Ferrari F430 Spider

[mwstewart]

Yes, or Crunchie

[mwstewart]

markiii said:

Mark, been rereading your thread and came back to the bit where you sharpied the stitching on the seats.

Couple of questions

Hows it holding up x years later?
did you use a particular type of sharpie
Would you have attempted it with alcantara seats?

I'm trying to decide if I'm asking for trouble or just need to be braver

Mark, apologies - I completely missed your post. I do not recommend the approach is used on Alcantara unless you have an extremely steady hand. It is inevitable that some ink will end up on the seat material, and with leather there is a few second grace period when it is possible to wipe off any mistakes with a damp cloth. That won't be possible with Alcantara.

In terms of longevity my dashboard and trim pieces have held up reasonable well. They have faded a little bit after a few years of top-down motoring in very warm climates, in line with what I'd expect from the original thread, but on the higher 'traffic' areas like the seats it has worn off approx 50%.

Stick Legs said:

Awesome thread. Keep it up!

Thank you.

[mwstewart]

Front Suspension Refresh
The suspension components take a beating in these cars. The Hill Engineering track rod ends were new only 7k miles ago, but poor road surfaces wear them out in no time. I put together a spare set of wishbones to make the swap easier with less time off of the road.


I had the arms vapour blasted. I'm going to replace all ball joints, track rod ends, and the flamblocs. The arms will be assembled by AV Engineering.



Here's what the titanium wheel spindles look like after vapour blasting. Now I will send them for hard anodising, which is the final surface treatment process before they are ready to use. The end result will be a perfect match for the OEM titanium wheel bolts.

[mwstewart]

Avian flu was a distant memory, and with it the consideration that something remotely similar could happen. The last 18+ months have felt extremely strange indeed. Life has changed for me: marriage, and being hugely fortunate to spend most of last year on a tropical island off of the coast of Cambodia, a place where - incidentally - cars were a fairly distant memory, but towards the end of the stay I was craving driving my own together with being involved with a sufficiently advanced mechanical project for a creative outlet. Prior to that, in London I had tried to wean myself off of cars - purely from a practical perspective rather than out of free will - doubly so as someone who likes to drive them properly rather than pootle around, with rapidly diminishing opportunities to do so.

COVID has bought WFH and a move back to my roots in rural farmlands, and with it frequent access to better roads. I've also somewhat accepted the often regular frustration of sharing our tarmac with an ever increasing amount of cerebrally anesthetised fellow motorists. Life generally is alright. Maybe we'll be bankrupted by inflation and/or total collapse of the fiat monetary system, but for now, whatever; I'm enjoying cars once again.

A boat is on the horizon. Thanks to my Dad I have a long-standing admiration for Tom Murrant's designs, and fond childhood memories in some of his Sealine models. The build quality is fabulous prior to Tom's departure and subsequent American ownership. A Murrant-era S28 with full interior restoration is in my mind, but the engines occupy most of my thoughts: I'm not at all interested in diesel, and unlike a lot of the boating community to me a V8 is a plus; I have plans to marinise a pair of reliable car-based V8 that don't have roots in the '60's. Solenoid operated exhaust for those occasions when an above-water V8 howl is desired. I really like the idea of a something 'normal' but with ridiculous engines and performance.

Reet, beer time.

[mwstewart]

The conclusion of my winter suspension maintenance: 2.44kg of sprung, and 1.01kg of unsprung weight saved. I wouldn't normally go in to such small detail, but when a maintenance job is required I will take the opportunity to optimise or improve whatever parts are involved.

Wheel uprights machined to Challenge spec
Challenge car uprights undergo two modifications:
1) Rear handbrake caliper/front vertical acceleration sensor mounting bosses are milled off;
2) Brake cooling vents machined out.

A road-going F430 requires both handbrake caliper/front vertical acceleration mounts, so I opted to machine the brake cooling vents to save a little bit of unsprung weight.

Standard (360/430) upright:


My uprights (16/Scuderia) after machining:


Refurbished and rebuilt front arms with Scuderia flanblocs
I have in stock each type of flanbloc to investigate their construction and weight. My findings are below:


I sent my arms via courier to AV Engineering to be built up. Great communication throughout - it's nice dealing with someone whom you can trust to do the job well. New HE ball joints, and Scuderia flanblocs.


New CCM discs
Thanks to my friend Gary I have a set of new front & rear CCMs to go on. These won't save any further weight - the fronts were quite worn but I'd put off changing them because the bite is really good, the downside being that they ate pads! Challenge discs are bed-in during manufacture, which is nice.


