Project Cerbera
Discussion
People seem to like a readers' car thread so I though I’d start one for my Cerbera Project, you can read all about my Tasmin here if you wish:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Along with a lot of young men in 1996 when the Cerbera was launched it was love at first sight. A ‘cheap’ British car you could drive and look 911 and Ferrari owners straight in the eye. As a 23 year old I was driving around in a RS1600i thinking I was the business but the TVR was as out of reach as a Ferrari. Life moves on and now with finances in a more stable situation I spotted this:
If I had spec’ed this car from new it would have been exactly like that and at £17k it was man maths affordable. A good £8-10 thousand cheaper than all of the other cars advertised. I thought it might be worth a look, a now or never kind of thing.
Approval was negotiated so a couple of weeks ago I got up at 3am to fly from Edinburgh to Gatwick. I hired the cheapest car I could find and went for a Look. Al at Toro Sports Cars was very accommodating and put it on the lift for me to poke around. It wasn’t running on all 8 cylinders and the thermostat was stuck closed. The chassis looked good enough as well as everything else so a deal was done. £16K delivered to my door 400 miles away.
I’ve not done anything to it yet as I’ve got a few house projects on the go and a bucket load of brownie points to regain! Fingers crossed it's just and ignition problem rather then a blown engine...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Along with a lot of young men in 1996 when the Cerbera was launched it was love at first sight. A ‘cheap’ British car you could drive and look 911 and Ferrari owners straight in the eye. As a 23 year old I was driving around in a RS1600i thinking I was the business but the TVR was as out of reach as a Ferrari. Life moves on and now with finances in a more stable situation I spotted this:
If I had spec’ed this car from new it would have been exactly like that and at £17k it was man maths affordable. A good £8-10 thousand cheaper than all of the other cars advertised. I thought it might be worth a look, a now or never kind of thing.
Approval was negotiated so a couple of weeks ago I got up at 3am to fly from Edinburgh to Gatwick. I hired the cheapest car I could find and went for a Look. Al at Toro Sports Cars was very accommodating and put it on the lift for me to poke around. It wasn’t running on all 8 cylinders and the thermostat was stuck closed. The chassis looked good enough as well as everything else so a deal was done. £16K delivered to my door 400 miles away.
I’ve not done anything to it yet as I’ve got a few house projects on the go and a bucket load of brownie points to regain! Fingers crossed it's just and ignition problem rather then a blown engine...
Nice! I used to have one and it became a big recommissioning project after being sat years with a blown engine. The last issue I had with it, that I couldn’t solve myself, was an intermittent fault with an injector wire. I just couldn’t keep the banks in balance when setting up. Took it to TrackVRoad who found that last issue pretty quick & did the final setup for me.
I’d think after another 10 years on from my issue, the engine loom wiring will be even more brittle. I’d start with testing that and hope for an easy fix!
Good luck with it! I think there pretty good to work on. Pretty much a race car with a lot of common race car parts. E.g. Girling master cylinders, Bosch fuel pump, gauges made by Smiths, homemade braided clutch lines, few Ford parts, etc. The front indictors are from Land Rover 101 forward control ...hahaa to change for clear you buy army surplus clear ones also from a LR forward control...:-)
Got excited enough to dig out pictures of my rebuild...
Despite some of the struggles along the way, I really enjoyed rebuilding the car! Unfortunately, my car looks to have disappeared now, plate was removed and went to auction by the 2nd owner after me. I don’t know what the original reg was, so unable to look it up.
I’d think after another 10 years on from my issue, the engine loom wiring will be even more brittle. I’d start with testing that and hope for an easy fix!
Good luck with it! I think there pretty good to work on. Pretty much a race car with a lot of common race car parts. E.g. Girling master cylinders, Bosch fuel pump, gauges made by Smiths, homemade braided clutch lines, few Ford parts, etc. The front indictors are from Land Rover 101 forward control ...hahaa to change for clear you buy army surplus clear ones also from a LR forward control...:-)
Got excited enough to dig out pictures of my rebuild...
Despite some of the struggles along the way, I really enjoyed rebuilding the car! Unfortunately, my car looks to have disappeared now, plate was removed and went to auction by the 2nd owner after me. I don’t know what the original reg was, so unable to look it up.
Edited by CaiosH on Thursday 4th September 11:30
Wow, so many positive comments. Thanks!
I had a hour to spare tonight so I changed the plugs. The old ones were black and two were very wet with petrol. I suspect the car has been shunted around for the past six years it's been off the road
I also broke a HT lead but on closer inspection I'm not so sure it wasn't nearly in two already. So I've ordered a new set and I thought I may as well stick a new set of coils on while I'm at it. A well known TVR parts place wanted £250 for the coils but the Bosch part number comes up as a Citroen part at £70 for two. Much more like it!
The top radiator hose was pressurising so a new thermostat is in order. Again a parts search on here suggests a Fiat/Alfa part much cheaper than the specialist.
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|https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/140848/202509047480394[/url]
I had a hour to spare tonight so I changed the plugs. The old ones were black and two were very wet with petrol. I suspect the car has been shunted around for the past six years it's been off the road
I also broke a HT lead but on closer inspection I'm not so sure it wasn't nearly in two already. So I've ordered a new set and I thought I may as well stick a new set of coils on while I'm at it. A well known TVR parts place wanted £250 for the coils but the Bosch part number comes up as a Citroen part at £70 for two. Much more like it!
The top radiator hose was pressurising so a new thermostat is in order. Again a parts search on here suggests a Fiat/Alfa part much cheaper than the specialist.
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