David Vizard - tuning the A-Series engine

David Vizard talks about how to tune the BMC A-Series engine for performance and economy. Originaly uploaded by VulcanBB18 - put together as single file by me.

[@theundergroundlairofthesqu9261]

Guide to the video above: 0:00 Introduction - where the heat goes/valves impede airflow 1:40 Bolt-on modifications 4:25 Air filters are good/how K&N filters work 14:44 Cylinder heads - conventional valve seat design 20:17 Anecdote - "streetable" cams 21:32 Cylinder heads - a different approach to valve seat design High-lift flow vs. low-lift flow 26:12 4 valve vs. 2 valve heads 44:24 Valve size appropriation 48:26 Choosing compression ratio - "all successfull race engines run at 9:1" 50:33 Unleaded fuels and valve seats 53:16 END OF PART ONE - TURN RECORD OVER PART TWO 53:35 Minis and octane 55:30 Intake valve heat and incoming air 56:00 Aviation gas 59:24 Aldon octane booster 1:01:20 Chromed intake manifolds 1:06:48 Camshafts and valvetrains (this part is very Mini/BMC) 1:20:56 Extending the cam duration to the limit 1:23:50 Thermostats, boiling points, and water pumps 1:27:25. Vibration and gear drives, timing chains, and timing belts; crank dampers, Vibratech dampers 1:34:30 Pushrods 1:37:03 Overly heavy springs; titanium valves, springs, and rockers 1:40:32 Graph of cylinder and port pressures 1:44:40 Volumetric efficiency of Mini engines 1:47:40 END OF PART TWO PART THREE - Some hints and suggestions 1:47:12 Advantages of longer connecting rods 1:49:26 Advantages of windage trays 1:50:16 Carburation (Which Carby for the Mini?) 1:52:00 SU needles 1:53:37 The future for the Mini with unleaded fuels 1:57:20 Getting compression right without detonation 1:59:35 Pros and cons of water injection

[@milescunha5286]

Yin and Yang cut that b

[@thomasleclair7418]

Thanks for posting this GEM....I watch all his you tube stuff and have many of his books,,,,,,,Today he is near 80 years old,,,,,What a refreshing experience to see and hear the man in his PRiME.......

[@72troy455]

This dudes good, I've learned much from reading his books, I've been building engines daily for 35yrs and I owe much knowledge to David Vizard, Smokey Yunick, David Rehere, Buddy Morrison, Joe Sherman, Bill Jenkins. etc. A person can learn much from these guys.

[@79tazman]

David Vizard has his own youtube channel now if you did not know that check it out

[@mickesundgren5575]

I to learn a lot from them to

[@hectorortega9131]

Were i can buy his books??

[@stanbest3743]

His book, Tuning the A Series Engine, is a masterpiece.

[@zerotohero5448]

Damn right - looking at it now :)

[@thomasleclair7418]

,,,,Thanks,,,gonna add that one to my Vizard book collection.....

[@Frazer777]

I had his book ' How To Modify Your Mini' in the 80s and read it so often I knew what page each piece of text was on relative to my requirements. I pulled apart my Mini engine and suspension using his expertise. Fun days indeed...

[@blue911s]

Guys a legend - top class engineer.

[@mceperformance8978]

I particularly liked the valve seat presentation. The valve seat profile is (IMO) the most critical component (as far as airflow goes) on the entire engine.

[@Ni9kye]

i read the a-series book from cover to cover several times, this is a very cleaver guy

[@wingfamilyfive]

Same- the bible for tuning mini's

[@theoldbigmoose]

This video is pure gold! Put so many pieces together that were rattling around in my head. So many principles that I read about at Endyn (Larry Widmer) explained in more detail here. David is a wizard of engines!

[@davidlisney2059]

Although I have read a number of his books and enjoyed them very much I still learnt a lot from this video. Excellent the way he has gathered data over many years, I like to see an open minded approach to the engineering problems.

[@cr6925]

Super stuff - so interesting. David Vizard really is the god of the A series. What a life time of knowledge freely imparted. Many thanks for posting this :-)

[@72troy455]

You should see the bigblock Chevy engines he builds. Amazing to say the least.

[@stuartclague3914]

Takes me back to Cars and Car Conversions days.....

