430 Scud Carbon Diffuser Repair | FerrariChat

430 Scud Carbon Diffuser Repair

Discussion in '360/430' started by johnb@macarbon, Apr 26, 2012.

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  1. johnb@macarbon

    johnb@macarbon Formula Junior

    Feb 24, 2004
    808
    SF Bay Area
    Full Name:
    John Borchelt
    #1 johnb@macarbon, Apr 26, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    We were recently contacted by a customer to replace or repair the rear diffuser on his 430 Scud.

    Apparently, when an oil change was done, the mechanic forgot to re-install the front bolts. On the way home, the diffuser flopped down and dragged on the ground for some distance until the owner could stop. Let's just say he was going slightly fast!

    A new Scud carbon diffuser lists for over $15,000. We don't make a replacement, nor does anyone else that I know of. As the mechanic was paying the bill, and the car is a 'driver', the owner decided he wanted it repaired functionally rather than for the repair to be invisible.

    With that constraint, we repaired the rear edge adding new material (fiberglass). The repair was covered with a feathered edge of black paint. Usually, the more 'black' you see on a part means the lower the quality as its used to hide weave issues - so we don't like to do that. But in this case, we had no choice. The other breaks were repaired as well. Then the entire piece was sanded and resprayed.

    Three of the fins had been ground down somewhat as well. On those, we finished the sanding that the road had started so that the damage at least blended. Then the remainder of each fin was sanded in preparation for new clear. The fins presented a bit of a problem since the factory finish was so poor. Our first spray was so full of pinholes I almost cried! But after a bit of work we got some pretty good results.

    When the customer received the diffuser back, he called and left us a message that he was very angry! After a pregnant pause, he said he was angry because all the other CF on the car now looked like crap! Luckily, no one ever sees a diffuser! Then he ordered a dashboard for his Diablo and made me promise that we'd do some black paint on it!

    If you have a damaged CF part, feel free to give us a call to get some advise on repair.

    Before Pictures

    1) Diffuser as received
    2) Close up of left rear edge
    3) Close up of right rear edge
    4) 'Top' of diffuser
    5) Factory pinhole finish on one of the fins
    6)Break in upper edge
    7) Diffuser cleaned up and dissasembled
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  2. johnb@macarbon

    johnb@macarbon Formula Junior

    Feb 24, 2004
    808
    SF Bay Area
    Full Name:
    John Borchelt
    #2 johnb@macarbon, Apr 26, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    So the photos above are before the work.

    Now for the repaired diffuser.

    Pictures

    1) Main diffuser body after repair
    2) Rear left corner
    3) Rear right corner
    4) 'Top' off diffuser. Repaired sections are somewhat visible in this photo.
    5) Close up of fin
    6) Close up of break repair. If there was one thing I wish we'd had a bit more budget for was to splice a piece of CF over this repair. Or in hindsight, we should have airbrushed it a little.
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  3. RobD

    RobD Formula 3

    Nov 10, 2003
    1,182
    USA
    Wow, nice work!!
     
  4. 360C

    360C F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    That's a good result, much better than I would have expected after seeing the damage in the first photo group.
    One question, why not make a mould while you're at it? The only after market Diffusers for the Scud are a nasty Chinese fibreglass-carbon fibre mix. Should be a market for a top quality part.
    I bought the OEM c/f diffuser for mine; but would have gone after market if there was a decent product out there.
     
  5. Mo T

    Mo T Formula Junior

    Nov 26, 2011
    478
    Saudi Arabia
    Full Name:
    Mohammed
    Wow great job John ! That's better than OEM.
     
  6. SCKOMS

    SCKOMS F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Oct 21, 2011
    3,843
    Lake County, IL
    Full Name:
    Spiro
    Nice result, but..................
    Shouldn't the offending mechanic/shop that was obviously negligent be on the hook for a new part? Don't they have insurance to cover such an incident? The owner let them off easy and they should be thankful.
     
  7. F430GT

    F430GT Formula 3

    Sep 29, 2005
    1,300
    Marco Island, FL
    John,

    That's some amazing work.

    It is great to have access to a quality shop working on Carbon Fiber.
     
  8. SAFE4NOW

    SAFE4NOW F1 Veteran
    Sponsor Owner

    Aug 25, 2004
    5,378
    Dallas Texas
    Full Name:
    If you know you know
    Nice work... your contact info is going in my " Book of Help "

    S
     
  9. -CD-

    -CD- F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 7, 2005
    3,764
    near the Nürburgring
    Full Name:
    Christian
    Great work! :)
     
  10. m3mike

    m3mike Formula Junior

    Apr 18, 2006
    464
    Knoxville, TN
    Full Name:
    Mike
    I've purchased carbon fiber parts from MA and they are of the highest quality. I didn't know they did repairs. I bought a Scud carbon fiber diffuser on Ebay that had been cracked and a couple of fins were scraped. It was off a Scud at an exotic car rental lot. The owner had gotten a new one from insurance and was just trying to get something for the damaged one. The OEM part listed for $14,500. I bought the damaged one and sent it to Speedcraft Composites, a company that specializes in carbon fiber repair. They fixed it including a carbon fiber overlay over the splice and resprayed clear coat and it was perfect. Total cost was $2000.00 for the diffuser and $1500.00 for repair. It's always good to have a couple of reliable names in the Rolodex for unusual jobs.
     
  11. PbPedis

    PbPedis Formula Junior

    May 6, 2007
    710
    Ontario, Canada
    Full Name:
    Dennis
    Amazing work! I didn't think a repair like that would be possible with carbon fiber.
     
  12. johnb@macarbon

    johnb@macarbon Formula Junior

    Feb 24, 2004
    808
    SF Bay Area
    Full Name:
    John Borchelt
    The mechanic was a friend of the car owner so he didn't want to stick him with a giant bill or insurance claim. He is a big believer in what goes around, comes around.
     
  13. Forcefed

    Forcefed Karting

    Aug 14, 2009
    203
    United Arab Emirates
    Excellent work
     
  14. 9650max

    9650max Karting
    Silver Subscribed

    Apr 28, 2011
    172
    Thanks for posting the work that you did. Really looks great.
     
  15. SCKOMS

    SCKOMS F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Oct 21, 2011
    3,843
    Lake County, IL
    Full Name:
    Spiro
    I figured there must have been some special relationship...the owner is a very understanding guy.
     
  16. Bundy

    Bundy Formula 3

    May 18, 2011
    2,374
    Arizona & Kentucky
    Full Name:
    Anir
    Beautiful work. Well done.
     

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