599 project,rebuild/track day car

Stephen, you are quite correct, the gto engine is very different, in particular, in the intake, and i am picking that the induction noise is a big part of the overall noise, that said we went for quiet test drive around the block last night,and the sound is stunning, very different from a GTB, haven't lent into her hard yet,so the best is yet to come,

Nicholas, thanks for that, shes coming along quite nicely, the ride quality of the GTO springs and sway bays really surprised me, quite soft and compliant i was expecting a bit more bang and crash, but none of that at all, Its actually not that different from standard at low speeds around town, haven`t had the opportunity to get out for a long fast drive yet but its coming,and not soon enough!

 

With many thanks to Fabio (F.Engineering) for generously sharing a wealth of knowledge,and in doing so saving us a lot of time , we have chosen to send the ECUs to Fabspeed to have them turn off the extra,now redundant lambas , this is in line with the factory set up for the GTO headers and Exhaust,only having 4 lambas instead of the GTBs 8, its times like these that you realize both the value of this site and the people here.
Having had a long chat with the team at Fabspeed i feel confident that this is the best way forward to ensure reliability and safety, after all i don`t want to rebuild it again, I know a few of you are quite keen on doing this upgrade, but be warned its not simple and once you start theirs no going back, I have a friend who has just done a secondary cat delete to his 599 HGTE so once we have driven them both back to back ill give you all an opinion as to if its worth it

 

, It was worth it!!!
after all the work and effort i can finally say it was worth it, The exhaust just makes the car!! Its EPIC, its a sound that will never leave me, a mix of formula 1 scream and old school mechanical gnashing ,mixed with a baritone induction sound that leaves you wanting more and more, the long route home is just not long enough!
I have owned and driven some great Ferrari`s including my 575M Manual, i`ve been a little critical of 599s in the past,but with the upgrades we have done to this car,Its now my hands down favorite car of all time, the funny thing is i took my brother ( a Ferrari owner too) for a ride/drive in the car ,and the first thing he said was,'why didn't they make them all this way from the beginning" ,his two big things were the sound and the wheels, both of which he felt were never quite right , closely followed by the ride height, for me though i cant wait to do the HGTE upgrade to the TCU and then it for me that will be enough, the GTO suspension/sway bars upgrade is so cheap and the ride is great, the ecu upgrade from Fabspeed is fantastic ,seamless and needed to complement the GTO Exhaust system with only 4 lamba`s instead of 8
This brings me to what i think is an interesting point, would i recommend an exhaust up grade using the Factory GTO parts ??, the answer is not that simple, but in short NO!, Its a lot of work, especially given its a one of ,custom job, My recommendation is that 5- 10, 599 owners, get together with a company like Fabspeed and order a custom system that becomes a 'Production Product' that is a complete KIT , including ECU upgrades, i think this approach would yield the best,most user friendly way to give everyone access to, what is to me, the best sounding Ferrari ever
not having been in a factory GTO i can only go on you-tube clips like Chris Harris in the 599 gto,but to me its sound exactly the same, and i love it
When i can figure out how to post a video of it i will

 

Same to look at other than the external diamension is larger by a couple of mm,perfect fit, bolt straight in,you need the gto bushes, but with the gto progressive springs the car is compliant around town but very flat at speed i love the set up and its half the price of the hgte and its two sway bars rather than just the rear for HGTE , i have the gto wheels as well so i wanted a balanced package
if you want to compare yours to mine let me know and we can catch up

 

Lloyd, just send me a pm and we can catch up anytime

 

not sure but ill check and report back, have done 3000kms and just love it!!