Idle revs

[Isley]

Is this common or is it just my crate . When cold the engine sounds like it strugling on idle at about 7-800rpm. Most cars I'm aware of pick up the idle to around 1100rpm until it starts to warm up a bit. Any experiences

[ehasler]

Mine does this too, but I've found that if I run the engine at 1500 revs for a minute or so, it's much happier to idle at 700 from then on.

[koen]

They all do that sir.
The Speed 6 has no cold start idle. If you keep it for 20-30 seconds on 1200 rpm, it will idle already better.
Mine does exactly the same : on a cold morning the idle
drops to 400-500 rpm, and then the engine cuts out if you don't help it a little bit.

[basil brush]

Mine too. 5-600 rpm when cold and sounds like a diesel tractor, then up to about 800 after a few minutes. Incidentally it seems to sound much smoother when cold on Optimax as opposed to Shell 95.

[plipton]

I have a letter from TVR (supplied with the car) stating that you should hold 1500 RPM for 30 seconds on cold start to stop the plugs fouling (?)

You can't rev beyond 2000 for the first few seconds anyway so no worries about too much throttle

I'm thinking about fitting a choke knob etc to do this as 1500 is hard to hold for more than a few seconds.