Hubs rebuilt with bespoke titanium spindles
I've covered these in a previous update, but these are fitted after being hard anodised.


Camber shims replaced with aluminium spacers
As a general guide, the following applies:

Front + 1 mm shim = -0.20 to -0.25 degrees of camber.
Rear + 1 mm shim = -0.30 to -0.40 degrees of camber.

Removing front UCA washers = -0.6 to -0.7 degrees of camber.
Removing rear UCA washers = -0.5 to -0.6 degrees of camber.

I've removed the upper RCA washers (top right in photo) to gain some camber, and based on that I ran the calcs for my new ride height to determine the thickness of shims F&R, and used that to have a set of aluminium spacers machined (top left in raw form, and bottom left with etch primer). The weight soon adds up with the steel shims (bottom right) when chasing a more focused camber configuration - I've saved a shade under half a kg for very little outlay.


Vertical acceleration sensor hardware
Titanium and aluminium fasteners used to save a few grams.


Wheel upright rear cover plate
I remade these in carbon, used lightweight fastenings, and lightweight cable management clips. 338 grams of unsprung weight saved.


Calibration optimisation
AV Engineering have my ECUs: 360Trev has been undertaking some great work on the Bosch ECUs, and he has discovered many improvements. AV and Trev have teamed up to offer an electronics service, and I can't wait to get these back and in the car: even though my car in its current form is quicker than the 06 F430 I owned, it still lacks some of the punch that car had. I'm quietly confident that Trev can produce some magic.


Weight Saving Total
Unsprung weight saved: 21.59 kg
Sprung weight saved: 111.86 kg
Total weight saved: 133.45 kg

[mwstewart]

Thanks both. I got a good deal on the discs from a friend, so thankfully nothing like the RRP.

I have plans for a carbon front bumper. Ferrari originally looked in to them and discounted the idea, but I've found one from the batch of originals. They save 10kg which is nice but before I do that I'd like to put the car on some scales to check the current weight balance.

[mwstewart]

Church of Noise said:

Makes sense!

Seems these people make other carbon parts (such as fenders): https://www.saxonparts.com/product/ferrari-430-gt3...
Just casually dropping it here

Thank you. I was in touch with Saxon before the days of COVID, but they produce only the GT3 parts which are a widebody conversion to suit wide front slicks. There's a chap over on FerrariChat who is converting his Berlinetta - it'll be a fun project.

I think the next easiest part to tackle is the engine bay lid which I'll have removed and sent to Plastics4Performance, for them to copy in Lexan.

[mwstewart]

Service time at my local Ferrari main dealer. The car hasn't missed a single service in its lifetime, but thanks to COVID I was out of the country for most of 2020, and it missed the annual. I haven't actually driven the car since Feb 2000, so despite being around this year I was actually in two minds about having it done...I caved at the last moment. It's a bit ridculous really - the oil was brand new.


There were some amber items on the traffic light report:
- TPMS battery life reading 0 months left
- Front Pads - 5mm (A) advise pads are getting low
- Brake Fluid change advised
- Antifreeze change advised

I have new CCM discs and pads to go on but I'm likely going to a FOC trackday before summer, so I'll finish off what's currently fitted. Brake fluid, antifreeze, cabin filter, and AC re-gas were already on my comissioning list. TPMS can wait for new tyres.

Over Christmas I titivated the wheelarch areas. That is factory overspray on the underseal.



I removed the moisture barrier in the luggage compartment to check the bulkead area, and clean it. All is well. I'm sure that the moisture barrier was £50 odd the last time I did this. It has gone up to £130. Expensive cleaning session


In 2022 I'm going to try to make up for lost time; I've rejoined the FOC, and booked Silverstone Classic tickets. My friend Gary (black 360 stripped out track car) has asked if I'm going to the Silverstone or Anglesey FOC track day, so I'll get to one of those. I've booked accomodation for a three week trip in May which includes France, Switzerland, and Italy. My wife and I are discussing another trip after Italy - possibly northern Spain or Croatia - but nothing booked so far.

[mwstewart]

Ha ha yes 2020! Too long.

Bungleaio said:

Fantastic work as always and I don't blame you for getting it serviced.

This might be a stupid question and probably of negligible difference but seeing as your car is all about the tiny differences I'll ask.

Why is the shock mounted with the body on the lower wishbone? I would have thought the body, oil, spring adjuster would be heavier than the other end and shaft so if it was mounted the other way up there would be less unsprung weight? Motorbike shocks are mounted like this.

