Out with the turbo and in with the Cerb

[PhilH42]

So firstly a proper hello to the Cerb forum.

Last week I sold my Turbo Chim and have bought a SP6 Cerbera...ducks any bullets flying my way from Chim or AJP owners

Anyway I always wanted a Cerbera and although I was sad to see the Chim go, maybe I'll get another sometime down the line as they are great cars.

My first impressions of the Cerbera are...in no particular order

What a great looking car....but I've known that since they first came out to be fair

A lot more thought seems to have gone into the whole design and far less borrowed bits! Most things I can see seem to be located sensibly particularly the fuse box and control modules....that's not saying the electrics are any more reliable though.

Bloody hell its quiet!

Incredible design inside and really quite comfortable

Like the Tuscan seats

less throttle man you sound like a learner driver...

Bloody exhaust rattles, finds welded anchor sheared from the back box so floats all over the shop, makes up a temp bracket until I get a chance to weld up something more permanent, think that may do it for now.

Yep no messing - straight in for a 12k service and valve clearance

Hope the power re-build holds up

I can see the road in the dark now...admittedly lamps have been upgraded.

I know their weak but I love 18" spider wheels

Ok so I might need to spend a bit again on another rebuild of some sort at some stage being a sp6, but being positive I could go for a powers 4.3 or even a 4.5ss

I'd love a yellow TVR really....but I'm happy with blue again

Nope bloody exhaust still rattles.

Chassis and underside looks fantastic though

Getting annoyed looks when I can't find the indicator quick enough

Small bump in road...hold on tight

Front end needs a respray and carpets are all the colours of a rainbow

Why is it so damn quiet....at least from where I'm sitting, apart from the embarrassing exhaust rattle


Well there you have it my initial thoughts.

Any advice welcome, particularly on improving the sound, like the baffles! There is a bit of a pop now and again but it's almost apologetic. ACT big bore exhaust or decat maybe?








Phil

Edited by PhilH42 on Wednesday 27th September 22:58

[FarmyardPants]

Looks great, congratulations! Perhaps the cats are a bit clogged up, it should be anything but quiet. I would start with a decat and rolling road tune up.

[mac315p]

Welcome and a good looking car. If the back box has been floating about then it's possibly a loose baffle, which could also make it a bit muted I s'pose?

[Byker28i]

Decat the puppy straight away. They reduce noise by about 10db but more importantly, because of the positioning pump heat into the cabin and gearbox/clutch. Act do good replacement exhaust systems.

[philipbrown123]

Looks great. Same colour as my tuscan S. I previously had a cooper green Speed6 cerb.

Saw that advertised recently for a very attractive price.

[Moycie]

Welcome to the Speed 6 Club. I found mine was a bit reserved too with the factory exhaust. My old 4.5 RR had Sports Tailpipes, so I had those fitted pretty much straight away. It's now got a great sound, pops and bangs, but not harsh on a long journey. I fitted Powers Sports Tailpipes, an easy mod and I left the cats alone.

[PhilH42]

Thanks Fella's.

All good points on the exhausts and options. I think the cats may well be a bit iffy as well as said though so depending on condition that may force my hand, at least until MOT time. Well either that or friendly garage.

Does anyone have any sound clips of their sp6 decat or with sports exhaust or any other set-up?

Yes negotiated I bought it at a fair price, it needs a few things but overall very happy....the chap I bought it from was a decent guy and by all accounts very happy with my Turbo Chim so it seems to have worked out well and a good trade.

Also anyone running eix plugs on the six?

[ukkid35]

I have spent years trying to quieten my Cerb so I can get on track.

I agree that Cats are a liability, they massively increase gearbox temps (I rarely have to use gloves to change gear now the Cats are gone)

If you want some Sports Tails - help yourself, you can have mine FOC (but a donation to H4H would be appreciated)

I hate them with a vengeance, you end up with a headache after an hour or so, but they are light and compact

This is my partial solution for Zolder which has insane noise regs (Silverstone Performance Rear box, with 2.5" tailpipe inserts packed with fibreglass)

Edited by ukkid35 on Saturday 30th September 21:52

[ukkid35]

Would be very interested to hear your thoughts comparing Turbo Chim with SpeedSix Cerb

I would imagine that the Cerb is far more driveable, but perhaps not quite as urgent?

