FIRST LOOK AT MY ABANDONED TVR CERBERA BARN FIND!! 

Hi, look at the old Wheeler Deelers episode of the TVR.They had to fit a new chassis, they found a firm in Sheffield that refurbished and repowder coated it on an exchange basis.

The chewed wire is for the M36T immobiliser - the immobiliser has 3 immobiliser circuits so trying to find these will be a mare if you are removing it - oh and all the wires are black (a Thatcham Cat requirement) - resolder the wire - the red LED should start working and you will be able to turn off the immobiliser - you can link the alarm to the immobilser once working so both the alarm and immobiliser turn off at the same time

Check out the wheeler dealers episode that replaced a chassis on one gives you a good comparison.

happy to follow a project about a car that we don't see very often.

You should watch the wheeler dealers episode (season 10 e6) on this model - they did a full chassis replacement so its an extensive look at restoring one of these

Hi. I used to work at TVR and welded the first 3-400 chassis. I’m not surprised the chassis rotten, they didn’t have a good coating system to start with.

I remember Ed China doing a chassis change repair, it was a lot of work. You might be able to find it online and use it for reference.

Great video, brilliant project! Sorry if it's already been mentioned - if your alarm system is the same as on my Cerb, have you tried the silver key to the right of the cigarette lighter? That's a cut off, isolates the whole system except the alarm, I think. Normally I just leave the thing alone, unless it's in storage. Naturally the chewed wire ain't going to help, though...

Dean I had that exact same Meta alarm. The round wooden fob is a spare and works just the same as the black fob. So, press once to disarm then use the USB-looking thingy to disable the immob. Then you’re free to start ignition. Good luck pal, great content!

When the content is good, You like the video before watching 👍🏼

On my 4.5 you didn't need to stick that fob in the slot - that was the "break glass in emergency" function. There was a traditional key in the cubby hole there to supplement the immobiliser but all owners stressed to never touch the key. If you've been turning that key it's probably worth pulling the key barrel out and testing the connections across it.

You can get a new chassis for these as common issue for rusting away. Wheeler dealers did it on their show could help watching that for ideas on working on the tvr

Really looking forward to this series, going to be a stunning example when completed. Keep up the great content mate 👊🏻

Looking forward to watching this. Recommend you watch the Wheeler Dealer episode where they change the chassis on a Cerbera.

Can of petrol and a box of matches, sorted.

You're a brave boy, but total respect. I lived in the USA for 10 years and used to show them that Top Gear clip all the time. They didn't like it 😂

Wow !!! Just found and subscribed to your fantastic channel. Absolutely love TVR,s. Used to deliver to the Blackpool, Bristol Avenue factory back in the 1990,s. Already absolutely hooked on this restoration project. Good Luck. It will be totally worth it !!!

Being an American, I only learned about TVRs from Top Gear and Mike Brewer. But, I have gotten lucky enough to see a couple in person. They are such wonderful machines, and they sound like nothing else

Looking forward to see more content and your way restoring this beautiful piece of automotive history! Great videos so far! Cheers

I admire your optimism... "chassis not too bad". Think it might be a scrapper?

Went on a TVR factory tour years back. The factory (sheds basically) had chaps wacking fibre and blodge everwhere (not sure if they liked lots of visitors). The chimaera was in production . My brother in law (300M owner) got wrong for trying to take pictures under a car cover -- it was a Cerbera at pre release stage ... happy days and best wishes on you quest

"It doesn't look horrendous".....................YES IT IS !!!!!!!! Tube Chassis is toast.

Favourite series so far, great to see something original on RU-vid

Great video and look forward to following the project . On a side note its recommend to connect the positive terminal first and then the negative when reconnecting a battery to prevent arching.

Looking forward to seeing more on this one very interesting can’t wait for part 3 👌🏼

Mine was also a barn-find with mice living in exactly the same place, needed a new immobilizer too. Be sure to clean out the fuel tank, the fuel will have turned to sludge. You’ll need to replace all the rubber fuel hoses as well as the pump and get the injectors cleaned.

I think in the grand scheme of rust on cars that chassis looks very manageable. The benefit of it being tubular is that re-fabrication of certain sections if needed can be achieved with good accuracy, keeping the original properties of the chassis.

Great series of videos so far ,loving the TVR rebuild & your optimism, brilliant

I admire Your courage on this project!

