Every day tips for living with a 599
Discussion
leglessAlex said:
cake eater said:
leglessAlex said:
Tilletts are so incredibly comfortable, wildly at odds with their uncompromising look.
I'd love some for the A110, but the Mrs also drives it so I need to find a way of putting them on a height adjustable base.
I really like the A110 and think the standard Sabelt bucket really nice. The tillett B9 carbon are only 3.5 kg and perfectly suited to the A110 lightweight philosophy.I'd love some for the A110, but the Mrs also drives it so I need to find a way of putting them on a height adjustable base.
Making them height adjustable without a spanner is something Tillett need to look at.
I think the standard rails do actually only have four mounting points, so it'll be interesting to see if the Tilletts can be grafted on. I'll file it under the long list of things I'd like to do lol.
I'm looking at 599s as a stablemate for the A110, but this thread scares me a little. Okay, £85-100k gets a car but I wonder if then it's prudent to put it through £30-50k of preemptive and remedial work, and that's a lot of dosh.
If it works out right you'll enjoy the car with just routine annual maintenance. But expect a new clutch and brakes pretty quickly if you enjoy the car (20k for both). And if the F1 system is a problem expect 5-10k.
Engine is very reliable even with the weak piston rings. MAF, alternator and steering pumps are issues when the car is run hard and hot.
I was discussing with Lee the last few days about owners of old(er) Ferrari cars. If the car had an owner that's fastidious with the maintenance you are onto a winner. But as the value drops so does the owners propensity to spend on maintenance and they're more likely to pass on problems than keep and repair. Finding a car with that right owner is a problem as they're less likely to be selling.
Another worry is even the best pre purchase inspection won't see what's coming over the horizon. It's owning and driving that lets you know.
30k is a good number for a contingency fund
More on the brakes today
GTO Cooling ducts fitted to the caliper
Cold air is taken from the edge of the under tray
Routing
Only problem is that the challenge wheels won't fit. So I'll have to sell them if anyone is interested.
Haven't test fitted the F12 rims so I'm a little nervous waiting for the results.
I would have thought that the duct would have run to the front bumper
This is the intake for the engine (upper half) lower half feeds air into the wheel well. If I change focus you can see the steering arm.
To properly cool the disc, the duct should run to the center of the disc
With the wheel turned out it looks like there's room but turn the wheel in and the duct would get pinched.
I also learnt that the larger front tyre causes problems, blocking air flow into the wheel well. Hopefully with this upgrade I'll get better heat management.
Lee also told me that another customer had recently installed new discs and pads on his 599 and on the test run he was astonished at how well the car stopped. Compared to mine, it was very grabby and wanted to put him through the window. Convinced me that there's always been something not 100% with mine.
GTO Cooling ducts fitted to the caliper
Cold air is taken from the edge of the under tray
Routing
Only problem is that the challenge wheels won't fit. So I'll have to sell them if anyone is interested.
Haven't test fitted the F12 rims so I'm a little nervous waiting for the results.
I would have thought that the duct would have run to the front bumper
This is the intake for the engine (upper half) lower half feeds air into the wheel well. If I change focus you can see the steering arm.
To properly cool the disc, the duct should run to the center of the disc
With the wheel turned out it looks like there's room but turn the wheel in and the duct would get pinched.
I also learnt that the larger front tyre causes problems, blocking air flow into the wheel well. Hopefully with this upgrade I'll get better heat management.
Lee also told me that another customer had recently installed new discs and pads on his 599 and on the test run he was astonished at how well the car stopped. Compared to mine, it was very grabby and wanted to put him through the window. Convinced me that there's always been something not 100% with mine.
cake eater said:
Purso said:
You need very deep pockets and some serios patience to put up with what cake eater has!
I'm a fool and easily parted so pockets are empty 
The wheel wells and suspension components need a good dry ice clean and coating in something like Dynax-UC
https://bilthamber.com/product/dynax-uc/
I can see the suspension arms getting furry, this one is particularly bad
The rear wheel arches have gone brittle with bits broken off (probably from stones) including some of mounting points. A quick check and it's 1k to replace just the rear the wheel arches.
Some things will just have to wait.
Edited by cake eater on Friday 20th February 20:01
Inspired by 928 GTS I decided to spend a little time googling "Ferrari torque tube repair" while eating lunch in a services.
This was a top post
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/456gta-t...
And this also on the first page of results
https://www.fhe.it.com/stories/03/ferrari-torque-t...
As 928 GTS said, anything with bearings will need repairing/ replacing at some point. And you're never the first person. The 456 owner went so far as to source and manufacture a set for himself. Seems a well known problem to 456 owners.
And obviously any company that does what I need isn't in the UK around the corner from MDL
Changed the search to "torque tube rebuild uk" and lots of results for Porches. In fact all the first page of results apart from one were for Porsches and that result was for Aston Martin
https://www.astonstore.co.uk/product-category/comp...
I guess parts need to get rarer before there's a market for it
This was a top post
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/456gta-t...
And this also on the first page of results
https://www.fhe.it.com/stories/03/ferrari-torque-t...
As 928 GTS said, anything with bearings will need repairing/ replacing at some point. And you're never the first person. The 456 owner went so far as to source and manufacture a set for himself. Seems a well known problem to 456 owners.
And obviously any company that does what I need isn't in the UK around the corner from MDL
Changed the search to "torque tube rebuild uk" and lots of results for Porches. In fact all the first page of results apart from one were for Porsches and that result was for Aston Martin
https://www.astonstore.co.uk/product-category/comp...
I guess parts need to get rarer before there's a market for it
As a 944 turbo owner I am familiar with TT bearing issues but can say that the bearings on the Ferrari, at least on my 550, are far beefier than the rubbish units originally used by Porsche - I considered replacing them as I had the TT out when replacing the clutch on my 550 at 60k miles and was nicely surprised that the bearings were wtill remarkably fresh, so I did not replace them.
Edited by Thom on Sunday 22 February 14:39
Thom said:
As a 944 turbo owner I am familiar with TT bearing issues but can say that the bearings on the Ferrari, at least on my 550, are far beefier than the rubbish units originally used by Porsche - I considered replacing them as I had the TT out when replacing the clutch on my 550 at 60k miles and was nicely surprised that the bearings were wtill remarkably fresh, so I did not replace them.
To be fair to Porsche - the 924/44/68 and 928 were some of the first cars to have torque tubes fitted. Ferrari benefitted from another 30yrs of experience when they developed the 456/550/575 etc. You are comparing an entry level VW/Porsche sports car with a Ferrari range topper... Having had experience with both, overall, I would say that quality wise, my 928 GTS 5spd is head and shoulders above any contemporary Ferrari... Edited by Thom on Sunday 22 February 14:39
Cheburator mk2 said:
Thom said:
As a 944 turbo owner I am familiar with TT bearing issues but can say that the bearings on the Ferrari, at least on my 550, are far beefier than the rubbish units originally used by Porsche - I considered replacing them as I had the TT out when replacing the clutch on my 550 at 60k miles and was nicely surprised that the bearings were wtill remarkably fresh, so I did not replace them.
To be fair to Porsche - the 924/44/68 and 928 were some of the first cars to have torque tubes fitted. Ferrari benefitted from another 30yrs of experience when they developed the 456/550/575 etc. You are comparing an entry level VW/Porsche sports car with a Ferrari range topper... Having had experience with both, overall, I would say that quality wise, my 928 GTS 5spd is head and shoulders above any contemporary Ferrari... Edited by Thom on Sunday 22 February 14:39
When I was at David Moore Engineering, the 812 crankcase was very poorly cast. Sometimes you wonder where the accounts choose to save money
More on the gearbox, or rather not.
Rebuild of the gearbox is delayed by the reverse gear synchro. Ferrari state that the part will be be available after week 36
Maserati are supposed to have in stock but don't want to sell the part as it's not going to be used in a Maserati. There's a concern over liability or something. It's very frustrating. Especially as during one dealer service, they openly admitted to using a Maserati part, told me it was exactly the same, though that was an oil filter.
Also checked availability of the rear wheel arches. Left side gravel guard is no longer available. Had a search on eBay and contacted a few specialist breakers but so far no availablity
I really don't want this car on the ramp for a year and I'm sure MDL don't either.
Rebuild of the gearbox is delayed by the reverse gear synchro. Ferrari state that the part will be be available after week 36
Maserati are supposed to have in stock but don't want to sell the part as it's not going to be used in a Maserati. There's a concern over liability or something. It's very frustrating. Especially as during one dealer service, they openly admitted to using a Maserati part, told me it was exactly the same, though that was an oil filter.
Also checked availability of the rear wheel arches. Left side gravel guard is no longer available. Had a search on eBay and contacted a few specialist breakers but so far no availablity
I really don't want this car on the ramp for a year and I'm sure MDL don't either.
leglessAlex said:
That's interesting about Maserati, can someone not just lie, give the vin of their Maser and get the part for you? Or are they also insisting on some sort of proof it's going into one?
That's such a pain, the solution being right there and not being able to get to it.
Cake - if you need a VIN number for a Maserati with a similar box, which uses the same reverse gear synchro - happy to oblige - just DM me. Dare I suggest your guys deal with Eurospares direct rather than a main dealer... That's such a pain, the solution being right there and not being able to get to it.
Cheburator mk2 said:
To be fair to Porsche - the 924/44/68 and 928 were some of the first cars to have torque tubes fitted. Ferrari benefitted from another 30yrs of experience when they developed the 456/550/575 etc. You are comparing an entry level VW/Porsche sports car with a Ferrari range topper... Having had experience with both, overall, I would say that quality wise, my 928 GTS 5spd is head and shoulders above any contemporary Ferrari...
Not sure what Ferrari you have but after sorting preventively some known issues I have found my 550 to be right up there in terms of overall quality with my 944 turbo over the 12k miles and 4 years I have had it, which is quite telling considering only about 3k were made against around 300k 924/944/968. I have not owned a 928 and almost bought one at several occasions but ended up always put off by laughable quality issues that do not exist on 944s which are far more durable, simply better designed and better made. It is possible that as they were assembled by Audi the quality from the get go was always going to be higher than at Porsche who were mostly still spouting out air-cooled 6 cyl beetles up until the early 1990s alongside 928s. That they used in the 928 the same rubbish TT bearings as in the 944s is quite telling. FYI torque tubes have been used on cars since the early 20th century. Sorry cake, I don't mean to derail your excellent thread. Good luck with your rebuild.
Edited by Thom on Monday 23 February 15:43
Thom said:
Sorry cake, I don't mean to derail your excellent thread. Good luck with your rebuild.
Not derailed in any way Edited by Thom on Monday 23 February 15:43
I do like the Porsche comparison. Porsche has the reputation of deep engineering quality, though my boss with a 991.2 GTS would beg to differ as he's on his second warranty replacement for turbos. And don't mention the coil packs which seize in and are an engine out job, to drill out the retaining screw.
In general I don't hear people complain about Porsche, apart from my boss, seems much more common to hear people complain about Ferrari quality.
I think the old adage of you bought a Ferrari for the engine and got the rest free is old and out of date.
Both (or is that all?) companies suffer from quality issues, because accountants make engineering and operating decisions as they have a business to run and are driven by a profit motive.
3k vs 300k would also explain why there's a larger market for rebuilding in Porsche world and not Ferrari.
Cheburator mk2 said:
leglessAlex said:
That's interesting about Maserati, can someone not just lie, give the vin of their Maser and get the part for you? Or are they also insisting on some sort of proof it's going into one?
That's such a pain, the solution being right there and not being able to get to it.
Cake - if you need a VIN number for a Maserati with a similar box, which uses the same reverse gear synchro - happy to oblige - just DM me. Dare I suggest your guys deal with Eurospares direct rather than a main dealer... That's such a pain, the solution being right there and not being able to get to it.
I called Eurospares a while back for some Novitec parts and was suitably horrified by the price so decided against it.
I found a place in Spain that were almost half what Eurospares quoted, so even with duty a more reasonable price
https://www.royalbodykits.com/pages/ferrari-f599-2...
So, since then ....
cake eater said:
cake eater said:
More on the brakes today
Only problem is that the challenge wheels won't fit. So I'll have to sell them if anyone is interested.
Haven't test fitted the F12 rims so I'm a little nervous waiting for the results.
Good news, F12 rims fit Only problem is that the challenge wheels won't fit. So I'll have to sell them if anyone is interested.
Haven't test fitted the F12 rims so I'm a little nervous waiting for the results.
It's a close fit but they
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