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599GTB - Modificato Project

Murph7355 said:
So the whole thing's not carbon, just the odd bits and pieces?

And is that red base coat or some sort of overspray?

Can you separate out the low diffuser and use it separately? The GTO bumper's quite different...

I quite like the vents and the way it adjusts the rear view so would probably go the whole hog now you've spent the money on the part.
Click to expand...

The whole think is virtually 100% carbon but it's a real bitza of different weaves and grades of carbon.
Its all hand laid carbon except for the mounting pieces and some key location bosses.

The red is a base coat that I suspect is on all of the GTO's bumpers

Yes the lower diffuser can be easily separated and directly exchange with the stock diffuser just like the whole bumper assembly is a whole interchangeable part with the ordinary berlinetta
 
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Stop press: "we are pleased to inform you that you and your car have been accepted for this years Ferrari Mille Miglia Tribute - we look forward to seeing you in Brescia"

:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:

Jobs just got urgent.

Dealer called me today to say that the car is holding an error code they have not seen before so have contacted the Factory to see what's what. Waiting on Maranello now.
 
Modificato said:
Stop press: "we are pleased to inform you that you and your car have been accepted for this years Ferrari Mille Miglia Tribute - we look forward to seeing you in Brescia"

:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin:

Jobs just got urgent.

Dealer called me today to say that the car is holding an error code they have not seen before so have contacted the Factory to see what's what. Waiting on Maranello now.
Click to expand...

Fantastic news on the Mille Miglia Tribute :thumbsup:
 
Not sure if you have solved the warning lights issue. I had exactly the same 3 lights come on ABS CST etc (albeit not in my F car) but it turned out to be a faulty ABS sensor. £30 part and 5 mins to fit
 
There is an error code that the dealership has not seen before even though they have put their longest serving guy on the job - always worth asking for with older cars. We are waiting on Maranello to feedback on what it is. The sensor inner core looks like it had just become dislodged and that was enough to make the whole thing go crazy. As per the earlier poster I will also be replacing key batteries as well. I have decided for the Mille Miglia tribute to merely fit the carbon front splitter and the carbon rear diffuser. I will re-paint the GTO bumper but it will be too much of a rush to do it in time. My biggest concern at the moment is tyres. The current PZeros have good tread but old and have gone off a bit. Michelin have a supply issue and the next gen pirellis which finally get them a super sport compatible tyre are not yet in good supply. 1,000 miles on old pirellis and with the customary MIlle Miglia rain is not a good mix.
 
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Okay an update.

The parking sensor turned out to have a broken / missing retention spring so merely pushing it back into place as the last dealership had done would not permanently fix the problem - a bodge. A new one has been ordered and we will fix it properly. The carbon radio flap has a soft-close / open mechanism which I am told breaks in the first few weeks of ownership or as soon as a clueless passenger tries to open it in the more obvious way of simply lifting it. This is one of what I call "Ministry of crap design" issues or Poke-Yoke defects as the Japanese call them - translated it means has the design been human-proofed? Is it impossible to get it wrong.

Anyway I have ordered a replacement mechanism and will resolve to now train anyone who enters the car so it stays as Maranello intended. When I get the parts I may see if I can improve them in some way.

The error warning lights have all been explained away now and sorted. The mystery error code stored in permanent memory - the one that meant recourse to Modena - has been dismissed as caused by long storage and a dead battery sometime in the deep past. The factory said this would likely be the cause of the more spurious error messaging that accompanied a faulty parking sensor and also when I overfilled the fuel which triggered its own fault but was joined by others.

Other stuff.

Even though the supplying dealer commsioned a full 18500 mile Ferrari main dealer service as a condition of sale my local dealer always do their own inspection for free.
It turned up clutch wear at 18% which I am happy about, lots of wear in the brake pads which I am happy about too but surprisingly for a <20k miles car 80% wear in the discs which I am not so chuffed with. I would be interested to hear from other 599 owners what they experience wih CCM's. Note this is via actual disc measurement not any pseudo measuring from the ECU. Much of the suspension is on amber alert due to play in the ball joints and tie rods. Again not thrilled about that because I specifically asked about it prior to the pre-sale service and whilst none need changing immediately I just wish they would have given me the facts and/or the traffic light sheet from Macari's. In my business' I hate Amber lights on any metrics as it just means defect to one party and okay to another. It is a constant source of conflict and as you can imagine would have further informed my purchase and now my cynicism. My Japanese teachers told me 'yoda style' "either red or green - no Amber"

So I will probably do the Mille Miglia and then do a full suspension overhaul with Hills Enginering parts and take the opportunity to get the CCM's refurbed by Sicom. I have asked my local dealer to quote for this work if I source the parts and the refurbed discs.

It looks like I will have the car back for Friday so we can get it detailed and fit carbon parts prior to the event.
 
Forgot to add:

When refurbishing CCM discs there are two types of rotor.

1) The Ferrari / brembo tech rotors are original CCM tech and have a uniform structure throughout and despite manufacturers claims can wear very quickly as shown above.
2) The later Mercedes / Porsche tech is more modern and thus includes a thin top layer that is very very hard.

With this approach the main wear item is designed to be the pads and the discs are typically good for 100,000km or more.

Note: When you get replacement discs from Ferrari they are still the old tech and always will be.

When you refurb Ferrari CCM's at Sicom they always add value by upgrading your discs to the newer hard surface layer tech so not only do they end up better than OEM but they will give you peace of mind that you are unlikely to have to replace them anytime soon once done.

