Modding my 430
Discussion
I know this is not everyone's cup of tea but I'd thought I'd share anyway - at least to share the result and knowledge gained. After owning my 2005 F430 for three years and tracking it a fair bit I embarked on a process to improve it's on track performance by reducing weight and improving performance and handling. Along the way I thought I'd also personalise it a bit. More can still be done but here's the list so far.
Performance: DMS tune, carbon fibre airboxes, OEM sports exhaust. DMS Dyno says 525bhp but I haven't verified that.
Weight: race seats (-40kg), carbon fibre/ polycarb rear deck (-8kg), carbon fibre diffuser (-7kg), carbon fibre front splitter (-2kg), Li battery (-17kg), OZ Ultraleggera wheels Ti bolts (-20kg), OEM sports exhaust (-8), various trim, bits and bobs (-6kg). Total 100kg.
Handling: 390mm 6 pot AP racing front brakes, braided brake lines, HE ball joints / track rods / tie-ends, Novitec springs (40mm lower), reduced unsprung weight, bigger rear deck nolder, reduced toe, increased camber (-2 all round), Michelin PS4S tyres.
Making it my own: Brushed aluminium wrap with matte black stripe and mirrors.
PM me if you want more detail on suppliers and costs.
Performance: DMS tune, carbon fibre airboxes, OEM sports exhaust. DMS Dyno says 525bhp but I haven't verified that.
Weight: race seats (-40kg), carbon fibre/ polycarb rear deck (-8kg), carbon fibre diffuser (-7kg), carbon fibre front splitter (-2kg), Li battery (-17kg), OZ Ultraleggera wheels Ti bolts (-20kg), OEM sports exhaust (-8), various trim, bits and bobs (-6kg). Total 100kg.
Handling: 390mm 6 pot AP racing front brakes, braided brake lines, HE ball joints / track rods / tie-ends, Novitec springs (40mm lower), reduced unsprung weight, bigger rear deck nolder, reduced toe, increased camber (-2 all round), Michelin PS4S tyres.
Making it my own: Brushed aluminium wrap with matte black stripe and mirrors.
PM me if you want more detail on suppliers and costs.
Larry5.2 said:
Good job on the weight reduction. What seats did you put in?
Sparco Evo 2 - 8.2kg as opposed to the OEM Daytonas at 28kg https://www.sportseats4u.co.uk/sparco-evo-ii-lf-fi... Gave me another inch of both head and leg room too.Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 27th June 13:17
Erudite geezer said:
Following this thread with interest.
Mr Cook original poster Sir.........what is your experience on the road/ in town with the 40mm ride height reduction?
Am considering replacing standard springs on my F355 with Fiorano springs.
Hiya. With standard springs I was having issues when just 25mm down. By issues I mean chinning the skid plates when the suspension compressed going through dips in the road (uhh .. at speed). With the stiffer springs in place and another 15mm down (so 40mm in total) I don't get that at all and the ride is great. I have to take speed bumps and ramps pretty slowly but they aren't a problem - height of the skid plates above the tarmac is 8.5 cm. I live out in the sticks - well Amersham way - so your experience may be different, but I think as long as you have stiffer springs and skid plates fitted you will be fine. Gratuitous side shot attached.Mr Cook original poster Sir.........what is your experience on the road/ in town with the 40mm ride height reduction?
Am considering replacing standard springs on my F355 with Fiorano springs.
Slippydiff said:
Picture of your seats/seat install please when/if you have time Ian.
