Updated my Chimaera Key....
Discussion
The original key that came with my Chimaera was starting to fall appart and look a touch less than classy of late, what with being out of an Opel of probably mid 80s vintage so i decided to do a bit of a conversion...
Having seen what can be done to embed the key into the Meta fob on cars with that alarm system (mine didn't, it had a Cobra system fitted with a different remote so no go in that direction), i decided to go a little further and move to a flip style key as used in a load of cars made in the last few years.
First stage was to get hold of a suitable flip fob to start with, thankfully over here in Australia that wasn't too tricky as the newest model Holden Commodore has a flip key as an option and uses the flat rectangular style blade which appears to be identical to that of the Chim. When this arrived the blades looked like a good match so i had my local locksmith cut the TVR key onto the Holden blank hoping that it would just directly work...
Alas not, although the Holden key blade looks identical it is actually 1mm wider than the TVR one so wouldn't fit in the lock. This could probably have been trimmed down and would have worked had it been done before my key pattern was cut onto it but any modification afterwards would have knocked out the cutting alignment.
Anyway, luckily the blade is removable on this type of flip key so with a little modification of my original spare key i was able to embed the TVR blade into the Holden flip.
Next stage was to get the alarm remote into it too to make it usefull, this was pretty easy, just a case of removing the Holden electronics, slightly enlarging the inside of the remote part so it would take my 2 button Cobra remote internals and then securing everything in place. The buttons unfortunately don't line up in the same order as on the Holden remote so the boot opening button actually unlocks/locks the car but this isn't much of an issue to me.
Final touch was to get a TVR logo from ebay to replace the Holden one and i think it all looks pretty good. Works every bit as well as the old Opel key/dangly Cobra remote combo but looks and feels a lot better.
Anyway let me know what you think, i've got more pics of the internal modifications if anyone's interested.
Al
Having seen what can be done to embed the key into the Meta fob on cars with that alarm system (mine didn't, it had a Cobra system fitted with a different remote so no go in that direction), i decided to go a little further and move to a flip style key as used in a load of cars made in the last few years.
First stage was to get hold of a suitable flip fob to start with, thankfully over here in Australia that wasn't too tricky as the newest model Holden Commodore has a flip key as an option and uses the flat rectangular style blade which appears to be identical to that of the Chim. When this arrived the blades looked like a good match so i had my local locksmith cut the TVR key onto the Holden blank hoping that it would just directly work...
Alas not, although the Holden key blade looks identical it is actually 1mm wider than the TVR one so wouldn't fit in the lock. This could probably have been trimmed down and would have worked had it been done before my key pattern was cut onto it but any modification afterwards would have knocked out the cutting alignment.
Anyway, luckily the blade is removable on this type of flip key so with a little modification of my original spare key i was able to embed the TVR blade into the Holden flip.
Next stage was to get the alarm remote into it too to make it usefull, this was pretty easy, just a case of removing the Holden electronics, slightly enlarging the inside of the remote part so it would take my 2 button Cobra remote internals and then securing everything in place. The buttons unfortunately don't line up in the same order as on the Holden remote so the boot opening button actually unlocks/locks the car but this isn't much of an issue to me.
Final touch was to get a TVR logo from ebay to replace the Holden one and i think it all looks pretty good. Works every bit as well as the old Opel key/dangly Cobra remote combo but looks and feels a lot better.
Anyway let me know what you think, i've got more pics of the internal modifications if anyone's interested.
Al
Looks good! I changed mine too but it doesn't have any electronics in. I just took my spare key with a split in the plastic, removed said plastic and stuck a big ball of automotive putty stuff on the top of the key. In a few minutes this went rock hard and I filed it down to a round flat shape. Then drew a nice shape onto the putty in pencil (I went for a sort of diamond with a flat end) and filed down to the line. Then I rounded all the edges off and sanded until it was baby skin smooth, sprayed with plastic primer, then mixed up an identical colour paint to my car (I was waiting for my friend to finish work at Halfords!) and sprayed the new key before covering it in lots of layers of hard laquer. The end result looks great and is just in need of a TVR logo if I can ever be bothered to get round to it...
