Ferrari F430 Spider

[Matt Cup]

mwstewart said:

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!

I don’t know why but I had a thought you would be either doing a boat or maybe a plane. But your plans sound pretty epic and bonkers to boot! Looking forward to it if you go ahead! Please finish the fiesta first though.

[leglessAlex]

mwstewart said:

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!

While I realise it seems (from this thread at least) that you've always had an appetite to improve an existing thing, it surprises me that you wouldn't try and fit that engine into something you'd built yourself from scratch... Something vaguely Riva shaped, even.

[RacerMike]

mwstewart said:

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.

I agree. And from what I understand, a number of Level 3 projects from suppliers have been heavily delayed due to technical difficulties. There's a big social aspect to it too. Weirdly, people still find their Uber driver, who could well have paid for their driving license in Russia last week and crashed 4 times since then, more comforting and trust worthy than a computer. I'm no different: somehow, the possibility of being driven around by some lines of code which will only 'stop' if you ask it to drop you off (i.e. there's no kill switch!) scares me to death!

I fully suspect we might get about as far as 'motorway pilot' or similar, but fully autonomous private (or 'shared lease') cars in our lifetime seem like the preserve of a few futurists who get a little carried away extrapolating the sale of mobile phones....

[Max M4X WW]

I had to check the date of these posts wasn't a couple of days earlier! First suggesting winding down the car projects and then a 6.2 V8 AMG engined boat

[anonymous-user]

mwstewart said:

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.

Couldn't agree more, it's about conditioning of the population for the future and has little to do with safety when taken in isolation.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 4th April 22:37

[anonymous-user]

mwstewart said:

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.

I work in innovation consultancy and have done some work with some of the companies in this type of business. They all state that it isn't going to be some big bang change, but a gradual one that's actually already started. Self parking, lane guidance, collision detection... this is the start of autonomous vehicle technology. Speed limiters are a next step. They feel that they need to get people used to systems doing things for them in vehicles a bit at a time as if they just gave you a self driving car most people would be too wary of it to use it, but if they gradually get used to various systems doing more and more for them in their vehicles the jump to full autonomy will be psychologically a lot easier to manage. That's the social engineering side of it sadly which is a little bit dark in itself, but leaving that aside for now it also means that cars with various different levels of tech will be able to co-exist just as they do now, but amplified up a few notches. I reckon 15-20 years before they become fully operational, but they are coming whether we like it or not. I have a lot of theories on future road legislation as a result of this too, but that's for another day.

I have one hope for all this and that is the technology is ultimately used to reduce journey times as the current answer of speed reduction hence longer journey times = safety is a simpleton's answer frankly. We wouldn't have got anywhere with thinking like that 100 years ago. Safety is important obviously, but we need to find ways to make journey times shorter and safer at the same time.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 5th April 08:10

[anonymous-user]

mwstewart said:

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.

Its already here, everyone should be made to read 1984 until they actually understand it, as what Orwell failed to predict was we would be the ones buying the cameras and afraid nobody was watching. Philip K Dicks 'The Penultimate Truth' has largely predicted how we as a society can be so easily engineered.

The speed limiters are not the real bit of it, just a cherry on the cake. Everything from housing to employment is being built to trap, confine and limit us. Theres so many layers to the system and branches to the network is being designed to its far harder for any particular node to cause any real level of disruption. Although when it fails and fail it will, it will be spectacular.

(Can you tell I've had to spend too much time around housing developers).

Edited by lordf on Friday 5th April 08:55

[MarkwG]

^^ you might have spent too much time reading fiction novels...

[BuzzBravado]

How? It seems pretty spot on to me. The only surprising part is how we are effectively doing it to ourselves, it isn't forced on us but conditioned into us to think its all a good thing.

[mwstewart]

I've been really lucky by finding a used example of the exact exhaust I was going for. I will fit it next weekend.

[Northbrook]

Fantastic stuff!

[piers1]

Now that is a quality find!

[mwstewart]

I've been driving the car so I'm now catching up with some old updates. Passenger door panel installed:


Black HVAC control knobs and new window switches installed (head unit not yet fully seated):


Alpine amplifier installed:


I never did post of my new Alcantara trim installed, so here it is (previously this was all black carpet - no stitching):



As a present my OH bought for me a Scuderia glove box storage net and iPod interface lead pocket. I had both re-stitched in red (from the factory the iPod pocket is only available with black stitching):

[Rocksteadyeddie]

Incredible attention to detail as always.

[Carlos24]

Just awesome.

[TR4man]

Having followed this thread and the CLK one, I'll bet that you have a queue of buyers whenever you come to sell one of your cars.

[mwstewart]

Thanks all.

[mwstewart]

I put off a complete suspension arm refresh until next winter with the exception of the front upper bearings/ball joints. I was very fortunate to find a company in France who were selling off their stock of OEM kits (joint and OEM boots/circlips) for £30 each, so I bought the lot. I don't use my car in the wet so the lack of stainless content isn't really an issue.


The bearings are held in by circlips with integrated boots but they aren't actually an interference fit within the arm, instead there is clearance for a layer of Expoy, and of course when replacing the joints the residue must be cleaned off. I wasn't about to spend an hour or more carefully removing the old epoxy from a soft alloy wishbone so I used the strongest acid I have in stock that doesn't hurt aluminium within a short time-frame (strong acid softens epoxy).

It was interesting to note that the 2008 cars have the F430 Challenge/599 type upper arms which are stronger around the inner flambloc area - this was originally done for the higher cornering loads possible on Challenge due to their slick tyres and aero.

Synstyp is nasty stuff but ten minutes on the epoxy softened it enough to be removed with a blue Scotch-Brite pad, which had the added benefit of keying up the aluminium (max shear strength quoted on expoxy adhesives is usually with a keyed surface).


Whilst the Synstryp was working I swapped to working on the other side and I actually managed to have both sides finished and the wheels re-fitted within one hour, though I did leave the car up on axle stands for over 24hrs to enable the glue to fully cure.

[mwstewart]

Capristo Scuderia Exhaust and 200 Cell Sports Cats - 02FE 023 03 006
I have the Capristo manifolds on my car and I'm not particularly impressed with them - they are good enough but quite agricultural, however I'm really impressed with the Scuderia exhaust system; the design, build, and fit are excellent.

From experience I've found there isn't really a perfect answer to exhaust heat insulation, at least not within the confines of a car engine bay:
- Capristo blankets wear from the inside out;
- Heat wrap degrades at the high temperatures found on manifolds and cats, is unpleasant to work with (the fibres can't be good for lungs and irritate the skin), and leaves fibres all over the engine bay;
- Ceramic coating doesn't work as well as the Capristo blankets.

As per my previous Capristo cats I've installed the blankets and then wrapped over them with heat wrap secured with stainless ties.
For the rear silencer I've first added two sheets of ceramic wool insulation (the type used in ovens), and then wrapped over the top, again securing with stainless ties. This time I'm trying something new: aluminium tape over the top of the heat wrap. It made installation significantly more pleasant than with the exposed heat wrap and after a couple of long drives it is holding up OK (the heat rating is within spec if installed over other forms of insulation). Let's see how it works out.

Photos to show the various stages of insulation:




Complete and installed:

[Tommie38]

If you don’t mind me asking, what was the hifi provision before the amplifier and what was the reason for the change?

I’m guessing you wanted to improve audio quality, but would the upgrade end up adding weight?