F430 New owner diary inc. maintenance & upgrades

Remaining photos from this update.
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I spent some time on the car tonight and concentrated on getting the cooling system back together. I may have mentioned in a previous post that the 16M, Scuderia, F430 Challenge use a different radiator supply tube & hoses to the F430. When I got mine off the car to compare I found they are identical (in the photo it looks like the feed pipe is a different angle but it isn't) so this is yet another undocumented change that made it into the MY08 cars.

Given I had the new parts it made sense to fit them. I'll keep the old hoses as spares.

I got the RH rad pack built up with the Scuderia duct work. The ducts are a different shape to suit the bumper and save nearly 1kg over the F430 versions.

I mounted the rad pack mounted with new stainless fastenings.

The tape used on exterior parts of the loom has dried up and is beginning to peel away, so I'm cutting it off and renewing it as I work my way around the car.
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The exhaust, header tank, and airbox are back from Camcoat. I went for a triple layer of black ceramic coat.

I've fitted the exhaust . It has taken me over the 80kg saving mark which was my original target. On to 100 now!

M4 Rivnuts added to the header tank for the carbon cover, and cover fitted using plastic countersunk washers to neaten the fixings a bit. New OEM antifreeze decal applied.

New rubber isolators added to the airbox, and original fastenings replaced with stainless.

Dad painted the cat hangar brackets for me.

I've fitted some new rear number plate lights with stainless fastenings.
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The final piece of the rear bumper puzzle was the Scuderia specific aluminium pipe that links the exhaust valves on each side of the car. In the photo the pipe is laying on the floor.

Tyre kit
The tyre string kit arrived. The OEM gel canister is quite a bit heavier than the string kit!

The great thing is I managed to fit the new string kit in the original pouch.

Catalytic converter mounts - completed
The cat mounts are finished and I'm really happy with them. I've used stainless U clamps to secure the cats to rear silencer and these also double up as the exhaust side bracket of the cat mounts. Tow functions in one component: Colin Chapman would be pleased!

The right hand bank is mounted at an angle due to the F1 actuator and heat shield.

A few shots to show the mounts in situ.

As the cats are mounted in place I could fit the airbox and header tank.
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I've now finished the exhaust mounting system; he final piece of fabrication was the supporting frame for the silencer. As well as drastically improving on the performance of the original system I managed to save 1.336kg.

I shot a quick video to show the system in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tggbgqs1xg

Weight saving totals
Sprung weight saved: 59.13 kg
Unsprung weight saved: 23.29 kg
Total weight saved: 82.43 kg
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The throttle bodies on this car were one of the things that bugged me whenever I looked in the engine bay. They had oxidation spots on the top of them which had become engrained with dirt, so now seemed like a good time to address that.

Paint is always my last resort for finishing aluminium parts so if any other surface restoration is available I will take that option first. I just think bare aluminium is nice although I do appreciate there are some good paints on the market now.

Armed with a beer, some T Cut, a Dremel, and an assortment of fittings including some that weren't intended for polishing I managed to clean up the TBs and polish a dull shine; I didn't want a full shine as I don't think that would suit the car.
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My car was missing the cover set it was supplied with new which sadly isn't unusual; many people keep the torch, covers, and even tool kits and sell them separately to the car. An act of peasantry, in my humble opinion

I've picked up a 16M car cover set. The Spider covers are different for a start as they aren't lined underneath the hood area in order to prevent red bobbles on the hood fabric, and the 16M set is also unique because the seat covers are specific to the Scuderia type. The kit came with a windscreen/dashboard cover which I haven’t seen before.

The throttle bodies are generic Bosch but Ferrari have added their own casting piece to the rear incorporating a rubber boot to secure them to the plenum chamber, I’ve taken the opportunity to replace the O ring sealing those to the TBs and also swap the fittings for stainless versions.

A couple of weeks ago I bought some OE Scuderia carbon air box lids; as soon as they arrived I sent them to my painter. Here they are back with me sporting a new coat of lacquer - the stuff Ferrari use on their carbon is really poor quality so it's always good to renew it with a quality two pack product.

