Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

David Vizard has recently uploaded several videos recently if anyone is interested.

Do you mean "David ViZard" who wrote "Tunning Twin Cams"
Alan

Yes, my mistake. Corrected now.

Yes I have been watching them, They mainly focus on American V8's but many interesting bits applicable to all engines.

cheers
Rohan

I used his book when i had a Cortina Twincam and rebuilt the Engine with Piper FY2 Cams. Fully balanced grace of HM Dockyard where i worked (fitter turner)
After running it in drove all the way on national roads to the Costa Brava and back.
Great fun.
Alan

I still have a very dog-eared copy of 'How to Modify your Mini' by David Vizard on my bookshelf. My late teens and early twenties were spent following every page. I de-seamed a Mini following his instructions.

Good luck to him for still going - he's got to be in his 80s by now.

I did come across a youtube video of him discussing the merits of K&N filters and electrostatic forces which seemed to be a load of old nonsense, but the majority of his work seems to be excellent.

Hi Andy,
for the Minis i still have an old book but it's Clive Trickey
Alan

Andy8421 wrote:I still have a very dog-eared copy of 'How to Modify your Mini' by David Vizard on my bookshelf. My late teens and early twenties were spent following every page. I de-seamed a Mini following his instructions.

Good luck to him for still going - he's got to be in his 80s by now.

I did come across a youtube video of him discussing the merits of K&N filters and electrostatic forces which seemed to be a load of old nonsense, but the majority of his work seems to be excellent.

Yes, my youth was also spent with a string of Minis, my tatty well used copy of Vizard’s book still in the bookcase

Malcolm

My youth was mispent with a string of Hillman Imps and "Tuning Imps" by Willy Griffiths was my bible back in the late 60's. Mini engines were all to crude for me

When i graduated to my Elan in the mid 70's I got David Vizards "Tuning Twin Cam Fords" as it and what was in the Dave Bean Catalogue was about all the written technical information on modifications you could find back then. I loaned it to someone years ago and never got it back . I just bought a used copy off the internet as seeing Vizards youtube videos reminded me I should get it again.

cheers
Rohan

I spent my youth putting tuned 1275 A series engines into MK 1 Sprites. My bible was Tuning BMC Sports Cars by Mike Garton.

I must have liked it so much I recently discovered I have 2 copies of it.

Martin

Minis yes,
The best i ever had was a 1964 1071 Austin Cooper S. Did some crazy driving with it.
Alan

alan.barker wrote:Minis yes,
The best i ever had was a 1964 1071 Austin Cooper S. Did some crazy driving with it.
Alan

This was my 1071S, never the fastest but always fun.

Not Vizard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YDApQQqPDA

Head work

Another fan of "How to Modify Your MIni" here. Only I didn't have a Mini!
I had an Elva Formula Junior and it had the BMC "A" series engine. I found his advice and experience very helpful.
The engine in my Elva was one of the rare "XSP" race units. A factory cheater really.
The block had much thicker castings and provision for adding drysump. The crank was a steel forging and used more flywheel bolts-six I think but it could have been eight. I could run it at 8000rpm all day and it was reliable and made good power-until the cylinder head cracked. That is where all the power was being made I came to realise. I sold the car before getting a really decent head to replace the original.
The Cooper S engines were developed from the "XSP" units--the casting for the drysump pump is still there. Other developments too like the extra head studs and bigger main bearings.