1998 550 Maranello "sorting" thread--DIY

Sark that's excellent news!

I have now completed the second consecutive major on my 550. All buttoned up today and driven.

I dare say that the car seems to run a hair *better* than it did last time. Amazing pull throughout the rev range with no flat spots at all.

The first is a video of the engine idling after warmup.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDvZD_V1ULs[/ame]

The second is a video of the exhaust idle with the factory exhaust plus Bradan straight pipes.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHL5IBu8nZU[/ame]

 

Taz thanks so much. I went with the 575 tension numbers, 160-170 Hz for the alternator belt and 120-130 Hz for the water pump belt.

 

Hi all,
I've been spending a significant amount of time redoing the Maranello's interior, now that drivetrain and exterior are completed.

My goals were the following:
1. remove all leather interior parts and thoroughly clean and protect. I discovered that leather was pulling off of many of the interior pieces, particularly under the rear window.
2. Remove carpets for replacement with new OEM.
3. Reinstall original Sony "Ferrari" cassette deck but mate it to an amplified aftermarket stereo system that did NOT disturb any of the factory appearance of the car. Also, mate a iPhone/ipod charger-adaptor to the OEM factory system.
4. After stripping the carpets, I wanted to inspect the OEM sound deadening scheme to see what's what, and whether I can improve on it to decrease road noise.


Pictures to follow...!

 

Breaking down the interior of the Maranello is pretty straightforward. I started by removing the e-brake cover, which is fastened by two small #1 phillips screws at the base on the front side of the cover. Remove the seats, taking care to cover the handbrake lever's leather wrap. They are held in by 4 hex bolts each...5mm I believe.

Once these things are out you must remove the door gaskets, which encircle the door opening 360 degrees. Be careful with the gaskets as they are VERY expensive to replace.

Next up remove the two footwell kick panels that cover the motronic ECU's. There are two screws for each. The transmission tunnel is covered by carpet-covered fiberglass molded pieces that are fastened to the body by screws. You must lift the carpeting out first that sits under each seat to expose those screws. However, the carpeting is held down by the floor mat metal fasteners, which are riveted to the metal of the floor THROUGH the carpet. Stupid. Drill out the rivets carefully and pop each metal fastener off...you can replace the rivets with screws on the reinstall.

Work carefully and don't pull ANYTHING too hard. The carpet rips easily so be gentle.
Once you have the floor carpets out you will see exposed the "sound deadening" mats that are under the carpet. (Photo 1)

Now that the floor was done I turned my attention to the rear deck. These parts must come out in a specific order. First thing, remove the luggage straps by unhooking the straps and flipping them outward, which reveals two small screws that hold down each chrome strap hinge. Remove these and lift the straps out. Once the straps are disconnected you can lift up the carpets on the rear deck. This is where I had significant distress as the adhesive holding the carpets had dissolved over time into a dusty mess. Remove the carpets of the rear deck, and you will see most of the screws that attach the rear side panels and rear trim panel (with third brake light assembly) to the car. You will additionally need to remove the black inner "B" pillar trim and the "caps" on the rear side panels to access all screws. They pop off via upholstery snaps, but be very careful and gentle!
Photo 2 shows the cap popped off the rear side panel, and all the dirt and dust underneath!
Photo 3 shows the inner "B" pillar cover removed with screw underneath
Photo 4 shows the base of the rear side panel with screw to the body. There are three of these total IIRC. The black covering below the panel is the factory damping mat under the carpet.
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Photo 1 shows the way the rearmost trim (with the third brake light) is fastened. Four screws do the trick. Remove the four screws, unclip the wiring harness, and you will be able to remove the piece. Removal of this piece exposes the final screw for each rear side panel (Photo 2).

The next step at this point after removing the rear trim and rear side panels is to remove the long leather trim that sits just behind the seats. It is fastened by four nuts to the body. One of these nuts is pictured next to one of the fasteners for the rear side panel (Photo 3)

Once that trim piece is lifted out, the webbed map pocket assembly can lift out. It is fastened at the top under two of those nuts for the prior trim piece. Lift it straight vertical and you will see it just slides in with tabs on the bottom.

At this point you can remove the two seatbelt assemblies that sit under the rear side panels. They are fastened by three 13mm bolts each. This is mandatory to be able to remove the rear deck sound insulation mat.

Once these sound mats were out I was able to see that some of the factory "damping mat" was actually dry rotted and easily removed from the metal. Doesn't do much vibration damping if it isn't actually fastened to the surface anymore. Boo. (Photo 4)
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Once all this is done the factory sound deadening "mats" can be removed. They are really not of optimal construction, as they appear to be composed of some sort of fibrous insulation attached to a cloth backing. I hope it wasn't asbestos. :-(

What you are left with now is the bare floor of the vehicle, photos 1 and 2.

The optimal way to prevent unwanted sound entry into a vehicle is through a combination of vibration damping and sound barrier installation. You can see in photos 1 and 2 the rather rudimentary attempts the factory made at vibration damping (the V shaped mats in photo 2). Factory applied vibration dampers are usually of lower quality and inadequate for the job at hand, usually to save weight.

This car will require application of additional vibration damper material. High quality vibration dampers are usually aluminum sheet backing coated with a thick layer of butyl rubber. I buy my damper materials from Don at Sounddeadenershowdown.com. He has a wonderful site with full explanation of the "science" of sound dampening. Using a wooden handle or drumstick you should tap the various sheet metal panels in the car, listening for resonance. I was still able to find resonant areas despite the factory vibration damper material. Photo 3 shows some of the areas that I identified on the back wall and floor where dampers should be applied. Most times it is NOT necessary to coat the entire inner metal surface of the car with damper material.

Once the vibration dampers are applied, you must create a barrier to sound transmission using a layer of mass loaded vinyl over the metal with a "decoupling" layer of closed cell foam in-between. Don sells the vinyl and CCF separate, and there are other manufacturers who sell a combination product (Second Skin Audio Luxury Liner Pro). I used the factory sound barrier mats that I removed from the car as templates to create the higher quality mats of Vinyl and CCF. This is a time consuming and tedious process, as the foam must be glued to the vinyl and then the foam glued to the car. Photo 4 shows the completed rear wall and rear deck area. The weight addition is probably minimal, as I exchanged the factory damping mats (which are pretty damn heavy themselves) with higher quality material that may be a little heavier but is probably comparable.
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Once the car's sound mats were replaced I was stuck, as I don't have the new carpets to replace yet.

Therefore, I turned my attention to cleaning/preserving/UV protecting the leather parts. Things came out quite well. (Photo 1)

I also refinished the hand brake handle and HVAC panel, which had sticky dials and a dented up surface (Photo 2 and 3)
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Carl,
You must remove the white "circuitry" case from the black front part, via four screws on the back to get to the back of the knobs. Each knob has a press fit set of tabs plus a reinforcing "snap ring" that can be removed with a standard snap ring pliers.

 

Bill I will make sure to detail that part! I'm mostly done with it.

 

Terry,
I came across a complete new OEM set of black carpets for the 550 that had been sitting in a suppliers warehouse for a while. Just dumb luck. I had wanted to change the carpet color to black so I pounced on it!