Thank you. Good question. Obviously the shocks must be redesigned (they are oil filled magnetorheological dampers) but there's certainly room for USDs.

W00DY said:

I imagine everyone at the Ferrari dealership services their dailies with the golden fresh oil that comes out of most of the cars in for service.

Nice to see another update.

I would

[mwstewart]

A great spring day today. We went out for a pub lunch and an afternoon drive.



My friend Gary kindly donated a set of 488 Challenge pads, so I'll swap those in to compare to the Scuderia pads.

[mwstewart]

My wife and I are away in the car for a three week road trip. Currently in Tuscany. Approximately 1,400 miles in at the moment - a few issues to report, but lots of smiles. I'll update when home.

[mwstewart]

This post is part one of a two part maintenance log that was performed ahead of my recent trip. Without fail there is always something to attend to on this car!

AC Service
During the last road trip I noticed that vent temperature was not as low as it should be, so I decided to have the A/C system serviced with new gas, lubricant, and receiver/dryer. The OEM part is cheap at £25, but a quick browse on the Internet revealed that it looks to be the same unit used in some Land Rover models with alternative part number JRJ100550, so there should be an alternative source if ever Ferrari discontinue the part.


I use a local F1 Autocentre for tracking & A/C as I've always found them to be very good; they were kind enough to disrupt the refill cycle to let me fit the new dryer, which took only five minutes because I'd removed the wipers and scuttle panel prior to arriving at F1.



The owners manual lists the R 134 A capacity as 800 ± 30 g, and mine was down to 536 - so no surprise that the system wasn't cooling as effectively as it should. The system passed the vac test and was refilled with 800g.


AC Compressor Engagement Issue
I had an intermittent A/C compressor engagement issue. The electronics side is simple to diagnose with two main circuits:

1) Control
The HVAC panel is the control source, with a 12v switched live output passing through a combination high pressure/low pressure switch to pin 40 on the right-hand-side engine ECU.

2) Load
If the right-hand-side engine ECU is satisfied that the correct engine operating conditions exist for compressor activation i.e. not at WOT etc, then pin 22 is earthed, which is wired to the earth side of the compressor activation relay (PSR1) in the left hand side central junction box (CBL9). The coil is fed from fuse PDF12 in the right hand side central junction box (CBR9), but jointly it supplies other key components which were OK in my car therefore I skipped a check. The load side of the relay is fed from 15a fuse PSF19 in the left hand side central junction box (CBL9)

In my case the fuses and relay were fine. I tested compressor activation at idle by briefly earthing the compressor relay coil, knowing that the issue was very unlikely to lie within the engine ECU itself - the compressor clutch clicked on. I knew that the load side of the circuit was OK so next I turned my attention to the pressure switch behind the access panel in the front luggage compartment, as that's a point where I could test for the incoming switched live from the HAC panel - which could be a possible root case - and check status of the switch; if pressure is either too high or too low then the switch will remain open and prevent compressor engagement.

I found the root cause to be something unexpected: the locking barb for the electrical connector had obviously weakened over time and had allowed the connector to migrate away from the switch body, leading to a poor connection. I fixed this by packing the connector body with a piece of plastic which forced the locking barb onto the switch, but later on when I have more time I shall replace the connector with a new part.


Becker Aux Lead
My car had the optional iPod interface which I used for a couple of years but lately it wasn't of any use to me. I removed the interface to swap with a simple 3.5mm input aux cable which would provide more flexibility.

The Becker head units uses the old mini ISO connectors for the various auxiliary functions that may be added. As my car was optioned with sat nav, I found that the powered GPS antenna was wired to the 'powered radio aerial' pins on the blue connector, so I used some cheap Chinese pin extraction tools to add the GPS antennae power wires to the new blue aux plug.



A small cable tie to protect the wires from being pulled out of the housing, and the new aux lead was good to go.


Brakes
Whilst cleaning and inspecting the brakes I noticed an issue: the masking for the powder coat job I had done during the last refurb had missed the 4mm bare metal area around the circumference of the pistons. The new powder coat was too close to the piston bores, had begun to deteriorate, and would very likely lead to a future issue. This was an unwanted discovery, but despite limited time left before the trip I decided to strip and rebuild the front calipers.


I used a Dremel to remove the unwanted powder coat, and thoroughly cleaned out the calipers with brake cleaner. New seals, naturally. My Dad very kindly re-polished all of the pistons.


