My first 30 miles in the 355

Congrats! Glad you're enjoying the new ride.

You best get used to being photographed, etc. You'll become very popular whenever you're out and about in it!

Regarding item #1, it may be due to the car not being driven very much lately. I've learned that mine will occasionally have the same behavior, but if I drive it consistently (at least once a week for a good 40-50 miles at a time) it seems to smooth itself out.

Can't really add anything regarding item #2; maybe some of the more learned people here can chime in.

 

My '95 does this in a sort of cycle. I'm chasing it down now. I've also heard a 98 & 99 do it as well. It rouns rough/stumbles for maybe 15secs, then smoothes out for 30 secs, then runs rough again, then smooth. I've heard that lots of folks have this. Mine isn't tied to the fan spinning up like some threads suggest. Post up if the inspection fiinds anything.

 

Mine kind of has a burble at idle. From what I read they all have that. The cams are so aggressive that it effects the idle smoothness. From what I have read Dave Helms gold kit has smoothed out idles on several 355's which it has been installed on.

Not sure if this is what you are experiencing or if it is something else.

 

Welcome to Ferrari ownership / driving experiences.

It doesn't get any better than this.

Enjoy.

 

Erick

Nice car but what a tacky color !!!

I would have the car looked at asap- if you're having fuel starvation or misfiring issues you can do more damage than you can imagine- If you have not already had the car into someone with the ferrari SD1/SD2 you should- try and get a baseline of what's going on right now and you can tell a lot by reading the error code history and the over-rev history.

I don't know the history of the car but it seems like you took a calculated gamble on a car without a complete history. The more you can find out now mechanically the better off you'll be.

99s are BULLETPROOF and at least from my own experience, do not share many of the maladies reported by owners of earlier cars- I think you've chosen very wisely!

 

You sure??? As far as I can tell, the only difference in the 98/ 99's are the upgraded valve guides. Don't they still have the thin walled headers that can leak, cats that break down, sticky parts, low quality electrical connectors, leather that shrinks, etc...???

Still a great car to own and some of us actually enjoy sorting out these issues.

 

Answers to Jordon's questions: no (not sure), yes, yes, yes, yes, yes....


Hahaha but I still love the crazy beast!


Also, to the OP: if stumbling idle is momentary upon shifting to neutral at a stop, this is the F1 system retarding the timing for a shift. The system will do this to facilitate upshifts. You will need to blip the throttle (heel and toe) for downshifts as these cars do not have drive by wire throttles, so will not blip for you. If the stumble is more than 1 second, sounds like something's wrong or mis-adjusted.

 

Can only report on what I know-

No mechanical issues to speak of in three years of hard driving- Other typical exoticar issues already addressed and documented here on the forum-

 

As I said in my earlier post, this F1 system is unique in that the throttle is not "drive by wire". It has a mechanical throttle linkage, so the system is incapable of adding throttle during downshifts, thus the need to blip the throttle (heel/toe) for smooth downshifts. Notice I say smooth. It will still downshift without you blipping, just that it will be jerky. This is why the auto mode on these cars doesn't work well-- you don't know when it's about to downshift, so you can't blip the throttle.

Upshifts are similar in that to shift smoothly, you should lift the throttle ever-so-slightly. However, the system will momentarily retard the ignition to cut power for the shift, sort of doing the job for you. You can still smooth your shifts however by slightly lifting throttle momentarily during upshifts, particularly when shifting at lower revs. As revs rise, shift speed quickens, so lifting is less crucial for smooth shifting. This is why the manual says that no need to reduce throttle for upshifts. However, if you reread the manual, it does in fact say to "add throttle" for downshifts, meaning blip the throttle.

The newer systems have drive by wire, so the electronic throttle will lift and blip for you. Smoother, but less involving. The challenge of the 355 F1 system is learning to drive it smoothly. Much more interesting in my opinion.

 

Very interesting information. I didn't realize the F1s in 355s were designed this way.