The Wedge is back - yippee!!

[Wedgester]

Hi Guys,

I recently picked the 350se up after its two months in the local TVR specialist being thoroughly fettled and pampered, a major "all fluids" service, a thorough top to toe check up / lubricate / adjust, new brakes, rotor, dizzy cap, silicone leads, a few pipes replaced, a tune-up plus a whole host of other small tweaks and enhancements; She is looking quite hot and goes like a rocket!! (sounds like one as well as it happens with the S/S sports exhaust!!)

One her return, I then fitted a load of alloy and stainless bits and pieces, tread plates, vents, hand brake handle, gear knob, fire extinguisher, a new front indicator lens, fitted new clear side repeaters and a pair new chrome Jaguar Cibie fog lights (lights were fitted after the photos were taken by the way), tidied and re-fixed all wiring and trim panels in boot, fixed the already existent 8 speaker hi-fi system in readiness for me to fit a new Sony CD/MP3 unit and re-stuck all of the under bonnet insulation back with industrial grade epoxy resin (good to 150 degrees C) and last but not least, and to literally cap it all I had a complete new black mohair roof fitted and the targa panel recovered with all surrounding trims renewed by a professional vehicle trimmer in Kesgrave, near Ipswich who did a very nice job indeed, and for some £400 less than my local TVR specialist were going to charge me. All I really have left to do is to fit some of the excellent replacement Veneers that "Hotty" kindly had made for me and then I might take a little rest for a while (interspersed with several rural blasts in the Wedge of course). Checkout some recent photos of the 350se below,

Great to have her back and looking forward to nice weather,

Cheers,

Keith

[Waynester]

Such a preety car...nice

Get that roof down!!

[TvR Driver]

Wow Looks Great

And the sun is coming :-)

[rev-erend]

Wow - fantastic.

And I thought TVR had gone out of business and were no longer making new cars

[johnthegas]

Nice one Keith, that is absolutely gorgeous!
I hate you already

[ferlin]

looks great!
Who was the trimmer in Kesgrave please, Creasey?

[Campbell]

Thats one hot lookin tiv, you have done us all prowed and also shamed too, well at least we have a good bench mark to aim for but you need to get the roof down they look better that way, still very nice lookin

Cambelt

[Waynester]

Wedgester said:

Does it have the original suspension? Looks quite low at the back...

Edited by Waynester on Thursday 20th May 09:30

[grahamw48]

Look like 60 profiles, so fill the arches nicely...could just be that.

[Wedgester]

ferlin said:

looks great!
Who was the trimmer in Kesgrave please, Creasey?

Hi, yes it was Creasey Car Trimming, just dropped the car off to them one evening and it was done and ready to pick up the following evening, great service and a nice job.

Keith

[HOTTY]

Keith, looking at the pic's it's been worth the effort

The best thing about your posting was that you also use the 350,
As there is nothing more rewarding than trying to look cool by not looking at the people Knowing they are looking at you whilst you are making some noise, especially for you with that sports box.

Please you like the veneers

keep up the good work, I 've got a 400 if you would like to make that as nice

Stephen

[wedgeinald]

My 280i is due back from its final "tweeks" in the next week or 2 if it looks as good as that I'll be well chuffed. Was originally going to be a re-commission and blow over but has turned into a 95%+ restoration job inc a full respary and cost well over my initial budget.

I'll see if I can put some pics up when its finally finished. I did get a chance to play with it almost done a few weeks back.

http://www.tvrwedge.co.uk/may2010.htm if you want to see the "work in progress".



Norman

[JVaughan]

Looks fantastic

[C O Jones]

Sweet!

[Wedgester]

Waynester said:

Wedgester said:

Does it have the original suspension? Looks quite low at the back...

Edited by Waynester on Thursday 20th May 09:30

Hi Wayne,

As you rightly surmised, the suspension isn’t entirely original, I understand 4 new adjustable AVO shocks were fitted a few years back and all the cars suspension and geometry professionally set up for racing (as indeed is the rest of the car) and the car sits on 4 x 16 inch x 205/60 Pirelli P6000’s. I know for a fact the car has been raced at Brands Hatch and other circuits in Europe as I have some great photos of it in action in one of its two large history files.

From the cars extensive mechanical history file, one (or more) of the previous owners basically turned this particular 350se into a street legal racer, it had a new “V8 Developments” 4 litre V8 fitted, 27k miles ago with lightened and balanced crankshaft and flywheel, pocketed pistons, big valves, high rev followers, ported gas flowed, Kent 218 camshaft, vernier adjustable duplex cam chain and sprockets, Mark Adams “Tornado” ECU and rolling road setup and tune, competition clutch, heavy duty drive shafts and larger competition spec UJ’s with grease nipples (oooh errr!), four pot brake upgrades with braided cables and additional cooling ducts etc, so now, all in all, goes very nicely indeed!!

The rolling road printouts show an average of 229 bhp at the wheels (circa 270-275 at the flywheel) and 283 ft/lbs of torque so it is a fairly lively example. It pulls like a train even in 5th and from very low revs and the torque is very usable indeed with the mid-range acceleration, exceptional – Oh yeah!!!!!