I use a pressure bleeder to refresh the fluid, and here is the business end of the operation. Previously I used a piece of tube pushed over the bleed nipple but it was always prone to weeping, so I've upgraded to a moulded rubber push on fitting which works perfectly - now the whole operation is completely dry.


I took the opportunity to de-glaze the (huge) pads with some 80 grit wet-and-dry paper.

[mwstewart]

Trip prep part two of two.

Water Pump
This car has a penchant for providing surprises at inopportune times, which in fairness may sometimes be attributed to a lack of use, and this was likely one of those cases: a small pool of antifreeze on the inside of under tray one week before we were due to leave. Coolant was visibly seeping from the join between the two sections of water pump.



The next morning I went back to the car expecting to find another pool, but it was dry. I ran the engine up to temp, and still no further sign of a leak which was quite fortuitous. I spoke to a chap called Joel who provides rebuild kits for these pumps and he reported not seeing any catastrophic failures, so I was happy to proceed with the trip.


The problem hasn't occurred since but I've taken it as a cue to rebuild the water & dry sump pump over winter using one of Joel's kits.

Rear Bumper
One part of the Scuderia rear bumper design that I've never really been happy with is the black grille area above the diffuser and around the exhaust tips. If like in my case the rear diffuser is carbon then the whole area becomes a little bit featureless. To provide a better demarcation between the carbon diffuser and the rest of the bumper I had omitted the black grille, but I still wasn't completely happy with the look, so I've now had all of the mounting holes for the grille filled with epoxy and I've painted the area in grey.


Fluid Service
I've changed the antifreeze, brake fluid, and cabin air filter. From memory I managed to remove 11 litres of antifreeze after leaving the car on an incline to drain overnight.



PAS Reservoir Cap
Oil mist was emanating from the power steering reservoir and making its way to the top of the gearbox. I don't like oil mist anywhere in the engine bay of this car, so I replaced the cap ring with one for a BMW after observing that the reservoir was a generic ZF item that is used on various cars - Ferrari sell only the complete reservoir.


Steering Rack
Ferrari had noted in my last service that the power steering rack was leaking and recommended that it was replaced. I suspected that wasn't the case, and it was in fact silicone lubricant on the gaiter from where I had adjusted the coilovers. I investigated and found the steering rack to be perfectly fine.


Suspension Service
I've applied silicone to all anodised components in order to preserve them. I've also sprayed PTFE into the suspension flamblocs, and various joints in the Spider roof assembly.


Scuderia Undertray
I had the bodyshop refurbish the front Scuderia undertray because it had a few scuffs. The painter thought that I was a few sandwiches short of a picnic


Whilst on the subject of undertrays...the Scuderia rear undertray saves additional weight by incorporating mounting bosses for two fastening locations which on the F430 are made up with steel brackets. I didn't take this into account in my previous weight saving calculations. It just goes to show the lengths that Ferrari went to.



Cleaning
The rest of the prep was cleaning and checking various fastenings around the car - the flat plane crank causes a lot of vibration. I steam cleaned behind the rear bumper and other hidden areas.






And finally, thanks to my friend Carlo in Italy for kindly donating some Scuderia seat fabric to enable me to retrim my bulkhead luggage nets, some spare market lights, and a paint code decal for my carbon bonnet.

[mwstewart]

Cheers all.

leglessAlex said:

Always find this stuff interesting, along with your interactions with Ferrari dealers in general.

I've been looking at 599s for a while now and I wonder how much the services and running costs can be brought down by doing stuff yourself, versus just taking it to a Ferrari specialist and getting stuff done to it it might not even need...

The level of maintenance required for these cars is very high but there are fantastic specialists out there (I would put AV Engineering at the top of the tree for these type of models) which are night and day in terms of price and knowledge.

I have the basic service performed at a dealer (it would be AV if they were closer), and perform the rest of the work myself. The cost savings are significant, but for me the more important aspect is I get to know the car.

Davie_GLA said:

Superb. What are the numbers on the discs?

I think they are a Brembo internal ID. I assume something to help with balancing or quality control.

Too Late said:

Quality thread Mark.

Hope you are well buddy

Nick

Thanks mate - likewise! We will have a new addition to the family arriving in January, which is exciting. I haven't been in to the city for a while but will do at some point, so I'll give you a shout. I think I'll need another car with some extra space - does the Westy take a roof rack?

Accelebrate said:

It’s refreshing to see someone putting Comma fluids into something exotic, rather than just firing the OE parts cannon.

