The Start of my Cerbera Experience
Discussion
Ok, so first of all a big greeting to all other members, especially fellow TVR owners.....
I recently took the decision to sell my sport bike, and take the plunge into the world of TVR ownership. This is my first post, and i guess my intentions are to keep an ongoing log of my experiences, and expenses, perhaps for posterity, or perhaps just for the interest of other members or future buyers. Anyway....
So having returned home t discover my youngest brother had purchased a Chimaera, i decided it was time i grew up a little bit, and so it was out with the bike, and in with my favourite TVR, the Cerbera. Of course it had to be a 4.5, as i guess i wanted the most powerful i could get.... After a few months of browsing the classifieds, i had pretty much resigned myself to looking for a good clean example. Ideally i wanted it to be a 4.5, with the modern headlights and tuscan seats, and in a tasteful colour scheme inside and out. It was looking like i would be forking out in the region of £20-25K for such a vehicle, and around the start of October, such an example appeared down in Sussex, with an asking price of £25K.
Just when i was just about to bite the bullet, an fresh advert appeared for a late1997 4.5, in Viper blue, with a black leather interior, previously owned by PH member JonBarrett.
Three days later and she was mine.
At the point of sale, Jon was quite open and honest about the condition of the vehicle. Bad points were several small holes in the outriggers, and some general surface corrosion on the chassis. A/C wasn't working, nor the stereo, and there was some pretty severe gravel rash across the front. At the time of purchase the weather was appalling and so any sort of inspection of the underside was out of the question. Good points were the price, which was further reduced given the obvious need for outrigger replacement. Also interior seems excellent, with only very slight wear on the driver bolster, and drivers footpad.
The drive back from East London to Devon was equally wet, and so taken very cautiously given the cars reputation. However, i the following days, as the weather cleared, despite the performance being impressive, i couldn't help but feel that it was not as blisteringly fast as i was expecting, so im guessing the power is a little down. Service history shows the last rolling road to be about 4 years ago.
At this point, luxury outdoor cover from Hamilton Classic purchased, and battery charger/maintainer.
Cost £200.
So anyway, a week after purchase the car went to TVRSSW, in Wellington. Here is the list of faults they came back with, (those deemed urgent are starred):
Temperature / Oil light not working
Paint coming off rear badge
Washer bottle cap missing
Air Con not working
Front tyres worn on inner edge (OK)
OSF wheel bent
Water hoses (metal) corroded
OSF and NSF top arms touching chassis
Faulty alarm
All the work has now been completed, having been with them for about a month. Outriggers have been replaced, and the chassis de rusted, repaired where necessary, cleaned, treated, etc. I decided to upgrade shocks to Nitron units, as apparently these are the best. A/C is now working. All hoses are now silicon and all discs skimmed + braided brake lines. Polybushes on diff. Badges refurbished. New slave cylinder, and a few other little jobs.
Total of all work : £5750.
Other extra purchases : Polished handbrake lever, polished fuel cap. Clear indicator kit. New dash button badges. Bonnet rubber mushrooms.
Cost : ~£300
Car is now going to storage until my next return to the country....
Booked in for headlight and taillamp conversion at Central TVR in the Spring.
Then it will be off to Austec for performance headers, sports exhaust and decats, a short induction kit and then remap.
On another note, if anyone has made it this far without falling to sleep, i have a question. The alloy wheels appear to be SP12s, indeed it says SP12 on the rim, however they only have 11 spokes. All images i see of SP12 rims elsewhere, show, as the name would suggest, them having 12 spokes. Any suggestions as to the origin of these potential imposters?
I recently took the decision to sell my sport bike, and take the plunge into the world of TVR ownership. This is my first post, and i guess my intentions are to keep an ongoing log of my experiences, and expenses, perhaps for posterity, or perhaps just for the interest of other members or future buyers. Anyway....
