Potential purchase - SP6 or V8?

[e42]

Hi, I’m a serial TVR owner, I’ve had my 5th, a pre cat Griff, for a couple of years. I’m wondering about a change to a Cerbera, I’ve always liked the looks and feel it’s an itch I need to scratch at some point. I imagine that both variants have their devotees for good reasons, but I would be interested in terms of the driving experience, I.e power delivery and noise (!) and also whether I might run into problems with spares for the V8, the SP6 is common to other models too, does that mean expertise is more readily available?

Any views appreciated,

Dom

[Gazzab]

Go and look at a few. Buy on condition.

[Ice_blue_tvr]

If you don't care whether the car has 6 or 8 cylinders, nor care that the ajp8 is unique to the cerbera then either one will suit imo.

[Byker28i]

For me the AJP8 had the attraction, I didn't care if a 4.2 or 4.5, and bought on the car that was the right condition, the right colour etc.

SP6 engined ones are fine, some say they prefer them - horses for courses... I don't see spares on the JAP8 as an issue and now 15 years on, there's plenty of reliability in the SP6 after rebuilds, that wasn't there when I was looking, which also tipped me towards the 8 cylinder engine.

So as said buy on condition and your preference.

[Mr Cerbera]

Cerbs are not built using Rocket Science therefore anything can be fixed.

There are a thousand web pages written on how to improve / safeguard each of the engine formats.
All you have to do is be careful whom you listen to.

Look at the TVRCC website.
Check which is the nearest club to your location.
Find out when their next meet is.
Get along there and prepare to be bored - Cerb owners can talk forever about their P&Js
BUT
They're all too ready to give Peeps a lift.

Alternatively you can wait for the next CerbFest where many of them will be gathered under the same roof (i.e. Heaven)

Then, after your experiences, you can make a practically-informed decision.


N.B.
Apart from each, individual owners personal settings, Cerbs were hand-built cars.
I believe that no two of them are the same.
Don't expect one 'S' reg car to be an example for the rest of them
(or even of that particular year).

Buy the one you're happy in.

Here's a Guide that I tried to compile

Edited by Mr Cerbera on Saturday 18th September 10:51

[e42]

Thanks folks, good advice, As you suggest, condition is key.

[Gazzab]

e42 said:

Thanks folks, good advice, As you suggest, condition is key.

I just had a look at the cars for sale on here. Looks like most are now over £30k. Price and condition aren’t always directly related. I don’t know if they are selling at these prices but I did hear that a well known but very tired ajp Cerb sold for probably about £15k recently. If you assume that car needs £10k to £20k spent on it then you can see why £30k plus is maybe becoming the benchmark for a decent Cerb.

[R8FUN]

I spoke to a well respected TVR dealer a while ago who now avoids the V8s as parts are becoming hard to source?

[ukkid35]

The SpeedSix is used in so many models that support and parts is very unlikely to be a problem

The AJP8 is actually quite rare, so although standard maintenance won't be a problem, if you suffer a catastrophic failure things get much more interesting

However, all SpeedSix and AJP8 engined cars use the same T5WC box, and both the input shaft and the 5th gear set are NLA (both are TVR specific)

So good luck if you blow fifth gear

[Gazzab]

R8FUN said:

I spoke to a well respected TVR dealer a while ago who now avoids the V8s as parts are becoming hard to source?

Who was that ?
Beyond heads and blocks, what isn’t available (new)?

[ukkid35]

Gazzab said:

Who was that ?
Beyond heads and blocks, what isn’t available (new)?

Oil Pump body
Sump
Aux Shaft Gears
Valve Spring Seats
Head Stud Washers
Blue Throttle Pots (although Joolz has some now)

No doubt more parts that I hope I'll never have to think about again

[Stunned Monkey]

Cerb gear ratios are common to the Sierra Cosworth and a couple of yanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piCMtiE2XEE

[QuiteQuietCerb]

e42 said:

Hi, I’m a serial TVR owner, I’ve had my 5th, a pre cat Griff, for a couple of years. I’m wondering about a change to a Cerbera, I’ve always liked the looks and feel it’s an itch I need to scratch at some point. I imagine that both variants have their devotees for good reasons, but I would be interested in terms of the driving experience, I.e power delivery and noise (!) and also whether I might run into problems with spares for the V8, the SP6 is common to other models too, does that mean expertise is more readily available?

Any views appreciated,

Dom

I am looking to px for a Griffith I have a black 4.5 if interested drop me a note. Thanks

[e42]

Hi, thanks for the reply re your black Cerb, it sounds a great engine/colour combination. I’ve just got the Griff back from Xworks and it’s running beautifully, I’ll hang on to it for the foreseeable, thanks

[fatjon]

ukkid35 said:

Oil Pump body
Sump
Aux Shaft Gears
Valve Spring Seats
Head Stud Washers
Blue Throttle Pots (although Joolz has some now)

No doubt more parts that I hope I'll never have to think about again

The oil pump body, sump, spring seats, stud washers are not wearing parts and in any case the seats and stud washers are not hard to find alternatives or remake them. Not sure the aux shaft gear is much of a wear item either, It carries little load, I suppose it could be a problem in a catastrophic failure. The throttle pots can most likely be tuned around to use different ones or maybe even a solid state conversion, though I have seen some remanufactured ones for sale recently. All in all I will take that over the foibles of the S6 engine and it's well documented ability to empty your pockets and it's own contents.

[ukkid35]

fatjon said:

All in all I will take that over the foibles of the S6 engine and it's well documented ability to empty your pockets and it's own contents.

I agree, none of them are consumables, apart from the Blue Throttle Pot, which the SP6 needs as well anyway

However the only reason I know they are all NLA, is because I have had to try to source them to keep my car running

I'm not sure whether I agree with you about the SP6 and it's failings

They seem to be perfectly reliable once the initial rebuild has been completed by one of the majors

However, perhaps that is like saying that any early 4.2 that is still running probably won't suffer crank shaft failure?