F430 New owner diary inc. maintenance & upgrades

[Mike01606]

Mark,

You raise some good points particularly on trim etc. I think the real difference between these cars and BMW is purely down to production numbers. I'm not defending it just recognising that tooling for low numbers would make these cars too expensive. Leave that to Pagani......

I own a 360 which was effectively the 1st gen 430 so that was the real 'prototype' and I too was surprised when you see some of the detail (or lack of) underneath the skin.

For me it is still an event every time I drive it and the engine/F1 combination is what makes it really special.......I like the fact that all the rough edges haven't been knocked off

Enjoy the car.......

[MWStewart]

Composite gaskets supplied:
http://www.mwstewart.co.uk/images/6362.jpg

I prefer the MLS gasket so I decided to have the manifolds linished to suitable tolerances i.e. within ~0.25mm.
http://www.mwstewart.co.uk/images/6368.jpg

Ferrari gaskets ordered from Eurospares.
http://www.mwstewart.co.uk/images/6366.jpg

I will report back regarding fitment once I have the car back from Graypaul.

Something else I want to mention is another enthusiast, Aldous Voice, who has an excellent blog: Aldous Voice | Ferrari Expertise Aldous has been very helpful to date in answering various questions I've had about the car.

[MWStewart]

Mark,

You raise some good points particularly on trim etc. I think the real difference between these cars and BMW is purely down to production numbers. I'm not defending it just recognising that tooling for low numbers would make these cars too expensive. Leave that to Pagani......

I own a 360 which was effectively the 1st gen 430 so that was the real 'prototype' and I too was surprised when you see some of the detail (or lack of) underneath the skin.

For me it is still an event every time I drive it and the engine/F1 combination is what makes it really special.......I like the fact that all the rough edges haven't been knocked off

Enjoy the car.......

Hi Mike, Yes, you're right - I think the low production numbers and investment in new technologies make these things horrendously expensive to produce. In fairness, as time has gone on the car has performed faultlessley - it just took me a while to acclimatise after driving mass produced performance cars.

No other car has ever put a smile on my face quite like it

[pilotprice]

I asked about these manifolds last week but was advised of the facing issues and also a report of them fouling on the chasis?

[pilotprice]

Seen your post

[MWStewart]

I asked about these manifolds last week but was advised of the facing issues and also a report of them fouling on the chasis?

I just replied to your post They are no where near the chassis - there is considerably more room around the manifolds than the OEM versions.

I had a chat with Aldous about his experience and came to the conclusion that the manifolds were redesigned at a later date; they were marketed as 'New, perfect fit'.

[MWStewart]

Saturday 6th September 2014
I'm in the process of replacing the OEM exhaust manifolds with the stainless tubular versions covered in my previous post, and whilst doing so I'm cleaning behind the various guards and trim pieces and replacing any corroded fasteners with stainless versions. It seemed like a good opportunity for a quick photo study of the parts that aren't usually seen.

O/S/R wheel arch with liners removed and stock manifold visible through the aperture. Suspension is coil over with double wishbone and a tie rod, which is adjustable for toe. Camber adjustment is made by shimming the wishbone mounts.


Close up of stock manifolds.


There are two aluminium fuel tanks; one in front of each rear wheel. I suspect they are baffled.



I found this signature at the top of the O/S/R arch - possibly a worker at Alcoa where the chassis is made.


Hydraulic manifold for the Spider roof mechanism is visible at the rear of the O/S/R wheel arch.


The air inlets atop the rear quarters feed air along in to the airbox. This photo shows the ducting linking the two.


Rear diffuser removed revealing transaxle.


Airbox lids and engine bay access panels removed.


Flat under tray removed showing the rear of the Alcoa chassis. It's a mixture of box section, pressed, and extruded sections welded together.


Front of the engine showing how the services run around the periphery of the engine bay and converge in a neat run to the front of the car.


The engine is dry sumped, and the sump is structural. The main cap studs are through-bolted here to increase stiffness of the bottom end.


Here are the stock manifolds removed. The job took around five hours and can only be described as a pain! My car had replacement Mk2 manifolds fitted by Ferrari in 2009 and the nuts must have been tightened by a Gorilla; given there is access to turn some of the nuts 1/8th of a turn at best, one more than one occasion I seriously thought I may end up stuck.


Monday 8th September 2014
Hydraulic manifold for the E-Diff is visible at the rear of the O/S/R wheel arch.


