Ferrari F430 Spider
Discussion
Zombie said:
You've been sectioning heads? 
Fair play.
How much of the 458 engine is interchangeable? Or does it's injection system kill that thought? You mention crank - there can't be many (flat plane) replacement options.
The block was modified but the liners and crank will go in with a bit of machining. The heads are a new casting to suit DI but I'm going for Speciale valves. Cams are different but I can have the Speciale profile as a regrind on some different 430 cams. Fair play.How much of the 458 engine is interchangeable? Or does it's injection system kill that thought? You mention crank - there can't be many (flat plane) replacement options.
I actually had a custom billet crank made for my Fiesta project so there are options out there even if not off the shelf.
Adz The Rat said:
Brilliant thread, Ive read it from start to finish today, seriously impressive skills.
Thank you.
The car is mobile! Preceding work below.
Headlights
Still no word from Stoian / Parts3000 and no response to my contact attempts. Starting to get concerned. I had to press on regardless.
Using the F430 indicator lenses I marked up the Mini One front fog/indicator lights with a Sharpie, making sure that the diffuser rings were located centrally.
I used a Dremel to cut out the lenses and then the real work started; to make these look OE quality I needed to polish out the cutting marks and leave the edges crystal clear. To achieve that I used a polishing kit with red and green compounds.
I'm really pleased with the end result.
Test fit. They aren't on the car because I am waiting for a pair of orange bulbs to arrive, and for now I obviously had to put the headlamps together without the carbon inserts. Eagled eyed followers of the thread may notice that I sprayed the Xenon ballasts satin black - this was to make the headlamps look more presentable without the inserts fitted.
Dad refurbished the headlamp brackets for me and of course they all went back on with stainless fastenings.
Front bumper
This was a real challenge. In fact, it was the biggest challenge of the project. There were to issues here: the first, which I knew about, was the Scuderia and Challenge models use a slightly different front 'cage' that is welded to the front sides of the car to house the radiator packs and to secure the edge of the bumper and wheel arch liners. The second which I did not anticipate was the degree of variation in body tolerances and pretty much every non-precision part attached to it.
Dad gave me a hand and we spent no less than two afternoons in the workshop striving to get the fitment acceptable. During the phase of collecting parts I was told by a couple of people that I would need to cut the front bumper around the radiators, but I did not want to do this. It's not really how I work. The Scuderia bumper must fit as per OE, but to make it more difficult the Scuderia bumper is a much more snug fit around the radiator ducts than the F430 version is.
I ended up measuring pretty much all of the front end of the car and made tweaks to radiator positioning by slackening off their mounts and retightening in an aligned position, to make sure the bumper was going up to a perfectly aligned set of ducts.
The second change was to the radiator cage. The F430 cages are squashed in one area (green arrow) to provide clearance for the bumper, but I had to extend that to suit the Scuderia version to the points between the light blue arrows. I used a blow torch and hydraulics to achieve it - aluminium is very workable at the right temperature.
I also measured the bumper and found the radiator duct join was circa 4mm out on the RH side, and that was responsible for the bumper not fully sliding fully on to the car. I ground it flat with a grinder.
I think I could spend another afternoon on it but that's one for the winter.
Stuff
Scuderia engine bay panel heat shields on. These protect the carbon trim which I don't yet have - something else on the long parts list I have remaining!
I think I mentioned before but wheel alignment studs are an absolute God send.
A pillar trims
The later cars have a metal insert on the exterior A pillar trim rather than just a rubber strip. On my car these inserts were silver - the edges were powder coated black which makes me think the car was ordered that way. Regardless, it just did not look right.
Dad masked them off and I keyed them using some 2000 paper, then etched, satin black, and lacquer.
I use HB lacquer. It's fantastic stuff. The best I've found.
Gloss black. Much better.
Wheel alignment
The car needed an alignment after all the work I've done, so I went for a four wheel toe alignment. I found that some of the companies I called up asked what car it was. Now, to me that's a red flag, and one of the quotes I was given after mentioning the car was £150. When questioning why it was over three times the price of my FWD Golf when it's simply another two track rod ends I was given a load of crap excuses including "the prestige of the car". That kind of stuff really annoys me (much like people charging a fortune to powder coat wheels), so I found another place who did it for £75. It was by no means the cheapest but they could do it there and then, and the service was excellent to boot.
I will have a full geo when I get the time.
F1 issues
Since summer finally arrived the temperature in my workshop crept up and the car started to deposit F1 fluid on the floor. It didn't worry me too much because I knew a new clutch was fitted shortly before I bought it, so I assumed schoolboy error with filling the F1 fluid. The thermal expansion coefficient of ATF is quite high so it can end up out of the rain tube if the reservoir is overfilled, and the F1 tank finds its level in time.
