Driving in winter

[cdt]

What's the wedge like to drive in winter?

In particular driving across the A44 in mid-December.

[tallbloke]

Keep your cockpit dry and buy another woolly.

[cdt]

Surely the V8 must produce enough heat to keep you warm - was hoping for the roof down on a sunny winter days.

More worried about the handling in winter.

[tallbloke]

cdt said:

was hoping for the roof down on a sunny winter days.

Oh I forgot. Get a woolly hat and some gloves too.

The heater box is nothing to write home about.
The handling is fine provided right foot is connected to brain. Not many vehicles handle well on ice unless fitted with suitable equipment like studs, chains, or tracks.

[jmorgan]

What he said.

Winter doesn't put off raiding parties to the hills around here but there is certainly a less active right boot.

[bigbeard]

Get a big coat, a scarf, a warm hat and warm gloves (the old string backs probably a bit too drafty!).

With a crisp sunny winters morning and the top down it'll wake you up and make you feel alive!

[dickymint]

At the risk of boring most of you - I drive mine every day to work, rain, snow blah blah blah. No problem except THEY ARE COLD and nobody can convince me that theres isn't

[rev-erend]

Mine's nice and warm - Dicky was very jealous of my warm (hot) heater

[adam quantrill]

Same here, my heater works very well.

Some heater tips:

a) make sure those bits of trim in the footwell have all the leather stuck down round the back

b) the switch works on the fast position

c) backflush the heater matrix

d) block up the passenger side footwell channel if it's REALLY cold

[briantvr350]

Hi CDT,

I once drove my 350 back from the NEC to South Yorkshire in a couple of inches of snow...

Time consuming, and not much fun! Mine has an LSD so getting traction wasn't a problem but keeping it going in the direction I wanted was a nightmare..

All in all, an experience I wouldn't like to repeat in a hurry..

In addition, the cabin demist is a joke and the single wiper can just about cope if you keep clearing the snow from under it...

If you really have to do this, suggest you change the thermostat to an 88 degrees C version... that way, the heater will be just about acceptable. Still need the hat, scarf, gloves and warm coat though!

Regards,

Brian (and a Red 350i)

[redwedge5]

If the roads are dry and the skys are clear it can be quite fun - with roof down of course! No worries about over heating and the exhaust note seems alot louder in the cool air. However I would not want to drive it the snow. Driving across the A66 in a midwinter blizzard in a 3000M is the last TVR snow experience I plan

Just make sure the chassis is well waxoyled to keep all that nasty salt at bay.

[350matt]

The level of heat genreated is fine but the airflow is appalling, you'll a very hot left thigh and thats about it
see the wedge pages under maintence tips for the stuff I wrote on improving wedge demisting

Also I 'd highly recommend the silicone wiper blades from PIAA vastly improved the wet weather vision

Matt

[cdt]

350matt said:

The level of heat genreated is fine but the airflow is appalling, you'll a very hot left thigh and thats about it see the wedge pages under maintence tips for the stuff I wrote on improving wedge demisting Also I 'd highly recommend the silicone wiper blades from PIAA vastly improved the wet weather vision Matt

What size wiper fits?

[rev-erend]

It's 20 inches.. ooo err misses.

Driving a light car with big tyres is always going to be tricky on snow.

Best bet - is to over pump tyres (say 26~28 psi) and add some weight (but not too much) to boot and passenger footwells..

Pretty extreme though.

Might be best to just take the other car - except my other car is another TVR

>> Edited by rev-erend on Wednesday 17th August 12:42

[SE 10]

Just the sound of that V8 cracking up takes all the chills away,get out and use it and just remember to back of the throttle a bit(a very very weenie bit),have fun.

[cdt]

Well my other car is up for sale so its use the wedge in winter or cycle!

Is there generally any problem with the engine starting in the cold?

[tallbloke]

You may find the previous owner has disconnected the cold start injector on the plenum chamber. If it reaches -10 or so, jack the connector back on.

[badredwedge]

rev-erend said:

Might be best to just take the other car - except my other car is another TVR

Its ok for you rev, you could always take the jelly hopter