Speak to you all again soon and happy Wedgeing,

Keith


P.S. Had no air-con at work today and none on the train home either so I have just been for a wonderful roof down blast in the wedge to cool me down and clear me head – fantastic!!!

Edited by Wedgester on Friday 21st May 20:16

[grahamw48]

Lovely car, and well up on power.

I must say those 16" wheels and 60 profiles really fill the arches nicely...looks great, and my favourite Wedge colour.

[Waynester]

Great spec Keith..!!

[wedgeinald]

Wedgester said:

the car sits on 4 x 16 inch x 205/60 Pirelli P6000’s.


Speak to you all again soon and happy Wedgeing,

Keith


P.S. Had no air-con at work today and none on the train home either so I have just been for a wonderful roof down blast in the wedge to cool me down and clear me head – fantastic!!!

Edited by Wedgester on Friday 21st May 20:16

Do you have any issues with those huge tyres in the arches? I have a set of 15" rims simillar to those and with 205/60 tyres on the rubbed the arches with the steering just off straight ahead so have dropped to 205/50's (the calcualtions are that 205/55 are ideal but they are slightly bigger than the original 14" to be on the safe side, its only about 2-3% so should not affect the speedo too much but have a satnav so will double check). I think the arches on my 280i are smaller but didn't think it was THAT big a difference toe the 350 and upwards?

Glad you enjoyed the blast - I'm Jealous mine is still being worked on but due back soon.

[Wedgester]

wedgeinald said:

Wedgester said:

the car sits on 4 x 16 inch x 205/60 Pirelli P6000’s.


Speak to you all again soon and happy Wedgeing,

Keith


P.S. Had no air-con at work today and none on the train home either so I have just been for a wonderful roof down blast in the wedge to cool me down and clear me head – fantastic!!!

Edited by Wedgester on Friday 21st May 20:16

Do you have any issues with those huge tyres in the arches? I have a set of 15" rims simillar to those and with 205/60 tyres on the rubbed the arches with the steering just off straight ahead so have dropped to 205/50's (the calcualtions are that 205/55 are ideal but they are slightly bigger than the original 14" to be on the safe side, its only about 2-3% so should not affect the speedo too much but have a satnav so will double check). I think the arches on my 280i are smaller but didn't think it was THAT big a difference toe the 350 and upwards?

Glad you enjoyed the blast - I'm Jealous mine is still being worked on but due back soon.

Wedgeinald,

Even with the 16 inch 205/60 tyres, the wife and I plus a full tank of petrol, I not aware of the tyres ever contacting the wheel arches to be honest even on some of our potholed crappy Suffolk roads and the front tyres certainly don't cause any problems with the front wheels, even on full lock but as mentioned before the adjustable AVO suspension is very much set up for racing and is consequently quite firm.

Regards,

Keith

Edited by Wedgester on Saturday 29th May 17:03

Edited by Wedgester on Saturday 29th May 17:06

[Wedgester]

Wedgester said:

wedgeinald said:

Wedgester said:

the car sits on 4 x 16 inch x 205/60 Pirelli P6000’s.


Speak to you all again soon and happy Wedgeing,

Keith


P.S. Had no air-con at work today and none on the train home either so I have just been for a wonderful roof down blast in the wedge to cool me down and clear me head – fantastic!!!

Edited by Wedgester on Friday 21st May 20:16

Do you have any issues with those huge tyres in the arches? I have a set of 15" rims simillar to those and with 205/60 tyres on the rubbed the arches with the steering just off straight ahead so have dropped to 205/50's (the calcualtions are that 205/55 are ideal but they are slightly bigger than the original 14" to be on the safe side, its only about 2-3% so should not affect the speedo too much but have a satnav so will double check). I think the arches on my 280i are smaller but didn't think it was THAT big a difference toe the 350 and upwards?

Glad you enjoyed the blast - I'm Jealous mine is still being worked on but due back soon.

Wedgeinald,

Even with the 16 inch 205/60 tyres, the wife and I plus a full tank of petrol, I not aware of the tyres ever contacting the wheel arches to be honest even on some of our potholed crappy Suffolk roads and the front tyres certainly don't cause any problems with the front wheels, even on full lock but as mentioned before the adjustable AVO suspension is very much set up for racing and is consequently quite firm.

Regards,

Keith

Edited by Wedgester on Saturday 29th May 17:03

Edited by Wedgester on Saturday 29th May 17:06

Wedgeinald,

Apologies, I should have said that my Wedge has 205/60 VR15 P6000's (not 16 inch - they would be pushing it slightly!). I got confused with the 16 inch P6000's on my Jag. Also, the TVR Tasmin owners hand book states that the Tasmin 200 should be fitted with 195/60 VR14's, the 280i 205/60 VR14's and the 350i series 205/60 VR15's. So it would seem that the "60" profile tyres do appear to be the factory recommended standard tyre profile so I was surprised to hear that you had problems with them rubbing the wheel arches.

Regards,

Keith