Introduction and F40 Questions

Hi,

I'm Alex.
My Dad started vintage racing in the 1980s with a 1966 GT40 Mk I (which happily is still in the collection), and we mainly race vintage sports cars, can am cars, and f1 cars and also has a bunch of classic (and a few modern) road cars, from 1910 to 1975 primarily, that we take on tours and drive around locally in the Midwest. I grew up around his cars and started vintage racing myself about 15 years ago after some fun motocrossing and karting. I race a Chevron B19 and Dad's GT40 primarily.

I have started learning about F40s, read the Mark Hughes book, the Alessio Zanei book, the old Automobilia F40 book, the Keith Bluemel book, and watched the DK Engineering, Tom Hartley Jr, and Iain Tyrrell F40 Guide videos, all the Sam Moore videos, etc...

I walked around 3 Euro cars at Monterey Car Week to start learning what to look for on them, sat in 2, but haven’t driven one yet. Also walked around a local friend’s US car and sat in it.
I've been reading through FChat forums and *********** and have been learning a lot!

I am hoping to be in the market for an F40 in ~12 months.


Having been on road rallies in Dad’s Cobra and GT40, 1950s open top cars, 1930s cars, I can’t imagine an F40 is less civilized most of those. Low bar, I know…

What would you liken an F40 to driving experience wise?


I kind of like the US front lip, but I believe I want a Euro/Global spec Non-Cat, Non-Adjust car, and then would think about buying the DK Engineering Brake Kit, and maybe the Adjustable Ride Height kit (ive heard this is better than the factory right adjust system, which can leak). I want a car to drive a few thousand miles a year and was assuming I should look for a car with about 10,000 miles or more. Not too interested in a low mileage, preservation/investment grade car.


How stiff is the ride while driving? Do some folks put a softer suspension on the car ?


Should original body panel numbers match the chassis number, or are they unrelated? Is there a way to tie the original body panel numbers to their original chassis? I wonder about cars that have had the entire body swapped onto another car, or have had an entire new body made with matching numbers but its not the original body to the chassis.


Are the turbos for all the road cars water cooled? I’ve read they are and are not water cooled. I read of hot turbos or brakes causing fires when not cooled down properly before parking the car after serious driving. Is that something to pay attention to, or blown out of proportion? Ditto for hot brakes?


Have you sat in the various seat sizes or do you know their different measurements? I am assuming I should go for the largest size, being 5’11” (210 lbs) and broad framed. Are the LM seats unpractical for road use? The fact that the US seats have the tilting backrest is attractive, but I think I’d lean towards a set of Large Euro seats. I do wonder how many seats are still with original fabric, and if that is easy to reproduce/fake? I see a lot of online posts about recovering seats with new nomex? I get the impression that the seat fabric is pretty fragile.


I don’t like the US car’s rubber bumper around the black seam, but I do kind of like the US front lip. I have wondered if it has any functional advantage of keeping the car stable at high speeds (150+)? I would also want to remove a US car’s window seatbelt slider. Is that a pain?


Can I put a Euro front lip on a US front bumper? Can you put a US front lip on a Euro front bumper or do you need the US spec front bumper?

Can you convert roll up window doors to Perspex slider window doors and vice versa?

I’ve heard that there were some different rear windows made for better visibility, by Bob Halton. Do you have any pictures of those? Are any available or can they be ordered/made?

Where to take an F40 for service if I live in Indianapolis, Indiana? Do all of it at a Ferrari dealer?

Who are the Non-dealer specialists around North America you’d trust?

We take care of vintage race cars and can handle a lot in house, but I am not sure what would be OK for us to do? I understand that performing work on the car in house (even well documented) will never be looked on as highly as official dealer service records, but I am not interested in paying Ferrari an arm and a leg and waiting 2 years every time I want the car worked on, plus I want a shop team I can develop a long term relationship with.


Is it easy to convert a rubber fuel cell car to an aluminum fuel tank car?


Have you seen intercoolers crack due to heat or age?

I’ve heard the turbo’s can be a weak point in the engine. What should I know about them in terms of wear and maintenance?

Is it correct that a stock car should run at 1.1 bar? Can you change the boost on a stock car manually, if you wanted to run 0.8, or 1.3 for example? I have read that you can manually adjust that and the CO trim dials. Have you messed with those?

I’ve heard the blue parts manual is very handy to have. How much is one of those?

How long should that spare water pump & AC belts be good for before it starts to dry rot ?

Ditto for the Agip tire repair can? Do they go bad over time?

Do you have any experience with the DK parts kits? Brakes, adjustable suspension, headliner?

I’ve heard the stock brakes can squeal a lot. Is that true, or not necessarily? Do they still make a lot of noise after warming up?

I’ve read that 2nd gear is a weak point in the gearbox. What should I do to take care of the stock 2nd, and are there any fixes for this weak point? I’ve also read that 2nd gear is different in Cat cars vs Non-Cat cars. Is one weaker than the other?


If I want a spare front wheel to keep in the wheel well for road trips, should I be careful about what size tire is on that wheel?

My thought would be to have a set of aftermarket wheels to put on the car for road trips and most driving, so I can preserve the original wheels, and then could use one of the original fronts as a spare for road trips. What are good spare “beater” wheels for the F40?


If I have a spare wheel in the well, there isn’t much room for luggage, or have you found some trick locations to keep bags if I have a passenger?


LM or GT/GTE parts to put on a road car. What is common for people to do? Are there any parts worth considering for a car being driven regularly?


I have heard that the front end can lift at high speed and the steering gets light. How stable is the car at 150 mph? 180? Have you talked to anyone who has actually done 200mph in their F40? I’d plan to get mine up to it. Does it actually need LM parts to be able to hit 200? Is the US front lip recommended for high speed stability? Or a racing front lip (APR, etc)?


How much louder are non cat cars vs cat cars?


Is excessive idling something to worry about, in fouling spark plugs?


I’ve heard various stories about the amount of fuel volume for the reserve quantity. 4.4 gallons or liters is what ive seen the most.


Do US cars have better cats (metal core vs ceramic) than the early euro cats (ceramic)?

I’ve heard both that the US cars make more power than the Euro cars and the opposite. Do the US cars make more HP vs earlier euro spec cars 500 vs 480? I have read the big thread on here about this topic, so don't feel the need to rehash it here. I've collected all those notes and as many dyno notes from here and across the internet as I can.

How easy is it to De-Cat a US car? What about the cam timing that’s different? I’ve heard this can be an issue.

Does a De-Catted US car accelerate better than a Non-Cat Euro car, because of the different US 2nd gear? The added weight of the US car would offset some.

I’d like to understand more about when the engine mapping was changed during the production run. Was this done to Non-Cat cars as well as Cat cars?

 

LOL i wondered if F-Life was a bad word here, that is funny