[@stephencox4224]

Sad day indeed when Cars and car Conversions went the way of the Dodo, Vizard, Andy so many knowledgeable contributors better days indeed than the sad excuse the world has become now with the Marxist scammers and the Climate change boondoggle and the unelected and corrupt EU doing their best to destroy real engines and cars in general, Enthusiasts need to stand up and be counted and say no more of your Lies we will not go quietly into Globalist WEF slavery.

[@GoNutsButch]

Thank you for taking the time to upload this, very interesting and amazingly knowledgeable guy, awesome!

[@philtucker1224]

He was a legend in the 60s and 70s 👍🇬🇧

[@bilsy413]

Thanks so much for uploading this, so interesting.

[@eeezee7000]

Thanks for posting this essential info from the all-time best A-series tuner himself.

[@Brustkle]

I liked the area were he talked about valve seats, Very interesting information

[@mikefranky]

I bought a book years ago by this guy called tuning bl a series engine! There is nothing this guy doesnt know about these engines! He built a beautfull engine on the cover of the book think it was a 1400 bored out from a 1275cc it was being run by is daughter on the drag strips and getting great times!!..

[@elchicousana2]

Great video. I rised my intake port by cutting the piston skirt on intake when its TDC, to leave full intake port finction, and i got 10 Km/H extra, for a total 70 km/hr top on lecel ground road, also was reving 30% faster. Otherwise, when i creased compresión up to 100psi, and left piston skirt the same, i got only 5km/hr extra top. But my low revs torque left me drag up to 1.250 TON. Obviously with all the other recommendations on your dragonfly page and some other personal mods. Like special design on the non-geound elwcteode spark plugs and enhaced spark plug energy.

[@Ni9kye]

For wikiezulu, i tuned a a series turbo motor before its quite easy, get a modified acculator, strait through exhaust with no restriction, stretch the dump valve spring by 15mm then set the timing and mixture up on a rolling you can make 140bhp at the wheels no problem. as for torque steer, well thats part of the fun!

[@grantsnell6782]

Fascinating!

[@freelifenride16]

Thanks for uploading this

[@ahitah1]

Vizard The Wizard!!!

[@PTGraeme]

It's from 1996 and it's all relevant.

[@DANTHETUBEMAN]

2021 still relevant.

[@17473039]

This is awesome, I feel like I'm delving into the dark arts here!

[@brucelamberton8819]

Vizard is a wizard.

[@autodoctordr]

What a classic. Never been much of a mini guy, but I am working on one right now for a client. Street car with a 1098, I believe. He's not sure what it is exactly

[@jamest.5001]

A large filter as possible also, so it doesn't restrict as it gets dirty!

[@tumdeax]

Vizard the wizard!

[@doctormengele961]

An absolute Genius

[@TinManImports]

A lot of negative comments here, and that saddens me. I can categorically say that the negative comments are coming from people that do not have enough understanding of ICE. Owing to this, these people are unable to understand the subject material. As a result, those people will continue to build inferior systems that will repeatedly be un-competative and repeatedly failure plagued. If David has to explain ! You don't understand.

[@davidelliott5843]

Here he's on about the obsolete Mini A Series, but everything he says is just as relevant to modern engines. The only difference is that modern engines have closer tolerances from the factory so don't need so much metal removal.

[@jimdavis8391]

I thought I was quite knowledgeable....;)

[@milescunha5286]

How does this only have this many few views

[@samjmarsay]

Thank you so much for uploading this. Blessings be upon your genitals.

[@tcellen2136]

fantastic info thanks for sharing!

[@yoshisheeba]

You think you no a little till this guy starts to talk very intresting my new mini bible thanks.

[@peterjones6945]

Water expands around 1,600 times between liquid and vapor, doesn't 'split' into H2 and O at any temperature an IC engine will reach.

[@conantdog]

Great information 👍👌

[@paulcarter2907]

Legend....

[@Brustkle]

Burton power do good seats as well as other companys do a-series and a-plus harden valve seats its just a matter of looking around but if money is not a problem then ask rolls-royce if they will make you some valves for you. But like David Vizard said you need a good air filter that flows but filters allso.

[@jimkillen1065]

impressive very sharp guy

[@andyjones6361]

Wow awesome!!

[@wickiezulu]

Or would a better bet have been a new clean-sheet 1.0-1.6-litre OHC replacement for the A-Series (different from the A-OHC prototype or E-Series units) in the same way the B-Series OHV became the nearly clean-sheet O-Series OHC design?

[@autonomous_collective]

Thx for sharing...