It would be a good idea to get the plugs out and fill those cylinders with something to soak before you try turning it over. Hopefully you can get it running properly and take it up and down that private road. Will give you all the motivation you need to carry on. The speed 6 is like nothing else

Best rebuild project I have seen. I love TVR. My father bought the Chimaera 4.5 in '97 or '98 (that amazing deep blue) and I fell in love with it and have only seen a handful of TVRs here in SA. He still has the Chimaera and it has been one major accident rebuild and one rebuild due to a couple years neglect. It is such a beautiful car. Liked, sub'd and totally sending this project to my pops to watch. Great work! Loved the R32 project too!

I admire your optimism.

Hi from NZ! Just found your channel cos of your R32 videos - I've just bought one so really enjoyed them. Looking forward to the rest of this series. Cheers, Dave

HF-Solutions, Abacus Alarms or Carl Baker can sort out your alarm woes. Carl also does the other electrics too.

Love the Cerbera!! Best of luck to you!!! I'm binging all the videos!!

Good luck Dean, hopefully you'll get the ignition working soon 🤞🤞

Really looking forward to this series! Thanks for the content 👍🏼

I’ve done a few rebuilds…. An love your positivity 💪🏼😎 ……ye will be interesting to see the complete chassis an if it can be saved or renewed…. Got my fingers crossed🤞🏽

I had a TVR S2 mid 90s and my chassis was galvanised an were powder coated . Think most TVRs suffer with rotten chassis due to the powder coating . And yes they are made up with different parts from other manufacturers. Like mine had a Ford 2.9 V6 EFI engine and they used them in the granada and I think some sierra’s. Good luck with the build 👍

Look forward to seeing this one finished, love the colour combo, keep it as original as possible! One fact I remember is the rear light clusters were the same shape as the MK4 Fiesta!

You definitely have got your work cut our here matey. Should make an excellent series and if you can get some TVR fanatics involved it might help with parts etc.

Good luck Dean. Looking forward to seeing the progress

Wheeler dealers did an episode on said TVR!!...they did have to do body off resto on it...they managed to get a chassis which had had anti rust protection and then white final powder coat...May be worth a watch to find out where they soured parts etc..hope this is of help...fingers crossed for you and good luck!!👍😁🤓

'It doesn't look horrendous, just all the bits that hold the wheels on' She's a job and a half! Watching you push it onto the lift shows this is gonna be one man and his TVR, I wish you luck! And will enjoy watching along.

Can only wish ya good luck with this. There's a lot of rust here. Good thing is normally, as many TVR, the Cerbera is a massive glass fiber hull put on a chassis. With a few dozen of hours, you should be able to remove it completely from the body, and de-rust this last.

Quite a bit of work but worthwhile in the end. My mate had a chassis and a V8 from a tvr but not sure if he still has it, I remember it being really clean.

The chassis was a lot better than I expected. Can't wait for the next episode 👍

Brilliant stuff as always lad, hope you get on well with it!

Hi Dean, good job, hopefully the chassis can be saved! good luck with it, love your channel.

I've been working on one of these recently. No ignition. Usual behaviour is that the immobiliser is armed. You should have ignition by pressing the black button, but you need to insert the square key or press the fob button, you will hear the fuel pump prime, and then you have 15 seconds to press the black button again to fire up the engine. The M36T immobilser has two circuits not three. Power/Ground and the ability to cut two circuits. I've spent hours fault finding one of these so I know them pretty well if you need any help or advice! Sounds odd you have no stereo power and no ignition lights - have a look behind the dreaded silver key and check the two wires haven't come off the back of it.

Really looking forward to this series, good luck with it

Love those tvr really excited to see the restoration..my friend has the chimera which he is partially restoring

Brings back memories working on old restorations cars with my dad. Not done much with that model of TVR. Might just have to get the chassis off first and see how deep the rot has gone, looks in pretty good shape bit deep in places 👍 Really looking forward to this project mate 👍👍👍👍👍 Ordered large amounts of penetration fluids and more cutting discs 😂😂😂👍

great project and good luck with this one ,i think your biggest problem is still hidden ,the center channel of the chassis

This reminds of the time when Edd China worked on a TVR Cerbera. A new chassis frame was installed on that one. But sadly that car is no longer on the road. Anyway, great video. Kept them coming 👍

This channel is fast becoming one of my favourites

This is really interesting, i admire you're commitment and look forward to following this series ...... Good Luck

You need to watch the full wheeler dealer programme dean on this same car that they repaired. The main damage on the chassis was revealed when it was fully stripped down. I think they got the chassis on a exchange basis from rt racing and was fairly cheap and was powder coated. They had done a great job when they finished.

