New owner of 4.2. So far, so good!
Discussion
Hello All,
New owner of a Cerb here, one week into the journey.
The car has an illustrious PH history, being none other than Carbon Al's old car, also owned by:
2002 to 2009 - Carbon Al - Allan
2009 to 2011 - Pied Piper - Terry
2011 to 2012 - Noisy - Paul
2012 to 2014 - Vixpy1 and Arebrec - Charlie and Tracey
2014 to 2016 - X19 Lido and Kevin-sz0nv - Kevin
Many of you will have seen the amazing restoration job Kevin did on the car:
http://s687.photobucket.com/user/Toehold1/library/...
I have always loved orange cars!
It took me bloody ages to track all of this down on PH, but reading all of the posts about the car over the years (borderline stalker?) together with:
- replies from Terry, Paul, Charlie and Tracey to my emails (thank you all!);
- the service history and file of bills; and
- an inspection by Colin from TVRSSW (for which thanks to Colin (and Tina) for doing such a thorough job and on a Friday as well)
gave me the confidence to buy privately, which I've never done before.
And what a buy. What an amazing car!! I have been grinning like an idiot for the last week.
In terms of how the car has behaved, so far so good. I drove the car back from Weston Super-Mare to NW London with no problems (except the car locking me in when I stopped for petrol - thanks to Colin and Tina for taking my slightly panicky phone call and telling me about the emergency release...) and I've been out A LOT since then! The only problems identified so far are (I think) pretty minor - I list them below and any help/advice would be much appreciated.
1) the car has locked me in twice. I don't mind.
2) When I've been out for a drive and the engine is hot, if the car is in neutral and the clutch is out, there is a faint squealing, like an alternator squeal. If the clutch is pushed in, it stops.
3) the boot release button is a bit unreliable - it has always opened eventually, but it's taken a few presses.
4) Driver's side window doesn't always go all the way up when using buttons by the stereo (but does when closing the door)
5) Passenger side window doesn't always go all the way up when closing the door (but does when using the buttons). Also sometimes goes all the way up when door is open...
6) the PH history reveals that the car had an engine change in 2010, but this was not recorded at the DVLA. Kevin, from whom I bought the car, didn't know this, but Terry gave me comfort about the source of the engine he put in and Paul confirmed that after he bought the car from Terry it was showing signs of headgasket failure so he removed it and sent it to APM who replaced the gaskets and checked it over. The plan is to get a letter from Str8Six (who I will use to look after the car) confirming the number of the engine, which should then allow me to determine which car the engine came from and what mileage it had done when it became a donor - which will hopefully be a lot less than the roughly 62,000 my car had done when the engine went in!
All in all, very happy so far. Looking forward to learning more about these amazing cars and to meeting some of you at a meet.
All the best,
Roger
New owner of a Cerb here, one week into the journey.
The car has an illustrious PH history, being none other than Carbon Al's old car, also owned by:
2002 to 2009 - Carbon Al - Allan
2009 to 2011 - Pied Piper - Terry
2011 to 2012 - Noisy - Paul
2012 to 2014 - Vixpy1 and Arebrec - Charlie and Tracey
2014 to 2016 - X19 Lido and Kevin-sz0nv - Kevin
Many of you will have seen the amazing restoration job Kevin did on the car:
http://s687.photobucket.com/user/Toehold1/library/...
I have always loved orange cars!
It took me bloody ages to track all of this down on PH, but reading all of the posts about the car over the years (borderline stalker?) together with:
- replies from Terry, Paul, Charlie and Tracey to my emails (thank you all!);
- the service history and file of bills; and
- an inspection by Colin from TVRSSW (for which thanks to Colin (and Tina) for doing such a thorough job and on a Friday as well)
gave me the confidence to buy privately, which I've never done before.
And what a buy. What an amazing car!! I have been grinning like an idiot for the last week.
In terms of how the car has behaved, so far so good. I drove the car back from Weston Super-Mare to NW London with no problems (except the car locking me in when I stopped for petrol - thanks to Colin and Tina for taking my slightly panicky phone call and telling me about the emergency release...) and I've been out A LOT since then! The only problems identified so far are (I think) pretty minor - I list them below and any help/advice would be much appreciated.
1) the car has locked me in twice. I don't mind.
2) When I've been out for a drive and the engine is hot, if the car is in neutral and the clutch is out, there is a faint squealing, like an alternator squeal. If the clutch is pushed in, it stops.
3) the boot release button is a bit unreliable - it has always opened eventually, but it's taken a few presses.
4) Driver's side window doesn't always go all the way up when using buttons by the stereo (but does when closing the door)
5) Passenger side window doesn't always go all the way up when closing the door (but does when using the buttons). Also sometimes goes all the way up when door is open...
6) the PH history reveals that the car had an engine change in 2010, but this was not recorded at the DVLA. Kevin, from whom I bought the car, didn't know this, but Terry gave me comfort about the source of the engine he put in and Paul confirmed that after he bought the car from Terry it was showing signs of headgasket failure so he removed it and sent it to APM who replaced the gaskets and checked it over. The plan is to get a letter from Str8Six (who I will use to look after the car) confirming the number of the engine, which should then allow me to determine which car the engine came from and what mileage it had done when it became a donor - which will hopefully be a lot less than the roughly 62,000 my car had done when the engine went in!
All in all, very happy so far. Looking forward to learning more about these amazing cars and to meeting some of you at a meet.
All the best,
Roger
Edited by Tangerine Dream on Saturday 26th March 09:25
Edited by Tangerine Dream on Saturday 26th March 10:18
Edited by Tangerine Dream on Sunday 27th March 08:04
Hello and Welcome Roger.
