This is classic mini is a stunner and well known to magazines and mini enthusiasts within the UK.  The owner contacted me because he had tried a few garages and they admitted that they weren't too familiar and confident with the SU Carb as the most likely cause of the driving 'flat spot'.  So I pencilled him in for a tune up and a revised needle recommendation.

This classic mini had clearly received a lot of love and attention towards it's image and styling, and was generally in exceptionally good order all round.  However, the HIF44 carb and ignition were a little out of tune with what they should be.  After strobe setting the ignition timing to what it should be, I also stripped down the SU Piston, Spring and needle assembly for basic visual checks and re-installation.  After checking SU carb part numbers, I confirmed that the carb identification tag (FZX1306) suggest that it probably originated on a Morris Ital 1.3, and had been cleaned and overhauled.  The jet height was reset correctly, fuelling mixture final adjusted, idle and choke idle speed set and the owner was good to go.  One note passed on to the owner was that the existing SU needle profile may need to be slightly enrichened using a different profile to help accommodate current E10 fuel and also the tasteful free-flowing exhaust modifications in place.

I caught up with the owner of this car a few weeks later and he was delighted with the driving improvement to his mini, and whilst it hadn't suddenly become a Ferrari, however the noted flat spot had pretty much dis-appeared.  He has asked me to look into a suitable needle profile as discussed and booked in again in the coming weeks for me to fit and adjust mixture accordingly....possibly a move from needle profile AEM to ABD?  Reports so far are all good.