OZ wheel sizes and offsets if readily available too please
Edit to add : The car looks superb btw
Thanks all. OK so seat installation pictures below. Pretty easy to remove the OEM seats and disconnect wiring. I have just left the wiring tails tucked away under the new seat. Didn't get any warnings and lights when I disconnected everything. OZ wheel sizes and offsets if readily available too please
Edit to add : The car looks superb btw
Once the OEM seats were out I removed the plastic delivery wrap still stuck to the carpet
and then fitted the brackets. In order to get as low as possible I went for the simplest option https://www.sportseats4u.co.uk/sparco-fia-steel-si... These bolted into the existing threaded holes in the floor. From there I just dropped the seats in and bolted them up. I re-used some of the spacers from the original seats to ensure that the belt attachments could still rotate when the nuts were tightened up. You'll see that in order to get the driver's seat tilted back further I needed to fashion a couple extensions for the front bracket mounting. The seats have a removable cushion which I remove when tracking in order to gain an extra half inch for my helmet. They're comfortable, feel great on track, and 20 kilos lighter per side. The wife and daughters don't like them...The wheels are OZ Ultraleggera in matte black. https://www.rtecshop.com/wheel_range_detail.php?br... Front are 8.5x19 with a 27 offset (standard are 7.5x19 and 31), rears are 11x19 with a 35 offset (standard are 10x19 and 39). So both are an inch wider and both have 4mm less positive offset. By my dodgy maths that puts them half an inch plus 4mm further out (hmm.. 16.7mm). No rubbing even with the car 40mm lower.
MAVROS said:
How do you get on with noise regs. I'm running Tubi de cats and a Top Gear back box. Great for keeping engine temps down but test days only for me. Previously I had a Timate on but blew a hole in it at Donnington. This led to exhaust gases escaping into the engine bay and one cooked bumper!
Would recommend tracking these as they really are at home being thrashed.
Love that shot! I'm currently ok with noise regs on 105db days. I specifically haven't removed cats or changed headers in order to get through and was last tested at Snetterton comfortably under the limit. I'm very tempted by the Top Gear or Nouvalari decatted headers in order to release further hp but I think they will be too loud together with the OEM sport exhaust that I have fitted.Would recommend tracking these as they really are at home being thrashed.
Interesting re Timate - hadn't heard that before. And yes - the track is where you can properly enjoy these babies if wanting to push the limits.
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 17th July 14:45
bluesatin said:
Hi Ian,
Nice to meet on Sat and your car looks great!
Guy
Hey Guy - thanks and good to see you too. My daughter took a video of my first run, I stayed longer and managed to get 4 runs in. Didn't use Launch Control and you'll notice the restrained takeoff until the clutch has fully engaged in first, there were a couple burnt clutches in the paddock afterwards Nice to meet on Sat and your car looks great!
Guy
My plan was to launch it and not lunch it! Have to say the launch control on your 458 was impressive. You took off like a scalded rat! Looked great. Cheers.https://youtu.be/dlY41HZRcw4
paulmnz said:
......
I was looking at your seat mounting arrangements - not sure I'd go with the 'extension' at the front to get the height - you can buy different shape mounts with more 'lift' which are potentially a better solution. the seat belt lower anchor point should definitely not be mounted to the seat bolt as you have it now - that bolt isn't very strong and it's only bonded into the seat - either mount it to the subframes somehow (which should use a much finer UNF pitch bolt which is strength rated) or bolt it to the floor with an FIA anchor point welded onto the floorpan. I have a few cars with 'road' belts and harnesses, I tend to run the 'road' belt through the harness holes to get them as low as possible on the body - particularly the 'lap' part needs to be snug so the enertia / pre tensioners have a decent chance of holding your body in an accident. I wouldn't go to full harnesses without at least a rollbar.
You're absolutely right - was meant to be a temp arrangement just to get the positioning right but stuck around for far to long. I have sourced better mounts which negate the need to use an 'extension' I was looking at your seat mounting arrangements - not sure I'd go with the 'extension' at the front to get the height - you can buy different shape mounts with more 'lift' which are potentially a better solution. the seat belt lower anchor point should definitely not be mounted to the seat bolt as you have it now - that bolt isn't very strong and it's only bonded into the seat - either mount it to the subframes somehow (which should use a much finer UNF pitch bolt which is strength rated) or bolt it to the floor with an FIA anchor point welded onto the floorpan. I have a few cars with 'road' belts and harnesses, I tend to run the 'road' belt through the harness holes to get them as low as possible on the body - particularly the 'lap' part needs to be snug so the enertia / pre tensioners have a decent chance of holding your body in an accident. I wouldn't go to full harnesses without at least a rollbar.