[@scudracer]

I'll ask Ian Hargreaves (Avonbar) instead. Just ordered some Avonbar competition inlet valves from him. Rolls-Royce? Don't they just use BMW powertrains? I'll use a K&N filter as recommended by David Vizard.

[@MoparMan-ff8fb]

I use K & N air filters on all my engines = slant 6 , 318 , 360 and on my folks vehicles = 1996 jeep Cherokee sport 4.0 and 2006 chevy silverado

[@ChristianCohn]

@DeiMuddaSeiMudda No at the end it says 1996 ;-)

[@hobartw9770]

He seems very intelligent, even a simpleton like me can understand him.

[@ChristianCohn]

Incredible! Learned alot... but how old is this?

[@deanstevenson6527]

ChristianCohn : over 23 years old CC

[@wickiezulu]

If my main objective is building a road-going performance A-Series that is powerful and reliable enough yet not too powerful to provoke torque steer in a Mini/Metro, what would be the best approach to take? (Was thinking of going down the 1380cc Turbo route with a target output of about 120-138 hp.)

[@juliennacer8871]

thats basically high end sports bike horsepower levels. go for a nice and mild 300hp to the wheels.

[@JerseyMikeP]

36:30, The 30* degree seat in the head/port, might be able to flow as much as the 45* seat...but he doesn't mention the 308 degreee seat on the valve and how it affect the flow around it. It would be difficult to taper/step the difference between the 30 degree seat on the valve to the margin..in such a small area. The 30 degree seat will "hinder" the flow around the valve itself. I think that is why high lift engines like nascar/drag racing have moved to 50degree seats and gain the flow around the valve face/seat.

[@pir869]

I'ts good to have some things explained verbally ,than looking at text and pictures,oral presentation adds the extra dimension to understand the concept,plus tangential info doesn't happen much in books. Does anyone have any good porting and chamber info for 1300 and 1500 triumph heads,there's not much i can find,mst is on minis or chevy. cheers

[@gothicpagan.666]

The lad @ approx 128 mins with the 310deg cam in his road car is typical of the mistakes and resultant problems that plagues after market tunning

[@scudracer]

Where can we get those hard valve seats which showed no wear after 20,000 miles?

[@wickiezulu]

Though have read of Vizard investigating a 1.6-litre A-Series (which was not without its drawbacks), could the A-Series have developed differently to grow to around that engine displacement (instead of eventually 1275cc) had all its components (plus pushrods) been grouped on one side of the cylinder block, been given a stronger 5-bearing crankshaft and been capable of easily being converted to a short-stroke engine design during its gestation?

[@wickiezulu]

@Sean m While some relation exists the larger and bulkier B-Series (originally the 1.2 A40 unit) preceded the A-Series (though have seen some argue there being significant differences between the engines), had it been possible a 1.6 A-Series would have been much lighter and compact enough to fit into the space of a Mini's engine bay compared to a 1.6 B-Series as well as not cause handling issues in the Marina as was notoriously the case with the B-Series. Before eventually evolving into the distantly related Renault K-Type engine, the similarly sized Renault Cleon-Fonte was also capable of being enlarged to a 1.6 via the Volvo 343 Oëttinger. Nissan's historical ties with Austin also come to mind. with the 1.0-1.5 Nissan A Overhead Value and 1.0-1.6 Nissan E Overhead Cam (later GA/QG) engines being roughly how would envision a differently evolved A-Series engine and its descendants or a slightly upsized half-relation approximately resembling (reminiscent to how the larger B-Series eventually became the O-Series, M-Series and T-Series, etc).

[@wickiezulu]

@Sean m That is ok, always found it perplexing the B-Series was never enlarged to a 106 hp 2 litres / 1998cc or converted to OHC as could have been the case for both in the early 1960s before the tooling was completely worn out. Obviously a differently-developed or half-related production ~1293-1596cc A-Series that easily fits into the Mini's engine bay would still be limited by the Mini and 1100/1300 gearbox, yet it would have been an overall positive in addition to the likes of the Midget and later A-Series / A-Plus engined cars (along with pushing the development of what became the E/S-Series into a different direction). The following PDF suggests the 1.8 B-Series in the MGB was capable of having its power increased to approximately 99-112 hp (others say 120 hp though cannot find any info on the company / specifics), yet wonder how the upgrades would have translated over to a 112-115 hp 2 litre OHC B-Series or hypothetical reliable 125-136 hp 2 litre DOHC B-Series. mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk/pdf/mgb.pdf

