Hello follow enthusiasts. I am new in the Ferrari world. own a 550 now for a few weeks and found this site super helpful in the first weeks of ownership! thank you for that! I own a black tan 550 from 97. it ran 100.000km full history and two former owners. i found this car as a kid one of the most beautiful cars on the road (together with the 750 E38 and the z3 M coupe....) so far I used the forum to 'restore' the car with the following stuff I fixed the door (hinge plate in the door was cracked) had new rubberdoorseals(?) installed. had a new becker installed with all the bluetooth and gps stuff bought the SRI sillicon upgrade a secondhand airbag ecu on ebay a carbon cupholder and now I want to do two more things this year, but cannot figure out how it's done or where i can buy it. HID Low Beam Conversion & Skunkworks COP Conversion can somebody point me the way please? or how can i get in contact with skunkworks?
Congratulations on your 550, Thomas. Have fun and drive it in good health. I bet it was the driver's door. I had my my jamb repaired and reinforced too. PM Dave (ferrraridriver) and John (Cribbj) for information regarding HID and COP conversions. Barry
Well, that was a year and a half ago. In January, I bought the Switchable Steering FHP ECU Conversion. It will be installed in two weeks when I get my 550 in for servicing. I've decided to install it as designed rather than using a separate switch to isolate it from the Normal/Sport Mode switch. I'm looking forward to an improved 550. The F355 Challenge was great at Watkins Glen; eight days over three DE events since the above post. But there's nothing like the straight line acceleration of the Maranello! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Barry, Hope the installation goes well. any question just ask Next up is an electrochromatic auto dimming rear view mirror. I'm working on it now, should be finished next week.
Hi Dave, I showed it to the chief technician after it arrived along with the instructions. He looked at both and smiled. "This will be a nice modification," he said. He loves things like this. And he loves these cars. Barry Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Barry, glad to hear there's still a few pro's out there who enjoy doing things outside the yellow boxes.
My car is at Claasic Coach for its scheduled servicing, delayed a month because of the snowstorms we had. The switchable steering ECU is being installed, as you designed it Dave and John, to be controlled by the SPORT switch on the console and not independently by a separate switch as I originally planned to do. I'm looking forward to next week when I pick up my car. The instructions that came with it are very clear and the technician understands what needs to be done. It's nice to hear about the availability of the oil pressure sender boot at Ricambi. I'll give them a call Monday morning and hopefully it can be delivered while the car is still on the lift. Thank you, John, for its sensible pricing. You and Dave have always kept this in mind with everything you've helped Maranello owners with. Barry ps. these are my only Maranello Skunkworks modifications. Is that sufficient for a cloisonné badge?
I'm looking for advice on the best exhaust combo (mid-section and rear boxes) for my recently-acquired 550. I've just replaced the too-noisy-at-normal-street-speed straight center pipes and after-market rear boxes with stock items as a provisional measure. I'm looking for gentle hum with a hint of sportiness at 2000rpm to 3000rpm, building to a full-blooded V12 howl at 7500rpm. From what I've read, and what I've heard, the most likely way to achieve this is with a straight X-pipe mid section (Larini or other), and Mille Miglia rear boxes. All advice appreciated! PS. I've also fitted the CF cup holder (useful for cellphone or a smaller coffee) in place of the ashtray, and it looks fantastic with the factory-fit CF trim everywhere else. Other mods are so far limited to 575 engine mounts and hoses. I'd also like to add the dipped headlamp upgrade: Who supplies the best kit? Going to live with the car for a while before changing anything else.
Roger, exhaust note preferences are all over the board. Some think that loud is best. I don't know anyone who is going for quiet. I have the stock resonator and first gen Tubis. I get a lot of compliments on the sound my car makes. I would love to add straight pipes for the performance improvement, but have been told that my car would be annoying to drive. It's a lot of work (and expense) to experiment.
Dave- Correct, there is no best combination because tastes vary so much. There are much more extensive discussions on Maranello exhausts on this forum, including ones that dissect OEM and HGTC mufflers.
Roger- First thing to try is the straight pipes with your OEM mufflers. On 550s and early 575Ms, that usually is a useful improvement. Cheap, too. Then try rerouting the vacuum lines to keep your valves open all the time (550 valves are fail closed so need vacuum to stay open). If you do not like any of those, try your aftermarket mufflers with the OEM center muffler/resonator. That can all be done with little investment.
575 mounts Braided brake lines Porterfield Brakes Nouvalari exhaust Ceramic tint on windshield Hybrid tint on the rest of the windows Youtube video of my car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5SK_2WbfXU I would love to hear about mods to the radio/Cd changer. Think an Ipod dock would be great but am not sure about integration and installation. Anyone out there love their setup?
Hi Bob, I'm onto my second stereo(alpine) in 1 month. I have left the original speakers,taken out the CD stacker in the rear and relplaced the main unit,with a Bluetooth enabled head unit with an external mic and a USB port for charging the phone. Phone calls are much improved, but still nothing compared to our new ml350. Music streaming from the phone is great,definitely the way to go for me,as almost all my music is now in digital format. The only issue I'm having is being able to charge the phone,the USB port in the stereo does not charge my phone. The cigarette lighter is not deep enough for a plugin car charger(not to mention it states in the 550 user manual not to use the lighter as a power source) Just in case you might have been wondering, I love the sound of the exhaust and the engine,and for 80% of my driving there the sounds that rock me,but sometimes living a few hours from the city,you got to mix it up. Marce No signature!
