatever a pair of Dellortos from scratch? Durham area would be great (preferably not McDonald Racing, too dear for my purse)

[ttcool]

Loose_Cannon said:

Seems to be a dying art...can anyone recommend someone to tune/balance/whatever a pair of Dellortos from scratch? Durham area would be great (preferably not McDonald Racing, too dear for my purse)

The perfect answer to your request IMO is Ron Harper Classic Sports. His workshop is in Faceby, so not your ideal area but worth the drive over there. It's not far really; Durham to Faceby is about 40 miles. I've known Ron for more years than I care to remember and he’s raced at every circuit in the country and sometimes abroad (SPA for instance). His Triumph Spitfire is fitted with a Honda engine at the moment. His previous engine was a Cosworth or March BDA and he’s had many class wins over the years. He is perfect 'old school' and is a main dealer for Weber and probably Dellorto. I think he is on holiday at the moment although I can't give you the exact dates. I am unable to vouch for his charges but his setup is modest with few overheads but very big on knowledge and attention to detail. He will not be as expensive as McDonald Racing.

It is indeed a dying art but not at Ron Harper Classics. Ron is one of the few people left capable of setting up carburation from scratch. You will have to get directions from Ron himself as the last couple of turns are not that obvious. His address is:

Ron Harper Classic Sports (search Google for main directions)
Unit 1, Whorlhill Business Centre, Faceby, Middlesbrough, Cleveland TS9 7BZ
Tel: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

Hope that helps

Joe

[Loose_Cannon]

That does indeed help hugely, thanks. It's not just the prices at Mcd that put me off, friends have used them and the tales they tell would indicate they need to work on their people skills.

[Dave_newcastle]

I agree with the reply above - look to use Ron Harper. He tuned my Lotus Elan +2 four years or so ago which is on dellorto 40's and I was very happy with everything. Dave

[ttcool]

I hope you don't mind me asking; did you manage to get the work done at Ron Harper's place?

Joe

[Wedg1e]

My Esprit ran twin Dellorto 45s and I used to set them up myself with mercury manometers and a CO meter, no problem.

[ttcool]

I bought this Weber Synchrometer from Ron Harper when he had his Harper High Performance shop on Linthorpe Road Middlesbrough. It's paid for itself 10 times over and is a hoot to use. I mostly used it on Lotus Twin Cams fitted with Weber 40 or 45 DCOE carbs depending on state of tune.



Joe

[Dale B]

Bit late but I can also vouch for Ron ... Iv'e had my old Jag C Type Rep with triple 45DCOE's in with him and he's currently looking at a car I have with a Ford V8 and Quad 44IDA's. Always top class service and (IMO) low prices. Highly recommended.

[killysprint]

As the OP - I'm looking for someone experienced with carb tuning to set up my weber carbed Dolomite Sprint. I'm in Newcastle, have tried to call Macdonald Racing, dont seem to want to answer the phone. Any other suggestions in the Newcastle area???

thanks

[Dave_newcastle]

I'm from 30 miles north of Newcastle and as per the advice above would spend the time and drive past tyneside and go down to Ron Harper. IMHO - he understands older sports classic racing type cars and the particular service requirements of the owners who choose to drive them.

[m44kts]

A few locals on the Mini Forum recommend Ron Harper, I've been meaning to ring him to get my Mini set up properly. Only possible problem I can see is that I've binned the distributor in favour of a Megajolt system, does anyone know if he/they are familiar with the MJ system and would it cause problems? I have the USB lead poking out from under the dash and my laptop has the software, it's just the case of finding someone that would be willing to set it up.

Cheers.

[semi42]

balancing/syncronising the carbs is the final stage of tuning, the megajolt system should be no problem to the tuner as long as you have set the megajolt up correctly. ive had no problems balancing my megajolted esprit

[m44kts]

That's the thing, I'd need the megajolt set up too, I have a map which supposedly roughly matches my engine set up, but I think it'll need tweaked.

[semi42]

Carb balancing is set up on engine idle, the loaded ignition map will be insignificant to the process, as long as the timing is set correctly on idle.