Decided to give my F355 Berlinetta some TLC..... | Page 12 | FerrariChat

Decided to give my F355 Berlinetta some TLC.....

Discussion in '348/355' started by 275GTB, Apr 8, 2014.

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  1. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
  2. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
  3. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    F355Bob likes this.
  4. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    f355spider and INTMD8 like this.
  5. -K1-

    -K1- Formula Junior

    Jul 10, 2008
    698
    Northern Italy
    Full Name:
    Ken
    Mark that looks so unbelievably good.
     
  6. yvesolution

    yvesolution Karting

    Apr 26, 2010
    182
    Cabo Verde
    What a beautiftul car you have there!

    How do you pass emission tests without the cats? Do the sport headers fit the original cats? (I have sports cats welded in the original housing)

    greetings

    Yves
     
  7. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    thank you!
    yes the original cats fit, straight swap with the test pipes


    cheers Mark
     
  8. jimmym

    jimmym Formula 3

    Sep 30, 2008
    1,967
    Northeast U.S.
    Full Name:
    Jim
    Thanks Mark. Looks like you have your hands full.:)
     
  9. -K1-

    -K1- Formula Junior

    Jul 10, 2008
    698
    Northern Italy
    Full Name:
    Ken
    Need to see more photos of this lovely 355. Might be my favourite one ever
     
  10. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    Thank you!
    It goes back on the road on the 1st May, we have had a very mild winter here in London, I probably could have just used it all year round, but done my usual hibernation for 5 months.
    I have a few more small jobs to do, which i will update as they get done, nothing drastic, just a bit of maintenance, few old parts to replace with new ones i have collected.
    I have made the decision, you only have one life and I am going to use it as much as possible this summer, very excited.

    cheers Mark
     
    StartedFromTheBottom and -K1- like this.
  11. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    Just me being a hoarder!!

    As you know, I have done loads of subtle modifications to my 355, all are completely reversible, so if someday i need to put the car back to factory spec. I have all the original parts in mint condition stored away - apart from the original catalysers.

    The cats on my car were aftermarket when I bought it, they were also rubbish quality and the cores had completely disintegrated, in the skip they went!

    But last month I managed to find these, from a UK car, same year as mine, with both sets of sensors - they were removed from a car years ago with only 300 miles on them and carefully stored.

    No intention of fitting them but so pleased to have them....
    Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
    f355spider likes this.
  12. -K1-

    -K1- Formula Junior

    Jul 10, 2008
    698
    Northern Italy
    Full Name:
    Ken
    Mark thanks look forward to seeing it again. Italian winter was crazy mild too. How do you find the 355 compares in your affections to your others like your 550 and old 275?
     
  13. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    It must be up there as i don't imagine ever parting with it. I have sold the 348, 550 and the 275. Still have a 1961 flat floor E-type roadster which I have owned for 14 years, that's my favourite. Modern stuff i have a Jaguar XKR Supercharger - very underestimated car, a BMW X5M for hauling the kids around and mum has a Mini JCW World Championship 50 - superb little car. I am in the process of buying a Mitsubishi EVO6 Tommi Makinen, which should be a special bit of kit.
     
    StartedFromTheBottom and -K1- like this.
  14. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
  15. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    oh and the weather is finally getting better in London, I will be waking my baby from her winter hibernation very shortly - this year it's all about the driving and hopefully less of the maintenance......ha ha who am i kidding! I already have a short lists of jobs to do - will keep you posted.

    cheers
    Mark
     
    Robb and -K1- like this.
  16. f355spider

    f355spider F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    May 29, 2001
    17,913
    USA
    Great find, those are the later ones with the metallic cores. The earlier ones were ceramic, and were not well secured to the housings. Engine pulses would loosen the cores and they would rotate and eventually crumble. The metallic ones are solidly built and should not fail.
     
  17. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    that's great info thank you Hugh, I never knew that.
     
  18. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    never really heard my own car from the outside, so i had a friend do a drive by, not the greatest sound quality compared to the reality, but still a little fun

     
    ShineKen, Shurik355, Wade and 3 others like this.
  19. jeffdavison

    jeffdavison F1 Rookie
    Silver Subscribed

    Jul 29, 2002
    2,544
    Suwanee Georgia
    Full Name:
    Jeffrey Davison
    very very nice.... did you notice any difference with the CF air filter covers?
    JD
     
  20. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    Hi Jeff, not particularly.... I sort of done all the work you see in the thread around the same time, without using the car much until it was completed. Plus i never dyno'ed it before, after or during - so no exact science.

    The car is very quick now, much faster than when i bought it and certainly quicker (engine wise more responsive) than any other 355 i have driven, and there have been a few. A lot of that is to do with the engine rebuild and the work done on the heads, also the exhaust set up seems to work incredibly well, perfect sound for me and little to no droning - but it clearly has a marked improvement on performance. I fitted K&N filters that I have used on other cars and noticed an improvement, so they probably add a little.

    Carbon Air Box Covers...hard to say, they look great in my eye, and that's the main reason i fitted them. The theory is good, but i think you need a pretty extreme race car before you start finding the difference in performance - CF is smoother inside, with no welds and folds like the originals - so smoother free air flow. BUT i have only changed the top covers, the bottom covers are still the original OEM metal boxes - so any advantage may be lost already or maybe not as they are intake manifold side? Honestly i don't think it makes an ounce of difference in a pop up headlight car, with window wipers, big wing mirrors and more vents than an aircon unit!

    Next thing i fancy doing is a lightweight flywheel, this should have a noticeable impact as it allows the engine to spin up much quicker - will see when i get round to it.

    thanks for looking, cheers Mark
     
    -K1- likes this.
  21. Shurik355

    Shurik355 Formula Junior

    May 19, 2013
    297
    USA Tulsa, OK
    Full Name:
    Alex Velet
    #297 Shurik355, Apr 9, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2020
    Mark awesome awesome thread. Definitely subscribed!!! Another member with a restoration garage like mine. Only yours is a lot more done and down the road then mine is.

    Add me up as a friend here ))

    Also if anything I can ask questions when needed. Your experience is ;)

    I was gonna ask you in a private, but couldn't.
    Have you had a problem with the HVAC climate controls before??? Mine I can control the fan speed, but the temperature stays the same, not hot or cold, doesn't matter what temperature is set it on.
    Also when I switch to different directions where the air blows, it still blows from all the vents. So the climate control and direction switch does not work.
     
  22. BRADAN

    BRADAN Two Time F1 World Champ
    BANNED

    Aug 29, 2009
    22,661
    West Babylon, NY
    Full Name:
    BRADAN
    Great thread keep it up!
     
  23. ShineKen

    ShineKen F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Aug 3, 2007
    16,412
    Southern California
    Full Name:
    Nostradamus
    What work done to the heads exactly? Is there really much room for improvement?
     
  24. 275GTB

    275GTB Formula 3

    Jan 12, 2010
    1,907
    London
    Full Name:
    Mark McCracken
    Hi, when the heads were off, we fitted new valve guides, replaced the standard/original inlet and outlet valves with stainless steel valves. The valve seats were finished with a 3-angle cut, where I believe the standard is only a single angle seat. We also hand-polish all the chambers and ports to a high shine finish.

    Unfortunately i dont have before or after dyno tests, or any individual tests after each stage of the work, so I can't point out what the exact benefit was at each stage, but I still feel most of the performance difference came from the easy stuff: high flow air filters, the Fabspeed exhaust manifolds and the Tubi evo exhaust system.
     
    ShineKen likes this.

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