I now have the replica Scuderia Shields fitted to the front wings. I used the Ferrari measurements to position them.


Mk2 exhaust manifold failiure
I mentioned previously that my exhaust manifolds were the Mk2 version fitted by Ferrari in 2009 after the original Mk1 versions failed. I had a blow from my exhaust which prompted me to buy the stainless versions as soon as possible, and given that the stock manifolds were scrap I took an angle grinder to them in order to remove the heat shields and confirm a definite failiure.

Here are both of the manifolds with the shields and heat insulating material removed.


The right bank manifold was OK.



Thursday 11th September 2014
Rear Tie Rods
The Hill Engineering rear tie rod ends arrived. They are stainless steel ball joints encased within a billet aluminium end. The original Ferrari ends are plated ball joints in a forged alloy end. Ferrari fitted the arms in 2011 as a complete assembly and they hadn't used any anti-sieze compond which I always find vital when dealing with alloy threads. I had to cut off one of the original ends as it wouldn't budge even with heat applied. I've also bought new bolts to secure the end plates.


Assembly fitted.


I removed the A/C compressor to gain better access to the N/S exhaust nuts, and one of the three securing bolts snapped off in the block. Thank God it was the lower bolt (see arrow) which is easy to access otherwise it could have been a huge amount of work to rectify! It turns out that Ferrari use a grade 12.9 bolt for one of the three, with the others being 8.8! Combine that grade of bolt with an alloy thread in a hot engine block without any anti-sieze and you have a potential recipie for disaster. I decided to Helicoil the mount to make it better than original. I also replaced the bolts with new ones this time all in grade 12.9.


Manifolds fitted
Manifolds coated, and new studs from Ferrari. They are only 71p each so it makes sense to replace them. The nuts were from VW as it happenend; most manufacturers now use M8 exhaust studs with the smaller 12mm hex head.


It took me twenty minutes to fit the new manifolds which is in stark contrast to the four hours it took to remove the stock manifolds! The replacements fit well - a little tight around the studs compared to OEM, but that's no bad thing - so at this point they are looking to be a complete bargain. Let's see how they hold up to regular use.



Hill Engineering Foot Rest
I ordered this at the same time as the ball joints. The standard Ferrari foot rest is just a black rubber peice stuck onto an aluminium back plate. The Hill piece matches the rest of the pedals.


Standard rest:


Hill Engineering were brilliant to deal with and the service was great, and fast. The products are excellent quality so I certainly recommend them.

Strengthening gussets added by Ferrari.


Here's the left bank manifold. There is a 50mm crack right around the primary of cylinder eight.

[Mike01606]

Some great pictures so thanks for sharing them.....

Every time I see 430 manifolds I cannot believe the design of the 4 pipes into the collector. It looks as if the designer had no understanding of thermal expansion and how welds can affect thin walled tubing.

Underneath the skin the chassis and suspension are identical to the 360......

[geoffpfc]

As the original manifolds appear to have insulation and the new one's don't, are you concerned about additional heat within the engine compartment.

[Modificato]

Really Pleased you are posting on here as PH forums seemingly wont allow new users to comment almost everyday due to the amount of trolls on there.

Anyway, very interested in your journey as I am pursuing a similar path with my own 2007 F1 Coupe.

I am an engineer (aeronautical) by profession and have been using spanners since as long as I remember. I have a history in motorsport so drive my car as intended by its designers. I also do troubleshooting work in the industry mostly subject to non-disclosure agreements but suffice to say the premium segment contains a lot of my customers. I take a similar approach to improvement to you staying as much as I can to having the tediously required FFSH for resale, but use independents / DIY to do my upgrades. I am always underwhelmed by the modern service experience and have done work with a couple of marques to improve it but there is nothing like working on your own car to make you quality conscious. To my eye there are parts of the Ferrari designs that are just plain lazy and frustrating but as you say the business bits they get spot on. I have witnessed there testing (was there last week) but unfortunately their customers in the main don't replicate the testing profiles one bit. Maybe on in 500 do. Anyway...

I am currently on Mk2 Headers with Capristo mounts but looking to source a Titanium cat-back system to take some weight (and hence stress) out of the stock system, add some nice Ti resonance to the exhaust note, and not spend my life getting CEL warnings.

I am intrigued by your brake choice as I am going the stock CCM route.

My overall goal is to get somewhere near a challenge look and feel for my car so it sits somewhere between stock and a scud.

Will be good to keep up-to-date with upgrades.