Happy annniversary...?
Discussion
Just realised that it's 25 years last weekend since I put up a post on the Domino TVR group that went something like "Oh dear... I've bought a 390SE" 
In that time I've driven it a paltry 31,000 miles and spent about £5100 on parts and materials - and uncountable hours working on the damn thing!
There isn't much of it I haven't worked on in some way, though I avoid bodywork as I'm not good at it - repaired some previous bodgery on the front spoiler (which I think had already been replaced before I bought the car) and the rear bumper after I reversed it into a petrol forecourt bin in Leicester in about '04... but there are numerous chips and scrapes which make it look untidy, and the interior is 'lived-in', shall we say. In fact some may recall it won 'best rat' at an early Wedgefest
It could really do with a new windscreen as a previous owner up around Glasgow used it as his company car for a few years in the 90s (hence the 96K it had done in 13 years by the time I got it) and it spent a lot of time on motorways. It was very high mileage at the time, many wedges were still sub-20K then, but I'm guessing many of them will have caught up by now.
On the whole though, and contradicting all those experts who 'know' how unreliable TVRs are, it has never left me stranded. Yes, it's had issues that made getting home an adventure (worn-out alternator brushes in Leeds) and an overfuelling issue that almost drained the tanks in less than 100 miles en route to a 'Fest (bad solder in the ECU; pulling half the injector plugs off was the temporary fix) but I have never had breakdown insurance, or ever needed it.
Of course it leaks - rain gets in, gearbox oil gets out, there's a chuffing noise from a manifold... you get out of it smelling of leather treatment and exhaust fumes. Strangers walk up in car parks and tell you how they once had one of those TR7s... it's not a TR7, you say, it's a TVR... yes that's right, they say, a TVR TR7... a magazine reviewer once said of Wedge owners that they will forgive their cars anything for the sake of the good days. Actually he probably meant any TVR
In another couple of years it'll qualify as a Historic vehicle (assuming the rules don't change the week before it's eligible, which is the sort of luck I have) - by which time I aim to be retired, also being a bit Historic myself. I remember in my teens, looking over my dad's shoulder when the local paper had an article about the then-new Tasmin convertible, which as I recall was the only car in Britain where the drophead was cheaper than the fixed-head. Cor, I said. Bloody hideous, said the old man. Ironic really, as he later drove an '83 Sierra, which for a while was Ford's unloved visual equivalent to the Tasmin. History forgave the Sierra of course, though not the TVR. But who wants what everyone else has? If every Wedge has had an average of ten owners and they built about 2500 of them, that's only the population of a small town who have ever driven one. I like it that way.
I also like the way the bodyshell was autographed by the three blokes who laid-up the glassfibre, and the way you take off a panel and it has 'DH 335' scrawled on the back, so the chaps on the line would know which car the freshly-upholstered bits would fit when they came back from the seamstresses. The glovebox lid is, of course, also autographed by Mr. Winterbottom himself. We all know he didn't have much input into the 'big wedges', but he started it.
My 390 was first registered on 7th September 1987, so there's another anniversary - the old bus will be 38 on Sunday.
I can feel a drive out coming on...
In that time I've driven it a paltry 31,000 miles and spent about £5100 on parts and materials - and uncountable hours working on the damn thing!
There isn't much of it I haven't worked on in some way, though I avoid bodywork as I'm not good at it - repaired some previous bodgery on the front spoiler (which I think had already been replaced before I bought the car) and the rear bumper after I reversed it into a petrol forecourt bin in Leicester in about '04... but there are numerous chips and scrapes which make it look untidy, and the interior is 'lived-in', shall we say. In fact some may recall it won 'best rat' at an early Wedgefest
It could really do with a new windscreen as a previous owner up around Glasgow used it as his company car for a few years in the 90s (hence the 96K it had done in 13 years by the time I got it) and it spent a lot of time on motorways. It was very high mileage at the time, many wedges were still sub-20K then, but I'm guessing many of them will have caught up by now.
