The Ferrari Bloodline

PERFECTION!

 

You always had a sharp eye, Jag.
However, it’s like with one’s children, you don’t differentiate and they stand equal…

 

Thank you , that’s high praise coming from you my friend - your attention to detail is unbelievable !

 

unlike our children, they dont mess up our house, talk back and eat everything in the fridge!
we both know you have a favorite Karim

 

Karim, don't tell me that your F50 is on the cover of the new Cavallino magazine (no..266) ... Fantastic!!!

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Karim!! Cavallino!!!! Bravo buddy !!

 

So, we know the reason for this ride now - Cavallino photo shooting

 

I remember when he put some pictures starting autumn saison... Great.

 

You and Christian have good memories - re the 50km drive!
Funnily enough, Massimo Delbo, Cavallino’s Editorial Director, started his editorial page with a humorous note on the same topic:
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Wonderful!!!

 

Remember the principle of continuous improvement and maintenance?
Well F50 KS, which I have since January 2012, received some of that in the last few weeks:
- It got its annual service at Maranello, it’s 14th stamp on the Warranty & Service book (all by official Ferrari dealers)
- New full set of Pirelli tyres were ordered and fitted. Remember it’s not only about the threads being legal and sufficient but also whether the tyres are over 5 years old. If the latter is the case, then get new tyres, as when the rubber gets hard with age, it becomes unsafe
- MoT test (to know it’s road- worthy)
- New Fuel Tank and Sponges. A few points here:
1. I like to get the Ferrari-recommended original (Sakur). Many fit other brands for half the price (on both F40s and F50s).
2. As they are expensive (circa £15k for F50s and double that for F40s) and their life span is 10-years, what I do is ask the Factory to send me the production date of every fuel tank they have in stock (usually 2 to 4) and then I buy the one with the most recent production date ( otherwise you can loose a year or so of lifetime). Below is the picture of the purchased tank showing validity until April ‘35 - so it was produced in April ‘25. (Add it to your history files).
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3. Make sure you get the fuel tank’s Certificate of Conformity showing the details especially the date of manufacture (and add it to your history file).
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Here are the boxes with fuel tank and baffle sponges then loading them onto the transporter along with the car (for fitting at DK Engineering).
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Note: it’s good practice to find transporters which secure the car over the tyre/wheel instead of across it with potential damage to the rubber/wheels.
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Finally, I can’t resist a few pictures of the car when bringing it out of storage.
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Dear Karim, thank you very much for sharing all this specific and intriguing insights into F50 maintenance with us!

I can't imagine anybody even coming close to your outstandingly comprehensive knowledge of the F50. You should think about a second Bloodline book, this time just dedicated to the F50!

 

Thank you Karim to give some news. Sven is right, it will be a perfect book.

 

The idea of doing another multi-year effort on an F50 book is too daunting. Besides, it will end up becoming a double volume .

 

Efficiently, F50 KS returned from DK Engineering with the her new fuel tank and sponges. Good till April 2035. With the MoT, new fuel in the tank, new tyres and a fresh service, she is as good as should be!

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Took the occasion to check on my extra original exhaust system that I built over many years; whether it was complete and whether it included the difficult to get green-dot original Pierburg valves.

Good news, it’s complete with the 14 main parts (plus accompanying valves Pierburg and others).

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The good news is that Ferrari is reproducing the complete system and it’s available from the factory at a fraction of the ‘95-‘97 original system’s cost.

I compared physically the two original in-period cat converters with the new version (from Maranello’s Classic Parts’ shelf - which they kindly unpacked and opened up for me and quite a difference - e.g not the same manufacturer, Marmite. But it’s at half the price (£15,000) as compared to the real thing (£30,000). Basically two-to-one.

The total re-production system (without all the air injection components - so just the 14 parts) went over £100k including VAT. Imagine the complete original… That is if you find it.

One final comparison of the original vs reproduction (even with a ‘Ferrari’ tag). Let’s take silencers:
Original
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Reproduction
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Always a pleasure to se your feedback Karim. Do you notice a difference with the engine sound, power with the new exhaust provide by the factory?

 

That is a very pertinent and consequential question. I actually never thought about it.
I also can’t answer it as when using the original exhaust systems, it was always the real ones not the reproduction ones.
But if they differ (manufacturers (?) and may be different materials, sound proofing), then the reproduction version might quite possibly give a different engine sound…

 

For such a limited market you would think a greater effort would go into the correct 14 parts. Your knowledge and the ability to illustrate all these stories about what goes into an F50 experience done correctly is astonishing!

 

Probably because it’s limited in potential demand, it’s not a priority for Ferrari.
Thank you for your kind words, but it is just simple stuff and it is a pleasure to share.
Incidentally, today, the leadership of F1rst Motors of Dubai (a leading showroom in the Gulf) visited the collection. Here are some pictures
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Is the owner son of "the collection" just amazing....

 

Continuous improvement on your car is key (this was stressed often in The Ferrari Bloodline book). Of course for that to happen you need long-term ownership.

Here is a very recent micro-detailing example: you are at that stage for the engine bay 2.5 years ago (picture below) and you believe since then ‘we are done here’.
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The you casually notice a small bit. And you zoom in
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There are 8 all together (4 either side). So you think ‘oh well, no big deal at this stage’. But then you change your mind and few hours later you get
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Here is another one. The little rubber protectors at the bottom of the doors (again 4 each side) can get loose (glue deterioration over the 30-odd years)
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I noticed that like 4 months back but just got to fix it now. One strips them off gently
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And clean the base, then apply double-sided adhesive material on each and voila!
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Non-obvious or unnoticeable it does not matter. When one seeks perfection, nothing is left unchecked. You just need to be continuously critical and have the patience to make it happen…

 

Today was a Ferrari Classiche event at Maranello service centre in the UK.

There was an F50 which just finished its annual service, so it was on display. It was its 21st annual service (with the majority of them during the current custodianship, all by official Ferrari dealers).

A collector (of some 200 cars with an F80 arriving soon) is looking for an F50. His key man stayed most of the event close to her…

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I prefer the workshop to the showroom.