F430 New owner diary inc. maintenance & upgrades

Glad you're finding it useful. I will run through some of the other changes in a later post.

I did send addict a PM last year regading the SF2 but never got a response. The thread is light on detail so just now I sent him another PM. Hopefully he gets time to reply, though I have now researched enough to start installing parts.

I can't wait to drive it when completed.

 

16M engine lid grilles
On red cars these grilles, the headlamp casing, and the rear diffuser are painted in the metallic grey used elsewhere in the interior and engine bay.

Obligatory weight comparison shot of the standard and 16M mesh grilles.

The mesh grilles reveal more of the engine lid frame so I took the opportunity to mask it off and give it a fresh paint of satin black.

That’s as far as I got because I didn’t realise the replacement grilles use M5 not M6 bolts, and I had run out of those in stainless.

Parts update
I’ve bought some more Scuderia parts from the Glickenhaus car.

- Scuderia ABS Module.

- Scuderia instrument cluster. This is from a US car hence the imperial measurement units for oil and water, however I've found a supplier in Germany who will provide the foils for those gauges with metric measurement units; the oil & water gagues are a seperate foil to the speedo and tach.

The actual electronics of the cluster are the same worldwide and the interntal configuration is set by softeware. I found the following post by Taz which provides details of a company who can port my mileage and other configuration details to the Scuderia cluster.

- Scuderia luggage compartment trim. This time the ‘full’ version. I am going to have it retrimmed in black Alcantara with red stitching.

- F430 Challenge and 16M/Scuderia use different upper radiator hoses and aluminium link pipe.

- Heat shields for carbon fibre engine bay panels - which I have yet to obtain.

Superfast 2 F1 conversion research - Part 2
Fchat user Eric (eric355) has provided me with some interesting information on the wire between pin 28 of the TCU and 54 of the right bank Motronic:

I have already confirmed that my MY08 F430 is equipped with the CFC301 and dedicated ‘fast gearshift’ wire, so I’m good to go from a wiring loom perspective.

Eric is a guru on the CFC201 and CFC231 generation TCUs and as he went from a 360 to 458 did not have a reason to investigate the CFC301 at an electronics level, however he has told me that the CFC301 does not store km travelled per gear like the 201 & 231 do. That leaves the number of gear changes for each gear in my TCU, but without a period of research it would be difficult to say how long/if that data could be ported to another CFC301 TCU, so I’m going to take a different approach and buy a brand new 16M TCU from Ferrari which obviously has all counters reset to zero.

Given TCU swaps are fairly understood and commonplace for 360 owners moving to the 360CS software there has been a bit of thought around data preservation. Helpful Club Scuderia member Mike has elaborated on a nice process that I am going to adopt for my car:

Incidentally the new TCU costs quite a bit less than the asking price of many used units; I know most new Ferrari parts are over-priced, but I’m find many used parts are even more so.

There are three unknowns remaining at this point:
1)Does the ECU torque limiting calibration for F1 shifting actually exist in the MY09 ECU? i.e. are the wiring similarites with Scuderia just because Ferrari wanted to standardise and save cost?
2)Does the ECU torque limiting calibration for F1 shifting is different between MY08 F430 and Scuderia?
3)Is the driving mode selection ID is different between MY08 F430 and Scuderia?

#1 and #2 are going to be a case of drive it and see. If any changes are required I will work with Zeus Flash to tune as necessary.
#3 is covered in the next section.

Scuderia electronics research – Part 1
I’m feeling quite comfortable about the Superfast 2 upgrade so I’ve moved on to looking at the other driveline electronic systems and calibration which are unique to the 16M/Scuderia. These are:

- ABS Module and E-Diff Module - together constitute ‘F1-Trac’;
- Engine ECUs;
- Instrument cluster;
- Suspension module;
- TCU (already covered).

