Cerbera engine in a Tuscan Challenge car.
Discussion
If I managed to get hold of a Tuscan without an engine, What would I need to buy/fabricate/borrow to get a Cerbera 4.5 engine to fit and work ?
I have searched through hundreds of posts but not found any details. It has been done in quite a few cars but there are lots of posts saying everything is different, chassis needs cutting, ECU and loom wont work, ancillaries are in different positions, water & oil pipes are different etc etc.
I was hoping it was just change the airboxes to the Tuscan ones and plug the wiring in (clearly not the case).
If it is so much work is a Race engine cheaper ? (how much do they go for ?)
So can anyone advise what is entailed to get a Cerbera engine working in a Tuscan ???
I have searched through hundreds of posts but not found any details. It has been done in quite a few cars but there are lots of posts saying everything is different, chassis needs cutting, ECU and loom wont work, ancillaries are in different positions, water & oil pipes are different etc etc.
I was hoping it was just change the airboxes to the Tuscan ones and plug the wiring in (clearly not the case).
If it is so much work is a Race engine cheaper ? (how much do they go for ?)
So can anyone advise what is entailed to get a Cerbera engine working in a Tuscan ???
V8NRG said:
If I managed to get hold of a Tuscan without an engine, What would I need to buy/fabricate/borrow to get a Cerbera 4.5 engine to fit and work ?
I have searched through hundreds of posts but not found any details. It has been done in quite a few cars but there are lots of posts saying everything is different, chassis needs cutting, ECU and loom wont work, ancillaries are in different positions, water & oil pipes are different etc etc.
I was hoping it was just change the airboxes to the Tuscan ones and plug the wiring in (clearly not the case).
If it is so much work is a Race engine cheaper ? (how much do they go for ?)
So can anyone advise what is entailed to get a Cerbera engine working in a Tuscan ???
There is a chassis member below the sump pan, this will need to be cut out or flattened to fit a wet sump in (my car used to run a road engine). You cannot dry-sump the road engine as it only has a pressure pump (no scav), so you'll either need to risk the wet sump and keep it topped up (like Mike used to in his Cerb), or get an after-market belt driven multi-stage dry sump oil pump. The latter is what I'm doing as I couldn't find a new or used race engine or block. My engine is a road block with a modified custom dry sump pan from a race version. The external pump is driven via a pulley in place of the air con pulley, and then the water pumps are electronic external jobbies too.I have searched through hundreds of posts but not found any details. It has been done in quite a few cars but there are lots of posts saying everything is different, chassis needs cutting, ECU and loom wont work, ancillaries are in different positions, water & oil pipes are different etc etc.
I was hoping it was just change the airboxes to the Tuscan ones and plug the wiring in (clearly not the case).
If it is so much work is a Race engine cheaper ? (how much do they go for ?)
So can anyone advise what is entailed to get a Cerbera engine working in a Tuscan ???
A race engine in reasonable nick will cost you around £7k (John Reid had one last year I think), though there are no more race blocks available. It would be easier therefore to start with a road engine I'd have thought. You can pick up a runner for around £3k I think; then plan to rebuild it and make some necessary mods for racing.
As for the other stuff, I have a 4.5 MBE ECU from a Cerb if you want to make me an offer, the water pipes aren't different enough to make a difference (they just extend a bit further down on the road engine), the loom is different, but I have a complete set of Tuscan Challenge original wiring diagrams if you would like a copy so not too difficult to re-wire (and I don't think too much is different anyway).
The biggest challenge will be the oiling (as I am currently facing with my engine). For ease and cost, I'd just stick a road engine in there and have the bottom chassis tube moved. If you want to look at dry-sumping, drop me a mail with your number and I'll give you a call. Essentially though its a reasonable amount of work but not a show-stopper...! (I may have a tuscan inlet/airbox thing for sale if you're interested to sort out the induction).
Edited by 450Nick on Tuesday 29th March 15:31
Mine dropped straight into the speed six chassis all i needed was a set of challenge car exhaust manifods and a "tall bloke" job done. Engine from a road car IF YOU CAN FIND ONE will cost £5k minimum and it will require a rebuild with all the expensive bits approx another £5k to reach 400bhp+.
Unfortunately, after doing the sums, I’m not going to be able to do this at the moment. Bugger!
I'm currently rebuilding a Chimaera and would have to complete that and possibly sell it, so it's a no go at the moment.
On another note:
What’s a Tuscan challenge, rolling chassis, body and roll cage worth ? 5 – 10K ?
I'm currently rebuilding a Chimaera and would have to complete that and possibly sell it, so it's a no go at the moment.
On another note:
What’s a Tuscan challenge, rolling chassis, body and roll cage worth ? 5 – 10K ?
V8NRG said:
Unfortunately, after doing the sums, I’m not going to be able to do this at the moment. Bugger!
I'm currently rebuilding a Chimaera and would have to complete that and possibly sell it, so it's a no go at the moment.
On another note:
What’s a Tuscan challenge, rolling chassis, body and roll cage worth ? 5 – 10K ?
I'd say a bit more than that.. I'd say £12.5k would be a good deal if its all in good nick.I'm currently rebuilding a Chimaera and would have to complete that and possibly sell it, so it's a no go at the moment.
On another note:
What’s a Tuscan challenge, rolling chassis, body and roll cage worth ? 5 – 10K ?
(from the proud owner and driver of an underpowered RV8 
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