As another guy said... Wheeler dealers had it replaced/ repaired.. Looks like a nightmare.. Good luck... Enjoying it

There is a Wheeler Dealer episode which involved a chassis change on one of these. They found a Company in Sheffield that provided very cheap chassis. That car had the same rust areas as yours.

Wow, this will truly be a very interesting restoration project, very complicated by the looks of it..good luck !

Looking forward to this series, going to be the biggest build to date I believe? Keep up the great work 👍

Plus , take spark plugs out , spray fogging oil in , let it sit for an hour , then turn engine over by hand a couple of revolutions, before trying on starter, not to mention fresh fuel , not what is in there!!

My rs turbo came with the same alarm i recognise that tone anywhere the thin used to go off all the time

Will be subscribing for the body off reveal. The corners are the usual tell tale and they don't look as bad as some. If the corners are gone (and I mean gone) usually the tops of the tubes covered by the body will have rotted through as well. The WD episode mentioned had a car where main chassis rails (square ones) in the middle had rusted so they replaced chassis, 90% of cases though are just the outriggers and can be done with a repair kit and a welder.

Chassis don't look too bad, When you get the body off get the chassis stripped of components and get it dipped or media blasted then you will see exactly what needs replacing and will have a good solid, Corrosion free surface to weld to which will make the welding part a lot cleaner weld wise and easier!

Little bit of welding and fresh metal, whippy wheel the surface stuff off, prep the surfaces, prime and put 2-3 layers of black stone chip on..or get everything under there powder coated and the exhaust system in cerakote.

Great videos and love the TVRS,Ed China did one similar on Wheeler Dealers. The chassis isn’t that bad. Great content and patiences for project car.

That wire that is chewed is the wire to the LED / immobilisers port. Reconnect it and the imobiser should work again :)

This is going to be a cracking series check out the wheeler dealers for the chassis removal advice that keyless fob is going to be something or nothing but you are more than capable you've worked on far more advanced systems Good luck John

I dont know why but i thought there wouldnt be chassis issues, maybe i was thinking of another car... i dont think its a big issue, but it is time and money to patch it up. once thats done do you go a full chassis respray/powder coating/galvanising or do you just buy a new/have a new chassis built? i think only you can answer that as its your time and money. i think years ago it was seen as easier to get new and i think people went for galvanised to fix the rust issue. some might say powder coating is just as good. i think the biggest issue is the wiring and therefore ignition and engine etc... id be tempted to try bypass the immobiliser to try start engine, maybe be able to do a compression test (direct power to starter maybe?) just to know thats fine but i really dont know if that could be done.

I cant wait to see how this goes. I love TVR's but i live in Canada now and they do not have them here unfortunately. good luck with this i will await every episode.

Design-wise one of my favourite cars... Construction-wise (but I should rather say quality-wise as some construction ideas like the tubular frame were brilliant for that time) a pure nightmare...

If it was my resto? New chassis for me. Good luck mate. Gonna be a great series to watch! 👍

I think these used to come with Clifford concept 50 alarm/immobiliser. I'm far from certain but I remember because I had the same alarm fitted to my Renault 19 at the time

Seen this on Discovery ( Wheelers Dealers ) with Edd China , the repair is very expensive and there is a Company in the UK that makes new Frames .

The chassis looks about what I'd expect for a car that's not been cared for over the last few years. It's gone in all the normal places. The outriggers always suffer the most, all the spray and mud from the wheels gets thrown on them and trapped between the body and chassis rail. It will probably look worse on the top of the outrigger tubes when you lift the body. But it's pretty simple stuff they are just tubes welded together. You can get jig built outriggers to weld onto the backbone. Talk to Sportmotive, Central TVR and TVR101 they all have experience in this and can advise and help. Worst case a new chassis is readily available. Depends how much you want to do yourself.

Getting into what chassis damage there is can make or break the excitement but u seem to be ready for the worst. At best it only needs replaced brackets and corners at worst it needs a new chassis. Internal structural integrity testing of each tube is a must. Tubular design was a good idea, lack of corrosion protection was greatly overlooked. Cant wait to see if it cranks up. Going to take a lot of patience from u. Def waiting for updates.

Way down the line yet, but if repairing the chassis, I would get it thermal zinc sprayed when repairs are complete, then painted with regular 2 pack paint. Basic powdercoating tends to chip and flake in large chunks. Watch the Retropower videos talking about zinc spraying

Great video, the chassis can be sand / media blasted, weld repaired and then powder coated. Wheeler dealers did an episode on just such a job. Join the owners club for technical and dealer discounts????

