Finally

[Cavey]

Well, after several 'bottle-outs' I have finally bought a Cerb. 99 4.5, collecting tomorrow. Just a little excited!

Will try and post some pics if the weather holds. (Fat chance.)

[pole]

congratulations and welcome.

[Mr Cerbera]

Hi Martin

Did you keep the Carrera or is it a replacement ?

Would be very interested to hear your comparisons

Best of ...

[Cavey]

Need to update that profile. Carrera went a while ago. TVRs and Porsces are like chalk and cheese really. I love 911s but they can get to feel a bit un-special after a while. I'm hoping that won't happen with the Cerb.

First impressions - fabulous interior, TVR smell (glue?), lovely quick steering, pops and crackles on overrun like nothing else youve ever driven! The car has an ACT de cat system which I guess makes it a bit louder than usual. It's also quite low on Gaz Golds and 18 spiders but it really seems to flow into corners nicely.

Had a mild panic in first bit of traffic when the temp needle made a march for the right hand side of the scale but fans (I presume) cut in at around 100 which I guess is correct, and all was well. Phew!

So far so good!!

[spongy]

welcome to the madness that is cerb ownership .mine has been out and about this weekend as its our anniversary this weekend........not me and the car me and mrs sponge always gives me a smile when i use the old girl properly.....gave her some leptons today on the way home.........super bikes my arse

[Cavey]

Thanks guys. Still trying to work out whether Spongey's post is about the car or the Mrs...

[spongy]

Cavey said:

Thanks guys. Still trying to work out whether Spongey's post is about the car or the Mrs...

Bit of both

[thegreengoblet]

Cavey said:

Had a mild panic in first bit of traffic when the temp needle made a march for the right hand side of the scale but fans (I presume) cut in at around 100 which I guess is correct, and all was well. Phew!

I remember those moments well. And the panic never goes away - you always think that the fans won't kick in!

[Cavey]

Right then, first questions:

1. Is there a knack to selecting reverse? I know about '5th first' but it seems to work better by going from 5th position back to reverse in one quick motion, rather than slowly. Is that right, or should it work whatever? If done slowly, selecting reverse after 5th involves a little bit of 'graunching'. Does this mean clutch on the way, or some other malady?

2. Is the handbrake cable easy to adjust? Hill starts in traffic proving interesting at the moment!

Thanks

Martin

[jackwibble]

I always use third to reverse rather than fifth as fifth is the weakest gear in the box so to speak, even when my clutch was quite shot i usually managed it without any grinding, however i used the slow and easy technique.
Hope this helps.

[ridds]

Yep, 3rd or 4th before reverse not 5th.

[Cavey]

Thanks will give that a try later.

[gruffalo]

Hand brake is mostly for show than effect.

[Tanguero]

I can't agree with the above.

Just having rebuilt my gearbox (synchromesh on 2nd gone) and studied the internals, 5th gear is no less robust than any of the others so 5th to reverse is fine. Theo nly difference is that 5th has a single syncromesh cone rather than the double that the others have, however if the clutch is down as it will be for selecting reverse there wil lbe no more stress on the synchro than a normal gearchange.

A well adjusted handbrake will hold the Cerbera as well as the handbrake on any car. Admittedly it has a tendency to need adjusting more than some and there are a couple of failure modes that can make it ornamental, but if its in good condition it works perfectly well.

Edited by Tanguero on Monday 25th June 15:01

[ridds]

Tanguero said:

I can't agree with the above.

Just having rebuilt my gearbox (synchromesh on 2nd gone) and studied the internals, 5th gear is no less robust than any of the others so 5th to reverse is fine. Theo nly difference is that 5th has a single syncromesh cone rather than the double that the others have, however if the clutch is down as it will be for selecting reverse there wil lbe no more stress on the synchro than a normal gearchange.

A well adjusted handbrake will hold the Cerbera as well as the handbrake on any car. Admittedly it has a tendency to need adjusting more than some and there are a couple of failure modes that can make it ornamental, but if its in good condition it works perfectly well.

Edited by Tanguero on Monday 25th June 15:01

Apart from you're going to wear out that single cone using it to slow the box down each time before selecting reverse. It has to do a lot more work stopping the gearset than just matching speeds between a gear change.

[NeilH]

For what it is worth , I switched from using 5th to using 3rd prior to reverse as it was smoother - My Gearbox might be in need of a "service" soon , but it works just fine for me ...

[Mr Cerbera]

Have a look at this thread for some handbrake clues.

[Tanguero]

ridds said:

Tanguero said:

I can't agree with the above.

Just having rebuilt my gearbox (synchromesh on 2nd gone) and studied the internals, 5th gear is no less robust than any of the others so 5th to reverse is fine. Theo nly difference is that 5th has a single syncromesh cone rather than the double that the others have, however if the clutch is down as it will be for selecting reverse there wil lbe no more stress on the synchro than a normal gearchange.

A well adjusted handbrake will hold the Cerbera as well as the handbrake on any car. Admittedly it has a tendency to need adjusting more than some and there are a couple of failure modes that can make it ornamental, but if its in good condition it works perfectly well.

Edited by Tanguero on Monday 25th June 15:01

Apart from you're going to wear out that single cone using it to slow the box down each time before selecting reverse. It has to do a lot more work stopping the gearset than just matching speeds between a gear change.

The 5th gear synchro cone is a smooth faced phosphor bronze ring rather than friction material faced like the other rings, so will not wear anything like as much when slowing the cluster gear. I suspect from the total lack of wear on my 5th ring compared to the very evident wear on the other synchro hubs that this is why Tremec themselves recommend using 5th gear before reverse rather than 3rd.

[FUBAR]

NeilH said:

For what it is worth , I switched from using 5th to using 3rd prior to reverse as it was smoother - My Gearbox might be in need of a "service" soon , but it works just fine for me ...

FWIW revisited; I swap around all my gears rather than sticking to one. Its nice to spread the love

[ridds]

Tanguero said:

ridds said:

Tanguero said:

I can't agree with the above.

Just having rebuilt my gearbox (synchromesh on 2nd gone) and studied the internals, 5th gear is no less robust than any of the others so 5th to reverse is fine. Theo nly difference is that 5th has a single syncromesh cone rather than the double that the others have, however if the clutch is down as it will be for selecting reverse there wil lbe no more stress on the synchro than a normal gearchange.

A well adjusted handbrake will hold the Cerbera as well as the handbrake on any car. Admittedly it has a tendency to need adjusting more than some and there are a couple of failure modes that can make it ornamental, but if its in good condition it works perfectly well.

Edited by Tanguero on Monday 25th June 15:01

Apart from you're going to wear out that single cone using it to slow the box down each time before selecting reverse. It has to do a lot more work stopping the gearset than just matching speeds between a gear change.

The 5th gear synchro cone is a smooth faced phosphor bronze ring rather than friction material faced like the other rings, so will not wear anything like as much when slowing the cluster gear. I suspect from the total lack of wear on my 5th ring compared to the very evident wear on the other synchro hubs that this is why Tremec themselves recommend using 5th gear before reverse rather than 3rd.

Is that not part of the WC vs Std differences though, the friction material is actually one of the upgrade components over the std Brass cones which they decided not to use on 5th and hence the week spot?