That's incredibly generous of the folks at Capristo/Scuderia.
Door Strikers The door strikers are a consumable part. Over time the nylon sleeve wears away which not only looks bad, but turns an otherwise positive but mechanical sounding door closure into something on the unpleasant side. The last time I ordered a replacement pair I was sent a superceded part that was all metal. It made door closure sound even worse than a worn original catch, so I didn't fit them. I did though think it was a waste to throw away a big chunk of metal for the sake of a small piece of nylon, so I came up with a way to refurbish them: drill out the pressed head securing the striker pin, cut some 10mm Derlin rod to size, mill down to 9.5mm diameter, bore an 8mm hole in the centre, slide over the pin and TIG it back in place. Image Unavailable, Please Login After doing all of that I discovered a new pair of original strikers in my parts store, so the resto approach went hold The photo below shows the original type (bottom and right), and the new, all-metal type (left). Image Unavailable, Please Login Fitted. I took the opportunity to tweak the door closed position - when closed the passenger door was ever so slightly proud of the rear quarter; it's now flush. Image Unavailable, Please Login If anyone is interested I found whilst searching that the original version is Alfa Romeo part 50509788. I found some available new in the UK for £8 inc. VAT, so I have ordered more spares.
Thank you. Suspension Height Increase My goal is a height increase of 7mm. I knew from my previous measurements that the rake is within spec which means that I can adjust equally F&R. There is a very knowledgeable member on these forums with extensive experience of racing this platform, and thanks to his posts I had the motion ratio and mm/spring seat turn data: Three turns would raise by 7.89 at the front and 7.98 at the rear, though I will calculate it and adjust so that it's equal to the front. I'll go with this and see how it is Tools for the job: I removed the upper wishbone in order to improve access. I used 68-72mm and 85-105mm C spanners to adjust the shocks, and a Sharpie to mark damper body and spring seat. Image Unavailable, Please Login Based on experience of doing this to my last F430 I didn't expect this to be a quick job, but I found that thanks to Derlin rather than rubber spring seats, a little bit of cutting oil as lubricant enabled the seats to slide easily against the spring, negating the need to remove the assembly and compress the spring. Image Unavailable, Please Login The front took an hour and a half from jacking up to refitting the wheels. I was pleased with that. Image Unavailable, Please Login At some point over the winter I shall give everything a good spruse up
Suspension adjustment is finished. After accounting for driver ballast weight the final target measurements were as below: Left front 2.25 turns x 2.63mm = 5.92mm increase. New height: 116mm + 5.92mm = 121.92mm Right front 3 turns x 2.63mm = 7.89mm increase. New height: 115mm + 7.89mm = 122.89mm Left rear 2.25 turns x 2.66mm = 5.98mm increase. New height: 141mm + 5.98mm = 146.98mm Right rear 3 turns x 2.66mm = 7.98mm increase. New height: 140mm + 7.97mm = 147.97mm Like most aspects of car design and configuation suspension setup is all about compromises. Ferrari specify ballast weight for both driver and passenger but because I rarely drive 10/10ths with a passenger I chose to make the setup optimal for driver-only; this results in the ~1mm increased ride height on the driver's side. With the adjustments finished I stripped the suspension ready to send the wishbones for vapour/aqua blasting. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Of all the 130 kilograms so far lost the 24.97kg of unsprung weight is by far the most transformative, so whilst the suspension is apart I've done a small study on the unsprung assemblies to see what remaining parts can be weight optimised. Image Unavailable, Please Login There are some non-load-bearing fastenings that can be replaced with aluminium for maximum weight saving - approximately 1/3 the weight of steel - and certain load-bearing parts that may be remanufactured in Titanium 6AL-4V, commonly known as grade 5. Ti parts are roughly 1/2 the weight of their steel equivalent I've commissioned the first Ti parts and there will be more to follow. Image Unavailable, Please Login I've designed a weight-optimised brake line for the front end which does away with a secondary bulkhead fitting and length of steel pipe. More on that later, but another benefit of this approach is a redesign of the 0.3kg steel brake line brackets which now need only support cables from the suspension, ABS, and pad wear sensors. I've made new versions from 2mm pre-preg carbon. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Unrelated to the unsprung suspension assembly but last year when I had the soft top roof cover remade in carbon, I planned to remake some of the fastenings in aluminium, where appropriate. I've now done that. Primer and paint to follow before they are fitted. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Back on to something less interesting and another winter job to repaint the engine lid hinges. The engine lid is easy to remove but surprisingly heavy - I hope that my lexan screen will improve things here. Image Unavailable, Please Login Here is the offending article; it's the usual story of poor prep for the black painted parts. I sanded down, applied Kurust, etch primer, then a thick coat of satin black. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Much better. I did both sides. Image Unavailable, Please Login I checked panel gaps around everything and tweaked if necessary. I use glazing packers wrapped in masking tape - from memory 2.5mm. Image Unavailable, Please Login Engine shot. Image Unavailable, Please Login
A bit of titivation. I fitted the aluminium guide brackets that I fabricated and painted. Image Unavailable, Please Login Before refitting the hood cover I replaced the anti-chafe vinyl stickers with some adhesive felt. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login And, finally, the panels aligned and refitted. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The drivers side door seal had split above the rear view mirror mount. Image Unavailable, Please Login I came up with the idea of repairing it with a bicycle inner tube repair kit. Some kits are available with a large patch of rubber rather than the little pads, so I got one of those and made a template of the top edge of the broken seal and cut it from the patch. Image Unavailable, Please Login It turned out OK. I don't think that it's worth replacing the seal for this. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login It's invisible with the door shut. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Quick update - who doesn't love machined parts Grade 5 titanium round bar. One of the first parts to be finished.
ah! I thought scud ratios are same as 430 ratios or at least similar. Do you have scuderia box's gearing ratio numbers?
Both spindles now finished. Final shot of them looking nice and shiny before I send them to be peened. Image Unavailable, Please Login
upon checking ferrari's documents, I've found scuderia's ratio are identical to f430's from 1-2 gear scud: 46/14 = 3.286 41/19 = 2.158 39/25 = 1.56 DIFFERENT! 33/27 = 1.222 DIFFERENT! 37/38 = 0.974 DIFFERENT! 29/37 = 0.784 DIFFERENT! RM 41/15 = 2.733 f430 46/14 = 3,286 41/19 = 2,158 37/23 = 1,609 33/26 = 1,269 30/29 = 1,034 31/38 = 0,82 RM 41/15 = 2,733 cs 46/14 = 3.286 41/19 = 2.158 37/23 = 1.609 33/26 = 1.269 30/29 = 1.034 28/33 = 0.848 RM 41/16 = 2.565
What i meant is this, if you change gears from 1-2-3, or 3-2-1, the car felt really bad, because the gearing is too tall. I'd like to change the 1-2 and 2-3 gearing to a lower ratio. In other words, to evenly spread the gears. If that means the top speed has to be lowered, so be it. The relevant data to my "feel" is not actually shown on the previous post. It is rather a calculation of data shown above. Let me calculate it for you. 1st 46/14 = 3.286 2nd 41/19 = 2.158 so, 3.286/2.158 = 1.524 ---- this number shows that when you change gear from 1-2 or 2-1 , you'll feel pretty bad.----- i.e. too tall --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2nd 41/19 = 2.158 3rd 39/25 = 1.56 so , 2.158/1.56 = 1.383 ----- still a little tall --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3rd 39/25 = 1.56 4th 33/27 = 1.222 so, 1.56/1.222 = 1.277 ----- changing gear from 3-4 or 4-3 starts to feel good --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4th 33/27 = 1.222 5th 37/38 = 0.974 so, 1.222/0.974 = 1.255 ---- feel good --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5th 37/38 = 0.974 6th 29/37 = 0.784 so, 0.974/0.784 = 1.242 ----- feel good
you see, the "feel index" is 1.524, 1.383, 1.277 , 1.255, 1.242 I'd like to change the first two (1.524 and 1.383) to something like 1.300 .