. I had a PM from another concerned PHer pointing that out as soon as I posted it. The belts are still attached to the same bolt that connects the seat to the mount which I figured if the FIA are happy it will hold the seat in place then it should be able to hold the belt end in as well. I take your point though and am going to investigate attaching it directly to the lowest slot in the mount with it's own bolt and backing nut- thanks for pointing it out. Running the road belts through the harness holes is good advice - thanks.Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 7th August 10:03
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 7th August 10:05
paulmnz said:
The FIA wont be happy those are seat mounts only, 5/6 point belts have to be attached to the vehicle either via rollbars or FIA plates with harness hook like these:
....
I get your point re 5/6 harnesses and I have those in my race car but these are 3 point road belts and in almost all road cars (including Ferrari) these are attached to the seat. those are seat mounts only, 5/6 point belts have to be attached to the vehicle either via rollbars or FIA plates with harness hook like these:....
Anyway - point taken and as I said above I will attach them to the steel plate bolted to the floor pan with a dedicated high tensile bolt and backing plate. Thanks again for the info.
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 7th August 12:19
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 7th August 12:19
I replaced my pre-cat O2 sensors today and took the car out for an Italian tune up to clean up the cats after running a bit rich on the old sensors. Car felt like it had found another 50hp! Genuinely astounded me when I floored it down my favourite stretch of country road. Granted I've taken 100kg out the car and had a DMS map that took it up to 525bhp, but the rears were lighting up constantly. First time I have properly s**t myself in this car for a while :-)
Thought I'd post in case others feel their car is down on power a tad. Tell-tell sign is even just the slightest of sooty deposit in the tailpipe - they should run absolutely clean. Could be other causes of course (restricted intake, dodgy MAF, cracked manifold!!, failed ECU, etc) but with new O2 sensors costing just £50 online and fitting really straightforward it's worth investigating. Pre-cat sensors measure A/F ratio, post-cat sensors measure cat efficiency by comparing readings with the pre-cat (my understanding at least). Seems that these can start failing anytime and it's seldom a catastrophic failure, more often a slow degradation in sensitivity leading to the pre-cat sensor sending lean readings to the ECU and thus causing over-fuelling. Mine was worse on one bank.
Still loving this car and no plans to rest it for the winter - although cheeky front ARB bushings refresh scheduled for the weekend hence back on the ramp.
Thought I'd post in case others feel their car is down on power a tad. Tell-tell sign is even just the slightest of sooty deposit in the tailpipe - they should run absolutely clean. Could be other causes of course (restricted intake, dodgy MAF, cracked manifold!!, failed ECU, etc) but with new O2 sensors costing just £50 online and fitting really straightforward it's worth investigating. Pre-cat sensors measure A/F ratio, post-cat sensors measure cat efficiency by comparing readings with the pre-cat (my understanding at least). Seems that these can start failing anytime and it's seldom a catastrophic failure, more often a slow degradation in sensitivity leading to the pre-cat sensor sending lean readings to the ECU and thus causing over-fuelling. Mine was worse on one bank.
Still loving this car and no plans to rest it for the winter - although cheeky front ARB bushings refresh scheduled for the weekend hence back on the ramp.
Gibbo205 said:
thecook101 said:
Cheers guys. I wanted a historic racer feel and I think it's worked well. The car feels really special now and with the upgrades weight is down to 1426kg (48% front, 52% rear). If the DMS dyno is correct at 525bhp then power weight ratio is up to 368 bhp/ton.
Is that weight with fuel? You in it?Good to see an F430 modded and those wheels and seats look right at home.
Or as evo puts it "The kerb weight that we like to quote here at evo is the the DIN figure – that’s Deutsches Institut für Normung, or German Institute for Standardisation. This is the weight of the car with all the fluids necessary for operation, including a 90 per cent full tank of fuel."
Great day out at Silverstone with Circuit Days yesterday. Track was icy in the morning so a delayed start but once things warmed up a little the conditions were a great mix of dry and almost dry - just enough to keep you on your toes. Well organised and only one red flag which meant I went through two tanks of fuel over 100 laps! Always amazes me when people complain about the F1 gear-change on the F430 being cumbersome - check out the video for performance in Race mode. Only two other 'supercars' in attendance - a red Scud and a green HP.
https://www.facebook.com/circuitdaysevents/videos/...
https://www.facebook.com/circuitdaysevents/videos/...
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 21st January 14:30
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