[@wickiezulu]

@Sean m Have read of the planned 2-litre O-Series MGB project being capable of putting out as much as 127 hp outside of the emissions strangled North American market (Federal versions of the O-Series MGB putting out around 95-105 hp IIRC) before it was canned, with early O-Series turbos in the likes of experimental TR7 and SD1 test cars putting out about 160 hp prior to the 150 hp MG Maestro Turbo. By T5 am taking it you are referring to the Volvo and Ford engines? Otherwise it has been said the Rover M/T-Series Turbo were easily capable of putting out as much as 275 hp without major modifications (being limited only by the gearbox). Via the following link it seems common Mini engine swaps range from GM/Vauxhall Family II, Honda B (as done in MCM JDM Mini), Rover K-Series and Suzuki G 3-cylinder as well as Daihatsu C-Series 3-cylinder petrol / diesel and Nissan CG/CR engines with some of the swaps (Suzuki, Daihatsu and Nissan IIRC) being relatively more easier to do than others (an usual Mini engine conversion has been one with a PSA TUD diesel sourced from the Rover Metro/100 though still no easy task). www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/forum/61-engine-conversions/

[@wickiezulu]

@Sean m Will have to check out Peter Burgess's book. Along with having David Vizard's book, also have Graham Robson's book on the A-Series which together with Jon Pressenell's Mini: The Definitive History are interesting reads in terms of what developments were considered for the A-Series / A-Plus over the course of its production life. Surprised a similar book on the B-Series was never considered over the years on what little known developments were actually considered for the engine prior to becoming the O-Series / etc (up to the Td5 diesel). Mention has been made of the 1.2-litre A40 engine being originally conceived as a 1.0-1.2-litre (the smaller unit temporarily considered for a post-war A35 derived from a SWB-A40 Dorset/Devon), with the 1-litre version becoming the Nissan C aka "Stone" engine. Another tidbit has a 2-litre 6-cylinder derived from the 1.2-litre A40 being considered under the "C-Series" engine years before the Australian 2.4-litre "Blue Streak" B-Series 6-cylinder engine prior to losing out in favour of the 2.2 "D-Series" 4-cylinder used in the Austin A70 (itself based on the "D-Series" Princess/Sheerline 6-cylinder that was a reverse-engineered version of the Bedford built 216 Chevrolet Straight-6). The last experimental was reputedly an experimental 1.2-litre A40-derived V8 developed by one Tadek Marek at Austin prior to moving to Aston Martin. Fwiw it seems the 2.4 Blue Streak could be tuned from 80 hp to 115 hp (when tested in MGBs), with the engine being tested on a dyno up to 128 hp before failing above this due to the weak link being the smaller piston pins than used in the English B series engines which were based on the Australian version. www.mgexp.com/forum/mgb-and-gt-forum.1/mgb-6-2-4-litre-6.2387081/

[@wickiezulu]

@Sean m The formation of British Leyland is another matter entirely and should not have ever came into being in retrospect to create what amounts to a perfect storm of chaos that it did. With a different leader in place of George Harriman at BMC from the early 60s, one who could keep Issigonis in check, reduced the costs of the FWD cars, made better use of the research department and acquired Rover instead of Jaguar. BMC would have been in an infinitely better position without any need for a merger, since even in real-life Leyland Motors was thriving before the merger (with the addition of Jaguar in place of Rover avoiding overlap with Triumph). The Australians had their reasons in developing the Blue Streak B-Series 6-cylinder, though the C-Series was a Morris design (reputedly an OHV conversion of the Wolseley 6/80 OHC which itself was allegedly planned to be enlarged to 3.25-4-litres) and it would have been politically tricky for what was already perceived as a largely Austin dominated BMC to ditch the C-Series engine in favour of a B-Series 6-cyinder. Aside from the potentially lower costs of a 6-cylinder B-Series being based on the 4-cylinder and being a bit lighter than the C-Series, there seems to be really little in it between the engines as to which would be better had both been developed to their full potential. Either way both would have ideally been replaced by a thoroughly-developed E-Series 6-cylinder, albeit with the reduced block height from the later related S-Series 4-cylinder engine (and scope for enlargement up to 3-litres). Apparently there were two attempts at an all-alloy A-Series, the following link is regarding the 2nd attempt which did not go anywhere. Would be fascinating to see if the B-Series was subject to similar all-alloy proposals or even early thinwall casting to reduce the weight of the engine (like what was attempted in the botched revised C-Series). mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk/experimental_dept.htm Am rather intrigued by the potential a 3-litre B-Series 6-cylinder as well as a reliable 2-litre B-Series Twin-Cam (plus 3-litre Twin-Cam), both of which would have effectively given MG the opportunity to move upmarket and further capitalize on the marque's brand recognition in North America against Triumph (compared to Riley).

