A nice thing about broadband internet and YouTube is that some thoughtful and knowlegable people have started to post "useful" videos in addition to people getting kicking the crotch and general ranting.

One thing I recently found was a series of informational videos about SU carbs put together by some guys at "University Motors" These seems to be MG guys, but SUs are largely the same... with exceptions... I know... don't yell at me please.

Here's the first and the others are linked from the video site:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GRAcqDySog&feature=user

And here is me, trying to embed the video to see if it works...

OMG, it works...

Anyway, I'm a visual learner. Once I see it, it's permanent. Hopefully nothing is grosse-ly wrong with this information... Picture is worth a thousand words so a video must be many times that.

Here's part 2


In addition to this basic intro, which most of us know at some level, there are some more specific and useful guides. The other one I've watched so far is the one on matching the pistons and domes after you have disassembled things.

University Motors is owned by a fellow called John Twist. I used to live right near that shop. I didn't watch the videos, but I suspect that's John himself.

John is pretty well renowned in all things MG. In fact, he got his mechanic's training at the MG factory school, in England, back in the day when there *was* an MG factory :)

He is seriously well renowned in the SU world, but John can be an odd duck. Some days, he'll be happy to rebuild your Volvo carbs, but other days he will respond to such a request with "I don't work on Swedish cars."

I used to live close to University Motors when they were still in Grand Rapids.

Mr Twist does have a reputation for being unpredictable; Jim Blett of Swedish Car Service told me of a customer of his that owned a Triumph, who went into University Motors looking for some sort of tailight lens that was also used on MG's, and being told by Mr. Twist that he didn't sell parts for Triumphs, while the part in question was sitting in the display case right in front of him. He's a regular 'soup nazi' of British car parts...

I bought parts from them a couple of times by pretending they were for an MGB.

One time I went in there, and the shop cat was sitting on top of the counter. I leaned over to pet the cat, and it promptly stepped onto my shoulder and then climbed onto the top of my head and sat down. I'm sure the look on my face as I straightened up with a cat perched on my head was priceless... apparently a former mechanic used to walk around all the time with the cat on top of his head.

Bill

He does say that he's John Twist. Seems like a nice enough fellow. Most people I've met who wear *that* sort of hat are decent fellows... :)

I've had some issues in the past finding someone to look at my old volvos. I've still not found anyone I trust since I got to St. Louis. It's the main reason that I went to driving a vintage car daily - theoretically, I can learn it all (eventually) and can do most of the work myself. That'd be inconceivable without the BrickBoard and you guys here to help...

Incidentally, two of the three videos I've watched now have had a "note" at the end where he says that it is the off-season and he'd love to have your business.
Hopefully that means he'd look at your volvo.

Oh no, Jack... Twist won't *ever* look at a *whole* Volvo. but if he's not too busy, he *might* look at your Volvo's carbs.

He does have a pretty good reputation with the SUs. Many folks will put him up high on the list with such notables as Joe curto and the BrickBoard's own Rhys Kent.

Well, I'd have to applaud him for putting those videos together. That's great Stuff.

The tunning the HIF Carbs is a video of what I'd like someone to come an do to my car. I've read the guides over and over, post for help, and feel like I got it mainly figured out, but it will never a substitute for a demonstration.

I hear he's a great carb mechanic, but not unlike the soup nazi.
I guess I'll have to stop judging people by their hats.

Dang, I thought the "hat" system was almost fool-proof...

Hey, that's pretty cool. If you run across any more, like the one about jet centering, please post links and/or videos.
BTW, how did you embed multiple videos in your post?

Cheers,
--
Barry -- 1967 122S 'Betty'

You can embed the videos by copying the "Embedded Video" code from the YouTube site and pasting it into your post. It is very similar to how we post working weblinks and images using the "IMG SRC=" and "A HREF" tags. The video is just an "object" referenced in HTML and the forum's posting system understands that.
Honestly, I was not sure it would work, but it obviously does.

Here are the other handy videos from Mr. Twist. There are many others, but most are about MGs specifically. Really, I think I need something more advanced. Like "Troubleshooting your SUs" or "What to do when the carbs do not behave as described in the manual"

Jet Centering


Matching SU Pistons


Tuning HIF Carbs


Making Your Own Gaskets