Supercharged LS1 Cerb on the road *Photo intensive*

[Boosted Cerb]

Finally after two years hard work my Cerb is back on the road

Thought I'd post a few pics as it might appeal to a few more than just the hardcore Cerb boys.



For those who haven't been following my project, heres a bit of an overview.

-Chevy LS1 engine transplant running Chevy wiring loom and management.
-T56 6-speed gearbox
-Roots supercharger, with separate water cooling system
-1 3/4 manifolds with twin 3" exhaust system (taught myself to TIG)
-356mm front discs and 6 pot calipers
-Tuscan pedal box
-Fully polybushed
-3.73 ratio diff
-Racelogic traction control
-Full respray
-Headlight convertion inc relocation of front indicators
-Carbon fibre front splitter and engine panels
-Remote oil filter, oil thermostat and larger oil cooler

Previous posts.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Its been a hell of a project, almost defeating me a couple of times.

All the work except for the spraying and some machining has been completed by little o' me

Although many people have helped me out along the way, I've had nobody else to blame for delays and hold ups except.....me.

Highlights have been, getting friends round to lift the body off, completing the chassis restoration and then finding a new set of friends to help lift the body back on Sounds easy in one sentence but there was 6 month work inbetween the body lifts.

Looking mean





Exhaust exits in 3.5" inwardly rolled tails



Big brakes and splitter



And now the engine room







The main objective was to make it as factory looking as possible. All hoses are hidden by the F1 panel and the alternator sits down beside the block.

And for the non believers who thought it wouldn't fit or I'd have zero ground clearance.



And a couple abstract






Wiring the engine was my favorite bit, I've linked the TVR loom and the Chevy loom, the original MIL light operates correctly as does the original shift light, the cooling fans are controlled and programmed from the ECU.
The chevy ECU is fully mappable using the HPTuners software through the OBDII socket. Is this the only OBDII compliant TVR???

Well it was MOT'd Tuesday, very nervous driving it home, Being a short arse, the Tuscan pedals make it much easier to drive, still pops and bangs as good as it ever did, but now the power is instant No turbo lag, no off cam labouring, doesn't matter what gear it just goes. Only done about 50 miles so far so no where near its full potential, but I love it already.

Was a bit worried about the 3.73 diff, but it works with the 6 speed box really well, and the traction control will sort traction in 1st and 2nd. Its got launch control too

And like any good project.... its already back in my garage in bits

Only to fix a couple of oil leaks and sort the exhaust noise out, its far too loud at greater than half throttle. I've just cut the silencers open to find there's no wadding in there I love the rubbleing 'thunder in the distance' noise but the harsh raspyness has to go. Wife not impressed.

Still got to sort the interior out, refit the rear light covers, wire the traction control up, etc, etc.

How do I sum it up....well its no AJP anymore, nothing like, more like an insane Chim / Griff on steriods with added boost Just how Cerb's should of been

Rich.

[Boosted Cerb]

Thanks for the comments guys. Don, I haven't forgotten, wiring diagrams will be on the way soon. We weren't able to match the paint so had to have it remanufactured.

Here you go, my friend sent me a couple of vids from his phone.

In the 2nd vid you can hear the exhaust note change to the raspyness I was talking about.

Forget the commentry, they were like a couple of teenagers with camera phones

Down the drive



Up the road



Rich.

Edited by Boosted Cerb on Sunday 5th July 15:55

[Boosted Cerb]

Thanks for the great comments guys, its good to get some encouragement after all the hard work.

Just to answer a few questions.

Chassis mods were minimal, new engine mounting post were installed but everything else was just heating up some of the tubes and hitting them with a hammer to give a bit of clearance here and there. Nothing more than TVR did themselves on particular bits of the chassis. All other chassis work was repair work. From below, my outriggers looked ok, but on top (only visible with a body lift) they were perished.

The T56 will fit without fouling the transmission tunnel but the chassis indentations just give a bit more clearance. One of my biggest concerns was knocking noises when it first went on the road but all seems good so far.

Traction control is the adjustable Race Logic system with the funky digital adjuster. I've installed the wheel sensors but I need to wire the system up.

Hopefully take it along to a few TVRCC events, I'm on the boarder between Hants and Dorset so should make both their monthly meets at some point.

Cost wise I'd rather not say, not because its alot of money, far from it, more because it would just be a total sum of parts, remember I've paid nobody any labour for this. Read through my previous threads and you find costs for the engine conversion.

Rich.

[Boosted Cerb]

Horse_Apple said:

Now you have some spare time you could do with weeding your driveway

My wife said I shouldn't post the video's as someone would point out the mess Something had to give, over the last 2 years, I've built the TVR, we done the house extension and we're building a Porsche 356 replica

Power wise, I'm kinda hoping to break the 500bhp barrier at the fly with the current set up (6psi, std engine). The supercharger guys, Wortec, recon it should be do able. My set up is basically that of a VXR500, they produced 500bhp with std engine, exhaust, manifolds and the supercharger wasn't intercooled.

There's the option to go to 9 psi and 12 psi. At 12psi with a mild cam apparently 600bhp is achievable. Won't be going there yet though, the idea was to have a Cerbera which could, if needed be used everyday without worring about wearing it out. All that power is just secondary

Rich.

[Boosted Cerb]

'ello Jon, you must be missing yours although no doubt you've got enough to keep you busy.

Just finished wiring the traction control, will be setting it up the weekend.

Haven't got in touch with Duncan and Paul yet since its been on the road but will do soon. I owe them a drink or two.

Finished the dials and TC install









With the TC should be able to open it up with a bit of confidence, bit scary at the moment, done about 250miles so far, got over most of the teething problems, so hopefully happy motoring.

