“Hey, let’s put a $40,000 body kit on a Ferrari and turbocharge it”, we all at times say some crazy things to our friends, but what happens when they take you seriously? Well, this is what happens, you end up with Bright red Ferrari that sounds like a Jetson’s mobile when it’s cruising.
Last year before SEMA, Alex from Sheepey and Ravi randomly had this idea pop up in their head. The only thing was, it was just an idea, and when things began to become a reality, it also had to be one of the cars at the SEMA Show for our booth.
PICTURED ARE EASILY FILLED UP BY THE FERRARI CALIPERS.
Being a CSF booth car meant there had to be some CSF product on the car, right? Well… there wasn’t much out there for a twin turbo Ferrari, let alone did we make anything. That’s where Sheepey comes in and made some serious magic happen in a short period of time.
The 458 hands down have one of the best interiors of any sports car there is, the simple elegance and layout of everything never feel cluttered or cheap. So many companies want to shove buttons and switches galore into a car, this 458 retains a sense of purity. I mean, look at the steering wheel and the dash and let’s not forget the seats!
So, what exactly is this? At first glance, it just looks like a nice airbox, but oh how wrong you would be! It is two CSF liquid-to-air intercooler cores merged together and cooled by external heat exchangers.
In a typical front engine turbocharged car, you can fit a massive front mount intercooler to cool down the compressed air coming out from the turbo, in a mid-engine car, this proves to be more difficult and for a few reasons.
- If you mount a large intercooler at the front, how are you going to run the piping?
- If you do manage to mount and run the piping, how much power did you lose, or lag did you increase from how long the piping is?
- Cost of piping and fabrication work to make this happen.
So, what is the other solution and how does it work? Well, an air to water intercooler. Think of the how condensation forms on the outside of a cup with a cold drink or even frost on a cold window, the air as it passes by becomes colder because of how cold the water is.
After a while, the water can heat up from the increase in temperature from the hot air, and it can become less effective. The way to combat this is through an external heat exchanger, think of this part as a radiator. A radiator’s purpose is to cool and regulate coolant temps for the engine bay of the car; this heat exchanger is dedicated solely to cooling the water inside the intercooler.
Due to the heat exchanger being indirectly related to the airflow of the turbochargers or the length of the distance the air must travel, you can mount these further away from the intercooler without disrupting the spool or powerband of the turbochargers!
This technology is nothing new, to be honest, and many cars now use the air to water intercooler set up from the factory, but the efficiency and effectiveness are where our system truly shines. So much so that with only five psi of boost through these two Precision Turbo 6062 Gen 2 .82A/R turbochargers, this car pushes out over 700whp on pump gas.
The powerband is near instant and maintained since there is so little distance for the cold air to travel and the twin Hyper-Gate45 Turbosmart wastegates and Race-Port 50mm blow-off valves operate in perfect harmony with each other.
The sound? Well, listen to it for yourself in this video.
What stands out about this project too is the exterior mods, such a classic Ferrari color combo, the Prior Design front bumper is stunning, the stock 458 bumper just never was that attention-grabbing, to be honest. I feel like the front bumper was somewhat of an afterthought when they initially designed this car.
I feel like purists can scoff all they want at “ruining” the n/a experience of the 458 Italia, but why? This car still retains the classic Ferrari Red, the iconic tan leather interior, the same prancing horse on the steering wheel; what more do you want?
It looks in some ways like a baby LaFerrari, yet still retains the distinct rear of the 458, which is hands down the best part of the car from the factory. When this car is rolling, that’s all you will likely see with the additional 200hp under the hood. Everything about this car still screams Ferrari, just maybe not the same
And that’s a voice I’m okay with.
More Videos
Don’t forget to drop by our friends at Speedhunters for more coverage of this beautiful Sheepey Twin Turbo 458! Hungry for more still? Check out our SEMA 2018 Recap!
COMMENTS