Cool - I look forward to that and appreciate your indulgence of all of us! I put the Pilot Super Sports on myself about 400 miles ago. Very pleased so far. Haven't taken to track yet but in the wet they seem to be a lot better than my old PS2s even though I had to down-size the rears from 275/40 to 265/40 (on stock Modena wheels). Unfortunately the sizes available in 18" (at least in Euro-land) are very limited.
Just a quick update. Took the car for a quick blast today (didn't really press on too much though because I need to do the full geo again since swapping to center locks). First thing that I noticed was an AMAZING (Night and Day) difference in ride quality since upgrading to the superlight center bells (1.6kg per corner) from the 430 Challenge cars and 2kg lighter wheels. Seriously I was so surprised about just how much better the car seems to now ride since cutting a few kilo's of unsprung weight per corner/wheel. It really has made a huge difference. Actually felt very silky smooth, almost like a limo which was a major culture shock. Not actually sure I like it so 'soft' and this was in race mode! Perhaps its also partly to do with swapping to Michelin's finest Super Sport tires vs Pirelli's? who knows? So surprised I am considering going with stiffer springs to compensate
WOW that is crazy! But I totally know where you are coming from. Less load on the suspension and wheels will make it go much faster and smoother, and be a lot lighter on the feet. Its like putting on Nike's lightest shoe. They made it for a reason
Trev, Speaking of spring rate, I remember reading an article about a hot hatch a few years back that had been so successfully lightened that the manufacturer was actually able to reduce the spring rate, to the effect of improving both ride quality and cornering... Have you changed spring rate from the factory? I've been following this thread for some time, but can't remember all the specifics, as you've been building this car for so long. And if you did, did you go stiffer or lighter as a result of less weight? Or does overall weight have anything to do with it... That being said, there is something more fun and immediate about a stiffer spring rate. Keeps you much more involved in the driving process. Also, I think I speak for everyone when I say that I would love a detailed video of the car. Been wanting a tour of the work for a long time (particularly something with sound, considering the extensive exhaust modifications). A lot of us are across the pond and won't ever get the chance to go to a gathering and examine her. Thanks for sharing so much. Looking forward to watching the engineering continue... M
Trev - looking very good indeed. Could we have more images of the interior? Why'd you pick LHD for the UK (as a benefit though it should be easier to export if you ever sell!)
Bought the car 2 years new and a LHD at that. Really felt no concern with LHD because I spent so many years living in South of France driving left hookers that it bothered me not one bit. As it stands I've spent more time driving it in LHD mainland Europe than anywhere else!
First Daylight pictures of the centerlock conversion.... I think it looks stunning! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks guys, Just back from a Ferrari Owners Club UK - North West meeting. My car got a lot of people confused, head scratching and all that. Lol. "How" was asked many times! Even the dealer principal came over to have a look! Here's a few pics... showing the difference between the standard CS factory stylistic copy of real 430 Challenge wheels (i.e. stock cs 5-stud's) vs actual 430 Challenge racing wheel's Enjoy! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Small update. Forgot to add the pictures from when I added this... The main difference between the Modena/Spider and CS suspension ecu is the software programmed response maps. In essence they are the same exact unit re-programmed with different maps so they control the shock damping with less bias towards comfort when in race mode. It is a very simple micro-controller. I think I remember seeing it was only running @ 12Mhz clock, it is an NEC embedded micro-controller with in-built flash storage (no separate flash chip) so you'd have to try to de-solder the chip, find a suitable reader or wiring pin-out of the chip and then replace the maps with the CS ones if you wanted to remap your own setting or use the CS ones as a base (Beyond the scope of this discussion so its far easier to just buy a new ecu). All the ECU does is simply have acceleration sensor inputs from the front and the rear of the car and use them along with a speed sensor input from the dashboard clocks to determine what SETTING to apply to each electronic shock absorber on the car. The AF Sach dampers fitted to the 360/430 have 3 different 'hardness' settings, SOFT, MEDIUM, HARD which can be changed by outputting a PWM voltage to the appropriate shock. The use of the acceleration sensors allows the car to be in 'soft mode' during low speed driving (below 20mph) at the benefit of ride quality and the firm up instantly as the road speed picks up. As far as I can deduce so far depending on the position of the switch the ecu can adjust to either Medium or Hard constantly by monitoring road surface perfections through analysing the acceleration sensor inputs. There is definitely scope to decouple the output of the suspension ecu from being in RACE mode while still relaying the correct CAN bus message onwards to the engine and gearbox TCU's to stay in Race Mode. Essentially the same feature as added to the Scud by wiring in a further switch but more investigation is needed on exactly how to accomplish this as people who've allegedly done this won't spill the beans. I'll get to the bottom of this and do a HOW TO. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well its been a while since I did a proper update on here. In fairness I have been incredibly busy with other projects and work so haven't had time to browse forums lately. Even so I thought I may as well do a short update before I begin posting again on this thread about my latest activities... Ok so firstly its back to my brakes... I currently have 380mm x 32mm front carbon ceramic material (CCM) brakes from the Challenge Stradale / F430, fitted with 'CCM2' RS29's Pagid pads along with 350mm x 32mm rear's. While these offer great stopping power and no fade the fact is I am running 458 Italia levels of tire grip (as offered by the 0.5" wider central locking rims from the F430 Challenge) and when both the 430 Scuderia and 458 Italia came out they boasted even larger CCM's! I always wanted the best possible braking and handling so if the opportunity ever came up I'd be game.... The 430 Scuderia uses a slight variant on calipers and discs from the F430 Challenge racing cars (basically the same Brembo calipers but different fitting kit is used on the racing calipers which makes them a tiny bit lighter than production cars) And recently I got that phone call and the deal was done. The pistons are in perfect working order with no damage or corrosion and I already had the 398mm discs sitting on the shelf in preparation for this moment so no I will now be going up from 380 mm x 32 mm fronts to Scuderia / 458 Italia spec dimensions. That means 398 mm x 34 mm at the front, the absolute maximum size that can physically fit within a 19" rim. Is that some kind of record for a 360? Certainly not many road going 360's driving around with nearly 40cm diameter discs on the front Here's some pics.... These are from the F430 Challenge racing cars so are the lightest ones that fit the stock Brembo 398mm discs... As ever I'll weight them, get them painted and fully clean them up before they go anywhere near my car but its another nice winter project... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Nice one Trev. I don't believe you can ever have too much braking surface. This project will never be complete, it will just evolve and move on............! Cheers!
Yes, its become a rolling lab for my experiments ... That's exactly what my other half keeps tell me! She's a widow to my hobbies Actually I have managed to rope her into doing a fantastic conversion on a pair of full carbon autoclaved super light 'F430 GT' racing seats. They will be fully re-trimmed to match my interior, fully re-trimmed in grippy Alcantara. The result... More weight saving and better looking seats. The original CF 360 Challege seats from Ferrari on the 360 Challenge weigh in at 5.9kg's each (12kg's the pair), my fully re-trimmed and customized to match interior fixed carbon seats will be only 3.5kg's each, that's another 5kg's banked Pictures to follow ... I'm already able to out brake a CS (since I have a larger tire footprint) and substantially lower kerb weight and higher friction CCM2 pads. Now with larger Scud brakes I should improve a little further again, not a huge difference but enough to be noticeable. Apparently the extra surface area of the discs coupled with the wider tires amount to around 10-15% gain in performance. Every little helps eh!
Continuing on from my Scud brake upgrade I've decided to go for yellow caliper refurbishment but I was told that there isn't any availability of the brembo carbon ceramic font decals yet, so I've created a new font just incase anyone else is in the same predicament. I.e. they want the 'brembo carbon ceramic' lettering to be retained after a refurbishment is completed. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
They way they do it is to use the decals as just temporary color separating layers. This process below sounds complicated but isn't really... Step 1. Paint the caliper front area in black (a light coating) & wait for it to dry Step 2. Apply the 'Ferrari' decals on top of the black (dry) paint. Step 3. Now paint the area of the caliper red (a light coating) & wait for it to dry. Step 4. Apply the 'Brembo Carbon Ceramic' decals on top of the red (dry) paint. Step 5. Now paint the whole complete caliper yellow & wait for it to dry. Step 6. Now peel off all of decals to reveal the colors you wanted. Step 7. Finally clear coat lacquer the top to a smooth surface. Another alternative way is to use the font as way to create an opposite silhouette (opposite of the font lettering) and then use it as a stencil which can be applied over a yellow painted caliper and then painted in subsequent colors before removing them and using final lacquer layer. In both cases above all we did was use the decals to 'hide' the colored layers so those colors would show through in the final painted item Get it?