I have mentioned before that the Scuderia uses different MAF sensors, bodies, and connecting bellows. The bodies are 90mm vs the F430 85mm and the sensor elements themselves are also different. I did not want to make wiring modifications to my car at this stage to suit the Scuderia sensors plus risk issues arising from a different MAF sensor and scaling in the ECU calibration, so I researched and bought a pair of alternative 90mm MAFs which could house my existing F430 sensor elements.

In addition to a 5mm increase in ID, the length of the Scuderia MAF and bellows is also different. The Scuderia air boxes are different to suit the assembled free length. The Scuderia parts are at the bottom of the photo.

The F430 MAFs have a screen to promote laminar flow over the sensor elements but the Scuderia MAFs do not. I have a strong suspicion the F430 requires these screens because of the disruptive noise attenuation flutes on the air box covers just ahead of the MAF. The Scuderia has a much improved transition from air box to MAF so is unlikely to require the screen. I have removed the screens on my new MAFs.

According to Eurospares the oil seals for the Scuderia PAS cooler are discontinued which if correct is pretty shocking. I had to find an alternative to get the car ready for the end of July and determined 17mm ID 3mm thick Viton O rings were correct.
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Scuderia electronics research – Part 4
The Scuderia cluster arrived back from FAI and I had a bit of a game with customs along the way: the declaration form didn't make it clear this was a return consignment so I was charged import duty on the value of the clusters rather than the work carried out. There was a £400/$526 difference between the two!

I fitted the Scuderia cluster to test its various functions and all were OK, and the recorded mileage being correct. The engine starts and rev counter works, too, so FAI did good! Changing Manettino position is recognised on the cluster as a beep which tells me the drive mode CAN words are the same between F430 and Scuderia but the Scuderia cluster won’t communicate over CAN with the F430 ABS module, so obviously the next stage is to retrofit that. I already have the new wiring looms I just need the digital lat/long yaw sensor.

The ABS work will come under phase 2 of the project, so on the mean time I disassembled both clusters and swapped the dial faces and needles, then refitted the original F430 cluster to give me the Scuderia look.

Rosso instrument cluster cowl
Fitted and from the drivers’ seat it looks good, and will look even better once I find a Scuderia steering wheel to be trimmed in matching Rosso. I will be very pleased with the overall look. The problem was from outside the car the OEM Rosso leather looks a dirty shade of red against the Rosso Corsa paintwork, so for now I've removed the new cowl and refitted the original but ordered some leather samples to choose a shade that better matches the paint. I’ll have the replacement retrimmed when I find a Scuderia wheel.

Scuderia PAS cooler
F430 (top) and Scuderia (bottom). The Scuderia cooler is a bar and plate type which provides more cooling capacity than the F430 tube type. Unfortunately a few parts are on back order via Eurospares and one of those was the rear bracket for the new PAS cooler, so my Dad tried his hand at fabrication and made the bracket. It fits perfectly.

The Scuderia cooler is a KTM part and perhaps from one of their four stroke bikes. I searched online for the reference 43240 but didn’t return anything.

Photo to show Scuderia PAS cooler fitted with RH radiator pack and Scuderia duct.

Catalytic converter mount heat shields
I had some spare Nimbus laying around from a previous project so decided for the sake of 20 minutes I would fabricate some heat shields for the cat mounts.

On each side the new shields butt up to the existing gearbox shields.

Rear bumper finishing details
As previously stated some of my parts are still on back order. The Scuderia bumper is fitted with a large grille covering the black painted area around the exhausts, but the time has come where I want the car back on the road so I'm going to have to compromise by running without it.

The grille covers a cooling aperture on each side of the bumper and of course the holes that it is fastened through.

I’ve fabricated a couple of grilles for the cooling apertures and have on order some 6mm blanking plugs for the fastening holes. The grilles are secured with stainless fastenings to some of the OE grille Rivnuts and the upper sections is held with butyl tape. There compound curves in the Scuderia grille so it would have taken more time than I have available to fabricate an acceptable temporary version.