On the whole though, and contradicting all those experts who 'know' how unreliable TVRs are, it has never left me stranded. Yes, it's had issues that made getting home an adventure (worn-out alternator brushes in Leeds) and an overfuelling issue that almost drained the tanks in less than 100 miles en route to a 'Fest (bad solder in the ECU; pulling half the injector plugs off was the temporary fix) but I have never had breakdown insurance, or ever needed it.
Of course it leaks - rain gets in, gearbox oil gets out, there's a chuffing noise from a manifold... you get out of it smelling of leather treatment and exhaust fumes. Strangers walk up in car parks and tell you how they once had one of those TR7s... it's not a TR7, you say, it's a TVR... yes that's right, they say, a TVR TR7... a magazine reviewer once said of Wedge owners that they will forgive their cars anything for the sake of the good days. Actually he probably meant any TVR
In another couple of years it'll qualify as a Historic vehicle (assuming the rules don't change the week before it's eligible, which is the sort of luck I have) - by which time I aim to be retired, also being a bit Historic myself. I remember in my teens, looking over my dad's shoulder when the local paper had an article about the then-new Tasmin convertible, which as I recall was the only car in Britain where the drophead was cheaper than the fixed-head. Cor, I said. Bloody hideous, said the old man. Ironic really, as he later drove an '83 Sierra, which for a while was Ford's unloved visual equivalent to the Tasmin. History forgave the Sierra of course, though not the TVR. But who wants what everyone else has? If every Wedge has had an average of ten owners and they built about 2500 of them, that's only the population of a small town who have ever driven one. I like it that way.
I also like the way the bodyshell was autographed by the three blokes who laid-up the glassfibre, and the way you take off a panel and it has 'DH 335' scrawled on the back, so the chaps on the line would know which car the freshly-upholstered bits would fit when they came back from the seamstresses. The glovebox lid is, of course, also autographed by Mr. Winterbottom himself. We all know he didn't have much input into the 'big wedges', but he started it.
My 390 was first registered on 7th September 1987, so there's another anniversary - the old bus will be 38 on Sunday.
I can feel a drive out coming on...
Edited by Wedg1e on Wednesday 3rd September 00:28
I started keeping spreadsheets on my vehicle costs when I was self employed as a courier from 2009 for a few years, to see if maintaining my own would be cheaper than leasing. Fuel / insurance costs didn't some into it since they all need it (man maths at its finest 
). It WAS cheaper but then I can do a lot of the small maintenance myself.
I've done it ever since and your costs of 60p per mile are very similar to my current Griff (5k miles costing £3100 in 4 years) and much better than some! A Cerbera 450 cost me over £1 a mile in the end from 2019-20 since it needed a new clutch. I didn't even suffer any depreciation in it, like 'other' cars.
A Mercedes SLK 350 cost me over £1.40 per mile in maintenance and depreciation over 4 years from 2020-24.
Yours is likely worth at least what you paid for it. Anything under £1 per mile is acceptable for a 'hobby' I reckon.
). It WAS cheaper but then I can do a lot of the small maintenance myself.I've done it ever since and your costs of 60p per mile are very similar to my current Griff (5k miles costing £3100 in 4 years) and much better than some! A Cerbera 450 cost me over £1 a mile in the end from 2019-20 since it needed a new clutch. I didn't even suffer any depreciation in it, like 'other' cars.
A Mercedes SLK 350 cost me over £1.40 per mile in maintenance and depreciation over 4 years from 2020-24.Yours is likely worth at least what you paid for it. Anything under £1 per mile is acceptable for a 'hobby' I reckon.
Lol nice one...
I am only about 5 years in, seems I have spent more time under it, around it and it partially apart than actually driving it. I am/was under no illusion that it would be a breeze for ownership, but I sometimes wonder.
My spare parts bin is gaining as I think I know the issue swap out a part, then put the original back in, only to find it has had some form of divine intervention recovered itself
.
When working it is a hoot to drive, I too sometimes (not all the time) smell really bad at the end of it, sometimes have a headache (not just from the constant tinkering
). I think aerodynamically the rear exhaust gases are drawn into the cabin at speed?
