DK Engineering F40 User's Guide.

Still amazingly beautiful after almost 40 years!!!!

 

this is very good.

 

I learned a few things from that video. I will say that mine starts instantly without the need to first trigger the fuel pumps.

It came from DK and had the carbon brake kit installed (originals in a fancy crate). They feel magnificent although I’ve admittedly never driven an F40 with steels prior to owning mine.

Tubis are a must.

https://www.instagram.com/dkengineering/reel/CttpCnevzrZ/?igsh=MW51djdjYWhoYnN4bQ==

 

For someone who drives as much as you do, keep the carbons on for now.

 

The stock steel brakes are squeaky like race brakes. I prefer the DK carbon kit just for the reduction of the squeal, but their stopping power is great. I kept my original in the customized box/crate as well.

 

Gotta tell you....the F40 is my ultimate dream car. There is no substitute. It's the KING. I know many members here know more about the F40 than I ever will, but this video was extremely educational and thorough. I really enjoyed watching and learned from it. Thank you DK.

 

Good video.

 

mine starts up on one push of the button as well.

i am simple closed minded ugly american as the euro cars look naked to me!

 

I agree on the first but you and I both are accustomed to later US cars that had significant tweeking to the systems. Also US cars pumps auto run for a couple seconds after key switched on.

Also a matter of acclimating. To me without the US version air splitter (DOT crash standards) they don't look right. And the hole for the front tow hook. Who drilled a hole in the body?

 

amen.
can i send you my car for some good housekeeping? crazy it has been 6 years since BRADAN finished working on it.

 

I am building a new shop and moving. When its done, be happy to. Probably close to end of year.

 

Nice thats awesome, congratulations and look forward to it!

 

Love DK vidéos

 

Nice video however my favourite Tiff Needell and F40 video comes from 2013. His prediction at 2:20 was spot on!


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I finally got a chance to sit down and watch this helpful video from DK. Some of the information is either new to me or contradicts what I've read or seen before. I have questions for the more knowledgeable people on this forum as some of these items will affect the next update to my F40 market report. Forgive the verbosity.

The tip about the straight vs. bent cross-bar in the engine bay indicating a non-cat vs. cat car is hugely helpful and allowed me to flesh out a lot of missing cat statuses in my report. I don't believe this bar would be swapped out for a straight one during a cat delete so to me it seems a reliable indicator. I checked out a cat car with a cat delete to make sure and indeed the bar was unchanged. I hadn't noticed this difference before so huge thanks to James/DK. Now my questions:

Non-cat vs. cat

James says the switch from non-cat Euro cars to catalyzed Euro cars happened in a clean pivot, and around chassis #89xxx. My data shows both of these claims are incorrect. First, the 'pivot point' chassis number cannot be correct. Within my market analysis alone, I show several Euro cars before #89xxx with a catalytic converter: #85308, #85711, #86097, #86537, #87894, #88446, and #88895. Second, I show one example, #89982, as a non-cat car, despite having a chassis number higher than all the cat cars I just mentioned. So, the switch cannot have been so clean-cut. However, it is worth mentioning that this car is the *only* exception in my data set that provides a contradiction. Otherwise, within my market analysis, the non-cat Euro cars are chassis #77676-84997 and the cat Euro cars are chassis #85308-94545 - a very clean transition.

The switch appeared to have happened around #85xxx. Is #89982's status anomalous, and something to do with being delivered new to Switzerland? Was the switch otherwise clean, and is there a reliable way to tell if a Euro car is non-cat or cat based on being before or after a certain chassis #? This would help me categorize cat status on old classified listings for which the photos are long since gone. However, even if exceptions like #89982 are rare, I don't want to make any broad, false assumptions.

Adjustable suspension

James says that the adjustable ride height option was added at the same time as when the Euro cars switched to catalytic converters. This has an important implication: as James mentions explicitly, this means there is no such thing as a non-cat, adjustable car. If this is true, I have this fact wrong. I do point out in my report that there is not a single non-cat/adjustable example in the analysis, although I left the window open for some to exist. Given my point about #89982 above, to me it *does* seem possible for there to exist a non-cat/adjustable car.