I soon realised when driving the car that there was a problem. It drops into neutral and I get an amber slow down warning occasionally, and a blinking red F1 light. These are all symptoms of low pressure in the system. I had a few embarrassing moments when setting off from traffic lights - it dropped into neutral and I sat there revving it. Ha. I learnt to drive around it because I needed to get the alignment done, but upon checking the F1 fluid I found it was below the min mark. That puzzled me because I didn't understand why so much fluid would leave the tank to leave it too low - under normal circumstances it shouldn't.
To cut a long story short I'm driving the car to Christian Lewis early tomorrow morning for the F1 system to be bled. Ed Blasi thinks the actuator bleed screws are loose and letting air into the system thus pushing out more fluid than would otherwise be deposited by an overfilled tank in warm ambient temps. I have to give a mention to Ed because after a call this morning he's taking time out of his schedule at short notice to get my car ready for Silverstone. Absolute gent.
Weight saving
| Original Part | Fitted Quantity | Original Part (kg) | Replacement Part (kg) | Sprung Saving (kg) | Unsprung Saving (kg) | Replacement Part |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brake servo & master cylinder - non-CCM | 1 | 3.964 | 2.435 | 1.529 | - | CCM |
| Brake disc, front - non-CCM | 2 | 8.3 | 6.77 | - | 3.06 | CCM - 380mm (alloy bell) |
| Brake disc, rear - non-CCM | 2 | 8.3 | 4.61 | - | 7.38 | CCM (alloy bell) |
| Brake caliper & pads, front - non-CCM | 2 | 4.9 | 5.94 | - | -2.08 | CCM - 380mm |
| Brake caliper & pads, rear - non-CCM | 2 | 4.9 | 4.72 | - | 0.36 | CCM |
| Door handles, exterior | 2 | 0.065 | - | 0.02 | 0.09 | Carbon |
| PAS reservoir cap | 1 | 0 | 0.065 | -0.065 | - | Alloy cover |
| Fuel Flap | 1 | 0.143 | 0.128 | 0.015 | - | Carbon |
| Seats - standard, electric, heated | 2 | 28.2 | 17.9 | 20.6 | - | 16M/Scuderia carbon |
| Seats - mounting bolts and washers - M10 | 8 | 0.028 | 0.017 | 0.088 | - | 16M/Scuderia - M8 |
| Strut & spring, front | 2 | 4.74 | 3.8 | - | 1.88 | 16M/Scuderia Mk2 |
| Strut & spring, rear | 2 | 5.37 | 4.59 | - | 1.56 | 16M/Scuderia Mk2 |
| Anti roll bar, front (19mm) | 1 | 3.04 | 2.73 | 0.21 | 0.1 | 16M/Scuderia |
| Side skirts - standard | 2 | 4.62 | 2.9 | 3.44 | - | 16/Scuderia carbon |
| Kick plates - standard | 2 | 0.841 | 0.163 | 1.356 | - | 16M/Scuderia (carbon) |
| Wheels, front - standard | 2 | 12.9 | 10.5 | - | 4.8 | 16M - optional 5 spoke |
| Tyres, 225/35/19 Pirelli P Zero Rosso (new) | 2 | 10.7 | 10.23 | - | 0.94 | 235/35/19 MPSS (new) |
| Wheels, rear - standard | 2 | 13.7 | 12.3 | - | 2.8 | 16M - optional 5 spoke |
| Tyres, 285/35/19 Pirelli P Zero Rosso (new) | 2 | 13.61 | 13.92 | - | -0.62 | 285/35/19 MPSS (new) |
| Wheel bolts - standard | 20 | 0.128 | 0.065 | - | 1.26 | Titanium |
| Engine lid grilles - standard | 2 | 0.677 | 0.219 | 0.916 | - | 16M (mesh) |
| Engine lid grille brackets | 2 | 0.354 | 0.216 | 0.276 | - | Modified to 16M spec |
| Engine lid grille screws - M6x20 | 14 | 0.007 | 0.002 | 0.07 | - | M5x8 |
| 16M badges, side | 2 | 0 | 0.073 | -0.146 | - | - |
| Anti roll bar, rear - 20mm | 1 | 3.008 | 1.839 | 0.858 | 0.311 | 16M specific (22mm hollow) |
| Air inlet ducts/resonators - Mk2 | 2 | 1.131 | 1.225 | -0.188 | - | Mk1 (single piece) |
| Plenum chamber | 1 | 5.063 | 3.19 | 1.873 | - | Challenge/16M/Scuderia (carbon) |
| Plenum chamber bolts | 1 | 0.176 | 0.1 | 0.076 | - | Titanium |
| Cross member exhaust modifications | 1 | 0 | 0.65 | -0.65 | - | Modified to 16M/Scuderia spec |