Photo to show new grilles fitted. Blanking plugs to be fitted when they arrive.

The rear number/license plate is usually mounted to a plinth - which I bought new - but after some experimentation I found I actually preferred the plate mounted directly to the bumper itself.

Rear end final assembly
I've been around the car checking torque settings for all suspension nuts and bolts then marking them with Torque Seal once checked. I'm glad I did because some of the lower arm to chassis nuts were out by a fair bit.

I've replaced the wheelarch liner fastenings with stainless versions; I kept the pan head as per OE.

The carbon rear diffuser is ready to go on but I ran out of time this week.

Front bumper
I previously ordered some 3mm ABS Textured Sheet and Dad kindly made some skid plates from it. I've affixed them with construction gel tape used for securing aluminium cladding to buildings and motorhomes (RVs). I did not want to use bolts because in the worst case scenario I'd rather the skid plates were damaged or even ripped off rather than the risk damage to the bumper itself.

Headlamps
I have a couple of changes for the headlamps: 1) de-chrome the light pods, and 2) make clear indicator lenses.

Photo to show indicator pods sprayed. These required careful masking as obviously the internal chrome must remain to reflect light from the bulb. I used a scotch pad to key the existing surface.
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I spent some time on the headlamps in the garden this eve after a nice BBQ; I was beginning to think summer wouldn't arrive in the UK! Anyway, I found it best to completely strip the headlamps to finish them. Once stripped, I could remove the last traces of the original sealant, and it also gave me an opportunity to clean the projector lenses.

Photo to show RH headlamp completed ready for the Scud Ing Swiss ILUAL43 'Ultimate Version' DRL to be fitted.

I'm still waiting for the carbon headlamp inserts from Stoian at Parts3000. I sent my originals off at the beginning of June and the carbon versions were supposed to be manufactured in 20 days, but there have been problems. I don't know if I will receive them in time to get the car on the road, which is frustrating, so I'm starting to think about a contingency plan.
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Yeah - I like that!

 

Hi Fredrik,
Thank you. I have, yes. I will make another update later this evening and provide some additional photos and information. The hardespt part is taking apart the headlamp - the glue is not the normal type that softens with heat. It took me a long time to get the covers off without damaging anything.

Regards,
Mark

 

Headlights
Still no word from Stoian / Parts3000 and no response to my contact attempts. Starting to get concerned. I had to press on regardless.

Using the F430 indicator lenses I marked up the Mini One front fog/indicator lights with a Sharpie, making sure that the diffuser rings were located centrally.
[photo 1]

I used a Dremel to cut out the lenses and then the real work started; to make these look OE quality I needed to polish out the cutting marks and leave the edges crystal clear. To achieve that I used a polishing kit with red and green compounds.
[photo 2]

I'm really pleased with the end result.
[photo 3]

Test fit. They aren't on the car because I am waiting for a pair of orange bulbs to arrive, and for now I obviously had to put the headlamps together without the carbon inserts. Eagled eyed followers of the thread may notice that I sprayed the Xenon ballasts satin black - this was to make the headlamps look more presentable without the inserts fitted.
[photo 4]

Dad refurbished the headlamp brackets for me and of course they all went back on with stainless fastenings.
[photo 5]

Front bumper
This was a real challenge. In fact, it was the biggest challenge of the project. There were to issues here: the first, which I knew about, was the Scuderia and Challenge models use a slightly different front 'cage' that is welded to the front sides of the car to house the radiator packs and to secure the edge of the bumper and wheel arch liners. The second which I did not anticipate was the degree of variation in body tolerances and pretty much every non-precision part attached to it.

Dad gave me a hand and we spent no less than two afternoons in the workshop striving to get the fitment acceptable. During the phase of collecting parts I was told by a couple of people that I would need to cut the front bumper around the radiators, but I did not want to do this. It's not really how I work. The Scuderia bumper must fit as per OE, but to make it more difficult the Scuderia bumper is a much more snug fit around the radiator ducts than the F430 version is.