Doesn't have the cool flip out function though...
Doesn't have the cool flip out function though...
ariddell said:
The original key that came with my Chimaera was starting to fall appart and look a touch less than classy of late, what with being out of an Opel of probably mid 80s vintage so i decided to do a bit of a conversion...
Having seen what can be done to embed the key into the Meta fob on cars with that alarm system (mine didn't, it had a Cobra system fitted with a different remote so no go in that direction), i decided to go a little further and move to a flip style key as used in a load of cars made in the last few years.
First stage was to get hold of a suitable flip fob to start with, thankfully over here in Australia that wasn't too tricky as the newest model Holden Commodore has a flip key as an option and uses the flat rectangular style blade which appears to be identical to that of the Chim. When this arrived the blades looked like a good match so i had my local locksmith cut the TVR key onto the Holden blank hoping that it would just directly work...
Alas not, although the Holden key blade looks identical it is actually 1mm wider than the TVR one so wouldn't fit in the lock. This could probably have been trimmed down and would have worked had it been done before my key pattern was cut onto it but any modification afterwards would have knocked out the cutting alignment.
Anyway, luckily the blade is removable on this type of flip key so with a little modification of my original spare key i was able to embed the TVR blade into the Holden flip.
Next stage was to get the alarm remote into it too to make it usefull, this was pretty easy, just a case of removing the Holden electronics, slightly enlarging the inside of the remote part so it would take my 2 button Cobra remote internals and then securing everything in place. The buttons unfortunately don't line up in the same order as on the Holden remote so the boot opening button actually unlocks/locks the car but this isn't much of an issue to me.
Final touch was to get a TVR logo from ebay to replace the Holden one and i think it all looks pretty good. Works every bit as well as the old Opel key/dangly Cobra remote combo but looks and feels a lot better.
Anyway let me know what you think, i've got more pics of the internal modifications if anyone's interested.
Al
Damn right we are interested. Having seen what can be done to embed the key into the Meta fob on cars with that alarm system (mine didn't, it had a Cobra system fitted with a different remote so no go in that direction), i decided to go a little further and move to a flip style key as used in a load of cars made in the last few years.
First stage was to get hold of a suitable flip fob to start with, thankfully over here in Australia that wasn't too tricky as the newest model Holden Commodore has a flip key as an option and uses the flat rectangular style blade which appears to be identical to that of the Chim. When this arrived the blades looked like a good match so i had my local locksmith cut the TVR key onto the Holden blank hoping that it would just directly work...
Alas not, although the Holden key blade looks identical it is actually 1mm wider than the TVR one so wouldn't fit in the lock. This could probably have been trimmed down and would have worked had it been done before my key pattern was cut onto it but any modification afterwards would have knocked out the cutting alignment.
Anyway, luckily the blade is removable on this type of flip key so with a little modification of my original spare key i was able to embed the TVR blade into the Holden flip.
Next stage was to get the alarm remote into it too to make it usefull, this was pretty easy, just a case of removing the Holden electronics, slightly enlarging the inside of the remote part so it would take my 2 button Cobra remote internals and then securing everything in place. The buttons unfortunately don't line up in the same order as on the Holden remote so the boot opening button actually unlocks/locks the car but this isn't much of an issue to me.
Final touch was to get a TVR logo from ebay to replace the Holden one and i think it all looks pretty good. Works every bit as well as the old Opel key/dangly Cobra remote combo but looks and feels a lot better.
Anyway let me know what you think, i've got more pics of the internal modifications if anyone's interested.
Al
I too have a Cobra(7928) ,so this would be great for me........
Please.
AntonyJ said:
ariddell said:
From the looks of the size of the Meta electronics inside the end of your key there chances are it would fit easily into the flip enclosure too. Probably with even less modification than was needed for my Cobra remote.
Can you post some pics of the internals?
i did a conversion a while back using the guts from a Cobra fob, i did a how to on my website :
http://pinx.me.uk/portfolio/key-fob/
http://pinx.me.uk/portfolio/key-fob/
Edited by Pinx on Thursday 31st December 14:09
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