I am happy to follow it to. I remember Ed China did one of these with Mike Brewer, just enter Ed China TVR and it should pop up. This gives everyone a good idea of what's involved. It's not a job for the faint hearted but it will be very satisfying when completed. It seems TVR did a fairly poor job of protecting the chassis at the factory so with a new chassis you at least get the chance to protect it properly. Be good to see it complete - good luck.

Like the positivity haha it's not that bad just the suspension mounting points and corners in otherworld that little bit on the middles OK, looking forward to this one good luck

Deep twist sockets work great at removing rusted bolts. Saves having to cut them.

People have probably said but the alarm should disarm on opening the doors. The red light in the manual immobiliser receptacle is not flashing because it is disarmed. It will start flashing after a while when it default rearms... if I remember right. Just open the doors, get in and press the black button once to turn ign to position one. Press and hold again to crank.

Hi. ThinkI you are going the correct way. Been doing a tasmin. Mouse issues so yes get interior out and clean. Sort the wires and get car running on alternate fuel source as tanks will be full of rubbish. Check chassis behind sills. Sure best way to repair chassis ,blast it and galvernise. Be good Selling g point. Best wishes.

You should turn the TVR built into hour long episodes Brilliant Content can’t wait to see more on this

Always thought these things looked brilliant, but even new if I went under one, I'd have walked away, good luck with your project car mate, I'll happily follow along as you do the work, Rj in Oz

I'm in for the long haul with this one Dean!

Was waiting for your reaction to a mouse jumping out at you, yes wheeler dealers got a galvanised chassis replacement, seemed to be very cost affective, rather than repair to the chassis

that flat wire u found chewed through is deffo the wire for the immobiliser i reckon there usually thta sort of cable disconnect the battery and reconnect/repair tht cable and it will be sorted would deffo explain lack of led and operation

IMHO you're going to want to get a new chassis, hopefully of better tubing than OG! I'm a welder & you can chase the rust around forever, bite the bullet once & be done with it, you're stripping the body off anyways!

Really cool car Man! Subbed from the States. Good luck with the project!

Looking forward to seeing this come along. One of my favourite cars.

Dean, best to replace the chassis for a galvanised chassis. Classic problem with these. Rust on the inside of tubing a nightmare and main fixingpoints. As everyone saying Ed China did it on WD. Pain to do but peace of mind if you keep it or sell it in the future. Get some racking for parts mate 😁👍

This is weird. It's like watching a video of exactly what I'm doing. I bought a (green) TVR 350i a few months ago, sight unseen - it had been sitting in a field since 2009. At first I checked out what worked and what didn't - dash lights, headlights were about it, then started stripping the interior, many rusted bolts and had to grind one of the seat bolts. My chassis is also rusty in parts, I'd say worse than yours, but same thing - it'll be body off to get to it properly. I'm trying to start my engine (no luck yet), but hopeful it'll run - the car was supposedly in great nick when parked up. Good luck with yours, and I'm keen to follow the videos.

Wheeler dealer did a chassis replacement it’s worth a watch might help you out edd did a good job I am mega excited about this project

Needs a restoration. Body off, strip the chassis and get it sand blasted locally then get it to a specialist for repair - it needs a few sections cutting out and replacing but I dont think you will need a new chassis. Its not actually going to be that expensive to get it to that point. The big cost will be getting all the suspension parts - you are going to need all 4 corners. Dampers will need re-building. Bushes etc. Then you will probably need to rebuild various bits like brakes, gearbox and diff will need some attention. Then its just a thorough clean of the body and interior and then the last big thing is paint. I think you are looking at 10-15k as you can do a lot of the work yourself. Join Pistonheads if you are not already a member its the OG TVR forum.

Wheeler Dealers restored one of these. From memory, the original chassis weren't very well protected against rust.

I’m not sure as I haven’t gone through all the comments if someone has already mentioned it… no I’m not going to mention Wheeler Dealers but one thing you mentioned that brought a smile to my face was… “the front drivers seat” 😁 Please feel free to tell me to cough in the distance. Love watching your vids though!!

Someone is going to be a very good welder by the time he has finished this project. I'd be investing in a portable sandblaster which will make your life so much easier as I can attest from experience when I did a resto of an old Landcruiser. Maybe there is a motor trimmer in your area who will like a bit of exposure via your channel who could do the interior repairs for you at a good rate.