I ended up measuring pretty much all of the front end of the car and made tweaks to radiator positioning by slackening off their mounts and retightening in an aligned position, to make sure the bumper was going up to a perfectly aligned set of ducts.

The second change was to the radiator cage. The F430 cages are squashed in one area (green arrow) to provide clearance for the bumper, but I had to extend that to suit the Scuderia version to the points between the light blue arrows. I used a blow torch and hydraulics to achieve it - aluminium is very workable at the right temperature.
[photo 6]

I also measured the bumper and found the radiator duct join was circa 4mm out on the RH side, and that was responsible for the bumper not fully sliding fully on to the car. I ground it flat with a grinder.
[photo 7]

I think I could spend another afternoon on it but that's one for the winter.

Stuff
Scuderia engine bay panel heat shields on. These protect the carbon trim which I don't yet have - something else on the long parts list I have remaining!
[photo 8]

I think I mentioned before but wheel alignment studs are an absolute God send.
[photo 9]

A pillar trims
The later cars have a metal insert on the exterior A pillar trim rather than just a rubber strip. On my car these inserts were silver - the edges were powder coated black which makes me think the car was ordered that way. Regardless, it just did not look right.

Dad masked them off and I keyed them using some 2000 paper, then etched, satin black, and lacquer.
[photo 10]

I use HB lacquer. It's fantastic stuff. The best I've found.
[photo 11]

Gloss black. Much better.
[photo 12]

Wheel alignment
The car needed an alignment after all the work I've done, so I went for a four wheel toe alignment. I found that some of the companies I called up asked what car it was. Now, to me that's a red flag, and one of the quotes I was given after mentioning the car was £150. When questioning why it was over three times the price of my FWD Golf when it's simply another two track rod ends I was given a load of crap excuses including "the prestige of the car". That kind of stuff really annoys me (much like people charging a fortune to powder coat wheels), so I found another place who did it for £75. It was by no means the cheapest but they could do it there and then, and the service was excellent to boot.
[photo 13]

I will have a full geo when I get the time.

F1 issues
Since summer finally arrived the temperature in my workshop crept up and the car started to deposit F1 fluid on the floor. It didn't worry me too much because I knew a new clutch was fitted shortly before I bought it, so I assumed schoolboy error with filling the F1 fluid. The thermal expansion coefficient of ATF is quite high so it can end up out of the rain tube if the reservoir is overfilled, and the F1 tank finds its level in time.

I soon realised when driving the car that there was a problem. It drops into neutral and I get an amber slow down warning occasionally, and a blinking red F1 light. These are all symptoms of low pressure in the system. I had a few embarrassing moments when setting off from traffic lights - it dropped into neutral and I sat there revving it. Ha. I learnt to drive around it because I needed to get the alignment done, but upon checking the F1 fluid I found it was below the min mark. That puzzled me because I didn't understand why so much fluid would leave the tank to leave it too low - under normal circumstances it shouldn't.

To cut a long story short I'm driving the car to Christian Lewis early tomorrow morning for the F1 system to be bled. Ed Blasi thinks the actuator bleed screws are loose and letting air into the system thus pushing out more fluid than would otherwise be deposited by an overfilled tank in warm ambient temps. I have to give a mention to Ed because after a call this morning he's taking time out of his schedule at short notice to get my car ready for Silverstone. Absolute gent.

Weight saving
Sprung weight saved: 67.72 kg
Unsprung weight saved: 23.29 kg
Total weight saved: 91.02 kg
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The car is mobile!
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Thanks. I'm really pleased with it.

 

Thanks Russell. I've a lot of things left to source including the mirrors, though finding them in RHD is tricky so I may end up buying new. I'm considering the work to date 'phase 1' and will now enjoy and use the car whilst we have good weather, then pick up the project again over winter.

 

Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

 

Sorry, I missed this. It sounds fantastic. It's a lot smoother than the stock exhaust. I built the silencer with aftermarket headers and cats in mind so at the moment it's quieter than stock at high RPM. Once I get some new manifolds and cats it will be perfect.

 

Thanks Merril