So having returned home t discover my youngest brother had purchased a Chimaera, i decided it was time i grew up a little bit, and so it was out with the bike, and in with my favourite TVR, the Cerbera. Of course it had to be a 4.5, as i guess i wanted the most powerful i could get.... After a few months of browsing the classifieds, i had pretty much resigned myself to looking for a good clean example. Ideally i wanted it to be a 4.5, with the modern headlights and tuscan seats, and in a tasteful colour scheme inside and out. It was looking like i would be forking out in the region of £20-25K for such a vehicle, and around the start of October, such an example appeared down in Sussex, with an asking price of £25K.
Just when i was just about to bite the bullet, an fresh advert appeared for a late1997 4.5, in Viper blue, with a black leather interior, previously owned by PH member JonBarrett.
Three days later and she was mine.
At the point of sale, Jon was quite open and honest about the condition of the vehicle. Bad points were several small holes in the outriggers, and some general surface corrosion on the chassis. A/C wasn't working, nor the stereo, and there was some pretty severe gravel rash across the front. At the time of purchase the weather was appalling and so any sort of inspection of the underside was out of the question. Good points were the price, which was further reduced given the obvious need for outrigger replacement. Also interior seems excellent, with only very slight wear on the driver bolster, and drivers footpad.
The drive back from East London to Devon was equally wet, and so taken very cautiously given the cars reputation. However, i the following days, as the weather cleared, despite the performance being impressive, i couldn't help but feel that it was not as blisteringly fast as i was expecting, so im guessing the power is a little down. Service history shows the last rolling road to be about 4 years ago.
At this point, luxury outdoor cover from Hamilton Classic purchased, and battery charger/maintainer.
Cost £200.
So anyway, a week after purchase the car went to TVRSSW, in Wellington. Here is the list of faults they came back with, (those deemed urgent are starred):
Temperature / Oil light not working
Paint coming off rear badge
Washer bottle cap missing
Air Con not working
Front tyres worn on inner edge (OK)
OSF wheel bent
- Front discs corroded on inner edge and need skimming **
Water hoses (metal) corroded
- Brake pipe nuts corroded **
OSF and NSF top arms touching chassis
- OS and NS outriggers corroded**
- Surface corrosion on chassis **
- Shocks and springs corroded **
- Diff bushes split **
- Slave cylinder slight leak **
Faulty alarm
All the work has now been completed, having been with them for about a month. Outriggers have been replaced, and the chassis de rusted, repaired where necessary, cleaned, treated, etc. I decided to upgrade shocks to Nitron units, as apparently these are the best. A/C is now working. All hoses are now silicon and all discs skimmed + braided brake lines. Polybushes on diff. Badges refurbished. New slave cylinder, and a few other little jobs.
Total of all work : £5750.
Other extra purchases : Polished handbrake lever, polished fuel cap. Clear indicator kit. New dash button badges. Bonnet rubber mushrooms.
Cost : ~£300
Car is now going to storage until my next return to the country....
Booked in for headlight and taillamp conversion at Central TVR in the Spring.
Then it will be off to Austec for performance headers, sports exhaust and decats, a short induction kit and then remap.
On another note, if anyone has made it this far without falling to sleep, i have a question. The alloy wheels appear to be SP12s, indeed it says SP12 on the rim, however they only have 11 spokes. All images i see of SP12 rims elsewhere, show, as the name would suggest, them having 12 spokes. Any suggestions as to the origin of these potential imposters?
No, the body was lifted slightly i believe, but not removed.
I guess as is often the case i was presented with two options.
The cheaper and quicker one being to replace the outriggers in situ, and cleanup the chassis as best as possible with the body on. I realise this leaves substantial areas inaccessible to both inspection and repair.
The other option being the body off full chassis refurb. I was quoted between £6-7K for this option, plus the inevitable common sense extras to have performed whist in pieces would have probably raised the cost to over £10K.
TVRSSW recommended the former. Apparently, from what they could see, the main body of the chassis was suffering from nothing more than some light superficial corrosion. Nothing penetrating, and nothing requiring any welding.