Drive mode selection
From what I can ascertain the drive mode selection in the F430 and 16M/Scuderia models is initiated by a CAN broadcast from the steering wheel node; essentially when the Manettino is moved between positions an ID is broadcast on the CAN network and read by the relevant modules as a trigger to use a particular piece of calibration (commonly referred to as a ‘map’) specific to the selected mode e.g. in low grip mode the ABS/ESP module uses a map which permits a lesser degree of slip.

The question at the moment for me is whether the actual CAN word (data) is different for the MY08 F430 and 16M/Scuderia or is it simply a common ID and each connected device does something different with it. I’m away from the car at the moment so don’t have chance to start analysing the CAN data, so I’ve looked elsewhere.

I’ve found a data logging device manufactured by AIM technologies which suits both F430 and Scuderia, and its documentation refers to a 'Ferrari F430 ECU Bosch protocol' as common to both cars. The logger has a monitoring channel for 'F430_CST ' (traction control selection) so I've emailed the AIM technical team in the hope they will be kind enough to divulge whether the traction control selection CAN word/ID is the same for F430 and Scuderia. http://www.aimtechnologies.co.uk/downloads/ecu-connections/stock-ecus/FerrariF430_F430scuderia_101_eng.pdf

The best case scenario is that the driving mode CAN word is the same between MY08 F430 and Scuderia and only the display icon presented by the instrument cluster differs, and of course the actuation software in the various actuation modules. This is perhaps wishful thinking, but I am going to test it by installing a Scuderia steering wheel as the starting point – a successful test will be if it changes my F430 driving modes as normal despite the Manettino icons being different, and a fail will be if it does nothing at all i.e. the CAN word it broadcasts is unknown by the F430 modules.

A successful test of the steering wheel will make things easier to implement because it means I can take an incremental approach to module replacement. A fail of the steering wheel test will mean I need to undertake a ‘big bang’ approach and replace all modules in one go; an approach that potentially makes diagnosis difficult.

ABS module
The F430/16M/Scuderia grip enhancing and safety system uses the ABS, E-Diff, and ECU. The ABS module obviously contains the software element used to control the brakes.

As well as the software, I know that the 16M/Scuderia ABS physically differs to the 05-07 F430. Photos to show the modules.

Note the different electrical connector and external pressure sensor on the F430 module. The ABS module is connected to a sub loom that also links the ABS sensors and brake pad wear sensors back to the module and into the car loom. I’ve checked wiring diagrams and the junction point for the 05-07 F430 is identical meaning that from a wiring perspective it is quite an easy change. The other change is to the short brake pipes to the module itself, though these are cheap at ~£16 each and easy to change as Ferrari made the pipe sections modular.

I’ve gone ahead and ordered the 16M/Scuderia loom as it was surprisingly cheap, however this may have been a little premature as I research more and find out how many changes were made to the MY08 FC430; it may be the case that my car has the later (1M/Scuderia) type ABS module, so my next task is to have a look and see.

For the E-Diff module there are not any wiring differences I can discern.

Engine ECUs
Currently out of scope. I can reach similar power levels and maintain my ECUs, however should I be forced to use Scuderia management I have identified the parts I need to do so. There are a few changes on the MY08 that will make this easier

- 16M/Scuderia/458 coils. These are a push in type and four pins thus supporting the ION knock detection system. Photos to show 05-07 bolt in type and MY08 push in type

- Challenge/Scuderia type long nozzle injectors and inlet manifold runners. The injectors are a different flow rate. Photos to show each type.

- Also, Challenge/Scuderia valves.

Instrument cluster
The 2008 F430s changed to a DIGITEK instrument cluster which is also used by the Scuderia cars. I know that the software proxy file installed in these later F430 clusters will run the LEDs on the Scuderia steering wheel without further modification. The cluster displays the selected driving mode as an icon on screen so I need to change it to represent the different driving modes of the Scuderia.

