Buying a 355, Advice Needed

Guys,

Thinking about adding a 355 to the stables, and wanted to get your input on what to keep an eye out for. The car is a 95 6speed, and in decent shape. From reviewing your previous post, I know about the valve guide issues, premature header wear, and dash leather shrinkage. Is there anything else that is a common problem on these cars that I need to be aware of?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

First ask for maintenance records. Who has done the maintanance would very important. Also has the car had annual fliud changes? A thorough PPI by someone who knows 355's would be money well spent. Even if you have to fly someone there to do it.

Have a compression and cylinder leak down tests performed. Has the car had a valve job? If so by who? Have the headers been replaced? A smoke test will tell you if they have a crack at that time but they can crack soon after. Have the cats been replaced? Do the check engine lights work? If they do I would drive the car for over an hour and have the Motronics checked for codes with the SD2. Check tail pipe emissions with a 4 gas analizer. Many problems can be found with this test. With the SD2 check the fuel trim to see if the injectors are flowing the proper amount. After the car has been driven and has sat for over 20 minutes does it start rough and takes a few minutes to attain a smooth idle again? Most 355's suffer from injector problems because they sit so much. Many problems start from improper flowing injectors. Check cat converter operating temps.

Fluid leaks? Has the power steering fluid resevior been updated? Cam covers and seals. Selector shaft seal in transmission. Clutch release bearing seals leak brake fluid? Water pump seals leaking?

A thorough charging system test. Because they sit so much the batteries naturally get drained. Then the altenator has to work very hard to charge them again. Altenators needing to be rebuilt with less than 20K miles is common. If they don't produce amperage withing 10 percent of the rated output test for bad diodes.

CV joint boots cracked? Engine mounts collapsed? Clutch release bearing over extended from worn out clutch? Belly pans trashed from bottoming out on driveways? Wheels bent? AC hoses have greasy residue at any connections or where the rubber is crimped to the hard line?

A good clue if the car has been maintained by capable and caring hands is to look at all the little fasteners in the engine compartment. Are they of original design? Are the mismatched and or stripped and rounded out or off? A car that suffers from these little detail can require additional hours of repair every time something needs to be done and can be very frustrating.

A thorough PPI like this is going to cost more than a few hundered bucks.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

Have the flywheel check to make sure it isn't leaking grease. If the flywheel needs to be repacked have the triple seals done at the same time.

The other one there really isn't any way to check for it but, the throw out bearings for the 355's have been know to blow out. Like I said there isn't really a check that I know of for that part. When it happens it pretty much just blows out and then you need to fix it. The fix has been to use the Hill Engineering replacement.

 

Thanks for all the great help guys!!

I am starting to get a little scarred from the amount of possible failure points that can occur with the 355. I am almost inclined to possibly just look for a nice 348 spider instead.

 

Not a bad choice either

 

Why is everyone so afraid of the 355... If you find a well maintained car (that's been driven) or get one cheap and fix the problems yourself the car is fine. It seems that all we here is 355 problem here 355 problem there where all the people who's car's are running fine??? I know one is here with me...

Reg

 

You asked for areas to look at, and the answer was a list of potential problems, try that with every model car ever made and you will have a scary list.

The 348 is not exempt from problems, potential big $$ problems lurk there too. Gearbox etc...

IMO, look for a well maintained car with excellent records, have a through PPI done by a knowledgeable mechanic and buy a good car.

Drive it, enjoy it, if it breaks, fix it, drive it, rinse and repeat.

I wish you good luck in your search. Enjoy it, these cars really are excellent to own.

 

La Bella is in for her 30k now with rebuilt headers (QV London) and new Hyper-Flow cats. She should be done Friday.

Am I the only one who actually ENJOYS spending $$$ on their F-Car? now, obviously if the F1 or engine blow then I will be a little stressed. I am not wealthy by any means but dropping $10k on La Bella actually makes me happy. I know that the headers and cats will most likely never need replacing. I've had her almost one year and 4k miles with less than $1000 in maintenance/repair costs.

