Cerbera project
Discussion
As a runner with issues, I reckon £12k
There's lots of incomplete stuff around though
There's even an RV8 engined Cerb that seems to appear for sale every so often
Keep an eye on the North East based breakers if you fancy a challenge
Not a Cerb but you get the idea
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222969395556
There's lots of incomplete stuff around though
There's even an RV8 engined Cerb that seems to appear for sale every so often
Keep an eye on the North East based breakers if you fancy a challenge
Not a Cerb but you get the idea
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222969395556
My car had lots done to it, full body off restoration, respray, but when the engine needed rebuilding I was probably looking at it being worth 10k with a knackered engine. If you're has stood for 10 years, every rubber, bush, pipe would need changing, don't know what the engine would be like, if any seals had failed etc.
Then theres possible chassis issues...
Then theres possible chassis issues...
Agreed, i would think £10k is your starting point for a rough project. If “its to good to break” then significantly more.
I have a rough project, fully stripped and in need of a nut and bolt restoration and when I get around to advertising it will be at £10k which it is more than worth in parts.
I have a rough project, fully stripped and in need of a nut and bolt restoration and when I get around to advertising it will be at £10k which it is more than worth in parts.
Sorry my description of a project may of been miss leading.
The car runs, it ran when It was parked in private dry storage and covered, it’s been ran up in the summer but not used due to owning far to many other toys. Car has 39k on the clock all done before 2009 from memory and has history. Car is all there apart from radio and would obviously need a mot and service. I will probably get it serviced and mot before I consider parting with it.
The car runs, it ran when It was parked in private dry storage and covered, it’s been ran up in the summer but not used due to owning far to many other toys. Car has 39k on the clock all done before 2009 from memory and has history. Car is all there apart from radio and would obviously need a mot and service. I will probably get it serviced and mot before I consider parting with it.
TwinKam said:
I think you're seriously underestimating the effects of 9 years non-use, dry stored or not. I'm not saying it's not worth 10 or 12K, but it will need far more than an MoT and service; it'll want complete recommissioning.
I would be very interested to hear what you think a car of this age and mileage would need due to being stored away for 9 years. Please could you expand on you comment that the car would need complete recommissioning?TwinKam said:
it'll want complete recommissioning.
Perhaps, but perhaps notThere's no timing belt to worry about, so the only rubber parts that might be worse for wear are the hoses, seals and tyres
Sure, all fluids will need changing, but that's just a day's work
I doubt the caliper seals will have suffered because there's no heat cycling
The caliper bleed nipples are another matter altogether
Perhaps there will be a few minor oil leaks, but - so what?
The only concern I would have is the state of the head gaskets, which will most likely remain undiscovered until the car is pushed really hard
Caveat Emptor
Mine was off the road for 4 years then covered 1000 miles over the next 3 years, before I got it. But even at that it needed new master and slave cylinders, radiator recore, new hoses, starter, wiper motor, lambda, coil, rear brakes needed attention, gearbox leak, electrics were and are still flaky although getting through the faults, the list goes on...... No regrets but storage kills cars in my opinion. It is now driven at least weekly.
Anything rubber will have been perishing merrily away, including seals, hoses, tyres as mentioned, but also bushes and gaiters.
Any unprotected metals will have been happily corroding, including brake discs, exposed hydraulic pistons and anywhere dissimilar metals meet. This is often an unexpected little gift upon disassembly.
Condensation and the acidic products of combustion contained in the oil within the engine will have been corroding metals and attacking seals. Piston rings stick. Internals go rusty. Head gaskets crumble. Contaminated fluid within the hydraulic systems corrode both the cylinders and the seals. Clutch plates stick to flywheels. Electrical connections corrode, relays stick, rotating electrics' bearings corrode. In this time it would have had say 9 oil changes, 3 brake fluid changes, 2 coolant changes. None of these fluids are inert.
