430 new owner - center console mods

hey all! i picked up an '07 F430 F1 coupe a few months ago - figured i'd do a quick intro and share some of the "OEM+" style mods i've done so far. overall the car is amazing - i traded in an NA1 NSX to make the jump. i'll miss it, but the F430 driving experience is way more exciting so far. the Ferrari is parked alongside my 997.1 GT3 - which i plan to keep for a very long time!

it's a small thing, but no obvious cupholder was something that seemed missing. i checked out the aftermarket options that replace the ash tray but that location seems to get rather close and/or hit the brake handle when depressed. so, i decided to switch things around a bit.

i designed a cupholder for the stock switch panel position and a new switch panel for the ash tray position (adding a USB C charging port). i started by scanning the center console area plus all of the individual switch assemblies, prototyped a few flavors of arrangements (and tested cup holder sizes), machined the final version from 6061, blasted with fine glass beads, and finished with black Cerakote (my first go at Cerakote, actually!).

the OEM switch location is a bit tight for a cup holder, but i think it works well enough. it'll fit the standard aluminum can or a standard water bottle. probably not any of the big coffee drinks, though. so, some compromises there.

starting with the final product plus a picture of the sticky crap i replaced:
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and here are some miscellaneous pictures of the process. i do this sort of mechanical design stuff for a living, so happen to have a useful collection of tools in my garage

you'll notice i made some changes along the way - at one point i was considering adding the Capristo valve transmitter to the switch area as well. ended up just putting that in the dash instead.

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thanks! duh, should have included a few shots of the car.

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also, i can't figure out what the heck is going on here - curious if anyone else has seen this before? the black mask on the backside of the rear glass seems to have come off just in this one area, but it's behind the sheetmetal hatch frame, so i can't access it to repair/touch-up. something to do with where the heating element connects?

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they're just matte black vinyl - i installed them on there a few weeks ago. i have some similarly subtle matte black "GT3" graphics on the 911 and really like the semi-hidden look on a gloss black car, so wanted to try something with the F430. adds a bit of 'mean-ness' without being in your face!

 

thanks for the perspectives! i wish i could get to the backside to add a sticker or some touch-up paint, but there's no access. maybe a super thin sticker on the outside would be better than nothing - not sure.