Their website is here: http://www.ceramicdiscrefurbishment.com/index.html

eBay often turns up 'spent' Ferrari CCM rotors as curios and desk ornaments so now you know keep it quiet ;-)
 
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I've the Sicom CCMs and they're excellent however they are a nightmare to get the old bells off the discs and fitted to the new ones. If I used them again I'd send my discs to them to be swapped or refinished and fitted by them. One of mine broke during the removal process and whilst they said they would credit it anyway they didn't in the end.
 
How are you measuring the discs ?? I thought the only effective method was to get all the dust out of them then weigh them. I am sure my discs have the "new" weights specified on them so you can work out how much life they have left in them.


Modificato said:
Okay an update.

The parking sensor turned out to have a broken / missing retention spring so merely pushing it back into place as the last dealership had done would not permanently fix the problem - a bodge. A new one has been ordered and we will fix it properly. The carbon radio flap has a soft-close / open mechanism which I am told breaks in the first few weeks of ownership or as soon as a clueless passenger tries to open it in the more obvious way of simply lifting it. This is one of what I call "Ministry of crap design" issues or Poke-Yoke defects as the Japanese call them - translated it means has the design been human-proofed? Is it impossible to get it wrong.

Anyway I have ordered a replacement mechanism and will resolve to now train anyone who enters the car so it stays as Maranello intended. When I get the parts I may see if I can improve them in some way.

The error warning lights have all been explained away now and sorted. The mystery error code stored in permanent memory - the one that meant recourse to Modena - has been dismissed as caused by long storage and a dead battery sometime in the deep past. The factory said this would likely be the cause of the more spurious error messaging that accompanied a faulty parking sensor and also when I overfilled the fuel which triggered its own fault but was joined by others.

Other stuff.

Even though the supplying dealer commsioned a full 18500 mile Ferrari main dealer service as a condition of sale my local dealer always do their own inspection for free.
It turned up clutch wear at 18% which I am happy about, lots of wear in the brake pads which I am happy about too but surprisingly for a <20k miles car 80% wear in the discs which I am not so chuffed with. I would be interested to hear from other 599 owners what they experience wih CCM's. Note this is via actual disc measurement not any pseudo measuring from the ECU. Much of the suspension is on amber alert due to play in the ball joints and tie rods. Again not thrilled about that because I specifically asked about it prior to the pre-sale service and whilst none need changing immediately I just wish they would have given me the facts and/or the traffic light sheet from Macari's. In my business' I hate Amber lights on any metrics as it just means defect to one party and okay to another. It is a constant source of conflict and as you can imagine would have further informed my purchase and now my cynicism. My Japanese teachers told me 'yoda style' "either red or green - no Amber"

So I will probably do the Mille Miglia and then do a full suspension overhaul with Hills Enginering parts and take the opportunity to get the CCM's refurbed by Sicom. I have asked my local dealer to quote for this work if I source the parts and the refurbed discs.

It looks like I will have the car back for Friday so we can get it detailed and fit carbon parts prior to the event.
Click to expand...
 
F355GTS said:
I've the Sicom CCMs and they're excellent however they are a nightmare to get the old bells off the discs and fitted to the new ones. If I used them again I'd send my discs to them to be swapped or refinished and fitted by them. One of mine broke during the removal process and whilst they said they would credit it anyway they didn't in the end.
Click to expand...

Yes absolutely would do exchange of the whole assembly.
 
So the GTO front splitter in carbon finally arrived.
image.jpeg
Very pleased with the condition and price from a German supplier.
image.jpg
Close-up of the weave
image.jpg
Have finally decided not to use the GTO rear bumper at this stage and merely to apply the GTO carbon addendums to the car for now. I feel that I don't want this elegant GT car to look like it's trying to be a GTO and I want to keep it subtle. I may change my mind of course but given the car is loaded with carbon inside I think subtly does it is the way.

My interior is Nero Daytona with contrast Grigio stitching. If I had spec'd it from new I would have chose. Grigio seat belts. My question is whether that is possible to do retrospectively?
 
Well a few little achievements today.

First the secondary cat by-pass pipes fitted an absolute treat. The only minor hassle was we needed to grind off the mikalor clamps off the stock cats as they are tack welded on and we didn't want to wait for new ones. The resulting sound is - as to be expected - pure 599 GTO and so wonderful to hear unleashed.
I didn't realise just how much I had missed V12 sound with all its overtones and harmonics. The only issue now is the valve operation and its phasing effect is more pronounced both sonically and in the drive itself. I had ordered - and have now received - a Forza exhaust valve controller. We will set up exactly like the 430 with a three-way switch to the controller in the old ash tray. The next job was to replace all the batteries in keys and fobs. Taking my first look under the car at 18,000miles I was delighted to see absolutely tip top condition. This car has never been out much at all but it is lovely shape.
 
Modificato said:
I had ordered - and have now received - a Forza exhaust valve controller. We will set up exactly like the 430 with a three-way switch to the controller in the old ash tray.
Click to expand...

Steve Bisel's Forza valve controller is excellent. I fitted one to my F430. There's a neater solution than fitting a switch in the ashtray though. You can use the Launch Control switch location in the centre console and replace it with a 3 position switch that looks OEM. The installation is illustrated here:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/143758150-post9.html

I just need to locate a suitable switch in the UK and I'll be doing the same. Anyone know where I might source one?
 
isuk said:
Similar looking switches can be found on eBay -

2 way switch

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Round-Cir...hash=item3ac0f443be:m:mimtkk8ZothCM0XGr7l_usA


3 way switch

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/On-Off-On...656759?hash=item2caa6a56b7:g:aWsAAOSwxp9W-m2i
Click to expand...

Have used this switch in my 430 and mounted in a small piece of carbon in the ash-tray.
It looks factory and anyway I want the launch control - just in case - that date with and Aventador ever happens.

Interesting alternative approach though as I hate the fobs.
 
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