96 replies to this topic

[Jammy]

Ever since I really got into cars in my mid-teens I've liked TVRs. My main car crush used to be a Jag, because my Dad owned an XJ6 when I was a kid, but the brutal power, gorgeous flowing leather interiors and fantastic sound of the TVRs quickly won me over. When I was younger I made one of those silly "I will own X before I'm 21" promises, which didn't happen, but thankfully it was only a couple of years out! Currently two of my best mates have moved out into co-owned flats or houses, and I thought in a year or two I'm probably going to be looking at doing the same, so I thought to myself that if I want one of these I'd better get one quick while I can still, just about, afford to run it, before I have to start paying for silly things like mortgages!

First thing was to check insurance. Being my dream car I'd been getting confused.com insurances quotes for the past couple of years, running them through every few months to see how much the premiums had come down. Back at the start of the year insurance on a Chimaera was about £1k, and for a 4.0 Cerby I'd be stumping up the empty wallet side of £2k. Luckily, one day at work, I was browsing PistonHeads forum and read a post from a similarily aged lad who had a Cerbera. I wondered how he could afford the insurance and did a search to see what people were paying. To my horror/delight I found a number of people in their mid-twenties all paying less than a grand on Cerberas, and the common theme seemed to a be a company called Hagerty. One quick call to them and they knocked me to the floor, the quote was less than what I was paying on my rotten lightweight MR2 last year! I really do recommend Hagerty if you want to insure a second car and your over 21. I'd be surprised if they weren't the cheapest every time, and their service is top notch, they come highly recommended on PH too.

I won't bore you all with the details about going to view the car last weekend, etc etc. Needless to say this was collected on Tuesday from a private seller in Bognor, amd taken straight up to Fenchurch TVR for an inspection so I knew what work needed to be done on it.

(yes it needs a clean)

List of things they found:

Handbrake warning light not operating
Windscreen washers not operating
New oil pressure releif valve advised
Drivers window intermittent
Boot light not operating
New spark plugs and leads needed asap
Power steering rack pinion seal leaking
O/S/F brake caliper binding
Reverse light switch unplugged
Fuel hose split from pump to filter
O/S/R brake disc badly worn
Front brake discs worn and pitted
Rear tyres worn to 3mm
Oil hose cracked from block to filter
O/S/R lamp lens misted up
Earthing fault to rear lights
Steering very heavy
Tracking advised

It might seem like quite a long list, but a couple of those things are connected, and a good half of them should be very easy fixes....

[Jammy]

As I said in my first post, the beast needed a good clean and polish, so as soon as I got home from work yesterday (Wednesday) I set about getting the hose and bucket out ready to get it in a lather!

I now refer you to the line in the above list that says 'Drivers window intermittent'. When you open the doors, the window pops down a couple of inches, and then when you close the door the window is meant to go back up to the top. However, the drivers side is playing up. Maybe once every 20 times does my drivers window work properly! However it's quite a know problem that the connectors, or the two switches in the door can play up, so I put down the hose and bucket and set about taking the door apart to try and track down the problem.

(Door card off the door)


(Micro switch that tells the door/window ECU when the window is open)


(Reed switch that tells the ECU when the door is open/closed)

After getting a welding magnet, and setting my multimeter up on the connector of the ECU I was able to eliminate the reed switch. The interior lights were going off when the door was closed, and I could hear the relay in the ECU clicking on after the door was closed, so at least the ECU was trying to put the window up.

So, moved on to the micro switch. Set the multimeter up on the corresponding pin on the ECU connector and pressed the microswitch. Seemed to be working fine, and the window stops when it hits this microswitch so I reckon its working fine.

The other main possibility is that one of the connectors inside the door is corroded and therefore making a weak contact. I've cleaned them all up with electrical contact spray, but they still looked a bit crummy. So today I've ordered a weatherproof connector (AMP Superseals) kit from Vehicle Wiring Products to replace all the connectors inside the drivers door. I'm hoping this will rectify the problem, otherwise I may have to look at tracing a break in the wiring, or possibly another door/window ECU.

[CooperTrooper]

sweet bejesus Jammy, SICK car. Good luck with that monster.

[Angelic_Fruitcake]

Wow! Its gorgeous, well done you

[Jack Jones]

mmmmmmm i like

[Its a mini thing]

love TVR's all of them, i would love one but i dont think i could live with the problems, new someone with a gold one just like that, was doing 100mph and the interior light fell out the roof lol, not long after that it needed a new engine in, and the central locking never worked on it either.

[Jammy]

Yea, they are known for the electrical problems! The 4.2 clutches always went, but luckily this has had the clutch upgraded in the last few years (so less than 10k ago) to the 4.5 clutch, along with the bell housing and the slave cylinder. Considering they also have a reputation for trim falling apart this interior is in remarkably good knick. There have also been a *very* small number of cases with pre '98 crank failures; on PH there has been 4 recorded cases out of the dozens of Cerbs that have been on there, so I'm not too worried about it. Then there's just general things like bushes, seals, etc that obviously take the brunt of all that power and torque and fail from time to time. I'm thinking/hoping that will enough preventative maintainence it should never fail me 'in the field'.

Just a note to myself; plugs are NGK BKR5EKU.

[Its a mini thing]

what insurance group are they? and how old are you if you dont mind me asking?

[Down&Out]

good buy!

[Jammy]

what insurance group are they? and how old are you if you dont mind me asking?

Insurance group 20 I believe (0-60 4 seconds, 180 leptons top speed bla bla), and I'm just 23.

[THE STIG]

you git

taking it to the ring

Edited by THE STIG, 26 June 2008 - 03:56 PM.

[Jammy]

Hey Stig!

Hmmm, doubtful, still going to try my best to get the Minus done...

[THE STIG]

have just fitted some of those lights to a cebera up here the kits cost nearly £500 !!!!!

although have blended them in look much better

but then again it does have a 850bhp nissan skyline engine and 4 wheel drive running gear on it

[The Pogg]

quite a ill car there james!

looks ACE!

[Jammy]

I must admit I prefer them blended in, but to have them blended in now and resprayed would probably cost over £500! For now I think the light conversion looks far better than standard, so I'm happy anyway.

That sounds like quite a beast you're working on up there, think you should get me some pictures! Wouldn't happen to have a spare set of 4WD running gear would you?

Thanks The Pogg. Everytime I look at it I get a huge grin on my face! In fact its great to just sit here at my computer and have it sat 1m away on my drive.