Yes, you are absolutely correct: it is the upper gears that were changed. I use first to get rolling and 2nd is really too short. I don't like to drive the car hard in those two gears anyway so 3rd and above is where mine spends most of its time. There is always a bit of a compromise with ratios to suit road and track. If you are on tighter roads or shorter tracks I can completely see why you would want to even out the ratio spacing between the lower gears. The best thing to do is strip the 'box - I seem to remember that you have a spare - and send send your chosen gears out for some quotes. It shouldn't cost the earth.
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. Image Unavailable, Please Login 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. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login 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. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I hope this is the 1st of many updates! Your thread is a great read Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
The conclusion of my winter suspension maintenance: 2.44kg of sprung, and 1.01kg of unsprung weight saved. I wouldn't normally go in to such small detail, but when a maintenance job is required I will take the opportunity to optimise or improve whatever parts are involved. Wheel uprights machined to Challenge spec Challenge car uprights undergo two modifications: 1) Rear handbrake caliper/front vertical acceleration sensor mounting bosses are milled off; 2) Brake cooling vents machined out. A road-going F430 requires both handbrake caliper/front vertical acceleration mounts, so I opted to machine the brake cooling vents to save a little bit of unsprung weight. Standard (360/430) upright: Image Unavailable, Please Login My uprights (16/Scuderia) after machining: Image Unavailable, Please Login Refurbished and rebuilt front arms with Scuderia flanblocs I have in stock each type of flanbloc to investigate their construction and weight. My findings are below: Image Unavailable, Please Login I sent my arms via courier to AV Engineering to be built up. Great communication throughout - it's nice dealing with someone whom you can trust to do the job well. New HE ball joints, and Scuderia flanblocs. Image Unavailable, Please Login New CCM discs Thanks to my friend Gary I have a set of new front & rear CCMs to go on. These won't save any further weight - the fronts were quite worn but I'd put off changing them because the bite is really good, the downside being that they ate pads! Challenge discs are bed-in during manufacture, which is nice. Image Unavailable, Please Login Hubs rebuilt with bespoke titanium spindles I've covered these in a previous update, but these are fitted after being hard anodised. Image Unavailable, Please Login Camber shims replaced with aluminium spacers As a general guide, the following applies: Front + 1 mm shim = -0.20 to -0.25 degrees of camber. Rear + 1 mm shim = -0.30 to -0.40 degrees of camber. Removing front UCA washers = -0.6 to -0.7 degrees of camber. Removing rear UCA washers = -0.5 to -0.6 degrees of camber. I've removed the upper RCA washers (top right in photo) to gain some camber, and based on that I ran the calcs for my new ride height to determine the thickness of shims F&R, and used that to have a set of aluminium spacers machined (top left in raw form, and bottom left with etch primer). The weight soon adds up with the steel shims (bottom right) when chasing a more focused camber configuration - I've saved a shade under half a kg for very little outlay. Image Unavailable, Please Login Vertical acceleration sensor hardware Titanium and aluminium fasteners used to save a few grams. Image Unavailable, Please Login Wheel upright rear cover plate I remade these in carbon, used lightweight fastenings, and lightweight cable management clips. 338 grams of unsprung weight saved. Image Unavailable, Please Login Calibration optimisation AV Engineering have my ECUs: 360Trev has been undertaking some great work on the Bosch ECUs, and he has discovered many improvements. AV and Trev have teamed up to offer an electronics service, and I can't wait to get these back and in the car: even though my car in its current form is quicker than the 06 F430 I owned, it still lacks some of the punch that car had. I'm quietly confident that Trev can produce some magic. Image Unavailable, Please Login Weight Saving Total Unsprung weight saved: 21.59 kg Sprung weight saved: 111.86 kg Total weight saved: 133.45 kg