Several months of projects completed

I decided this was the summer I was going to finish going through the car to do a minor mechanical restoration and complete a few upgrades/modifications I’ve had in mind. Over the past few months I’ve completed:

Fuel Tank
Pulled the tank and replaced all the seals, hoses, etc. Rebuilt the fuel pumps using a variety of non-factory parts and replaced the plastic caps with metal caps.
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Suspension Rebuild
Replaced all bushings, ball joints, drop links, tie rod ends, and sway bar bushings (Superperformance). I had previously installed MSC adjustable coilovers, and during this job I added a remote damper controller from Fortune Auto. I installed the interface in the center console so it’s hidden from view, and can change the damper settings on the fly while driving. This project combined with the MSW rear sway bar, steering module, and a proper alignment at a local performance chassis shop has totally transformed the car.
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Brakes
Installed a Brembo brake kit from Formula Dynamics (great folks to work with). 6 piston calipers up front, 4 in the rear, with 380mm rotors all around. The brake feel is much improved, but to be fair I’m comparing brand new brakes, hoses, and components to the original 25yo gear. At a minimum, I love how they look.
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Wheels
My original plan was to have Superamerica replicas made, but I couldn’t get the rear lips shallow enough for my taste. So we ended up designing sort of a tribute monoblock. The wheels were made by Forza, and the specs are:

Front
20X9.5 ET 41 Tires: MP4S 275/30/20
Rear
20X12 ET 23 Tires: MP42 325/25/20

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It’s been my experience that going from the older generation Pilot Sports to MP4’s always improves ride quality, so there’s surprisingly little difference between the old 18” wheels with Pilot Sports and this larger setup with the MP4S’s. The only time I notice them is driving at parking lot speeds and I can feel more of the imperfections in the pavement. At speed they are very compliant. But my overall setup is very tight, and I might be dropping my spring rates a little, but need to drive more to decide. Note there is ZERO rubbing or other issues with this setup.

My last major project is coming up in a few weeks. Will be removing the intake/cam covers for painting, will replace all gaskets, hoses, etc., have the injectors serviced, and install a COP kit. After that I would drive this car cross country with no concerns.

 

I'm pretty sure the bushings were original, but it looked like the ball joints have been replaced at some time. I'm not sure about the weight of the brakes, but I haven't noticed anything negative. The suspension/wheels were done together, and then the brakes the following weekend. So there were lot's of changes there and it's hard to judge how each individual project changed the car.

 

Hi Erik,

As I understand it (and maybe I missed something but I researched this pretty hard) the stock shocks have adjustable dampers, but only 2 levels of adjustability. Those settings are controlled by the Sport mode switch, and do not continuously adjust. The MSC shocks I have include adjustable dampers, but have 24 levels of rebound adjustability. I'm sure an electronics guru could figure out how to make the sport switch work with the MSC shocks, but then you're stuck with just 2 settings. I elected to install a remote controller that included 4 servos that adjust each shock and a control interface in the car. I can pre-program Comfort, Sport, and Race settings, or manually adjust to any of the 24 front/rear.

The wheels were made by Forza, and shockingly cheap at about $2400. The last wheels I bought were HRE's for my 458 ($13K), and I curbed one in less than a week (I basically daily my Ferrari so stuff is going to happen). I figured these were worth a shot. I'd say machining/finish wise they are 90% what an HRE looks like. Only flaws I could find was when I was in close ceramic coating them prior to install and noticed a few minor things here and there...but also found some of that on my HRE's. Will see how they do long-term.

I made so many changes at once that it's hard to identify how any one change impacted the car. But I believe the outstanding alignment I got is playing a large role in how the car currently steers. The shop that did it sets up a lot of race cars, and the owner would take the car out between settings to tweak things. So he deviated a bit from factory recommended alignment settings. The car turns in much faster now, and the old understeer I used to have is totally gone.