F40 LM Restoration

Sorry if this is a dumb question; but do you plan to paint it now or paint it when the call of duty comes (hopefully never or not for a very long time at least)?

Painted or not, it will make a great art piece hanging on the garage wall.

 

It will be painted now and fitted. The old clam will be on the garage wall.

 

Tim, having watched your project from the beginning and seeing the attention to detail, I have to say this is one the best and most complete projects I have ever seen on Fchat. Bravo!

 

Did MotoTechnique take it on themselves (with your permission of course) to make the mold so as to make more clams for sale?
Alan

 

Thanks, positive comment from you is especially pleasing.

Cleaning up and cracking open the mould
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No way would they do so. My mould as the only way to finish this car properly.

Tomorrow, the reveal.
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And first sight fresh out the mould
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I'm confused. You already had a clam -- was it not carbon fiber which is why you needed to make the mold?
Alan

 

Tim discussed this earlier. It's part of the DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan). Because the parts are often very hard to get a hold of, and because of small differences between the LM cars, Tim decided to copy the clam now, while it's still in one bit, rather than having to "guesstimate" when calamities force a replacement...

 

This. Apparently it takes some coaxing and big $$$$ to get replacements from Michelotto

 

Very very beautiful car, I am excited every time I visit this thread.

Peng

 

As if an unstickered LM is not intimidating enough.

No stickers from me Tim.

Your SW3 neighbour.

 

So you will be using the new front clam and keeping the original? Sure, that way full originality can be passed on to a potential next owner, but... please help me understand, maybe I'm just getting it wrong... Is that the main purpose of the new clam, just keeping the original? Isn't a let down to have spent so much energy and resources in this project to end up using a copy part as distinctive as the front LM clam? You might as well make copies of all parts so as to keep originals while risking only copies... Indeed it is practical but, in my opinion, to a certain extent only.

That's just innocent asking, maybe I got all wrong.

By the way, is the mould re-usable or not?

 

Spoke to CM and he has recently destroyed the moulds!

 

European roads very different to US, we don't tend to have huge camber changes and curb heights like you so we can realistically run lower.

 

Well the value of your spare and mold just went up then!

 

Now why would he destroy the molds? That's as if Enzo would have torched the buck used to make the 250 GTO

 

He said he was having a clear out-from the horses mouth. I think assumed the originals would never again rCe in anger due to value so no need to clog up space.

 

I don't really want to speak for Tim but ......

The new clam is an improvement I believe, being made purely from CF whereas I think his original was mostly fibreglass.

The copy was made from the original in order to easily replicate the shape and form (before any possible damage would make replacement much more difficult).

Having the spare means the car isn't off the road / track / museum should an accident cause damage. The original can go back on while a further CF replacement is made from the mould which will be in storage.

Does a genuine LM car really have any genuine parts? Most race cars have a mixture of this and that, are adapted to suit, typically are repaired or replaced many times due to damage etc.

The cost of replicating all parts would be truly terrifying. Tim has bought a little insurance against a part that would perhaps be one of the most likely to ever be damaged.

 

Not wanting to get into the current discussion as it is beyond my realm of knowledge I am happy for several reason's.

1. Tim is getting closer and closer to his first drive.

2. I was the first person to contact Tim about a book, it will surely be signed and it will hold a very special place (next to his brake disc) in my ever growing Ferrari model/memorabilia collection.

That's a reminder Tim .

 

Thank you Greg, spot on.

In addition the old clam, whilst carbon honeycombe, was so full of filler and fibreglass, it gave a great finish but was unnecessarily heavy.

Assuming as you correctly say, I destroyed the front clam, one of the most likely panels to suffer in any accident, I really don't know how we would have replaced it. The rear is pretty standard and still available. It just seemed to be the sensible route.

 

And yes the mould is, importantly, reusable.

 

Now I get the full picture, basically the new clam is better tan the original, as are several more parts of your car.

Thanks for the insight.

 

Surely CM could've sold the moulds rather than destroy them?

As long as there are cars out there then there'll always be a need.