My rationale for antifreeze is that I'm happy with conformance to the G48 standard;
Brake fluid: the car is hugely over-braked for the road so it doesn't matter what I put in it, but it should be of reasonable quality
Oil: Shell Helix Ultra;
Fuel: anything E5/E10 95 and above.

[mwstewart]

I have a backlog of updates for all the cars. I will get to it

[mwstewart]

Catching up on some updates on a road trip into Europe. We left around 5am to catch the LeShuttle. The UK roads were pleasantly clear.


Obligatory Reims-Gueux shot.


We went down through the Forêt d'Orient national park. It was absolutely sweltering so roof up during the midday sun - wife was pregnant during this trip.


Stopped for a drink here. I didn't plan anything in-between accommodation stops - we just went with the flow. It was very traditional French backwater inside, which I like.


Next step Switzerland...

[mwstewart]

_Bart_ said:

I'm beyond happy to see an update. One of the best reader's cars thread, ever.

Glad you, wife (and pending bambino?) and car(s) are well.

Thank you! All are well. Parenthood was quite the adjustment, but enjoying it now

Boleros said:

What wheels are those? They do look rather smart.

markiii said:

look like F458 Italia wheels, and they rather suit it

Thank you. They are original Ferrari wheels released for the 16M, and were an option.

The 458 Italia wheels were the 16M wheels in 1" larger diameter (20").

[mwstewart]

markiii said:

I hate to think what they charged you for those, can't be a huge amount of 16M wheels knocking around

Parts availability can also be an issue. I don't think I'd be able to complete this project again if I started now.

Boleros said:

I've got the Challenge Stradale wheels on mine in matt grigio silverstone (to match the car)and whilst they look ok (esp with yellow calipers) I can't help but feel that the car would look better with something else. Quite what that is I don't know but those 16M wheels do work very well

The CS wheels are nice, but maybe best on the 360 or earlier.

Boleros said:

What is the F1-S on the dash? Not seen that before.

There are a few things going on there:

RACE = drive mode

Car with waveform underneath = Bumpy road mode on. This is when the suspension is put into soft independently of the drive mode (normally RACE turns the suspension to hard).

F1 - S = the conditions are met for the Superfast 2 60ms gear change. I need to be above a certain RPM or speed for it to be available.

The second two items in the list are Scuderia specific.

[mwstewart]

Boleros said:

mwstewart said:

There are a few things going on there:

RACE = drive mode

Car with waveform underneath = Bumpy road mode on. This is when the suspension is put into soft independently of the drive mode (normally RACE turns the suspension to hard).

F1 - S = the conditions are met for the Superfast 2 60ms gear change. I need to be above a certain RPM or speed for it to be available.

The second two items in the list are Scuderia specific.

Thanks, I'm going to have go back over thread as I could have sworn that your 16M wasn't a 'true' 16M. My memory clearly isn't what it used to be!

Your memory isn't failing: the car did start out as an F430, but I've fully converted it - it wasn't just a cosmetic makeover.

[mwstewart]

Our route into Switzerland was via the Mont-Blanc tunnel, as this would save us a little bit of time. It was still fairly chilly at altitude - very different to France earlier that day.


We arrived at the hotel later in the evening as I'd been distracted by a few nice back roads The kitchen had closed, but the owner opened it for us and served dinner and a drinks.Excellent.


It was very nice to wake up to clear skies and a nice view.


I normally plan these trips outside of peak time and school holidays, but even so we were extremely lucky with the traffic situation; the Swiss passes are well-known in motoring circles so there's always a bit of traffic, but I had several of the passes completely to myself. I had to be a bit careful to not shake my wife around too much, but I turned round to drive some of them more than once. Despite not going anywhere near 10/10ths these were some of my most memorable drives to date.




Out of season ski resorts always have a '28 Days Later' feel about them.


Some of the scenery and a view looking down at one of the passes.



A fantastic piece of civic architecture.


We came across a group of UK registered Porsche's driving through the passes.


Some general shots of the car. By this point the car was quite filthy from all of the melt water and dust.







Beer O'Clock. One of my favourite aspects of a road trip is mooching around at our own pace; I don't like to plan in lots of activities (keep that for work!). It's nice just to explore and see life in general being lived in a different place.



I can't remember if I updated in a previous post, but I prefer to not use the mesh grille in the rear bumper as I like the two air vents either side of the diffuser which are normally hidden. I repainted this area in grey to match the wheels, and I'm happy with how it looks - in factory trim it all looks a bit too black.


Next stop, Italy...