In regular use, any mechanism (of which a car is myriad) with get exercise between its limits of travel. Brake discs get scoured of their light dusting of red rust before it can turn to black rust and eat into the metal. Hydraulic pistons get wiped. Seals get exposed to fresh liquids. Oil vapours within the engine bay coat exposed surfaces. Heat cycles keep moisture at bay. Fluids get changed. Regular inspection (if only of the cursory MoT type) and driver awareness will have picked up problems as they developed.
All the above applies to any production vehicle. Now factor in the kit car element. And the fact that it was ten years old (the usual design lifetime) before it was stored.
I'm sure it'll run, and probably even pass an MoT Test (not that difficult), but it certainly won't pass the 'would I put my wife and kids in it' test.
Some things e.g. clutch hydraulics you could feasibly leave until they showed off, but you couldn't take the same risk with brakes.
I haven't gone into the aesthetics eg fabrics and body rubbers rotting as they are not important in safety terms, but on the plus side, the body should be OK!
Any unprotected metals will have been happily corroding, including brake discs, exposed hydraulic pistons and anywhere dissimilar metals meet. This is often an unexpected little gift upon disassembly.
Condensation and the acidic products of combustion contained in the oil within the engine will have been corroding metals and attacking seals. Piston rings stick. Internals go rusty. Head gaskets crumble. Contaminated fluid within the hydraulic systems corrode both the cylinders and the seals. Clutch plates stick to flywheels. Electrical connections corrode, relays stick, rotating electrics' bearings corrode. In this time it would have had say 9 oil changes, 3 brake fluid changes, 2 coolant changes. None of these fluids are inert.
In regular use, any mechanism (of which a car is myriad) with get exercise between its limits of travel. Brake discs get scoured of their light dusting of red rust before it can turn to black rust and eat into the metal. Hydraulic pistons get wiped. Seals get exposed to fresh liquids. Oil vapours within the engine bay coat exposed surfaces. Heat cycles keep moisture at bay. Fluids get changed. Regular inspection (if only of the cursory MoT type) and driver awareness will have picked up problems as they developed.
All the above applies to any production vehicle. Now factor in the kit car element. And the fact that it was ten years old (the usual design lifetime) before it was stored.
I'm sure it'll run, and probably even pass an MoT Test (not that difficult), but it certainly won't pass the 'would I put my wife and kids in it' test.
Some things e.g. clutch hydraulics you could feasibly leave until they showed off, but you couldn't take the same risk with brakes.
I haven't gone into the aesthetics eg fabrics and body rubbers rotting as they are not important in safety terms, but on the plus side, the body should be OK!
To give you an idea, my body off chassis restoration was £4.5K but I changed a further £3k worth of parts whilst it was apart. All brake lines, fuel lines (which were cracking), bushes, bearings etc and that as regularly used.
Fuel lines are a must - too many of those cracking and leaking onto a hot engine. We had a spate of cerberas catching fire about 5 years ago.
I'd be taking a very careful look at the outrigger corners.
Then you've all the rubber seals that haven't been used that may well leak.
I'd replace the tyres as I wouldn't used 350bhp+ through a set of ten year old tyres
Then you've possible corrosion on the electrical connectors.
You do need to go through everything just to be sure. It's a lot of performance in a very light car
Fuel lines are a must - too many of those cracking and leaking onto a hot engine. We had a spate of cerberas catching fire about 5 years ago.
I'd be taking a very careful look at the outrigger corners.
Then you've all the rubber seals that haven't been used that may well leak.
I'd replace the tyres as I wouldn't used 350bhp+ through a set of ten year old tyres
Then you've possible corrosion on the electrical connectors.
You do need to go through everything just to be sure. It's a lot of performance in a very light car
2 days ago I drove my Griff out the garage under its own power for the first time in 12 years.
It wasn't as simple as putting a new battery in it and turning the key.
The tyres were replaced last week. While the old tyres had never been allowed to go flat, and the car had been pushed about the garage from time to time, the old tyres were far from round. In fact, the tyre fitter said he had never seen anything like them before.
It has a body off, so we did suspension bushes and brake and fuel pipes anyway. However, looking at the condition of the old rubber, there is no way it would have been safe to use. I replaced engine and gearbox mounts as they were all split.
