First drive: 360 Modena | FerrariChat

First drive: 360 Modena

Discussion in '360/430' started by gandalfthegray., Mar 14, 2009.

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  1. gandalfthegray.

    gandalfthegray. Formula Junior

    Jul 18, 2006
    692
    Pinewood, MN
    Full Name:
    Steve
    #1 gandalfthegray., Mar 14, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Well, I finally had an opportunity to drive my 99 Euro 360 Modena. I bought the car from a former F-chatter over a month ago and not had the opportunity to drive it till this weekend.

    The car is no stranger to F-chat as it has had four previous owners, all of whom were F-Chat members. I recently sold my 90 348ts to another member of F-chat. Having never even sat in a 360 until Friday, there was much anticipation. I immediately noticed more interior room within the cabin along with more comfortable seats. The car fired to life with an aggressive loud note through a Tubi exhaust system couple to test pipes. The power and torque is significantly more than the 348! This car really pushes you back in the seat and is more drivable due to the much increased lower end the torque. I am no stranger to a loud exhaust system though as the 349 has an X-OST system with test pipes as well. I must say that while the Tubi sounds very nice, I would say that I prefer the the exhaust note of the X-OST. The Tubi has a bit of resonance from about 3800 RPM to about 4300 RPM. It really isn't a pleasant note at that point and you find yourself purposely accelerating or decelerating to avoid the somewhat annoying note. The X-OST lacks this anywhere in it's RPM range.

    The steering and handling of the Modena is superior to the 348 as well. Not really surprised as the testing has proven it time and time again. The steering precision is amazing. Breaking appears to be very good as well although I really did not find many opportunities to test them. While the overall performance of the Modena is superior to the 348, I find myself already missing the open roof of the TS. The Modena feels similar to driving my E55 whereas the 348 just felt more raw and possibly more like a sports car, more like a Ferrari. I've only had one weekend to drive the car, so I need to have more time with it. I can't say though that the 360 is necessarily better than the 348, only different.

    My particular car carries a gremlin problem that previous owner have tried to sort and never found. It runs perfectly for the first 150 - 200 miles prior to experiencing hesitation and backfiring. The problem is remedied by switching off the power to the car and resetting the ECU. After that, the car runs like a dream for a 100 miles or so than starts to deteriorate. A cycle that has never been sorted. Larry at Ferrari Tech in Orange (my mechanic) is vowed to figure it out. We shall see.

    Here are a few pics I snapped today. Enjoy!
    Steve
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  2. F360-1386

    F360-1386 Formula 3

    Oct 8, 2006
    1,685
    Markham, ON, Canada
    Full Name:
    51216M
    Congrats - I had a 360Modena-manual for few years and loved it so much ... firmly believe you will love & enjoy the car more when spending more time fllipping it.
     
  3. RayJohns

    RayJohns F1 Veteran
    Silver Subscribed

    May 21, 2006
    7,398
    West Coast
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    Ray
    #3 RayJohns, Mar 15, 2009
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2009
    Congrats on the car. You breeze over the issue of having the performance of the car deteriorate over 100 miles, but I think that's actually a pretty serious issue. My car has a tubi as well as hyper flow cats, and I can drive it for thousands of miles without any problems. The only problem I have ever seen was the secondary air valve stuck a couple of times and resetting the ECU cleared that.

    How many miles are on your car? Also, just off the top of my head, I would say you might want to consider losing the test pipes. Does your car have O2 sensors on it and if so, are they still connected to the test pipe in some manner? It could be that if the O2 sensors aren't sending the proper signals back, the ECU is messing up the air/fuel mixture in some failed attempt to compensate for a flawed reading from the (now) non-existent cats. Since the 99's don't have pre-cats, it may be that the car is more sensitive to changes in the main cats (just a guess). On my car, I run the Hyperflow cats and have the O2 sensors properly installed. I have never really seen the reason to install test pipes (other than to save money) when Hyperflow cats are available. I know for me personally, I would not feel comfortable taking the O2 sensors out of the loop for the sake of a little different exhaust note or another (maybe) 2 HP over hyperflow cats.

    Perhaps you should consider installing some cats and then reset the ECU and see how the car does over 500 or 1000 miles.

    Ray
     
  4. RossoCorsaItaly

    RossoCorsaItaly F1 Rookie
    Rossa Subscribed

    Jun 9, 2004
    4,540
    LA | Austin |Miami
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    Kevin
    Very nice!

    6spd or F1?
     
  5. dm_n_stuff

    dm_n_stuff Four Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    I would think the engine would be throwing some kind of codes based on its "deteriorating performance."

