F430 New owner diary inc. maintenance & upgrades

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The last time I ordered a replacement pair I was sent a superceded part that was all metal.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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The front took an hour and a half from jacking up to refitting the wheels. I was pleased with that.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Much better. I did both sides.
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I checked panel gaps around everything and tweaked if necessary. I use glazing packers wrapped in masking tape - from memory 2.5mm.
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Engine shot.
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A bit of titivation. I fitted the aluminium guide brackets that I fabricated and painted.
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Before refitting the hood cover I replaced the anti-chafe vinyl stickers with some adhesive felt.
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And, finally, the panels aligned and refitted.
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The drivers side door seal had split above the rear view mirror mount.
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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.
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It turned out OK. I don't think that it's worth replacing the seal for this.
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It's invisible with the door shut.
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Thank you.

 

Quick update - who doesn't love machined parts

Grade 5 titanium round bar.


One of the first parts to be finished.

 

I already have I have the Scuderia gearbox which has a closer first, second, and third.

 

Both spindles now finished. Final shot of them looking nice and shiny before I send them to be peened.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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My uprights (16/Scuderia) after machining:
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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:
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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.
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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.
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Hubs rebuilt with bespoke titanium spindles
I've covered these in a previous update, but these are fitted after being hard anodised.
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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.
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Vertical acceleration sensor hardware
Titanium and aluminium fasteners used to save a few grams.
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Wheel upright rear cover plate
I remade these in carbon, used lightweight fastenings, and lightweight cable management clips. 338 grams of unsprung weight saved.
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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.
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Weight Saving Total
Unsprung weight saved: 21.59 kg
Sprung weight saved: 111.86 kg
Total weight saved: 133.45 kg