Stradale = Fiorano?

I’ve been lurking here for quite some time and doing my homework before pulling the trigger on a Ferrari. My question is, would you say that a Stradale is to a 360, what a Fiorano is to a 355? I realize that they are VERY different animals, but they are also both limited editions of a production car.

 

Chris- Not even close. The CS has different body parts, engine, suspension, interior, etc, etc. with its own parts catalog, owner's manual, and workshop manual. A much more complete package than the 355 Fiorano.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

All you need to know about the Stradale is that it's the best Modern/Non Astronomic price Ferrari you can buy.

 

If you do a search you will see that this has been discussed many times in the past.

 

the answer to your question here is YES and YES. The Stradale is to a 360 as the Fiorano is to the 355 as the Scuderia is to the 430. However, much much more performance in the Stradale than the Fiorano obviously.

 

Thanks Taz. I knew the CS had more horsepower, but I wasn’t aware it was a different engine all together.

I have to agree amenasce, it’s my favorite “affordable” (at least for me) Ferrari.

Jet, I looked but didn’t see any posts specifically comparing the two. Sorry.

Thanks Houston. Kind of what I thought.

I’m leaning towards waiting until I can afford the CS more comfortably instead of picking up a 355 now.

 

I consider the CS the best V8 car they have ever made.


I would not say it is like the Fiorano. It is far more like the relationship of the 308 to the 288.

 

Not really a different engine but tuned and modified to perform better.

 

...whoa, with that endorsement I am going out and buying one ...wait, I just did!

 

Jim- It is a different engine. 360 engine Type F131B, Challenge Stradale Type F131F. Ferrari renames engines only when there are sufficient changes to justify doing so. Like the 550 is a Type F133A and the 575M is a Type F133E and the 612 is a Type F133F or (OTO) F133H.

The CS has different heads, pistons, etc. from the 360. The only engine changes on the 355 Fiorano were to ECUs and it did not have its own engine type, which is why I said it is nowhere near equivalent to the CS.

For 1999, Ferrari introduced a limited production of F355 Spider models designated, "Serie Fiorano." Launched in March, 1999, this limited production run of 100 planned units (104 actually produced) included a number of performance enhancements:

Competizione-derived Fiorano suspension pack, featuring wide track, stiffer springs, a thicker anti-roll bar
Drilled and ventilated brake discs and competition brake pads
Competizione-sourced steering rack
Alterations to the computer mapping provided a little more power and torque
Challenge rear grilles and enamelled Scuderia Ferrari shields
Carbon-fibre inserts (normally only available as expensive special order options): centre console, door sills and paddle shifters
Suede-covered steering wheel
There were 100 Serie Fiorano units delivered to the U.S. market, 74 with the F1 transmission and 26 with the 6-speed manual. An additional 4 units were produced beyond the planned production with 3 European models and one South African delivery. Each unit was delivered with a numbered plaque affixed to the dashboard.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Scuderia get an upgraded engine part# too?

 

Ron- It did. The F430 has Type F136E and the Scuderia/16M have Type F136ED. Looks like new pistons and heads again, but harder to tell because documentation is not as complete as on the CS.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

While its true that the CS engine had a few extra part numbers the most important elements where not the things you could see but the things you could not. For the CS they did one of the best engine maps out there for the 360 engine. It really is very very good mapping straight from factory, very very hard to better actually. And the throttle sensitivity is just fantastic.

If you just extract the ignition maps out of the CS and place them in a regular 360 the car gains 5hp right across the entire rev range with absolutely nothing else changed, just a reflash. I saw this proved on a dyno on several 360's. Then add the optional 360 race exhaust (free-flowing) and the larger diameter air flow meters along with better flowed air boxes and you have reduced high rpm air flow restrictions even further (and power gains).

The 360 engine had a +/- 2% power difference between power units. The CS engine had a more finely blueprinted engine so Ferrari managed +/- 0.5% power difference. Essentially ensuring more consistency between cars.

In essence they just used the same techniques that they where already adopting on the 360 Challenge cars to ensure fairness. I.e. they where more careful about selecting the engine parts, they used more pefectly balanced pistons and con rods during the engine build process. While the pistons where changed, it was really a very very minor adjustiment to the compression ratio to help raise power when your running on higher octane fuel. Sadly not so applicable to the US I'm afraid due to the low octane juice you get in the US.

Another big improvement that can still be had ofcourse is adoption of hyperflows...

 

Was not aware of this. Good stuff 360trev!

 

man this place is full of unbelievable knowledge. great info guys.

 

Wonder why they didn't use 100 cell cats ?
In fact why doesnt every Sports car ?

 

noise n emissions control i think. but sports cats are the best value for money mod i can make i feel

 

The CS has a blue print of an engine over the standard 360.

 

Actually both the 360 and Stradale have hand built engines made by a single technician. Both are blue printed but its the extent of the blue printing thats the difference, even finer tolerances on the rotating masses. As already explained they where more finely balanced, especially on the piston and connecting rod weights.

The rumour has it that there where quite a few unused 360 Challenge engines kicking around that Ferrari hadn't sold and was quite keen to shift on, especially knowing that the F430 (and subsequent F430 Challenge to follow) was due to have a completely new engine with all different specifications. Its these 360 challenge parts bin engines that where basically re-used and the way they did it was to use these complete engines but just fit some high compression pistons and some new valve springs along with new ignition mapping and 360 Modena's optional sports exhaust.

Since the F430 was already in factory build prototype the engineers where allowed to dip into some of those parts too so the CS also managed to utilize the F430 air flow meters and shared the same backbox too (but with custom exit pipes). This allowed the very high revs to continue without being digitally strangled at high rpm by the air meters (after all these where the same afm's also being used on the F599 too so they flowed ample air...).

It was a win win situation, both the accountants and enthusiasts communities kept happy!