While it ran OK before being laid up, the coil and alternator refused to play when we tried to start it.
One of the brake bleed nipples was seized resulting in a new caliper being needed.
The connector for the console had corroded meaning there was no control for the heater fan.
I could add two dozen more examples to the list but it will get boring to read.
This was a car that ran fine and had no issues, but was taken off the road due to chassis corrosion and blowing exhaust manifolds. Why it took me over ten years to start work is another story. It was stored in a warm / heated / dehumidified garage / workshop. I am with Twin Kam on this. You may be able to start it, change the fluids and get an MOT, but I suspect there will be a lot of work required to make it right. That could be a case of biting the bullet and doing it to start with, or you may run it and fix problems as they come up, but either way, some work will be required.
It wasn't as simple as putting a new battery in it and turning the key.
The tyres were replaced last week. While the old tyres had never been allowed to go flat, and the car had been pushed about the garage from time to time, the old tyres were far from round. In fact, the tyre fitter said he had never seen anything like them before.
It has a body off, so we did suspension bushes and brake and fuel pipes anyway. However, looking at the condition of the old rubber, there is no way it would have been safe to use. I replaced engine and gearbox mounts as they were all split.
While it ran OK before being laid up, the coil and alternator refused to play when we tried to start it.
One of the brake bleed nipples was seized resulting in a new caliper being needed.
The connector for the console had corroded meaning there was no control for the heater fan.
I could add two dozen more examples to the list but it will get boring to read.
This was a car that ran fine and had no issues, but was taken off the road due to chassis corrosion and blowing exhaust manifolds. Why it took me over ten years to start work is another story. It was stored in a warm / heated / dehumidified garage / workshop. I am with Twin Kam on this. You may be able to start it, change the fluids and get an MOT, but I suspect there will be a lot of work required to make it right. That could be a case of biting the bullet and doing it to start with, or you may run it and fix problems as they come up, but either way, some work will be required.
GT4RS said:
Sorry my description of a project may of been miss leading.
The car runs, it ran when It was parked in private dry storage and covered, it’s been ran up in the summer but not used due to owning far to many other toys. Car has 39k on the clock all done before 2009 from memory and has history. Car is all there apart from radio and would obviously need a mot and service. I will probably get it serviced and mot before I consider parting with it.
You obviously have a figure in mind - what do you think?The car runs, it ran when It was parked in private dry storage and covered, it’s been ran up in the summer but not used due to owning far to many other toys. Car has 39k on the clock all done before 2009 from memory and has history. Car is all there apart from radio and would obviously need a mot and service. I will probably get it serviced and mot before I consider parting with it.
Also what year is the car
Byker28i said:
GT4RS said:
Sorry my description of a project may of been miss leading.
The car runs, it ran when It was parked in private dry storage and covered, it’s been ran up in the summer but not used due to owning far to many other toys. Car has 39k on the clock all done before 2009 from memory and has history. Car is all there apart from radio and would obviously need a mot and service. I will probably get it serviced and mot before I consider parting with it.
You obviously have a figure in mind - what do you think?The car runs, it ran when It was parked in private dry storage and covered, it’s been ran up in the summer but not used due to owning far to many other toys. Car has 39k on the clock all done before 2009 from memory and has history. Car is all there apart from radio and would obviously need a mot and service. I will probably get it serviced and mot before I consider parting with it.
Also what year is the car
The car is 1997, I have no figure in mind at this present time. If it turns out it’s only worth 12k as it is, I will probably keep it for a rainy day looking at the prices of apprently road worthy cars currently for sale with similar mileage / age.
Could someone point me in the direction of cars which have recently been sold for 12k? I’ve had a good look on the next an failed to find anything. Apprently cerbera project car was sold recently by a tvr specialist for 15.5k.
I may invest in a 4 post ramp to allow me to stack the two cars I very rarely use. New cars come at the end of the year so I guess I need to make a derision sooner rather than later!
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