Suspension module
I’ve checked the wiring diagrams and can confirm there are no wiring changes between any F430 and the Scuderia. The ‘bumpy road’ button is not wired to the module as I would expect but rather it earths pin 6 of connector C on the instrument cluster. The instrument cluster on all F430/16M/Scuderia is linked to the suspension module connector C pin 17 and I believe this to be a K line, therefore the Scuderia instrument cluster must handle the ‘bumpy road’ request via the K line.

TCU
See Superfast 2 conversion research section.

 

Ahh, noted - thanks Eric

 

Update time. For the sake of efficiency I will stop writing '16M/Scuderia' and instead use 'Scuderia' unless the part is specific to either type.

Scuderia electronics research – Part 2
Drive mode selection
Further studying of the wiring diagrams has revealed that the Scuderia's racing Manettino 'CT off' position is Race mode but with a single change at the ABS/ESP module.

ABS module and E-Diff module
In my last update I mentioned that the junction connector between the ABS loom and the car loom was identical between Scuderia and F430. It is identical, but there are some key differences. The Scuderia models have a wire from the Manettino to the ABS module for deactivation of traction control (CT). I take from this that selecting 'CT off' at the Manettino simply broadcasts the Race mode CAN ID along with earthing the CT off pin at the ABS module, via this additional wire.

Another crucial difference between the F430 and Scuderia ABS/ESP systems is the yaw sensor. The F430 has four wires linking the sensor to the ABS module and because of this I make the assumption that it is a two channel analogue sensor: a combined yaw and lateral acceleration sensor. The Scuderia does not have these dedicated wires and instead must use the CAN bus to communicate with the sensor. I tracked down the ESP sensor and confirmed a part number change for F430 and Scuderia. The F430 uses a black top Bosch sensor 0265005241. It is no longer used by Ferrari on new cars but is used in a wide range of cars by different manufacturers.

The Scuderia uses a white top Bosch sensor 0265005616. This sensor is still in use by Ferrari and again is used on a number of other cars.

The two sensors are physically identical and use the same wiring plug but I would like to think the key is different thus preventing accidental replacement with the wrong type.

On learning these differences I went ahead and purchased the RHD Scuderia ABS loom, but I may have jumped the gun a little here because knowing what changes were made to 2008 cars I should have double checked if my car already uses the later ABS module and yaw sensor. I will do that today then decide how to proceed, but either way I’d be very surprised if my body loom had provision for a CT off wire. We shall see.

I have also confirmed there are not wiring differences for the E-Diff in F430 and Scuderia.

Scuderia steering system
I knew the Scuderia had a different rack but specifics for these cars is thin on the ground. I finally tracked down an Italian press which covered the mm/giro (turn) measurement of the rack so using that together with the information I already had for the F430 rack I calculated the missing details for the 16M/Scuderia rack. I also identified that the 599 uses the same rack type, so using another piece of info I found for that I could fill in the blanks.

I know from experience that somewhere around 13:1 is the perfect ratio for road and occasional track day use; I've gone down from 15.4:1 to 12.8:1 in my E46 M3 and that's very direct but as far as I'd like to go for fast driving on non-track surfaces. The 458 is somewhere around 11:1 which for me is too much for road use (good for sales by creating an immediate feeling of change from the previous model), however the 599 is in my view pretty much perfect. I'm quite sure that the 599 rack would bolt on to the F430 as long as the longer track rod ends were swapped for the shorter F430 versions but then there's a consideration with ESP programming: a quicker rack without the reprogramming to suit means the system is effectively 'loosened off' because the quicker rack has less steering angle per equivalent wheel angle.

The changes in the Scuderia system also extend to the PAS pump and cooler. The F430 cooler is a simple exposed tube type whereas the Scuderia uses a four row bar and plate cooler. I've ordered the mounting brackets to suit and also require the connecting pipes.

16M engine lid
In a previous post I covered the difference between the F430 Spider and 16M engine lids whereby the 16M has scallops on the structural members in order to clear the larger carbon air box lids. That is something I will do to my lid in due course, but I subsequently noticed that the 16M lid also had modified grille supports to further aid with clearance.

