97 Ferrari 456 GTA bought in auction

[fastgerman]

Hi All,

Decided to have a go at the leather on the passenger airbag cover.

It’s not an expert job but it looks a lot better with a couple of hours effort:

Unplug battery.

2 x Allen Keys for removing the glove box and spring mounted hinge / retainer.

Unplug yellow airbag cable, glove box light and any other cables in your way.

4 bolts to be removed holding the passenger air bag in place.

Airbag cover and airbag to be lifted out.

Use hairdryer to heat up old glue and remove along with clean the surfaces before re-glue. I used some nail polish remover as couldn’t find any thinners and Evo Stick for the glue.



Paul McKenna (2nd owner), assume the car has some psychic powers...

[fastgerman]

Ferrisbuller - Thanks and it did look like this:



I’m going to have a go at the leather on the parcel shelf and see if I can stretch the leather near the air vents also.

[fastgerman]

bolidemichael said:

Were these also available with a manual box?

Yes but they weren’t popular at the time, however now they are getting to 550 prices

[fastgerman]

Onto gearboxes and exhausts:

Money no object, we chatted wheels a few pages back and 19’s look favourable along with some suspension work; perhaps KW.

Exhaust, there is only one worth considering - see page 11, Fiammenghi!

Gearboxes... the majority of 456’s are auto and it’s the same with the Porsche 928. They are GT cars.

Now for similar money to a Fiammenghi exhaust, I think you could go this route:

Corvette Z06 C5/C6 GM auto 6 speed

https://928motorsports.com/parts/transaxle_upgrade...





I guess at some point somebody will have a go. Pros are 6 speed auto with modern shifting speeds. Cons will be taking a Ferrari away from originality.

I’ve read some posts on the 456 auto being linked to a GM box (4T80), but, look at the difference:

Edited by fastgerman on Tuesday 2nd February 20:29

[fastgerman]

I guess we’ll have to see if she is a keeper, I’ll have the car for at least a year then we’ll see.

So in dreaming mode:



Black cars and gold bbs :-)



- Fiammenghi exhaust - £10k
- BBS gold wheels - £3k
- KW suspension (need to work out how to get rid of the hydraulics and integrated parts) - £4k ish
- Corvette C6 gearbox and ancillaries + electrics - £7k ish
- Engine from 436 hp to 500 hp ?? Imagine the exhaust makes a difference and maybe a more modern carbon air intake + map...
- I wouldn’t touch the look of the car such as adding a spoiler etc but think the car needs lowering when 19’s are added...



Back to the real world, now that I’ve sorted the passenger airbag out, I need to heat up and pull the leather on the dash into the glove box and vent holes:

Edited by fastgerman on Wednesday 3rd February 17:55

[fastgerman]

The M GT looks to be ‘spoken for’. Yes a manual conversion is certainly one way to go but not for me on this car, I would prefer a modern auto. Sacrilegious comment for PH I know, but I can’t be doing with notchy shifts and skipping 2nd gear until it’s warm and the rest of it, it’s not that type of car imo. On a F355 then it’s a no brainier to have a manual but this is a family 4 seater.

Re-costs - I think these cars should be 2-3k a year in maintenance, which is comparable to a similar year Porsche or BMW M Car. My initial high cost was due to the car being in storage and me wanting everything sorted at once.

[fastgerman]

QBee - I bet a TVR is a riot on a track day, very cool. I’m getting to a stage where I can’t be bothered with a manual on the road these days.

TerminatorX - I’m sure it makes coffee taste better ;-)

DKL - Have a look at Paul Goodlad’s experience at circa £2k a year - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

My cambelt service was under £2k and to be fair that’s all I had to do but I carried on with ‘bits’. There is a huge difference in sourcing parts and using a specialist to booking your servicing with Ferrari.

[fastgerman]

Well I’ve wasted a lot of time on this, any help appreciated. This is a 60mm rubber air duct/pipe which doesn’t seem long enough. I think it needs to be 26cm and mine is 20cm:



Found a couple of pictures showing different sizes with the dashboards stripped:







It can’t be a cooling system silicone hose as that is too thick and a hvac metal / plastic one will rattle.

Closest thing I can find - https://classicalfa.com/750-085-2-air-intake-hose-...

[fastgerman]

psi310398 said:

fastgerman said:

Well I’ve wasted a lot of time on this, any help appreciated. This is a 60mm rubber air duct/pipe which doesn’t seem long enough. I think it needs to be 26cm and mine is 20cm:


Found a couple of pictures showing different sizes with the dashboards stripped:
It can’t be a cooling system silicone hose as that is too thick and a hvac metal / plastic one will rattle.

Closest thing I can find - https://classicalfa.com/750-085-2-air-intake-hose-...

I wonder if the Maserati specialist David Askew is currently open. I’ve found Maserati parts to substitute for Alfa unobtainium from him and at very reasonable prices. He might be able to provide something from a common parts bin.

Thank you, it’s not easy this parts hunting business during lockdown. Still waiting on some bits from Eurospares

[fastgerman]

Thornaby said:

If you’re just trying to connect the two ends of that duct, can you not get a piece of 60mm diameter rubber radiator hose, slide it over the ends and fix with a couple of jubilee clips?

Yes please if you have a link that isn’t the thickness of a Samco hose and can bend :-)

[fastgerman]

Thanks guys

The issue with the first one is that the pipe bends up and touches the underside of the dashboard, which looks to be bare fibreglass so could rattle. The second one which is silicone could be good, for the price I’ll give it a go, thanks!

[fastgerman]

Huskyman said:

Do what I do with things that rattle. Stick some felt pads where it touches and no more annoying noises

Yes I have the entire car to do :-)

[fastgerman]

More interesting pictures - black 456 on 550 wheels:



Looks perfect I think

[fastgerman]

All the above has arrived and I’ll leave the wheels alone :-)

[fastgerman]

A great fit the silicone pipe above, cheers guys.

The original rubber pipes seem to have shrunk on mine so will purchase another for the drivers side.

Decided to take the leather cover from the clocks off also as staples were in view:





Took me quite a while to work out how to get the clocks out, there are 3 connectors from the wiring loom that need to be disconnect where the drivers left knee would be:



I reckon I could probably get the entire dash out in about 2 - 3 hours now having found where all the strange screws go, although this diagram helps:



More rusty staple goodness:

[fastgerman]

Help please...

Broke a clip - Eurospares and Maranello Classic don’t have the part. No joy on the line either.

There are 2 of these under the instrument cluster leather cover which fasten to the top of the dashboard:



It is 5mm wide and around 15mm long

Edited by fastgerman on Tuesday 16th February 17:19

[fastgerman]

Thanks guys for checking, I can’t see the part on any diagrams but the 2 x clips go here (1 either side):



They secure onto these 2 x metal prongs (close to the windscreen):

Edited by fastgerman on Wednesday 17th February 08:05

[fastgerman]

Yes very close and if no joy finding the part I’ll try and bend something like the above or this:



Main issue is it can only be 5mm wide to fit through the hole. Most on eBay are around 8-10mm

[fastgerman]

Thanks guys will check that site and good spot Captain_Morgan. Found another instrument pod / surround which has the same looking fastener but no joy finding one so far:

[fastgerman]

Thanks guys, looks like the part is (should be) rubber so will try the gromet idea. Cheers All