Classis Mini - annoyingly loud..,
Discussion
gnc said:
hes a young lad, was every one here never young. i now realise what my neighbours must have thought 40 odd years ago about me. and thats when you could fit anything regarding exhausts to cars and bikes, just ask him nicely.
With respect, I haven't come on PH to ask for advice about how to converse with my neighbours.I was seeking technical advice about the nature of older vehicles.
DoubleSix said:
With respect, I haven't come on PH to ask for advice about how to converse with my neighbours.
I was seeking technical advice about the nature of older vehicles.
I would say then that your ears will tell you everything you need to know. You can tell if someone is revving to get a lumpy or cold engine to keep running or whether the engine is running perfectly well and he's just doing it for fun. I was seeking technical advice about the nature of older vehicles.
When I was 21 (Waaaaay back yonder now! 
),I had a '78 6.6 litre Pontiac Trans Am that had the chokes wired open when I bought it so you had to rev it a bit to get it to stay running.
I didn't have the money to sort it straight away so had to run it like that for a couple of months.
To make matters worse, I was working shifts back then which meant that for two weeks of the month I had to leave home at 5.30am every day.
One day I was fettling around with the car when one of My neighbours came up to me and said: "For two weeks every month I'm woken up at 5.30am by the sound of your car starting up!"
I replied: "I'm sorry about that, the choke doesn't work at the moment so I'm having to give it some revs to keep it running from cold. I have got the parts on order though so it shouldn't be for much longer!
"Oh I'm not complaining!" he said, "I love hearing that V8 rumble! - It sounds superb! Any chance you could fire it up now?"
"Tell you what, I'll chuck this stuff back in the shed and take you out in it if you like!" and then took him out for a cruise round the Town - He absolutely loved it!
With the exhausts that were fitted, it was loud but not grating on the ear (which I suspect this Mini's exhaust is).
However, I did have a Mini with a loud exhaust for My first ever car, and in all honesty, what anyone else ever thought of the noise never entered My head - It sounded good to Me and that's all that mattered!
),I had a '78 6.6 litre Pontiac Trans Am that had the chokes wired open when I bought it so you had to rev it a bit to get it to stay running.I didn't have the money to sort it straight away so had to run it like that for a couple of months.
To make matters worse, I was working shifts back then which meant that for two weeks of the month I had to leave home at 5.30am every day.
One day I was fettling around with the car when one of My neighbours came up to me and said: "For two weeks every month I'm woken up at 5.30am by the sound of your car starting up!"
I replied: "I'm sorry about that, the choke doesn't work at the moment so I'm having to give it some revs to keep it running from cold. I have got the parts on order though so it shouldn't be for much longer!
"Oh I'm not complaining!" he said, "I love hearing that V8 rumble! - It sounds superb! Any chance you could fire it up now?"
"Tell you what, I'll chuck this stuff back in the shed and take you out in it if you like!" and then took him out for a cruise round the Town - He absolutely loved it!
With the exhausts that were fitted, it was loud but not grating on the ear (which I suspect this Mini's exhaust is).
However, I did have a Mini with a loud exhaust for My first ever car, and in all honesty, what anyone else ever thought of the noise never entered My head - It sounded good to Me and that's all that mattered!
It's probably got some modern exhaust on it thats just designed to be loud.
Most do nothing to aid the running of cars and most add nothing to the power output ,if anything most lose engine power compared to a quite properly tuned system .
If it's disturbing you it's probably doing the same to others and without doubt is illegal.
Most do nothing to aid the running of cars and most add nothing to the power output ,if anything most lose engine power compared to a quite properly tuned system .
If it's disturbing you it's probably doing the same to others and without doubt is illegal.
If its an Eighties or older mini I doubt fitting any aftermarket exhaust is illegal, as the rules have changed but not retrospectively.
I must admit I had a slight pang of guilt reading this thread. About 19/20 years ago my mini had a fairly loud "RC40" exhaust, this was followed by an MG BGT with just a single silencer which was even more noisey, my neighbours probably thought I was a t
t too!