Would love to do a Griff, I really enjoyed doing the conversion shame the house and wife got in the way I don't know, you build a triple garage and your wife fills it up with a pretend beetle

[Boosted Cerb]

Can't believe you guy's thought you'd missed it at Wilton, do you really think I'd let it go unnoticed?

Good to meet you Pat, my mate is going to email you about the car.

I was just out with the traction control, nothing interesting as a sensor hept dropping out. Hopefully fixed now so will report back tommorow after testing. I recon its going to be fun calibrating it.

Anyway, when's the next Dorset and Hampshire meet, if everybody promises not to comment on the state of the interior I'll being it along

Rich.

[Boosted Cerb]

T40ORA said:

Boosted Cerb said:

Can't believe you guy's thought you'd missed it at Wilton, do you really think I'd let it go unnoticed?

Good to meet you Pat, my mate is going to email you about the car.

I was just out with the traction control, nothing interesting as a sensor hept dropping out. Hopefully fixed now so will report back tommorow after testing. I recon its going to be fun calibrating it.

Anyway, when's the next Dorset and Hampshire meet, if everybody promises not to comment on the state of the interior I'll being it along

Rich.

I can make a meet this Saturday just to see it in the flesh!!

You're more than welcome to pop round, I'm near Fawley Refinery, PM me.

[Boosted Cerb]

^^^^Well, as promised, at least you're not looking at the interior ^^^^

I did have a go at the weeds in the driveway, after they were pointed out in the vid but I got bored.....I'll get the digger round, much more fun

[Boosted Cerb]

hairyaardvark said:

I know I'm late to the party ... but I've only just seen this thread.

That has to be the single best-looking Tiv I've ever clapped eyes on. Love it. Hitherto I've only been a Tuscan/Sag man (bought a black Sag) ... but this has me looking at Cerbs with new eyes.

Well done that man. Engine must be stonking too.

Thanks

If you like it that much, you'll more than welcome to pop round for a closer look. I'm about 10min from Beaulieu motor museum in the New Forest. PM me.

Can't believe this thread has been resurected again. I've done about 500 miles now, pretty much got the teething problems out of the way.

It just keeps getting better, acceleration is just relentless, fourth will pin you back just like 2nd, its so easy to drive with all that torque. Then on a cruise it'll sit at 70mph at about 1700rpm in 6th and still accelerate enough to pass the traffic.

Traction control is awesome, not too intrusive as to make it BMW like, it'll still light the tyres up and go side ways but just slows the chaos down enough for me to handle...and keep my boot in

Not too happy with the brakes at the moment , they feel wooden even when warmed up, its got DS2500 pads but I'm wondering, as they're so big they're just not getting warm enough, even with spirited driving Maybe I've just got use to over assisted shopping car brakes.

hopefully dyno it this month and then to the pod......to break it

Rich

[Boosted Cerb]

Blimey, can't believe this thread has been resurrected. But great to see "non TVR" people picking up on it too.

Chatsworth is already marked on the calendar can't wait.

Firstly though, I've got to get it to Birmingham NEC next week, as its been invited to the Pistonheads/Autosport show. Just hope the weather gets better for the journey

Hope to see you all there.


Rich.

[Boosted Cerb]

Boost gauge was made by Speedy Cables, they weren't particular helpful or quick but got there in the end.

A couple of shots from the weekend at Autosport/Pistonheads show.

Paint work is amazing now its been colour sanded and polished





More here http://www.flickr.com/photos/nwvt/sets/72157623210... thanks to Nick

Rich

[Boosted Cerb]

^^^^^^ Exactly, although things have moved on, we used 2000 then 4000 wet and dry paper before moving on to 3 machine polishing compounds then finishing off with a couple of coats of Swissvax wax, great stuff

The colour is Pearl Blue. It was a nightmare to match as we couldn't find a formula for it. Turns out TVR reused my paint code later on for a different shade of blue...typical

In the end we had to get the colour spectrographed and remanufacured, all free of charge as the paint company now have the colour on file for future reference.

Mike, Looking forward to Chatsworth, will email Kev, would be good to leave the bonnet up

Rich.

[Boosted Cerb]

Thanks Mike I hope everyone had a good read. I enjoyed writing the article and am really pleased with the way it turned out but like all good TVR's its in bits again now, new clutch and brake master cylinders and just picked up a couple of Tuscan carbon exhaust can's

Will be at chatsworth on the Sunday, but its my nephews 1st birthday on the Saturday so I won't make the Raceproved day

Here's a few other pics we took on the photo shoot.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nwvt/sets/72157623474...

See you all on the Sunday.

Rich.

[Boosted Cerb]

Slow down chaps, this is turning into another originality debate

Its all been said before, is it a TVR once you've changed the engine blah blah blah, is it a TVR once you change the suspension blah blah blah, it just depends where you draw the line, its different for everyone. Why do we have to get so pedantic

I'm chuffed we got to 9 pages before this old record got played again.

Start a new thread if you want to debate what to call it....or just search for the last time it came up and spoiled a good thread

I wrote what I think in my article and I hope most people can see reason with that. The TVRCC see fit to call it a Cerbera and I'm happy with that, if they want to revoke my membership thats fine....I'd just get some "fk the Factory" stickers made up

Rich.

[Boosted Cerb]

Cheers guys Was good to meet you Gazzab and everyone else that said hello. Car went like a dream all weekend, couldn't fault it. Tuscan exhaust cans make it much easier to live with on long runs.

Looking forward to lots of summer miles but keep thinking what life would be like at 9psi

Rich.