I love washing her, cleaning her, fixing her, and paying for her to be fixed by the professionals because I love her. There is no joy like starting that engine after a 2-week business trip and just driving her...

Now, Vegas-Guy (lol), am I the crazy one of the community???

I want to put as many miles on her as humanly possible.

 

Glad to hear it... I'm with ya, I've had my car 18mo. and have put 13k on it in that time....

Happy driving!!!!

 

Let's assume that a 95 GTB had...
the headers replaced,
the cats rebuilt or omitted,
the valves redone,
the sticky bits replaced,
the engine mounts redone,
the CV boots replaced,
the clutch replaced and TO being replaced,
fresh breaks,
annual fluids and great records,
a fresh major completed...

What would that car be worth?


I say every bit of 70k...

 

Other than the valves I've had everything on the list done and more...

 

I would do this. Negotiate the price on a car. Get it checked out as best you can, compression test etc.

Then put aside $15K or so. If you get issues then use this to fix it or better still just buy it and pull the engine out, do a service, cam belts etc then drive it and enjoy it.

I bought mine and had no major issues. Just little ones here and there so I pulled the engine out because I wanted to not becausze I really needed to and ever since then no major issues.

You will also find that you will want to do do little mods on it as owning one is a truely joyous passion.

Now if you buy a 348 that doesn't mean they have no problems because the 355 evolved from the 348 so similar issues.

Now the final point is if you are going to be worried about issues then you must buy a later model Fcar like the 430 still under new warranty.

Hope this helps you.

 

7k miles (24-31k) by me in the last year. Loving every mile. Hit a squirrel on the highway this weekend, spider crack near the right driving light. It will get taken care of when the car finally gets a front respray. But I am not sure when that will be, because I would have to stop DRIVING it.

I agree with all of those above who say buy then drive and drive and drive. It something breaks, fix and repeat. If the valve guides go, take the opportunity to have the heads re-done and ported, and enjoy some more. If the headers go, get you some cool aftermarkets that look like old F1 exhaust. If the leather peels, redo it in lizard skin (or same-look leather, if your a purist )

I had the opportunity to drive a scud the other day. Unbelievable car. But almost an order of magnitude more expensive. Better car? Oh yes. Worth the difference in price? Not a chance. Plus, I can take my roof off.

I also like the rational of spending 100k on a 360 instead of 60k on a 355, just to avoid potential maintenance costs. You just spent 40k more on the car... and it is going to break and depreciate too, believe me!

Get a fair price, the DRIVE and ENJOY!

 

Sounds like my car

 

I think it might be appropriate to emphasize something left out of your list but mentioned briefly by someone else... the catalytic converters.

Indeed, all mid-engine Ferrari catalytic converters until the 360 are ticking time bombs. I'm talking 348, Mondial t, 512 TR, F355. (I'm not sure about the 328.) The ceramic inside melts and breaks down. You'll need to get aftermarket catalysts (which inevitably are better designed with metallic material inside).

Also, let's not forget about the exhaust bypass valves and the electronic shock actuators.

So, a concise 1995 355 to-do list:

headers (make sure they are heat shielded if replaced with aftermarket)
valve guides
aftermarket catalysts
check exhaust bypass valve
fabricate heat shield for alternator
check engine mounts (and fabricate heat shields for them)
check axle boots (and beef up their heat shielding)
check CV boots
sticky interior trim
check electronic shock actuators for leaks/proper functionality

So these are the items that are peculiar to the 355. I wonder if I've left anything out. As for the other maintenance items mentioned like engine-out service with cam seals, clutch inspection, etc. -- those are basically your typical Ferrari PPI/maintenance items. You'll want to pay close attention to them.

 

I am looking at a 98 F1 355. I suppose the potential problem list will be pretty much the same?
Are the F1 transmission in 355 known to have a lot of problems (constant clutch replacement or rebuild)?
I am looking at a ferrari approved one from the dealer. I suppose they would have everything checked already?

 

how about we make a sticky like this one:

http://edgemotorworks.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=55

i think it would be very useful for buyers to get the 355 101.

 

+1. Even Ferraris aren't exempt from the law of dimenishing returns.