I must admit I had a slight pang of guilt reading this thread. About 19/20 years ago my mini had a fairly loud "RC40" exhaust, this was followed by an MG BGT with just a single silencer which was even more noisey, my neighbours probably thought I was a t
t too!
I had a Cooper S with Alexander-modified engine and Alextractor exhaust. No reason to rev it on start-up, just youthful exuberance that needs a quiet word. And as for Webers My starting procedure is simple;five prods of the accelerator, press the starter and run engine at 1500 rpm until the oil pressure stays under 100 psi.
I remember being 17 or 18 and tryng to get my noisy Mini running better one evening.
A neighbour, who had young kids at the time, came over and politely asked if I could keep the noise down in the evenings.
So I did, not all yoofs are unreasonable, it's worth just asking him!
Some years later I ended up helping his eldest son rebuild a wreck of an old Mini ready for his 17th birthday.
Some years later again I had almost finished putting a BMW 535i engine in my E30 3-Series, and before putting the exhaust on I thought I'd check that it fired up (and it is sort of the done thing in a Peter Griffin type way), which it did - and sounded like a WW2 fighter plane.
My elderly next door neighbour came rushing out, so I quickly switched it off.
He'd thought that someone was stealing his (open piped) Harley Davidson out of his garage!
I apologised and explained that I'd just test fired it up before putting the exhaust on and he said "Oh, you're putting an exhaust on it? Sounds great as it is, I wouldn't bother!".
A neighbour, who had young kids at the time, came over and politely asked if I could keep the noise down in the evenings.
So I did, not all yoofs are unreasonable, it's worth just asking him!
Some years later I ended up helping his eldest son rebuild a wreck of an old Mini ready for his 17th birthday.
Some years later again I had almost finished putting a BMW 535i engine in my E30 3-Series, and before putting the exhaust on I thought I'd check that it fired up (and it is sort of the done thing in a Peter Griffin type way), which it did - and sounded like a WW2 fighter plane.
My elderly next door neighbour came rushing out, so I quickly switched it off.
He'd thought that someone was stealing his (open piped) Harley Davidson out of his garage!
I apologised and explained that I'd just test fired it up before putting the exhaust on and he said "Oh, you're putting an exhaust on it? Sounds great as it is, I wouldn't bother!".
Edited by Martin350 on Wednesday 20th April 14:28
Well, I had a brief word last night as we crossed paths and he was a little less accommodating than I had hoped citing "dodgy choke" but will "try" and keep it down a bit... 
Not much seems to have changed tbh, and I don't have the technical know how to flip the bonnet and show him what to do.
Not much seems to have changed tbh, and I don't have the technical know how to flip the bonnet and show him what to do.
DoubleSix said:
Well, I had a brief word last night as we crossed paths and he was a little less accommodating than I had hoped citing "dodgy choke" but will "try" and keep it down a bit...
Not much seems to have changed tbh, and I don't have the technical know how to flip the bonnet and show him what to do.
I know you haven't come on here for advice on how to converse with your neighbours but what else did you expect him to say/do?Not much seems to have changed tbh, and I don't have the technical know how to flip the bonnet and show him what to do.
lowdrag said:
I had a Cooper S with Alexander-modified engine and Alextractor exhaust. No reason to rev it on start-up, just youthful exuberance that needs a quiet word. And as for Webers My starting procedure is simple;five prods of the accelerator, press the starter and run engine at 1500 rpm until the oil pressure stays under 100 psi.
Similar procedure in my car, I actually thought it was "bad" to give it big stabs on starts up (before its warm) better to just hold it manually above idle to avoid an early stall.I rolled, supposedly quietly, through Bristol the other evening on the way back from an event and had been ragging it alittle previously. Came to a stop in traffic outside some wine bars, crowd of girls on a hen do on the curb smoking and I made a slightly lumpy pull away and had to stop again as a taxi pulled out and as such it unintentionally dumped a huge Pop and fireball, que screams, laughter and dropped fags everywhere... good thing I didn't do that leaving home at 6AM!
R8Steve said:
DoubleSix said:
Well, I had a brief word last night as we crossed paths and he was a little less accommodating than I had hoped citing "dodgy choke" but will "try" and keep it down a bit...
