The 355-Exposed? Covered Up? or Overlooked ????

Well I thought it was time to resurrect this novel..lol

Phos or mang bronze???....used forever by the pro racers...great product in its time but now the technology has advanced just like the wooden wheel to inflated rubber tires or from a corded phone to wireless.
After countless hours of research and talking to top engineers from around the world pm guides are the bomb. Though originally developed by bsa and going thru much testeing and developement for diesel engines it is now running in your favorite dailey driver and also F1 engines....just tell those mad scientist what application your engine is for and they'll brew you up a special formula to handle your needs. "0" clearance with no gauling or seizing?? No gualing or seizing with no oil?? Best heat dissapation on the planet?? Got some valve train irregularities that would wallow out your bronze like a 60 year old french hooker?? The pm guides have you covered.

So really good bronze guides have been used forever and they will last longer than the rest of your engine components...RIGHT??? So why go to the pm route...Has anyone looked into the ME and TE of a high performance 9K rpm lightweight screamer?? If you think that the best bronze guides are ok and there is no need to go pm then why not put some snow tires on your 355 CH and do some hot laps....tires are tires right....they are both made out of rubber.

When the rest of your engine goes south atleast the guides won't need replacing..that ought to save you some money on the rebuild..lol

 

I helped teach a Drivers School at PPIR using an F-250 Pickup with studded snow tires to demonstrate the correct race line.... Does that count? NO WAY to pass a Crew cab long box when that is drifting through a corner!

 

Dave, with that kind of experience you need to move to Georgia....F-250 driver training is in big demand. Atleast you can make some money doing that...lol

If you can instruct a class on crew cab drifting I might even sign up....

 

It is my belief that F250 drifting can only be properly done if properly equipped.
1. Beer between legs.
2. Dead animal in bed or strapped to hood.
3. Loaded gunrack in back.
4. Rebel flag sunshade.
5. Gumbo mudders.
6. Full cooler behind front seat.
7. 3 Drunken buddies.
8. Bass boat w/255hp Merc on trailer in the back.

 

No, I'm an expert on F250 drifting and the requirements are:
1. Heather and Ashley need to have been drinking, still drinking, and are on the bench seat with you,
2. Heather and Ashley are fighting about who is going home with whom, and
3. You discover while driving between two drunk fighting gals that the "clump of mud" under the bench seat was, and is, a live and active yellowjackets nest...

 

+1 ........... these pearls of wisdom prove true enlightenment can be attained by wrenching under a shade tree with sunglasses on ............

 

Damn, missed them all!

WAIT... I did have a trailer hitch tounge and ball in the bed after preaching to everyone how they had to clean under their seats, golve box......before entering the track. Destroyed the box interior and even pushed that out where it dented the fenders outward.... Does that count???

Sure didnt make any friends with the track management with those studs on that day. Came close to taking the top housing off the AC unit on a GMC motorhome going under the bridge at BIR doing the same with a full load of drivers on board....not a seat belt in the entire darn RV...had a stack of bodies in the isle when I stopped just in time to let the air shocks down.

Full roll caged Subaru 360 van..... First 8 min+ lap at BIR! I have to hit paydirt here somewhere!

 

Takin' off the AC unit would have been serious bonus points!

 

Missed it by thaaaat much....

 

Jason was from Friday the 13th. Michael Myers was in Halloween.

This thread is fascinating though. I can't wait to ask the seller of my first Ferrari if he replaced the valve guides. Still reading....

 

Glad your're enjoying this thread Bill....goes good with a bowl of popcorn.

Even though I haven't posted to this thread for some time Dave Helms and I have figured out AAALLLLLL of the 355 problems and it boils down to "it was built by Italians"....lol

 

That is funny....

I just finished reading "One Year With a Ferrari" and am now starting to reconsider my quest to own a 355. Lot's of time though and tons more research to do. I am still only on page 4 of this thread.

Great stuff. Wish I knew more about the inner workings of car engines.

 

Did you ever talk to that guy again after that several hour phone conversation? I stopped reading halfway through this thread because the terminology and inner workings of engine parts were way over my head.

So you guys never really came to any conclusions to help would be 355 owners?

 

Yes!!! But I'm tired of posting what has taken me many many hours and thousands of dollars to learn. Dave H,Brian C,Enginefxr,Vern C, and others are very much aware of all the major issues and how to resolve. I've taken their valued expertise over the years and added my 2cents to come up with a truly magnificent reliable exotic supercar that suites my needs.

Biggest problem is obtaining aftermarket/3rd party parts to replace poor quality Ferrari vendor items. Since R&D to produce superior quality parts is expensive very few have done this because most of the older cars are owned by people who do not value the upgrades enough to pay for them.

 

Ya, that's it in a nutshell.... Popcorn and Single Malt on ice, good thing we talk during the day!

The problems today are the market place is too small to justify the investment required to perfect replacement parts. With a minimum effort good parts can be made but not great parts.

There is a wide gap between 'Good' and 'Great' that only comes about from designing, prototyping, testing, modifying and redesigning and none of that comes for free. Once one perfects the perfect mouse trap there is a VERY small market in which to offer it, hence the reason few 'rational' folks enter into this arena.....

Bruce has been too busy converting his Still to distill Peanut Mash in an attempt to become the new world's fuel czar.... Castrol 'R' has now met its match but it smells like burning Skippy! Save it for the fuel tank Bruce, not consumption!

 

Maybe this thread is a good place to ask the experts' opinion on re-routing the intake to utilize the upper air inlet in the c-pillar on the GTB. It seems much shorter and more direct than grabbing air from above the radiator, so why did Ferrari change this? Was it to have the same routing for the spider, which lacks the C-pillar inlet? Was it due to air flow issues to this upper inlet when the windows are open? I should have my intake re-routed by next week, but I'm not sure how to quantify any improvements in air flow to the engine.

 

Does anyone have a picture or diagram showing the airflow of the GTB in a wind tunnel? Maybe they found that area to be lower pressure and opted to move it to a higher pressure area?

 

HA HA HA!!!!
Thru extensive testing(internal ingestion) I have found that E. Coli in the peanut mash is good for another 20% boost in octane.....very close to NOS.

Burning Skippy???????? Closer to a beer fart...lol

 

I would do this if I didn't have a Spider......

C-pillar is fine but the best addition Jay would be to add a scoop at this opening to assist the air intake.....look at the 355GT thread and it may show this on some of the cars pictured.

 

Great, thanks Bruce. I see those inlet scoops...maybe I'll make one up that's a bit smaller and more subtle for street use. I know it's not really needed for street use, it's just a fun project

 

IMO Ferrari changed it for simplicity of production ........ it would require less variations of parts ............ ........ since my 355 is a spider the soft tubes go over the radiators and have a loss of cross sectional area due to them being slightly squashed there ..... .