The photos show the F430 vs the cut down 16M parts, the original mounting brackets removed and weighed, and the cut down trims weighed. Although Ferrari didn't do this with weight saving in mind I wanted to know the combined weight savings of the grille/lid changes.

Photo to show cut down trims fitted showing exposed primer previously underneath the full length brackets. This is the area that I will reshape to 16M spec. It will of course be repainted afterwards in satin black.

Photo to show weight comparison between F430 and 16M grille mounting screws and the 16M grilles fitted.

The Spider models have a specific guard/trim piece at the rear of the engine lid. Ferrari never offered this in carbon but I have decided to commission a one off carbon replacement. The original part is 200g and I expect to save 150g. This is more of a cosmetic change.

The above engine lid changes combined have saved 1.412kg.

Challenge/16/Scuderia carbon plenum
New clamps and gaskets ready to refit the carbon plenum. I also have plans for the manifold runners that I'll cover in a later post.

The carbon fibre plenum I'd purchased had a crack in the top edge and a couple of abrasion marks between the plenum chambers. I knew this when I bought it but I've only just got around to commissioning a repair; it's now with a repair shop who are also organising a repaint/lacquer in the Speciale style. The following pics show the repair work complete redy for the bodyshop to take over.

Scuderia front bumper
I had sourced a nice used front bumper which was paid for and supposedly en-route from Poland. Two weeks went by and nothing arrived and no contact from the seller, so at that point I expect trouble. I got in touch and was told by the owner that one of his staff had stolen the bumper - which I found a little strange, but not impossible - so he would refund me. He also gave me the option to wait two weeks as he was due another bumper. I decided to take a refund. I lost out on the exchange rate conversion but these things happen.

Two weeks later I received a photo of the next bumper in stock, but I could tell by the shade of grey that it wasn't factory primer. I asked for a photo of the rear side because I can spot a non-genuine bumper a mile off by looking at the rear. The photo wasn't forthcoming. It was around this time that I noticed the seller had advertised the bumper I had bought on Polish eBay for a higher figure, so my advice is to stay well clear of a Polish supercar parts company trading under a name beginning with O.

In the end I bought a brand new OEM bumper from Homepage and I can't really recommend them highly enough. Really, really good to deal with. As a bonus I paid only a fraction more than most used number are advertised for.

I've chosen my PPG Rosso Corsa colour shade for spraying the bumpers: 322(O). There are three PPG shades for 322: 322, 322(L), and 322(O).

I've bought a carbon diffuser for the front bumper. It's made by F.H. Radstal Nowogard - it's a perfect fit and the weave is good. I recommend them.

I did finally receive a photo of the rear side of the other bumper I mentioned. It was a copy!

Misc parts
16M emblems for front wings. I now have the complete set; out of interest I weighed them because they felt heavy.

Antifreeze decal for the header tank. It arrived with a crease in it so I've asked Claudio at Eurospares if he can help - I'm sure it'll be fine. Today I'm going to remove my tank to fabricate and weld on some aluminium ears to mount the carbon fibre cosmetic cover, and after that's complete it'll obviously need to be refinished.

The F430 header tank and air boxes are sprayed in metallic grey whereas the Scuderia lower air box and header tank are finished in a textured black powder coat. I'm going to match the 16M/Scuderia colour but I'll go one step further by sending the tank and air box base to Camcoat for triple ceramic coating. I've always thought this necessary because of the proximity of the air box to the exhaust silencer - the following thermal image taken from a post on Ferrarichat shows that the air box base acts as a big heat sink, which can't be good for optimum performance.

Photos to show:

- Bobbins/isolators to mount the header tank. Mine had some surface rust.

- Carbon sill script emblem attached. These are located with three pins and secured with 3M VHB RP45.

- Disc securing screws. Mine had surface rust.

- CTEK MXS 5 battery charger. This is a more advanced version of the model that was supplied with the car. Thanks to https://www.kumari.net/index.php/cars/ferrari-battery-charger-cable I've located the necessary connector and pins from RS to build an adapter cable to plug it into the factory fitted charging socket.

