Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[gresham flyer]

Looking through some papers of a Sunbeam Rapier car I purchased recently I found this invoice tucked in the back of a workshop manual.
Dated the 6th July 1972 the total cost was £6.20.

Not relating to the car I purchased I hasten to add.!!!

I remember our local Hometune chap coming to my workplace in his van and giving my sick car a tune up then telling me it was burning oil after I had paid him. That was a waste of money.!!!!

I think he was an ex RAF chap who worked for the Hometune company on a franchise,and had a small workshop in the older part of town.
If I recall correctly you could drop you car off, go into town shopping then return and drive home in your crypton tuned A35 at 95 miles an hour.!!!!

Ah...the Crypton Tuner....an advancement from a bloke with a length of pipe and the other bloke who would turn the distributor round a bit then roar up the road in your car to see if it performed any better.

Anyone out there with Hometune memories.?

Gresham Flyer

[ukdave2002]

Looks very similar to the Crypton tests of the era:



The Crypton engine analyser; great tool in the right hands, but I suspect many mechanics in the 70's really couldn't interpret the results correctly

Dave

[RUSTON]

Before my time there but I recall our old garage foreman telling me that when they were thinking of investing in a Crypton Tuner a guy came to demonstrate one. He wanted a 'doner car' so the foremans Riley 1.5 was chosen and wired up, it found fault in the distributor so a new one was fitted from the stores, and the carbs were out of sync so the machine retuned them. Next task was the test run, the car struggled to make it up the slight gradient from the garage to the main road! The old distributor was replaced and the carbs tuned by ear, normal service was resumed! I cant recall a Crypton being there in my time.

Pete.
_________________
Measure twice...cut once!

[gresham flyer]

We had another franchised company in our town in the 1980`s.

A rolling road tuning company.

You could take your car down to them and they would give it a good old thrashing on the rollers...trouble is you found problems with your car you did not even think existed.
They would inform you that the carburettor,distributor,plugs,leads,coil,fuel pump etc were all knackered.
You could spend a thousand pounds on your car easily.

Gresham Flyer

[Churchill Johnson]

When i worked in the motor trade i had a Ford pick-up with the V4 engine to look at, owner complained of lack of power sometime's, i did all the usual thing's point's,condenser,plug's, lead's, tried another coil,carb off clean,this was over several week's even had the head's off did the valve's nothing i did seemed to work so i suggested to my governor to let Hometune have a go this was done but the bloke said only thing i can find is it's running weak, that i had concluded, i tried to get a used carb to try then one day i stood looking at the engine the carb had a return plastic pipe to the tank so if it flooded petrol would not sit in the vee of the engine causing a fire hazard, i pulled off this pipe and problem was cured i traced the pipe back and found it had been crushed by a clip, the partly blocked pipe had caused the float level to be to low resulting in loss of power.

[baconsdozen]

The return pipe was to ensure a flow of petrol and was supposed to keep it cool and stop vapour lock under the bonnet,I think the idea was abandoned on later engines.
I remember a mobile tuner years ago in our area,for sometime untill the alternative meaning was pointed out to him his advert in the local press read something like.....................
"Why tune your engine and have it running badly. Let me come and do it for you"
_________________
Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[MikeEdwards]

I remember my Dad having the 1300 tuned by a Hometune chap. I think the sticker is on the back bumper still, logo of a spanner I think.

[ukdave2002]

The thing to remember about any Engine Analyser (of the 60'70,80's era), is; that it provides the mechanic with accurate information about the engine, analysers can't diagnose the cause, they do however turn many a several hour job for an experienced mechanic, into a several minute job.

Dave

[gresham flyer]

That is right if used correctly the machine saves a lot of time.

Modern cars and motorbikes require an understanding of computer technology to set them up or find faults..

Mind you, if you ring a garage today to find out if they have repaired your car the mechanic can always say to you on the phone....."The computer say`s no".!!!

Gresham Flyer