[PhilH42]

[quote=ukkid35]I have spent years trying to quieten my Cerb so I can get on track.

I agree that Cats are a liability, they massively increase gearbox temps (I rarely have to use gloves to change gear now the Cats are gone)

If you want some Sports Tails - help yourself, you can have mine FOC (but a donation to H4H would be appreciated)

I hate them with a vengeance, you end up with a headache after an hour or so, but they are light and compact

Thanks very much and yes I'll take you up on that, even if I may need a couple of hearing aids in a couple of weeks Seems like a very fair request to me, H4H good shout.

[PhilH42]

ukkid35 said:

Would be very interested to hear your thoughts comparing Turbo Chim with SpeedSix Cerb

I would imagine that the Cerb is far more driveable, but perhaps not quite as urgent?

Its getting booked in for 12k next week and therefore I've not wringed its neck properly yet, so difficult to give an honest appraisal at this point. Although initially my thought is the sp6 has noticably got more in 1st and the high revs make a big difference!

The turbo (at least mine) on a fairly reserved set up was very quick yes but its road manners are actually very predictable and drivable believe it or not. I expected it to be a real handful and it is in the wet, but on a straight dry road you could get every ounce of 330bhp and 360ftlb down to tarmac with a sensible start. Twisties you can seriously run into trouble just because they come up that much quicker. The guys with the turbo 4.5's with big numbers would probably disagree with regards traction and shove in back but I doubt they would disagree on drivability, if anything it makes it more so.

Thats as much as I can gather so far at least.

[ukkid35]

Would be really great to see some dyno charts

Just as a comparison, my 4.5 compares very badly with you Chim as it struggles to reach 340 torque, even though it peaks at 410 bhp

[PhilH42]

Red standard 400
Blue with turbo as stated.

326bhp and 363ftlb was the sweet spot it did make 335 and 371 peak though.

[ukkid35]

Here's my chart from Joolz, which means it's a very fair comparison



Obviously it's a long time ago, and I have replaced a lot of critical components since then

Sadly my efforts to book a return trip to Chesterfield have floundered due to gearbox failures etc

[PhilH42]

The torque figure is the talking point but is yours with a flatter torque band even though its less, not making peak across a broader range of speeds?

The way the graph shows the turbo is rapid with a high peak but narrow delivery which is expected.

Well thats my take on it.

[PhilH42]

Yes bit of a trek for us to Joolz but worth the journey.

Whats up with the gearbox?

[Byker28i]

SP6 vs turbo chim, probably about the same torque and bhp?

The cerbera will feel more planted due to it's longer wheelbase. You'll get comments about how you can't take the roof off, but just lower the windows and tell them you now take the sides off..

[PhilH42]

If I'm honest I found the ragtop on the Chim a bit of a pain sometimes. For some reason I felt obliged to take the targa off regardless of weather and I didn't put the hood down much because it creased everything to b*ggery. It is lovely though when sunny.

I thought quite carefully about missing the roof off TVR motoring but I'm comfortable with it. Nice long windows and AC are good for me


I took the scuttles off the engine today and the air boxes and made a list of anything service wise, missing, broken or looking a bit past it (the oil hoses particularly) and did some shopping. 12k and VC's to do this week and while I'm at it I think I'll spray the air boxes and rocker cover, especially as I bought a new plug cover...mine looks very tired.

The fun making improvements starts here

[ukkid35]

PhilH42 said:

Yes bit of a trek for us to Joolz but worth the journey.

Whats up with the gearbox?

Here's a bit of gearbox history

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=16...

[PhilH42]

ukkid35 said:

Here's a bit of gearbox history

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=16...

Not so world class then!

I'll be honest I always thought the box was pretty solid up to around 400hp but I remember talking to a chap with a 4.2 Cerb a while back and he'd strengthened 5th, not sure with what parts though.