[@JerseyMikeP]

His comments on area above/below the half way lift @22:40 mark is incorrect. He needs to put vertical lines from the half lift line ends to zero lift. There will be 2 areas/triangles...one on each side. Those areas are the time that the valve is open and the time the head is flowing below half lift. The time the valve is below half lift is longer but most of the flow is done above half lift. What that really shows is, how important it is to open/close the valve as quickly as possible.

[@cjmillsnun]

What David Vizzard doesn't know about the A series isn't worth knowing.

[@TheFarCobra]

We refer to his book as the A series Bible.

[@17473039]

Shadow Works you mean.

[@aria8928]

shoot, so with the 310* cam a 1275 can make up to 205hp!!!

[@gouldfish]

this makes me relise i no nothing

[@deanosaur808]

Know! 😛

[@Brustkle]

Rolls-Royce aviation industry have a special money no object workshop for custom orders. Ask them nicely and they should do carbon steel valves for £2000 for set of 8. Some of the f1 teams (not nameing any) have had sneeky work done for them in past ect. Am not a whistleblower

[@NickGreiner1988]

Does anyone have a pdf of the a series book?

[@deanosaur808]

Pdf?? It's a very big book 😅 Why not buy it? Or borrow it from a library? Bromley library is missing their copy since 1989! I really wanted to return it 😛🤣🤣

[@dav1dbone]

Can anyone tell me what computer and package Dave's using?

[@deanosaur808]

Windows 95? 😅

[@grahamrowland6681]

Visards book is the bible

[@Evoluzione2]

His haircut is....

[@ivannielsen2851]

K&N not good anymore. Check out Project Farm airfilters test.

[@pmd7771969]

Ssssnnnnnooooorrrrr

[@alext9067]

I'm having trouble w/ the longer connecting rod business. I don't see it. Also, at the beginning of part one he referred to the intake air as going through the K&N filter in pulses. I think that preposterous. He said that the induction of the outer cylinders robs the inner two cylinders. That is easily fixed by segregating the intake manifold runs. He said that his chrome plated intake manifold was cold and the others were too hot to touch. Totally silly stuff. He's a showboater. I hate to trash the guy, because he obviously knows his material. But i think he might be out on the edge w/ some of his statements. IJS

[@ronaspinall1742]

Well why dont you write a book ! DV was very good at what he did results proved his work.

[@enwri]

Title of the video is "Tuning the A series motor" Rod length has to do with geometry, Your not understanding physics doesn't stop it working. Intake pulses? what do you think induction noise is. the A series engine is a 5 port head, 1 and 2, 3 and 4 share one port each pair, he even says,"siamesed ports". You try and make a segregated manifold for that. 1 and 4 have their own exhaust ports and scavenge better as well, 2 and 3 share an exhaust, making it worse. Chrome plated manifold reflects heat from the glowing red exhaust manifold on either side of the intake runners, it's not a crossflow. He knows what he's talking about, you however are applying your limited knowledge to something you are not familiar with and looking foolish doing it. Who's the showboat here, you didn't have to say anything yet you wanted to show that you know better.

[@stan0matic]

alex tworkowski Troll, or need to get up to speed? Like enwri says, he's talking about the A series engine. Read up, modify some, and get back to us.

[@alext9067]

Boy, what hostility. I'm sorry I peed on your god. I said that he knows his stuff. I just think he's 90% spot on, and 10% blueberry muffins. I'm not completely ignorant. I have attended university and would just like you chaps to come down to earth about this guy. Didn't mean to ruffle any petticoats.

[@enwri]

alex tworkowski Yeah, not sure why I cared so much, haven't owned a mini for about 30 years. He also wrote alot about flowing and porting big two valve engines

[@pmd7771969]

Ugh

[@pmd7771969]

Yawn

[@deanosaur808]

It's obviously not for you! Stick with the toys little boy 😉