What Does Your 3.9 / 4.0 litre Wedge Make?
Discussion
Alexdaredevilz said:
Could you honesty comment how bad that cam was low down please, as I'm thinking about fitting a mech cam with about 300 duration my self soon
It's lumpy as hell down low to be honest. My old 'Flapper' injection system probably needs a tweak here & there too but once it reaches 4k rpm it just takes off, all the way to 6500. Very addictive. pwd95 said:
It's lumpy as hell down low to be honest. My old 'Flapper' injection system probably needs a tweak here & there too but once it reaches 4k rpm it just takes off, all the way to 6500. Very addictive.
Usable lumpy? or did you have to travel 100 miles to avoid a traffic jam?Mine will be temporarily using the hotwire with a MA chip, then changing for mappable system in the near future
Chimpafrolic said:
"My old 1275GT Mini made 320hp when I replaced the SU carbs with a twin choke Webber"
Myths and stories are no good Wedgies
The mythical 270hp 4.0 litre Rover V8 still eludes us (in all TVR camps).
A 255hp Wedge remains the best confirmed result so far.
However I know of a certain Chimp that's about to surprise us all.
Who can it be
Its no myth, it was on Emeralds rolling road about 7 years ago nowMyths and stories are no good Wedgies
The mythical 270hp 4.0 litre Rover V8 still eludes us (in all TVR camps).
A 255hp Wedge remains the best confirmed result so far.
However I know of a certain Chimp that's about to surprise us all.
Who can it be
So it can be done
Alexdaredevilz said:
Usable lumpy? or did you have to travel 100 miles to avoid a traffic jam?
Mine will be temporarily using the hotwire with a MA chip, then changing for mappable system in the near future
Useable for me no problem. Would be a bit tiresome on a daily basis but a proper fuel & spark system would probably tame it quite well.Mine will be temporarily using the hotwire with a MA chip, then changing for mappable system in the near future
pwd95 said:
It's lumpy as hell down low to be honest. My old 'Flapper' injection system probably needs a tweak here & there too but once it reaches 4k rpm it just takes off, all the way to 6500. Very addictive.
My 450 feels exactly like this. Is there any way of working out the cam profile/duration with physically taking it out as i'm curious as to what it's running?Jimbo
Alexdaredevilz said:
Only way to tell is to take it out, then you might aswell change it
That's surely not true? With the rockers off, it should be possible to measure the valve lift and time the duration using a degree wheel?Providing the cam profile isn't worn, I'm sure it should then be able to reference the figures back against known cam data.
350Matt said:
Chimpafrolic said:
"My old 1275GT Mini made 320hp when I replaced the SU carbs with a twin choke Webber"
Myths and stories are no good Wedgies
The mythical 270hp 4.0 litre Rover V8 still eludes us (in all TVR camps).
A 255hp Wedge remains the best confirmed result so far.
However I know of a certain Chimp that's about to surprise us all.
Who can it be
Its no myth, it was on Emeralds rolling road about 7 years ago nowMyths and stories are no good Wedgies
The mythical 270hp 4.0 litre Rover V8 still eludes us (in all TVR camps).
A 255hp Wedge remains the best confirmed result so far.
However I know of a certain Chimp that's about to surprise us all.
Who can it be
So it can be done
The only reason I changed from the 4.0 ltr is because I broke it
I went 4.6 to get a slightly better all round drive, and I knew I was going to have to go up a bit and still go quick
A few other bits were changed and some of the bits on the old unit kept.
It also drinks a bit less now,
OK, I think we have exhausted this one, I hope you all enjoyed the banter?
Ultimately it was just a frivolous bit of nonsense from me, & you should all know by now I am rather gifted at frivolous nonsense
Now we are coming to a close it may be worth summarising what we've learnt?
1) It is possible to squeeze 270hp plus out of a 4.0 litre Rover V8
2) Doing so is likely to have a significant negative impact on driveability
3) Getting to 270hp plus will need a first rate set of ported & flowed heads, an aggressive cam and other induction mods
4) If the goal is over 250hp it's probably cheaper & more sensible to build a decent 4.6 lump than keep throwing money at a 4.0 litre
5) Even though it hurts me to admit it, the Wedgies do seem to have the most powerful 4.0 litre cars
6) A Wedge weighs 150kg more than a Chimp so this should even things up
EXAMPLE:
My last rolling road session recorded a healthy 233hp at the crank.
But wait for it Wedgies, with my new twin port flugal horn (ACT De-cat Y Piece) going on next weekend I hope to see a genuine 240hp.
Wedge Spanker is hunting you down
Ultimately it was just a frivolous bit of nonsense from me, & you should all know by now I am rather gifted at frivolous nonsense
Now we are coming to a close it may be worth summarising what we've learnt?