    I hope you got a hell of a deal on the car, as this "little problem" seems more than little. How could a mechanic not sort this one out over several years? If they can fix a bad O2 sensor based on a couple codes and some intuitive investigation, I should think a problem that makes the car stutter and backfire would not be too difficult to ferret out.

    Good luck with the car. The 360 experience is quite singular and exciting. Fingers crossed that it's something simple to fix your problem.
     
  6. gandalfthegray.

    gandalfthegray. Formula Junior

    Jul 18, 2006
    692
    Pinewood, MN
    Full Name:
    Steve
    Thanks!
    It's a 3 pedal car. I'm not really a fan of the F1 cars.
     
  7. gandalfthegray.

    gandalfthegray. Formula Junior

    Jul 18, 2006
    692
    Pinewood, MN
    Full Name:
    Steve

    Well, apparently the Euro cars are not so quick to throw codes as the US spec cars. I really don't believe that it's going to be to big of a problem, It seems that some sensor is sending an incorrect signal of sorts to the computer and that confuses it. By resetting you go back to default settings and the car is fine. I know from the PPI that the major engine issues (compression & leakdown) are fine. The car runs really strong when it has been reset. As I've only driven this one car, I can't compare but the previous owners and mechanics say it's the fastest 360 they had ever driven.

    As far as the buy I think I did very well. I think just having a history of F-chat owners makes me more confident in the car. Time will tell on the repair, but I bet I will have an answer for you by May.

    Thanks!
     
  8. gandalfthegray.

    gandalfthegray. Formula Junior

    Jul 18, 2006
    692
    Pinewood, MN
    Full Name:
    Steve
    Ray, when the secondary air valve stuck, how did the car act?

    See I don't have hyperflows, rather just straight pipes. Maybe this is the answer? If there isn't another culprit discovered in the next couple of weeks I may look into doing the Hyperflows. The car has 46K miles. Possibly some of the former owners may chime in with some insight. I'll give you a hint, one of them just bought a new 430 Scuderia after selling his Murci.... :)
     
  9. Darryl

    Darryl Formula Junior

    Jan 4, 2006
    410
    Southern California
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    Darryl
    #9 Darryl, Mar 15, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  10. bizz

    bizz Formula Junior

    May 26, 2008
    364
    Redwood City, CA
    Full Name:
    joe B
    How big, exactly, is your supplemental fuel tank that you can drive thousands of miles without turning off your car for a refuel?

    :)

    I don't think your problem on the back firing is as big as the others might make it out to be. Mine gets finicky and rich around 75 miles, I just pull over, turn off the car for a second and it resets immediately. It's setup exactly like yours. Never has thrown a code, except a bad o2 sensor.
     
  11. F360-1386

    F360-1386 Formula 3

    Oct 8, 2006
    1,685
    Markham, ON, Canada
    Full Name:
    51216M
    I start to miss my 360-manual :-(
     
  12. Chiaro_Slag

    Chiaro_Slag F1 Veteran

    Oct 31, 2003
    7,789
    CA
    Full Name:
    Jerry
    Congrats!

    Larry is a good guy - I hope he figures out your problem.

    Enjoy!
     
  13. azcarguy

    azcarguy Formula Junior

    Nov 21, 2003
    455
    AZ
    Full Name:
    Marc
    Steve - great to see that you finally have possession of the car!

    As for your issue - prior to your picking it up Bob took it for a drive and called me to say that the hesitation was coming from the airflow meters (he tested them and they failed) so I told him to replace them at my expense. Once this was done he again tested the car and stated that it ran beautifully and without hesitation. this could very well be due to the fact that the power was shut off for the repair and that the airflow meters were simply a side issue.

    That said I think I agree with Rays earlier post that the culprit is potentially related to the exhaust and that the car would smooth out with the addition of the Hyperflow units. My reason for not adding them was not for cost, but for sound. I enjoy the F1 sound the car currently has and if you recall I drove the car home from Washington to Arizona and it didn't get old until I was around Yuma!! If you would clarify that the hesitation is still occurring only when coming off of a light or from a start that might help some folks with their input. Also consider (and have the mechanic consider) the fact that the Euro conversion emission equipment has been added and have him/them make sure that it is dialed in correctly given the exhaust modifications.

    I will keep looking in to see what the verdict is.
     
  14. Barrister

    Barrister Formula Junior

    Aug 11, 2008
    709
    The OC
    Full Name:
    "Big D"
    #14 Barrister, Mar 30, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017

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