- DRLs from Scud Ing Swiss. These are the new 2400 Lumen ILUAL43-HDRLV3 'Ultimate Version'.

- Exhaust mounts (used) from an E46 M3 and 3m of 10mm stainless bar. I'm going to use these to mock up a new mounting system to replace the heavy and useless standard design.

- Exhaust heat shield for rear bumper. This is the outstanding side that was on back order at the factory.

- Hill Engineering dead pedal. I fitted one to my last car and it really made a nice finishing touch to the interior.

- Number plate plinth for the 16M/Scuderia rear bumper. This is required because the mesh grille sits in-between the plate and the bumper, so the plinth provides a secure fixing base.

- Strikers for the A posts. My original strikers had suffered the usual fate of degraded/worn plastic on the striker post. I saw that Ferrari had updated the part and assumed they had increased the thickness of the plastic, or switched to Derlin to make it stronger. They haven't - they just removed it altogether.

- Suspension nuts for the arms and shock lower bolts. I had bought a set of nuts for use on the car but I hadn't spotted that Ferrari use grade 10 for everything, so I've bought OEM to use instead.

F430 improvements by year
Taz/Terry Phillips once posted a list of changes made to various assembly numbers of F430. I've built on that data with information I've learned and correlated various assembly numbers with VINs in order to create a timeline based spreadsheet showing the list of changes vs approximate year of production. It can be downloaded at the following link:

http://www.mwstewart.co.uk/misc/f430/F430 assembly changes.xlsx

 

Remaining photos added.
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Thank you! It's a modified F430. Resale value isn't a concern of mine but if a car like this were to come up when I was looking I would be ecstatic. I would pay 50% more than a stock car.

 

Sure thing - I'll take a few today although it is still on jack stands at the moment whilst I finish a few things, but you will get an idea.

I haven't actually driven it since starting on all the modifications. I'm waiting until the exhaust and new bumpers are on because they will remove quite a few more kgs.

Thanks for the comments.

 

Still very much WIP
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Yes, I am. Some details below:

16M rear anti-roll bar
A number of ARBs have been produced for the 360/430 platform and I've documented them in a table for reference. My starting point is always the 16M and I discovered that the first cars were fitted with the Challenge Stradale/Scuderia 21.5mm hollow rear bar, then at some time into the production run a 16M specific hollow bar was produced at 22mm diameter. Unfortunately it's approximately twice the cost of the 21.5mm bar, but I've gone with it.

The later rear ARBs featured a plastic bush collar rather than machined aluminium. I noticed this on my original bar.

Photo to show the weld between the hollow tube sections. I've gone with new OEM bushes and drop links.

The rear ARB is an absolute doddle to fit. I really like how it's integrated with the chassis members on each side and also how the mountings are designed such that the bushes remain the same part regardless of bar diameter. I took a tip from Voicey's blog and used red rubber grease on the contact areas. I've not used it before but it seems a decent product.

Standard exhaust removal
The standard exhaust has gone for two reasons: 1) I don't like the sound or the effect the valves have on driving, and 2) I want a lighter solution that suits the exhaust outlet positions on the Scuderia rear bumper.

In preparation for the new exhaust I've also removed the standard fixing brackets & fastenings ready for replacement by a bespoke mounting solution. The weight of the original components is as photographed. The F430 tailpipe sections are very heavy, but The Challenge (and Scuderia) systems make do without them hence shed quite a bit of weight. I have the optional titanium tips which save further over the standard Scuderia stainless tips and as the photo shows, I will go from 13kg total to just 686 grammes!

I also removed the silencer and weighed it at 12.8kg. Four of the six mounting nuts & studs snapped off which is something that also happened on my last car. I'm not reusing the standard silencer but if I was I fix the issue by grinding off the welded studs and replacing with stainless bolts and copper nuts.