1) It is possible to squeeze 270hp plus out of a 4.0 litre Rover V8
2) Doing so is likely to have a significant negative impact on driveability
3) Getting to 270hp plus will need a first rate set of ported & flowed heads, an aggressive cam and other induction mods
4) If the goal is over 250hp it's probably cheaper & more sensible to build a decent 4.6 lump than keep throwing money at a 4.0 litre
5) Even though it hurts me to admit it, the Wedgies do seem to have the most powerful 4.0 litre cars
6) A Wedge weighs 150kg more than a Chimp so this should even things up
EXAMPLE:
- A Wedge with 270hp will have a PTWR of 222hp per ton.
- A Chimp with 240hp will have a PTWR of 226hp per ton.
My last rolling road session recorded a healthy 233hp at the crank.
But wait for it Wedgies, with my new twin port flugal horn (ACT De-cat Y Piece) going on next weekend I hope to see a genuine 240hp.
Wedge Spanker is hunting you down
Edited by Chimpafrolic on Wednesday 14th September 15:17
Ok, may have been a tiny bit out
It seems there is some conflicting info in Wedge weights on the interweb.
Lets make it as fair as possible & look at the most favourable scenario for my Wedgie mates.
, perhaps I need those stage 3 heads from Rob Robertson after all?
But hang on, looking at it another way any Wedge with less than 260hp is going to struggle against my Chimp with 240hp
Come on Wedgies who's brave enough for a bit of street drag with the Chimp?
It seems there is some conflicting info in Wedge weights on the interweb.
Lets make it as fair as possible & look at the most favourable scenario for my Wedgie mates.
- Wedgie at 270hp pulling along 1150kgs = 234.78hp per ton
- Chimp at 240hp pulling along 1060kgs = 226.41hp per ton
, perhaps I need those stage 3 heads from Rob Robertson after all?
But hang on, looking at it another way any Wedge with less than 260hp is going to struggle against my Chimp with 240hp
Come on Wedgies who's brave enough for a bit of street drag with the Chimp?
So after all these pages you've worked out that, all other things being equal, you won't out drag a well tuned 3.9/4.0 wedge or larger capacity wedge (which are all tuned) and you've found out that it's cheaper to drop in a lager capacity block than tune a 4.0. I think that TVR reached that conclusion about 25 years ago.
Chimpafrolic said:
You cheeky cheese you
Show me a real life Wedge with more than 260hp & I will gladly show you a winner.
But honestly where are they?
Wedge Spanker is ready for you
Hmmm, you've raised the bar again: 250, 255, 260...Show me a real life Wedge with more than 260hp & I will gladly show you a winner.
But honestly where are they?
Wedge Spanker is ready for you
From memeory there were about 2,500 wedges built. Of these about 400 were larger capacity cars (3.9 or above.) Of these 400 about 60ish will have had 250+ bhp from new and that includes the 4.2, 4.3 and 4.5 cars. Then we've got loss of power from wear and tear without being rebuilt and the fact that as you mention rather than an expensive 4.0 rebuild it's easier and cheaper to drop in a 4.6 or 5.0. I think that there are less than 1,000 wedges now and maybe 5 of those with your requirements so they will be rare beasts but they do exist.
JR said:
So after all these pages you've worked out that, all other things being equal, you won't out drag a well tuned 3.9/4.0 wedge or larger capacity wedge (which are all tuned) and you've found out that it's cheaper to drop in a lager capacity block than tune a 4.0. I think that TVR reached that conclusion about 25 years ago.
You cheeky cheese you Show me a real life Wedge with more than 260hp & I will gladly show you a winner.
But honestly where are they?
One road, four cars:
1) KR (claiming 270hp but he admits it's a very old figure)
2) Wedg1e (with 256.6hp)
3) Jonny weggie (with 254.6hp)
4) Chimpafrolic (moving 100kg less with 240hp)
Wedge Spanker is ready for you
Chimpafrolic said:
One road, four cars:
1) KR (claiming 270hp but he admits it's a very old figure)
2) Wedg1e (with 256.6hp)
3) Jonny weggie (with 254.6hp)
4) Chimpafrolic (moving 100kg less with 240hp)
Wedge Spanker is ready for you
Those four cars? I'd say it would come down to tyres and drivers. Would be interesting to watch.1) KR (claiming 270hp but he admits it's a very old figure)
2) Wedg1e (with 256.6hp)
3) Jonny weggie (with 254.6hp)
4) Chimpafrolic (moving 100kg less with 240hp)
Wedge Spanker is ready for you
Gassing Station | Wedges | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff