Ferrari F430 Spider

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Discussion

mwstewart

Original Poster:

7,554 posts

187 months

Tuesday 5th March 2019
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The goal of this project is creation of a light weight, high performance, road-based Spider. One of the requirements I set to help meet that is a weight saving target of 150kg without detriment to on-road manners or civility, and this dictates that I continue to develop parts to compliment the off-the-shelf OEM offerings.

A new round of bespoke light weight carbon parts are in production and here's a first look at the next body panel to be made to my specification; I'm particularly pleased with the mix of carbon fabrics that blend strength with a cosmetic match to the OEM fabric in the areas that will remain visible.

PhillipM

6,515 posts

188 months

Wednesday 6th March 2019
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Every time I come back to this thread, I think "This must be it now, he's done everything remotely worth doing, and he's just writing a report about how much fun it is now" - then you proceed to do something to take the level of detail and insanity up just one more rung on the ladder.

Well done, much fun hehe

Dr G

15,159 posts

241 months

Wednesday 6th March 2019
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It's a little bit like "what Colin Chapman does at the weekend" isn't it rofl

markiii

3,565 posts

193 months

Wednesday 6th March 2019
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How real world affordable are these custom carbon parts?

mwstewart

Original Poster:

7,554 posts

187 months

Thursday 7th March 2019
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Thanks all!

Parts are quite reasonable - especially given the benefits: less than the new price of their original equivalent.

mwstewart

Original Poster:

7,554 posts

187 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2019
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One of the bulbs in the HVAC unit of failed, so I replaced it. Some of the bulbs are standard twist-lock types, but two are soldered on to the PCB, and it was one of those that failed. They are incandescent bulbs with a green cap and I tracked down a match at RS.


16M HiFi wiring harness complete and installed.


I wasn't happy with the condition of my window switches after removing the coating, so I decided to fit two new switches.


New Bonnet
I commissioned a new bonnet that is a take on that fitted to the F50 GT. There are other versions of this bonnet available but I found they were either fibreglass, a mix of fibreglass and wet lay carbon, or wet lay carbon - none of which would suit this project - so I found a supplier who was willing to manufacture the bonnet to my spec in vacuum bag carbon with a mix of fabrics to match the OEM carbon parts.



The original aluminium bonnet painted but stripped bare weighs 6.9kg. The carbon bonnet in its bare form weighs 3.81kg. I will cut out the vent areas and fabricate mesh grilles, initially blanked off behind with a piece of thin carbon, but my plans for later will involve functional testing from the front of the car and some wind tunnel testing.

As with all aftermarket parts there is some tidying up to do and I spent a few hours getting the alignment perfect. Next steps are paint including the stripe using the OEM 16M paint mask kit. The centre of the stripe on my car is black, but on the new bonnet it will be (lacquered) exposed carbon.


Fitted (in this photo I haven't yet started work on alignment).


Engine Lid
The coupe/berlinetta F430 had available an OEM carbon fibre rear engine lid with Lexan window; sadly there wasn't a version offered for the Spider. I planned to commission a Spider version so have stuck on temperature measuring strips to determine if temperatures at the window area are within the usage range of polycarbonate, however given the news about changes to cars and upcoming regulation I'll most likely start to wind down car projects and focus on a new hobby.

leglessAlex

5,384 posts

140 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2019
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mwstewart said:
but my plans for later will involve functional testing from the front of the car and some wind tunnel testing.
Jesus Titty Christ. Are you serious?

To what end? It seems you're aiming for a road car first and foremost, I'm curious what benefit you'd be expecting from improving the aero.

helix402

7,832 posts

181 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2019
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What are these changes to cars and upcoming legislation?

mwstewart

Original Poster:

7,554 posts

187 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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leglessAlex said:
Jesus Titty Christ. Are you serious?

To what end? It seems you're aiming for a road car first and foremost, I'm curious what benefit you'd be expecting from improving the aero.
Yes. In addition to the bonnet there are blanked off air inlets along the side of the car that feed brake cooling ducts on the Challenge car and I have plans to use the Challenge cooling ducts to route air to the rear diffuser. It will be a fun learning exercise that hopefully realises a reduction in drag coefficient and increase in down-force, the benefits of which will be felt on the road.

helix402 said:
What are these changes to cars and upcoming legislation?
Fitment of a mandatory speed limiter that although can be turned off, is a social engineering exercise that will result in less opportunity to properly use a car unhindered.

helix402

7,832 posts

181 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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I’d wait and see what happens re the speed limiters. At this stage it’s an EU proposal, rather than a definite plan.

Our government has said they will also implement it if it becomes an EU reg. As you say it’s also over rideable.

One point to consider is the effect a non overideable limiter would have on the economy, a huge no of delivery companies have timescales based on speeding to achieve delivery goals.

Anyway, back on topic, I’m sure the Ferrari will keep you busy for a few years.

Butter Face

30,192 posts

159 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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And AIUU it’s new cars only, so don’t worry, carry on.

mwstewart

Original Poster:

7,554 posts

187 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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Butter Face said:
And AIUU it’s new cars only, so don’t worry, carry on.
Sure, but it's social engineering - watch what happens to driver attitudes.

Over over under steer

662 posts

122 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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I understand it's easy to get disheartened hearing of news like that, however a few good points have been made to hopefully bring you back to the light. Perhaps a perk of Brexit will be removal of the requirement for us to have to comply with any mandatory (within EU) proposed speed limit restriction.

RacerMike

4,192 posts

210 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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Over over under steer said:
I understand it's easy to get disheartened hearing of news like that, however a few good points have been made to hopefully bring you back to the light. Perhaps a perk of Brexit will be removal of the requirement for us to have to comply with any mandatory (within EU) proposed speed limit restriction.
Considering the original research was done in the UK by a UK based research group an then presented to the EU, it's probably pretty unlikely we'd escape it. We've only got ourselves to blame for this....although due to the technical limitations of robustly implementing the speed limiters, I can't honestly see it happening. I suspect we'll end up with a situation where all new cars need to have road sign recognition as standard and nothing more.

Over over under steer

662 posts

122 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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RacerMike said:
Considering the original research was done in the UK by a UK based research group an then presented to the EU, it's probably pretty unlikely we'd escape it. We've only got ourselves to blame for this....although due to the technical limitations of robustly implementing the speed limiters, I can't honestly see it happening. I suspect we'll end up with a situation where all new cars need to have road sign recognition as standard and nothing more.
How interesting, I didn't know that was the origin of the research, I think we'll have a bit more to think about over here in the next 5-10 years that one would hope this doesn't come off.

Plus, with autonomous driving becoming more and more commonplace, and non-human delivery/transportation methods perhaps the need for speed limiting will become less urgent.

mwstewart

Original Poster:

7,554 posts

187 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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What's the opinion on autonomous cars? I'm not convinced we'll see them in service any time soon.

Smitters

3,995 posts

156 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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mwstewart said:
What's the opinion on autonomous cars? I'm not convinced we'll see them in service any time soon.
I don't think we'll see them for decades or more, not due to tech, but due to the liability issues of car-fault vs driver-fault.

mwstewart

Original Poster:

7,554 posts

187 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
quotequote all
Smitters said:
I don't think we'll see them for decades or more, not due to tech, but due to the liability issues of car-fault vs driver-fault.
That's my thinking, plus the complexities of the transition period between driver-less and driven cars on the same road.

Matt Cup

3,143 posts

103 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
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Having enjoyed reading all of your threads I’m interested into what’s your next hobby going to be if you are distancing yourself from cars?

You can tell me to mind my own business if you don’t want to divulge.

mwstewart

Original Poster:

7,554 posts

187 months

Thursday 4th April 2019
quotequote all
Matt Cup said:
Having enjoyed reading all of your threads I’m interested into what’s your next hobby going to be if you are distancing yourself from cars?

You can tell me to mind my own business if you don’t want to divulge.
I grew up boating with family and have RYA qualifications etc. so I'm ready to jump back in to it. Having been so impressed with the engine in the CLK I'd quite like a project to marinise one and fit it into a typical cruisier - to get the best of both worlds. A nautical sleeper!