| Challenge grille air deflectors | 1 | 0.329 | 0 | 0.329 | - | Removed - Not 16M/Scuderia spec |
| Coil/plug water guards | 2 | 0 | 0.276 | -0.552 | - | Fitted to some 08> Spiders |
| Luggage compartment trim, base - Scuderia | 1 | 1.235 | 0.821 | 0.414 | - | MY08 carpet |
| Luggage compartment trim, bulkhead - Scuderia | 1 | 2.251 | 1.83 | 0.419 | - | Retrimmed F430 Challenge |
| Luggage compartment trim, LH - Scuderia | 1 | 0.855 | 0.572 | 0.283 | - | MY08 carpet |
| Luggage compartment trim, RH - Scuderia | 1 | 1.041 | 0.702 | 0.339 | - | MY08 carpet |
| Luggage compartment trim, front - Scuderia | 1 | 0.156 | 0.127 | 0.029 | - | MY08 carpet |
| CD changer | 1 | 1.5 | 0 | 1.5 | - | Removed |
| Exhaust heat shields, wheelhouse | 2 | 0.401 | 0.151 | 0.499 | - | Bespoke carbon version |
| Exhaust heat shields, wheelhouse - fastening set | 2 | 0.036 | 0.027 | 0.018 | - | 4mm shorter screws |
| Tool case (leather) | 1 | 0.818 | 0.375 | 0.443 | - | 16M (canvas) |
| Battery - FIAMM VRLA760 | 1 | 20.65 | 18.75 | 1.9 | - | Optima 'Red Top' 34R |
| Exhaust valve hoses | 2 | 0.078 | 0.003 | 0.15 | - | Solenoids unused - blanking caps fitted |
| Bumper, F430 rear fastening and spacer set | 1 | 0.76 | 0 | 0.76 | - | Removed - Not 16M/Scuderia spec |
| Bumper, rear - challenge grille, PDC | 1 | 13 | 9 | 4 | - | 16M/Scuderia - PDC added |
| 16M badge, rear | 1 | 0 | 0.122 | -0.122 | - | Added |
| Exhaust tailpipes and fastenings | 2 | 6.5 | 0.423 | 12.314 | - | 16M/Scuderia - optional titanium |
| Exhaust silencer | 1 | 13.4 | 9.65 | 3.75 | - | F430 Challenge - modified |
| Header tank | 1 | 0.721 | 0.872 | -0.151 | - | 16M/Scuderia (carbon) trim added |
| Exhaust mountings and fastening set | 1 | 4.028 | 2.692 | 1.336 | - | Bespoke |
| Tyre repair kit (gel), manual, and packing foam | 1 | 0.877 | 0.189 | 0.688 | - | Replaced with Tyre String kit |
| MAF sensors and bellows (85mm ID) | 2 | 0.473 | 0.495 | -0.044 | - | 16M/Scuderia (90mm ID) |
| Airbox lids | 2 | 0.706 | 0.365 | 0.682 | - | 16M/Scuderia (carbon) |
| PAS cooler (tube) | 1 | 0.425 | 0.651 | -0.226 | - | 16M/Scuderia (bar and plate) |
| Bumper air ducts for radiators, front | 2 | 1.297 | 0.827 | 0.94 | - | 16M/Scuderia |
| Exhaust bracket heat shields and fastenings | 2 | 0 | 0.023 | -0.046 | - | Added |
| Rear numberplate plinth | 1 | 0.288 | 0 | 0.288 | - | Not used |
| Diffuser, rear - standard (fibreglass) | 1 | 8.9 | 3.85 | 5.05 | - | 16M (carbon) |
| Bumper, front - with PDC | 1 | 14.45 | 13.5 | 0.95 | - | Scuderia - PDC added |
| Diffuser, front - standard (fibreglass) | 1 | 0.94 | 0.85 | 0.09 | - | 16M (carbon) |
| Bumper, front skid plates | 2 | 0 | 0.385 | -0.77 | - | Added |
| Undertray, front | 1 | 4.74 | 3.065 | 1.675 | - | 16M/Scuderia |
Sprung weight saved: 67.72 kg
Unsprung weight saved: 23.29 kg
Total weight saved: 91.02 kg
I followed all of your threads on here and I'd still like to see the Fiesta finished 
I have to be honest I lost faith in this thread as I felt the car should be enjoyed rather than spending most of the year in your garage whilst you obsessively made various weight savings.
Now I have seen the car back on the road I have to admit it looks great and I'm very impressed as always Mark great work
I have to be honest I lost faith in this thread as I felt the car should be enjoyed rather than spending most of the year in your garage whilst you obsessively made various weight savings.
Now I have seen the car back on the road I have to admit it looks great and I'm very impressed as always Mark great work
p1stonhead said:
is this now for all intents and purposes, a Scuderia as Ferrari would have made it?