I have small experience on points 1 and 3. Speed 6 Cerb mk2
1: from my experience was due to low voltage in the battery (had been standing for a week an d it was cold) car started and drove fine then after stopping wouldn't let me out. A call to TVR Power who talked me through the door/window ecu reset and all was good. A full recon/battery charge later and it's not happened again (touches wood).
3: after buying my car and going to fill up the boot at the filling station decided not to play ball. This was due to how I had been closing. Slamming down in one motion no but laying low on lock then pushing and all was good.
Again the guys at Power fiddled the mechanism and now either is fine.
Hope that is of some use. Enjoy your lovely car mate.
I have small experience on points 1 and 3. Speed 6 Cerb mk2
1: from my experience was due to low voltage in the battery (had been standing for a week an d it was cold) car started and drove fine then after stopping wouldn't let me out. A call to TVR Power who talked me through the door/window ecu reset and all was good. A full recon/battery charge later and it's not happened again (touches wood).
3: after buying my car and going to fill up the boot at the filling station decided not to play ball. This was due to how I had been closing. Slamming down in one motion no but laying low on lock then pushing and all was good.
Again the guys at Power fiddled the mechanism and now either is fine.
Hope that is of some use. Enjoy your lovely car mate.
If you don't know how old old the battery is I would recommend getting it changed. Also advise investment in a battery conditioner eg Accumate, especially if you're on the fringes of London where you'll do a fair amount of stop-start traffic. TVR alarm systems tend to drain power and it doesn't take much below super-fresh/charged battery to start locking gremlins. Not the answer to all the issues of course but a good baseline. Prox sensors and ECU's normally next on the elimination list.
Thanks for the replies all.
Gruffalo - I will ask Str8Six to look at the clutch release bearing. Sounds like something I don't want to take a chance on. I assume this means I should drive the car as little as possible in the meantime?
Incognegro/Speed 3 - in relation the the battery draining, does this mean that if the car is locked in a garage (which it is), it's better not to set the alarm and just leave it able to be opened at any time? Would this drain the battery less than doing the central locking/setting the alarm with the remote control?
Many thanks!
Roger
Gruffalo - I will ask Str8Six to look at the clutch release bearing. Sounds like something I don't want to take a chance on. I assume this means I should drive the car as little as possible in the meantime?
Incognegro/Speed 3 - in relation the the battery draining, does this mean that if the car is locked in a garage (which it is), it's better not to set the alarm and just leave it able to be opened at any time? Would this drain the battery less than doing the central locking/setting the alarm with the remote control?
Many thanks!
Roger
Tangerine Dream said:
Incognegro/Speed 3 - in relation the the battery draining, does this mean that if the car is locked in a garage (which it is), it's better not to set the alarm and just leave it able to be opened at any time? Would this drain the battery less than doing the central locking/setting the alarm with the remote control?
Many thanks!
Roger
I'm not an electrical expert but relaying what's been advised to me (Tuscan). Logic would dictate leaving the car unlocked with alarm off would avoid a problem but I think you've still got the immobiliser circuits live on the Meta (have on mine). If I leave mine off the Accumate it'll be dischargeed enough in 2-3 weeks and won't start. The previous owner from new had the battery changed every 2 years. Many thanks!
Roger
As an example of electrical gremlin, mine stopped dropping the window on releasing the door. I was going to book it into my specialist for a few weeks later, then accidentally knocked the accumate power off one day without realising. Two weeks later I noticed it, switched it back on and hey presto the window ECU had reset itself.
As above I leave my car unlocked (alarm not on) in the garage... however I also leave my bonnet unlocked so I could access battery to charge or leave on trickle. For extended periods of no use (December month) I also have had a battery isolator fitted and this worked a treat December just gone.
Battery can go from Green to Red on a CTEK indicator in 1 week of standing
Battery can go from Green to Red on a CTEK indicator in 1 week of standing
Thanks for the advice All. Str8Six fitted me in on the clutch release bearing issue and all sorted, albeit painfully given they had to put in a new clutch assembly (ap racing) and lightweight flywheel...
Booked in for 12000 mile service and health check end of the month, but thank God Jason said he was pleasantly surprised when he got it up on the ramp - she's a good one.
Saw a lovely red one there - numberplate Fluffy - whose is that?
Booked in for 12000 mile service and health check end of the month, but thank God Jason said he was pleasantly surprised when he got it up on the ramp - she's a good one.
Saw a lovely red one there - numberplate Fluffy - whose is that?
Tangerine Dream said:
Thanks for the advice All. Str8Six fitted me in on the clutch release bearing issue and all sorted, albeit painfully given they had to put in a new clutch assembly (ap racing) and lightweight flywheel...
Booked in for 12000 mile service and health check end of the month, but thank God Jason said he was pleasantly surprised when he got it up on the ramp - she's a good one.
Saw a lovely red one there - numberplate Fluffy - whose is that?
Think that beast belongs to Gruffalo...?Booked in for 12000 mile service and health check end of the month, but thank God Jason said he was pleasantly surprised when he got it up on the ramp - she's a good one.
Saw a lovely red one there - numberplate Fluffy - whose is that?
Yep, that was mine just in for a quick once over before a bit of a road trip.
Not heard it called gorgeous for a while, most complain that the paint is a mess, which, of course it is.
However everything else is mint with a hint of special;-)
Not heard it called gorgeous for a while, most complain that the paint is a mess, which, of course it is.
However everything else is mint with a hint of special;-)
Edited by gruffalo on Wednesday 13th April 21:48
Tangerine Dream said:
Well it looked pretty good to me! Brilliant number plate as well. Harry Potter reference I assume? I walked past a couple in the Isle of Wight who had called their boat Dobby's Sock - Genius.
Yep, Harry Potter refeference, my daughter thought up the name for the car and my wife brought the plate for my birthday.Love Dobby's Sock for a boat!
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