More on component weights and comparisons to follow once I've finished fabrication.

Scuderia rear bumper - PDC conversion
To the best of my knowledge I don't believe that the Scuderia models were offered with parking sensors as an option but having driven my car over Europe last year there were some situations where I found them useful hence I will retain the OEM front and rear system on my car. I took a photo to show the starting point for the rear end conversion.

My Dad marked out the OEM F430 sensor positions on the Scuderia bumper.

I modified the rear bumper reinforcement to allow space to access the sensor mounts. This is how Ferrari did it on my standard bumper. Interestingly, the Scuderia reinforcement was actually pre-drilled with pilot holes for parking sensor access holes so it seems that Ferrari were ready to consider them as an option for the Scuderia.

I had removed the reinforcement panel to make a better job of the bumper; it allowed me to position the parking sensor mounts liberated from my standard bumper and work the rear of the bumper to get a perfectly flush fit for the sensors on the exterior face. Here's a photo showing the reinforcement panel being clamped back onto the bumper cover whilst the construction adhesive set. With the bumper work finished I had a test fit, and once happy I marked the position for the new exhaust tailpipes.

Scuderia front bumper - PDC conversion
I followed a similar approach with the front bumper and ensured that the parking sensor mounts sat flush with the exterior face. The Scuderia bumper is known for cracking around the fin on the air outlet on each side. It's a really silly piece of manufacturing/design because there's hardly any material supporting the join. I've attempted to mitigate the risk of cracking by filling the end of the moulding with epoxy and providing a support structure on the bumper itself.

Photo to show front bumper complete.

Inlet manifolds and plenum chamber removed
I have removed the inlet manifolds and plenum chambers. The standard aluminium plenum will be replaced by a carbon version and at the same time I'm taking the opportunity to have the manifold runners "ported" - I used inverted commas because this will be more of a finishing job than a fundamental change to their shape. Before starting I took a photo of the engine bay as-is.

Photo to show the plenum chamber removed with the manifolds left in the car revealing the bell mouth for each port.

Plenum and manifold runners removed/together. Access to the manifold and plenum bolts on Spider isn't great and especially not when it's one foot in the air on axle stands. The gaskets used in these later cars are thin steel coated with a sealing surface and are very efficient at slicing fingers! I'm going to mount the standard plenum chamber on my garage wall as a piece of art.

The ports are a thing of beauty; CNC finished at the factory and they appear matched to their respective inlet manifold. Like suspension Ferrari really seem to concentrate their efforts in this area. The green arrow shows the match between ports and gasket which is really very good and yes, there is scope for optimisation, but because the OEM job is so good the heads would need to come off for matching and if doing so I would want to dowel the manifolds to the head to ensure it was worthwhile. I have big plans for the engine but that will come later, so there won’t be internal engine work at this stage.

The manifold runners appear to be cast with a smaller port opening at the head flange end that extends 30mm up into each runner. It appears Ferrari use this area to take up any manufacturing tolerances when the head and manifold are CNC finished. On my car the machine work is offset by around 1mm hence there's a 1mm step on both sides. I've asked for this to be smoothed out as part of the port work that's been commissioned.

The bell mouths are another area that will be subject to work. Ferrari have a history of hand finishing this area of the manifold on their more limited run cars and I believe that extends to the Scuderia. I will emulate that here and extend the finish to within the manifold runners upstream of each injector.

I took the opportunity to photograph one of the extended nozzle injectors that were first fitted to the F430 Challenge cars and later MY08 F430 then Scuderia models. I've not come across an injector nozzle with so many spray holes.

Scuderia electronics research – Part 3
My car has the standard F430 ABS module and the analogue yaw sensor. This means I need to decide on the most efficient and maintainable way to upgrade the car to the later ABS system. This will be part of tranche two that I’ll start to work on later this year – in the meantime I’m going to finish the car to the spec I had in mind ready for summer i.e. everything documented so far minus Superfast 2 and the other Scuderia electronics. I can drive and enjoy the car over the summer and continue my research at leisure.