Havent kept up with every single thing, but i think there are some improvised thing in there (some mounting things and perhaps some light-weight stuff) which is different from the factory item.Reading wikipedia the Scud engine also has a higher compression ratio, not sure if OP went that far..
Still, an impressive build all the way, i can only imagine it feels sharper and faster then the standard spider.
Warmfuzzies said:
Use chrome/silver vision indicator lamps, stops that fried egg look of an orange lamp in a clear housing.
I did look but struggled to find them in bay9s / BLB28 fitment.leglessAlex said:
That is one damn fine looking car, Mark. The front bumper in particular gives it that aggressiveness I think the rest of the design deserves.
Vocht said:
Did I mention how much I love this thread? 
Thanks!ecopia said:
would that be ed blasi the ferrari guru that was on the tv show the garage that use to be on discovery channel set in spain with that scots man jock?
That's him. He came across as a bit of a joker on The Garage but he's a really clever chap. He has been involved with R&D/dev at McLaren and Aston Martin.neilbauer said:
I followed all of your threads on here and I'd still like to see the Fiesta finished
I have to be honest I lost faith in this thread as I felt the car should be enjoyed rather than spending most of the year in your garage whilst you obsessively made various weight savings.
Now I have seen the car back on the road I have to admit it looks great and I'm very impressed as always Mark great work
Thanks. France & Switerland next month, and southern Spain in Oct. It will be used!I have to be honest I lost faith in this thread as I felt the car should be enjoyed rather than spending most of the year in your garage whilst you obsessively made various weight savings.
Now I have seen the car back on the road I have to admit it looks great and I'm very impressed as always Mark great work
Beefmeister said:
Looking at your pic next to the 'genuine' 16M, do you need to space the rear wheels out slightly? Could just be the angle of the pic but it looks a little thin-tracked at the rear to me.
Epic job though, really is.
I came across that pic during my research and I beleive it to be a Ferrari pre-production photoshop. The rear wheels are wrong and appear a completely different offset to the production car. Epic job though, really is.
I don't like spacing wheels because there is an aerodynamic advanrtage to inset wheels. I know a lot of people like the spaced look but in reality it's just a compromise borne out of production series racing when the advantages of wider tyres on track outweigh the aero gains at high speed.
p1stonhead said:
I havent followed every minute details of this thread (due to the sheer quantity of things done!) but is this now for all intents and purposes, a Scuderia as Ferrari would have made it?
If so, did it work out cheaper than doing a swap from a dealer or the like?
I'm getting there but there's still a fairly big list of things left to do. The end result will be better performing and lighter than a 16M.If so, did it work out cheaper than doing a swap from a dealer or the like?
A red RHD 16M is somewhere around 350k so based on that I've come in 215k cheaper. I'm 80% there but in the end I envisage something like a 190k saving.
duffy78 said:
looks stunning.
Black wing mirrors perhaps?
Thanks. OE carbon, in time Black wing mirrors perhaps?
Pommygranite said:
Do you feel the 100kg difference when driving?
Definitely. I'll write up a review once I've more seat time under my belt.smudgerebt said:
With the carbon, couldnit be they are on holiday?
Also is it resisn infusion or pre-preg?
It might be that the moulds are taking longer than thought, if thats the case they shouldnt be ignoring emails etc
What is the status of the ebay shop? Shut or open?
Infusion. Shop is open but carbon items have disappeared. Something is going on.Also is it resisn infusion or pre-preg?
It might be that the moulds are taking longer than thought, if thats the case they shouldnt be ignoring emails etc
What is the status of the ebay shop? Shut or open?
Chris x said:
Epic! f
king love it!
Enjoy!
Cheers.king love it!Enjoy!
Vitorio said:
Havent kept up with every single thing, but i think there are some improvised thing in there (some mounting things and perhaps some light-weight stuff) which is different from the factory item.
Reading wikipedia the Scud engine also has a higher compression ratio, not sure if OP went that far..
Still, an impressive build all the way, i can only imagine it feels sharper and faster then the standard spider.
The engine project will come under phase 2. There's a high level spec a page or two back.Reading wikipedia the Scud engine also has a higher compression ratio, not sure if OP went that far..
Still, an impressive build all the way, i can only imagine it feels sharper and faster then the standard spider.
p1stonhead said:
I havent followed every minute details of this thread (due to the sheer quantity of things done!) but is this now for all intents and purposes, a Scuderia as Ferrari would have made it?
If so, did it work out cheaper than doing a swap from a dealer or the like?
As far as I know Mark has improved on some things and done others the Ferrari way. Once the engine work is done (next winter I think) it'll be more powerful than the 16M cars were from the factory. If so, did it work out cheaper than doing a swap from a dealer or the like?
I think the price of this car has to be much cheaper than a 16M, they're around £350k for a RHD one these days I think. However, I'm sure the total cost of ownership will be less on the official car as that will hold it's value more than I imagine Mark expects this to.
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