Not much seems to have changed tbh, and I don't have the technical know how to flip the bonnet and show him what to do.
I know you haven't come on here for advice on how to converse with your neighbours but what else did you expect him to say/do?Not much seems to have changed tbh, and I don't have the technical know how to flip the bonnet and show him what to do.
- "oh really? Sorry about that, force of habit, I'll back off a bit"
- "sorry, yes it's a bit temperamental on start up but I should be getting it looked at in the next week or two if you can stick it out till then"
- "sorry, I had no idea"
- "sorry, it's causing a nuisance but I'm skint so can't sort it right now"
- "sorry"
Not sure if you picked up on a running theme in the above but it seems to be something that comes easier to some than others.
DoubleSix said:
New neighbour has an old mini with some sort of custom exhaust.
I don't mind a bit of engine noise but am getting a bit tired of the house vibrating every time he starts it up and repeatedly revs the arse off it before pulling away, at idle it's not an issue at all.
Before I pop round and ask if he could be a bit more considerate can I ask you guys if there's a genuine need to pump the throttle on an old car like this? I've only owned modern vehicles so wouldn't know if there is a such a requirement.
Cheers
EDIT : title should say 'Classic', can't edit!
I suppose an alternative option could be to be less grumpy. I'm sure it's not really causing that much of an issue. I don't mind a bit of engine noise but am getting a bit tired of the house vibrating every time he starts it up and repeatedly revs the arse off it before pulling away, at idle it's not an issue at all.
Before I pop round and ask if he could be a bit more considerate can I ask you guys if there's a genuine need to pump the throttle on an old car like this? I've only owned modern vehicles so wouldn't know if there is a such a requirement.
Cheers
EDIT : title should say 'Classic', can't edit!
300bhp/ton said:
DoubleSix said:
New neighbour has an old mini with some sort of custom exhaust.
I don't mind a bit of engine noise but am getting a bit tired of the house vibrating every time he starts it up and repeatedly revs the arse off it before pulling away, at idle it's not an issue at all.
Before I pop round and ask if he could be a bit more considerate can I ask you guys if there's a genuine need to pump the throttle on an old car like this? I've only owned modern vehicles so wouldn't know if there is a such a requirement.
Cheers
EDIT : title should say 'Classic', can't edit!
I suppose an alternative option could be to be less grumpy. I'm sure it's not really causing that much of an issue. I don't mind a bit of engine noise but am getting a bit tired of the house vibrating every time he starts it up and repeatedly revs the arse off it before pulling away, at idle it's not an issue at all.
Before I pop round and ask if he could be a bit more considerate can I ask you guys if there's a genuine need to pump the throttle on an old car like this? I've only owned modern vehicles so wouldn't know if there is a such a requirement.
Cheers
EDIT : title should say 'Classic', can't edit!
It could be worse Doublesix. You could have me as a neighbour. 
The wee beastie passed IVA last year at 99 dBa.
It runs on twin Delorto 45's which don't have chokes as such but a lift device that lets more fuel in.
Consequently cold running is lumpy and pulling away is impossible until its warmed up a shade.
On a bad day my brother pops over on his T140 that's fitted in true Triumph fashion with "Goldie" megaphones.
I've measured them at 119 dBa.
Count your blessings. It's only an iccle Mini.
Paul G
The wee beastie passed IVA last year at 99 dBa.
It runs on twin Delorto 45's which don't have chokes as such but a lift device that lets more fuel in.
Consequently cold running is lumpy and pulling away is impossible until its warmed up a shade.
On a bad day my brother pops over on his T140 that's fitted in true Triumph fashion with "Goldie" megaphones.
I've measured them at 119 dBa.
Count your blessings. It's only an iccle Mini.
Paul G
OverSteery said:
Chris1255 said:
No reason at all if it's got an A series and if it's set up properly. No different to a newer car except you have to operate the choke yourself if it's one without electronic ignition.
No difference at all between a choke and electronic ignition? What about if it's got fuel injection instead of a distributor? Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff