Every day tips for living with a 599

[cake eater]

More on the Gearbox. Mark of MDL specialist cars has stripped the gearbox and cleaned the parts.

Synchros are badly worn.






As mentioned in a previous post this could be due to the poor performance of the F1 system.

This is the 6th gear and main shaft (crown and pinion?)




Wear on the main shaft is probably due to poor material / manufacturing defect. I was surprised by the rust. Mark said he sees this on all the gearboxes where the nuts that hold the gears on have started to wind off. (My description is probably inaccurate so please excuse me). Perhaps something to do with the extra friction and heat?

[cake eater]

Lee at MDL Supercars is working on interior stuff while we wait on parts. The rear parcel shelf trim has been removed to expose the mounting points for the Ferrari 4 point harnesses



The metal to mount the harness looks a little thin so Lee is considering how best to reinforce it.

I'm also thinking about seats and very tempted by tilletts B8 as it's a little more straight backed. Recaro pole position would be a perfect match for 'period' shape but even the CF version is a good bit heavier than the tilletts. Obviously I'll retrim so it doesn't look too out of place.

Anyone else put fixed back buckets in their 599?

[Oldwolf]

This is such a great thread, thanks for keeping it going Cake!

[cake eater]

Oldwolf said:

This is such a great thread, thanks for keeping it going Cake!

It's my pleasure. Little bit painful at the moment but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

[IMI A]

Your next set of mods

[cake eater]

IMI A said:

Your next set of mods

Looks good doesn't it! But price is excruciating!

[Hughesie]

cake eater said:

Looks good doesn't it! But price is excruciating!

Yeah, i did like the idea of the Ohlins set up though and how that could be customised !

[cake eater]

Hughesie said:

cake eater said:

Looks good doesn't it! But price is excruciating!

Yeah, i did like the idea of the Ohlins set up though and how that could be customised !

I looked for this digital ohlins but couldn't find reference to it online so must be very exclusive and expensive.

Interestingly the power they quote does seem conservative and I would have thought they'd have done a 6.3 conversion

[Hughesie]

Does your 599 have a roll cage Cake ?

[cake eater]

Hughesie said:

Does your 599 have a roll cage Cake ?

No roll cage but I'm thinking about it. The Ferrari price I just can't afford given the current service costs. A lot of 'cosmetic' changes I have put on hold.

[cake eater]

Simon from https://www.ssautotech.co.uk/ has sent an update.

we now have our in-house manufactured high pressure hose tails back from plating – these will now be used to manufacture the new hoses with the correct bends as per OEM.

More photos attached for your interest; your power unit / valve body has been stripped, ultrasonic cleaned and rebuilt. Your actuator also has been stripped, ultrasonic cleaned.

Hose tails / unions


New hoses with tails installed


Complete strip down


Polished and super finished pistons


Ready for the rebuild


Being built


As per Simon's recommendation: as the pump was replaced by Ferrari Cologne in 2024 and there's no gear selection issues, particularly reverse, the F1 pump (Ferrari 248087) and gear position sensors (Ferrari 247238) will not be replaced.

Slowly, we'll start to put the car back together.
https://youtube.com/shorts/A7lkiTm6oQk?si=QDbT4bid...

[cake eater]

The exhaust is also progressing.

Rares at Kline Innovation has also updated with the exhaust
https://www.kline-innovation.com/exhaust-collectio...

Headers


Cats and cat-back section


The exhaust still has to go for heat shield and is a couple weeks away from completion

For sound I did want to go for 6-1 but heat management concerns lead me to stick with 6-2-1 long headers that keep the cats further away from the engine bay and should also be advantageous for torque without sacrifice of top end

Interestingly Mountain Pass Performance have also chosen for long headers but modified a Fiammenghi design
https://www.fiammenghiitalia.com/en/product-catego...

https://youtu.be/ZXPv132X03I?si=BgvML4__U1UJSC1u

[Jules Sunley]

I just wanted to say thanks for this thread cake. Only started reading recently but in the process of working through from the beginning as very interesting and that led me to buying one of these that was suggested early on. Delivered today and confirmed that the start stop warning on my Mrs' car is the battery and another one ordered as preventative rather than waiting until it fails. PH has led to many tool purchases! Anyway, good luck with the car and I will continue getting up to date.

[cake eater]

Jules Sunley said:

I just wanted to say thanks for this thread cake. Only started reading recently but in the process of working through from the beginning as very interesting and that led me to buying one of these that was suggested early on. Delivered today and confirmed that the start stop warning on my Mrs' car is the battery and another one ordered as preventative rather than waiting until it fails. PH has led to many tool purchases! Anyway, good luck with the car and I will continue getting up to date.

Hi Jules,

Glad the thread has inspired you to purchase and not frightened you off

I look forward to seeing your update in future of purchasing a 599

All the very best

[Jules Sunley]

cake eater said:

Hi Jules,

Glad the thread has inspired you to purchase and not frightened you off

I look forward to seeing your update in future of purchasing a 599

All the very best

Thank you, and oh if only! Not currently in my budget so living out the 599 desire through reading your thread. My fun car is an Alpina B5 (old E61 shape estate) so yes fast but no prancing horse badge. 2005 though so some understanding of dealing with the foibles of an older fast car having now owned for 6+ years

[cake eater]

Jules Sunley said:

Thank you, and oh if only! Not currently in my budget so living out the 599 desire through reading your thread. My fun car is an Alpina B5 (old E61 shape estate) so yes fast but no prancing horse badge. 2005 though so some understanding of dealing with the foibles of an older fast car having now owned for 6+ years

Alpina B5 is such a great car! Might not be an expensive donkey on the front but it's an equally emotive brand.

Getting parts is proving a challenge and as they get more rare they get even more excruciatingly expensive. Luckily there's a growing option of specialists that can rebuild (rather them replaced) and can source outside of OEM.

My latest dilemma is the reverse gear synchro. Currently not available from Ferrari. Mark of MDL is looking at options and I have my fingers crossed.

[Jules Sunley]

cake eater said:

Alpina B5 is such a great car! Might not be an expensive donkey on the front but it's an equally emotive brand.

Getting parts is proving a challenge and as they get more rare they get even more excruciatingly expensive. Luckily there's a growing option of specialists that can rebuild (rather them replaced) and can source outside of OEM.

My latest dilemma is the reverse gear synchro. Currently not available from Ferrari. Mark of MDL is looking at options and I have my fingers crossed.

Specialists are worth their weight in gold when good. For my car it is Birds Performance in Iver who also looked after my car for the previous owners 7 years tenure. Having someone who has known your car for a while and done all previous work for some time is helpful. Fingers crossed here too for MDL coming up with a good option for you.

[Hughesie]

cake eater said:

My latest dilemma is the reverse gear synchro. Currently not available from Ferrari. Mark of MDL is looking at options and I have my fingers crossed.

There is a chap in Silverstone i think that does gearbox rebuilds and does a lot of Ferrari stuff, worked on the FXX program - if you do get stuck let me see if i can dig out his details.

[cake eater]

Hughesie said:

cake eater said:

My latest dilemma is the reverse gear synchro. Currently not available from Ferrari. Mark of MDL is looking at options and I have my fingers crossed.

There is a chap in Silverstone i think that does gearbox rebuilds and does a lot of Ferrari stuff, worked on the FXX program - if you do get stuck let me see if i can dig out his details.

Hi Hughsie,

That's really brilliant thank you. I have been told that Maserati reverse gear synchro is compatible. As I'm sure you are aware, there are a lot of crossover parts between Alfa selespeed, Maserati Cambiocorsa and Ferrari F1 transmissions. Some bits direct replacement, like the pump, not sure about the synchros. Mark is making sure as don't want any issues

[NGK210]

Guessing that once your v12 is reassembled, you’ll need to run it in as if it were new?

Also guessing you’ve decided this car is a keeper?

In which case, I’d urge you to heed this lube guru’s oil-change advice, all of which is science- / fact-based, for engine break-in:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QDxn3mRTOfg