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F430 New owner diary inc. maintenance & upgrades

I'm just checking in. I can't remember the last time that I drove the car so I'm starting to feel the excitement and anticipation from before that first ever drive. We are moving house and my criteria is outbuildings or garages large enough to enable me to let go of my workshop - that way I get more time and stay closer to home.

I really hope to get across to Italy later this year.
 
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Good luck with the house hunting, Mark. If you can’t find the perfect house with the perfect garage there’s something to be said for just going for a house with the space to build what you want. It allows you to get it just as you want it and the process of doing that is a lot of fun.
 
Nosevi said:
Good luck with the house hunting, Mark. If you can’t find the perfect house with the perfect garage there’s something to be said for just going for a house with the space to build what you want. It allows you to get it just as you want it and the process of doing that is a lot of fun.
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+1

A man with your interests mark needs a ‘garage mahal’ - I am close to spec’ing mine in Italy now. Unfortunately we had a break-in to our site in Italy during lock down and the project took several steps back. Also we have three properties effected by the cladding scandal so not easy to create the liquidity to get things finished. Anyway the imagineering phase of the garage mahal is well underway.

I used to fantasise about lifts, milling machines, and lathes but the ability to 3D print at home is starting to get very interesting. As you can imagine at work ‘additive manufacture’ has become the go to method for many things and for car enthusiasts it is soon going to mean lots of digitising parts broken / scarce parts and re-making them easily. 3D printed pistons are now a thing and liberate even more power :)
 
Modificato said:
I used to fantasise about lifts, milling machines, and lathes but the ability to 3D print at home is starting to get very interesting. As you can imagine at work ‘additive manufacture’ has become the go to method for many things and for car enthusiasts it is soon going to mean lots of digitising parts broken / scarce parts and re-making them easily. 3D printed pistons are now a thing and liberate even more power :)
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Have been watching this with interest. Looking forward to the day when the solution to that almost insignificant little part on your Ferrari that breaks and is totally unobtainable (or an absolutely ridiculous price) is to scan it, 'fix' it in using CAD software and hit print (then sinter if that's the right term). Things have come a long way already:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83fXb8OqScc
 
We have more than 20 3D printers of various types at work and as our large capital equipment starts to need replacing it is increasingly done so by 3D printing and composite. In our game [Prestige brand show cars and low volume bespoke production] it’s not the future it’s the now.
 
Thanks Pete. We had an offer accepted over the weekend. As you said, it did prove difficult to find something that met all the 'normal' requirements plus my slightly unusual one, so I have Dad drawing up plans for the workshop :)

Chris, sorry to hear about Italy. Has insurance covered it?

3D printing is an interesting thought. I must admit that I am planning for a few machines but they soon eat into the available floor area - in a big way. A lift is a must.
 
Nosevi said:
Have been watching this with interest. Looking forward to the day when the solution to that almost insignificant little part on your Ferrari that breaks and is totally unobtainable (or an absolutely ridiculous price) is to scan it, 'fix' it in using CAD software and hit print (then sinter if that's the right term). Things have come a long way already:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83fXb8OqScc
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It still amazes me. This will revolutionise the aftermarket once it finally becomes affordable.
 
MWStewart said:
Thanks Pete. We had an offer accepted over the weekend. As you said, it did prove difficult to find something that met all the 'normal' requirements plus my slightly unusual one, so I have Dad drawing up plans for the workshop :)

Chris, sorry to hear about Italy. Has insurance covered it?

3D printing is an interesting thought. I must admit that I am planning for a few machines but they soon eat into the available floor area - in a big way. A lift is a must.
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No the insurance is covered by the builder ‘Italian style. The alleged perpetrators have been found and are being supervised as they make amends. The commune response has been amazing so he building is now secure and monitored by the local hunters in exchange for hunting rights when we ar not there.
 
Modificato said:
No the insurance is covered by the builder ‘Italian style. The alleged perpetrators have been found and are being supervised as they make amends. The commune response has been amazing so he building is now secure and monitored by the local hunters in exchange for hunting rights when we ar not there.
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:thumbsup: Love it. I can't wait to get our place in Liguria.
 
Modificato said:
No the insurance is covered by the builder ‘Italian style. The alleged perpetrators have been found and are being supervised as they make amends. The commune response has been amazing so he building is now secure and monitored by the local hunters in exchange for hunting rights when we ar not there.
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That's the way to do it :)
 
Modificato said:
Love Liguria was there last year in the window we had between covid lockdowns and spent time in the cinque Terre...

Where is your place?
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We haven't got it yet! We had a purchase fall through at the start of the Covid outbreak and haven't been able to get back since. We're looking to buy in the hills of Bordighera (between Ventimiglia & San Remo). We're ready to purchase, it's just a case of finding the right place, perhaps a half-built project as there are a few of them around. An expensive area though.
 
Kyodo said:
We haven't got it yet! We had a purchase fall through at the start of the Covid outbreak and haven't been able to get back since. We're looking to buy in the hills of Bordighera (between Ventimiglia & San Remo). We're ready to purchase, it's just a case of finding the right place, perhaps a half-built project as there are a few of them around. An expensive area though.
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I have taken this to another (off) topic so as not to clog up Marks Thread...

Foreign Property Projects
 
MWStewart said:
Sure, some of that is a little bit of fantasy but I'm really thinking about getting more from the cars than I currently do.
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Obviously not as fancy but it’s one of the reasons I have my ‘garage’ set up like this - I get quite a bit of enjoyment just looking at my car. Here she’s in a bubble for when I use the golf simulator which I’m standing in front of to take the picture but I’ll often use the room to watch tv for sports events etc as the sim doubles as a 10 foot tv screen and then she’ll be out of the bubble. Wife laughs at me but I'm sure she'd prefer me turning my garage into a lounge rather than turning the lounge in the house into a garage :)

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C3F71EA7-400B-40C9-9DA3-06C9F0196A36.jpg
 
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MWStewart said:
Pete, that's superb. I could get a lot of enjoyment from that. Nicely done.
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Cheers. That's really why I did it - you can only be driving your car for a certain amount of time, 'traditionally' most of the rest of the time (which is the vast majority) they're shut away in a dark garage. I'm very much of the camp that these cars are, to an extent, 'automotive' art so why not enjoy that aspect as well.
 
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Front Suspension Refresh
The suspension components take a beating in these cars. The Hill Engineering track rod ends were new only 7k miles ago, but poor road surfaces wear them out in no time. I put together a spare set of wishbones to make the swap easier with less time off of the road.
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I had the arms vapour blasted. I'm going to replace all ball joints, track rod ends, and the flamblocs. The arms will be assembled by AV Engineering.
20210904_164916.jpg
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Here's what the titanium wheel spindles look like after vapour blasting. Now I will send them for hard anodising, which is the final surface treatment process before they are ready to use. The end result will be a perfect match for the OEM titanium wheel bolts.
20210904_164949.jpg
 
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