Project F430

Following on from my previous project I am now the proud owner of an F430. I was dead set on buying another 360 with the insurance money but this deal came along and I couldn't refuse it.

I've only had the car since yesterday so it's early days yet but I'm unlikely to be able to resist the urge to upgrade certain parts so watch this space.

If you want to know more about my first impressions I have posted about the topic on my blog.
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Thanks guys. The colour is Grigio Silvertone (I'll post the full spec up shortly).

I bought the car pretty much on the spur of the moment and didn't even have it inspected by someone else. I'm glad to report that when I hooked it up to an SD3 yesterday there was only one stored error (RHS temp probe) and it looks like it has had a recent clutch despite the invoices suggesting otherwise (wear is only 19.6%).

 

First mod - clear side repeaters. I've done a full write up on my blog including how to source them cheaply: Aldous Voice Ferrari Blog

Here's a pic - sorry it's not got more of the car in but I'm experimenting with new wheels and don't want to give anything away!
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First update was that I bought a pair of smoked side repeater lenses to see what they looked like against the dark grey. Although they looked OK I preferred the look of the clear lenses so they have stayed on the car. If anyone wants a pair of smoked lenses for cost PM me!

 

We've been getting quite a bit of rain here in the UK and I discovered that the wiper blades were useless. The 430 and 360 share the same wiper mechanism - the drivers side is 24" and the passenger side 21". I have toyed with "aero" blades in the past but never really got on with them so decided to go back to the old style. The car would have been supplied with Bosch wipers so that's what I bought. One change I made was to buy a blade fitted with a spoiler for the passenger side - originally this would have been without.

Here are the parts:

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It's best to stop the wipers part the way up the screen:

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And here they are - my OCD feels much better with the spoliers on both sides!

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Full write up here.

 

Final update for today was that I needed a new battery. I've been having some renovations made to my house and needed to park my car at a neighbours house. After a week the battery had lost enough juice that the engine wouldn't crank.

I chose a Bosch S6 - I prefer Bosch batteries and buy the best they have. Recently the S6 has been added to the top of their line. It is an AGM battery which means the electrolyte is encapsulated and the battery doesn't need venting - perfect for mounting inside the cabin.

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Since the new battery was slightly taller than the old one it was quite fiddly to install. A full write up with step by step instructions is available here but i will briefly explain here as well.

In this picture you can see that the wires that connect to the terminal of the battery pass underneath and to the left of the footrest bracket:

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I had to re-route the wires above and to the right of the bracket in order to give enough room to slide the battery all the way home.

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Once enough space was made the battery fitted in with no issues. I hopeful that having a new battery will provide a solid base for trouble free motoring going forward!

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That's it for now. I'm hopeful that I'll have an further update on wheels and tyres very soon as well as another tasty upgrade!

 

Time for another update. I have changed the plugs, I just need to do the proper write up and sort the photos.

Secondly, I have fitted the CS wheels from my old car. I think they go with the dark grey paintwork very well. I also fitted brand new Michelin PSS tyres.

Here's a pic of the car in a very dodgy part of London!

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Fianlly, I have also bought a pair of Agency Power headers. I wanted to change them from the factory items in order to negate any issues of the pre-cat break down and lunching the engine. In my opinion, there's a choice of Agency Power, Fabspeed and Capristo. I would have liked the Capristos but the price is very toppy compared to the other two and I felt the difference in cash could be better spent elsewhere on the car. We all know that the AP headers are the same as the Fabspeed ones but without the "Made in USA" sticker.

Rob at Vivid Racing hooked me up with a great deal including ceramic coating them. I can't recommend Rob enough - he really looked after me.

I've some time off work soon so will be installing these bad boys before the end of the month.

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