Thanks Marce, We also have an Ml350!. Would love to know the model for the alpine and did your techs run into any issues when installing? Was looking for something that would integrate phone, ipod, and maybe satellite. Back up cam would not be bad either. BTW, I use the lighter to charge my HERO camera and have not had any issues with that.
hi bob, the head unit is very small compared to stock,so went in with ease,the only issue was radio reception...tech tols me is common with euro cars so he installed a frequency booster,it is small and fits in with the unit underneath,so invisible...has improved both am/fm bands tremendously. I changed my cell phone from a sony to a Samsung and now the unit charges my phone as well. alpine ute-42ebt/ute-42ebtth (australai) cheers marce
Updated list Heres a list of things Ive done to my 550 so far Modified shock mounts for better ride and no actuator wind-up Self bleeding steam line for improved cooling Switchable CD changer/IPod input for radio via dummy switch on dash Three button remote unlocks/disarms, opens trunk, garage door opener Hot switchable stock to FHP steering assist via Sport switch Center resonator delete with Bradan straight pipes to stock mufflers Xenon HID low beam headlight conversion Coil on Plug ignition system Hard wired remote Valentine1 display Never droop passenger side sun visor Canton Mecca replicable cartridge oil filters with remote pressure sender Back up sensors in license plate frame, the display is on the dome light 575 engine mounts CF cup holder in place of ashtray Hard wired Garmin Nuvi with ecoRoute 575 fuel pumps with no rubber parts, aluminum pump covers Electrochromatic auto dimming rear view mirror (the 599 has the same) Cruise Control SS wire wrapped throttle cable CF dash vent rings Upholstered tray on center tunnel
My current list: 1999 550 1.0 cm brake pedal spacer (with rusted bolts) for safer heel-toe maneuver Hardware cloth panel to replace louvers in the front aerodynamic bottom Burns Stainless 321 SS straight pipes to replace the center resonator 2nd generation Tubi mufflers 19.5 mm HGTC rear anti-roll bar Silicone coolant hoses Onboard Schumacher SE-1-12S Battery Charger and Maintainer Maranello Skunk Works Switchable FHP Steering ECU (switched via SPORT MODE switch) Maranello Skunk Works Oil Pressure Sender Boot
I sold everything to Rob at DeltaVee Contact him for information Here's the thread about what I did http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/456-550-575-sponsored-bradan/244510-550-rear-shock-mounts.html
Since this post: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/141480282-post9.html, I've added a few more as well: MSW Front Shock Mounts & Prototype Hydraulic Front Lift Kit MSW (Aerospace Logic) Catalyst ECU Replacement in place of ashtray MSW Prototype Steering ECU with custom map Relocated Oil Sender CWWHK's LED Conversion These will be included/done when the engine goes back in the car: MSW Upgraded Radiator with PWM Controlled Fans Plated timing sprockets w/welded fences Heavy duty inner timing bearing (170787) modification Repinned connectors MSW Cruise Control MSW Prelube System Capristo Exhaust These are still for the future: MSW Prototype Shock ECU MSW Center Console MSW FHP Kit MSW ITB's (actually hoping to test these during the break-in of my "big bore" 6.0 liter engine while we have it on the engine dyno) Tablet Based Infomedia System This last year and a half I've been focused on my 550's "major" major service, so Dave has been leading the charge with new MSW improvements for the 456/550/575 community. My "major" began with the usual belts/cam timing, etc. service, then digressed to pulling the heads for a rebuild due to excessive wear in the defective OEM bronze valve guides, and then after further testing/inspection, the block came out due to frozen top piston rings and pitted liners in several cylinders on the bottom end. It's all documented on the other site. Every cloud has a silver lining, however, and for less than the cost of new OEM pistons, rings & liners, hopefully I'll soon have a 550 engine built with better quality parts and it'll have a bit over 6.0 liters of displacement.
Dave DeltaVee doesn't show those shock mounts on their web site. John-Can you give me more information on relocating the oil sending unit?
For the shock mount modification you will have to call or email Rob directly. For the oil sender this is what I did. I replaced the original filters with https://www.cantonracingproducts.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=2501 replaceable cartridge filters and put the sender in one of the covers and a simple plug where the sender was originally. The picture shows one next to an original filter but both are in now Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dave & I took different approaches to this. I replaced the cast elbow where the sensor presently resides with a flanged adapter that had a -3 AN fitting, then ran a hose from that up to an area that was higher in the engine bay, where I'd mounted the sensor. I wanted to get the sensor and its electrical connections up away from that ASB and the road grime that it picks up. Both our ways worked out fine, but Dave's is easier to implement.
I used the short 4" version oil filters Canton #25-284. They are about a thumbs width taller than stock. 4 allen screws and the filter element comes right out. $70bucks for 6 filters down to 8 microns. Jegs.com has best price right now. These are bullet proof and weigh about as much as a tin filter full of oil but on a 3800lb car it does not matter. I will leave my sensor in the stock location.