Did these two changes (switch to cats, option for adjust) indeed happen at the same time? Is there such a thing as a non-cat/adjustable car? At which chassis # did the adjustable suspension become an option? It would flesh out the data if I could mark all chassis #'s below a certain one as non-adjust. I cannot use James' #89xxx because, as I mentioned before, I believe that to be incorrect.

Air conditioning

James says that all F40s have air conditioning..."contrary to popular belief". My report reflects the popular belief and what I had previously read - that AC was only standard on US cars and an option on Euro cars. Truthfully, I had my doubts about this, because I've never seen an F40 without AC in person or in photos. So, is James correct?

 

Given that the NACA ducts on the front clam only feed the A/C unit, I'd say it was standard on all cars.

 

AC was standard on all cars - at least i have never seen a car without.

the cat question is interesting, and i think it may depend on the original delivery market - some markets required it, and others did not. so even if the general rule in the factory at some point was that they had to accommodate the inclusion of a cat, and therefore the cross bar was bent, the ultimate delivery country for a certain car may not have required the cat, and hence it was not installed. so the presence of the bar itself may only indicate that it was produced AFTER the cat inclusion had to be prepared for but may not have been mandated.

on my '90 car, vin 86365, i have the bent bar, but no cat, and i dont think one was ever installed. the original delivery country was Austria.

this may be a question for Marcel....

 

@Marcel Massini do you have an opinion on this question?

 

The interesting thing is that 1991 #89982, later than yours (and the others I mentioned) in both year and chassis #, has a straight bar. Thus built with no intention for cats.

https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/27530/lot/138/1991-ferrari-f40chassis-no-zffgj34b000089982-engine-no-27824/

Photo Bonhams

 

AC was a standard production mandate is standard on ALL F40s.

 

THAT was not the question i was asking for Marcel to opine on.
THE question that i am interested in HIS opinion on is whether the bent bar ALWAYS indicated the inclusion of a cat, or whether that was simply the bar used for ALL cars once cats were mandated for SOME markets.

 

Thank you, Joe. I'll take your & DK's information at a higher value than the below. It's interesting how many people report this wrong. When I first was working on Part II of my analysis, I intended to do a section on air conditioning. I went through every auction result and didn't see a single car without it, so I left that section out.

Bonhams: "Today, much of the F40's enduring appeal is the fact that it is one of the last great 'analogue' supercars...It also lacked a brake servo, air conditioning, interior door handles, and power steering...[This] F40 was ordered with the optional wind-up windows, which the owner considered more practical than the basic sliding windows. He also ordered air conditioning."
Legendary Motorcar: "Ferrari made one concession to creature comfort for U.S.-delivery F40s: air conditioning was fitted as standard."
Robb Report: "That means...no air-conditioning system, carpets, door trim, or door handles...Later, for the U.S. market, air-conditioning units were added because the cabin simply got too hot from the engine."
Silodrome: "When you bought one new the F40 came with no spare tire or jack, no stereo or glove box, there was also no trunk or cigarette lighter. Perhaps surprisingly it could be ordered with air conditioning"
TopSpeed: "The Ferrari F40 didn’t even come with air conditioning...However, later models that did hit the U.S. market were fitted with air conditioning because the F40’s cabin got extremely hot from the engine."

It's definitely the more interesting question. There's a number of pieces of F40 literature I plan to buy, including Keith Bluemel's book, that may answer this question. However I am moving soon and don't want to buy more 'stuff' before I do so, so enhancing the data in the cat/adjust portion of my report will wait for a later update.

 

I saw an F40 in the Toni Auto Workshop about two years ago. They claimed, it was one of the first 10 production cars and was build without A/C. But, as it was undrivable, it was retrofitted by the factory.

I have no clue, if this is true or not.