How to remove a TVR Cerbera pedal box

Removing the pedal box on a TVR Cerbera — useful if the masters are seized, the pedals don’t move, you’re replacing the brake servo, or you’re stripping the bulkhead area for paint. This is a how I actually did it writeup, not a sanitised one — there are several things the Haynes manual doesn’t tell you.

How it’s mounted

The pedal box is a single fabricated assembly bolted to the bulkhead from the cabin side. It carries:

• The brake pedal and brake master cylinder, plumbed to a servo on the engine-bay side
• The clutch pedal and clutch master cylinder (manual cars)
• The throttle pedal pivot (cable throttle)

The brake master pokes through the inner wing into the engine bay with a bit of sealant around it. The clutch master is separate. There are four bolts at the top of the box (closest to the steering wheel) and two bolts at the bottom through the floor.

The things that will catch you out

1. The top bolts aren’t all captive. The two closest to the steering wheel have nyloc nuts on the back in the footwell, not weld nuts — so they spin when you try to undo them. Easiest fix: grind the heads off with an angle grinder. Replace them on re-fit.
2. The brake and clutch lines are usually rusted at the unions on the engine-bay side. Trying to undo them risks rounding the unions or twisting the pipes. Faster path: cut them at the block and re-make the lines as part of the same job — they’re getting replaced anyway.
3. You can’t get the box out past the steering column. The lower UJ has to come off the rack before the box will clear. There’s a coupling bolt and it’ll need a knock.
4. The steering column bearing housing. Bonded aluminium boss into the fibreglass footwell, with five small screws holding a retaining plate. Four undo, one shears (rusted). A bit of penetrating oil + mole grips for the broken stub later.

Steps

1. Engine bay first. Crack the master cylinder unions if they’ll move; otherwise plan to cut them at the rusted block end.
2. Disconnect electrical — brake light switch at the pedal, anything else hanging off (oil pressure sender bulkhead fitting is nearby but unrelated to the box).
3. Top four bolts. Two are captive, two have nylocs on the back and will spin — grind them off if so.
4. Bottom two bolts through the floor. They were Tiger-sealed on this car — clean enough one side, rusty the other.
5. Steering column UJ off. Has to happen before the box will clear.
6. Bearing housing retaining plate at the footwell aluminium boss — 5 screws, expect at least one to shear.
7. Cut the brake and clutch lines at the block. Easier than fighting the unions, and you’re remaking them.
8. Wrestle the box out through the footwell. Throttle cable and the big 3” heater hose may need to be moved or undone first — they get caught.

Parts research

Bit of digging on what’s actually fitted:

• Brake servo — shared with Griffith / Chimaera. Early cars used an early-Sierra / Fiesta servo. Late cars switched to the Fiesta Mk III master with an integral reservoir (which meant turning the servo 90°).
• Ford discontinued the servo years ago — you may end up with a decent used one.
• Clutch slave — Girling.
• Master cylinders — Ford Mk III Fiesta (later cars).

These give you a fighting chance of cross-referencing if yours is shot.

Video walkthrough

Full step-by-step on the channel: How To Remove TVR Cerbera Pedal Box

Part of the Cheapest TVR Cerbera restoration. See also: How to remove TVR Cerbera doors.