Standard or modified

i agree there. many people talk about custom one-off modifications as 'enhancements', i'd like to see the $R&D spent on that mod to see what it does across the board.

having said that, ask goober to post pics of the underbelly of his GT4... stainless steel skid-pad for sparking up when bottoming out

 

all i can say is different horses for different courses.

everybody does what makes them happy, and thats what cars are about.

for example, my Lotus is standard and will stay that way, as i cant even make use of its capabilities now.
but my Audi is modded because its purely about looks in that department.

just because Ferrari Engineers are at the top of their game, doesnt mean they have made the car the best it can be. Because in reality a car for the road has to have some compromises such as higher ride height, airbags, cup holders for the Yanks etc. so if someone buys a car and wants to make it closer to their own perception of "right" then who are we to judge

 

Harry back yard mechanic knows better then Mr Ferrari. good example of were and teer is croossplye tyres replaced by radials me I like crossplye tyres on a old car less wear on suspension and you can drift.

 

surely it would depend on the age/era of the car in question. as technology improves, simple mods such as modern brake pads and fluid will improve an older cars braking to a point much better than when the car left the factory. i very much doubt that there is an exotic out there in "as it left the factory" condition. as long as the mods are not intrusive and can easily be reversed i cant see a problem. having said that, i'll take stock (or as close as possible) over modified any day.

 

Same with rolls royce siver clouds ,front end wear is dramatic on radials and I think the cars are better to drive on crossplyes not so sure in the wet.

 

Interesting schools of thought here JM. I guess there are some areas where 'mods' are acceptable. We put electronic ignition into the 365 to replace the points as we were quoted $100 each for a set of points and the car uses 4 of them...$800 for electronic ignition was a no-brainer. Same thing in having a s/steel exhaust made up and in replacing the rear self-levelling system (which is not really reapairable nowadays) with some more 'normal' Konis along with new springs etc etc. I guess all of these are reversable if someone wanted a Concours car, but who in Aust. is going to bother about that? You see various people with 328 wheels on 308s etc etc which I guess is a similar thing. I suppose that no car is perfect and they can always make use of modern tyres, brake pads, lubricants etc etc and we all have to reconcile ourselves to what level we want to stay 'original'. I know that Ferrari is making more of a fuss about genuine parts nowadays, but would you rather have a mild steel exhaust that will rust out in 4-5 years or an aftermarket stainless one that lasts out your lifetime? I don't know what's right, just have to go with gut feeling as to what works for me as a 'custodian' of the car.

 

yeah, makes sense. but you can say that about everything. hasn't the quality of fuels improved over the years. better spark plugs etc. surely all these little things make the car run better than new. where and how do you draw the line. oh, i'd be happy just to have disc brakes on the RENSCs.

 

We put some of those super-dooper platinum NGK plugs in the 365 ($22.00 each for 12 of them ) but it made a big difference to the starting and running of the car, so modern stuff has it's place. Fuel like Ultimate 98 is much better quality and consistency than fuel from 30-40 years ago too I would assume, so why not take advantage of it?

 

If you keep within cooee of the original rates, then the loads from changing springs to an alternative "road able" rate are barely changed on the chassis.

You could compare it to whether you often drive with a passenger and full fuel and hit most drains/pot holes in the road, or whether you are more often running light and are a very careful driver who never hits pot holes.

Going to full race rates is another matter... but for eg, a std 308 spring is about 180 lbs" on front, and a good road/track/rally rate is about 270... not much change for significant gain.

Also, perversely, running a stiffer spring means it is shorter for a given platform position, which in turn means that whenever the suspension is in a droop position (over undulations and inner wheels in cornering), the loads transmitted by the drooped spring are LESS than a std spring...

If you've driven on the 550 springs I do, you'd be amazed at the ride comfort improvement in normal driving.

In summary... spring rates are not the highest influence on chassis stress... tyres are.

Other mods such as brake hoses and pads/fluids and competition clutches are all consumable service items, requiring no modification at all.

I'm a Ferrari purist, and all the small mods I do are almost always completely reversible. I hate it when Ferrari's are butchered beyond recovery, especially if the car is a low volume example.

Stephens Bastardo 550 has gone a bit far for my taste... but it IS a great thing... and it's ONLY a 550... there's 1000's of them.


Electronic ignition conversions are fine, so long as the installation is in keeping, and with no or minimal wiring/drilling or visible changes.

Also, you have to be careful with feedback comments from "modifications". In many intances the car may have had some fault, which led to the modification, so the owner gets an artificial impression of how good the mod is, because he's comparing something old and buggered to something new and improved... eg... Andrews 365 spark plugs perhaps???.... Maybe the old plugs were bad anyway, so new STD ones would have made a great difference, and fitting new improved ones masks the true benefit of new std ones.

Again, with brakes.... if you've been driving around on 15 year old rubber flexi hoses and std pads and fluids, then fit braided lines and track pads/fluid... what benefit do you REALLY notice.

More often than not in my experience, the mods come about due to parts price and availability.

 

Lowering....

If you increase the spring rate a little bit from std (25-50%?), lowering the car presents minimal clearance problems.... Lowering a car with std springs is a recipe for trouble... as Roger found.

 

Instead of fitting coilovers, Front AND REAR strut braces, and getting them set Properly People put new springs in i.e. King Spring Super Lows etc with a standard shock that has 130k+ on it.

And the idiots who eliminate all backpressure from their exhaust system and run cone filters that suck in hot air!

Instead of spending money on some good rubber and the suitible set wheels, the uninformed buy the biggest best looking wheels they can find and chuck those on.

But by far the worst are the people with FWD cars that have massive wings this annoys me the most.

Nothing wrong with "improved Production".


When it comes to ferraris however, i say go for it if your going to get specialist mechanics to fit high quality parts and tune them to perfection and keeping in mind the type of driving you will be doing most.

 

no real trouble , we just set the car up F1 style and it didn't work for the road . raised it a bit and it's all apples

 

What's F1 style?