F1 panel
Given the amount of options my car came with i.e. lots of carbon the F1 control panel stood out as the only silver/alloy finish part left in the interior. In view of that I've decided to have it sprayed to match the wheels and other grey accents on the car.

Photo to show the panel removed and disassembled. I degreased it then used a scotch pad to get a decent key for some etch primer. It's now with the body shop to paint along with the bumpers.
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Remaining pics attached.
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Spider hood top housing
I've been looking around the car to find more opportunities to save weight. Although the Scuderia and 16M models went quite far in this regard they weren't unlimited production budget cars, so there is some scope for further weight reduction.

I'd noticed when working on the car that the housing which holds the convertible hood when retracted is made from the same moulded fibrous material as the F430 front and rear undertrays. There were a couple of revisions to this tray during the 360's production run as mentioned in Voicey's blog post, but beyond that it remained unchanged. The function of the tray is to seal off the front of the engine compartment from the elements and contain & support the hood when it’s retracted – wet or dry.

Although the tray has a support function, like the standard undertrays and diffuser it is most certainly not weight optimised. Here is the standard part which weighs in at 12kg!

I’ve been in contact with Stoian who owns Parts3000 - a Ferrari parts and composites specialist based in Bulgaria. It is actually Stoian is producing the carbon version of the engine lid trim for me. Following some discussions with his team Stoian reckoned he could make for me a carbon replica of the hood housing that maintained all of the recesses, mounting points, and drain holes that are absolutely necessary to make any replacement part a viable option. This morning I received an email from Stoian with some pictures of the first part fresh out of the mould. I am over the moon with it - at 1.55kg is lighter than the standard part by 10.45kg.

There is some cleaning up to do of release agent, OE grommets to swap over and the rubber edging strip, but I'm really impressed. This new part narrows the gap between Berlinetta and Spider from 53kg to 43kg and will enable me to surpass the 80kg weight saving Ferrari achieved with the 16M.

I now just need to figure out the best way to fit it
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My new bumpers are back from the body shop. I love getting parts back from paint!

Rear bumper
Rear bumper after a mop and polish.

I've bonded in the OEM parking sensor mounts so I'll leave it 24 hours before I add the loom etc.

Front bumper
There's a little bit of prep required on the front bumper. The side grilles are mounted to studs bonded to the bumper. I've not seen bonding fittings before but soon found they are used in fibreglass parts to incorporate within the mat during the construction phase. In this application they are bonded to the finished surface.

I'm using Sikaflex 221 to bond the studs. The studs themselves are BigHead 23mm bonding studs. I've also bought stainless fastenings to replace all mild steel fasteners around the bumper area.

The final piece of prep on the front bumper is to mask off the side vents and spray stain black around them and the headlamp washer jet apertures. It's not particularly finished but it is how Ferrari do it. It means the openings appear black from the outside.

I had been told that Scuderia radiator ducts are required to fit the Scuderia front bumper but when comparing them to my F430 versions I couldn't immediately tell a difference. They are however just under a kilogram lighter so for me worth the trouble.

I initially drained the coolant via the front rads in order to move them without putting any undue pressure on the coolant hoses, but in the end I found that removing the fan on each rad liberated enough space to replace the ducts without disturbing the coolant hoses. I had to drain the coolant anyway as I want to remove the header tank so it was no big deal.

I'm not a gambling man but I'd say the odds that the coolant was never changed are extremely high. The car is one owner and full Ferrari history - done every year – and a recent service states “full fluids service”. This is my second F430 with full Ferrari history and I found similar ‘oversights’ on the last. Disappointing.

Here's the car with the bumper and rads removed. My next task is to replace the F430 PAS cooler with the Scuderia version.

Along with the bumper fittings I'm also replacing all headlight and rad pack fastenings with stainless.

Headlight upgrade
The F430 has chrome (vacuum metallised) finish plastic bezels surrounding the lights and an ABS bowl. On my car this is metallic grey but depending on the body paint colour the bowl may be painted black.