I don't go far, just local lanes, in honesty I just don't trust it. However It has only truly broken down once, reflowed the main ECU components a few years back all been good.
There is a constant list of things need doing latest is the oil pump remote leaking again and as Wedg1e will know a tappety noise from the passenger bank only when hot, that I have been chasing all summer. The inlet manifold has been off at least 4 times this year. The latest was exhaust manifold, that yep you guessed it, ended up back with it's original one
I am only about 5 years in, seems I have spent more time under it, around it and it partially apart than actually driving it. I am/was under no illusion that it would be a breeze for ownership, but I sometimes wonder.
My spare parts bin is gaining as I think I know the issue swap out a part, then put the original back in, only to find it has had some form of divine intervention recovered itself
.When working it is a hoot to drive, I too sometimes (not all the time) smell really bad at the end of it, sometimes have a headache (not just from the constant tinkering
). I think aerodynamically the rear exhaust gases are drawn into the cabin at speed? I don't go far, just local lanes, in honesty I just don't trust it. However It has only truly broken down once, reflowed the main ECU components a few years back all been good.
There is a constant list of things need doing latest is the oil pump remote leaking again and as Wedg1e will know a tappety noise from the passenger bank only when hot, that I have been chasing all summer. The inlet manifold has been off at least 4 times this year. The latest was exhaust manifold, that yep you guessed it, ended up back with it's original one
Edited by BlueWedgy on Wednesday 3rd September 11:01
york33 said:
Happy Anniversary Ian :-)
I'm only 5 years ish behind you, though I suspect you've driven yours more than I have mine!
Beat you to the 'historic vehicle ' status, though it is still in the garage!
I wasn't a million miles from your place a couple of weekends back, although on the bike, not in the car.I'm only 5 years ish behind you, though I suspect you've driven yours more than I have mine!
Beat you to the 'historic vehicle ' status, though it is still in the garage!
For the life of me I couldn't remember where you are other than a long straight narrow road through farmland... not many of those round your way
Took the 390 over to my mate's caravan north of Keswick last weekend, didn't miss a beat. That one trip was more miles than it's done in total for the last three years I think
BlueWedgy said:
Lol nice one...
as Wedg1e will know a tappety noise from the passenger bank only when hot, that I have been chasing all summer.
Mine had the same issue at about 80k. Wear on the tappets coupled with the rocker shaft supports being different heights put the tappets out of tolerance. A friend milled the differences out of the support posts effectively lowering the rocker shaft. You need to check the pre-set so the hydraulic tappets are within their working tolerance but it cured mine and it's still good about 9k later.as Wedg1e will know a tappety noise from the passenger bank only when hot, that I have been chasing all summer.
Edited by BlueWedgy on Wednesday 3rd September 11:01
SLB said:
Mine had the same issue at about 80k. Wear on the tappets coupled with the rocker shaft supports being different heights put the tappets out of tolerance. A friend milled the differences out of the support posts effectively lowering the rocker shaft. You need to check the pre-set so the hydraulic tappets are within their working tolerance but it cured mine and it's still good about 9k later.
Great thanks something to look at during the winter break, along with remote oil sandwich leaking oil and the list goes on.However I was under the impression that it has had some head work in the past, so assume any head facing would make things tighter?
I have a number of pedestals I will be out measuring today as a first look ta.
Edited by BlueWedgy on Thursday 16th October 07:56
The two central cylinders on the nearside had the tappety noise. I don't think I still have them but I took photos at the time showing at worst a 1 to 1.5mm height difference between the rocker shaft posts. I had been expecting some shims under them but none were fitted under any of the posts. I know you shouldn't do it but I just replaced two tappets which had been worn / marked by the rockers. The cam was fine so I thought I'd leave it at that and wait for an upgrade / rebuild at a later date.
At around 72k? I had replaced the main and big end shells and this quietened the engine too. A couple had significant copper showing through so it was a good job I did this. Just dropped the sump and did them with the engine in place.
At around 72k? I had replaced the main and big end shells and this quietened the engine too. A couple had significant copper showing through so it was a good job I did this. Just dropped the sump and did them with the engine in place.
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