Replacing exhaust manifolds F355- '96

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81704&highlight=alcantara+355

 

Why would you put headers on without the heat shields?
You might purchase and mount a fire extinguisher as well.

 

Heat shields should be installed on the headers.Note where the fuel lines are located in the rear fender wells right above the exhaust headers.The cooling radiators are also located in front of the headers.

 

Not a Good Idea.Also, are you removing Aftermarket Headers ?
Do not Replace OEM with OEM ! Same advice for Cats.

 

I don't believe the heatshields is the reason for the failure of the manifolds...wrong type of stainless steel and too thin are the reasons...removing the heatsheilds is trading one problem for another...you are likely to cook everything made of rubber or plastic in the engine compartment.

Factory exhaust manifolds are going to fail, heatsheilds or not....

 

Same thing Ansa told me. We called a company about putting heatshields on ours they wanted us to order 50 and after hearing Ansa tell us the heatshields were the root of the problem, I didn't think it'd be such a good idea. btw if their ceramic coated by a reputable company and free then I think it's great idea for you to put them on. Let us know how it works out.

Regards,
Kevin

 

Ferrari did replace these under warranty. I hope you are not fond of your F355. Without heat shields it eventually catch on fire or melt everything around the headers.

Buy Tubi headers or sell the car. The only F355's that did not have heat shields were challenge cars and they were setup to run without them.

 

I agree I put Tubi on my 97 and they are a huge improvement I would also replace the cats with Hyperflows

 

One thing you may want to note is that the Tubi headers are not easy to get. Because of them not being C.A.R.B. exempt they will not sell them to most retail customers. Everyone I know with Tubi headers had some connections or had a mechanic with some connections. Once they become C.A.R.B exempt it's another story though.

 

All true Kevin!!

 

I had no conections , knew no insiders I just did a serch on the internet for Tubi headers.I do not rember who I got them from but I think that they are or were a sponser on this board.
At any rate I got a set and I love them. They have nice heat shields and seem to give the car a bit more GRUNT.
David

 

You're the exception. I'm not going to go into great detail about it because it's really none of my business but the Tubi headers are not as easy to get for the majority I should say to correct myself.

Also if I recall correctly the OEM manifolds with heatshields have still caused engine fires. When's the last time you've heard of one of the 94 sets of NAPerformance manifolds cause an engine fire? Or what about all the people running Fiorano manifolds? Even Nick's sold afew sets of his headers and again no engine fires.

I'm not saying engine fires will not happen with ceramic coating compared to heatshields but for somebody to make the claim that if you don't get manifolds with heatshields your engine will catch on fire, that just seems a bit exaggerated.

 

I have tubi headers on my 355 2.7, the sound is outstanding and I have no problems with it in the last 15,000 km (at very high loads). You can contact
[email protected], truly great guy, tell him I sent you. If you want photos of the actual headers, let me know. (I dont know how to post the images).

 

About two years ago I removed my factory headers to replace one that was bad. I used a new ferrari manifold for one side and did not replace the other. I removed the heatshields on both and had the manifolds ceramic coated. I did it this way for two reasons. 1) No one was doing aftermarket headers except tubi and I thought they wanted too much for them. 2) I also found out the shielding was the main problem for failure remove it and prob goes away, so far so good. I have taken some extra insulating steps for the fuel lines and brakes lines and have had no problems with anything since. I would not recommend replacing factory manifolds with new ones since there are aftermarket ones at reasonable prices now. I did it when I did because there wasn't any other choice. What I paid for one would have almost covered the price NAPerformance charges for their set. Until mine fail, if they do, I will continue on with my experiment. Regards, Vern

 

What he said. I know I tried, lucky for me anyway as they were to much $.

 

As everyone else stated do not run your headers uncoated. The metal is paper thin and does not retain any heat so you put your car at danger to fires, etc. Ceramic coating is a must in that case and does an excellent job retaining heat, they are allmost cool to the touch with some coatings.