I've removed my headlights to strip down. Stoian/Parts3000 are going to make carbon fibre versions of the headlight bowls - optional for all models, standard fit on the 16M - and I'm going to strip off the chrome finish on the bezels and paint in matt silver - as per all Scuderia models.

I'm also going to experiment with creating clear front indicator lenses. I've bought a couple of new front indicator/driving lights from an R52 to play about with.

Misc
I've removed the header tank and marked it up to have some tabs TIG'd on to mount the carbon fibre cosmetic cover.

My workshop is also getting a bit full of standard F430 parts so I will soon start selling them off. If anyone needs a part I've removed please do let me know.
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Thank you, Fred. That's exactly how I feel about it.

 

Manifolds finished
I have the manifolds back from V8 Developments - Head Porting. Photos to show removal of the step and the rough finish from the casting process.

Bumper builds
I've started to build up the new bumpers. I had a couple of carbon upper segments so chose the one I liked best.

The rear PDC loom runs along the row of fastenings that secure the carbon upper segment. These are much closer to the exhaust outlets on the Scuderia bumper, so I've shrouded the loom in high performance heat insulating sleeve.

Photo to show the rear bumper complete with reflectors, heat shields, etc. etc.

I did much the same on the front bumper - installing PDC, and the washer jets etc.
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Carbon front splitter fitted using stainless fastenings.

My F1 control panel was sprayed at the same time as the bumpers and now matches the wheels and front bumper air dam.

I've picked up some 458 Challenge CCMs to use as cores for refurbished Scuderia front discs. The 458 Challenge discs are 398mm x 37mm Brembo CCM-R. Scuderia front CCMs are 398mm x 36mm but the company refurbishing them are happy to take the CCM-Rs as cores.

For info, CCM-R discs can be identified by the fewer number of holes and even spacing between them. Photo to show my 380mm and regular 458/Scuderia 398mm x 35mm CCMs for comparison: mote the greater number of holes and appearance of random spacing.

CCM-R discs must be pre-bedded by Brembo:
"Pre-bedding is the process of transferring pad material to the disc surface in a controlled environment. It is critical to have a transfer layer of pad material on the CCM-R disc to generate friction. Due to the material strength of CCM-R and the high level of surface hardness, it takes considerable pressure and temperature to transfer pad material onto the disc surface. This is done on a high inertia brake dynamometer using very specific computer controlled programs at the Brembo factory."
https://blog.racetechnologies.com/2015/05/01/brembo-carbon-materials-ccm-ccm-r-racing-carbon/

Rear upper cross member modification
Ferrari modified the F430 upper rear cross member to facilitate the high exhaust exit on the Scuderia but of course there is no documentation or guideline out there on how to modify an F430 to accomplish the same. The Scuderia rear structure can be bought from Ferrari but I draw the line at significant structural modifications to the car so I'm going to modify mine in-situ based on what I have determined from studying photos of Scuderia’s with the rear bumper removed.

Photo to show the standard rear cross member on my car.

It became obvious to me that Ferrari simply cut some box section in half and welded the two pieces over the original cross member, bored it out to suit the tailpipes, and then reinforced with a section of tube in the hole, so that is the approach I will take. I want to be as non-invasive as possible therefore my TIG won't be going anywhere near the car - instead I'm going to make use of modern adhesives technology to make the modifications. It is a two part structural compound with high shear strength.

I've bought some 3mm aluminium to fold up and start fabricating the new parts.

Headlight disassembly
As per my last update I'm stripping the headlights to make a couple of modifications. Because our house is a renovation project, the kitchen currently looks like a building site, which means I can do undomesticated things like put headlights in the oven!

The headlights are sealed with what people describe as 'perma seal', which essentially means the oven technique doesn’t work, but I’ve found that four 15 minute ‘bakes’ at 90 degree C softens the adhesive enough to work it free.
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