F430Addict - The Madness has begun...again (Scuderization)

I lost count on which stage I'm at. I keep telling my partner this is it...but somehow I feel the end is not near. In fact, there is no end.

 

Ok, being silly pays. For the first time in my life I'm gaining popularity for it.

Update: Scuderia carbon engine panels arrived. Christ! These things weigh close to nothing! Spray paint work has begun today on the bumper. Test fit shows perfect gaps and fitment. Carbon expansion tank cover has been sanded down. Looks like most of the cloudiness has been removed. Should be a good result. Scuderia steel floor pan on route. Should receive it next week. Still no sign of the extinguisher. Keeping fingers crossed. Audio guys drawing out some plans for me to see on the fabrication of a new rear bench to house the speakers and possibly subs.

Gonna be a long week.

 

Update: Scuderia brake booster fitted. Lines fitted as well. Rotors on hubs. Looks huge. All interior panels were collected by ulphostery boys for alcantara wrap. Have gone for black alcantara, non peforated, so it matches my black technical fabric GTO seats. White stitching. Panels should be ready end of next week. Scuderia steel floor pans are in route. Should have it in another day or two. Paint job on bumper will be complete tomorrow. Test fit detected some misalignment in the scuderia exhaust tips. No biggie as these can be adjusted with minimal effort.

Back to the waiting game.

 

Cheers buddy. You still keen on the GTO moldings?

 

Surprise. Door bell rings. UPS man at the door with an unexpected parcel. Opened it and guess what? My extinguisher! The whole unit with floor mounts and brackets. Good lord!

It made it through customs! Well done! Pix to follow.

One thing I don't understand is what the brackets holding the bottle is a bolt and nut type. What happened to quick access? I need a spanner to unbolt the brace whilst my car is burning down to a crisp?

 

I had a close look at the bracket and it appears to be the 'single use' type of safety seal. The seal can be broken just by twisting the latches. But once broken it cannot be re-strapped. Think I'll source clip brackets and keep the original ones. They are after all by Lifeline...uber cool.

I'll send the bottle down to the upholsterers tomorrow morning and have a bag fabricated out of alcantara. Will also fill the bottle with Halon rather than dry powder.

Pix to follow.

 

Mucho gracias buddy. You got that right. Almost gave up hope on getting the extinguisher. Thank god for UPS. These guys really make miracles happen.

 

Sure thing buddy. Once I get her back we should meet.

 

Update: Alcantara wrap is complete. Airbag has also been treated with black dye. I'll pick up the parts tomorrow and start putting them back.

Stef's shift light module has also arrived at the PO. Once I get my car back I'll do a detailed review so you guys can decide whether or not you need one.

 

And oh yes, scuderia brakes are not a direct bolt on. Custom bushings need to be fabricated. Bushings arrived this arvo, front brakes going on right this very moment.

 

Long overdue photos. Just managed to sit down in front of the laptop to download the pix out from my iphone.

First up, the sabelt sablife mechanical 4L extinguisher. Like I mentioned before, it was a friggin miracle this item even arrived at my doorstep. I almost gave up all hope and was going to get the seller to just send me the floor mount without the bottle. Second attempt and it got through the customs. Shhhhhh.....hush now.

Bottle arrived empty as discussed with the seller. I'll fill her up with Halon.

Quick release clips these are not. They are nylon bolts so there's no way on earth am I going to whip out the wrench and unbolt the extinguisher whilst the car burns down to a crisp.
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Next up, the alcantara panels.

All alcantara wrapped panels were delivered back to the shop today. They look and smell amazing. Love the white stitching, goes perfectly with my Scuderia steering wheel and GTO technical fabric seats. Oh yes, forgot to take a shot of the airbag which I got it sprayed from red to black with leather dye. Looks OEM-ish and the finish is sturdy as hell.

After ripping out the leather and factory foam and replacing it with just alcantara and minimal padding, there seems to be quite a fair amount of weight loss. But who cares how much weight I've thrown out, I'm in it for the looks.
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Scuderia carbon ceramic brakes have gone on successfully. Fabricating the bushes was a real pain to get the right length and fit. Crisis over. The front rotors are huge!

Pardon the crappy iphone pix.
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Updates: Remember the expansion tank cover I bought used over eBay that arrived with major clouding in the factory resin? The paintshop painstakingly sanded down the resin, down to the bone and managed to get rid of all of the clouding. The clear coat went on in the arvo and they called to tell me it's as good or even better than new from the factory. I'm happy. The Scuderia plenum was also lacquered today. Scuderia bumper is getting prepped up for spraypainting. I'm going to have the lower exhaust grille and diffuser sprayed glossy black. That's for poor folks like me who can't afford the carbon version....

I haven't had the chance to take pix of the Scuderia floor pans. It's unreal. I can't believe I am actually going to do this. The guys at the shop are stumped as well. Ripping off all the factory carpets and covers for the floorpan...they are still scratching their heads figuring out how to put the parts together for the door locking mechanism. LOL.

Met up with the audio guys today and tested out a pair of rockford fosgate speakers with tweets and signed on the dotted line for two pairs (yes, four of them, all in black casing coz I'm not into those glowing audio setups), an amp and an active sub. Gonna be having thumping good times soon. All that will be fabricated into a black fabric wrapped bar sitting abve the rear deck where the ECUs are. Clean and tidy. No drilling, just velcro tabs.

After all this is done, the car deserves an all round SWISSVAX treatment to rid of the dust from the workshop.

I'll get more pix when I head back to the shop tomorrow.

 

Alcantara floor mats? No problem. You interested? PM me for the contact. Prices are very reasonable.

CF covers will withstand the heat. I had my challenge grille in carbon lacquered and its sitting just on top of the Capristo muffler where the heat is pretty much full on. No issues so far. Well, we'll see. If something happens, I'll just get it repaired. The factory resin coat is pretty crap to be honest. I've heard so many stories of it clouding up and fading and changing colour due to the intense heat. It's disappointing.

Yes...SWISSVAX is da bomb atm.

 

Love your avartar pic.