SO whilst not the ideal solution, it seemed the most sensible to go with the cleanup and protect for the time being....
I guess as is often the case i was presented with two options.
The cheaper and quicker one being to replace the outriggers in situ, and cleanup the chassis as best as possible with the body on. I realise this leaves substantial areas inaccessible to both inspection and repair.
The other option being the body off full chassis refurb. I was quoted between £6-7K for this option, plus the inevitable common sense extras to have performed whist in pieces would have probably raised the cost to over £10K.
TVRSSW recommended the former. Apparently, from what they could see, the main body of the chassis was suffering from nothing more than some light superficial corrosion. Nothing penetrating, and nothing requiring any welding.
SO whilst not the ideal solution, it seemed the most sensible to go with the cleanup and protect for the time being....
Edited by SharkFodder on Sunday 30th November 23:23
Ok....
So all recent work now completed at CentralTVR. Thankyou Adrian for what looks like an amazing job.
Headlamp conversion to full HID, Quad tail light conversion, refurbished alloys in shadow chrome, new bonnet badge, and a good polish to top it all off!
Looking rather sexy even if i do say so myself!
So all recent work now completed at CentralTVR. Thankyou Adrian for what looks like an amazing job.
Headlamp conversion to full HID, Quad tail light conversion, refurbished alloys in shadow chrome, new bonnet badge, and a good polish to top it all off!
Looking rather sexy even if i do say so myself!
Cheers for all the feedback people, its always nice to hear compliments.
I also totally understand where people who prefer the single headlamps are coming from.
Obviously it goes without saying i prefer the twins. Also, bizarrely, given i had some pretty horrific gravel rash, and was in need of a front end respray anyway, it was cheaper to have the headlamp conversion, than to replace the corrode reflectors, and crazed/scratched lenses.
As i stated in my initial post, when i started looking for a Cerb, my mindset was either fork out top dollar for a good example, trying to satisfy my tastes as best possible, or spend less on an older / higher mileage example, and use the difference bringing her up to scratch, exactly how i would like... I decided upon the latter, because i felt i could get to know the vehicle better, and rectify more issues, the end result hopefully being something more mechanically sound, and aesthetically pleasing to myself.
So anyway....
The car was recently transported from CentralTVR to Joolz, where she now sits awaiting a full ACT exhaust system (performance manifolds, decats, and large bore sports exhaust, the large back box type), Short induction kit, then a full remap, with additional switchable mapping to top it off....
And then, for the time being, touch wood, fingers crossed, i will be done, and shall hopefully be back in the country for a long enough stint to get to enjoy her! Heres hoping the weather will be kind throughout April and May....
I also totally understand where people who prefer the single headlamps are coming from.
Obviously it goes without saying i prefer the twins. Also, bizarrely, given i had some pretty horrific gravel rash, and was in need of a front end respray anyway, it was cheaper to have the headlamp conversion, than to replace the corrode reflectors, and crazed/scratched lenses.
As i stated in my initial post, when i started looking for a Cerb, my mindset was either fork out top dollar for a good example, trying to satisfy my tastes as best possible, or spend less on an older / higher mileage example, and use the difference bringing her up to scratch, exactly how i would like... I decided upon the latter, because i felt i could get to know the vehicle better, and rectify more issues, the end result hopefully being something more mechanically sound, and aesthetically pleasing to myself.
So anyway....
The car was recently transported from CentralTVR to Joolz, where she now sits awaiting a full ACT exhaust system (performance manifolds, decats, and large bore sports exhaust, the large back box type), Short induction kit, then a full remap, with additional switchable mapping to top it off....
And then, for the time being, touch wood, fingers crossed, i will be done, and shall hopefully be back in the country for a long enough stint to get to enjoy her! Heres hoping the weather will be kind throughout April and May....
Edited by SharkFodder on Tuesday 17th March 03:04
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